“That girl has a dark aura!”

“Don’t go near her”

“I heard she’s cursed”

Cursed

The girl chuckles silently to herself as she makes her way to her classroom. The rumors have gotten even sillier as the years go by.

“She killed her family”

“And that girl at the orphanage”

“I told you she’s cursed”

Cursed? Stormi thought to herself. Sounds appropriate

With chin held high and eyes straight ahead she took ahold of the classroom’s sliding door and strode inside. The sounds of a normal classroom had ceased, silence taking its place. No word of gossip left the girl in the corner’s mouth. No boy dares joke around. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop from a few feet away. Walking way passed where everyone else was seated, Stormi placed her things on the desk closest to the window, desk 15.

As she placed her school things on her desk and sat down, the commotion started back up again.

“Right on cue,” She muttered to herself and instinctively propped her head upon her hand. Dark brown eyes stare unblinking out the window for no one dare disturb the cursed girl for fear of their own lives. Stormi bit her lip as the sun broke free from behind the clouds to shine brightly.  

She reaches out to touch the window, but the sudden shuffling of people and things sent out the clear signal that the teacher is here. Stormi set her hand back under the desk to rest in her lap as the teacher pulls in some young man. All the girls in the class start at their giggling and twirling of the hair tricks, and even Stormi looks up to see what everything is all about.

“Class this is Jo Kwon, he is new here please treat him kindly,” She had stopped talking at this point and let him continue the introduction.

“Like she said,” he motioned toward the teacher and some girls swooned making him giggle, “I’m Jo Kwon; it’s nice to meet all of you and I hope you treat me well.”

“Very nice Jo Kwon,” The teacher smiles warmly at him and then begins her scope of the room for a free seat. Stormi looks over and sees five open desks—free game. “You may take any free seat you wish.” She finishes and his eyes dance across the room flickering from one person to the next until they land on Stormi, who was staring right back at him. The two teens exchange glances until what feels like forever—which was probably only a few seconds real-time. Before her mind could process what was going on he was sitting close to her.

Closer to her than anyone would hope, closer than even she hoped. Jo Kwon, the new kid, is now the proud owner of desk 16.

Sometime during the lecture a light hissing noise made Stormi tear her eyes away from the board to the boy beside her. He smiled brightly and stuck out his hand.

“I’m Jo Kwon.”

Stormi’s brain processed the information slower than usual and she stared, unblinking, at the boy until he fidgeted awkwardly in his chair. Slowly she extended a small hand sheepishly and he grasped it whole-heartedly.

“Stormi…” The girl replied quietly. He let her hand go and shivered slightly.

“It’s cold over on this side of the room,” He scooted his desk closer to hers so the sides of their bodies were touching.

“What are you doing?” She hissed as he wrapped his left leg around her right one. A blush creeped up on her face and her heart thumped against her rib cage hard.

“There, all toasty!” He smiled happily and continued to listen to the lecture.

Stormi still couldn’t believe this boy. She didn’t know him for five seconds and he’s this touchy feely! With mind reeling with thoughts about this new kid her breathing became shallow and her body shook lightly as a tearing sensation scratched at her chest. The room started spinning.

Th-thump…th-thump…

Her heart raced, her body convulsed. She was having a break down. She swallowed hard and Jo Kwon’s worried face was the last thing she saw before everything went black.

Stormi’s head hit the desk before she fell to the floor and Jo Kwon’s eyes widened the size of American dinner plates.

“Someone get the nurse!” He bellowed, staring in horror at the girl on the floor.