| Prologue There is a girl, like any other, who has a story about her life that could entice the sympathy of many. This girl is just an everyday girl-next-door type. Her name is Zerlinda, born January 1, 2015. Her story takes place starting in her freshman year of high school. She was 14 when she entered high school. To understand this story I must first acquaint you with a small tidbit of information about her. Ever since elementary school she had shunned boys because she never wanted to get hurt by them. She didn't want to get hurt like her Aunt Addolorata who was murdered by her ex-husband. He says he murdered her for self-defense, but everyone else knew better. They had found a diary of hers that stated, "Victor is mad. In both the sense of insane and angry. I won't let him see the children. He is too rough with them when he 'plays' with them. I feel that he actually frightens them, but because he is their father, they won't say anything to me or him. He is angry because of this, but I don't care. Well maybe I do. I care more about the children, as long as they are safe I care not what happens to me. I can not let them be hurt!" Another entree said, "He is threatening that if I don't let him see the children, he will force himself into the house. I believe he truly would too. That is why I sent the children to live with their grandparents. I sat them down and talked to them to find out whether they wanted to see their father. They started crying saying that they didn't, not ever again. So I told them I was sending them to their grandparents because Victor doesn't know where they live. They agreed and now they are there with them safe and sound. I am afraid of what Victor will do to me when he finds out, but I will deal with that when I can." One week after that last entree her aunt was found dead in her home. Zerlinda did not want to be around boys after that incident. She was scared of all males and was even skittish around those in her family. She scared boys away everytime they even tried to just have a normal conversation with her. She felt bad about it, but could not help feeling that she was justified in her feelings toward males. Watching the news, she saw more and more evidence of this fact. Now information on her family. Her mother is Moriah who works as a nurse in a hospital. Her father, Kai, is the owner of a mechanic shop. Her second eldest brother, Barak, is 4 years older than her and a senior in high school, as well as the one she turns to with her "people" problems. Jalen, her eldest brother, is 7 years older than her and in his junior year of college studying to be a lawyer. Jalen is the one person that Zerlinda can go to with her emotional problems. This will all be important later in the story, so as they say in the writing world, "Get on with the story already!" (Who says that anyway?) (Oh don't worry about it, it was just something my editor told me to put in.) Orientation Zerlinda walked into the computer hall of Ramona High and saw her friends, Shaylyn, Juno, Yamilla, Elmira, Van, Genia, Jamin, and Alida. They were comparing their schedules for their freshman year when Shaylyn saw her and squealed, "Peeperero!". "Hey it's Zelly!", said Juno. "Zelly!", sqeaked Alida. "Hey", said Yamilla. "Hey guys! How are you doing?", said Zerlinda. "Bright 'n sunny as a rainy day!", said Shaylyn in a overly cheerful, sqeaky voice. "Riiiight. Doing ok.", said Alida. "Doing good.", said Juno. "Ya", said Yamilla. "O.K.", said Van. "Same", said Genia. "Doing alright", said Jamin. Elmira just shrugged. There was a rustle of paper as each of Zerlinda's friends continued to look over their schedules with one another. Zerlinda found out that she had third period Spanish 1 with Genia and Elmira and lunch with them, Yamilla, and Jamin on white days.* She also found out that she had fourth period Geometry with Elmira, and lunch with Alida and Shaylyn on orange days.** She was very glad of the fact that at least some of her classes would be made more humorous because of her friends. After they had checked their schedules with one another, they started talking about their summers. Everyone had had a great summer and couldn't wait until the following day when they would start high school. It was going to be a new and exciting time now that they were in high school and they couldn't wait. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Romona High had a system of block scheduling that had three class periods in one day. That meant that there had to be two days to complete all six classes a student had. White days were days that the students went to class periods one through three and had lunch during third period. ** Orange days were days that students attended classes four through six and had lunch in sixth period. |