The skies were dark filled with ominous clouds billowing over a strange but familiar land threatening to unleash torrents of rain. Lighting flashed and a low rumble of thunder rolled across the sky like a huge monster lurching in its sleep...

Zelda woke with a start. Sweat ran down her face and she was breathing heavily. That nightmare had plagued her each night for the past month. She couldn’t figure out why this was happening and began to fear that it meant something.
Out of the silence of her room came a shrill ringing that made her jump out of her skin. After a second she realized that it only her alarm clock signaling her time to get up. She controlled her racing heart and turned the alarm off.
She looked around her large bedroom trying to recall her dream and calm down. In the grey predawn light she could see nothing out of place. From her open window came the chirping of birds’ stirring from their sleep. That added to her growing calmness. She shook off the remaining from her nightmare, climbed out of bed, and got ready for her first day of senior year.

. . .

The front of the school was filled with chatting teenagers. Groups of friends stood in circles and miniature mosh pits. There were old friends greeting each other after a long two months, people who looked half awake, and a few teachers talking among themselves.
Yellow school buses or Loser Cruisers (as the upperclassmen called them) lined the sidewalk opening their doors spilling out scared looking freshman and loud sophomores trying to look cool in front of the people they were just last year.
Zelda walked through the throng of students waving or saying hi to a few of them. She was looking for her friends. She spotted the first one, Link. He was standing next to his younger cousin, Laurel who was looking around wide eyed.
”Hey Link!” she yelled while running over to her friend. He waved back and smiled. It almost made her trip.
“Hey Zelda long time no see.” He joked since they had just seen each other yesterday. She looked over at Laurel whose eyes couldn’t stop darting around.
“So Laurel, how are you feeling about being a freshman?” Laurel looked up at the older girl with bright green eyes. She started to answer but Link interrupted her.
“She’s scared out of her mind. I had to drag her all the way here.” He informed her.
“You did not! I’m not scared, I have no reason to be...” but even as she said that she looked up at the school uneasily.
“Laurel!” Came a yell from down the sidewalk. Another freshman was calling. Link and Zelda could tell she was because she was wearing a backpack.
“Sarah!” Laurel cried and ran over embracing her friend. They stated talking rapidly about how they didn’t want to go to school. Zelda laughed.
“How cute.” She said mostly to herself, “I remember when I was like that. It doesn’t even seem that long ago...”
“Yeah.” Apparently Link was listening. Just then a boy and a girl walked over. The boy’s name was Phoenix and the girl was Raven. Phoenix had spiky red hair that almost seemed like fire coming out of his head and amber eyes. He was wearing a red t shirt and baggy jeans with black boots. Raven had black hair but at the moment was died purple, her eyes were naturally violet. She was dressed in a black tank with a skull on it with a purple plaid skirt and black combat boots. Out fit courtesy of Hot Topic. The four teenagers made an unlikely group of inspirable friends.
“Hey guys, ready for our final year of Hell?” Raven asked the two.
“No. Let’s just get this over with.” Phoenix said cramming his hands into is large pockets. He sauntered up to the front entrance.
“I wasn’t talking to you jackass.” Raven said but followed him anyway with Zelda next to her. Link looked over apprehensively to his cousin. She was now with a good sized group of friends and looked less afraid. He decided she’d be fine and followed his friends into the building.