Part Two- Take one and... action!

This is the first chapter in the story after the prologue. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this too.

Chapter 1
It was dark when I woke up. Images clouded my mind. I could still see my mother, streams of black from her smeared mascara running down her cheeks. The phone crashing to the floor, my mother’s dazed look as she fumbled towards the living room. I closed my eyes trying to shut the memories of my dream away, but the pictures only became more vivid. I took a deep breath, sitting up, realizing that I was soaked. My fingers brushed against my pillow, damp. I knew I had been crying again. I looked over at the alarm clock on my night stand. 5:30, school didn’t start for three hours.
Slowly I dragged myself towards the bathroom, decided that it was impossible to go back to sleep. I turned on the faucet, grateful for the noise as I tried to shut out the sound in my head of my mother choking on open sobs. As I waited for the tub to fill I stared at myself in the mirror. My hair, plastered to my face, was practically standing on end in some spots and there were streaks of black around my eyes as I had forgotten to remove my makeup the night before.
I suddenly realized I was freezing. Every inch of my body was drenched from sweat. It was as if I had slept in a pool of water, but rather than feeling refreshed I felt grimy and sticky as if my whole body had been layered in syrup. With a shudder I walked over to the tub and stuck my hand in the water to make certain that it was hot. It was. It was like a current of electricity as the heat from the water ran from the tips of my fingers to every end of my body.
Pressing the play button on my CD player I let the sounds of rock and roll pervade my ears and remove all memories of the dream. I then shut the water off and removing my drenched and sticky PJ’s, sank with gratitude into the warm water, its welcoming embrace enveloping me.
I opened my eyes to the sound of someone knocking. With a jolt I realized I had dozed off while in the water.
“Emma? Are you in there?” I paused, realizing that it was my aunt calling me. What time was it? I wondered to myself. How long had I been in the bath?
“Just a second” I called back. I got up reaching for a towel.
“It’s almost seven thirty.” Seven thirty I thought. Two hours? I had been sitting in the tub for two hours. “I have breakfast ready. Just wanted to make sure you were up and going.”
“Yeah…I’ll be down in a second.” I ran the towel through my damp hair. I hadn’t even shampooed it yet. Oh well… too late for that. I had a half hour to get ready. Wrapping myself in the towel I went back to my room and rummaged through my drawers trying to find something suitable to wear. I settled on a pair of dark blue jeans and a brown sweater. I looked out the window; it was raining again. What a surprise? I thought to myself sarcastically. That was one of the many things I hated about living in the state of Washington. It was green and pretty yes, but it never stopped raining. I longed for the sun. I wanted to go home, California. That was where I belonged and that was where I knew I would go back some day. As soon as I hit 18, the age I would officially become my own guardian, I was out of there.
I pulled my still slightly damp hair into a messy bun and stared at my reflection. As always, this was as good as it was going to get. I hurried back to my room. 7:55, the bus would be here any minute.
“Emma?” I heard my aunt call up the stairs. “Emma. You are going to miss the bus if you don’t get down here right now.” I grabbed my school bag and ran to the stairs taking them two at a time. “There you are. Here… eat this bagel on the way out.” I grabbed the bagel and began stuffing my face. “Hurry, your cousins just walked out the door.”
“Thanks Aunt Joanie.” I said as I ran for the door. I opened the door and ran out into the on pour of rain, pulling my hood up over my head as I did so. I rounded the corner and saw my cousins ahead getting on the bus. I ran, reaching the bus just as the doors were beginning to close. They stopped, opening for me. I climbed on, at the same time getting a rather stern look from the bus driver.
“I keep my stops to exactly five minutes. Not a second longer. Got it?” I nodded and began to make my way down the aisle.
“What took you so long?” I looked over at my cousin, Britnee, the youngest of my aunt’s three daughters.
“She probably overslept…again.” The oldest, Sherice, was looking at a portable mirror, touching up her make up as she always did. Sherice was a tall blonde, quite popular among the guys at school, who delighted in dolling herself up. She always had a mirror and some extra make up with her wherever she went and had a habit of often checking herself in the mirror. She looked up for a moment, a slight smirk on her face, and then turned back, rubbing some extra blush into her cheeks.
Britnee, seeming satisfied at the answer given by her older sister, turned back to her other sister, Leanne, my Aunt Joanie’s second daughter, and began complaining about a math assignment she had forgotten to do the night previous. I continued walking and noticing my friend Alyssa waving from the back went and sat next to her.
“Hi” she said. Her brown curls bobbing slightly as she did so. “You don’t look so good. You feeling ok?”
“Hmm…? Oh yeah. I am fine, just had a long night.”
“It wasn’t another night mare was it?” I stared back at my friend wondering if I should tell her the truth. I decided against it.
“No, I just couldn’t sleep for some reason.” I knew that she was unconvinced but she turned towards the front anyway. I wanted to keep talking to her, to shut out the memories that haunted me, and yet I had no idea what to say. What could I say? I had never been strong in my ability to trust people, no matter who they were. I had learned at a very young age that people, in general, could not be trusted; eventually they would stab you in the back. Companionship had never been one of my strong suits either. I had always lived in constant fear that the people I grew close to would either disappear or do something to hurt me. Such had been the story of my life. Everyone I had ever cared about had been lost to me; and so I had stopped trusting and I had stopped caring, that is until I met Alyssa. She was my best friend in the whole world and the most likely person on the planet who could understand me or who wouldn’t be taken aback by my….gift. And yet I could not trust her, not completely…
I couldn’t think straight. It was just so loud. I put my hands up to my head trying to shut it all out. I hated being in a location with lots of people, I preferred to be on my own. I had always been that way, only at first I had never understood why.
“Are you sure you are ok?” I realized that I had been clenching my jaw, and my hands were pressing against the side of my head, my fingers moving in slow circular motions, massaging my temples. I stopped, relaxing my jaw.
“Just a slight head ache, I will be fine.” It was one of the many things I loved about my friend. Alyssa was one of the most calm, relaxed people I had ever known. I think that was what had drawn me to her in the first place. She didn’t give me a head ache the way other people did. With her I didn’t hear the buzzing, the constant rage in my head that always occurred when I was around a group of people. It was part of my “gift.” Or curse, depending on how you looked at it.
I was different, unlike any other person on the face of the whole earth; or at least as I far as I knew. I had often wondered if there were others like me. I remembered when I was little, how I had hoped, how I had dreamed that Alyssa might be another of my kind. She and only she had managed to understand me better than any other person. And so I had hoped…
But the fact is there are only about .01% of the entire world populations, people who are like me. That is if they are still alive.
“Hey, did you finish that paper for English yet?” Alyssa pulled me out of my silent reverie, the buzzing less prominent.
“No, not quite; when is it due again?”
“I think this Friday. I am not entirely sure, I hope it is Friday. I finished mine but it would be nice to have a few more days… just to tie up the loose ends.” I smiled, that was my friend Alyssa. She had always wanted to be a writer and she took every English assignment very seriously as if it were going to be published. Everything had to be perfect. She had the highest grade of anybody in English and was praised and admired by everyone in the department. I had often used her to help me on my own assignments and papers. She was the only reason I was even passing English.
“How far have you gotten on yours?” She asked innocently. We had arrived at the school. We got to our feet, some of the younger ones pushing and shoving to get to the front.
“I…uh…got a page?” I said tentatively. Another thing about Alyssa, she was very mature for her age. She acted as a mother to most, getting after us for not doing assignments or for forgetting to wash our hands before lunch or whatever else she thought we could do better. But she was a friend to everyone and people looked up to and trusted her, even some of the seniors would come to her for advice.
“A page? Come on Em. We both know you are better than that. Don’t make me come over tonight. You do realize that the assignment is due in a few days and you need at least three to four pages.” She said it as a statement not a question. I smiled at her gentle chastisement. Some would find it annoying. I enjoyed it; it was another thing to distract me from the chaos that enveloped everywhere else. She was my one chance to escape.
“Come on or we’ll be late.” I suddenly realized that I hadn’t moved. I stared at Alyssa a few feet ahead. “Are you coming?” she asked.
“Yeah, sorry I was just thinking about something.” I turned and followed, the quiet peace gone. I frowned as we headed down the hall to geometry. I hated geometry, I hated math in general but there was something about shapes and angles that made everything far worse. We entered the classroom just as the bell rang.
“Ladies, thank you for joining us. Please take your seats.” Mr. Turner gestured to the class motioning for us to sit. I walked to my seat, sitting next to Alyssa.
“Alright settle down, you’re under my watch now. Let’s not waste my time or yours, especially not mine.” It was the way Mr. Turner always began class. “Now if you will please take out your homework from yesterday.” It had begun; I laid my head down on the desk, trying to ignore the buzzing.