(rewritten)

[ chapter one ]

' my vice principal kidnaps me? '

LIFE SEEMED QUITE SELCOUTH for Maria Di Angelo, everything was truly odd. Even so, the girl assumed she felt content. Her brother and sister by her side as they just made their way through life, encountering problems that left as quick as they came. Though this problem that she'd unknowingly been born into seemed... permanent.

The classic party lights surrounded the middle school dance, it was loud and crowded. Girls huddled in groups awaiting their next kisses and makeup ambush victim while boys got into their own groups acting like , in Maria's words, 'complete doofuses.' Everything about it seemed to irritate Maria, the annoyed look on her face was uncommon. Something about today in general bothered her but she tried her best to conceal it. Her sister otherwise, was much more obvious. Bianca Di Angelo glanced around, messing with her nails as she did. Her eyes always seemed to land on their vice principal but would quickly look away.

Between the two girls was a much more carefree Nico Di Angelo, flipping through his Mythomagic cards as he happily kicked his legs to the beat of the current song playing.

Maria stared at the empty chip bowl in the far left corner, frowning as she distracted herself from the worry of something bad happening clawing into her brain. "I didn't even get to try one," She complained, 'relaxing' in her seat on the bleachers. Bianca's head shot up, instantly looking where her sister's gaze once was before calming down some. Every noise seemed to make her jump, making her feel extremely defensive.

"Yeah," Bianca murmured softly, picking at her nails.

"Well you still owe me a game," The ebony haired boy mentioned, holding up his cards confidently. That seemed to be another thing about the Di Angelo children, they were all strikingly similar appearance wise.

All of them had a mix of extremely dark brown and ebony hair that had a nice curl to it. Not just that, they all also shared dark colored eyes and also all had a case of Dyslexia and ADHD. Though of course, they had their own unique facial features and skin tones. For example, Nico was slightly paler than his sisters but still had a natural brown hue to it, Maria had barely noticeable brown freckles dotted around her nose that matched a beauty mark on her collarbone, and Bianca had natural blush around her cheeks.

Bianca stared at her siblings with her most disapproving look yet as she said, "The last time you guys played a mythomagic game in public, Nico almost lost all of his cards and you guys almost went to jail for causing a public disturbance." Bianca looked around the room once more as she fiddled with her fingers causing her sister to raise an eyebrow. Maria could tell she wasn't the only one feeling this sense of anxiousness.

"It's not my fault she cheated," Nico grumbled, crossing his arms as he jokingly glared at the two.

"You never said I couldn't hide cards in my bra when you explained the game!"

Nico's face scrunched up again. "Don't say that word."

"Bra?" His older sister asked managed to say through the laughs. Nico rolled his eyes but still nodded.

The two sisters burst into laughter, Nico smiling a little bit as he faked a mad face. As the gym doors opened once again, his eyes squinted not being able to properly decipher the figures, "Who are they?" He pointed to the unfamiliar group in front of the doors who looked around expectedly.

Bianca shrugged, fiddling with her fingers as that nervous feeling within her advanced. As a girl with ADHD her fidgeting wasn't uncommon, but the feeling that accompanied it was new. Along with the nervousness was a pinch of excitement, as if she was ready to get up and run a marathon.

"Probably someone's girlfriends or boyfriends," Maria answered. She felt the same expectant feeling, as well as the excitement with it. The girl glanced at her sister and brother a few times, as if she was forming a escape plan in her head which she was.

In front of the door was two boys and two girls, one of the boys Maria had seen once or twice. He had curly brown hair with a warm tan-like skin tone, his name was Grover she believed. Nico and Bianca was friends with him, he always wanted to meet Maria but she was too busy.

Next to him was a pale girl with a 'death to barbie' shirt and black ripped jeans. She stuck out in the crowd of colorful dresses bit Maria liked her obvious lack of respect for the dress code. Maria hated her off-the shoulder ruffled blue dressed, it reached around her knees. Stupidly enough, both her and Bianca got reprimanded by a female teacher. Maria because 'she was showing too much skin' and Bianca because 'she was a young lady and wasn't dressing properly.' Bianca had decided to wearing regular jeans and t-shirt. The old thinking people of this school is by far one of the things Maria hated most of it.

Next to her was a blonde haired girl who was scouting the room. She wore a orange t-shirt with the words CHB and jean shorts. For a moment, she caught eyes with Bianca who squinted at her curiously.

Last but definitely not least was a boy standing beside the blonde. He had black, possibly dark brown, unkempt hair. His outfit matched the girl behinds him, making Nico wonder what CHB stood for. "Anyways," Nico turned his gaze back to his oldest sister, a confident smirk on his face, "Let's play this mythomagic game before I turn 81 years old."

Maria laughed, taking out the bright colored cards out of her pockets. She threw down Hades, starting the game with a strong start. Beside them, Bianca shuffled not even focused on the game her siblings were playing. She never really understood mythomagic or why they enjoyed it so much but at the same time she never really questioned it.

Bianca couldn't help but notice their vice principles' unusually long stares at them. A chilling feeling ran up her spine when their gazes matched. Something was wrong, really wrong. The feeling increased when she saw Dr. Thorn walk towards them. "Hey, uh, I'm tired maybe we-" Bianca tried excusing, her heart felt as if it was going to jump out of her chest.

It went so quick, at one moment Maria was playing mythomagic and the next her vice principal was kidnapping her and her siblings. She couldn't exactly explained what happened, Dr.Thorn had approached them, a sickeningly and fake smile on his face.

"I need some help getting something from the hallway, could anyone of you help?" He'd asked alerting the three kids.

The red party light shined upon them as Maria Di Angelo looked up, a calm look on her face as she lied, "I'm sorry Dr. Thron but we have to stay here, we're waiting for someone." Her heart beat at a crazy pace, waiting for him to pull a knife on her of something.

A anxious feeling spreaded to each Di Angelo children as they awaited Dr. Thorn's response. Nico bit his lip, trying to conceal the worry. Something inside them warned them, a second sense almost.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine, this is an urgent matter," Dr. Thorn pressured, glancing around as he checked his watch.

The look on Maria's face was unpaused, almost lowering into a deadly glare, "I'm sorry, but our friend is new and we don't want them to get mixed in with the wrong crowd alright?"

Bianca looked around, trying to find a way to call for help without setting their vice principle off. There was something unusual... paranormal almost about him. Either way, she knew she didn't want her or her siblings mixed up within it.

"Look kids," his voice got deep, the tone sounding more discorded, instantly Dr. Thorn coughed and fixed up his voice, "I mean, we don't want anything to start up right?"

At that point, it was confirmed, he was a threat. Like it was an instinct Maria grabbed her sibling's hands and ran, barely escaping the doctor-

She ran as fast as the winds, dragging her little sister behind her and her baby brother in her hands. Her ebony hair flowed with the wind as she barely evaded the monster's claws, tears falling down all of the children's face. Baby's cries rang in her ear but she ignored it and ran to the house. "Mama!" She called worriedly.

With a shock, Maria stopped around a hallway. She blinked viciously, trying to figure out what that memory (if it even was) jot was. Everything about that seemed familiar, the cries, the voices, the areas. Especially the 'Mama,' could that have been her saying it?

But, who was her mother?

Maria paused, finally realizing that she'd known nothing about herself. "Maria!" Bianca called, forcing Maria back into reality.

She looked around, the siblings was backed into a corner. When Maria had turned to see who was infront of them, her breath hitched.

What had she gotten herself into now...

NOTES.

so a large writers block led me to rewriting the first chapter-

and now i kind of like the 3rd person style

but at the same time i like the 1st person

as well as the few changes i've made to
maria's character

pls tell me what you think-

words - 1599