• Her voice stood out from the buzzing sound of the cafeteria. She always made herself loud enough for all to hear. That was her personality. Or maybe she was just loud at this moment because she was sitting right next to me.
    “Hello, earth to Tess? Tess? Theresa Sanders?!” Meena basically shouted and looked at me with worried eyes.
    “Huh? What?”
    “Are you okay? You’ve seem so out of it lately,” She asked as she ran her hand through her long, golden hair.
    I nodded. “Yeah…I’m fine…” I said and looked down at my pizza. It only had a few bites left but I decided not to bother. I wasn’t hungry. My eyes started to ache from staring at it for so long, so I looked up at Meena. I attempted to smile. Meena was my best friend-I couldn’t act like this in front of her. “So what were we talking about?”
    Meena’s crystal blue eyes looked up towards the ceiling, like she was thinking. “I was asking you if you’ve ever had the feeling that you were being watched…” Her sentence trailed off into a whisper.
    I giggled, even though I didn’t mean to. It was now my turn to run my hand through my dark, almost pitch black hair. “No, of course not…That’s crazy.” I shook my head and this time I stared at my empty juice carton. I frowned at it as I faced the unwanted facts. The truth was that I’ve been feeling like that for a while... Maybe that was the reason for my weird behavior. I looked up again and searched around the cafeteria. I felt insecure and I folded my arms in front of me.
    After I had failed my search for that weird feeling my eyes wandered up at the clock hanging on the wall. Lunch would be over soon.
    “Will you be coming over this after noon?” I heard Meena’s high, girly voice ask me. “Maybe we can start working on our Halloween costumes.” Her perfect pink lips made a grin.
    I laughed. “Aren’t we a little too old for trick-or-treating, Meena? We’re sixteen. I doubt anyone in this lunch room is going besides us. Also, I have practice,”
    Her grin turned into a frown but she still tried to be cheerful. “Well, okay! I’ll come up with ideas while you’re away.”
    I was just about to reply when the bell rang for the end of lunch. All of the kids rushed out of the cafeteria throwing away their food and out the doors. It was always chaotic at this time. I grabbed my bag and managed to avoid the crowd by being one of the last ones out. I took my time getting to class. I knew I still had a couple of minutes before the tardy bell rang.
    A grin spread across my face when I walked into class. Most of the students were out of their seats talking about the latest new clothing trends. I could care less about clothes. My whole closet was full of jeans and simple t-shirts. I took my seat near the back of the class.
    Miss Johnson began to discuss AP U.S. History with the class but I wasn’t in the mood. I already knew everything there was to know so I just nibbled on the end of my pencil and pretended like I was listening. I began to think about that same distant feeling I had. It wasn’t something I could easily point out. I stopped when my head started to hurt and decided to think about it at home.
    I jumped when the bell rang and everyone rushed out. I laughed without humor. Everyone must’ve had plans for tonight. Unfortunately I had to go to volleyball practice. Coach said this was the only time we would have practice on a Friday. I walked down the hallway, looking at all of the maroon colored lockers on the way to the gym.
    Practice was a blur; a haze. The only thing that got me out of my state was when I heard my teammates all yelling at me for no reason. I turned to look at them but then something hit the back of my head with enough force that it managed to take me down. I didn’t know what happened next. All I know was that when I became conscious everyone was crouching around me. I got up and told them I was alright. Coach let me go home, so I stumbled out of the gym with my right hand on the back of my head.
    I stared down at my dirty sneakers as I walked down the street towards my house. When I looked up I saw something strange. Across the street sitting on the brick wall was a cat. This cat wasn’t any old cat though. This cat had crystal blue eyes. Its fur was almost the same color as my hair-a natural coal color. The kind of black that didn’t look like it was dyed. The creepiest thing though had to be that that cat was staring right at me. It had stopped me in my tracks. We continued to stare at each other until I surrendered and looked away.
    I turned into my neighborhood and passed about ten houses. I got to the eleventh one on my left and walked up the driveway. I let myself in and passed the living room and kitchen. I walked up the stairs and down the hallway, entering my edroom when I came to my door. My bed was pushed against the wall near my window. My full length mirror was opposite of it, holding pictures of Meena and I goofing off.
    I sat on my bed and tried to put off my homework. I was spacing off like usual. Suddenly, I heard a scratching sound. My head whipped around nervously, wondering where that weird noise was coming from. My eyes landed at the window. That weird black cat had managed to climb up to my second story window. It was scratching at my screen. I sighed and opened my window slightly, wondering what it was doing here. I knew it was a bad idea but curiosity gave in. It came in and sat on my bed, its big blue eyes staring at me.
    “What?” I asked it.
    It grinned back and meowed.
    I reached out to touch it nervously. I wasn't sure what would happen.