1.

A figure jerked up from the bed, she sat up and sighed tiredly.

‘I’m tired of this nightmare, I can’t even see their faces’ she muttered digging her hands into her natural ash hair, she stared at the direction of the window. ‘It still dark’.

‘I just need more sleeping pills and I’ll be fine; she said to herself standing up from her bed, she then walked to where the switch was and switched on the lights, the lights from the chandelier illuminated the room. It was a room painted with royal blue with gold stars on her wall; her bed was wide enough for six people to sleep in, in short the room screamed luxury. At a corner in her room there was two shelves filled with books and a table with a chair.

Ivy walked to the nightstand and took her reading glasses and pills; she wore her glasses then walked to the mirror. A girl with natural ash hair cascading her shoulders stared back at her and she had dark circles. She is clad in a big white top reaching her thigh and black shorts. She sighed looking at her reflection then walked away and exited the room. The hallway was beautiful and big, one could easily get lost, and she made numerous turns with ease and climbed down the long beautiful staircase then headed to the refrigerator.

She opened it and took out a bottle of water then opened her sleeping pills; at first she put two pills on her palm before adding three extra.

‘IVY!’ someone yelled her name making her drop the pills on the floor; she stared at the direction which the voice called and huffed in annoyance.

‘Nanny do you have to scare me like that?’ ivy huffed looking at the middle aged Asian woman who took care of her since she came into this world.

‘What do you think you’re doing, do you want to kill yourself?’ Nanny Cheng said staring at ivy with equal annoyance.

‘I’m not to kill myself, I just need sleep’ ivy responded pointing to her dark circles ‘besides I’m starting my senior year today, I can’t go to school like this besides I have to be early for the student’s council meeting’.

Nanny Cheng sighed in defeat ‘take the pills you want to drink and leave the rest on the floor’

‘Okay’ ivy responded taking two pills on the tiled floor, she didn’t pick any extra three cause she knew her nanny would freak out and start to lecture her about how drug addiction starts…again. She walked to the direction of the stairs until her nanny called out to her.

‘You know, you can tell your parents about your insomnia, they can help you’.

‘help me’ ivy laughed sarcastically ‘they won’t even know if I was dead for two days and right now am sure they’re gonna be at work…or aren’t they?’

Words got stuck in nanny cheng throat, she wanted to refute ivy words but she couldn’t do so because ivy was absolutely right. Ivy looked up at the clock on the wall and muttered loud enough for nanny cheng to hear.

‘It’s 2:30am and their shadows haven’t even seen this house for four days’ ivy sighed to herself then left.

Nanny cheng looked at ivy with sadness then bent down to pick the scattered pills; she had even forgotten what she came there to do in the middle of the night.

Students nosily chattered in groups as they entered, some encountered friends who probably travelled to another country and happily chattered with them while some encountered their enemies before huffing angrily and entering the school. A black limo stopped in front of the school gate, mere looking at the gates and the paths which lead to the school building one would know the school was exquisite and big.

Murmurs rose from the crowd of students and even some parents who came to drop off their kids off on the first day stared at the black limo.

‘Isn’t that Ivy Ronald’s limo’ a female student said staring at the vehicle.

‘How do you know that’ a male student arrogantly asked.

‘You idiot’ the female students huffed hitting his head making him glare at her ‘isn’t that her parents company logo’ she said pointing to a sticker on the tinted window of the vehicle. Countless gasps were heard among the crowd as they stared at the limo.

‘It is her’ the male student said grinning ear to ear while the female student huffed in annoyance.

At this moment the door of the limo opened and ivy stepped off it. She left her ash hair loose and she was still wearing her glasses but still she looked exceptionally pretty. She smiled and instantly most people were swooned.

She was clad in white shirt with a bow tie, burgundy knee length skirt, long burgundy socks and white sneakers which everyone attending silver lake academy wore except the boys who wore burgundy pants. 

She walked through the school gates calmly as students talked about her good looks, her riches and stuffs and her twin brother speaking of which who is supposed to arrive from the airport. She removed her phone from her pocket debating whether to call him or not. Suddenly someone put his hand on her shoulder which almost made her fall.

‘What the f**k’ ivy cursed wanting to lash out on the perpetuator, lo and behold it was her brother with his cheeky smile.

Ivy sighed in disbelief as she glared at her brother ‘Ivan, you almost made me fall’.

‘Sorry, I was too excited to see you’ Ivan said smiling and they both hugged. They resembled each other even though they were fraternal twins, they both had ash hair and they looked almost the same, the only difference was Ivan is taller than ivy.

‘So how was Cuba’ ivy asked as they walked down the hallway.

‘Cuba was awesome, especially the beach, their dances and food’ Ivan said reminiscing his time in Cuba.

‘I can see you had much fun in Cuba’ ivy said smiling, the warning bell rung and ivy eyes widen in surprise ‘oh no, I’m late for the student council meeting, I’ll see you in class …bye’

Ivan smiled as he watched his sister walking in an abnormal high speed ‘bye’.