Chapter 1
The first day was always the worst. Ellie Aubrey stood in the administrative office, as she had many times before, and shifted from foot to foot. She waited with growing boredom for one of the counselors to give her the usual “new student” spiel. Ellie would tolerate it. Just one last time she would tolerate it for what she had to do. Even though she risked her life just being there.
So far, her experience at this school was pretty much the same as all the other times before… Same generic brick buildings, very institutional looking and obviously not updated in fifty-some-odd years. Same teenagers hanging out in random patches around the school waiting for the starting bell to ring. Same secretary wearing a heavily decorated sweater, this one winter -themed in keeping with the season. It was mid-January and Ellie was the new girl. Again.
Ellie glanced out the window. A least the locale seemed a little different than her previous residences. Estes Park nestled into a valley in Colorado, just outside the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. In the distance you could see the beaver-shaped notches of Long’s Peak. At this time of year, Estes Park appeared to be a typical sleepy little mountain town, blanketed in white snow. Although Ellie had the impression that, come summer, it would fill with tourists out to enjoy the many entertainments the beautiful surroundings could offer.
“Ellinore?” a voice asked from the doorway behind her.
“Ellie,” she corrected the counselor automatically, as she turned and offered a polite smile. Her full name could be considered very old-fashioned having not been popular in decades, if not centuries. Ellie held in a sigh as the counselor, Miss Langston, introduced herself. She epitomized the usual counselor-type who wanted to connect with the students and thought she was up on the latest fashions and fads, but probably mentally used words like hip.
As she followed Miss Langston through the hallways to the counselor’s office, Ellie made sure to make eye contact with each person she passed, always with a pleasant expression. She’d discovered the best way to handle the first week or so in a new school was to look confident and generically nice, not cocky. It also helped to try to blend in as much as possible. A fine line to walk, especially for someone like her.
The students in this school appeared to be no different than those in all her other schools. The girls sported long, straight hair. And most of the boys had shaggy hair, although Ellie happily noticed the clean cut look had started to infiltrate this particular high school. She hadn’t really enjoyed those styles the first time around.
“So I understand that you’ve just moved here from Texas,” Miss Langston said, consulting her files after they had seated themselves in her tiny office. She looked up over her black-rimmed glasses at Ellie.
Ellie nodded. She knew exactly what that folder contained. School records were still notoriously easy to alter.
“Estes Park High School is quite a bit smaller than your previous school,” Miss Langston continued.
Ellie kept herself from shifting in her seat and proceeded to nod at appropriate intervals as Miss Langston droned on and on. A full half hour later, armed with school rules, a map, and her schedule, Ellie finally made her way to her first class.
She resisted the urge to cringe as she felt the gazes of the other students follow her. In smaller schools like this, the students recognized when a new face appeared among them. They already knew everyone else there and had known them since kindergarten in many cases.
She wondered briefly what exactly they saw when they looked at her. She guessed they’d see a petite, almost pixie-like girl with gleaming, long, black hair that hung in waves down her back, and blue eyes so deep in color they appeared to be almost violet. Not beautiful exactly, more girl-next-door with a slightly exotic coloring. She actually had tiny freckles across the bridge of her nose that almost made her cute.
Ellie had deliberately dressed down a bit, sticking to her tried and true rule of blending in. She wore the uniform skinny jeans, flats, and a fairly plain blue top that was flattering, but nothing special. Today she’d pulled her long hair into a straight ponytail hanging down to the middle of her back. She couldn’t do much to downplay her striking eyes but hadn’t bothered to highlight them either. Experience had taught her if she wanted to make any girlfriends