Silent Poison

"What are you doing consorting with the likes of him?" TJ hissed after class dismissal.

"Read through chapter twenty-five," the teacher called out.

Autumn raised her eyebrows at her brother's demanding question. Using big words wasn't usually his style.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Autumn replied as she put her laptop into her bag. It took the whole hour to get back into the system, but she did it without tripping any wires and therefore remained undetected just like before. All of the access she had to the school was once again hers, the grades, comments on other students, comments on professors, even e-mails. All hers and nobody would know.

Autumn looked past her brother at Chris who was in deep conversation. As if feeling the stare though, he looked back meeting her eyes. She looked away quickly and held the strap of her bag on her shoulder. She stared at her brother with raised eyebrows as he ranted at her.

"I don't care about your feud TJ," Autumn interrupted and sighed.

He ignored her statement and continued to rant on about how it was unbecoming to talk to somebody like him or any of the Lost Boys. Autumn brushed past him and walked out of the classroom leaving his annoying voice behind.

She walked down the hall towards the exit that led to the science building. Advanced chemistry and then Anatomy lab and her day would be over. People moved out of her way as she made her way towards the double doors. She noted small cliques talking and couples taking the ten minute break between classes to hold hands. Several of them glanced her way and quickly looked away. She clutched the strap of her messenger bag tighter. The stares felt heavy from time to time.

As she reached the exit door, a figure slid in the way of her escape. His tall, lean figure leaned against the doors. Autumn huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Chris' long dyed black hair hung in his face. It was shaggier than usual. He was clad in black like usual.

"Auty, just the girl I wanted to see."

"Funny, I never want to see you," she retorted.

"Don't break my heart."

Chris grabbed his chest feigning heartbreak. Autumn rolled her eyes and pushed him aside, walking outside. The sun was actually shining today. The fact that it wasn't raining was a blessing. She liked to go walk on days like today. Contemplating that, a walk sounded nice, maybe after dinner. Nobody could bother her with stares or try to get her to do their bidding because they were too stupid to do it themselves.

"You have a heart? I'm shocked," Autumn laughed.

Her ponytail laid over her shoulder. Orange tendrils shining through. She had started dying it sophomore year. It had gone from purple to cherry red to orange. The orange had stuck.

Chris followed her knowing that he'd be late for Pre-Calculus. He didn't see where the class would be useful in the future anyway.

"I do have a heart, but you on the other hand, I'm not so sure."

His tone had lost its joking nature. Autumn brushed it off without a care. Reaching the entrance to the science building, she spun around to face him. He skidded to a stop nearly stepping on her toes. This left the two standing extremely close to each other almost like they were whispering sweet secrets to one another. Chris caught on to how close he stood to her and how it had no effect on her. His charm was useless as if she had a shield to it. She just stared at him uninterested in anything about him. It wasn't what he was used to. She didn't have the doe0eyed look and she didn't twist her auburn, orange streaked hair around her finger while hanging on to every word. No wonder Baby Boy found ways to speak to her.

Autumn looked around him, pausing what she was about to say to Chris. TJ who was speaking with a few of his football head friends stared in her direction ominously. A smirk perked at the corner of her lips. You seriously think that something is going on…

TJ could tell that she wasn't in this conversation. She hadn't entered it to begin with. Autumn looked back at Autumn and smiled insincerely.

"Leave me alone. You have no interest in me and if you do, it's not to be best friends." She touched his bicep affectionately, her tone sounding sweet even though the statement wasn't, "so, go elsewhere and stop wasting my time because I'm certainly not interested in a whore…and don't call me Auty it'll make people think that we know each other."

Her hand dropped to her side leaving a blazing imprint there through his jacket. The insult wasn't something he hadn't heard. Behind his back people said plenty of things about his sex life, both good and bad. He took a deep intake letting out a sigh as she turned and went into the science building. Turning to go back to the main building, TJ stopped. TJ glared at him, his fists were clenched. Chris' lips parted in deep thought. She was playing him and he hadn't realized it until then. Well, isn't this interesting? You think I'm sweet on your baby sister...

Chris walked towards the main building, the space between him and TJ getting smaller. He stopped as he got to the double doors and looked over at him. TJ's face was red with rage.

"What's wrong with you?"

Chris' voice rang with innocence, but the look on his face wasn't. TJ took a step towards him no doubt to attempt an attack, but one of his friends stopped him. Chris didn't flinch or move in the slightest.

"Stay away from my sister."

"Hey, I can't help that she wants me like every other girl here. Who knows, this could be something serious."

"Christopher!" TJ hollered, "I'm warning you!"

Chris felt pleased with himself. TJ and Autumn couldn't stand being around each other, but he'd look out for her because all he had was her. Their parents sent them to this school because they were too busy working to raise their kids. It was sad really. Chris wondered if that gave him the right to act like a complete asshole to everybody and try to control his genius little sister.

Chris was ready to twist his life into something even worse now.

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Autumn picked at her nails at Mr. Hail drawled on about energy. She drew in the margins of her textbook.

"Miss Bell," Autumn didn't' budge, but directed her eyes to the front," how about you show us safely, how to create sulfuric acid."

Autumn didn't budge at first. Students stared at her waiting to see her reaction. Autumn slid from her seat and let her ponytail slide from her shoulder. The sound of her footsteps was the only sound in the room. Being the epitome of a person's day was getting old. This had been happening since freshman year. A teacher would use her as an example or try to make an example out of her because she was younger than everybody else in her class. She never failed though. Failing wasn't in her vocabulary.

Labeled beakers were spread out on the teacher's lab table. For a moment she just stood there. The recipe for sulfuric acid wasn't hard. She just liked the tension build-up. She fought the urge to give the entire class a big sarcastic grin. Moving quickly, she went through the motions of mixing the elements together. It took a matter of minutes and she was done. After setting the acidic liquid aside, she pushed it a little farther away to be safe.

"Anything else?" she asked.

Her dark, almond shaped eyes stared at him waiting for her next instruction. She had to remind herself that he was just doing his job.

"I haven't taught you how to do this in class." He said eyeing the beaker beside her.

"I know how to do research, plus I did a paper on it last year." She replied.

Mr. Hail stared at her blankly unsure of how to respond. Autumn turned and walked back to her seat to continue her doodling. The rest of class went smoothly. The teacher didn't call on her again. She went straight to anatomy afterwards where the goal was to dissect a baby pig. The pigs were stillborn so nobody could completely complain about slaughter.

Autumn did well in cutting through the skin down the belly of the fetus and cracked its ribs without a problem. Her lab partner was too busy being squeamish to help. Autumn ignored her disgusted groans, but part way through separating the myelin on the small intestine she slit through the intestine. It happened quickly from the obnoxious giggles a few lab tables over. For several seconds she just stared at it.

"Shit." She mumbled under her breath.

She glared over at the girls and their perfect primped Academy uniforms; their shoes all shined just like their hair. They all looked the same. They paid no mind to Autumn and her disgruntled state about them, and continued to gossip which just so happened to be on the sons of Ipswich. Her lab partner slowly drifted into the gossip leaving her to do the work. She tried to ignore it, but the buzz of their conversation, trying to determine who the best one was, kept interrupting her train of thought. It was between Angelo and Chris. By the end of class the girls were trying to take a poll. They completely passed her by not that she cared. Who would want any of them? The gossip kept plaguing her mind for the next hour causing her to fall behind on homework. The farthest she got was changing into more comfortable clothes and opening her Calculus textbook.

She laid on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. It was white and bland. Her walls were just about the same with the exception of a few paintings to liven up the room. Her bedspread was black velvet with pillows to match. She let her head fall to the side and she looked at her desk now. She never sat at it. It just held multitudes of books most of them on music. There were no music classes on her schedule. Never had been. It was her favorite past time besides digging into other people's lives through her computer. Going to one of the practice rooms or even using the grand piano in the large stage area for performance art made her unwind. Feeling the music flow from her fingertips matched by her voice made her feel free. The knowledge that she had now, the math, sciences, the three different languages, the computer hacking, that was just what her parents wanted out of her. She would gain a career from these significant subjects. Music would get her nowhere and she accepted that when TJ smashed her keyboard. The one mom had seen her oogling not long before her eleventh birthday.

A rapping at the door made Autumn jump. Looking at her clock by her lamp on the nightstand, it was six o'clock. Dinner time. She wasn't all that hungry.

"Auty, Alexis and I are going to the dining hall."

Maybe he'll go away if I say nothing.

"Auty."

Autumn stared at the door without moving. The seconds turned to minutes. Then TJ muttered something about her being a bitch loud enough for her to giggle. After he walked away and his footsteps couldn't be heard, she grabbed her black jacket and car keys. Turning sixteen meant that she got a car, a nice 1969 mustang. The car was beautiful., but also another thing that TJ could be pissed at her for since he wanted her car more than his black Mercedes Benz.

She hurried down to the parking lot hoping to make a quick getaway. It wasn't hard, but the thought of getting caught whenever she was leaving campus was exciting. She looked over her shoulder as she passed the dining hall where everyone else was eating, conversing about the long day, and winding down. A smile graced her lips. She tucked her hands into her jeans pocket and went around the corner.

The night air was warm and breezy when she made it to the lot. She took a minute to breathe it in. Lamps made the million dollar cars shine. Amelie made her way over to Lambchop, her car. It was a sudden yet, wired name for a car, but when it came out, it stuck.

"I'm feeling Chinese." Autumn said aloud as she slid into the leather driver's seat. Every time she got into this car she felt powerful. She didn't know a lot about cars, but she knew that this was one gorgeous ride.

Her stomach growled as the engine revved to life. She switched the head lights on and changed the radio station. Country, Metal, R&B, rock…Goo Goo Dolls actually. Autumn left it and shifted into drive.

She didn't leave unnoticed like she thought however. Chris, having seen her pass the dining hall, followed and smirked. She had a mind of her own. Chris stood there a few extra minutes after watching her leave the school. The wind blew making the trees shiver. You'll come around…eventually.

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The next day was no different from the day before for Autumn. She found that three requests had been put into her mailbox. The box was never empty. The requests were sent to her in white envelopes with initials of the person who was asking something from her on the front of it. So, by the end of the day she was expected to wipe off a D.U.I. from a Junior's record, get a Freshman out of a week's worth of detention and keep another Freshman from getting expelled. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The D.U.I. and detention was easy. Expulsion was a little more difficult to get out of, but not impossible. You just had to make the reasons behind the expulsion disappear which meant that blackmail would come into play.

"Autumn."

Autumn looked up from her computer to notice that Alexis sat down beside her in the library. The place was quiet as students took their study hour and used it for school work unlike her. She said nothing so Alexis spoke to get past the one-sided greeting.

"I was wondering-"

"Are you failing another class," Autumn asked point blank.

Chit-chat with Alexis was something to be avoided. It was more like insults from the likes of her and she never ran out of material.

"My grades are fine," Alexis' voice was harsh, "I wanted to know why you treat TJ so rudely."

"Me?" Amelie laughed.

"Yes, you. You make him look bad and all he does is look out for you."

"You don't know him the way that I do then. He doesn't look out for me. He tries to control me," she paused for a moment.

"You may be dating my brother," Autumn started gathering the two textbooks that she was looking at while working on the expulsion and put them in her bag, "but you don't know him the way I do. You didn't grow up with him. Why don't you just leave me alone?"

"I don't think I will." Alexis gritted out.

Her brows furrowed angrily. She could tell that the bitch side was coming out of her. that was her true self, acting like she had rights to everything and everyone. Everyone, but Autumn.

Autumn hurried to try and get away, but Kira had her by the arm. What was it with people needing to grab her? Couldn't they tell that she didn't want to be around anyone? They had to grab her thinking that it would get her attention. They just didn't get the hint that she was choosing to ignore them.

"How about you get your claws out of my love interest."

Both Alexis and Autumn's heads' turned abruptly towards the smooth sultry voice that belonged to none other than Chris Cerulli's. He leaned again the end of a shelf of books, his arms crossed over his chest. Kira let go of Amelie quickly as if she contained a disease.

"Careful Auty. You have no idea what STD's he has," Alexis sneered, giving the stink eye to him.

"Probably no more than what you give to my brother."

Alexis huffed at the insult. Autumn smirked and shook her head at the bitchy blonde. Chris was no better, but at least he did it with class. Alexis lacked that altogether. It's like she got people to hate her on purpose.

She walked away. Her curls swished with indignation. Autumn felt accomplished every day when she could make Alexis her enemy all over again. She smiled to herself, but the smile faded quickly as she was faced with Chris. He could either be better or worse than Alexis.

"Seems like the backstreet boy saved me. Where is the rest of your boy band playmates?"

He ignored her questioned stepped towards her, placing his hands flat on the table. His face was unreadable. She watched him intensely.

"I can't very well let my girlfriend get attacked by the school bitch."

His voice was soft and convincing. Almost anyone could believe he cared, almost. Autumn wasn't one of those people. Her eyebrows rose from a scowl to fake curiosity.

Girlfriend. He's certainly bumped his head or maybe the chlorine has gone to his head from swimming practice.

Chris Cerulli was the last person she'd consider having relations with. He probably didn't know how to have a girlfriend. Autumn considered the possibility that Alexis was right. Who knows how many STDs he has?

"Don't be coy. I know your little game with TJ. I caught on pretty quickly Autumn."

He moved around the table, the only object separating them and blocked her path of escape. Autumn's arms tightened and her heart sped up. She broke the eye contact he made with her hoping that he didn't hear her sharp intake of breath. Why did he feel the need to come closer to her?

"Don't call me that. We're not friends. We don't even speak. Which begs me to ask…why the sudden need to talk to me?"

Autumn ignores her question enjoying how he is getting under her skin. That certainly wasn't the only thing he wanted to under with her. The sudden interest…maybe it was always there. Maybe it was watching how Punk Boy was taunting her with playful insults towards her. The way she did what she did without getting in trouble was intriguing that's for sure. Everybody knew. She did dirty deeds and was brilliant about not getting caught. She was the enigma of the Academy. She could be your best ally or worst enemy. Chris was going to take the ally route.

"C'mon Auty. We'd make a good team," he continued.

"I don't play well with others."

Autumn pushed past him and made her way to leave. Class, you have class. You don't need to socialize with a sex addict. She could hear his lazy footsteps follow behind her holding a certain rhythm.

"It would get TJ off of your back."

She stopped right then. He was right. TJ wouldn't go near her if she was around him. He'd probably disown her as his sister. Oh, that's a thought. It was that or he'd probably kick Chris' ass. That would be entertaining not that watching those two fight occasionally wasn't enough already, but TJ would try to kill him over this. Autumn clenched her fist and released it.

Chris watched her debate with herself. any moment she would cave…maybe. She was a feisty one. It made him wonder how she and TJ were even related. They had completely different styles, attitudes, and lives.

Autumn looked over her shoulder at the cocky pierced man. He was too confident.

"Keep dreaming."

With that, she left the library. Chris watched, chuckling lightly to himself. Stubborn little bitch. I give it until lunch.

"Always do."