For Nevermore Season 1

it could possibly get.
    Is this why Sam texted Mako?
    Did Sam tell Becca about my message?
    Or did Becca hear the message for herself?
    Noella felt a bead of sweat on her temple and tried to find her words, but they were still stuck somewhere in her throat. Fortunately, she had Mako.
    Mako started laughing hysterically, as though Becca had just delivered a killer punchline. She turned toward Noella, picked up her fork, shoved it deep into the container of spaghetti, then spun a fat twist’s worth of noodles onto the fork and shoved them into her mouth. With her mouth full of cold spaghetti, Mako said, “You should try this. It’s super good.”
    Becca stood without expression as Mako kept chewing, mouth open, obnoxiously chewing. Noella said nothing. Mako finally swallowed and said, “Okay, so to recap, Noella needs to stay away from Sam because he’s like totally your property, and apparently, if he gets within an inch of Noella’s awesomeness he’ll realize what a troll you and your clones are and leave you. Does that about cover it?”
    Mako twisted another forkful of pasta into her mouth and then turned to Noella. “That sounds right to you, doesn’t it?”
    “Perfect,” Noella said, barely holding it together, somewhere between laughing and crying.
    Becca was still wearing her shock. Vicky looked like someone just pooped in her best purse.
    Becca said, “Just stay away from Sam, unless you want to look like even more of a loser than you already do.” She turned around and huffed off in the other direction with Vicky trailing behind.
    “Keep it together,” Mako whispered to Noella once Becca and Vicky were out of earshot. Noella felt just moments from tears. Even though she and Becca had gone their separate ways, there was a part of her that still liked Becca, and to hear her say such horrible things cut into Noella’s guts.
    Mako’s phone buzzed again.
    Sam, of course:

    “ Is she back yet?”

    Mako looked at Noella, who was shaking her head.
    “You sure? You don’t really believe what Becca said, do you? Take the call. You’ll probably regret it if you don’t.”
    Noella kept shaking her head, fighting a losing battle against tears.
    Mako said, “If you don’t call Sam, you’re letting her win!”
    The first tears slid down Noella’s cheeks. “Tell him I’m sick and had to go home. It won’t even be a lie.”
    Noella stood from the table, hugged her best friend, said, “Thanks for everything,”then left the cafeteria.
    “Wait,” Mako called out, following.
    “I wanna be alone!” Noella said, tears now fully flowing as she broke into a run. There was no way Mako could catch up if she wanted to. Her books and lunch, along with Noella’s spaghetti dish, were scattered on the lunch table, and Mako was far too O.C.D to leave all that stuff on the table. And Noella was moving too fast.
    She crossed the courtyard and headed toward the front gate. She spotted one of the security guards, the ones who would usually chase you down and drag you to the dean’s office if they caught you trying to leave campus. But he was talking to some kids that it looked like he had already busted. Noella took advantage and left out the front gate, and fled into the cold afternoon.
    Noella lived about six blocks from school, so she figured it would take 20 minutes or so to get home. As she walked, Becca’s words tore through her mind and her heart a hundred times over.
    Why did Becca have to be so cruel?
    And what could Sam have told her that would make her lash out like that?
    Can things get any worse?!
    The sky above said yes as it moved from bland to slate gray and threatening snow. The temperature dropped several degrees, and Noella was still five blocks from home when the first plop of snow drifted from the sky.
    By the time the snow was surrounding her, and the single plop had been joined by a hundred thousand more scattered all around her, Noella’s tears were at a full flood, freezing on her face.
    She kept pushing her feet toward home, the freezing air making her feel more alone than she’d felt in years. A sharp and sudden pain spiked through her head, so powerful it sent her to her knees. The frozen ground sent a shock to her body, just as her vision went wavy.
    She closed her eyes, the pain was so intense.
    When she opened her eyes, the world around her had transformed.

    * * * *

CHAPTER SIX

    The first thing Noella noticed about the world around her was how much brighter it was than