• I walked into school, pretending not to be aware of the stares. Ah, first days. Wonderful.

    I walk into the office. There is a woman, probably mid-50's, sitting at a desk. She looks up, then does a double, or triple, or quadruple take. I raise my eyebrows.

    She collects herself, then squeezes out, "C-c-c-can I h-he-he-help you?"

    "Yes. I need to know where my lockers and classes are."

    "W-what's your name?"

    "Alice. Alice Flame," I say.

    She shoved the schedule to me, then turned away, like she was busy. Yeah right.

    I walk out of the office and presumably towards my locker. If I got lost, it's not like I'd get detention or anything like that. No, they'd just be sucking in what is, well, me. I sigh. It's not easy being... me.

    I got to my locker. Thank Bob. I slide in all my junk: books, notebooks, folders, mp3, makeup. I paste on the outside of my locker my drawing. Join, it says.

    You probably think I belong to a cult, a cult with freaky black eyeliner and tattoos and drugs. You are probably thinking, "She's the kind of girl that hides drugs in her books." Well I'm not. The only thing different about me is... just that. I'm different.

    I'm the only one who knows. I'm the only girl with the knowledge of the past. You, my friends, are the past. I am the future. And somewhere in between was the Merge. Not that anyone knows it existed anymore.

    Thousands of years ago, there were kids. Well, no duh. But they were well known... popular. Straight, long hair. Sidebangs. Typically brunette or blond. Big eyes framed with gallons of liquid eyeliner and pints of mascara. Skinny jeans, brand name t-shirts. Sound familiar?

    A couple of years after the look was invented, it went wild. Everyone refused to wear anything else. The world became a monotone of Hollister. Then, one day it happened. There were no records of it, so no one knows the exact date or happenings. But they all became the same. Exact. People. That look so many people wear in your time will become the only thing. And anyone who's different... is me. I'm the only one left.