Whispers in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

couldn’t understand the classroom’s change in mood. We’d gone from boisterous to
solemn in three seconds.
    â€œYou two young ladies!” I smiled at the twins. “Please stand up and introduce yourselves.
Give us your names, where you’re from, and something we should know about you.”
    The twin who sat behind Isabelle just looked at the floor, then over at her sister,
then back at the floor. Her sister stood up then.
    â€œWell, my name is Raven,” she said, “and that’s my sister, Robin. Last year was our
first year here. We moved here from Griffin, Georgia.”
    â€œWell, all right then, Raven,” I said to her. “I’m Mr. Ramirez, and this is my first
year here. Anything we should know about you?”
    â€œYeah, that they’ve been to jail,” Dorian muttered, which made a few of the students
giggle.
    â€œDid you say something, Dorian?” I asked him.
    â€œNo, sir, Mr. Ramirez, sir,” Dorian said. “Just thinking out loud, sir.”
    â€œOh, okay,” I said. “And Robin, did you have anything you wanted to add?”
    Robin looked up at me silently and looked away. At the same time, Isabelle slowly
shook her head at me, as if she were telling me to back off.
    â€œSo, where are you from, Mr. Ramirez?” Isabelle asked.
    â€œI’m from here, in Newnan,” I told the class. “I went to Newnan High School, then
up to North Carolina for college, and now I’m back here to teach.”
    â€œI don’t think I would have come back, if I were you,” Dorian said.
    â€œReally? And why is that, Dorian?” I asked.
    The bell rang.
    â€œOh, that’s right. You guys are supposed to go to the auditorium right now,” I told
everyone.
    All of the students got up and walked out of the classroom, smiling again, happy
to be leaving early. That wasn’t so bad for my first-period class. I wondered if
my next class would be as outspoken. Cali, Miranda, and Raven were chattering, complimenting
each other’s hair. Robin was keeping apart from everyone, with her head down, as
if she didn’t want to be noticed.
    Strange.

Chapter 3
    â€œ S oooo, how was the first day?” Lea asked excitedly, coming down the stairs just
as I got home.
    I gave a deep sigh. “Let me tell you. That school is in its own little world. I had
no idea people were like that in Newnan. The assistant principal was on my case from
the moment I walked into the teachers’ lounge, because I didn’t know immediately
who she was. Apparently, they have a three-strike policy for new teachers, and you’re
out of there.”
    â€œOh, wow,” Lea frowned. “How were the kids?”
    â€œDifferent. Very different,” I told her. “They ask so many questions. I guess since
I look so young, they feel like they can ask me questions about my personal life.
This one girl named Cali kept asking question after question. Oh, and then there
were these two twins who came in there looking like death itself.”
    â€œLike death?” Lea smirked.
    â€œYeah. They just had like a goth look to them,” I explained. “One of them, Raven,
seemed comfortable around the other kids, but then the other one, Robin, didn’t say
a word. I tried asking her a question, and the girl sitting in front of her shook
her head like I should seriously back off.”
    â€œMaybe she’s just shy,” Lea sympathized. “It was the first day.”
    â€œYeah, I guess. The students in my other classes were pretty quiet. It was that first
period class that was full of life. But anyway, how was your day?”
    â€œNot that bad. I need for you to go up to the attic and check to make sure it’s not
a squirrel or something running around up there,” she said. “I keep hearing noises,
but I don’t know where they’re coming from.”
    â€œYeah, I think I heard something, too, Saturday