Earth No More by Bianca Gray (english reading book .TXT) 📖

work anymore. It's like it WANTED to stay on her wrist. Just to be closer to her... That's crazy talk, I thought to myself. Austin Williams does NOT fall in love, with ANYONE. Finally I opened up my hand and she practically ran down the hall away from me. Probably thought I was going to maul her or something, I thought shoving my hands in my pockets. She obviously doesn't like me anyway, she didn't even look back. So, get her out of your head, Austin. She's a nobody. But I couldn't get those big vulnerable violet eyes out of my head. And her shimmering long white hair that framed her face wistfully. It made her seem a little less human and a little more mysterious. But everyone here seemed to be a little less human. I bet she got her eyes done and made her hair more paler than other people's hair. That's probably it...but it all looked so natural. Then I saw Lizzie stride down the hall. Now there was a girl who didn't care about the world. She didn't care about looks, people, or really anything. Everything about her was natural. Nothing done to her. That's why I fell in love with her in the first place. An actual person besides me who never did anything to themselves. It was an awsome feeling really...knowing you're not alone. But Lizzie was an entirely different kind of person than me. She was bossy. She complained a lot. She was overly confident. She knew who she was and what she was going to be. She spoke her mind. And she seemed to close up once you get close. Lizzie turned her head and looked straight at me with her piercing blue eyes. She just stared for a moment. Then she smiled at me like I passed some test. Then she looked down the hallway that Haylei ran down and then she looked back at me. Darn it, I thought, I'm never going to hear the end of this. She smiled as if she read my mind and strided over to me. Lizzie never walked and if she did, she always walked with purpose. I think she was a perfect role model for insecure girls. But past the confidence, she can just be AWFUL. A smile was dancing across her lips and mischievous was glinting in her eyes.
"Whose she?" she singsonged. I rolled my eyes and started walking away. She hit my shoulder playfully and looked at me with her blue eyes, batting her eyelashes and giving me her signature puppy dog face.
"Please tell me, Austin?" she asked actually sounding vulnerable and insecure. But that's all part of the puppy dog act.
"You know that look doesn't work on me," I said. She shrugged and went back to normal.
"Can't say I tried," she said. She nodded her head down the corrider Haylei ran down.
"Whoever she was, she bumped into me. She seems to quiet and closed up," Lizzie said wrinkling her face in distaste.
"I'M quiet and closed up," I pointed out.
"And so is Kate, but that's not the point. There's something about her that screams 'LOVE ME!'" Lizzie said with disgust. I just looked at Lizzie.
"Is that so bad?" I asked. She jabbed her bony elbow into my side.
"Yes," she said wrinkling her nose. Then she hit my arm over and over trying to point someone out to me. Sigh, another crush. Then she poked my side.
"See ya, Austie," she said striding down the hall with her usual confidence, over to her new beau, Hunter Fox. I sighed and walked into my first period class, Biology 101. I was always the first one in. I sat down in my assigned seat and that's when the warning bell rang. Then all my other classmates came pouring in. They were all chatting, some about the weather, some about the Musical auditions starting. Finally Mr. D called order to the class. Everyone was silent while Mr. D wrote something on the board. Science Projects

. Everyone sighed. He put a finger to his lips.
"Everyone is going to turn in a Science Fair project. Each and every one of you, do you understand?" he asked his gray eyes sparkling. We all nodded, not understanding his enthusiasm.
"Except, you all get to have partners," he said. Everyone got all excited except me. Lizzie would pair up with Kate. Hugh would pair up with Eric. Hunter would pair up with the weird Manga Blonde that sat in the back. There was no one else I would be left with.
"Except, I

get to choose the partners," he finished. The class groaned. He read the list of people and who their partners would be.
"Austin Williams. You'll be with Lizzie Hart, Eric Trevor, and Haylei Wick," I looked around the room and locked eyes with all of them. That's when I realized Haylei was in my class. Of course at that moment, none of us realized that us being paired up together was going to be important. Class went by uninterestingly. Finally it was the end of school and Lizzie and I met Eric under the big willow tree that was in front of the high school. There wasn't much trees left but this tree was genetically altered to have it living in harsher conditions, like cacti.
"Where's that Haylei girl?" asked Lizzie impatient and tapping her foot. Eric shrugged.
"I dunno. I told her to meet us at the willow tree," he answered. Haylei finally came running up.
"Sorry I'm late. I didn't know what a willow tree was..." she muttered hiding her face behind her blindingly white hair. Then she looked up showing her shocking violet eyes with blue specks swimming around her pupil. She blushed when she caught me staring at her. Lizzie just stared at her, not hiding her disgust.
"Okay, well my house is just over there," said Eric pointing over at his house about 40 yards away.
"So we're walking?" asked Lizzie.
"Yeah," answered Eric. We all walked in silence. Honestly, none of us were friends. Lizzie was my ex-girlfriend who dumped me because she was fickle. Haylei was new and pretty shy. Eric..was Eric. No one was really friends with him besides Hugh. So, we all just walked silently to his house.
"Let's go into you're secret clubhouse underground," said Lizzie, her eyes glowing with excitement. Eric looked at her in surprise.
"How do you know about my secret clubhouse?" he asked. She looked at him in disbelief.
"Hugh told Kate and Kate told me, duh," she said dismissively and moving some huge and fake rock. Underneath the rock, was a huge hole leading into darkness. Eric leaned down and flipped a switch.
"You even know where it is?" he muttered. We followed him down the stairs, Lizzie pulling the fake rock over the hole. The lights flickered for a second as we walked down the creaky wooden steps. Finally the narrow pathway down the steps opened up into a bright plush room. The floor was a white plush carpet and there were some black sofas, a pool table, some video games, and a TV. Lizzie collapsed on one of the black sofas. Haylei made herself comfortable on the floor, playing with a lock of hair. Eric turned on the TV and fell lazily into one of the bean bags. I sat down kind of next to Haylei but not really. Eric was watching the news. The lady on the channel was way too cheery and way too smiley.
"And now to the weather! Bob?" she said with way too much enthusiasm.
"So, our project?" Lizzie asked. Eric and I shrugged. We weren't much of a science geek. Hugh was the one always coming up with everything. It excited him. Besides, everything technically already had been made. I mean hovering houses, hover cars, hollagrams, genetically engineered everything, what else?
"Everything's been made already," I said. Eric nodded. Lizzie just glared at us.
"You're point being?" she asked. Just as she said that the lady on the television screen started panicking.
"OH MY GOD! EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD IS BEING ATTACKED!" She screamed. Then it cut to a video of the white house exploding and everyone around it was dead. Then the Statue of Liberty exploded leaving New York City, demolished. It cut to the Great Wall of China. There goes China. Every major thing in the whole world in ever country/state was bombified. And everything was exploding at once. Haylei looked at me with stricken fear. Lizzie was frozen on the sofa. Eric couldn't take his eyes off the screen. I think the only one of us who was able to move was me. I was able to, but I didn't. Then the lights flickered and cut off. The TV was off. Everything was off. It was dark. Haylei or Lizzie let out a piercing scream when the lights cut off. Then someone jumped on me. I fell back with an umph.
"Who screamed?" asked Eric.
"And who just jumped on me?" I asked.
"Sorry, sorry. I just need to get out of here," I heard Haylei's voice whisper. Then the ground rumbled and we heard screaming up above. Haylei screamed again. Eric shined a flashlight our way. Haylei was sitting in my lap and burying her head in my shoulder. Her fingernails were digging into my skin. I could see Lizzie dimly and she looked smug and kind of angry at the same time.
"Afraid?" she asked Haylei. Haylei looked up, realized she was sitting on me, and practically ran off of me. She sat down in a corner by herself.
"A little," she replied to Lizzie's snark remark. Everything was silent.
"Should we look up above and see if everything's okay?" asked Eric.
"Did you SEE the videos on the news? Nobody would be okay," said Lizzie. Then her face twisted in remorse.
"Kate," she whispered in sudden fear. She looked at me frantically.
"Kate and Hugh. We have to make sure they're okay," she said a little dazed. I nodded my head.
"C'mon. The noise died down. Let's go check to see if anyone we know is alive," I said. Haylei nodded in agreement almost immediatly. Eric twisted his face in thought. Then he nodded too.
"Okay. I need to see if Hugh is alright," he replied. So with Eric leading the way up, we walked up the creaky wooden steps. Some of the steps were missing from that earthquake/bomb blowing up. Haylei huddled next to me without knowing it. So, like a gentleman I am, I wrapped my arm around her and brought her closer to me, for safety reasons of course. Lizzie pulled the rock off of the hole. When she got out we heard her gasp. We all climbed out and Haylei covered her mouth as we saw the destruction waiting for us. Everything was silent. Everything was in ruins. Lizzie then started to run.
"Lizzie! Where are you going?!" yelled Eric.
"I need to see if Kate's alright!" she yelled frantically over her shoulder. She looked like a mad woman. Haylei looked up at me.
"Let's go," she said quietly, her violet eyes big and round like disks. I nodded gazing into her eyes. So, we ran after her. Eric just sighed and then we heard him running behind us. Finally, we got to Kate's house. It was ruined like all the other houses. Then we heard a terrified scream coming from inside the house. It sounded like Lizzie. We all looked at each other and rushed in.
"Lizzie?" we all screamed looking around the house. I took Haylei's hand and looked in the kitchen. Haylei looked at our hands