Read Fear Me Not (The EVE Chronicles) for Free Online

I point my fork at her.
    “It is alien to me.” She smiles, and gets up, taking her empty tray with her.
    The school strives to make this place as normal as possible despite the Gutters. There’s lunch, recess, English and Chemistry, clubs and a football team. Gutters and EVEs have the same curriculum save for one exception - all EVEs have a class on Gutter culture, just as Gutters have a class on human culture. Our culture teacher, Ms. Gianca, is a slender female Gutter who wears her hair in a strict bun, and has thick glasses. There’s a wary silence as she writes on the white board. 
    “Would anyone care to offer me what they know about Gutters?” Ms. Gianca asks. A girl raises her hand.
    “You’re like, frogs or something, right? I mean, before you guys landed you looked different.”
    Ms. Gianca frowns. “Please know this now - this class is not meant to highlight the differences between Gutters and humans, but rather, the similarities.”
    “But you guys are lizard men, right?” A boy tries.
    “To us, Mr. Hannon, you are fleshy monkey men. It is all relative.” Her voice is patient. A laugh goes around the room. Her natural grace reminds me of Raine - she’s probably part of the Illuminator faction.
    “We had a planet once, but were forced to leave it. Think of us not as aliens, but as humans such as yourselves - displaced, afraid, low on supplies, and without a home. Humans were kind enough to offer us a rest stop where we needed it most. Without you, without EVEs , we would have surely died. We are grateful, indebted to you until it is time for us to leave.”
    Ms. Gianca’s benevolent smile grows kinder.
    “It is imperative to remember that we are only temporary guests on your planet. We will leave when our ship is repaired sufficiently and impede upon you no longer. Ideally, by the time you have children of your own, we will be long gone.” 
    She turns back to the board. “You must know the following for the final exam this semester; Gutters are not dangerous. Despite the rumors, Gutters have no special abilities, or enhanced senses. We are in human bodies, after all. We are as you are. Lastly, Gutters will always do their best to respect the human culture, and we ask the same from you.”
    No one knows what to say. Respect? There can be no respect when they’re so painfully different from us. We write it down and try not to think about what it really means, or what she’s really asking of us.
    I raise my hand. Ms. Gianca points to me.
    “Yes, Ms. Hale?”
    “Your noses - you guys have really good smelling, right?”
    Ms. Gianca looks shocked, but quickly regains her composure. I press on.
    “You said you had no extra powers or senses. But you do. So why did you lie?”
    The quiet in the room becomes heavy. Students look to each other warily, shooting looks at Ms. Gianca, who laughs and fails to cover the nervous jingle in the sound.
    “Ms. Hale, we do not have any extra senses. We are as normal as you. We are on equal footing.”
    “But –”
    “On page 48,” she interrupts quickly. “You’ll find an essay question. I’d like for you to write a two-page paper on this question, specifically –”
    I tune her out and glower at the textbook. Why did she lie?
    Or is Shadus actually lying?
    The window shows the front lawn and the steel fence around the perimeter of the school. It isn’t to keep us in. It’s to keep the world out. Today, the protestors went home early, wrappers and water bottles as their footprints. Discarded signs litter the lawn; Alien Scum Endangering Our Sons, Bring Our Kids Home, Racial Purity>Money .
    I hug my books to my chest and shuffle to study hall. We aren’t the first teenage EVEs. It’s not the fact we’re EVEs the people outside are mad about. It’s the fact we’re living and learning alongside Gutters.
    The library is all dark wood and looming shelves. Gutter and EVE pairs litter the tables - the librarian had gone around the room and corralled us