Chapter 1

Rachel

I shoved the numerous outfits I had laid out the night before into the almost over-flowing suitcase sitting on my bed. There was no way all of my stuff was going to fit in it... Oh well. I continued to ransack my apartment for things to pack, heart thudding with excitement. In just a short 17 hours, I would be in the insanely green and red heaven that is Prince Edward Island.

The sound of knocking echoed throughout the small apartment, and the door opened to reveal the insanely attractive and muscular Jared Timber. Sadly, he's my best friend, so I don't qualify to date him.

"Hey!" He grinned, catching me in a hug and planting a kiss the top of my head. I laughed and looked up at him, his sandy blond hair falling over his eyes.

"Jared! Get off me and go shave." I said crossly.

His eyebrows rose, "Shave?" He asked, face quizzical. I nodded and gestured towards the stubble on his chin.

"Every time you hug me now, my face gets all scratched." I complained, twisting out of his grip. He laughed and rubbed the side of his face.

"It's not that bad is it?" He winked, his blue-grey eyes twinkling. I rolled my eyes and strolled away; grabbing the bag I kept my makeup and other bathroom stuff in and tossing it in the general direction of my suitcase. It missed the opening and toppled off the edge of the bed and onto the floor.

Jared picked it up and placed it into my suitcase, rifling through the stuff I had previously shoved in. I stormed over and hit his shoulders, hating that I had to go on my toes to do it, "Stop snooping through my crap and get the car ready."

"So you mean you're finally done packing?" He said sarcastically, taking his car keys from the pocket of his sweater and swinging them around his finger. The keys rattled and shone as they waved around in the air.

"Yes, that means I'm done. Jeez, you're impatient." I zipped up my suitcase and started lugging it out the door, stopping to check and make sure I had turned off all the lights. God knows how long I would be gone for. Then I shut the door and twisted the handle, making sure it was locked before I hauled the suitcase- which was half the size of me –into the awaiting elevator.

I slid in and watched the elevator doors slide shut, my stomach dropping as the elevator lurched downwards suddenly. I stared at my reflection in the doors, my long blond hair dropping to the center of my back in ringlets and brushing over my light green eyes. I had on my favourite blue baggy sweater- perfect for sleeping in the car during drives, and light grey sweatpants. My makeup was quickly brushed on- I was too excited this morning to even bother putting eyeliner on.

Jared of course, looked amazing. His sandy blond hair was spiked up in the front, his eyes sharp and focused. You could see the muscles on his arms through the sweater he was wearing, and his lips tweaked in a smile when he noticed I was staring at him.

"Whatcha' looking at?" He laughed as my face flushed, and I averted my eyes as to avoid his gaze.

"Nothing." I mumbled, silently thanking the heavens that the elevator had reached the bottom and was sliding open, giving me a chance to escape.

Out the door and in his comfortable blue truck, I allowed myself to doze in the front seat, propped against a pillow as he secured the luggage in the trunk.

I woke up a couple hours later- clearly, I had been more tired than I had thought. Jared glanced over at me while I was rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and yawning.

"Finally awake?" He asked grinning.

"Yeah, yeah." I mumbled, not fully conscious. I stretched my aching limbs and turned up the stereo, which was playing a country song.

I grimaced, "What's this bumpkin stuff?" I hated country music. No idea why, I just never liked it; even when I was little.

"No idea." He punched in a CD, skipping to a certain song. As soon as the drum beats started I recognized it and sat up straight in my seat, the techno song managing to get me fully awake and bouncing to the beat.

I rolled down the window and stuck my hand out the window, feeling the cool air splay my fingers apart.

"This is going to be an awesome summer vacation." I grinned, closing my eyes and luxuriating in the feeling of warm wind twisting in my hand.

"Yeah," Jared agreed, "And it'll be great to get out of Kingston and away from Ruzbic for a while." I nodded. Ruzbic University was one of the more expensive universities in Kingston that both Jared and I attended, and now that we were finally going to P.E.I we could escape the stress of homework and relax more.

"So Jared," I started.

"So Rachel." He echoed.

"This is what, your second time going to Prince Edward?" I asked, turning down the techno so I could hear him better.

"Yeah."

"Why did you go the first time?"

He hesitated, "Business."

"You went there for business? What kind of business involves a 20 year old man who's still in University?"

"Family business." I shut up then. Jared's family history was kind of messed up; he didn't talk about it much. All I knew was that he hated his father, for something that involved a lot of court sessions and law suits since he was six.

I sighed, causing him to shoot a confused glance in my direction, "What's wrong?"

"You know, I woke up this morning super excited."

"And...?"

"And now I'm realizing this is going to be a very long drive."

We stopped at a cafe for dinner, eating extremely overpriced egg salad sandwiches' and sipping cartons of chocolate milk before going back into the truck and heading back out onto the road. Eventually we pulled up to wear a long line of cars were waiting to board onto the ferry. I groaned, wishing that we could be on the boat already.

"How much longer is it going to be?" I wailed, flailing my arms around in frustration.

"About a 20 more minutes until we're boarding." He yawned. I placed the pillow I had been sleeping on over my face and screamed, the pillow muffling the yell.

"I want to be on now." I whined.

"Impatient?"

"You know me Jared, I'm always impatient." He laughed, sounding exhausted. I didn't blame him.

After what seemed like forever, the line started movie, jostling us awake so we could drive onto the ship and climb into the small rooms provided- and when I say small, I mean small.

There was barely enough space to be considered a room, with two bunk beds tacked onto the wall and a door leading into a bathroom containing only a toilet and a sink.

"Well, I don't know about you but I want to go look around the ship." I declared. It was my first time on a ferry, sad as it sounds considering I was 19 years old, but I was buzzing with excitement that we were finally here.

"I'll go with you if you want." Jared grinned, seeing my happiness etched onto every feature.

"Okay." I smiled.

We had gotten to the doors before Jared smacked his forehead, "I forgot to lock the door. I'll b back in 5 minutes, tops."

"Good job," I laughed, "I'll be outside on the dock somewhere."

He nodded and ran back as I walked out the door and started to stroll around the outside of the boat, the night air running through my blond hair. I laughed despite the fact that everyone was staring at me and leaned over the edge, loving how the waves crashed against the side of the ship.

"Oh god. Of all the people I had to see here, why is it you?" I heard someone sneer. I automatically tensed, recognizing her voice. Sure enough, when I turned I saw Jessica Dominique, who was a rank A snob that went to Ruzbic. We never got along.

Why was it we hated each other? No idea; but we did. Her cropped brown hair was being flung everywhere, her smoky blue eyes glaring at me. Worst of all, she was about a foot taller than I was, so she could literally talk down to me. Beside her was her one-of-many boyfriends Austin.

"Just when I was starting to think this was going to be fun." I muttered. She ignored me and glanced around.

"So where's your boyfriend?"

My eyebrows rose, "Excuse me?"

"Justin or whatever his name is. You know- tall, great body, hangs around you all the time."

"You mean Jared?" I let out a laugh, noticing how her jaw tensed up as I did. She opened her mouth to talk and I interrupted her, "He's here, yes, and he's not my boyfriend."

"Oh right, I forgot. You can't get one." She laughed.

"At least I don't have four, unlike a certain person I know." I said innocently, watching her teeth clench. She looked at Austin quickly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Okay, she was really starting to annoy me. I sucked in a breath.

"Well, that isn't what Dylan says." I said, "Because he asked me a couple days ago for what to get you as a 2 month anniversary present." Austin's eyebrows shot up.

"You and Dylan? Dylan Limmer?" He asked her, shocked written all over his face.

I grinned, "Limmer. Yeah, that's the one. I'm pretty sure there's also a Max Little and Tanner Jenkins somewhere in all of this... is that right Jessica?" Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Jared coming out of the door, his eyes narrowing as he spotted me talking to Jessica.

"You little..." She snarled, not even bothering to finish the insult. Her hand clenched and she lashed out, hitting me in side of the face. I gasped, reeling backwards.

"Jessica!" Austin yelled, reaching out to steady me.

"I'm going to kill you!" She screamed, shoving me closer to the railing. The back of my foot hit a rod lying on the floor and I ended up toppling backwards, falling over the side of the railing.

I screamed, arms reaching out to catch hold of something- anything –before I was launched into the black waves below me and engulfed in shadows.