The alarm clock blares on cue. 7:15am results in a loud and hard to miss tone. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Daniel, now 18, wakes with a disapproving grunt. He lays on his right and extends a hand to hit the top button on his alarm clock. His hand rests there for a bit as Daniel's eyes shut for a minute before he jolts awake and sits up in his bed, stretching out a bit as he yawns. He pulls himself out of bed finally and throws on a shirt that was laying over his desk chair and starts downstairs where he finds a pancake breakfast has already been made and is waiting for him on the dining table.
Daniel and his mother and father sit down to breakfast and talk about their plans for the days. Nothing too out of the ordinary and Daniel had quite the day ahead of him. First school and then meeting with some friends at the mall then maybe they'd throw a last minute party to celebrate him finally turning 18. The youngest amongst his group of friends. His mother and father gave their typical day to day plans when actually they were both planning on getting off work early to throw a surprise party for their only son. The three went about their breakfast till it was just about time for Daniel to get ready for school. He headed back upstairs to shower and get dress and collect his school books and backpack before his friend, Brian pulled up to Daniel's house, honking his horn to announce his arrival which he knew the neighbor's hated. Daniel said his goodbyes and rushed out the door.
Another normal day at school. Long classes and teachers just going on and on. A quiz here and there and the usual kids passing notes. Nothing new except today he happened to catch sight of a fellow classmate so intently staring at him. He had to do a double take from his own math quiz to see her head and half her upper body was turned to look directly at him and no one else seemed to mind, especially the teacher whose eyes swept the classroom every so often. How could she have missed the student turned in the opposite direction. It could come off as cheating or something. Daniel focused back on his test and soon enough the bell rang. When he looked up after a minute or two, the girl was gone. The seat completely empty. His teacher came up to his desk, extending a hand as a gesture for him to hand her his quiz. Daniel placed it in his teacher's hand with a smile then got up and left the classroom. He seemed rather confused as he focused on the empty seat which just five minutes ago sat a beautiful brunette girl, with eyes so intense, so dangerous. Daniel had to find out who she was.
As if in the blink of an eye, the final bell had rung and Daniel was on his way to his locker to make sure he had the right text books to study from for the later evening. As he shut his locker, there stood a jock like man who stood just a couple of inches taller than Daniel. He had dirty blond hair and the tight polo shirt was only to pronounce his muscles more. A bait for the ladies.
"Danny!" The jock called out which caused a few students to look toward the booming sound of his voice.
"Alan!" Daniel tried to match the man's deeper voice as the other went in for a hug.
"Finally 18, man! An adult." Alan said as he pulled back from the hug, "how's if feel, huh? Freedom!"
"I haven't felt a difference yet but maybe that's still to come..." Daniel muttered as something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was her. The female student from class who was more fascinated by him instead of the test. The one with the dangerous stare. Daniel swallowed nervously and blinked but when he focused back on her ... she was gone. The surprise caught him off gourd and he let out a soft gasp. He hurried off down the hall, Alan calling after him and soon following. Daniel made it to the end of the hall and turned the corner. No students, no faculty, no anyone. Ghost town.
"You okay, man?" Alan asked.
"Did you see her?" Daniel asked as he turned to his friend.
"Who...?"
"The girl! ... Dude, she was staring at me all throughout second period today. The teacher didn't even care. Neither did the other students."
Alan just shrugged, "I think maybe you need more sleep."
"It's like she was wanting to tell me something." Daniel started his thought as Alan pulled him away with an arm around his shoulder as he then lead them to the door.
"Let's pre-game .. you know, before the mall." Alan said, patting Daniel's shoulder as he stopped them in front of his Jeep. The two got in and Daniel took one last look toward the school. His breath caught as he saw her again. This time, Daniel can tell that she was crying.
"Trying to warn me ..." Daniel finished his thought as Alan pealed out of the school parking lot.
Daniel watched in the side mirror, noticing the girl follow them on foot but as they got into the heavy traffic of the highway, cars sped by and she just vanished. This had to be some sort of a joke maybe. A dream ... A nightmare. Daniel didn't even recognize this girl but she knew him. He looked forward, staring up at the red traffic light as Alan blasted some of his favorite songs through the car speakers. Daniel just had to calm down. It was his birthday after all. It was going to be a good day. He took a deep breath and tried to forget the mystery girl though, Daniel had a feeling that he'd see her again.