Prologue:
Katy Blane and Samantha Fare had been best friends since the fifth grade. They had always thought nothing incredible would come between them, or happen to them. Boy, were they wrong…
Chapter 1:
Samantha Fare walked down the brick steps from her doorstep to the sidewalk. As she turned and continued down the block, she encased herself in her jacket. Even though it was the third week of August, it was uncomfortably chilly. She stopped at the corner and waited. And waited.
Finally, after about ten minutes, a girl walked up beside her and smiled. She was cute; red hair, some freckles around the brim of her eyes, and a very slim body.
"Hey, Sam. Did you do last night's homework? I got stuck on problem fifteen," she said, excitedly. Samantha nodded and answered in the same tone, "Yeah. God, I hate math. It sucks, man." She nodded. They chatted nonstop for the next five minutes. Until the bus came. Then they chatted nonstop until they got to school.
They hadn't even noticed the new girl sitting behind them.
As the pair walked to their lockers (which were conveniently located next to each other), they noticed that everyone was talking about something – or someone – nervously, but excitedly. They gave each other shrugs and opened the lockers. Samantha started to straighten her hair with her very effective fingers in front of her locker mirror. That's when Sarah Whilmer ran up.
Sarah had been a friend of both of theirs since last year. She was always the one to bring them some important news or whatever.
"Have you guys heard the news?" she asked. Before they could even answer she went on, "Dellton Middle has a new student. Her name's – um, well, whatever. It's like, really long and weird. Oh, and I heard she's got a couple classes with you, Kate. Whoa, I'm going to be late for class. I do not want to be tardy for Miss Harring's class again. Later." They watched her shoot down the hall and duck into her class. Katy smiled. Samantha looked at her and laughed. Katy waved at her and entered the classroom across the hall while Sam entered the one down the hall.
Katy saw something that shocked her. There was a person in her regular seat. Her sudden emotion turned to confusion. Yeah, there was a person in her seat and it wasn't her, but she didn't know her. And now that was shocking. Katy was very popular in her grade and she knew everyone in the school. Oh, wait, she thought as she walked towards her, that must be that new kid that Sarah was going on about. She walked up to the brunette, smiling.
"Excuse me," Katy asked. The girl didn't stir. "Um, that's my seat. Could you move?" The girl looked up at her. She stunned Katy with her beautifulness. She had the longest brown hair that Katy had ever seen, her eyes were a tan – yellow color, and she was sort of tall and very slender. Without one word she moved into the empty seat next to her.
Katy set her books on the ground and looked back up at her. A lot of the other kids were looking at her as well, some murmuring to the other. Most of the boys looked stunned and interested. She shook them out of her head and turned back to the silent child.
"Um, yo. So you're the new girl? I just, like, wanted to tell you everybody's going to be asking you all sorts of questions for the next few days. What's your name again? And where'd you say you were from?"
She hadn't answer by the time the teacher walked in.
Class rang and the girl was the first one out the door. For the rest of the day, after finding out she also was with her in math and English, she couldn't keep from wondering about her. She thought to herself while Sam babbled on about her crush, a boy named Dylan. Why was she silent? Why was she rude? I have to get to know her.
A week went by, and not a sound poured from the girls lips. She seemed, other than that, normal. She did her homework, was almost never tardy, and paid attention. Now come to mention it, she was a little different to Katy. Honestly, how many kids in your science class taught by someone as boring as Mrs. Finkle truly pay attention? It was just weird. Well, Friday had finally come, Katy thought to herself. She was going camping with Sam, Sam's dad, and, of course, her Australian shepherd, Boomer.
She got on the bus, talking with Samantha about how great the last week of summer would be, but also keeping a close eye on the seat two rows up, which that girl had taken.
Chapter 2:
"Katy? Katy? Katy!" Samantha yelled in her friend's ear.
"Huh? What? Who?" Come on Kate, Katy thought, get it together. She returned to Earth and turned to Samantha, "Yeah? Sorry, I keep on getting that new girl in my head. God, she's so weird. Isn't she?" Samantha gave her a confused look and said, "Uh, sure. Whatever. I just wanted to say we were here. We're pulling into the grounds now."
They looked out of the Subaru's side window. They could see an enormous field covered in dead grass and bushes. On the outskirts of the giant clearing, there was forest as far as the eye could see. Samantha smiled and Katy stared out into the woods. Something didn't feel right.
The car stopped and the three people and dog poured out of the Subaru. Boomer ran around howling at something that wasn't there, while the others were getting their bags. Mr. Fare led the way to the middle of the clearing. Then he stopped and dropped the bags.
"Here's where we'll set up camp," he said happily.
It took all three of them (with absolutely no help from Boomer; all he did was knock the tents down) almost two hours to finish what they would call home for the next three days. They, in the end, had two tents within the space of ten yards, a small fire pit, and a small river nearby for bathing. It was very…cute.
Around four they ate some pre – packed lunch meat sandwiches. Mr. Fare started to pack up the food and get ready for dusk when the two girls pitched in. He stopped them, "Girls, go have fun. Have an adventure. Go on, get. I can handle this place. Go."
Mr. Fare made them take flashlights, assuming they'd be out after dusk. The girls made their way to the edge of the clearing. After waving good – bye, they set off in the woods. It was around four – thirty, so they still had a good two hours before the Sun set for the night. The trudged together silently through the woods, getting as far as a half a mile when they heard something.
Crack.
"Oh my God. Did you hear that too, Katy? Please say yes."
"Um, yeah, I heard it. Maybe it's just your dad coming to get us," Katy answered nervously.
"That wasn't – couldn't be Dad. That was way to light a footstep. Hey Katy?"
"What?"
"Don't wolves and bears live in the woods?"
Katy gulped, "Yeah huh." They huddled together close behind a tree. The footsteps and cracking of dead branches and trees got closer, faster and louder. The two girls stayed behind the tree, whimpering. Then after thirty seconds, it stopped. The only sound they could hear was the howling wind and their own heavy breathing.
"Boo!" The girls screamed and fell over, scrambling t get to their feet to make a break for it. Then Sam looked up.
"You?!" They said in unison. Standing before them, a dark – haired girl with amazing features stood in front of them, laughing hysterically. It was the girl. She reached down to them and said, "Sorry. I couldn't resist. You looked like you were lost. Maybe I can help?" Both the girls sat there amazed and slightly still in shock.
There was the girl who had not spoken a word to anyone over the last week. There was the girl who no one knew anything about. Yet there she was. Standing in front of them, kneeling on one knee, being as friendly as she could ever be. In a word, freaky.
Samantha and Katy shot up to their feet. They stood there in utter silence until the girl said, finally, "Would you like my help or not?" Samantha immediately began to interrogate.
"How did you get here? Do you live here? Why'd you scare us like that? What's your problem? What's your name?!" she practically screamed at her. Katy looked at her friend. She looked like she was at the point of a heart attack. She had to stop herself from laughing out loud.
The young girl looked at them both. She smiled at them and said, "My name is Ricandra. You may call me Rikky for short. My parent's own a cabin up here. We stay here during weekends. And I told you before, I couldn't resist. Happy?"
Chapter 3:
Katy couldn't believe what she was seeing or hearing. That girl – Ricandra had just told her everything. Everything! It was amazing.
"Uh, yeah. Hi, I'm Katy Blane and this here is Samantha Fare. Listen, we got to get going so I guess we'll maybe see you around