So the characters start off at six and seven and the story will progress until they're seventeen and eighteen. There's an eleven year gap and there will be chapters for some of the ages in between. I am not entirely sure how long it will be, but I have the plot and all the key points I want to use so it could be pretty long (at least that's my goal.) I really want to hear your opinion on this so I know what I am doing wrong. Criticize as you see fit, you are entitled to your opinion, feel free to exercise that right.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights to Kelley Armstrong.

Aunt Lauren walked me into my classroom, my school bag in hand. She knelt to my level and gave me a hug.

"Use the teacher's phone to call me if you need to come home," she said. "Alright sweetheart?"

I nodded and she handed me my bag. Aunt Lauren was referring to the episode I had had last week during recess. I had walked into the principal's office sobbing, saying I had fallen and torn my dress. Which was true, but I didn't normally cry about things like that. It was just that that day had marked one whole year since the death of my mother, and my torn dress had triggered a nonstop flow of tears I had been keeping in all day. Aunt Lauren had tried to come get me, but couldn't leave work before school let out. So, I spent the remainder of my day wandering aimlessly around the school library with Principal McAllen; occasionally picking out a book and ruining the pages with renewed tears.

But today I had made a promise to myself not to let that happen again. I hugged Aunt Lauren goodbye and put my bag in my cubby. All the other kids were in their seats already, chattering amongst themselves. I walked to my desk in the corner. I sat in a group with my three best friends- Nate, Liz, and Rae. All three were huddled together- Liz was prattling on about her new dress her father bought her.

"It's so pretty. Daddy got it for me because he knows green is my favorite- oh, Chloe!" Liz said when she spotted me. "Chloe, Chloe, Chloe!"

I waved and plopped down in my chair. Liz looked at me excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"Look what daddy bought me!" She hopped up and spun around in her new bright green dress, her pigtails almost hitting Nate in the nose once or twice.

"It's pretty," I said enthusiastically.

"I think blue would be prettier," Rae chimed in.

"But I don't like blue, I like green," Liz huffed.

"But blue is pretty, like the ocean!"

Liz pondered that thought, tapping her foot and rubbing her chin as a sign she was in deep concentration.

"It's just a dress," Nate said.

Liz and Rae looked at him as if he were crazy.

Nate mumbled 'girls' under his breath and I laughed. "So, Chloe," he said, turning to me. "Guess what, guess what, guess what!"

"What?"

"My birthday is in a month and my dad is going to take us to laser tag!" He spent the next five minutes talking about the joys of laser tag, hardly stopping to breathe. I didn't mind though. I wasn't very talkative because I had a stutter, so when Nate was in the zone, I felt no need to insert my opinion.

By the time the bell rang, our teacher was nowhere to be seen. None of the other students seemed to mind much, though. Nate sure didn't. He continued on with his explanation disregarding the bell officially starting class.

Nate became a little too excited, and as he was launching into a completely different spiel about how his brother was flying in for his party, when the resonating sound of a familiar voice quieted him down.

"Hello everyone," our teacher called from the doorway. Nate shifted in his chair to get a better look. "Today I have a special surprise for all of you."

The class grew excited and started questioning our teacher about the surprise. She clapped both of her hands together in a rhythm that the class soon mimicked- her way of informing us we were supposed to be quiet so she could talk.

She smiled at us and walked into the room. Taking her place in the doorway was a boy that looked about the same age as me. He had light hair and dark brown eyes. The entire class gasped and buzzed with excitement. They leaned over to their friends' desks to parley the news of the new kid to each other- feeling the need to inform one another of their new classmate as if they didn't have eyes to see him for themselves.

Our teacher clapped her hands and again, the class copied her.

"Would you like to tell the class your name, dear?" She asked the boy.

He smiled warmly and nodded his head. "Hi, I'm Simon!" He waved his hand at everyone enthusiastically.

"Hi Simon," the class responded. The boy's smile grew.

"Simon just moved here from Rochester. His brother is in Mrs. Smith's class. I want you all to be on your best behavior and be nice to both of them since moving to a new place can be very hard." She turned to Simon and stooped down to look him in the eye. "How about we put you in the empty chair over by Amber," she pointed to Amber Long, who raised both hands and waved them in a big circle. "She can grab you a workbook and I will take your bag and place it in your new cubby, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," he said politely.

She smiled at him and Simon took a seat over by Amber. All of the kids gathered around him and bent his ear with introductions and invitations to sit with them during lunch. Nate, Liz, Rae and I got up from our seats to join them. I hung back a little as they made their way to the front of the group.

"Hi, I'm Elizabeth," Liz said. "But I go by Liz."

Simon smiled and shook her outstretched hand. He didn't seem perturbed in the least by all the attention he was receiving- despite being at a new school.

"This is Nate and Rae and Chloe," she pointed to the three of us. Simon waved and another kid- Austin- shouldered his way to the front of the group and introduced himself.

We heard clapping from the front of the classroom and scrambled back to our seats and repeated the rhythm. Our teacher had us pull out our phonics workbooks and the rest of class up until lunch was spent learning and practicing letters n through r. I liked writing my letters so it was no surprise when I finished my worksheet before everyone else. Although, that may have had more to do with the fact that no one could concentrate with Simon around.

When lunch time came, all the kids followed Simon out to the playground and gathered around the bench where he ate his lunch. It was really comical how they swarmed him, but, again, he didn't seem to mind much. Liz and I went to the swing set and Nate and Rae went to bug Simon. When the first graders came out for their lunch break, most of the kindergarteners around Simon left to go find his brother- who was in Mrs. Smith's first grade class, according to our teacher. A whole bunch of first graders came to Simon's side. Liz walked over to them and came back to the swings with a confused expression on her face.

"They said the new boy is mute," she said.

"He can't talk?"

She nodded. "Mrs. Smith asked him to say his name and he just shook his head and sat down. They said he doesn't look like Simon either. He has black hair and is really tall."

I frowned and stood up, scanning the playground, looking for the new boy. It didn't seem too hard, in theory. Just look for the kid I didn't know that had black hair. It was actually much harder than it sounded since I didn't know any of the first graders. So I tried something else. I figured if he was mute then he wouldn't be with playing anyone. Solution; look for the kid all by himself. Most of the kids were clustered around Simon, so the playground was almost barren- save the kid off by himself sitting under a tree.

"I think I see him," I said. I turned towards Liz and saw that she had already made her way back to Simon's little huddle. I sighed and started towards the tree. The boy did have black hair, but I couldn't tell how tall he was, since he was sitting. His hair fell into his face and in his hands he had a book.

He could read?! I was stunned. Aunt Lauren said that I wouldn't be able to read until the end of first grade. It was barely September, and this first grader was already reading chapter books! I was very impressed.

I tapped his shoulder. He looked up at me with an annoyed expression on his face. Liz had been right- he didn't look like Simon. Simon had blonde hair while this other boy's hair was black as ink. Simon's eyes were dark brown- warm and inviting; this new boy had piercing green eyes that were cold and judging. I flinched a little but regained my composure and sat down with him. He arched an eyebrow at me and scooted away.

"H-how long h-h-have you been a-able to r-read?" I spoke slowly to see if he knew how to lip read. He didn't respond (whether it was because he couldn't lip read or because of my stutter, I wasn't sure) and I didn't really know what else to say after that. He wore the same cold expression despite my attempts to be friendly.

The teacher's shrill whistle cut through the tension like a knife. The whistle mean that it was time for the kindergarteners to go in. I waved at the new kid and ran into the school.

In class, the teacher started us on our numbers, which I could not figure out for the life of me. As I was working on the numbers that went up to fifteen, a shadow passed over my paper. I looked up and saw Simon standing by my seat.

"Hi," he said.

"H-h-hi" I mumbled. Simon gave me a funny look and my face grew red. Because I went to speech therapy for my stutter it had gotten better, but it normally came up when I was scared or nervous. I guess I should add talking to new kids to that list.

Simon brushed it off and smiled at me, holding out his hand in greeting. I shook his hand.

"Were you talking to my brother?" He asked.

"I-I," that wasn't really a question I had expected. I had expected something more along the lines of 'How long have you gone to school here?' or 'Can I sit with you?' Something at least pertaining to the school he's never been to before today. "H-he looked l-lonely."

Simon smiled at me and then made his way back to his desk. I stared at his back as he walked away.

These kids are all crazy.

After school, Aunt Lauren came pick me up. I stayed with her when my dad was away on business- which seemed to be more and more often nowadays. When we got home, Aunt Lauren started making dinner while I worked on my homework. I had finally gotten to fifteen and tried counting higher even though that wasn't assigned. To be honest, it was a lost cause, but I used it as an excuse not to talk, to just think.

I felt kind of bad that Simon's brother couldn't talk. Dad had said that most people like that also couldn't hear. They had to lip read and use sign language.

When dinner rolled around I didn't feel like eating, so I just sat in my chair and poked at my spaghetti with my fork. Aunt Lauren didn't seem to notice this at first.

"Mrs. Ballou from across the street is going to bring her dog over," she said. "Her dog will be staying with us for a little bit while she is away."

I mumbled something unintelligible.

"Is everything alright, Chloe?" Aunt Lauren asked.

"Yeah," I said, not looking up. "We got a new student today. And he has a brother in first grade."

"Oh, that's good," she said, rather relieved that it wasn't anything serious. "Are they nice?"

"Well, Simon is nice. He is in my class. But his brother doesn't talk to anyone. He's mute and sits by himself at lunch."

"Oh," Aunt Lauren mulled that over as I pushed my plate away. I turned to hop off my chair.

"Hold on dear," she said. "Are you sure that this boy is mute?"

I thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, and I don't think the boy can lip read either." I had to keep calling him 'the boy' because I had no clue what his name was. I had been ready to leave the table again when an idea struck me. I paused and turned to my aunt. "Aunt Lauren, how do you say my name in sign language?"

Aunt Lauren laughed a little. "You can't really sign the name 'Chloe.' A deaf person would have to give you a sign that you could do."

I gave her a confused look and she laughed.

"Here, I can show you how to sign the letters that spell your name."

For the rest of dinner, Aunt Lauren taught me how to sign the letters of my name. When I was certain I had them down, Aunt Lauren went upstairs to draw my bath.

I stayed awake for an hour after my bedtime signing the letters to ensure I didn't forget them come Monday. I wasn't looking forward to waiting the entire weekend before I could see the new kids again, but all that soon dissipated as I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The next day, Mrs. Ballou brought her dog over. She was tiny. She was a brown and black shitzu with short, stubby legs. She didn't bark; she made annoying yipping sounds. Mrs. Ballou brought a special dog bed for her to sleep on, with the name 'Pumpkin' embroidered on it- however, she much preferred to climb into my bed and sit right in the middle, which meant I had twist my body at almost impossible angles to fit on the bed without crushing her.

I woke up the next morning and would have basked in the fact that it was a Sunday- if I wasn't twisted on my bed like a pretzel. The dog was gone- I could hear her yipping from down the hall. I lifted myself onto my elbows. My legs were still asleep, as if they hadn't gotten the memo that it was morning yet. I could hear Aunt Lauren calling me. I got up and stumbled down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Good morning dear," Aunt Lauren said. She walked by and kissed my head.

"Ew," I snapped my hands over heads and ran to the table. She laughed and walked over to the stove, the yippy dog trailing her.

"Pancakes?" She asked.

I nodded my head, keeping my hands locked in place. She laughed again.

Over breakfast, Aunt Lauren got a phone call and walked to the living room. I could hear her arguing with the person on the other end of the line in the living room. She sighed and came back, telling me that she needed to go back to work to sign off on some papers- which would take ten minutes, tops, she reassured. She gave me rules and told me to stay inside and left for work.

She was gone for more than ten minutes. When twenty had ticked by, I heard a knock on the door.

"Chloe?" A voice said. "It's Mrs. Tennyson, from across the street, your Aunt asked me to stop by."

I looked at the door and contemplated opening it. It sounded like Mrs. Tennyson, so I figured it must be her. I opened the door- being careful not to let Pumpkin escape- and found a tall, plump lady standing on the porch.

"Hi," she said. "Your Aunt wants me to look after you while she is at work."

"Why isn't she here?" I asked, propping my hands on my hips.

"She had some things come up at work. But don't worry, she should be back soon. In the meantime," she reached into her purse and pulled out a box, "I brought cookies."

I let her in, and she bent to pet Pumpkin. Pumpkin was not all too fond of that and tried to twist out of the way. Mrs. Tennyson picked her up and started to smother her, gushing about how cute she was. Pumpkin looked over her shoulder at me and I stuck my tongue out at her.

Mrs. Tennyson decided that we should play a board game, so I grabbed down 'Sorry' from the cabinet. She let me beat her while she snacked on the cookies she brought. When lunch time came around, she was complaining of feeling sick. When I pointed out it might have been because of the cookies, she waved me off and popped another in her mouth. Pumpkin was yipping nervously at the door and Mrs. Tennyson and I walked outside so Pumpkin could do her thing. Mrs. Tennyson sat down on one of the porch chairs and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep in a matter of minutes. I sighed and followed Pumpkin to the fence where she was precariously sniffing away at a tall bush.

"That," I said, pointing back at the porch, "is what we humans call a sugar crash."

She kept sniffing, nudging a partially hidden stick in the brambles of branches. She was able to get it moved when I realized that it was way too wide to be a stick- it was a plank of the fence. She forced the plank aside and squeezed herself through a hole she had created.

I gasped and flung myself forward, but she was already long gone. I pushed the plank open and was able to make an opening big enough for me to fit. I paused, halfway through the gate, looking back at Mrs. Tennyson. I tossed through my mind different scenarios of what would happen if I went back for her, but when I heard Pumpkin's little yips from the direction of the woods, I sprinted away from the house. There was a small wood that separated Aunt Lauren's neighborhood from the next, and from the next was a patch of wood being cut down and bulldozed. I scrambled through the trees, following the sound of Pumpkin's yips.

Dead leaves crunched under my feet. Cold air cut through my jacket. The floor of the wood was clear of underbrush and most of the branches on the trees weren't any closer to the ground than at least five feet. This should have made it easy to run through, but there were so many trees that it was impossible to run in a straight path. Pumpkin was visible through the trees, running out to the street of the next neighborhood.

When I came out of the wood I could see her running up the side of the road, towards the bulldozers. She skirted around the orange fencing of the construction site and behind the houses of the next neighborhood. I followed her, as quickly as I could. I came to the street and looked both ways, seeing no cars. I ran forward and followed Pumpkin. She was cutting through unfenced backyards, narrowly missing a sand box full of small children. I ran through the yards, stuttering apologies as the kids stared.

I ended up at another street separating us from another neighborhood. Again, I checked for cars and, seeing none, began to cross. As I was halfway across, a car turned onto the street. I stopped, unable to move my feet in pure terror. A black car whipped around the turn and skidded to a stop. I could see a man though the windshield, his eyes wide. He opened the driver's side door and stepped out, gawking at me. I sped across the street and into another patch of wood before he could say a word.

I could see Pumpkin again. She had stopped to sniff a presumably dead animal in the dirt. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and shook myself. When Pumpkin noticed me she shot off like a bullet, weaving her way through the trees. I chased her behind multiple houses when she suddenly stopped running and steeled herself. She turned toward a fence, her lips curled to reveal small white teeth as she snarled. I was walking up behind her, too afraid to grab her because of her sudden change in behavior. She prowled towards the fence, growling and finally letting out a real bark- or, something close to it.

A head shot up from behind the fence. I stopped and waited for whatever punishment would befall me for trespassing behind this person's yard. This head, however, had yet to notice me and was staring directly at Pumpkin. I heard more growling and wondered if there was another dog, but all there was was a little head with a black mop of hair. Pumpkin tore off towards the direction of Aunt Lauren's house, and I was too tired to give chase. I bent over, placing my hands on my knees, and started panting. The head turned towards me then. Big green eyes glared at me from under black bangs, and it took me a moment to finally connect the face to previous encounters I had filed away in my head.

This was Simon's brother.

So, yay or nay?