So What

by DanyellDoodles

A girl moves to Washington where she becomes entangled in webs of lies and possibly more supernatural things.

*~ "So what's going to happen to us now?" the little girl whimpered in her thick British accent. "Where will we go?" She paused to wipe away a few tears. Her little head suddenly whipped around from side to side.

"Where's Mother?" she stuttered. Her father turned his slightly balding head away.

She looked back up at him. "WHERE is she?"

Again he did not answer her question.

"WHERE IS SHE?" the little girl screamed. Her father suddenly turned on her. Fear was obvious in his eyes.

"Be quiet Anabella," he whispered.

"NO!!" she screamed. "Where is she?"

"Anabella please," he begged her again whispering the words. "You must keep your voice DOWN." The last word held a great deal of reproach.

"I apologize Father," she said the word "father" with distaste. She smiled as she continued. "I understand that you are terribly frightened of your own creation."

"Anabella you do not know what it has done," his eyes suddenly shifted away.

"There will never be a more perfect opportunity than this," she urged him.

He hid his eyes from her, preferring to look at the ground rather than his daughter's eyes. "It is a terrible creature, a being of pure evil. It does not live on bread and water as our kind do. It is not human. Not", he paused as he searched for the right word, "alive."

He looked up at his daughter trying to decide if he should tell her more. His face was one of pure shock; then abruptly it was deathly white.

"Wha…how… whe?" he stuttered unable to complete a full sentence.

"Oh father," the little girl laughed lightly again spitting the word "father" with distaste, "Are you honestly surprised? Did you truly believe that your only daughter did not know?" She watched in amusement as her father backed away slowly not knowing what to do.

"How could you be so completely blind?" she continued. "The weekly 'adventures' at night did not give it away? My strong unwillingness to go outside during the day was not a clear sign?"

She laughed aloud again when her father gave a quick gasp as he realized that she had trapped him in a corner. Suddenly a deep booming laugh joined her small one. A hand extended from the dark behind her. She took it...

"Shall we?" the deep voice spoke.

"Aw but Father," she began, this time saying 'father' without any disgust, "I wanted to make him suffer as he made my mother suffer."

"Now now dear child," the voice spoke again, "we need to hurry as you know."

Her bottom lip protruded in protest but she said nothing. Her father knew what was coming, yet made no effort to save himself. The hand let go of Anabella's as he stepped into the dim moonlight. ~*

I snap awake, breathing hard, sweating as if I'd run a marathon, and unable to think of anything other than the dream. I shudder as I slide out of bed and head to the bathroom. I lean over to turn on the water to start the shower. As I do I remembered the hand from my dream and flinch back. I laugh without humor in a sad attempt to chase the nightmare away. I glance at the clock over the doorway. The short hand points to the one and the long hand points to the six. I couldn't believe my horrible luck. My first day of school was tomorrow. How was I supposed to function when I hadn't gotten any sleep? I head back into my bedroom as I wait for the water to warm up. After what seems like an eternity, the water finally warms up and I take a long, soothing shower. A pair of gray sweats and a red sweatshirt are lying around so I put them on.

I walk out of my bedroom door without as much as a backwards glance at my bed. I don't want to make too much noise going down the stairs so I slide down the banister. I jump off at the bottom and land without a sound. Annabella a voice whispers. My breath catches in my throat. I look around cautiously. I stand completely still for awhile barely daring to breathe. Finally after at least ten minutes of silence, I breathe a sigh of relief. I continue to aimlessly walk around the house. After awhile I find myself in the kitchen. I glance at the clock on the microwave. It reads two-thirty. Still three more hours until I have to go to school. I open the pantry and pick up a bag of popcorn. I pop it in the microwave, put it on for two and a half minutes, and pull a chair out to sit to wait. I put my head on the table and listen to the popcorn pop. My mind wanders back to the dream. Who was Annabella? Why was her father so afraid of her? Why am I dreaming about her? BEEP! The microwave signals that the popcorn is done. I get up, put the freshly popped popcorn into a bowl, and walk with it into the living room. I grab the remote and turn on my dad's TV. I plop down on the couch and flip channels. I stop on the local news to see what the temperature is going to be like for school.

"Everything you need and want right here at Larry's," a commercial on the TV says.

I sigh. Commercials were always so long up here in Washington. Especially on the local news channels and after only a week here in Sappho it was still very tiresome. Finally after ten minutes of commercials and annoying jingles, the news starts. For the first few minutes it was simply information about interesting events happening in nearby towns. Finally the weather starts. I listen to that for awhile and after finding out that the temperature was going to be a "quite beautiful" 58 degrees with rain cloud coverage, I scan the stations.

"O Gary where can you…"

"Hahaha and up next we have…"

"Suspects have been identified as…"

"Badabababa I'm lovin…"

Anabella the voice comes again. I jump which causes me to drop the bowl of popcorn. It falls to the floor with a very loud clang. I freeze and wait to see if my father will wake up. All is silent, signifying that the noise had not woken my father. My heart pounds against my chest as I walked to the kitchen to get a broom. I hesitate as I walk past the stairs. A light is on upstairs; it's coming from my room. My heart races even faster and then I realize that I had left the light on in the bathroom when I had gone downstairs. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I keep walking to the kitchen. I get the broom and return to the living room. Silently, I sweep up the mess and go outside to throw away the garbage. When I return I'm surprised to see that the clock reads four-thirty. I bounce up the stairs suddenly glad that it was almost time to get to school. I go into my room and walk into the bathroom. I take another shower and hurriedly hop across the cold floor to my closet. I grab a pair of black-blue jeans, a neon orange undershirt, and a bright red and yellow striped long sleeve v-neck. I dress quickly and put on a pair of bright green socks. I walk back into the bathroom, brush my black hair back into a ponytail, and put on two neon headbands, a purple one and a blue one. I smile at my unique selection of colors, turn out the light and bound down the stairs. I skip into the kitchen and, seeing that it is only five, I decide to make breakfast for my father since he would be downstairs in about ten minutes anyway. I raid the fridge and find just enough ingredients to make eggs and French toast. I'm just finishing the eggs when I hear my dad make his descent down the stairs. I hear him yawn and then I hear an 'mmm'.

"What smells so good," my dad questions as he walks into the kitchen and takes a seat.

"Just some French toast and scrambled eggs," I reply. "It would be more but there's nothing in the fridge."

I smile as I put a plate of two pieces of French toast and two eggs down in front of him.

He laughs, "Well you can't really blame me since I'm not exactly the cooking type."

"Okay, but now that I'm living here, we are going to have to make some adjustments."

"Deal," he says his mouth full of food.

I dish myself up some food and sit down across the table from him. I put whipped cream and syrup on my French toast and start eating.

It's quiet for a little while as he finishes his breakfast. I push my food around a little bit as I suddenly lose my appetite. I glance around the room and find that the clock now reads five-thirty.

"I have to go to school Dad," I announce as I carry my plate to the trash. I dump the food and put the dish in the sink.

"Okay well I'll give you a ride," he leans back in his chair.

"It's alright. I'll walk," I pick up his plate and put it in the sink also.

"No, you don't even know where the school is," he laughs. "And besides it's too far to walk by yourself." I walk to the living room and grab my yellow boots that were sitting by the couch.

"I guess," I smile as I grab my purple, white, and green striped jacket off the back of the couch. "Well then let's go."

"I'm coming," he grunts as he shrugs on his jacket and heads toward the door I couldn't help but laugh at him. "What?"

I point toward his feet.

"Oh," he realizes. "Shoes are usually good huh?"

I smile at his forgetfulness as he jogs up the stairs to get a pair of shoes. The light in the kitchen was still on, so I go to go turn it off. I pick my backpack up by the backdoor and turn out the lights. Ana the voice starts. I quickly flip the light back on; the voice stops. I sigh with relief. Bella the voice finishes. I run for the front door. As I burst out the kitchen door, I run into William.

"Dad," I gasp.

"Aedynn," he breathes since I had knocked the wind out of him, "what's wrong?" His face was filled with worry. "Are you feeling okay? You look kind of pale."

He puts his hand to my forehead.

"I'm fine," I say as I push his hand away. "I'm just a little nervous about today. You know, with me being new and all."

"Yeah I guess," he gives me a weird look. "I worry about you sometimes Aedynn. You've been acting kind of strange ever since you got here hun."

"I'm fine, I swear," I smile to reassure him and me. "Let's just get to school."

"Alright, if you say so."

He heads toward the front door as I follow. He opens the front door and extends his arm to tell me to go first. I jump as he closes the door. I glance back to make sure he hadn't seen me, luckily he hadn't. We continue to the car. He unlocks his door and gets in.

"Ahem," I cough.

"Oh yeah," he unlocks the passenger door. "Sorry."

I smile at him as I get into the car, and then turn to look out the window. I sigh as the scenery rolled by. The town was so small. Sappho really wasn't a bad town, just boring. There was never really anything going on. Nothing ever happened, everyone just acted like it did. The only interesting thing that came with this town was the little old campsite in the woods. There was a really interesting group of people living there. My best friend, Mark, lived there. Well, he did the last time I checked which must have been almost ten years ago. My mind drifted to the last time I lived in Sappho. I was six almost about to turn seven. My mom had come to pick me up from Mark's house. She just stormed in his room, grabbed me by the hand, and dragged me out of the house. She threw me in the car and slammed the door shut. Mark came running out of the house behind me. He tried to open the door as my mom started the car. His dad came out of the house a pulled him away from the car. His father held him in place as our car drove away. I waved at him until I couldn't see him anymore. Then I looked around the car. All of our bags were there. I climbed into the front seat and looked up at my mother. She was silent. That's when I saw the plane tickets on the dashboard. I started crying and she kept driving. We reached the airport and never came back. That was the last time I ever saw Mark.

I suddenly turn to my dad. "Whatever happened to Mark?"

He turns his head toward me, "Mark?"

"Yeah, you know. Mark, the kid I was used to hang with when I lived here."

"Oh, that Mark. Well, the last time I checked he still lived on that old campsite. You know they turned that place into an Indian reservation?"

I nod in all the right places and uh huh at all the right times as he continues on.

"…and that lake is still up near there. Well here we are. Aedynn? Aedynn!"

"Huh," I snap back to reality. "Oh. Yeah. See ya later Dad. Thanks for the ride."

"Hey Aedynn! Remember to say hi to Mark for me if you see him," he calls after me. I wave half heartedly until he drives away. Thank you for letting the whole world know I'm here I think. The school was just like the rest of the town, small, but it was still too big for the small amount of students who attended it. I head toward the main entrance of the school, but stop before entering. There was a sign that said "all new students must report to the main office." There was an arrow pointing to the left side of the school. I laugh as I walk the way the arrow pointed. I wonder how many new students they actually get around here. When I turn the corner, I see four buildings labeled A, B, C, and Main Office. I head toward the main office building. The air was frosty and the wind gusted strongly at times but generally blew at a steady, I'd say, 10 miles per hour. I pull up my hood to protect my ears from most of the cold. Why does the main office have to be on the complete other side of campus? How safe could that really possibly be? I ask myself, I shiver as the wind blows again. Finally, after what seems like forever, I reach the main office. Heat sweeps over my body as I open the door. There was a little woman sitting at the desk. She had gray and white hair and wore little reading glasses. A plain librarian type woman, even the dress she wore was plain, a simple brown dress. I sigh as I walk toward the secretary's desk.

"Hi. I'm" I start.

"Oh you must be Aedynn," she concludes. "I remember when you were little." She smiles and holds up her hand to the height of her desk to show what size she remembered me being. "Your dad used to talk about you all the time. Every letter was like the New York Times, everyone heard about it." She laughs lightly, "You always were pretty weren't you?"

I blush and smile lightly. I didn't know who she was but I could play like I did.

"Thank you Ms. Ritman," I say reading her name plate.

"Oh you remember me," her smile grew. "Well hold on while I get your schedule."

She turns slightly and boots up her computer. The thing was ancient by anyone's standards.

"So you played soccer right," she says trying to make small talk.

"Yeah. I played in every state I lived in." I smile remembering all of the friends I made on the different soccer teams.

"What states did you live in sweetheart?"

I cringe slightly at the sound of the name my mother used to call me. "California, Florida, New Mexico, New York, Maine, and even Texas for awhile, but now I live here."

"That's quite a list," she comments. "I think I've got family in New Mexico."

"Really? That's nice," I look around the room. The walls were a strange honey brown color and the trim was a gold color. It didn't even come close to matching and it looked disgusting. The furniture didn't help any either. The chairs were dark red and the small coffee table in the center of the room was a very odd, sickly green. There was a painting on the wall of a lone blue tree in a yellow field with a light purple sky. It was not a professional painting but the attention to detail was amazing.

"Who painted that," I ask pointing to the painting.

She glances up at the wall where I'm pointing.

"Oh," she sighs, "that was done by a boy named Mark, a nice boy really, just a little bit wild." I smile to myself. "Well your schedule's right here." She hands me a slip of paper. "Would like someone to show you around?"

"Um, sure. If it isn't too much trouble," I answer looking down at the piece of paper.

"No, no trouble at all. Just go ahead and take a seat there, my student aide should be here any minute."

"Thank you."

I sit in one of the plain red chairs and glance over my schedule. First Advanced American Lit-Bernetti, Charles. Second Calculus-Kamino, Kim. I groan Third Government AP-Nehser, Jim. Fourth Orchestra-Hartlo, Len. Lunch. Fifth Gym-Jesin, Karla. Sixth Student Aide-Ritman, Sarah. There was no seventh or eighth hour class because I already had more than enough credits. The sound of the door opening grabbed my attention. A boy walks in. He walks briskly past me and drops his bag behind Ms. Ritman's desk. As he passed, a strangely sweet scent filled the air but I couldn't see place the scent.

"Good morning Ms. Ritman," he greets her. His voice was deep. It recalls a vague memory I had of a deep voice calling my name.

"Oh, good morning. I actually have something for you to do today," she smiles at him. "We have a new student." She waves her hand in my direction not wanting to point. He turns slowly. His face is stunning. His skin is a very light tan color and his lips were full to an extent. His nose is perfect, not deformed or crooked and he has semi-large eyes that almost seem too large for his face. There is a small scar above his left eyebrow. It looks like a burn. His long black hair is pulled back into one long braid. In the middle of the braid there is a small blonde patch of hair.

I smile, "Mark."

He looks puzzled when I say his name. He doesn't recognize me since I still had my hood on.

"This is," Ms. Ritman starts. I pull off my hood.

"Aedynn," he finishes, grinning from ear to ear. I stand up and run toward him. He spreads his arms in expectance of my next move. I jump into his arms. He catches me easily.

Ms. Ritman laughs, "I see you two have met before."

"Of course we have," Mark says smiling. He turns to face her, setting me down in the process. He puts his arm around my shoulder. "She's only my best friend ever."

Ms. Ritman only kept smiling, "Well, show her around so she can find her classes when school starts."

"Oh right," he realizes. "Can you hand me my backpack Ms. Ritman?"

"Just let go of me and get it yourself, dork." I laugh.

"Nope," he smiles down at me.

"Here you go Mark."

"Thank you Ms. Ritman," he says as he slings his back pack over his shoulder. "See you later."

"Bye you two."

He pushes the door open with his free hand and steps out into the cold. I was glad he was holding me since the wind seemed to have picked up and his body heat was welcomed.

"There are so many things I have to tell you. You've been gone for too long I can't wait to fill you in on all the things you've missed," he rambles on.

"Sure, sure but how bout at least showing me where my first class is," I interrupt. "I'm not as used to this kind of cold weather as I used to be and your body is bound to get as cold as mine sometime, right?"

His smile faltered momentarily, "Uh yeah. What's your first class then?"

"Um advanced American lit."

"Seriously? What teacher?"

"Uh let's see," I pull the schedule out of my back pocket. "It's, um, Bernetti?"

Mark laughs.

"What," I demand.

"We have the same first class."

I smile with him as we walk into the B building. I sigh as warm air replaces the cold wind that was beginning to pick up speed. There is a large window just opposite the door. The sky had turned a dark grey and the wind was blowing the trees in the forest nearby. I couldn't help but zone out. I loved the rain and this looked like a very promising day for rain.

"…so you might want to stay away from those kids," Mark was finishing up, "and here we are."

I look up to read the number on the door, "4b."

"That's it," he smiles at me. "Let me see your schedule so I can tell you where the rest of your classes are."

"Okay," I hand over the piece of paper. I look over the door, it was simply unremarkable. No special markings, no discoloration, nothing. I suppose every other door is like this too. I sigh.

"What's wrong," Mark asks.

"Nothing," I assure him. "I do that a lot. Sorry."

"Oh alright," he shrugs, and then smiles. "Ok so your next class is in the C building on the first floor. Its room 3c. My class is just next door so I'll meet you after that class to show you the way to your third hour, ok?"

"Alright," I smile.

"Well it's a bit early to be in class right now. We still have about half an hour before school actually starts," he comments. "Why don't we go get a hot chocolate or something?"

"Sure. And while we're there why don't you tell me a bit about what to expect from this school?"

"You got it," he laughs as he slings his arm over my shoulder again. We walk out of the building and start walking to the main building.

"I'm just going to guess and say the gym is in this building huh?"

"Yeah," he shrugs. "Gym isn't too bad. We play a lot of basketball though."

Ugh I groan. The one sport I absolutely hate. "I'm just going to take a stab in the dark and say you guys don't ever play soccer huh?" I ask.

"Soccer? Hmmm no, I don't think so," he shrugs. "Why?"

"Eh. Never mind," I sigh.

Mark gives me a quizzical look as he pushes the door to the cafeteria open. I breathe in the smell of freshly cooked breakfast food.

"Wow this is the first cafeteria I've ever been in that doesn't smell like a garbage dump," I smile.

Mark laughs and says, "That's because a lot of our parents volunteer in the kitchen so all meals are hand cooked."

I should've figured. We walk over to the counter. Mark greets the worker by name then orders two hot chocolates. The lady smiles at him and glances in my direction, she gives me a quick one over. Her eyebrow goes up when she notices the skin colored piercing in my lip. I press my lips together in a very desperate attempt to hide it and sigh. I can see the gossip headlines now "Captain's daughter has piercings". God this town sucks.

"Something bothering you?" Mark asks as he pays for the drinks. He turns away to thank the woman as she hands him his change and the drinks.

I wait until we walk out of earshot of the woman to explain. I tell him about the look from the woman and how I know I'm going to the town's obsession from now on. "It just really sucks that I can't really be me here because of how it will affect my dad," I conclude.

"You have piercings?" He motions to a table for us to take a seat at.

"Yes," I sigh.

"I can't tell." He leans over the table to get a closer look.

"I'm wearing skin colored ones so you can't really see the ones on my face, and I don't have any in my ears so you can probably see the holes in them."

"Oh, now I see them," he says squinting a little bit. "Does it really matter?"

"Back in the other towns I lived in, no one really cared," I say. "They were big enough that what I did never really affected anyone I cared for."

"Well what does William, I mean your dad, think of them?"

"He was surprised when he first saw the 14 on my face, but I guess he's just accepted it. I mean my mom was even wilder than me so I guess he's kind of used to it by now." I shrug and take a sip of hot chocolate.

"Well then who cares what anyone else thinks," he smiles. "I mean as long as Will, your dad, is ok with it, it doesn't really matter, right?"

I shrug again, put my arm on the table and lean my head on my hand. I run the index finger of my free hand around the top of my drink.

"So do you still want to know about this school?" he asks trying to lighten the mood. I smile and nod. "Well our first class teacher is pretty uptight. He used to work at some law firm in Seattle so he's not very big on fun or exciting things. The good thing is he isn't very fond of paper work either so he doesn't give a lot of homework."

"Okay, I can live with that," I smile as Mark pauses to take a sip of his drink.

"Yeah. Now your second period teacher is a bit more difficult. I only know a few kids who had her since calculus is a senior class and everyone I know is either a junior like us or going to be a senior this year, but from what I've heard she's actually really cool. She hates math just as much as us so she does whatever she can to make it more fun. Her room is hella chill too. A lot of kids go there just to hang out."

"Alright, sounds like my kind of teacher," I sip my hot chocolate. He smiles at me and stares. I wonder what he's thinking. I smile sweetly back at him. "So what about the rest of my teachers?"

"Right," he shakes his head lightly. "Well your third hour should be relatively quiet. That teacher is pretty much no nonsense. He occasionally has fun days where you don't do much and rules don't really apply, but he still doesn't like much noise. Now after third hour we don't have anymore classes together, but I can still tell you about the rest of the teachers."

I smile and nod. My phone suddenly vibrates in my pocket. I jump slightly. Mark raises his eyebrow at me.

"My phone," I say as I pull it out of my jacket pocket. I slide my phone open. My eyebrows crinkle as I read the 'new message from Jason' notice. What the heck? I haven't talked to him since I moved here.

"Something wrong," Mark gives me a worried look.

"No. Everything's fine," I smile and decide to check the message later. As I slide my phone closed I notice the time. "What time does school start here anyway?"'

"The first bell rings at 6:50. Why?"

"Just wondering since it's 6:49 right now," I state.

"We should probably get out of here then huh," he laughs. We stand and walk toward the door. I go to throw my drink away.

"You can take that to your first period actually," Mark says and then adds, "Unless you don't want it."

"I want it," I smile at him and pull up my hood. "I just didn't know."

He smiles at me as he holds the door open for me. We walk across the school yard together. I shudder and pull my jacket closer to me as a strong wind blows suddenly. Mark puts his arm over my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. We walk in silence toward the B building. I look toward the parking lot. A group of girls is standing in front of small red car. I imagine what they could possibly be talking about. One would go, "oh yeah I went to the corner store twice last week and the guy behind the counter kept smiling at me." Then the other would go, "Oh my gosh! He must like you!" And then they would giggle like it's the funniest thing in the world. I chuckle softly.

Just as we walk through the doors to the B building, the bell rings. I expect a sudden surge of students to come pushing and shoving their way to class. Then I remember that I'm not in a large city public school system anymore.

The room is empty when we arrive except for the teacher. Mark waves to him and takes a seat near the back of the class. I walk up to the teacher.

I take a deep breath and introduce myself. "Hi, I'm Aedynn. I just moved here," I pull out my schedule and hand it to him. "I think I need to get this stamped or signed or something."

He takes the schedule out of my hand and looks it over. He raises his eyebrow as he reads it but just signs it and hands it back to me.

"Third row, last seat," he states.

I slip the schedule back in my pocket and walk to my seat. By this time kids are beginning to pour into the classroom. I slip my backpack off and slide into my seat. I look around the room and see Mark leaning on the desk behind him talking to a girl. She's quite pretty. She has medium length blonde hair that she has split into two ponytails. She wears a simple pink polo and a pair of light blue jeans. Her dark pink jacket is slipped over the back of her seat. Mark says something to her and she giggles as she puts her hand lightly on his arm. He smiles at her. I look away so Mark won't notice I'm watching him flirt.

I bend over to grab a marker and a notebook from my backpack, when I sit up there is a boy sitting in the desk in front of me. I open my notebook and start to copy my schedule on the back of the cover. My phone vibrates again causing me to jump. I drop my marker and it falls to the floor. I go to pick it up but someone else grabs it before I can. I sit up again. The boy in front of me is handing me my marker.

He smiles at me. "You dropped this."

"Thanks." I take the marker from him.

"No problem," he keeps smiling. "My name is John."

"Mine's Aedynn." I extend my hand toward him. He takes it eagerly.

"You're the new girl right?"

"Well I've lived here before so I'm technically not 'new'."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I went here for preschool until first grade."

"Strange I don't really remember you."

"I wasn't the most well liked person back then."

"Oh," he simply states. "So what classes do you have?"

"This one," I laugh. "Calculus, government, orchestra, gym, and student aide."

"Is that the order of your schedule?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I have your fourth and fifth classes with you," he smiles.

"Very chill," I comment.

"Hey, why don't you have eight classes like the rest of us?"

"Cause I'm already way ahead of the rest of the juniors here. So I should technically be a senior but my dad wants me to have a 'real' high school experience which to him means all four years of torture, I mean school." I roll my eyes.

"Oh very," he pauses thinking of the word I just used, "chill."

I laugh. He smiles at me obviously oblivious to the fact that I'm laughing at him.

"Well if you need anything just tell me," he offers. "Oh and you can sit with me at lunch. We'll walk to the cafeteria together since we have the same class before that." He keeps talking. I look down and continue copying my schedule. Occasionally I glance up at John and smile or nod. He smiles every time I look at him so he obviously doesn't know I'm not listening.

The bell rings. I tune back into whatever it is that John is talking about.

"So I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay."

I look up as Mr. Bernetti starts to write something on the board. Out of the corner of my eye I notice Mark staring at me. I turn to look at him but he looks away quickly. Wonder what that was all about. I look back up at Mr. Bernetti. I realize suddenly that John must be quite tall since I have to lean around him in order to see the bored.

"Alright class," Mr. Bernetti starts, the quite roar of conversations stops as students take their seat, "we have a new student today." He motions for me to come to the front of the class. I stand and walk up the aisle. I don't look at anyone as I make my way to the front of the class. Once I reach the front of the class I look up. Everyone is staring at me. Mr. Bernetti nudges me lightly. Oh. I realize. He wants me to introduce myself.

I take a deep breathe and begin. "Hi. I'm Aedynn." I wave half-heartedly at the class. Some of them wave back.

"Does anyone have any questions for Aedynn?" Mr. Bernetti asks the class.

Hands raise all over the classroom.

"Alright," he glances over the class. "Susan, go ahead."

"Where did you live before you moved here," a girl with sandy blonde hair asks.

"Right before I moved back here, I lived in Texas."

"What was it like there?" A boy in the back called out.

"Dry," I state.

"Do you dye your hair?"

"Only if I decide to put different colors in it."

"Are you single?"

"Alright, enough." Mr. Bernetti interrupts. He turns to me, "you may take your seat."

I nod and walk back to my chair. I sit down and try to pay attention, but it was hard since I had already learned this stuff a month ago. I look around the classroom. It was pretty full. There were only a few empty desks. I look to the side of the room that Mark was sitting on. He looks over at me at the same time. He pretends to shoot himself in the head. I laugh quietly and he smiles at me. The girl that was flirting with him earlier notices him smile at me. She shoots me a dirty look then taps Mark on the shoulder, pretending to need help with the assignment we were supposed to be doing. I laugh to myself and look on the board to see what the assignment was. We were supposed to be writing a half page summary of a chapter of a story that they had read last class period.

"Aedynn," Mr. Bernetti calls me to his desk. I walk up to him. "You don't have to do this assignment but I would like you to read the story." I nod. "It's called Jane Eyre by."

"Charlotte Bronte," I finish.

He nods. "Have you read it before?"

I nod. "I read it back in ninth grade."

"Alright then," he says. "Well then find something to do for the last few minutes of class."

I nod and walk back to my seat. As I slide into my chair I notice a note on my notebook. I pick it up and look over at Mark.

"Mark," I whisper. He looks up at me. I lift the note up and point to it, hoping he would understand that I was asking him if he knew anything about it. He shrugs. I turn to look at John but he's working. I doubt he had taken the time to write a note and place it on my desk before I came back, but I didn't put it past him. I glance around the room but everyone seems to be busy working. I look at the note in my hand. My name is spelled on the front and it's spelled correctly. This is weird. As I turn the note over to unfold it, my phone vibrates again. I look up to see if anyone noticed. Luckily no one had. I pull my phone out of my pocket. It reads '3 new messages'. I turn my phone off and slip it into my backpack.

I glance at the clock. It reads 7:54. Class is over in 2 minutes. Should I read the note now? Mr. Bernetti calls for the assignments and I decide against reading the note. I close my notebook and slip the note under the cover. I bend over and put the notebook in my bag. Something slams onto my desk. I jump and hit my shoulder against my desk.

"Ow," I groan, rubbing my shoulder.

"Sorry," a cold voice says, not sounding sorry at all.

I turn to look at the person but when I look, no one is there. Weird. The bell rings and I slip my bag over my shoulder. I wince as I pull the other strap over the shoulder I just hit.

"What happened," Mark asks as he waves good bye to a girl.

"I hit my shoulder on my desk," I shrug.

"You should be more careful."

"I know."

"See you later Aedynn," John calls as I exit the building. I wave back at him. Mark laughs.

"What," I demand.

"Nothing," he smiles.

"Tch, whatever," I scoff. We walk together to our next class. "So who was that girl you were flirting with?"

"I wasn't flirting with Molly," he immediately defends himself. I laugh.

"Yeah sure. Whatever you say."

We separate in front of my class and I walk in by myself. I go through the same routine in this class too, except Ms. Kamino doesn't stop the questions so I end up answering questions for most of the class period.

"Are you single?" someone shouts from the back of the class.

I sigh, "What do you think?"

"I bet she is. I mean who would wanna date her," a girl shouts. The girls in the class laugh. I roll my eyes and decide to take a seat.

"Thank you," Ms. Kamino says. "Alright time for math."

The class groans.

"But there's only like ten minutes of class left," that girl Molly complains.

"Well then I guess you guys will just do it tomorrow," Ms. Kamino smiles. The class erupts in cheers. I simply lean back in my chair and close my eyes.

"Anabella!" I hear someone call. My eyes shoot open and I look for the person calling that name but no one else seems to hear it. "Anabella!" I hear again. It's coming from the back of the class. I look back and see an extremely gorgeous boy simply relaxing. His jet black hair is perfectly messy with bangs falling over his right eye. His eyes are a gorgeous light blue color color. His lips move slightly and I hear the name again. He's barely even moving his lips but it sounds like he's screaming. I can't stop staring. He notices that someone is staring at him and looks in my direction. I can't look away. His jaw clenches and he shoots me an evil glare. I turn away quickly. I can feel him staring daggers in my back. Suddenly I hear strange words being whispered. I can't understand them because it sounds like a different language so I figure it must be my imagination. I turn my head slightly and look at the boy again out of the corner of my eye. His lips are moving extremely fast. My eyes widen as I realize that he must be the source of the weird words I'm hearing. I look forward quickly. I pick my backpack up off the floor and squeeze it to my chest. I close my eyes and will time to go faster.

Someone places their hand on my shoulder. I jump.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," a boy apologizes.

"It's alright," I breathe. "I guess I'm just a little wound up since it's my first day, ya know?"

"Yeah," the boy sympathizes. "My name's Tyler by the way."

"Aedynn," I smile.

"Yeah I got that from the twenty hour intro you had to give," he laughs.

I groan, "Don't remind me."

"Well I'll see you around?"

"Yeah," I smile. The bell rings signaling the end of class. Tyler walks away and I sneak a peek over to where the boy was sitting, but he's not there anymore. I quickly glance around the room. How could he have possibly gotten out of here so fast?

I walk out the door and run right into Mark.

"Sorry."

"You are so clumsy," he smiles at me.

"Yeah I know."

"Anything exciting happen?"

"Nope," I lie, "nothing exciting happens unless you're around duh."

He laughs, "I knew it." We walk toward the building marked A and Mark tells me how to get to my third hour.

"You sure you don't want me to walk with you?"

"Yeah, I'm a big girl now. I can walk up some stairs without holding your hand." I smile.

"Alright," he smiles weakly. I hug him and turn to walk into the building.

I walk up the stairs and down the hallway. As I turn the corner to get to my class, I see the boy from my last class. I slide quickly into my class and hand the teacher my schedule. He signs it silently and hands it back.

"Will I need to introduce myself?" I ask.

"No need for introductions, just take a seat," he mutters never once looking up from the pile of papers he was grading. I breathe a sigh of relief and walk to the back corner of the class next to the window. I slide into my chair and watch kids pile in the door. Most kids are laughing and joking as they enter the classroom. I stop people watching and look out the window. The wind had picked up even more and it had begun to sprinkle. I smile to myself.

"Aedynn," someone calls.

I look up to see Tyler waving to me as he enters the room. I raise my hand to wave back when the boy from earlier walks in behind him. The boy sends an icy glare my way and takes a seat in the desk closest to the door.

"Hey Aedynn," Tyler greets as he takes the seat in front of me. "I didn't think we'd have another class together."

"Yeah, weird how that happens huh?" I smile.

"Yeah," he smiles.

"Hey Tyler, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Who is that kid?" I point to the boy sitting in the desk closest to the door. Tyler looks in his direction.

"Oh. That's Adrian," he looks back at me. "That's kind of weird that he's sitting there though. He usually sits in the back." Tyler shrugs.

The bell rings and class begins. Tyler helps me understand how things work in this class since Mr. Nehser doesn't talk much. He just writes what we're supposed to do on the board and then goes back to grading papers.

Tyler and I whisper and talk to each other. Every time I laugh I feel someone looking at me but when I try to see who it is, no one is looking.

The bell rings. Tyler and I walk together to the door. We say good-bye and I promise to find him at lunch. I turn to walk down the stairs and run into someone.

"I'm so sorry," I apologize picking myself up off the floor. I look up at the person I ran into. It's Adrian. I gasp and look back down at the floor. "I'm really sorry. I should've been watching where I was going."

He doesn't say anything so I look up at him through my eyelashes. His face is surprisingly soft. It looks like he's studying me. Someone runs by and hits my shoulder. I stumble and fall into him. He catches me with one hand and pushes me upright.

"Thanks," I look up at him. He's giving me that icy glare again. I move around him and hurry down the stairs. As I'm walking away, I can feel him staring daggers at my back again.

What the hell is wrong with that kid? I haven't been here a full day and he already hates me. This is such bull. I walk out of the building and shiver.

"Aedynn!"

"Huh?" I turn around. Mark is waving me over to him. I walk briskly across the school yard. I'm shivering by the time I reach him.

"W-w-what's-s u-up?" I say through chattering teeth.

"Come here," he grabs me and pulls me into the nearest building. He wraps his arms completely around me. My teeth stop chattering immediately. He gives me a worried look. "Dude you were only outside for like two minutes."

"Well I'm used to a hundred and ten degree weather not negative thirty-two," I defend myself. The bell rings and I jump. "Oh my gosh, I'm late."

"Don't worry. Your class is right there," he points to a door near us.

"But I thought the orchestra room was in the main building."

"You don't have orchestra anymore," I give him a confused look. He laughs. "Cute face."

"Shut up and explain."

"Can I explain after this class?"

"Fine."

I turn to walk away.

"Hey Aedynn."

"Yeah?"

"Wait for me right here after this class ok?"

"Ok."

We walk our separate ways and I walk into the room he pointed out earlier. All eyes are on me when I walk into the room. I blush and silently curse Adrian. If it wasn't for that stupid kid I wouldn't have been late. I hand the teacher my schedule. She smiles at me. As she is signing it I look around the classroom. I notice that there are no desks just long black tables. There are paints, markers and all kinds of art materials around the room. How did I get stuck in an art class?

"Alright. Here you go," the teacher hands me my schedule. "Your seat is right there." She points to an empty chair in the back of the class. I look to see who I've been seated with. Adrian is sitting in the chair next to my seat. No freaking way. Could this get any worse? I walk slowly to my seat. As I slide into my chair, Adrian immediately tenses up. I sigh.

"May I be excused," Adrian says. It sounds more like a demand rather than a request.

"Of course," the teacher smiles at him. I look up as he walks away.

The girl sitting in front of me turns around once he exits the room. "Hi, I'm Sara," she introduces herself. "I cannot believe you get to sit next to Adrian."

"Why?"

"Because he is like the hottest thing ever." she gets up and moves to the seat next to me.

"Right."

She rambles on about how he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. As she's talking, I look around the classroom. I see John sitting two tables in front of me. He turns around and waves at me. I wave back.

Sara notices and practically squeals in excitement, "You know, John too?"

"Yeah," I nod.

"Oh my gosh, this is so awesome," she smiles at me, her braces glistening in the light. "You and I are going to be best friends."

"Sure," I smile at her.

She continues talking until the bell rings for lunch. As I stand up to walk out the door, she quickly links arms with me. We walk together out the door, her still rambling on.

"Aedynn," John calls. Sara squeals in my ear as we stop and wait for him.

"Hey," he says as he takes his place on the other side of me. "Are we still sitting together at lunch?"

"Yeah, totally," I smile. I snake my arm out of Sara's grasp. "Why don't you two go ahead and I'll catch up in a minute. I'm supposed to be meeting someone before I go to lunch."

"Sure," John smiles at me and hesitantly lets Sara guide him away. She looks back at me and smiles.

I roll my eyes at her and lean against a locker to wait for Mark. I look out the window next to the door leading outside. I freeze when I see Adrian walking toward this building. He opens the door and walks by me without even glancing in my direction. He walks casually into the art room. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I lean my head against the lockers and close my eyes, trying to regain the 'chill' feeling I usually have. Why should this guy make me so damn nervous? I don't even know him! Gosh, I can't believe I'm letting some guy have this effect on me.

"Aedynn?" My eyes open slowly. It's just Mark.

"Hey."

"Sorry it took me so long."

"It's all good," I smile. "So what's up?"

"We don't have enough time to talk right now," he frowns, "can I call you tonight?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Cool," he smiles. "Talk to you later."

"Yeah," I mutter as he walks away. That was kind of weird. I close my eyes and take a deep breath to calm myself.

"Aedynn?"

I freeze completely. Oh my gosh, it's Adrian. Why is he talking to me?

"Aedynn?" he says again.

"Yeah?" I breathe out and open my eyes. I wait for a reply. I don't get one. I turn around, "Do you need something?" My voice trails off as I see his hand outstretched towards me. His face is soft and he's studying my face again. He places his hand on the side of my face.

"Ana," he breathes barely above a whisper, but I hear it. I turn quickly and run out the door before he can finish the name. I run until I get to the cafeteria doors. Once I get there I breathe deeply to calm my nerves. I glance at the building I just ran out of and see him walking out of the door. I turn and enter the cafeteria.

"Aedynn!" I hear over the roar of the cafeteria. I look up to see John and Tyler waving me over to a table in the middle of the cafeteria. I walk over a sit next to a girl across from Tyler.

"What took you so long?" John asks.

"Oh nothing," I smile.

He gives me a quizzical look, but before he can question me more, Sara steals his attention. I turn to Tyler.

"So what's up?"

"Nothing much," he smiles. "Oh, Aedynn have you met Lynn yet?" He motions to the girl sitting next to me.

She smiles and nods at me. I nod and smile back at her. A girl of few words. Now this could be a good friendship. I sit and listen to other people's conversation. Sara is dropping major hints to get John to ask her to the winter formal. I laugh inwardly at how oblivious he is to it. Tyler is talking to a boy next to him named Larry. They're talking about how great it would be if a blizzard came through and the school had to cancel the winter formal.

I turn to Lynn, "Um, I hate to ask this but can you stand with me in line? I'm kind of hungry." I smile weakly at her.

She laughs, "Don't worry, I know how you feel. Let's go get you some food." I smile as we walk to the line. She fills me in on what's good and how to order when we get in line. When it's my turn I just get a water bottle and a bag of chips. I pay and we walk back to our table. As we're walking I can't shake the feeling that someone is watching me. When we get to our table and take our seats again, I glance quickly around the cafeteria. I spot Adrian walking to a table by the door staring at me. There are only two people at the table, not counting him. One is a girl with super model good looks. Her blond hair is pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck. The next is a small girl with amazingly blue eyes; she too is super model status. Her short black hair is shaped into a faux hawk. He slides into the seat across from the blond without taking his eyes off me. I turn away finally and take a drink of water.

I turn to Lynn and offer her a chip, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," she says, taking a handful of Doritos.

"Who are those kids?" I point to the table where Adrian is sitting.

"The blond is Emily, the smaller one is Jennifer, and the boy is Adrian. They have two other family members, Alex and Ian, but they aren't here today." She takes a drink of her soda. "They're the children of Dr. Mykael Schuff and Charlene. They're really nice, but they're always the topic of gossip in this town. At least they were until you showed up." She smiles at me.

I look back over at the table. Adrian is still staring at me. At least he isn't glaring anymore. I look at the blonde across from him. She is looking at Adrian. She says something to him and when he doesn't reply she follows his gaze to me. Her eyes narrow in anger. I turn away quickly.

Great, another person who hates me. I spend the rest of lunch sharing chips with Lynn and trying to figure out relationships at the table. I already know that Sara likes John, but John always seems distracted when they talk. I notice that Tyler keeps looking over at Lynn and I whenever someone mentions the winter formal. He must like Lynn. I smile. Before lunch is over I give Lynn my number and she invites me to go shopping with her and Sara for the winter formal. I tell her I'll think about it. She smiles. The bell rings and I walk around the table to throw away my trash.

I look up and see Adrian walking toward me. My eyes widen in shock. Suddenly John slings his arm over my shoulder. I turn and look at him.

"Let's get to class," he smiles.

I turn back to look at Adrian. He has stopped walking and is giving John an extremely angry glare. I look up at John, but he hasn't noticed, he's just smiling and talking. I walk with John to the doors of the cafeteria. As we walk out of the doorway, I glance back at Adrian. He still hasn't moved. His face is a mixture of annoyance and amusement as he watches us walk away. The door closes and I turn back to John. We walk around the corner of the building.

"That's the girl's locker room," he points at a door on the other side of the building.

"Alright," I smile. "Thanks."

"No problem," he smiles back.

"Well I should probably go so I can buy my P.E. uniform," I slide out from underneath his arm.

"Right," he smiles. "See you in class."

I nod as I walk away. I push the door open and walk calmly to the P.E. teacher's office. I knock lightly on the door.

"Come in," Ms. Jesin calls. I push the door open and walk up to her desk.

"I'm new here," I tell her as I hand her my schedule. She signs it and hands it back to me.

"So how much is a P.E. uniform?" I ask.

"Ten dollars," she smiles and hands me a piece of paper. "This is your locker number and the combination."

"Alright," I take the piece of paper. "Can I buy my uniform now?"

"Of course." I reach my hand into the back pocket of my jeans and hand her ten dollars. She smiles as she takes the ten and puts it in a cash box. She turns around and reaches into a box. She pulls out a white shirt and hands it to me.

"I'm sorry, it seems like I don't have any shorts," she apologizes.

"It's alright," I smile. "My old uniform is in my backpack."

She smiles, "Well you might want to go get dressed because I'm going to be calling roll in about ten minutes."

I walk out of the office and look at the sheet of paper she had handed me earlier. It reads 'locker number: 48 combination: 13-15-21'. I walk through the locker room looking for the locker. Suddenly I see Lynn.

"Lynn," I call and wave.

"Aedynn," she waves me over to her locker. "What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for my locker."

"What's your locker number?"

"Forty-eight."

She smiles, "You're locker is right next to mine."

"Oh thank goodness," I laugh. I move around her to the locker next to her. I spin the lock and put in the combination. I open the locker and slide my backpack off. I put my schedule in the front pocket of my backpack. I open the large pocket and pull out a pair of orange and white track shorts. I put my backpack in the locker and slide my jacket off. I put it in my locker and pull my shirt off. I pull the white P.E. shirt over my head. I slide my jeans off and slip on my orange and white track shorts. I throw my clothes in my locker and shut it.

I lean against my locker and look at Lynn. Her shirt is white like mine but her shorts are blue and longer than mine. I look down at my legs. My legs are so white. I sigh.

"To the gym," Ms. Jesin calls. I walk out of the locker room with Lynn. We all walk to the closest end of the basketball court since the bleachers weren't pulled out. Lynn and I sit together.

"Roll call," Ms. Jesin announces. I sit in silence as she calls names.

"Lynn Jimson," she calls. Lynn raises her hand. I pull on the bottom of my shorts as I wait for my name to be called. I chew on the back of my lip ring wishing I could be wearing an actual ring.

"Aedynn Quator," she finally calls my name. I raise my hand. "Alright, today we're playing basketball." The class groans. "But this time we will be playing against the boys." The class erupts in cheers. Lynn and I look at each other and roll our eyes.

"Everyone must play in order to get full credit for today," she adds. "Would anyone like to volunteer to go first?"

Four hands shoot up in the air. They must be a part of the basketball team. She calls them up. "We need one more player."

No one volunteers.

"Fine then we will decide by luck of the draw." The class holds its breath as her hand roams up and down the list. It finally stops and she announces, "Aedynn Quator."

I groan and stand up slowly. I walk onto the court with the others.

"Hi," one of the girls says. "I'm Karla. That's Ginger." She points to a girl with short brown hair. "That's Lorrie." She points to a girl with long red hair pulled back into two ponytails. "And that's Katie." She points to a small girl with light blond hair.

"I'm Aedynn and I haven't played basketball in a long time."

She laughs, "Well let's see what you can do." She calls for a ball. Ginger passes her the ball. She dribbles it through her legs a couple times. Yep, definitely part of the basketball team. Suddenly she passes me the ball. I catch it easily and dribble it a few times, trying to get a feel for the ball.

"Shoot it," Karla says. I shoot it from just inside the three point arc. It sinks in without hitting the backboard.

"Nice shot," Ginger smiles at me. I smile back. Suddenly the sound of a door slamming against the wall rings throughout the gym. The boys P.E. class runs in. When John sees me, his eyes widen and he smiles and waves. I wave back then resume warming up with the other girls. After a few minutes, the coaches blow their whistles and the starting players for each team get on the court. Everyone else walks over to the sideline and takes a seat. The game starts and I'm the first one to get the ball. I dribble around one of the boys and pass the ball to Karla. She goes for a lay up and makes it. The game continues on. One of the boys goes to take a shot and I block it.

"Go Aedynn," I hear. I look up and see John and Lynn cheering for me. I smile to myself as the game goes on. After about ten minutes, the coaches blow their whistles. All players walk off the court and new players walk on.

"You're really good," Katie says to me as we walk to the sideline.

"Thanks, so are you."

She smiles as I walk to where John and Lynn are sitting. I sit cross legged next to Lynn. She smiles at me.

"You are amazing at this," John leans around Lynn to see me. I smile at him and pull on my shorts, trying to make them seem longer than they really are. The whistle blows and I watch as the next group of girls loses the twelve point lead we had. The coach blows her whistle and selects the next group of players, John goes up with them. We watch in silence for the next few games. At the final switch she points to Lynn. Lynn sighs and makes her way to the court.

"Smash 'em," I call after her. She laughs. I stretch my legs out and lean back on my hands. John slides closer to me. The game starts and Lynn tips the ball off to our team. I smile as the girls on the court start to win back point after point. With less than one minute left, the girls are only two points behind. One of the boys puts up a lousy shot and one of the girls catches it on the rebound. The girl passes it to Lynn and she dribbles the ball to the three point arc.

"Go Lynn," I cheer. She shoots the ball for a three and it goes in. The coaches blow their whistles signaling the end of the game. Lynn comes running over to us.

"Dude, you absolutely rock," I smile as she comes up to us. I hug her.

"That was amazing," John adds.

"I didn't think it was going to go in," she smiles.

"Yeah right," I smile, "you so knew that was a good shot."

Ms. Jesin blows her whistle again. "Lockers ladies."

Lynn and I say good-bye to John and walk together to the lockers still raving about her amazing shot. We change and head out as the bell rings.

We say good-bye and walk separate ways. I head to the main building for my final class. I walk into the doors and walk up to Ms. Ritman's desk. She smiles at me and motions for me to take a seat since she's on the phone. I walk over to the nearest chair and sit down. I rummage through my backpack and pull out my notebook. A piece of paper falls out as I open it. What? Then I remember that I had put the note from first hour underneath the cover. I guess I could read it now. I slowly unfold the note.

The handwriting is unfamiliar to me. It almost seems like a type of calligraphy. It reads 'Stay away.'

My heart starts pounding in my chest. Stay away from what?

Suddenly the door slams open. I jump and sit upright in my seat, slipping the note into my jacket pocket. Adrian struts to Ms. Ritman's desk. She smiles at him and motions for him to take a seat. He turns and walks to a chair across the room from me. He looks up at me. I stare blankly at him. Slowly his mouth forms into a smirk. What? I'm so confused I don't even scowl back.

"Aedynn," Ms. Ritman calls. I turn and look at her. She motions for me to come to her desk. I stand and walk up to her.

"Yes?"

"Just a second," she says as she motions for Adrian to come to her desk as well. I move over as he walks up to the desk. "I have an assignment for you two. I would like the two of you to go around to each classroom and give each teacher one of these." She places a stack of papers in front of us.

"Alright," I nod. Ms. Ritman smiles at us as she stands and walks into the principal's office.

I reach for the stack of papers. Adrian grabs my arm, stopping me from picking it up. A chill runs down my spine.

"I'll carry them," he offers. I nod avoiding making eye contact and pull my arm out of his grasp. I turn and start walking toward the door. I stop when I reach the chair I was sitting in. I pick up my backpack.

"You can put that behind Ms. Ritman's desk."

I turn toward Adrian and immediately look away. I nod as I walk back to Ms. Ritman's desk and place my backpack behind her desk. I squat down and open my front pocket. I pull my phone out and slip it into my pocket. I look up and see Adrian walking to the door. I stand up and run to the door. I open the door for him. As he passes, I look at the floor.

"Thank you," he says. I nod still not looking at him. We walk in silence toward the next building. I open the door for him again as we reach the building.

"Thanks," he says again. I nod. We reach the first classroom.

"I'll take the paper in by myself if you don't want to," he offers.

"No, I'll come with," I say still trying not to look at him. I push the door open before he can protest. He follows me in and we walk to the teacher's desk. I pull a paper off the top of the stack.

"This is from Ms. Ritman," I say as I hand the paper to her. I smile and walk out of the class, holding the door open for Adrian. I hear him chuckle as he walks past me. I want to ask him what he's laughing at, but I don't. We continue handing out papers. As we walk out of each class, he laughs. We walk to the next building and do the same thing. He laughs each time we walk out of those classes too. Am I doing something weird? I shrug and continue on.

After twenty minutes of walking around the campus, we finally hand the gym teachers their papers and start walking back to the main office. I pull my phone out and turn it on. I wait for it to turn on. I notice Adrian looking at me. I turn and look at him. He shakes his head at me. I stop walking and turn completely towards him.

"What do you want from me," I demand throwing my hands up in frustration.

"What do you mean?" he asks sounding confused.

"What do I mean," I repeat. "The first time you ever even saw me, you fucking looked like you wanted to kill me. Then you change your seat to avoid even having to be near me and then you just completely walk out of the class when you have to sit next to me. And then you call me a name that I don't even know and then you start talking to me like none of that ever happened. And what were you laughing at? Did I do something funny when we were walking out of those classes? Ugh. What have I ever done to you?"

I stand with my hands on my hip waiting for a response. He stares at me for awhile. I glare at him and he looks down. After a few minutes of silence, I roll my eyes in frustration and storm away from him in the direction of the main office. The wind blows and I pull my jacket tighter. I hear footsteps behind me.

"You're cold," Adrian says.

"Yeah no duh," I snap and start walking faster to get away from him.

I hear him sigh. "Just wait," he says finally and picks up his pace to try to catch up to me. He reaches out and grabs my arm, stopping me from walking farther. He turns me around so I have to face him. I turn my head away from him so I'm not looking at him.

He sighs again. "Look I didn't mean to be rude." I scoff. "I just." He pauses looking for the right words. "I can't really explain, but." I yank my arm out of his grasp, but don't walk away yet. He breathes a sigh of relief and continues, "And I was laughing because of the looks people were giving us and what they were saying." I turn my head and give him a questioning look. He smiles, "I'll tell you later."

"Fine," I agree reluctantly. I turn and walk away.

"Can we walk together," he calls after me.

"If you can catch up," I yell back and keep walking. I hear a light chuckle and his footsteps quicken slightly. Only moments later, he is walking beside me. I don't look at him afraid that if I did I would end up staring. Out of the corner of my eye I see him look at me and smile. We reach the door and I reach out to open it. He grabs it before I can.

"You know, it really bothered me that you were opening doors for me," he says as he opens the door and motions for me to walk in.

"Why," I question as I walk into the room. He follows and takes his place next to me.

"I guess you could say I'm old fashioned," he shrugs.

"Bet the girls like that line," I say as we sit down. I pull out my phone and slide it open. The screen displays a notice that I have five new messages. I press the center button to open my inbox.

"Line?" Adrian asks. "What are you talking about? I'm serious."

"Uh-huh, sure," I shake my head as I open the earliest message.

'Hey beautiful jus wonderin wats up' the first message reads. I roll my eyes and go to the next one. 'I don't kno if you got my first message but we need to talk.' I sigh and move onto the next one. 'plz txt bak I really need to tell you something.'I decide to reply to that one.

'Wat do u want Jason?' I send it and go back to my inbox. I open an unread message. 'hey girl hey! Wat up!' I laugh and reply, 'hey Jaeda! :] wats up'

"Who are you texting," Adrian asks.

"My friends," I say as I go back to my inbox to read the last message. 'you don't know him' it reads. I scrunch my face up in confusion.

"What's wrong," Adrian questions leaning over to look at my phone. I slide my phone shut quickly, hoping that he hadn't seen the message. I look at him. He looks angry. He must have seen the message. I cringe and slip my phone into my pocket. Ms. Ritman walks into the room fixing her hair. Oh. My. Gosh. Adrian sees my eyes widen in shock and chuckles lightly.

He leans down next to my ear and whispers, "I know what you're thinking." I look at him blushing slightly, my eyes still wide in shock. "And yes, it is what you think it is."

"You guys are back already," Ms. Ritman says in shock, blushing madly and hurriedly pulling her hair back into a ponytail. I nod slowly. "Oh well, um, you guys are free to do whatever you would like."

Adrian looks at me and offers, "Do you wanna go somewhere?"

I nod slowly again still trying to get over what I just saw. Adrian walks behind Ms. Ritman's desk and picks up my backpack. He walks back over to me. "Ready to go?"

I nod and stand up. As I go to walk away, I trip over the leg of my chair. I fall face first. Adrian catches me by the waist before I hit the floor. He pulls me upright. I look up at him and see that he is trying not to laugh.

"Thanks," I snap and snatch my backpack out of his hands. I turn and walk out of the building. He follows after me. He catches up to me and walks an awkward distance away from me, toward the front of the school. He leads me towards the parking lot. I stop at the edge of the parking lot and look up at the sky. The clouds have gotten dark and I can feel moisture in the air.

"What is it," he asks.

"I don't have a car," I answer, looking back at him. "So I don't know why I walked over here."

"I have a car," he smiles and motions for me to follow him. I feel a drop of rain hit me on the nose, but I don't follow. "What's wrong?"

"Are we even allowed to leave right now?"

"Well yeah," he starts, "unless you have classes after this."

"No I don't, but I mean can we really just leave in the middle of this class?"

"Ms. Ritman dismissed us. We can leave," he says. The rain starts to fall harder. I pull the jacket of my hood up.

"I barely even know you and I don't know where we're going."

"Well this is the perfect opportunity for us to get to know each other," he smiles and walks back to me. "And we'll go where ever you want to go." He takes my hand. "Besides, I can't just leave you out here in the rain."

The rain picks up and I let him lead me to his car. He leads me to a silver Camaro. He opens the door for me.

"I'm all wet," I say.

"And?" He shrugs.

"And," I repeat, "I'm going to get your seats wet."

"I really don't care," he says.

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely. Now get in the car before you catch a cold," he demands. I reluctantly slide into the seat. He smiles at me and closes the door. I watch him walk around the car to his side of the car. He opens his door and climbs into his seat. He closes the door and turns the car on. He turns the heat on, I smile gratefully.

"Take your jacket off," he says.

"Why?"

"It's soaking wet," he replies. "Now will you take it off?" I stare at him. "I have another jacket that I can give you." I don't move. "Do I need to take it off for you or something?"

"No, I'll do it." I pull my jacket off. As I do, the note and my phone fall out. I go to pick it up but Adrian beats me to it.

"What do we have here," he laughs starting to unfold the note.

"Don't," I say lunging for the note. He moves it just out of my reach.

"Stay away", he reads out loud. I cringe as he says the words. "Who is this from?"

"I don't know," I admit. He folds the note and hands it back to me along with my phone.

"Thank you." He reaches into the back seat and pulls a jacket out. He hands it to me and I pull it on. His jacket smells so good. I breathe in the scent as we sit in silence. I close my eyes and listen to the rain fall on the outside of the car.

After a few minutes he looks back at me, "So where do you want to go?"

"I don't really know," I say without opening my eyes. "I mean, I've only been here for a week, so I don't know what kids do for fun around here."

He shrugs, "Well I don't have many friends so I don't really know either."

I open my eyes, "What are you talking about? You've got to be the most popular guy here."

"Nope," he says simply. "No one here really likes me."

I roll my eyes at him, "That is so not true. Everyone I've talked to absolutely adores you." He gives me a quizzical look. "Yes I talk about you."

He laughs, "Well we can talk about this somewhere else. This class period is almost over and I think you're going to have a few people looking for you."

I nod. "Um can we go to my house? I wanna change into something warmer and possibly dry."

"Sure," he smiles as he pulls out of the parking lot. I look out of the window as we go speeding through the town. We stop in front of my house in five minutes.

"How did you know where I live," I question as I look outside of the window.

He leans closer to me and whispers, "I've been here before."

"What," I snap around but he's already gotten out of the car and is walking up to the front door. I shake my head. I must have imagined it. I climb out of the car and jog up to the front door. Adrian is already there, waiting.

"Sorry," I say as I pull my key out of pocket. I slip it into the keyhole and unlock the door. I open the door and walk in. He closes the door as he follows me.

"Make yourself at home," I say as I walk up the stairs. "I'll be right back."

I walk into my room and pull off his jacket. I set it on the bed and pull my shirt off. I throw it in my hamper and pull my pants off. I pull his jacket on over my undershirt. I walk over to my closet and rummage through it trying to find a pair of sweats. I can't find any so I run across the hallway to the laundry room. I go through the dryer but still can't find any so I walk out of the room. As I walk into the hallway, I see Adrian.

"Adrian," I scream.

He turns his head away. "Sorry," he mutters. I see him looking out of the corner of his eye as I run into my room and slam the door shut. Why do these things keep happening to me? I slump against the door. I stand up and walk slowly to my bathroom. I turn on the light and bite my lip to stop myself from screaming in frustration when I see the sweats sitting on the floor. I slip the sweats on and pull my piercings out. I put my lip rings in and put a ring in my eyebrow. I put my industrial bar in my ear and walk out of the bathroom. I sit on my bed and pull his jacket off. I hug it and breathe in his scent. I stand up and drop it on the bed. I pull a hoodie out of my closet. I look over at his jacket one last time and decide not to put the hoodie on. A knock on the door makes me jump.

"Aedynn," Adrian says quietly. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," I say as I grab his jacket and walk to the door. I open the door and see Adrian standing in front of me with piece of paper in his hand.

"This was taped to your door," he says handing me the paper, but not looking directly at me.

"Thanks," I mutter as I take the note out of his hand. He nods and steps to the side so I can walk out of my room. I step out into the hallway and pull my door closed behind me. I put his jacket on as we walk down the stairs in silence. We walk into the living room and Adrian sits on the couch. I pick the remote up off of the coffee table. I turn on the TV and hand him the remote.

"You can find something to watch," I smile weakly. He takes the remote and starts flipping through the channels.

"Are you going to sit down," Adrian asks.

"Actually I think I'm going to make some hot chocolate," I say as I walk towards the kitchen. "Do you want some?"

"No, I'm fine," he calls after me. I walk into the kitchen and grab a pot out of a cabinet. I put some water in it and place it on the stove. I turn the flame on high. The cabinet squeaks as I open it to find a mug. I pull a purple mug out and set it on the counter. I move over to another cabinet to find the hot chocolate powder. After a few moments of rummaging around I pull it out and walk back over to my mug. I put two scoops of it in the mug. I start walking back to the cabinet where I found the hot chocolate.

"Hey," Adrian says suddenly appearing right next to me. I jump and drop the hot chocolate. He catches it before it hits the floor. "Sorry."

"It's fine," I breathe using the counter to support myself.

"Are you ok," he asks setting the hot chocolate on the counter next to me. I nod and walk over to the stove. I pull the pot off the stove and pour the water into my mug. I open a drawer and pull out a spoon. I grab the mug and start stirring. Adrian watches me in silence.

"So, um, did you need something," I looking over the rim of my mug as I take a sip of my drink.

"Well actually," he starts, "I came in here to apologize for earlier. I didn't mean to scare you upstairs. I was just looking for you because well, I don't know; I guess I just wanted to see you." He quickly adds, "But not like that. I didn't know you were, um, not completely dressed. Not that that's a bad thing. Wait no that didn't come out right."

"Its ok," I finally interrupt. "I shouldn't have been walking around like that while you were here. I should be the one apologizing." I smile at him. He smiles back at me.

"You wanna go back and watch TV?"

"Oh yeah, sure," he replies. We walk back into the living room and sit on the couch, him opting to put a good foot between us. I take another sip of my drink and then set it on the coffee table. I notice the note sitting on the edge of the table. I pick it up and unfold it.

'Aedynn, I had to go into the town over to help. I'll be back tomorrow. I left some money on the table in the hallway. If you need anything, you can call me or any of the numbers I left on the fridge. Oh and Liz says hi. I saw her yesterday. Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Love you, Dad.'

I fold the note back up and put it back on the table.

"What does it say?" Adrian looks at me.

"My dad had to go to Beaver and he won't be back until tomorrow," I answer.

"Will you be okay here by yourself? I mean, I've only known you for a day and I've already had to save you twice."

"Hey. One of those times wasn't even really my fault," I defend myself. "And if I need anything I'll just call Mark."

His face scrunches up in anger. "Yeah, that seems like a great idea." I give him a confused look slightly cocking my head to the right. He laughs, "Don't do that."

"Do what," I ask.

"Give me that look," he smiles. "You look funny when you do that."

I scowl at him and mumble, "Well thanks a bunch."

"But in a good way," he says immediately. "It makes you look like cute funny."

I shake my head, "You are crazy."

He laughs. I grab my drink and hold it in my hands trying to warm my hands.

"Are you still cold," Adrian gives me a questioning look.

"Yeah," I shrug, "but just my hands."

He looks me in the eyes. I stare in wonder at his beautiful, light blue eyes. I look intently at his face and notice that he has holes underneath his bottom lip like he has snakebites. He moves his hand up and grabs the handle of my mug. I tense in response. He gently pulls the mug out of my fingers. I hear him set the cup down on the coffee table. He grabs my hands and pulls them closer to his face. I move my eyes slowly away from his and stare at the closing distance between his face and my hands. Once my hands are right in front of his mouth, he opens his mouth and breathes on them. My hands warm up immediately. I relax.

Once my hands are warm, I smile at him and say, "Thanks."

He smiles back at me, "No problem."

I pull gently on my hands trying to free them from his grasp. He doesn't let go, instead he pulls them closer to his mouth. I gasp slightly as I realize what he's about to do. A chill runs down my spine as his cold lips touch the center of the palm of my right hand. I freeze and stare wide eyed at him. His eyes are closed as he breathes in deeply. We both sit completely frozen; finally, he pulls away dropping my hands in the process.

"I'm sorry," he says with his eyes still closed. I sit stiffly next to him, my hands resting on the space on the couch between us. He opens his eyes slowly. His eyes search my face looking for any sign of a reaction.

"Aedynn?" He waves his hand in front of my face. I don't even blink. "Aedynn!" He grabs my shoulders. I jump and blink rapidly in response. He lets out a sigh of relief.

"I'm really sorry," he begins.

I shake my head and interrupt," No, it's ok. I'm just not used to stuff like that." He gives me a quizzical look so I continue, "I've never been," I pause searching for the right word, "popular with guys I guess you could say." He's still giving me a confused look so I try to clarify. "Guys never wanted me."

He shakes his head slowly. "No I get it. I just can't believe it."

I raise my eyebrow at him. He opens his mouth like he's going to say something and then shakes his head sadly. "You should probably get that." My eyebrow rises even higher, when suddenly the phone rings. I jump up off the couch and run to the kitchen to answer it. I yank the phone off the hook.

"Hello," I say.

"Aedynn?"

"Speaking."

"It's Mark." I look at the clock and realize that school had been out for an hour.

"Oh. Well what's up," I say into the phone.

"Are you busy," he asks.

"Nope not at all," I look up as the door to the kitchen opens. Adrian walks in.

"Cool. Well you want to go out somewhere?"

I look over my outfit and conclude that I really don't want to change. "You want to hang out at my house instead?"

I practically hear the smile as he answers, "Sure. I'll be right there. See ya in like ten minutes."

"Ok. See ya Mark," I say as I hang up the phone. I turn and see Adrian leaning against the wall next to me.

"So that was Mark," he concludes. I nod. "And he's coming over now?" I nod again. He scowls, "Should I leave?" I shake my head a little bit too quickly. He laughs. I scowl up at him, but when I see him smiling I can't help but smile back. I turn away before he can see the smile. He chuckles, "You don't have to hide that smile. It's actually really gorgeous on you."

I blush and walk away from him. I push the kitchen door open and walk back over to the couch. I grab my mug and sit down. He sits down next to me. I sip at my drink a few minutes. I finish my drink and get up to put in the sink. As I'm walking out of the kitchen, the door bell rings. I hear Adrian hiss quietly as I skip lightly passed the couch on the way to the front door. I open the front door and see Mark standing there, beaming at me.

He engulfs me in a bear hug, "Hey Aedynn!"

"Hey," I gasp for air.

"Put her down," I hear Adrian say dryly. Mark's face falls.

"What's he doing here," Mark demands still holding me. I gasp for air again. Suddenly Adrian's hands are prying me free of Mark's grasp. I fall into Adrian's arms. I catch my breath and scramble out of his grasp.

"What the hell," Mark glares at Adrian.

"She couldn't breathe dumbass," Adrian spits.

"Whoa, relax," I say stepping in between the two. They glare at each other for a few tense moments. I shiver as the wind blows a current of rain through the door. Adrian pulls me behind him. He kicks the corner of the door causing it to slam into Mark. Mark growls as he pushes the door open and walks in. He slams the door shut and follows us into the living room. I sit near the arm of the couch. Adrian and Mark stand a good distance apart behind the couch.

"Am I the only one that wants to sit," I say sarcastically, turning my body around so I can see both of them. I smile at each of them and pat the seat next to me. Mark jumps over the back of the couch to sit next to me and smiles triumphantly at me. Adrian rolls his eyes as he sits in the chair next to the couch. We sit in an awkward silence for a few minutes. I fidget for a few seconds and then get up.

"Wanna watch a movie," I say just a little bit too loudly. Adrian smiles crookedly at me and nods.

Mark scowls at him and then turns to me, "Sure." He smiles.

"What do you guys wanna watch," I say as I bend down to open the cabinet that the movies were in.

"What do you have?" Mark asks.

"Pretty much everything," I shrug.

"Whatever you want to watch is fine," Adrian offers, "unless you have a problem with that Mark."

I hear Mark take a deep breath as if to calm himself. "That's fine with me," he says finally. I pull out Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

"You guys have seen the first two, right?"

"Yeah," they agree in unison. I stand and turn in time to see them scowl at each other. I shake my head and lightly kick the cabinet closed. I stand on my toes to reach the DVD player on top of the huge TV. Adrian comes up behind me and wraps his arm around my waist. A chill runs up my spine at his touch. I blush.

"Need some help," he whispers in my ear. I nod slightly afraid my voice would betray me if I tried to speak. His free hand runs down my arm to the movie case in my hand. My heart starts pounding against my chest. I fall back on my feet into his chest. I blush even more. I hear him chuckle under his breath. I look up at him and raise my eyebrow. He doesn't look down at me as he puts the movie in the DVD player. Once he has the movie in, he looks down at me.

"Your little friend doesn't much care for the position we're in right now," he whispers. I blush as I realize how our position would look to someone else and pull out from underneath him. I look at Mark quickly. He's glaring at Adrian and then turns his glare on me. I gasp and look down at the floor. Adrian turns around coolly and slings his arm around my neck loosely. What the heck is he doing? I don't even bother to look up at Mark to see his reaction. I can tell it's not good when Adrian laughs under his breath.

"Anyone want popcorn," I mumble as I shake Adrian's arm off.

"I'll help you make it," Mark offers. We walk toward the kitchen. Just before the door, Mark slings his arm over my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. Adrian mumbles something as I shove the door open, making it hit the wall on the other side. Once it closes, I shrug Mark's arm off and stomp over to a cabinet. I throw the cabinet open and grab a bag of popcorn. I rip the plastic off and throw it in the microwave. I start it and lean against the fridge. Mark is still standing near the door. I glare at him.

"What," he asks innocently, laughing.

"Don't what me," I spit back at him. "You know exactly what." He shrugs. I throw my hands up in frustration. "What are you doing?"

"What are YOU doing," he demands.

"I am trying to enjoy hanging out with you and make a new friend, but you are making it impossible. Both of you are," I shake my head. "Why are you insisting on acting like you two are from rival gangs or something?"

He takes a step closer to me, "Didn't you listen to me this morning? I told you to stay away from him and his family."

"Why," I demand. "Give me one good reason why."

He walks up to me and grabs me by my arms, "Because he's going to hurt you."

"I'm not dumb. I know a player when I see one," I look him right in the eye, trying to ignore the heat radiating from his body.

He closes his eyes and shakes his head slowly.

"I don't mean like that," he mumbles as he continues, "but if that gets you away from him then that's fine."

I ignore the last part and reply, "What do you mean then?"

"It's hard to explain," he pauses.

"Well try to explain it," I snap.

"I can't," he grumbles. "But you have to listen to me."

"No I don't," I turn my head away from him.

"Yes you do," he snarls.

"Why don't you just stay out of it? I can take care of myself. I did for ten years without you," I glare at him. His eyes harden and I immediately regret saying it.

"You're so damn stubborn," his grip tightens on my arms. I bite my lip to stop myself from making any noise from the pain. I don't say anything in response to his statement. This obviously frustrates him because his grip tightens even more. I wince in pain. This is probably going to bruise. The microwave beeps before he can say anything. He closes his eyes and takes deep breaths to calm himself. I can feel him shaking so I don't move. I simply wait until he decides to let go. After a few seconds, I try to talk some sense in him.

"If we don't go out there soon, he's going to come in here," I mumble quietly.

He lets go reluctantly. I turn and pull the popcorn out of the microwave. I pour the popcorn into the bowl and turn back to him. He seems to be more relaxed, so I shove the bowl into his chest.

"Take this," I grumble. He hesitates but takes it and leaves the room. I turn to the fridge and grab three sodas out. I place them on the counter next to it and continue standing with the door of the fridge open. I close my eyes letting the cool air blow over me. I pull Adrian's jacket off as I close the fridge. I place it on the counter next to the sodas and examine the places where Mark grabbed me. I run my hand lightly over my arm, wincing when I touch the bruises. I grab my soda and put it on my arm over the bruises trying to use the cold to reduce the look of them. I give up after a few seconds, put the jacket back on, and grab the other sodas off the counter. I take a deep breath and force a smile before I walk back into the room, turning the lights off as I enter, and place the sodas on the coffee table.

"Why isn't the movie on," I joke trying to lighten the mood as I walk up to the TV and reach the play button on the DVD player.

"I," Mark starts then corrects himself, "we were waiting for you."

"Well I'm here now so everyone get comfortable," I smile, "this movie is pretty long."

I flop onto the floor in front of Adrian's chair. I look up at him as he places his hand on the top of my head. The glow from the TV making his smile even more dazzling than usual and my heart skips a beat. Mark grumbles something from his place on the couch. I choose to ignore it and watch the movie. We sit in silence through the first half of the movie. I sip at my soda when I feel my eyelids getting heavy. I grab the popcorn off the coffee table and grab a handful. I smile mischeviously and crawl quietly over to the couch where Mark has fallen asleep. I pull my hand up above his face and drop the popcorn. I hear Adrian chuckle softly. I stifle a laugh and crouch down as Mark wakes up violently. I roll under the coffee table and back to my original spot by Adrian.

"Aedynn," Mark roars. I laugh loudly. I clamp my hand over my mouth quickly as I see him get up. I re-cross my legs and smile up at him warmly. He glares at me and then smiles mischieviously. My eyes widen in fear. He grabs a handful of popcorn as I scramble away. He grabs me by the waist and sticks the popcorn down the back my shirt. I squirm trying to get the popcorn out, but he squeezes me against him crushing the popcorn into tiny pieces. I grimace as I feel it smash into my back. I hear Adrian laugh. Mark and I look over to see Adrian strewn out on the couch laughing. I glare at him.

"Don't be mad darling," he smiles. I feel Mark tense as Adrian says darling. I stick my tongue out at him. Mark doesn't let go.

Adrian laughs again and Mark's grip gets tighter. I grimace again as I feel his arm crush my hip. Adrian notices and immediately gets serious.

"Let go of her," Adrian says through tight lips. Mark's grip loosens but instead of letting go he moves his arm up higher around my waist causing me to wince in pain and leans down. I tense underneath the awkwardly intimate position. He kisses the top of my head and I feel him smile triumphantly into my hair. Adrian's face tightens.

"Let go of me Mark," I say stiffly.

"Anything for you babe," he beams as he lets go. Adrian's face hardens.

"Quit Mark," I say as I turn around and push him away from me.

"Yes Mark," Adrian agrees still on the couch. "You may want to stop that if you value the use of that arm."

Mark smiles, "Is that a threat?"

"More like a promise," Adrian says standing up.

"Quit it!" I scream stepping in between the two. They continue to glare at each other. "I mean it." Neither shows any sign of stopping. They take a step toward each other. I throw my hands up and walk out of the room. I walk through the kitchen, throwing Adrian's jacket on the floor as I walk out the back door. It's still raining as I walk toward the forest behind the house. I nimbly jump the fence and continue on. I stop just before the entrance of the forest and stand. I close my eyes and lift my face up to the sky. As the rain falls, I listen to the rain fall around me to get a picture of what's around me. I hear the rain fall on the blades of grass underneath me and the leaves of the trees in front of me. I stay that way for a few minutes. Suddenly I hear a change in the way the rain falls behind me.

"What do you want," I spit, keeping my eyes closed.

"I wanted to apologize," Adrian says softly. "I didn't mean to upset you back there." I stay silent simply listening to him. "I don't know what came over me. I just saw that look of pain on your face when he grabbed you and I couldn't control myself."

I turn around slowly and open my eyes to look at him. He's standing there with his shoulders hunched over dejectedly. Even wet and sad, he's gorgeous. His wet black hair falls over his right eye. His wet shirt clings to him showing off his toned upper body. He won't look at me. I want to hug him, but I resist the urge, deciding not to let him off that easy. We stand facing each other for a few minutes. Suddenly he hisses.

"What," I ask.

"Mark is coming," he says tightly. Then more quietly and to himself he adds, "Doesn't think I could get her back to the house, thinks I was going to hurt her, stupid dog."

"We should go back then," I say as I walk past him toward the house. I hop the fence easily and walk past Mark too. He stares incredulously after me. I walk into the house and up the stairs. I walk into my room and slip all of my wet clothing off until I'm just in my bra and underwear. I turn on the shower and wait for it to warm up. As I wait I grab a pair of shorts and a black, short sleeved shirt and walk back into the bathroom. There's a knock at my bedroom door.

"Who is it?" I shout.

"It's Mark," the person replies. I roll my eyes.

"What do you want," I question.

"Well my dad just called and he needs me back home so I guess I have to leave now," he answers. "I can come back later if you want me to though."

"Yeah sure," I call. "See ya later."

"See ya."

I strip the rest of my clothing and step into the shower. I take a long soothing shower. When I'm done I pull on my new outfit. Before I exit the bathroom, I lift up my shirt and look at the large black and purple spot on the left side of my stomach just below my ribs. I trace the outline of it with my finger. When I reach my ribs I grimace in pain and stop. I pull my shirt down and walk back down the stairs running my fingers through my hair.

Adrian is still sitting on the couch, much to my surprise. I walk down the stairs and stop mid-way when I notice him there. He looks up at me with a playful smirk and once he sees what I am wearing, he gives me a suggestive look. I jump up two stairs using the wall there as a sort of protective barrier and close my eyes.

"Could those shorts be any shorter?" Adrian's voice whispers in my ear. I jump and turn around, almost falling down the stairs. He smiles and lets out a soft laugh, "I'm teasing…much like you are now…"

"How am I teasing?" I ask glancing down at the outfit I had put on. The shorts weren't as short as Adrian made it seem.

"Well, those shorts are pretty suggestive," Adrian answers pinning me to the wall.

My breath catches in my throat as I attempt to squeeze past him to get to my room. He starts to follow me, but stops at the door out of respect for me. I take a deep breath, "so Adrian, what's on your mind?"

"You," he whispers eyeing me thoroughly then adds, "and Mark."

"Why Mark?" I ask before pulling a pair of oversized sweats off of the floor of my closet then giving him an almost sympathetic look, "Do you mind?"

"Already ahead of you," Adrian replies staring intently out the window. I quickly slide my shorts off, but as I pull the sweats on I steal a glance at him, he is looking at me out of the corner of his eye. I quickly pull them up to my waist and fold them like my friend Elizabeth had shown me. He began to speak again, "Because, I don't like how he acts around you. He gets to showing off."

"Maybe it's because he cares?" I defend folding my arms across my chest.

"Well look at your arm!" he almost yells as he grabs my wrist rather harshly and shoves the sleeve of his jacket up to reveal the bruise Mark had accidentally left. "That means he cares? Should I slap you around too? Break a few bones? Then will you know I care too?"

"That's not what I meant," I whisper looking down at the floor and gently wriggling my wrist out of his grip.

"Sorry," he whispers rubbing his temples. "Are you gonna answer that?"

"Answer wha-" I'm interrupted by my phone ringing. I look up at him as I slowly side-step to the bed, "That is so weird that you can do that."

"Hello?" I answer tentatively.

Elizabeth and Jaeda all but scream a hello back at me. I couldn't help but laugh, making Adrian eye me suspiciously, "Hey you guys."

They continue talking rapidly and over one another, making it difficult to understand them. I can't help but burst out laughing as Jaeda announces, over Elizabeth and loud enough for Adrian to hear, "We're on the way!"

I laugh, "How long are you staying?"

"Well, considering what I found out about Elizabeth-"

"Shut up Jaeda!!!"

"She needs to know!!!"

"Guys," I say interrupting them, "Someone just tell me how long you're staying."

"Prolly a week, you know tag along to your school," Jaeda says suggestively.

At that, Elizabeth immediately perks up, "Ya, and meet some cute boys!"

I laugh, "Okay, just get here and we'll see if you guys can stay that long. Oh, and Liz, you better not be disappointed if you don't find someone you like."

"Oh Aed-"

Jaeda obviously shoves her hand over Elizabeth's mouth and says, "We'll see you soon."

"Okay," I smile.

"Love, hugs, and coconut juice," Jaeda says hanging up.

I laugh and slip the phone into the jacket pocket, forgetting it's Adrian's and that he's even there. That is until he speaks up, "Who was that?"

"Huh?" I ask looking up at him, before remembering that he had heard the entire conversation. "Oh, that was Jaeda and Elizabeth."

"And they are?" he asks prompting me to elaborate.

"My best friends, why does it matter?" I ask putting my hands on my hips.

"Because…I care obviously," he says stepping closer to me.

"Right, obviously," I say rolling my eyes as he mumbles something I don't catch. I lean closer to him, "What was that?"

"I said," he starts to repeat it, then stops, "Never mind."

"Why never mind?" I ask as he walks out of my room.

"It's stupid, just drop it," he whispers as I follow him back down stairs.

"Fine," I mumble pushing past him and flying down the stairs. I run into the kitchen and pour a glass of water, I hadn't realized it, but I'm burning up. Adrian flew in after me, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I answer before quickly downing the glass of water. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He walks over to me and puts the back of his cool hand to my forehead, "You're burning up."

"I'll be fine," I whisper feeling a blush rise to my pale cheeks.

"When is your dad coming back?" Adrian asks, not moving his hand, but staring at a spot at the wall behind me as he thought deeply.

"Uh, probably early tomorrow morning. Why?" I answer, leaning away from his hand to go to the freezer to pull out an ice cube.

He watches me warily, "Really Aedynn? An ice cube?"

"Yeah," I reply around the ice cube.

He shivers visibly at the sight and says, "That is not gonna help a fever. You may need some looking after."

I all but swallow the ice cube and manage, "You can't!"

"Why not?" he asks.

My mind races, searching for an excuse. "Because," I trail off leaving the thought incomplete. "What will your parents think?"

"They trust me," he shrugs.

"They trust you," I begin but I'm interrupted by a coughing fit. He puts his hand on my back. I shake my head and continue, "they trust you when you're about to spend the night with some girl they've probably never even heard of?"

"So you're going to let me stay and take care of you," he says, choosing only to listen to the first part of my question.

I look into his blue eyes and seeing that there was nothing I could say that was going to change his mind, I shrug. "I can't stop you."

He smiles in triumph and picks me up cradling me in his arms.

"Whoa," I say immediately, "just because I'm letting you do this does NOT mean I'm going to let you treat me like a little kid." He shakes his head and keeps walking. "I'm serious," I say before coughing loudly into my hand. He looks at me warily and picks up his pace. I sigh in defeat as he walks into the living room. He lays me down gently on the couch.

"I'll be right back," he states as he jogs quickly up the stairs. I sigh and pull my phone out of Adrian's jacket pocket. I open my text messages and see a new message from Jaeda. 'Hey we're lik 10 minutes away. Do you need us to pick anything up? Oh and there's a guy with us, do you mind? :/'

I smile softly and reply 'u guys can pick up ne food that u want, William doesn't keep much cept junk food and I don't mind.' I send it just as Adrian walks back into the room holding a pillow and a blanket. He lifts my head up gently and slides the pillow under it.

"Is all of this really necessary?" I ask as he pulls the blanket over me. I sneeze and he gives me knowing look. "Fine," I sigh and roll onto my side. I wince in pain.

"What's wrong," he asks, panicking. He looks me over trying to find the source of the pain. His hands are outstretched toward me, hovering over my body not sure whether to touch me or not.

"Just an old injury," I shrug trying to play it off.

"From what," he asks his eyes still panicky.

"Soccer," I lie. He catches the edge in my voice, but as he opens his mouth to speak I interrupt, "Can you change the movie?"

His eyes steel over as he replies, "Yeah, what do you want to watch?"

I grimace at the look he's giving me. "Anything," I mumble. He pulls out Transformers and puts it in. I can't help but stare as his shirt slides up exposing his smooth back. He turns around and smiles as he catches me staring. I blush and force my eyes to blink. I look up into his eyes and see a guarded look as he pulls his shirt down. I sigh.

"What's," he begins. I hold up my hand to stop him.

"Nothing," I shake my head. The doorbell rings and my spirits lift slightly. I move to get up, but Adrian stops me.

"I'll get it," he walks out of the room and toward the door. I listen as the door opens and Adrian sighs. Must be Mark.

"Why are you answering her door," Mark demands. "What have you done to her?"

"Don't make accusations if you don't know what you're talking about," Adrian says coolly. I hear Mark growl. A wave of nausea hits me as I breathe in deeply. I fold myself in half and wrap my arms around my stomach. I close my eyes and hold my breath as I wait for it to pass. I hear footsteps come into the room. Suddenly Adrian's cool hand is on my back.

"Aedynn," he whispers in alarm.

"What have you done to her," Mark spits at Adrian. "Couldn't control yourself huh you fucking blood"

"Shut up," Adrian interrupts him harshly. "What the hell do you know about anything?"

"I know enough," Mark grunts. I groan in pain as I try to extend my body to full length. This stops their argument.

"Aedynn, don't move if it hurts," Mark says softly as he places his hand on the small of my back. I shake my head and throw my legs out, forcing myself to stretch out. I bite my lip to stop myself from screaming in pain. I take a deep breath through my nose. I open my eyes as I let it out. Adrian is looking intently at my face while Mark is staring in panic at me. I cough and smile weakly at the both of them.

"Don't do that Aedynn," Adrian says as he hides his face in his hands.

"What," I ask my voice cracking from my sore throat. I clear my throat.

He gives me a pained look, "Don't smile when you know you don't want to."

"Oh," I look away from him.

"What's wrong," Mark asks no one in particular.

"Just a cold," I shrug.

Mark eyes me, "That didn't look like just a cold."

"As much as I don't want to agree, I think I must," Adrian comments.

"Maybe we should take you to a doctor," Mark offers.

"No," I say immediately, shaking my head harshly. "I'm not going to a doctor."

They both give me a confused look. I set my lips into a firm line and look away from them.

"Aedynn, be reasonable," Adrian begins. The door bell interrupts him. No one moves. The door bell rings again. I jump off the couch in excitement as I realize who is at the door, dropping the blanket onto a crouching Adrian. I bounce to the door leaving Mark and Adrian in the living room. I open the door.

"Aedynn!!" Jaeda and Liz scream. A tall gorgeous boy stands behind them dressed in baggy jeans and a way too large shirt. His blonde and brown dreads are pulled back into a ponytail. He is holding three Jergoy's drug store bags. I smile weakly at my two best friends. I feel the energy draining out of my body as I stand in the doorway. I lean against the door for support.

"Come on in guys," I motion for them to come in. They walk in and I shut the door. I lean against the door and breathe in deeply. I feel myself getting lightheaded. My legs shake and threaten to give out underneath me.

"Are you ok," Liz asks her eyes filled with concern. Jaeda walks back to me and puts her arm around my waist, holding me up.

I breathe in sharply in pain, "Just a cold."

Mark walks into the room. Liz and Jaeda gasp in surprise.

"Mark?" Liz asks dumbfounded.

"Liz?" Mark's eyes widen in shock. "Jaeda?"

"When did you get so damn tall," Jaeda jokes.

"When did you get so short," he smiles at her. She smiles back.

"Um," the boy that came with them clears his throat. "I hate to interrupt but where should I put these?" He lifts the bags up slightly.

"Mark show him where the kitchen is," I breathe. Mark sends a wary glance my way then motions for the boy to follow him.

"Are you having a party or something that you didn't tell us about," Liz whispers, feigning hurt.

I laugh softly and break out in a coughing fit. I hear Jaeda and Liz gasp. I look up and see Adrian walking up to us. Jaeda and Liz freeze in shock. "Breathe," I remind them softly. Both take a shaky breath.

Adrian smiles at them, dazzling them again and I have to remind them to breathe again.

"I'll take her," he says as he slips his arm around my waist and then scoops me up out of Jaeda's grasp. They nod still in a sort of daze. Jaeda recovers first and winks at me as he carries me back into the living room. I blush as I realize why she's winking. "No," I mouth before the door to living room closes. I hear them whispering in the hallway. Adrian lays me back down on the couch. He pulls the blanket back over me. As his face hovers over mine he whispers, "I'm still not leaving."

I place both of my hands on each side of his face and look him right in the eyes. "I wouldn't want you to," I breathe. I see the smile in his eyes even if he doesn't smile. I close my eyes and fall back on the pillow. His hand strokes my cheek making me smile.

He leans his forehead on my forehead and breathes, "Will you please let me take you to a doctor?"

His breath smells so good, it makes my head spin. My heart stops for a second and then starts again pounding against my chest. I struggle to respond to his question. I start to nod my head. I see him smile and I quickly correct myself.

"No," I say weakly and shake my head. He scowls at me lightly then quickly smiles again.

"What," I cock my head to the side. He smiles even brighter.

"Didn't I tell you not to do that," he touches my nose with his finger as he stands up. "Jaeda, Liz," he greets still smiling. I groan and cover my face with my hands. I only half listen as Jaeda makes up a lie about how he's needed in the kitchen to get him to leave the room. He excuses himself and walks into the kitchen.

As soon as the door closes, Jaeda and Liz both practically scream, "Who is he?"

I move my hands away from my face to cover my ears and grimace at them.

"Sorry," Liz apologizes first. Jaeda sticks her tongue out at her.

"Its cool," I smile and then scowl. "So how long were you guys standing there?"

"Long enough to see your little make out session," Jaeda teases poking me in the arm. I glare at her and she stops.

"We weren't making out," I say through gritted teeth. I shake my head. "Why would I make out with anyone while I'm like this?" As if triggered by my words, a wave of nausea sweeps over me along with a coughing fit. I cover my mouth with my hands and wait for the nausea to pass. Liz and Jaeda wait patiently for me to stop. I nod once it was over.

"Ok so you weren't making out then what were you doing," Liz winks at me. I smile despite myself.

"We were talking," I shrug.

"About what," Jaeda demands.

I roll my eyes, "You are so pushy."

"We already knew that," Jaeda rolls her eyes at me then smiles. "So what were you talking about? Were you talking about when you guys will be able to make out? Or was it about something more serious?" She winks as she says the word serious. I scowl at her. She puts her hands up in front of her, "Alright, alright. No need to be snippy. I'll just ask him."

"No you won't," I snap, sitting up quickly.

Liz puts her hand on my shoulder, "Lay back down." I slowly lay my head back against the pillow to appease Liz.

"You can't stop me," Jaeda says sticking her tongue out at me. Liz glares at her. She puts her tongue back in her mouth.

"So who is he," Liz smiles at me, curiosity giving her eyes a sparkle.

I sigh, "His name is Adrian Schuff." I look at Jaeda and in expectance of her next question I continue, "Yes, I know I've only been at school for a day, so yes I've only known him for a day and he's already at my house." I frown at the realization.

Liz notices and smiles at me. Before Jaeda has a chance to say anything, Liz says, "Don't worry. That's not nearly as bad as Jaeda."

Jaeda scowls at her and pretends to strangle her. I laugh despite myself, "So what did you do that makes me look like a virtuous princess, Jaeda?"

"You know that boy that came with us," Liz starts smirking mischievously. Jaeda tackles her to the ground. I shake my head laughing.

"So who is he," I address Jaeda. She smiles up at me triumphantly as she lays on top of Liz.

"His name is Tom," she smirks to herself.

"And she drove halfway across the country with him like ten minutes after she met the dude but not before making out with him," Liz blurts out. Jaeda hits Liz in the shoulder with the cast on her wrist. I start to laugh and end up coughing violently.

Once it ends Liz simply states, "Go to the doctor, this can't be good."

I shake my head.

"We are not taking no for an answer anymore," Jaeda chimes in as she rolls off of Liz. "We only let you not go after your 'accident' because we weren't there to force you." She uses air quotes around the word accident. I shush her quickly.

"Can you please be quiet about that," I plead with her. "I haven't told anyone here about it."

"Did you even tell your dad," Liz asks sitting up and crossing her legs.

"No," I grimace as she shoots me a dirty look.

"How can you not tell him? He deserves to know that his daughter is being an idiot because she won't go to the doctor after she," Jaeda begins.

"Shut up," I interrupt her.

"If you don't tell him," Liz starts, "I will, in fact I'll show him the video of when it happened. And you know I don't usually threaten you like this, but this could be serious."

I suck in a large amount of air. "What if I just agree to go to the doctor? Will you leave it alone?"

"Yes," they both say in unison. Suddenly I scream and double over in pain. I hear the kitchen door slam open.

"What happened," Adrian and Mark demand at the same time. I cough violently.

"Aedynn are you," Liz starts. I cough into my hand; as I pull away there is blood on my fist.

"Told you," I hear Jaeda mumble.

I glare at her then look up to see Mark holding Adrian by the arm, preventing him from coming any closer to me. Adrian's eyes narrow at him. Mark turns around and whispers something harshly at him. Adrian responds just as harshly. They have a conversation too low for anyone else to hear and Mark reluctantly lets him go.

Adrian walks briskly over to me. He leans down so he can look straight into my eyes.

"Don't move," he tells me. "I'm going to go get a doctor."

I frown up at him and grab his wrist, "Don't go."

He leans down and touches his forehead with mine again. "I'll be right back," he breathes, "I promise." His smell dazzles me again and my grip on his wrist completely loosens. He pulls away and walks out the door. I sigh in defeat as I lay back down on the couch. The movement stretches the muscles in my stomach making in hurt.

I turn to Jaeda, "Can you get me an ice pack?" She nods quickly and runs into the kitchen. Moments later, she runs back over to me with an ice pack and towel in hand.

"Thanks," I say as I take them from her. I wrap the ice pack in the towel and place it lightly on the left side of my stomach. Everyone watches in silence as I add pressure once the cold numbs it mostly.

"What happened to your side," Mark breaks the silence. "I thought you said it was just a cold."

"She's a liar," Jaeda says bluntly. I sit completely still, choosing not to acknowledge either one of them with an answer. I listen as a car pulls into the driveway. I hold my breath hoping that it's not William. There is a knock at the door and I sigh in relief.

"Can one of you get that," Liz says as she strokes a few strands of hair out of my face. Tom glides effortlessly to the door and opens it.

Mark's nose scrunches up in disgust as Adrian walks into the room trailed by a young man with sandy blonde hair. Adrian whispers something to the man and points to me. The man nods, sets a bag down on the coffee table and starts rummaging through it. Adrian walks up to me and stands behind the arm of the couch that my head is resting on.

"That was fast," I mumble as I reposition the ice pack. Adrian's cool hand rests on my forehead.

"I got lucky. He was around the corner making a house call," he says as his hand runs aimlessly through my hair. I glance over at the man; he's pulling a needle out of the bag. I gasp slightly. Adrian looks down at me worriedly. "Don't worry, he knows what he's doing," Adrian assures me, stroking my cheek lightly.

"Who is he," I ask still wary of the needle.

"That's my father," he smiles weakly. I look up at him,

"No way," my eyes widen in shock. Adrian nods. "But he only looks like maybe eight or nine years older than you."

"I adopted him," the man smiles at me. I turn my head quickly to look at the man. His eyes were a beautiful chocolate brown color. I find myself relaxing despite the fact that he was a doctor. "My name is Dr. Mykael Schuff, but you can call me Mykael." I nod. "Now can you tell me what's wrong?"

"It's just a," I start.

"No it's not," Adrian interrupts shaking his head. I scowl at him as he continues. "It started out as just a cold, you know, fever, cough and all that. Then she doubled over once and wouldn't tell us what was wrong. Then she did it again a few minutes later. Then about ten minutes after that, she screamed and when I walked in she was coughing up blood."

Mykael nods slowly. "So you weren't in the room when this happened," he concludes. Adrian shakes his head. The doctor continues, "Was anyone in the room?"

"We were," Jaeda and Liz offer. "We weren't doing anything. We were just talking when it happened."

The doctor nods again and addresses me, "So where was the pain?"

"My stomach," I answer.

"All over or concentrated in one area?"

"Mostly on my left side."

He nods. "May I take a look?" I nod. "Take the jacket off please." I unzip it and pull it off. Adrian takes it out of my hand. Mykael pulls the bottom of my shirt up slowly. There is an audible gasp from everyone in the room as the purple mark begins to be exposed. He pulls my shirt up until he can see the entire mark. I look away from the mark up at Adrian. His face is one of pure shock. His light blue eyes are wide and his mouth is slightly open. I look around at everyone else and find the same expression, except Elizabeth and Jaeda as they have seen it before. I sigh.

"Did I hurt you," the doctor says. I shake my head. He turns back to my stomach. He uses his hand to lightly touch the mark. His cool hand feels good against the heat of my own skin. He pushes just a little bit and I bite my lip to stop myself from making any noise.

"Don't do that," Adrian says suddenly. "Tell him if it hurts."

"Yes please tell me," Mykael agrees. He presses lightly against it again. "Does that hurt?"

I nod my head. He mumbles something then turns around to his bag. I watch as he pulls out the needle. My eyes widen again.

"Are you afraid of needles," Adrian whispers.

I shake my head, "No I just don't like seeing blood in any type of container including a needle."

"Close your eyes then," Adrian says stroking my hair. "I'll tell you when it's over."

I nod and do as he said. I listen as the doctor asks everyone to leave the room.

"Can Adrian stay," I ask him softly.

"Sure," I can hear the smile in his voice. "Whatever makes you more comfortable."

"Thank you," I breathe as Adrian's cool hand touches mine. I intertwine my fingers with his and squeeze lightly. His other hand runs lightly across my forehead.

His fingers squeeze mine as he whispers, "Just relax. It'll be over before you know it." I nod once and take a deep breath.

"Aedynn," Dr. Mykael says, "This might hurt a bit, but it will only last for a moment."

I feel the cold hard point of the needle touch my stomach. I squeeze Adrian's hand even tighter as the needle breaks the skin. I feel a pinch for a few seconds and then the needle pulls out. I go to open my eyes but Adrian covers them with one hand.

"Not yet," he mumbles. I sigh. Something wet is wiped across the place where the needle broke the skin and then a bandage is placed on it.

"Just as it appeared," I hear Dr. Mykael mumble.

"What," Adrian demands. I squeeze his hand in warning.

"She has some internal bleeding and possibly a cracked rib," Dr. Mykael responds, unfazed by Adrian's rude tone. "We should take her to the hospital so I can do some x-rays to confirm and stop the bleeding."

"No," I say. "No hospitals."

"You're going," Adrian says in a tone that said there would be no more discussion about it. I let go of his hand and swipe his hand away from my eyes.

"I'm not going to any damn hospitals," I spit as I pull away from both the doctor and Adrian. I glare at Adrian and he glares back, but behind his angry eyes I see the pain my statement causes him.

Finally he breaks the glare and the silence, "Please Aedynn." His hand rubs the bridge of his nose. When he looks at me again all the anger is gone, only concern is left.

"I can't," I choke out, trying to hold back the tears as I see pain run across his features.

"Why not?" he asks looking at me seriously.

"The only way she'll go, is if we knock her out and force her," Jaeda says leaning against the doorframe.

"How would you know that?" he asks looking over at her.

Elizabeth puts her head on Jaeda's shoulder, "We've had to do it before."

"Shut up guys!" I shout.

Jaeda sighs, "Liz, let's do this."

Elizabeth smiles as she follows Jaeda walking toward me. I shrink away from them as Adrian looks worriedly from them to me, not knowing whether to try to stop them, or let them do what they planned. I took a deep breath, "Please guys, don't do this again."

"Sorry, but you have two choices," Jaeda stops next to Adrian and pounds a fist into her other open palm

"Ours," Elizabeth smiles raising a suggestive eyebrow before harshly pointing at Adrian, "or his."

I sigh and glare at her. She glares back, "Voluntary, or involuntary! You better pick, or Jaeda will, and you know her vote."

My mind races as I go over the possibilities. It's more likely I'll survive if I go with Adrian, but I'd probably remember less if I do it Liz and Jaeda's way.

Finally I sigh in defeat and glance up at Adrian. "I'll go," I say softly.

He breathes a sigh of relief.

"We should go now," Dr. Schuff announces as he packs up his things. Adrian nods at him as he moves to pick me up.

"Someone should stay here in case William comes back before we're back," he offers looking at Mark.

Mark gives him an icy glare.

"He's right," I concede. "It should probably be someone he knows." I look at Mark and then an idea hits me. "In fact, why doesn't everyone else stay here too? There's no need to make a scene at the hospital."

Adrian looks at me. I give him a pleading look as if to ask him to help me convince them. He nods and adds, "She's got a point. You all know where she is and she'll back in no time. Plus you guys can explain to William what happened."

They all look at each other. Finally they nod and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Dr. Schuff comes back into the room. "We should get going now."

Adrian and I nod. I wave a good bye as we exit, me cradled in Adrian's arms again.

The drive to the hospital is silent. Dr. Schuff drives and Adrian and I sit in the backseat. I lay my head on his lap and lay down.

"You're mad at me," I ask quietly. Adrian looks down at me. I look up at him sadly. He raises one hand to the bridge of his nose.

"Please," he sighs after moments of silence. "I'm not mad, just slightly disappointed."

I turn my head and stare intently at the back of the driver's seat. "I'm sorry," I bite my lip. Absentmindedly, I start to trace circles on Adrian's leg.

After a few minutes, he places his hand on top of mine to stop me from drawing circles. I pull my hand away and mutter, "Sorry."

I close my eyes as he sighs again. I fall asleep.