Chapter 1: The real world

The day could not have ended faster, Kayleigh thought as she threw her school books into her bottom locker. Students fought their way down the hall, disregarding the short girl with shoulder length blond hair. Heaving a heavy black and pink polka dotted duffle bag over her shoulder, she sighed. As she merged with hall traffic, her blue eyes narrowed in search of tall, beautiful, blond Codie. All Kayleigh saw were freshmen.

"Ugh where is she?" Kayleigh said scanning the crowd. Dark clouds hung overhead threatening a down pour. The forecaster had predicted rain all weekend and for once it looked like the balding man was right. Typical. Kayleigh had big plans for the weekend. Codie's parents were out of town so a 42 hour anime/manga fest had been planned. Food, fun, friends, the works. Of course it would have to rain!

"Yo!" Before Kayleigh could react, she had been poked in the ribs. She stiffened and blood rushed to her face. OF all her pet peeves, getting poked in the ribs was the absolute worse. Curse words danced on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed them and turned around. Her left eyebrow twitched in fury, but the anger subsided when she saw the mischievous grin on Codie Collins' face.

"Codie!" Kayleigh exclaimed with a huff. "I was about to tell you off! Where have you been?"

Codie rolled her eyes and heaved her plaid bag high on her shoulder. "Algebra two. That evil woman wouldn't let me leave."

Kayleigh nodded and followed Codie through the mass of departing middle school students. The blond pair walked briskly away leaving West Jones High in the shadows of the dark crowds. Codie stopped at a red Taurus and beamed.

"Like my ride?"

"Love it!" Kayleigh replied taking in the beauty of the red paint. Red was her absolute favorite color.

The ride to Codie's home wasn't a long one. It was filled with singing to the radio, excited chats about Eyeshield21, and the up coming graduation. Both Codie and Kayleigh were seniors and only three months away from graduating. Though eighteen, they both shared a love for almost ALL manga.

The moment Kayleigh stepped inside Codie's house, she felt at home. A small Chihuahua bounded up as they dropped their stuff by the door. Thunder rumbled outside.

"Pizza?" Codie asked tossing her blond hair over her shoulder.

"Oh yeah!" Kayleigh dug into her bag. "You get the pizza ordered and I'll decide what we watch first."

Kayleigh wandered through Codie's house closely followed by the small dog.

"Holy fishsticks batman!" She gasped when she caught site of the huge gleaming T.V.

"Beautiful, huh?" Codie said tossing a canned coke Kayleigh's way. "The sound is Uh-Mazing." She paused to open her drink, "Pick something?"

The next four hours were spent watching T.V. and gorging themselves on pizza. Kayleigh laid upside down on the couch, her head laying off the end as she attempted to read the newest volume of Eyeshield21 Codie was sitting cross legged and proper on the floor amongst a pile of comics, giggling at Hiruma's antics. Rain poured outside.

"Classic, absolutely classic!" Codie said between pages. "I swear if you could marry a fictional character, I would."

"Wielding guns and a book of threats spells a healthy relationship." Kayleigh said looking over the edge of her book. Codie scoffed and threw a pillow at her with perfect aim, it hit Kayleigh straight in the face. She landed, sprawled ever so gracefully on the floor.

"That's not very nice!" The blond said attempting to regain her dignity. Codie continued to laugh. Her dog barked in protest and Codie stopped.

"Hah!" Kayleigh clapped her hands together. "A dog shut you up!"

But the little dog kept barking and thunder shook the house. The lights flickered and the house suspended into darkness. Simultaneously a pair of shrill screams filled the air.

"Codie!" Kayleigh felt her way through the darkness. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here!" Codie's eyes attempted to adjust to the dark, but failed. The dog kept barking, but slowly started to whine, "What's wrong Miley?!" Codie questioned.

A crack of lightning filled the sky as the dog started into a howl. When the power flashed back on, the girls were gone and all that remained was the opened Eyeshield21 books.