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Chapter 1: Identity

Cori was waking down the street, letting the rain pour over her body. She was treading in an ankle-deep puddle and didn't notice the asphalt slab sticking out of the uneven ground. Her right foot struck the slab, causing her to fall forward, flat on her face. She groaned. The cold water of the puddle under her didn't bother her, but her toe and knee were now bleeding. She paused for a moment, letting herself catch her breath. As she pushed herself up on her hands, she felt someone pulling on her arm to help her up. "Are you okay?"

His voice was kind and gentle, Cori noticed as she was pulled to her feet. She pushed the hair away from her face as the rain continued to pour. The boy's wet curls stuck to his forehead and his clothes were drenched as well, he'd been outside a while as well. Cori nodded, finally answering his question. His eyes searched her body hesitating on her bleeding toe, scraped-up knee, and the large bruise on the side of her face that obviously wasn't from the fall.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Cori spoke for the first time. She wasn't sure how her voice sounded, but she was hoping the rain hid the fact she'd been crying before she fell.

"My name's Nate."

"Courtney, but everyone calls me Cori." Nate realized that he still was gripping her arm. He blushed slightly and let his arm relax once again by his side.

"You sure you're okay? That fall looked pretty brutal."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Cori took a step backward, wincing as she put weight on her right leg.

"You're hurt, come here." Nate helped Cori to the porch of a near-by house and she sat down on the steps. Cori glanced at Nate again.

"Are you new around here?" Nate nodded.

"Yeah. Me and my family just moved here."

"Oh. Cause you look really familiar." Nate smiled. He was happy she didn't know who he was.

"You know, I get that a lot." There was a small silence. "So what grade are you in?"

"I'll be a sophomore this year."

"Me too, what school do you go to?"

"Fillmore High."

"Really? That's where I'm going this year too."

"That's cool."

"Do you want some ice for your knee?" Nate asked standing up.

"Uh… actually I should get home." Cori stood as well and took a step down, gripping the handrail for support.

"Come in. Give your knee some rest." Cori nodded hesitantly and complied. She followed Nate through the door, but didn't go any further. "Come on, sit down."

"I'm all wet." Nate looked at her and smiled.

"It's alright, my parents won't mind since you're hurt and all."

"I really don't think…"

"Alright I'll get you a towel." He was still smiling, he had a killer smile. Nate disappeared through a door that led into the basement, leaving Cori by the door. The house looked a lot bigger inside now that she was inside. To her left was the kitchen and right in front of her was the dinning room. Through the dinning room was the living room and she could just barely see the beginning of a staircase that went to the third floor. "Mom, where are the towels!" Cori heard Nate yell from downstairs.

"Mom and dad aren't here!" Another boy's voice came from roughly the same direction.

"What? Where'd they go?"

"I don't know. The towels are in one of the boxes upstairs."

"Thanks, Jase!" Nate came running back up the stairs. He rummaged through a few boxes and pulled out two towels, handing one to Cori. "You can sit down on the couch." He said pointing to the white couch through the dinning room, in the living room. "I'll get some ice." Cori nodded and limped to the couch, using pieces of furniture to hold her up on the way. Once she sat down, she realized that her knee was worse than she thought.

Blood gathered around her kneecap and was starting to trickle down her shin. Small pieces of rock and asphalt stuck to the gash and her big-toe nail was crack through the center, which was also bleeding. The rain had washed most of it away, so this was all since she was inside. Nate walked into the room, his eyes landing on the scrape. "Whoa…" Cori looked up at him.

"It's not as bad as it looks." He handed her the bag of ice.

"I'll get some paper towels." Nate disappeared through the dinning room and came back a moment later with a handful of paper towels. Without thinking, Nate kneeled in front of her and pressed the folded paper towels lightly against her knee. Cori gripped the corner of the paper towel that Nate's hand wasn't on.

"Thanks, I got it." He looked up at her and blushed. Nate stood.

"I'll go see if we have any Band-Aids or something." Nate went upstairs coming down with a first-aid kit in hand. He kneeled down in front of her again, pulling a gauze pad, the medical tape, Band-Aids, Neosporin, and some brown wrap form the first-aid kit.

"I really only need a Band-Aid."

"It's a pretty bad scrape, it should be dressed properly." Cori stared at him quizzically. "My brother is somewhat of a…" Nate paused as if he was trying to find the right word.

"Klutz?"

"Well… Not exactly, it's just when he sets his eyes on something it's like he doesn't see anything else, causing him to run into a lot of things." Nate grabbed the paper towel from Cori and soaked up as much blood as he could, then began to put the Neosporin on. "This might sting a little." Cori ignored the pain, as she usually did and Nate continued his explanation of his brother. "Like this one time at our old house, mom had just gotten done making his favorite dinner. It was in the kitchen and he was in the living room. He tripped over a chair, the leg of our end table, stubbed his toe on the side our desk, and scraped his hand on the doorpost."

Cori laughed slightly, as Nate finished wrapping the brown wrap around the gauze, he had placed on her cut. "Your mom must be a really good cook, if he did all that just for dinner." Nate nodded and put a Band-Aid on her big toe.

"There." Nate stood to his feet, threw the wrappers and paper towels away, and then sat on the couch adjacent to the one Cori was on. Cori placed the ice on her knee.

"Thank you." Cori smiled.

"What happened to your…?" Nate asked pointing to his own cheek to mirror the bruise on the left side of her face.

"Oh, uh…I'm sort of a klutz." Nate didn't entirely believe her answer, but he let it go since they just met. Just then, a boy with black straight hair that shagged over his ears came running down the stairs.

"Nate…" The boy looked from Nate to Cori. "Oh, who's your friend?" Cori looked from Nate to Shayne and back to Nate.

"Wait a second…" Cori said, the identity of the boy finally clicking in her head. "You're Nate Grey?" Nate nodded hesitantly as Cori stared at him in shock.

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me that in the first place?"

"I didn't know how you'd react." Cori looked back at Shayne then to Nate again.

"This is awkward." Shayne said, before leaving for the kitchen.

"I really should go now." Cori stood up, heading for the door. Nate followed her.

"Cori, wait." Nate didn't know why, but he didn't feel right about letting her leave yet. Cori was already out the door. "Can I at least walk you home? Make sure you don't fall again." Cori sighed.

"Fine." The rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to poke out from the thick blanket of clouds. They were halfway to Cori's house, when they heard a scream behind them.

"It's Nate Grey!" Cori and Nate looked back at the same time to see a group of five middle-school girls pointing at Nate.

"Crap." Nate said, looking worried.

"Follow me." Cori said to Nate before darting across the street, between two houses, and across another street. Nate was running beside her, but the girls were hard on their heels. Cori turned sharply behind a house and crouched under the low branches of a cluster of pine-trees. Nate followed her and collapsed in a pile of pine needles next to Cori. "You must…" Cori said overly loud. Nate's hand flew over her mouth. Cori glared at him, but her expression softened when she saw five pairs of feet trample the grass outside the tree.

"Where'd he go?!" One of the girls asked.

"Look!" Another girl yelled. Nate's breath caught in his throat. "A trail! He probably went that way!" The five pairs of feet ran off in the direction Cori was hoping they'd go.

"You can move your hand." Cori said. Nate couldn't make out the words, but the feeling of her warm breath on his palm reminded him that his hand was still over her mouth. He moved his hand.

"Thanks for that."

"No problem. That probably happens a lot to you, huh?"

"I wouldn't say a lot, but more often than I would like." Cori heard the girls coming back from the trail.

"Wait here." Cori whispered to Nate, then crawled out of under the tree. She bent over slightly with her hands on her thighs, breathing heavily as if she just got running. She looked up just as the girls emerged from the trail. "Did you guys see Nate Grey?" Cori asked with an exhausted voice.

"Yeah!" A short girl with blonde hair said with way too much pep. Cori repressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"Did you see which way he went?" A different redheaded girl asked. Cori nodded trying to 'catch her breath'.

"Yeah…I'm pretty sure he ran that way, towards Concord Street."

"Thank you!" All the girls yelled in unison, then ran off. When the girls were out of sight, Cori turned back toward the tree and bent down looking under the low branches.

"It's safe." Nate crawled out and Cori stood up straight.

"Thanks. I owe you one." Cori just nodded.

"I really do have to get home, my dad will kill me if I'm not home in time for dinner." Nate laughed, little did he know she wasn't kidding. They walked the rest of the way to Cori's house. "I guess I'll see you around." Nate blushed slightly and looked down at his fingers.

"I'd…uh really like to see you again."

"I take walks like every day, we're bound to run into each other again." Nate nodded.

"I'll see you later then." Cori nodded and walked into the house. Nate turned to wall off the porch, when he heard yelling from inside.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, BITCH!" The man sounded drunk.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"SHUT UP!" A loud slap followed by a thud was heard.

"Cori?!" Nate yelled without thinking. There some shuffling and hushed voices, when Cori opened the door and stepped out on the porch, closing the door behind her.

"Nate, you have to go." Nate lightly touched the red-hand print on her left cheek.

"What's going on in there?" He asked.

"Nothing, you just have to go."

"Cori…"

"Nate, listen. I know you're trying to help, but you're making things worse. You have to go now."

"Give me your hand."

"Wha…?"

"Just do it." Cori stretched her arm out letting Nate take her hand. He pulled a pen from his pocked and wrote. "That's my number, home and cell. If I don't get a call from you by ten o'clock tonight, I'll know something's wrong and I'm coming over." Cori nodded.

"Now go." Nate turned and walked of the porch. "And Nate…" Nate turned and looked at her. "Thanks." He nodded. Cori turned and headed back into her hell…I mean house.

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