Hello my friends! Long time no see~

First I need to apologize for not uploading for so long. I had midterms when I wanted to write, computer problems when I wanted to upload, some drama, and you get the gist of it, right? I have some time now and I plan to continue this story. I layed out the next chapters and have decided to rewrite the first couple. It suits the rest of the story better.

IMPORTANT to know: I have decided to make this story particularly in Dane's perspective now. I have a good reason to as I plan to show it in the future. Don't worry, you'll see. :D

Also, if there's any advice on first-person perspective or questions you might want to tell me, leave a review. I don't bite when it comes to criticism.

Now's time for the story to begin once again!

"Don't believe anything's impossible until you try it."

Out of all the things somebody said to me, I clearly remember those words to this day. I'm not sure why either. I wasn't really someone to listen to things like that, but for some strange reason, I just couldn't help but soak in what he said. It felt like I'd be doing a huge disservice to him if I didn't.

But now that I know everything about what he meant….

…ane?

I can say safely say I'm thankful…

..Dane?

Just because I know now…

Dane...?

….How cruel people can be.

"DANE!"

"AH!"I let out a brief scream, flinging myself out of bed attempting to find the source of the shout. It didn't take me long before my eyes set on my sister standing at the edge of my bed with one of those crappy toy microphones and a somewhat confident look on her face.

"Man, that took forever! ~" She yelled in the mike, making me cringe. She stretched her arms side to side and gave a hefty yawn, "I'm never waiting that long to wake you up ever again! I'm making you go to bed earlier for now on, got it?!"

I just woke up and I already felt my blood curdling in anger.

"W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I couldn't stop myself from yelling in my frenzy, "A-And what are you doing with…that?!"

She gracefully put her hands on her hips, "What do you think I'm doing?" She made a babyish face, "Did you forget already?"

I took a moment to collect my thoughts and most of all, take a deep breath, "Oh yeah," I looked at what Kali was wearing. She had her signature painted on jean jacket with a black t-shirt. For the lower half of her body, she wore messy striped pants with those boots called "Ugs". From that, I could already tell she was going out today. And from then I remembered,

"School," I said somberly and out of breath, "right," I felt all of my emotions sinking into a depression, "Sorry about that."

Kali showcased a gesture which I could best describe as almost utter confusion. Lugging her microphone set out of my bedroom door, she began mumbling things,

"FYI, I'm the one you should be angry at; not you. Seriously, you seem to blame yourself for everything…"

I rubbed some sleep out of my eyes and replied maybe a bit too curtly,

"What?"

She stopped in her tracks and spun around.

"I wasn't thinking of anything to say to you anyways," she kept the best stern face she could, "Just get up, will ya?" and she continued to mutter as she left my bedroom.

"Huh?" I blinked a couple of times to figure out what the hell just happened. I mean- I was semi-used to my sister's weird behavior ever since I met her, but there were just some things I could just never adjust to. 'I'm overthinking it' or 'she's always like this' would always be the excuses I used to hide my doubts. And sometimes,

I would come to really regret doing that.

Once again, I figured, "Whatever Kali was concerned about might've been just a small thing," and carelessly pushed my concerns to the side.

"Have to get ready again…" I thought moving to my closet and shifting to picking out clothes.

"Nn. Nothing much…." I shifted through a couple of sweaters and jackets, but nothing caught my eyes still, "I guess I should ask Kali to help pick out my clothes more often…"

I guessed I was so focused on my clothes because of my first year of high school. Everything during that time had been so okay. All the horror stories they told us in middle school of 'terrible teachers' and 'nasty cliques' seriously didn't seem to matter much (or at least to me). And most of the kids were alright. Most of them.

My social life had been going well too. I had my own two friends who I wished I called more often. Though, we did hang out. And whenever I couldn't get in contact with them, Kali and her friends always entertained me.

All things all, things were okay. Just, okay.

And for some odd reason, it felt wrong.

Despite the fact I was certain things wouldn't change, it didn't keep me from feeling that something wouldn't happen today. I couldn't exactly pinpoint my feelings, but it was like I didn't want something to occur. Though, I couldn't tell what it was. It was a really bizarre feeling.

However, I didn't think I had time for worrying about things like that and I once again put a lid on my feelings.

"Guess this won't hurt to try…"

A black and white striped shirt, Dark Blue-stripped jeans, and dark brown leather boots couldn't hurt. After all, my appearance, as said by Kali, was "well- defined" so I figured I'd be okay.

I took one last look in the mirror and sighed.

"188 days til' summer. Then I can relax all I want."

Taking my empty book bag, I skipped down the hall and into the kitchen. Kali was already at the kitchen table stuffing her face with food.

"You mind not eating everything?" The fact I had to remind her on a daily basis really got on my nerves.

She stopped eating for a moment, and chugged down the last of the milk she was drinking.

She whined, "I'm not eating everything! There's plenty for you to have!"

I started to get even more annoyed, "You left me some toast and a piece of bacon-no, scratch that, you left me scraps!"

She made a another baby face as if it would settle my anger,

"Well you never eat anything! Besides, even the stuff you do eat, you never finish it. It's such a waste!" She made quick work of a mini bagel and continued, "I ought I'd give you something you can handle on your own for once."

I felt the blood rushing to my head, "Don't baby me! I can eat as much as I want to, when I want to. Besides you never leave anything I like!"

"Then maybe you should get up earlier," she had the nerve to say drinking some more orange juice.

"I'm not going to wake up at 5:00 a.m. in the morning just to compete with you for food."

"Tough luck then," she spat with a mischievous grin.

I sighed in defeat, "Are you ever going to stop doing this to me?"

"For everything else, yeah. But I'll never sacrifice food."

I nearly gagged at her statement, "You really need to re-think your priorities."

"Uh huh," she ignored me as she went back to eating her food.

Examining the kitchen table, I picked up some toast bitterly.

She was right.

After only a few bites, I felt like I had more than enough to eat and sat down to pass some time. Looking over, Kali was nearly done with her breakfast, but before she picked up another piece to eat of bacon to eat, she changed the mood of the conversation, "You think mom's home yet?"

Dead silence.

"… She's never home," I replied as calmly as possible, "Why are you even asking?"

The topic was starting to get uncomfortable.

She puffed her cheeks out a bit, "Don't be that upset! She's working long hours you know! We should at least know she's okay!"

I felt myself cringing at her words, "Okay? She's perfectly fine. She just never comes home."

Kali pouted, "At least show SOME concern. I get she stays at the hospital overnight, but it doesn't mean she's safe! Anything could happen! Like, like….?"

I raised my eyebrows in confusion, "Like what?"

"Like…aliens! They could attack the hospital and abduct all the inhabitants like in one of those movies, never to be seen again! Or maybe, an outbreak of zombies comes from the hospital and in her dying breath she comes home and infects us!"

I deadpanned. A repeated action in response to Kali's warped imagination, "A-Are you serious?!"

"In this world anything can happen! I mean-think about it!" She raised three fingers, "You could have a near death experience, write without a hand, and even give birth to things you didn't know about!"

The last line really got me for some odd reason.

"What do you mean by that?"

I swore, that for a moment, she nearly moved her hand to cover her mouth, but she stopped.

"Is she trying to hide something?"

She shifted her hand down to her napkin and continued, "I mean…l-like the miracle of giving birth to new talents! You know, like learning and developing new skills you didn't know of! Heh."

I still felt off about her line, "I don't get it."

She looked really nervous now. Something was definitely going on, but before I could press myself even further, I heard the familiar sound of a heavy roaring engine.

"The bus is here!" Kali slurred pretty enthusiastically, "Let's go! We're going to be late!" She rushed to the front door without continuing her explanation.

"…" I didn't want to drop the subject just yet, "What the hell?" I remained in limbo for a moment, "What's with her today? Kali never drops a subject that quickly…."

"Dane?" I looked up to see Kali carrying her signature art bag, "Are you coming yet?"

"Whatever…I guess it's alright." I reassured myself, "She'll tell me later anyways."

It was the least of my problems at the time. I figured it didn't mean that much. "She's just acting like her usual self," I attempted to fool myself, "I'm taking it too seriously."

But really, I wasn't.

I responded back the way I usually would, "...You really need to stop watching those movies. I feel like they're affecting you more than you think."

Kali pouted once again, the usual feature, "I'm perfectly fine! You're the one who needs some fixing!"

She couldn't have been more right.

We thankfully made it out of the bus on time. It was just leaving when we got the stop. So we ended up flagging it down. The way to school was pretty mundane as well. Everybody was either eating their breakfast, talking about not wanting to go to school, or minding their own business. A pretty boring ride if you were to ask me. (Not that I was asking for anything special) Needless to say, Kali was more than happy to finally get out of the cramped place. Including me, myself as well. She hopped off the bus with somewhat renewed energy. I followed close behind her.

"I can't believe it!" Kali stretched out and boasted, "Middletown High School! I've waited forevvvver for this!"

"But you already go here…"

"I know!" She stood up straight with her hands on her hips, giving off a ambiance of an attitude, "It's just that I only have 3 years left to decide what I want to do for the next 80 years of my life, if I even last that long," she grumbled, "I haven't even started yet!"

I sighed deeply, "Don't I keep telling you this over and over? You can wait a while. You aren't in a rush for anything."

Her mouth drooped, "I know, but I'd really like to get it out of the way! It'd be sooo much easier! I mean, I have sooo much work to do that I rarely see… MARIE!" she stopped mid-sentence and ran ahead of me.

Up ahead, I saw a familiar red haired, pale skinned girl.

"KALI!" Marie shouted eagerly as they jumped up and down hugging each other. Kali then said something to her which I could guess was a greeting. They ran over to where I was after that.

"Hey Marie," I decided to keep it short and sweet, but she had other plans.

"Hey Daner! What's up?" Her long skirt swooshed around as she stepped to the right to face me.

"Nothing much, just-"

"Thinking about stuff? Tell me!"

"Again?!"

Marie seemed to have some sort of radar that could detect drama from a mile away. Every year I've been in school with her, she seemed to always know when something was wrong. I found it a little unsettling, but nonetheless it was pretty impressive ability.

At least when it was on your side.

I shrugged it off, "No, just waiting for Heat and Franc to show up."

Marie gave an eerily identical pouty face to Kali's and placed her hands on her hips. Yep. Those two were definitely made for each other.

"Hmph! Well then." She leaned in within inches of my face, "See you at later,"

"Huh?"

I felt there was a unique slyness to her voice. But I couldn't tell what it was. She skipped happily over to Kali, and with a small wave, the two went off. I shrugged off my feelings once again and prepared to go into the school as well.

"Yo, Dane!" A pair of buff arms held my shoulders. They then turned me around to the speaker, "What's up, man?"

It was my best friend, Franc. Different from when I last saw him, he had short light brown hair that had been shaved. He was also wearing a motorcycle jacket, sneakers and ripped jeans. His built face showed a pretty goofy smile.

"Hey Franc," I greeted casually.

Franc looked almost horrified at what I said,

'Hey'? He stated sarcastically, "Hey"?!

"You don't call for almost half the summer and that's what you say? Man…that's a bold move. Glad to see you're doing fine and dandy."

Before I could reply, another voice broke into our conversation,

"Just give him a break Francis, he probably has much more stuff to worry about than you think. If you just want to speak with him in the first place, why don't you just go over to his house and talk with him in person?" Heather stated entering the scene.

Heather's appearance also stayed pretty much the same. She had her short dark blueish hair with her signature dark -red framed glasses. The usual. She wore a white cardigan with a blue floral dress and slippers. Something she always did was look nice on her first day of school. I guessed it was to leave an impression.

"Hey, Heat."

"Good Morning, Dane."

Franc gave a notion of irritation in his voice, "First of all, I keep telling you to stop calling me Francis. Second, you know I have to help ma and pa a lot with the restaurant during the summer."

"It was just a suggestion…" Heather's words dwindled, but continued as she faced me, "You are doing well, I assume?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing much has been happening."

"Well I guess as they say, no news is better than bad news."

"Anyways," Franc stated changing the mood, "We have a lot of lost time to make up with! We really need to hang out more!"

"With your barbarian speaking skills, it's hard to understand anything you say. Just a thought..."

He snapped back, "Your fancy speaking skills also don't help him either! It'll just confuse him more!"

"At least I use proper grammar when speaking.." Heather replied starting to lose her cool.

"Don't act tough! Just because…"

"Already?" I wryly chuckled in my mind, "This is cute."

The two began to bicker. The usual. From what I saw, they never got along. Even from the day we all swore to be friends, they never casted aside their differences. It was pretty sad, really. They just simply tolerated each other and I couldn't change that. No matter how hard I tried.

RING! RING! RING!

The bell rang loudly throughout the school yard, "Oh yeah," I thought, "orientation."

I remembered that every year, a certain tradition they did at our school was that they made all the classes go through a 'first day orientation' speech every year. I never understood why they did for all the grades considering we weren't new here, but regardless, they didn't give us any work during the time, so I was alright with it.

I turned back to my friends who were still bickering like an old couple.

"Hey! Can we go in now? Orientation's starting!" I yelled in an attempt to catch their attention.

The two stopped in their midst and hurriedly went to the opposite sides of where I was walking.

"Sure, just dealing with someone." Franc announced as if I didn't know who he talking about.

"I urge you not to start an altercation with me, Francis," she replied glaring holes through him.

"For the last time, don't call me that! It's Franc. F-r-a-n-c!"

I sighed once more. The cycle didn't seem to end.

"…"

I felt my heart skip a beat as I turned around to see behind me. Franc noticed this and held my shoulder, "What's up dude?"

"Is something wrong?" Heather chimed in, probably equally as concerned.

"…Nothing, just thought I heard something…"

I turned forward and continued on into the school. Franc and Heather didn't reply. An odd feeling faintly rose from within me, but I shrugged it off once again.

The school had all its important announcements in one huge auditorium and this was no exception. Everybody who knew the drill sat down and prepared themselves for the opening speech. I figured it would be the same old same old as well. The principle gives a speech about how this is new journey for us and that "nothing is the same each year" as he said every time.

"Tch, why are still doing this? It's not like anybody listens to these boring speeches anyways. We should be getting to the exciting stuff!" Franc stated triumphantly crossing his arms in defiance.

"It's a 110 year-old tradition. I doubt they'd be rid of it so soon for a bit of football,' Heather replied.

Franc shot Heather a glare, "I'll pretend I didn't hear that from you."

Heather gave the slightest smirk, "Gladly."

Did these two ever stop?

"Common guys, stop flirting. Let's just see what's going to happen next."

"We aren't flirting!" they barked in unison. I just sighed at sight.

"Suuure you aren't," I rolled my eyes, "Let's just focus back on the speech."

Franc yawned and leaned back in his seat, "You do that. I'll spend my time catching up on some sleep."

My attention went to Heather.

"Don't worry," Heather reassured me, "Unlike some people, I don't like to sleep with company around."

Franc turned away from us, "Aw, shut up!"

I couldn't help, but laugh a bit. These two were definitely like a couple.

Soon the lights dimmed, and Heather and I's attention turned to the center stage like everybody else's.

A man I didn't recognize walked up to the stage and put the microphone next to his face.

"Hello boys and girls, as you may or may not know the principle has retired over the summer."

Faint mumbling rang throughout the auditorium.

"She retired?"

"Yes! Finally! She was such an old hag!"

"I'm not surprised if she got tired of this place. I wouldn't want to stay in a school of over 2,000 kids."

"Me neither."

I heard many of same responses that people thought of and I couldn't help but think of them as well,"

"Guess she was too old to handle the place," I muttered as quietly as I could under my breath.

"She was eighty-nine years old," Heather agreed, "I would be even more surprised if she didn't retire."

After the auditorium calmed down, he continued to speak,

"And although we will miss Mrs. Davis, we would like you all to give a grand opening to your new principle. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome principle, Travis!"

My mouth hit the floor as the auditorium applauded. The man had to be 20! He stood around 6 ft., had short black hair, very little facial hair, and a well-built body. I mean- he looked to nearly be around my age.

"How old is this guy?!" I exclaimed in my mind.

The entire auditorium seemed to agree with me.

I tapped Heather's shoulder, "He's pretty young, isn't he?

Heather cuffed her chin, "It could be very misleading. Some people who are 50 look like they are around 20, believe it or not."

I couldn't help but ask, "You can tell?"

"It's…. not obvious."

"Yeah, but can you tell?"

"No."

I sweatdropped.

The principle coughed into his microphone, gaining our attention. He then began to talk.

"~Hello there! ~ "For somebody of his status, he spoke rather flamboyantly, "Whether a freshman or senior, I consider this our very first meeting and I would like to celebrate with a signature Falcon cheer! Hip Hip Hooray! ~"

The entire room was washed over with an aura of discomfort.

"Don't be shy! ~ Hip hip, hooray!"

Some students and staff replied back, but I was too dumbfound to say a word/

"Please tell me this is a joke," I begged with a smile forming on my face, "How could anybody take this guy seriously?"

"Does it look like it?" Franc yawned coming out of his nap. It was probably due to the cheering that woke him up.

"It's probably just a morale booster," Heather claimed calmly.

"True….but it's not working." I replied hysterically.

After his…stunt, he proceeded to great us the regular way and started his big opening speech. From this point on, I started to zone out a bit before waking up to a certain line.

"Dreams are very important."

I raised my head for some odd inexplicable reason. Things like dreams and wishes always seemed to miss my eyes and ears.

"Whether a man nor woman, talented or not, we should all try to reach our dreams. Whatever they may be. Everybody's dreams are equally important. My dream to become a principle came true after years of hard work and inspiration and I expect you all to do same. Not just at this school, but wherever else you may be, put your best efforts and find your dreams. Don't just wait for them to come to you! Go reach for it! You won' regret it!"

Looking at him, at the last line, I could've sworn he looked at me dead in the eye. I shivered, quickly turning away, I pushed my thoughts to other things,

"This guy's so energetic about dreams…It seems kind of unhealthy, but then again..." I bade meaning to his words, "Are my dreams, really worth it?"

A flash of somebody came to my mind. I felt my insides churn.

"No, there's no way…T-There's no way I could become like him."

"…"

Once again, a familiar feeling rose from within me.

"Now's not the time to start crying. I prematurely rubbed my eyes. It's just another speech, another person."

And once again, I shrugged it off.

The rest of the day went well. It was a half day and with the speech it just made my day shorter. The classes seemed to be alright and nobody looked to be that bad that I wouldn't be able to tolerate them for the rest of the year, but then again, I couldn't be so sure. Though, I got a couple of classes with Kali and Franc in them, so I figured it couldn't be that bad.

Since the route to go home was shorter that taking the bus, I decided to walk. Kali wanted to go over to Marie's for a while, so I gave her the house key. I knew where the spare was, and even then, I could always ask a neighbor for the key.

Heather's House was also on the way to mine, so she ended up tagging along too. Franc also wanted to join, but his house was the other way and he was particularly busy tonight.

The scenery walking home, although nice, wasn't particularly any different from when I was taking the bus. Except for that passage way Heather was going through.

"Wait, What?"

I rushed over to where Heather was going and stopped her.

"Where are you going?!"

She took a moment to form her words, "We can take a short cut from the side of this apartment building. It gives you much more leniency on time and liability."

She continued to maneuver through the bushes blocking our way until we saw windows of people's apartment buildings.

"Wait. We're in somebody's backyard!"

"I know."

"…"

"And…." I tried to lead her onto the point.

"And what?"

"Nobody saw you do this?"I nearly got hysterical, You're trespassing through somebody's backyard! I don't think that's safe."

"We put ourselves in danger by doing the simplest of tasks each day. I doubt this is will make a difference."

I chewed on my lips, "But still…"

"Yes?"

I didn't feel comfortable with this at all. I mean- I wasn't a strict guy or anything, but I didn't like doing stuff like this.

I guess Heather could sense my frustration because she made a deal with me after wards.

"Why don't we stay to the side walk after we reach the end of this curb, okay?"

I sighed in a bit of relief.

"Sure."

A young woman with blonde hair strode towards the gate of Middletown High School. Her appearance bore of a purely black coat that reached to her ankles, medium-sized sunglasses, and heels.

She stopped once she reached the front of the gate and began to examine her surroundings. There was no one around her. Her eyes met a particular window and she removed her shades.

"…Character Change."

As if from thin air, an oddly colored red wind sprung from beneath her shaking everything in sight. However, the woman did not panic. She simply continued on her way to the gate as if she was taking an evening stroll.

Placing her hand near the gate, she came close to opening the door,

"ARGH!" next thing she knew, she was on the ground; blown by an unsighted forced. Blinking a few times, she saw a wave of black energy swishing furiously around the gate as if protecting the door with its life.

"It's no use… He's stronger than I could ever imagine," she muttered breathlessly, still trying to recover from the blow.

"…Damn it!" she pounded her fist into the ground and began to rise to her feet.

"There, there," a child-like voice comforted the woman smoothly, "It's no use making a fuss about it. We'll try harder again next time."

The woman gathered her bearings and began walking away from the scene,

"Guess so. From the likes of it. I can't break in the usual way. So we have to go with option B."

"Option B?"

"Yes, option B," the woman calmly noted to the voice.

A small silence passed before the voice seemed to take the hint,

"Wait,… is option B?" the woman halted in her tracks.

"I know you don't like it, but if we want to save everyone in this school and town, we need to use the best of our abilities. I'm sorry."

Another silence passed before the voice decided to speak out again.

"It's okay…" the voice started somberly, but continued off happily, "I mean, we are helping people. And that's what you want, right Sophie?"

"….." the woman continued her way down the road without replying back to the voice.

"…Sophie…"

After sneaking through several alley ways, we cut through most of the urban part of town and got near the place where I live.

"Several more blocks," I huffed trying to compete with Heather, "Seriously, we probably went everywhere around my house. Is she messing with me?"

I decided to test her.

"Hey Heat. You tired yet? I want to go home soon,"

Heather didn't face me to talk.

Bingo.

"W-What do you mean?" she stuttered a bit before gathering her words, "This secret passage will certainly lead to your destination. All we have to do is go through here."

I chuckled, "Riiiiigght," I began to talk sarcastically, "Just like with going around the curb, going through several alleys, and then the shops."

Heather didn't reply, but then realized her mistake of not doing so, "I-I.."

I figured I'd tried to guess her answer, "If you just wanted to spend time with me, you should've asked. We could've worked something out."

Another silence passed before Heather blew me out of nowhere,

"…..not with Franc around. He's always hogging your attention."

"What?" I blinked a couple of times comprehending what Heather just said, "Did she-… i-is she-...Is Heat...?"

"AUGH! PLEASE, STOP!"

"What on earth?" Heather gaped in full-fledged astonishment.

An unpleasant sound had rudely entered our ears and taking over our minds. We exited the alley and rushed to the source of the sound only to draw back as quickly as possible.

From what I was able to take a glance at, some guy around my age was being wailed on by two other guys. I attempted to move over to get a better look, but Heather covered my mouth,

She hushed me, "Just listen."

"Yo- what you staring at?" One of them called out.

"I-I'm n-not…" whoever they were beating up, he sounded pretty weak.

"Then why you looking at me now huh, huh?!" From what I could hear, they were torturing the poor guy.

Without any hesitation, I began to make my way over to scene, but a warm hand pulled me back.

"What are thinking?!" Heather whispered rashly, "This is none our business!"

"We can't just leave him here!" I tried my best to stay calm and quiet.

"Well, what are you planning to do? Do you want to get killed? Not only are you outnumbered, but what if they have weapons as well. You'll just be put in more danger!"

I paused, "This is stupid, but that guy…" I couldn't get my mind off it.

"Dane,...please don't do this. At least…not now."

Silence.

"…fine. Let's go back."

I cursed in my mind as I nearly slammed my fist into the brick wall. It seemed like the safer option would best, but at the same time, I couldn't shrug it off. I left a kid to be beat up on the street. I never felt so sickening in my life.

I shuddered a bit before continuing close by with Heather. I had this lingering feeling that wouldn't go away and I needed someone to talk to.

Once Heather got to her house, I didn't hesitate to rush home, I felt exhausted. Not just from my previous stunt, but the day as well. It had all been mentally exhausting and I needed to relax a bit.

After using the spare key to get into the house, I called out,

"Kali?...Mom?"

No answer.

"Great, she's not home yet," I muttered sarcastically. I hastily took out the papers that needed to be signed for my medical reports and flung my jacket, not caring where it went. Reaching my mom's room, I attempted to open the door. I shook the handle a few times.

Locked.

I sighed. She was definitely home. She was just sound asleep or doing something crazy for all I know. Growing up, it was a known rule that when my mom wanted her privacy, she would lock the door and not do anything the rest of the day. She wouldn't cook, clean, or do anything. It was just what she did and we couldn't complain about it. After all, we could fend for ourselves if we needed to, and she'd come out eventually… Only she'd be grumpy as hell until she went to work.

I knelt down and slid the papers under the door. It seemed to be the only way to communicate with her if I needed something urgent. I slugged over to my room and threw my bag in a random direction. I didn't care where it went. I fell face first on my bed just staying there for a while until I needed to breathe.

"Dreams are very important…" one of the first lines of the principle's speech entered my brain for some odd reason.

"Whether a man nor woman, talented or not, we should all try to reach our dreams. Whatever they may be. Everybody's dreams are equally important!"

The words rang in my ears,

"Could I really?.."

Realization hit me faster than my body could comply with.

"Tch….why should I care?! My dreams suck anyway!"

CRASH!

In blind frustration, I had thrown my boots off my feet. One landed near the door and the other somehow hit the closet self, knocking everything down.

"Damn it!" I cursed into the bed with my lackluster energy.

Somehow I made my way over to the junk that fell over and found myself sorting through everything.

"How'd all this stuff get up there?" I pondered separating things to the side, "I should at least clean up the stuff from the floor…"

Once I separated the toys from the papers, subsequently I began to look through them again. Most of them were old graded things and some manga I bought when I was 12. I saw nothing that really caught my interest in particular until…

"OH! I remember you!" a bright blue figure caught my eyes. Picking it up. I examined it. It was my blue power ranger figure, "You were my favorite ranger! I used to play with this all the time! Yeah…." I felt the smile on my face dissolve. "But that was pretty long ago…wasn't it?" I threw the figure over to the side and continued.

"One more to go!" I cheered myself on as I flipped through the papers.

"Huh?" Another picture caught my eye. I went through the pile again and took it out. What I saw was on the back of a sloppily put together booklet. The image was of me, Kali, and what I assumed to be Franc.

"When did I make this?"

Putting my face closer to the image, I saw something even weirder. Between me and Franc was some sort of poorly drawn space. No, it wasn't just a space, it looked like an…

"An egg?"

I thought back to the time before I had glasses and contacts, "My perception isn't that off…" even back then I figured I could see things pretty well. I took a closer look at it and blinked a couple of times.

Nothing.

The blank space bothered me quite a bit and I just couldn't help it, "I feel like I'm forgetting something…"

I was very reluctant to let go of the feeling I had so I subdued it, "What else is there…."

Flip. Flip Flip.

After scanning through several pages, I checked the front of the book.

"Heroe's Handbook! A guide to being a Hero!"

I chuckled, "It's definitely been a while since I've seen this."

Now from this point, I could've just put the book down and never picked it up again. If I did, nothing in the future would ever happen, but something made me do it. Something kept me from going on my merry way and living my casual life. It was…

Opening the book, I saw images of my old family and myself when I was younger.

"A lot of stuff's in here," I continued to turn the pages of the book There's mom, dad, grandpa, grandma. Even me and Kali when we first got her."

The entire book itself didn't seem too 'heroic' in a sense. Most of the pictures I made were of things I wanted to do as a hero and other stuff that was pretty hammy, even for a super hero. A picture that caught me was when I saw myself in a pretty gaudy costume.

"Oh yeah. I remember that. I dressed up as a superhero when I was at my aunt's Halloween party."

I turned the page once more with a grave look of horror at my costume,

"What was I thinking?!"

The next pages of the book were blank, I figured I had nothing else to put in after wards and nearly put it down, but the last few pages had something else for me.

"Hero's Guidelines! Number 1 Rules for Heroes!"

Instant nostalgia kicked in, but "Wait a minute, when did I make this?" I adjusted my sitting position to get comfortable while continuing to read.

"Number 1: Always Do What You Think Is Right!"

I couldn't help but think back to the time when the kid was being targeted by those two guys.

"Could I have helped him?" I just continued to the next page despite my doubts, "No, Heather was right, it was too dangerous anyway."

"Number 2: Always keep your head in the game!

I was started to get unnerved, "When did I write this? All of these rules are so cheesy."

I continued to scroll down the page filled with even cheesier rules.

"Number 5: Don't Steal, Number 6: Don't Invade Other People's Privacy, Number 7: Be nice to old people," the list just went on and on.

"My God, when did I write this?" I felt surprisingly embarrassed at the rule book. Only a little kid would follow these.

…Then that one came up.

I read it aloud to myself like all the other rules, "Rule 11: Always be true to yourself…"I blinked before I quickly shut my mouth and closed the book nervously. It was really starting to get painful reading this.

"What does this rule book mean anyways?" I stated very upsettingly, "It's not like I follow these things anymore."

I tossed the book to side and went over to my bed. Taking off some clothes, I left myself with my under shirt and boxers on.

"I'm too tired to go out again," I thought slipping into my bed, "I'm just gonna sleep for a while."

Lifting the bed sheets over me, I sunk into the head of the bed. Thoughts of the speech I heard and Kali's words still lingered in my mind.

"My dreams?...What's the big obsession with them anyways?" I tossed around finding a comfortable sleeping position and sighed, "Well, if I had to be honest for once, I'd dream...

..of being myself.

That's a wrap on the first rewrite of this chapter. Now don't worry. I'm satisfied this way and I liked how things turned out so far. So don't worry about any major changes unless it's a canon mistake or something like that. So for now. Enjoy the second chapter at your leisure.

Thank you so much for reading my fanfic. I really appreciate it. Though a review doesn't hurt.