In the mist of all out war and darkness, hope shines bright. For the savior of the good emerges. Five heroes become one entity, one power. Born in tragedy only to be-

"OK, it's a new school, a new day, new every thing." Will started, plopping her way down on her new periwinkle bed. Her bright red hair following her fall. It was a Monday morning and the thirteen year old girl began to complement her busy day; it was the first day of Eighth grade. Hearing footsteps approach her bedroom door in a hurried tempo, Will shot up from her bed and await impact.

"When are we ever going to stop moving?" Cornelia said coming in Will, her cousins', new room. Cornelia's liveliness never seizes to amaze Will. She didn't answer Cornelia. Instead, she studied her long wavey black hair which she just died. It compliments her pale skin much better than her natural auburn hair color. "And what is it with these new uniforms? This paper says that we have to ware a plaid skirt with a white colored shirt, a tie, and a vest." Before Will could knock on Cornelia's overreaction, a similar sound hit the door.

"Is every one all dressed for school in here? You don't want to be late on your first day of school." Mrs. Joy said. Mrs. Joy is Cornelia's mother.

"Here we come." Cornelia said opening the door. She looked back at Will. "Will, really, why are you suddenly so giddy? It's going to be just like any other school."

"I have a feeling this time we'll make friends."

"Who needs those when we've got each other. Besides, being social isn't really us. When have we ever went out of our way to be friendly with others for the sake of making friends? You know, in the middle of the semester mother is just going to make us move again."

"Wrong! This time we will make friends. I'll make sure of it." Will said. Before she could finish another sentence, Mrs. Joy's voice bled through the the walls.

"Let's go ladies!" Mrs. Joy shouted from down the stair case ultimately ending the conversation.

-AT SCHOOL-

"What are the classes that you all are going to take this year?" Taranee asked. The blonde flipped a few loose locks from her face after asking her three friends at their cafeteria table.

"I'm going to take math, history, typing, spelling and computer Ed." Irma answered first then mumbled something about the food in Spanish.

"I don't know what classes I'm going to take. My mom did all that stuff during the summer." Hay-Lyn answered after taking her seat. "How time goes by." Hay-Lyn began reminiscing her summer flare. She been in camping on the base of Mount Everest, diving on my the big Island of Hawaii, and that's just the tip of the ice burg. Irma and Taranee could only smile. Growing up in New York, New York was not easy for Hay-Lyn, so getting out and exploring the world was exactly what the tom- boy needed. "I hope she signed me up for art." Hay-Lyn finished.

A painful jag shook at Irma making her slightly dizzy. No one seemed to notice so she brushed it off. A sign of being light head is what she thought. Hay-Lyn and Taranee continued their conversation while Irma began to eat. Suddenly a chill crept down her spine. Her pours began to open as the room span in her mind- still, no one seemed to notice.

"I must be dehydrated." Irma called to herself to reach for her water, but didn't make it. She slipped out of her chair and landed right in Will's arm. With a burning feeling now, Irma sprang up.

"Are you OK shorty?" Cornelia asked. Irma was exactly four feet eleven, a half foot shorter than Will and Cornelia. All eyes were on Irma.

"Do you need to be taken to the nurses office?" Will asked. "You seem dizzy."

"Dehydrated is all. Thank you." Irma said shyly. She didn't like being called shorty, but she wasn't turned red from that. Even though she hated being vertically challenged, it was the attention that made her face the color of blood.

Will, noticing Irma's fear immediately, turned to the crows. "Nothing to see here, move along." Relentlessly, the onlookers eased back into their comfort zone of conversation and the five girls were left with each other. Irma could not shake a feeling. "Have a nice day."

"No wait, sit." Irma pleaded. Hay-Lyn eyed Irma and Taranee gawked at the two girls.

"These are the type of people who we don't hang around Irma. Miss Alpha Female and Miss I'm-To-Good-To- Be-Bothered. Taranee eyed Cornelia and Will. Although they were in uniform, Taranee knew that they were preppy girls.

Feeling uneasy, Cornelia, and Will just smiled and back away simultaneously. "We appreciate the offer, but there's no room for us." Cornelia grabbed Will arm and walked her to a different table. "Oh yeah, they were fun people to talk to Will. Great idea." Once Irma and the others were out of ear shot, Cornelia let Will have it.

Back at the other table, Hay-Lyn and Taranee began exchanging looks from one another to Irma, who only stared at Will. "Irma?" Taranee asked in song. She was ignored. "They are the type-"

"Cut that out Taranee. Let's-" Irma interrupted but was shot down by Hay-Lyn.

"Don't go making decisions on your own." Hay-Lyn clearly was backing Taranee. "Are you OK? Why didn't you say you weren't feeling good?" Irma looked more calmly at Hay-Lyn.

"That's the third time it's ever happened Hay-Lyn. The first was when I saw you and the second was when we met Taranee." The two girls looked more sympathetic at Irma who only stared back at Will then Cornelia. "It was actually worse this time. Maybe because there were two of them." Irma paused once more before looking at her friends. "Let's take a vote on it."

Cornelia began eyeing the boys in heat. They were gaping at some girls across the way but there are some who were actually looks towards her.

"Don't entertain them." Will warned.

"Definitely don't." Taranee chimed in. Cornelia and Will looked to them and then at the three empty seats that just happen to be there.

"May we sit with you two?" Hay-Lyn asked awaiting the answer.

"Sure." Unsteady and in a slight shock the two girls said together. Hay-Lyn, Irma, and Taranee sat down with their best poker-face smile on.

It was quite.

And awkward.

Quiet and very awkward.

"OK, so hears the thing," Irma began, "When I was little I was so worried about making friends."

"When you were little?" Cornelia asked herself.

"My mother told me that if I started to feel all weird and light headed, it was because my best friend was near by and well- that's only happened with these two and now it's you two so let's be friends."

"Well she started out in great detail." Will says to herself. The whole situation was bizarre to her, but once again Will caught her embarrassment. It was like Will had a growing urge to protect this girl. She sometimes felt the same urge when she was around Cornelia.

"That's a weird story." Cornelia announced. "By the by, my name is Cornelia and this is my older cousin Will."

"I prefer Will."

"I'm Irma."

"Hay-Lyn."

"Taranee." The only one with a depressed sounding voice.

"Maybe I really was just dehydrated." Irma confessed.

"Well, did you drink your water after we left?" Will asked. Irma thought for a moment then shook her head no. Will smiled sweetly. "Then maybe what your mother said was true. We woke up this morning, and the first thing that we talked about was making friend. Maybe it's destiny."

"Correction, the first thing we talked about were these dreadful uniforms."

"They are pretty dreadful." Taranee chimed in.

"Ah, so you do have fashion sense deep inside, I thought so."

"Why did you say it like that?" A squeaky voice appeared from Taranee.

"Don't worry, me and you will be killer friends." Will coughed a laugh. She knew that Cornelia was going to one show up at Taranee's house and invade her closet. It was only a matter of when. Throughout the rest of lunch time and practically the day, the five girls joked around together. Tensions weren't as high as before, cause walls to steadily come down.

TO BE CONTINUED