I haven't written anything in a long time, sorry, guys! I was distracted by schoolwork, but my goal this summer is to write this book (and possibly some more!). So thanks everybody. Please Read and Review, because that's basically what makes me happy when I only have two neighbors: One that owns a peacock farm and one that was banished from Germany.

Elli's P.O.V.

I zipped up my thin jacket even tighter and made sure my hood was up. The sound of cars beside me was comforting. It reminded me of Chicago, back home. My hot pink Chuck Taylors padded along the sidewalk. I passed a group of seniors who were talking in the parking lot of the school, and I stood up straighter and did my little "model walk".

"I look so great," I thought. I was wearing a white jacket with neon paint splatters on it and sky blue skinny jeans. I had my backpack slung over my shoulder, with my soccer uniform and cleats inside of it. I was walking to Willa's to pick her up for soccer practice.

"Willa?" I called as I went to her backyard. Willa was concentrating on a book she was reading. She always had her nose stuck in a stupid book. "What the heck is Macbeth?" I asked as I walked up to Willa.

"Huh?" Willa looked up. "Oh. It's Shakespeare. He's done a lot better, though." Willa had wavy brown hair with bangs that she had down, and light green eyes. She was a lot pretty, was tall and lean, but had a blotchy face. Not to be mean or anything, but that's just how it was. No matter what acne cream she tried, it was still that way. Her makeup and bags covered most of it, though.
I had blond hair that was cut as a layered emo cut, cloudy blue eyes, and was petite. I was short and skinny. I did have a few flaws, including a turned-up nose and a growing double chin. Willa and I were as different as any two people who were best friends could be. I was street smart; Willa was book smart. I wore skinny jeans; Willa wore dresses. I was the flirtiest girl you'd ever met; Willa was shy and had never had a boyfriend. I had gotten suspended; Willa had never gotten a detention. The list goes on and on.

"Come on, Willa, we're gonna be late. Remember last time, Coach Timmons said that we would have to run extra laps next time." Willa got up, and we both started walking towards the soccer field, with our backpacks slung over our shoulders.

"Hey, Elli, that was your fault. Remember, you were talking to that one boy—what was his name— Timmy?"

"Meh. He's not really my type anymore. Did you know he likes Star Wars?" I scoffed.

"And WHAT is wrong with Star Wars?" Willa asked, spinning around, obviously offended.

"Nothing, I'm more of a Harry Potter fan myself," I said.

"That makes two of us. Star Wars can't even compare to Harry Potter, but that doesn't mean that Star Wars is terrible." We passed by the seniors again, and I started my model walk again.

"Elli, seriously, it's not like they're going to notice us. We're freshmen." Willa rolled her eyes.

"So what? Miracles happen!"

"Yeah, right. You just wanna get asked to prom," Willa said.

"True that. But my drreeeaaammm date would be Leonardo Di Caprio," I swooned.

"Yea, if he looked like he did in the Titanic. But he's old and not-so-hot now," Willa wrinkled her nose. "I'm more of an Adam Young type of girl myself."

"Adam Young, Adam-Shmung," I said, tossing her head. "The dude can sing. So what. Leo can ACT."

"So I guess it's plain to see—" Willa started to sing.

"When you look at you and me—"I went on.

This time together: "We're different, different, as can be." (In case you don't know, that's a song off of A Very Potter Musical.) We arrived at the soccer field and walked over to Lily, who had a package of Pop Tarts in her hand. Lily is half-white, half-black, and she had long black hair that she straightened every morning. She usually wore T-shirts and shorts. During the summer, Willa and Lily did Marching Band. They were the flag girls. They also played the flute in band, but I think that marching band and band is for nerds. Lily is seriously the prettiest girl I've ever seen; and she doesn't give herself credit for that. She can be judging sometimes, but she is the most Christ-like girl I've ever met.

"You guys want one?" Lily asked, her mouth full.

"Nah, I just ate," Willa said. I took one longing look at a pop tart and stuffed the whole thing in my mouth. Red sprinkles scattered to the ground.

"You guys better go change," came a whiny voice behind us. We sighed and turned around. Justin. Coach Timmons's spoiled brat 10-year-old son.

"What do you want, Justine?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Not much, just give me that pop tart," Justin said, pointing at the last pop tart Lily had in her hand.

"But—but it's my last pop tart!" Lily whined.

"Do you want me to tell my dad that you called me Justine again?"

"Oh, no, not more laps," Willa sighed. "Just give it to the little devil, Lily." Lily took one long look at her pop tart and gave it to Justin. Justin stuffed it in his mouth.

"Come on," I said. "Let's go change." We walked over to the stalls.

Lily's P.O.V.

"Who knew soccer uniforms could be THIS itchy?" I complained, pulling my shorts on. I walked out the stall, and saw Willa already scratching her legs.

"Tell me about it; I can't believe Coach Timmons could be as mean to get us soccer uniforms as crappy as this." Willa sighed.

"Where's Elli?" I asked, putting my hair up in a ponytail in the middle.

"She's already out there. Probably terrorizing Justin."

"Hopefully."

"Hey, put my hair in two French braids," Willa asked me, and I did so. "Truthfully, I hate French braids, but whenever I take them down after soccer practice, it looks even wavier and great."

"Yea, I wish my hair was as easy to style as yours," I said, remembering an incident earlier today. "This morning, I sat on my straightener."

"You did not!"

"Yep. Now there's a huge straightener burn on my buttocks."

"Poor Lily!" Willa exclaimed.

"Yea, you're all done now." I stepped back to admire my work. "Pretty good, if I do say so myself."

"Great! Now, let's go," Willa said, offering me her arm. We skipped out.

"Get off your lazy bum and run some more laps!" was the first thing that we heard as we skipped to the field. Elli was lying on the ground completely ignoring Coach Timmons yelling directly over her.

"Hey, do you guys have a spoon?" she yelled.

"Why would we have a spoon?" Willa yelled back.

"I have this pudding cup, and I don't have a spoon to eat it with!" she yelled. "Oh well, I'll just lick it!" And that's exactly what she did. She started licking the pudding out of the pudding cup and completely ignoring Coach Timmons who was staring weirdly at her.

"That girl would do anything for food," I laughed.

"Yep. That isn't even her pudding cup. I have no idea where she got it," Willa said.

"Probably from underneath the bleachers or something."

"Five laps! Ladies! Five laps!" Coach Timmons was yelling. Elli joined us, and we started jogging around the field. All of the other soccer players started running like their life depended on it.

"If he keeps yelling like that, he's going to have a stroke," Elli said. We laughed.

"Where DID you get that pudding cup?" I asked.

"Meh. Justin gave it to me."

"And you TRUST Justin?" Willa asked.

"I was hungry!"

"Elli, you're ALWAYS hungry," I laughed.

"True that."

Coach Timmons started shouting and blowing his whistle more than usual and calling us back to him. We jogged over there, and Coach Timmons asked, "Have any of you seen Justin?"

"Last time I saw him was when he gave me that pudding cup," Elli said. "That was about five minutes ago. Why are you so worked up, coach?"

"It's just because Justin has asthma, and I don't like him being without his inhaler." Coach Timmons held up the said inhaler. "Now, you girls go look for him."

"Why us?" I asked.

"Because y'all need the exercise."

Elli had her mouth open. "And what is THAT supposed to mean?"

"Just go! And bring this with you!" Coach Timmons thrust the inhaler into Willa's hands. We walked off sullenly.

"Where the heck are we supposed to look?" I asked.

"I don't know!" Willa said.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going into the woods," Elli said.

"WHY would you want to do that?" I asked.

"Because if we go into the woods, we could just wait until soccer practice is over and go tell Coach Timmons we didn't find him. You know he won't be in there. Besides, by the time that we get back, he'll probably be back there anyways."

"I don't know about that, Elli," Willa warned. "I don't like not following the rules."

"But we ARE following the rules," I said. "We're 'searching' for Justine."

"Haha. Justine. I'm glad I thought of it," Elli laughed.

"Come on, Willa," I said.

"Fine, I'll do it," she said, giving in.

We started into the woods.

Willa's P.O.V.

We're gonna get in trouble. I just know it. The only time I can remember that I got into trouble was when I was wearing a skirt to school and had some tights on that had little holes in it in the shape of flowers and got in trouble because apparently tights aren't tights if you can see your skin color through them. Seriously! THAT'S why I didn't get a Good Citizenship award in 8th grade.

"Justin! Justin!" I called in the still silence of the woods.

"Willa, stop yelling for him. You know he's not here. We just came in here to get away from soccer practice," Elli said.

"While we're in here, we might as well be calling for him. I mean, you never know."

"Right…."

"OH MY GOSH LET'S SING SONGS!" Elli exclaimed.

"Alright. Let's take suggestions. Any requests?" Lily asked.

"Um, how about Colors of the Wind?" I exclaimed.

"You think you own whatever land you land on…." Elli started.

"The earth is just a dead thing you can claim…." Lily sang.

"But I know every rock"—I pointed to a rock. "And tree"—I pointed to a tree. "And creature"—Okay, I admit it, I got stuck on that one. "A creature"—I said, looking around.

"My gosh, if Justine was here, he would be the creature," Elli said.

"I told you guys not to call me that!" came a voice from above. It echoed.

"OH MY GOD!" I screamed. "JUSTIN DIED AND CAME BACK TO HAUNT US! BECAUSE WE DIDN'T GIVE HIM THE INHALER HE NEEDED TO LIVE! NOOOOO!" I threw the inhaler into the air and fell to my knees.

"Shut up!" the voice said again. "And don't throw around my stupid inhaler like that."

"What the heck?" Lily asked, and looked up into the treetops.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Elli cried. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?"

Then it laughed. And I could tell that evil laugh anywhere. "JUSTINE!"

"Don't call me that!" Justin called.

"He's up there, on that tree branch," Lily said. "Justin, I swear, if you don't get down here this instant, I'm telling your father!"

"Make me!" Justin said, and stuck his tongue out at her.

"You little"—Elli started to climb the tree, but fell to the ground like something had hit her with a yell that sounded like "GAAAHHH!". She got up with a look on her face that could kill. And then I got hit with one. It was a nut. Who cared what kind of nut; Justin was throwing them at us.

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Elli screamed. "GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT, MISTER!"

"So what if I don't?"

"GGGAHH!" Elli screamed, and took a running start to the tree. She climbed up, and no matter how many tons of nuts Justin threw at her, she was gonna get up there. And probably push him off the limb.

"Wait! Elli!" Lily yelled. "Are you sure that branch can support you? It looks pretty flimsy to me!"

"IF THAT BRANCH CAN SUPPORT FATTIE JUSTINE, I THINK IT CAN HANDLE ME!" Elli was on a roll.

"Hey!" Justin whined. "What's that supposed to mean?" Elli reached the branch that Justin was on and looked down, terrified. They were a good 20 feet off the ground.

"Justin, get us down!" she said frantically.

"How? You're the one dumb enough to climb up here after me!" Justin said.

"OH MY GOD, I'M STUCK!" Elli screamed. "HELP ME!"

"She totally forgot she was afraid of heights," I explained to Lily.

"How are we supposed to help her?" Lily asked.

"I dunno. The only way I can think of is climbing up there with her and leading her back down," I said.

"But what about that branch?"

"I have no idea about that. But we either take a chance with the branch or she's stuck up there forever….with Justine. And who would want to be stuck up there with Justine?"

"You got a point there. Okay, you boost me up." I boosted Lily up, and she scrambled to the top. This is starting to be like that one kid book "Chika Chika boom boom". Chika chika boom boom, will there be enough room?

Lily was about halfway up when I heard somebody else coming through the forest. I looked behind me to see a red baseball cap. I would know that cap anywhere. Coach Timmons.

I stifled a scream and started climbing up the tree. Maybe if we were all quiet and Elli gagged Justin with something, he wouldn't notice we were up there.

"Shhhh!" I said to everybody in an exaggerated whisper and flailed my arms in Coach Timmons's direction. Lily immediately caught on, nodded, and climbed faster than ever. But Elli had to watch me for several seconds before realizing what was happening. She put her hand over Justin's mouth and gave him a glare that said "You'd better shut up or there's only going to be one of us on this branch".

Lily got onto the branch and aided Elli in making scary faces at Justin. I got up to their level and tried to step onto the branch, but it seemed too far away for me. Coach Timmons was directly below us, and we all froze. Even Justin only moved his eyes. And then, Coach Timmons walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, I jumped onto the branch. And then….

CCCRRRAAACCCKKK!

It fell, along with Elli, Lily, Justin, and me. We were all screaming our heads off, as we were hurtled forward towards the ground headfirst. There was no way we were going to survive this. Thanks a lot, Justine, you're gonna be the cause of our death.

We were about to hit the ground, and I saw my life flash before my eyes.

And then, all of a sudden, the ground LITERALLY OPENED UP. What the heck? It was this huge black crack in the ground that enveloped all of us. I had always wanted the ground to swallow me up when I was embarrassed, but now it was actually happening. And now, of all times.

And in half of a second, we were in darkness.