Alright! I've got, this first chapter of the rewrite up! I'm actually not planning on rewriting the later chapters past minor edits, but the first few are definitely getting a total overhaul... I kind of looked back at my earlier writing and went, "Ugh! This is terrible!" So I'm coming back and redoing the first few, then I will continue when I can look back over the first few chapters without cringing...

Tick, tick, tick, tick

I was stuck in a class that shouldn't even be being taught. Finals were over and most of our Professors had agreed with the general attitude of our class, take a 'study hall' period and let us chat, or mess around on our laptops. But not Mr. Reynolds. Oh no. He had to make us sit through a lecture we would never need.

"Another detail we did not have time to cover at the beginning of the year, the Massachusetts State Constitution was, and is, different than that of the other states. Most had a legislative heavy constitution within the original states because of the colonies experience with Britain. The executive branch of government was the strongest in Massachusetts. Now when I speak of-"

Mr. Reynolds, was in fact, so absorbed in his lecture, that he didn't notice the clock ticking closer to the end of the day.

60 seconds.

"The colonies had only known the King as the executive branch,"

45 seconds.

"Causing a great distrust for the executive branch as a general rule,"

30 seconds.

"The judicial branch was appointed by the King, also not to be trusted,"

15 seconds.

"This is why most states had a legislative heavy constitution,"

And with this last statement, the bell rung, finally releasing us for summer. Mr. Reynolds looked up startled, "Well, look at how time flies. Have a good summer, everyone, don't let too much information fall out of your heads over the next two months,"

My desk partner, Jasper, turned to me as I was putting away my laptop, "Always gotta love Mr. Reynolds' US History class, ammiright?"

I laughed, "I'm just glad that we don't have to take it again next year,"

Jasper snorted and flicked his hair out of his eyes, "Oh god, the poor history majors. I can't imagine sitting through this shit twice,"

I laughed in agreement, "No kidding, I don't think I could have made it through this year without you and your snark, forget another one,"

He grinned at me, "Well, lucky for you, you sat by me on the first day then, huh?"

"Normally, yeah," I started, "only when you're trying to set me up do I regret it,"

He put a hand to his chest and did his best impression of a hurt face, "And this is the thanks I get for trying to make my friend happy, I'm hurt, I really am,"

I snorted and shoved his shoulder, "Oh, shove off, Jasper. You're such a dork,"

I reached to pull on my backpack, but he snatched it before I could, "Allow me," he said gallantly.

I glared at him, "This is why people thought we were dating. Thank god Kayla believed we weren't or you'd never have gotten that date,"

"Yes," he smiled dopily as he always did at the mention of his girlfriend, "Love of my life,"

"Mhmm," I agreed, reaching out to snag back my bag, "Which is why you should be meeting her, rather than stealing my stuff. I have to go get a gift for Beth anyways, so unless you want to come shopping with me…"

He shoved my bag back quickly, "Nope. I'm good. No shopping,"

I snorted at him fondly, "Good god, Jasper, you're such a stereotype,"

He tapped my nose, making me crinkle it and bat his hand away "Ah, you know you love me. You're right, though, I'm off to meet my beautiful bride,"

I tilted my head thoughtfully, "Maybe pop the question first?"

He laughed, "Clever as ever, Anna. No wonder I always go to you for advice. Tata!"

And with a cheeky wave of his fingers, he was strolling out the door. With one last laugh at the dork who had become my best friend over the past year, I shouldered my bag and left the room as well, doing my best to plot out what my little sister would want for her birthday.

Life was good. I had friends at college, the same college from my favorite book series in fact, and it was a school I loved, not to mention had a huge scholarship to. My romantic life was nonexistent, but then I wasn't looking for anyone anyways, having too much fun being single. I had a free summer ahead of me, and I couldn't wait to see what happened. Little did I know it would end up… a bit crazier than I thought.

TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD

I was in the mall, trying to decide between a pretty blue dress and a glass penguin figurine for my little sister when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, "Yes?" on my lips, but the word never quite made it out as I found my nose running into a blue t-shirt that was clearly covering a well-sculpted chest. I quickly took a step back and looked up to see an extremely handsome man with golden eyes staring down at me.

He smiled sheepishly at me, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was standing quite so close,"

Say something! My brain shrieked at me, "You're fine, it's no big deal. Am I in your way?"

He grinned at me, "Not at all, but you do look really familiar. Do you go to WOU by any chance?"

"Yes, I do," I responded, "Why, do you?"

"Yep," he said, popping the p, "I must have seen you around campus somewhere, I'd definitely have remembered meeting you,"

"Oh, um, the feeling's mutual," I stuttered, You're acting like an idiot! Pull yourself together, Anna!

"I'm Anik, by the way," he stuck out his hand with a charming grin.

"I'm Anna," I breathed faintly, placing my hand in his and shaking it as firmly as I could "It's very nice to meet you, Anik,"

He smiled again, and he really needed to stop doing that because it made the little flecks in his eyes pop, and dear god what is happening to me? I'm acting like some boy-crazy girl without a brain. "Really?" he queried, "Anik and Anna, what a coincidence!"

"Yeah," I laughed, "A double coincidence, not only are our names similar, you share a name with a character from one of my favorite books!" Eyes too, but those eyes looked like they could have come out of Kishan's face, not Mr. Kadam's.

"Really?" He repeated his earlier query before grinning at me, "Was he as dashingly handsome as I am?"

I giggled. I giggled. I don't giggle, except apparently when I'm standing in front of hot, flirty, golden-eyed guys, "Well, seeing as he was an elderly gentleman, no, not really," Mr. Kadam was actually much cooler than just an elderly gentleman, but that would take far too long to explain.

"Of course not," he sighed dramatically before somehow managing to peer up through his bangs, despite the fact that he was a good head-and-a-half taller than me, "I don't suppose you know any other dashingly handsome book characters named Anik?"

I raised my eyebrow, "Other implies that there was a first one,"

He grinned cheekily, "Me!"

Ok, that opening was just too good to pass up...

"You're a book character?"

He blinked and opened his mouth and shut it and opened it again, "Alright, so maybe I didn't think that statement through,"

I laughed, a normal laugh this time, "No maybe not. And to answer your question, the only other book character I know named Anik was a baby, so while I suppose he could have grown up to be dashingly handsome, he wasn't really described as such," Though to be fair, calling Ren and Kelsey's son a character was a bit of a stretch, seeing as he was never actually in the books but more of a concept of 'someday'.

"No," Anik laughed back, "I suppose not," At this, he sighed dramatically, "Why my name is associated with such undashing people, I don't understand,"

I giggled again. I was however, much less mad at myself this time since it was solely due to a lack of a different response.

"It is a little weird though, that it's one old guy and one baby," Anik continued in a much more normal tone of voice.

"Not really, actually," I explained, "the baby was named after the first Anik, same book series,"

I expected this to make the situation less weird, but I guess I was wrong because Anik's eyebrows shot up into the air, "Not grandfather and grandson, were they?"

"Um..." That was a complicated question what with the family tree in Tiger's Curse being... somewhat fabricated, "Yes? Ish? Why?"

Anik shrugged, "Oh, so was I. That's all. My grandfather and my uncle actually,"

I laughed, "Ok, I get it. You've read Tiger's Curse too and realized what book I was talking about and now you're pranking me. Well done, you had me for a moment," It seems Anik had a sense of humor too.

He tilted his head, and his eyebrows furrowed "No, I'm not joking. I really was named after my grandfather and my Uncle. They died in a plane crash right before my parents were married and so, I was named after them."

I had to give him points for acting, if I didn't know better, I would have been convinced, "Uh-hu," I grinned, "And I suppose your full name is Anik Kishan Rajaram?"

He looked... genuinely taken aback, "Have we met?"

"Noooooo?" I asked, "Why?"

"You know my name," he deadpanned, "why do you think?"

I rolled my eyes, "Ok, it was funny at first, but I figured it out. I highly doubt you actually share the same name, and origins of that name, as a fictional character,"

He nodded, "Right, I don't think I do either, which is why I'm asking if we've met and you decided to prank me by pretending I'm a fictional character,"

"Give me a sec, I'll prove I'm right," I pulled out my phone and typed 'Anik Kishan Rajaram Tiger's Cusre" into Google.

Did you mean: Anik Kishan Rajaram Tiger's Curse?

Oops. I clicked the correction and looked at the results. The first link was 'Tiger's Destiny Alternate Ending #2 | Colleen Houck' I clicked it and typed 'Anik' into the top and the 'Find Anik (5 matches)' my iPhone so helpfully provided. When I tapped it, the first one was in the quote "What a feisty little man you are, Anik Kishan Rajaram," Kelsey said.

I turned my phone and showed Anik. 'Tiger's Destiny Alternate Ending #2 | Colleen Houck" was still visible at he top of my phone screen.

He blinked at the phone and called over his shoulder "Mom? Dad? Could you guys come over here?"

"Sure thing, Anik," a woman's cheerful voice rang through the store and a man and a woman, clearly a couple based on how they were holding hands rounded a corner and my jaw dropped. They could be Ren and Kelsey plus 20 years.

I began looking around... this was a hidden camera TV show or something, right?

"Did you need something?" the Ren-lookalike asked.

In answer, Anik held out my phone, "Does this look at all familiar?"

There in the corner. Security camera in appearance, but it had to be for the show. Whatever the show was.

"That's not either of our phones, Anik," the Kelsey doppelganger answered confusedly, "And it doesn't look like either of them either. Wait, that made sense right?"

The Ren-actor nodded, "Yes, Kells, you're fine,"

She apparently thought it over in her head because she nodded as well, "Just used a lot of 'either's. English is weird."

Ok, that was... very in character. I had to admit. I gave full credit to these people, whoever they were, "That's actually my phone. I think he meant the text on the screen, though I can find a better example," I grabbed my phone back and typed in 'Tiger's Curse Summary'. The first link was 'Summary/Reviews: Tiger's curse / - Buffalo & Erie County Public Library'

Once on the page, I taped the link for 'Full Description' and handed back the phone.

The woman read aloud, "Seventeen-year-old Oregon teenager Kelsey forms a bond with a circus tiger who's actually one of two brothers, Indian princes Ren and Kishan, who were cursed to live as tigers for eternity, and she travels with him to India where the tiger's curse may be broken once and for all."

She dropped the phone and stepped back in shock. The man caught it and stepped forwards menacingly, very menacingly. My fight or flight reaction kicked in, and there was little to no fight about it.

"Where," he growled at me "did you find that."

His eyes were bright blue, but they were hard like steel and they were staring me down. I gulped and took a half-step back, "It's the synopsis of one of my favorite books, I just searched it on the internet,"

"Impossible,"

Please Review and let me know what you think of the updated chapter? Better? Worse? If you're new to this story, what do you think?