It is midnight, 12:05 to be exact when my baby's cry pierces the silent air like a tiny dagger. I get out of bed and make my way to the nursery, where she sleeps. Although tears aren't streaming down her tiny cheeks, she is wailing extremely loudly. Maybe I should have stayed with her. I settle into the rocking chair nearby and start to sing the lullaby I learned from my own mother years ago.

Along with the gentle swaying of my arms, she ceases her crying and now is staring me. I stare back. There is an unfamiliar tightening in my chest as I look into my daughter's bright emerald eyes. Why, oh why, does my heart hurt so? I search my brains and memories for an answer and stop suddenly when I recall the memory.

In my little girl's eyes, I recognize a certain something I lost ten years ago. Innocence. I recollect the time when I once I had stars in my eyes. When I wasn't concerned about my future and when I had dreams of first kisses and enchanting romances.

I want to remember that time, so I begin tracing back to where the paths of life led me, where I was once still very much a child. As I do this, however, I see a time where multiple paths crossed mine.

When my life stopped going in a straight line and began to, my life changed because of them, so many years ago...

At the ripe age of seventeen, I was right between adolescence and adulthood and was about to graduate from high school to the college of my choice. Senior year had been relatively easy so far, being a year to relax and prepare for the transition. It was halfway through the school year when her path crossed mine.

It was November 30 and break had ended a couple of days after Thanksgiving break. We were in English lit class and Mr. Rumph was droning on and on about crap nobody cared about.

To him, we were writing down important notes that would help us in college, but in reality, most of us were passing notes to one another and gazing out the window.

I wasn't being attentive either because I already knew all of the stuff he was talking about, so I was currently occupied in reading the latest Teen Titan novel by S. W.

Usually, I don't read popular, shallow, actioned packed novels, but Teen Titans was an exception.

It was witty, gritty, dark, and had wonderful character development. You know that book? The book where you think the author understands you and the book that you rate 10/10. The book that you wish everyone in the world could read because it's so good. Yeah, the Teen Titan novels were my books.

"Hey, Rae. Rae." I was being poked in the shoulder by the tip of Garfield Logan's mechanical pencil.

I couldn't explain it but whenever I look at in his eyes, my stomach lurched and I got a pleasant feeling from it. Ever since I met Garfield junior year, I always had a feeling that we'd met somewhere, in another time. That completely contrasted, however, with How I actually treated him.

"What do you want Garfield?" I whispered.

"You should really be paying attention to Mr. Rumph, I hear he gives super hard tests."

"Instead of bothering me about studying for tests, you follow your own advice and pay attention."

I don't need to turn around to know he's smirking. "I'm smart enough to pass with studying."

I rolled my eyes and whipped around in my seat. "If you were twice as intelligent you were now, you would still be an idiot."

"You can tell me I'm an idiot all you want, but I'm not the one who didn't get to be Valedictorian." What he said was true, me, Raven Roth was beaten by him, Garfield Logan, to be Valedictorian. I know how it happened but still. He's the guy whose birth certificate is an apology from the condom factory, so how'd he beat me?

I gave him the finger."Garfield Logan, I wasn't born with enough middle fingers to let you know how I feel about you." I turned back around and continued reading.

I was just the part when Slade was fighting Terra when the class suddenly went silent. I put my book down and looked up. There was a girl standing in front of the class. She was petite and a blue- eyed blonde. And wore a yellow T-shirt, jeans, and a denim jacket.

"Class... this is Tarassa Markov. She just transferred here from Europe. Treat her well."

I didn't know why, but I had a weird feeling when I set my eyes on the blonde. Like deja vu mixed with indigestion. Like I'd seen her before but didn't know from where.

She went to sit in the empty seat behind Garfield, hindering me from getting a complete profile of her face. Rumph returned to his lesson, but nobody was paying attention because they were too preoccupied gazing at the transfer student.

Garfield was full on flirting with her behind me, so I couldn't speak to her if I wanted to.

The bell rang and everyone practically ran out of the class cheering. It was a locker break and I went to mine to collect my things for biology.

"Umm, excuse me?" A high-pitched voice prevented me from completing my current task. I looked up to see the new girl, Tarassa, hovering over me and smiling.

"Can I help you?" I said trying not to sound so annoyed.

"Umm, do you know where Locker # 105 is?"

My locker number is 106, so the one on my right must be 105. Which means Blondie should have figured that out before asking me, but whatever, I'll bite my tongue.

"The one right next to mine."

She gave an 'I'm such a dork' face and said, "Oh, that is convenient" before going onto figuring out the combination written on a sheet of paper the principal most likely had written for her.

I finished collecting my supplies and attempted to make past the sea of students, but to no avail. Suddenly the crowd parted and I was pushed into a locker. I stood on my tiptoes to see what had caused such a miracle when I saw them.

Kori Anders and Richard Grayson. 'That' couple. The couple whose crushes on each other were so obvious, it made you want to yell, 'Just kiss already!'.

Kori was head cheerleader and a super sexy redhead. She was also nice - even to people like me - and got good grades. Something about her when I first saw her was weird too, same as Blondie, but in a good way instead of strange.

Same goes for Richard. He barely knew me until the time I got angry at him and called him ' Dick ' and the nickname stuck. But I still got a feeling from him and a pleasant one at that.

They were strutting down the hallway, arms intertwined, waving at the many people that were cheering and shouting "Goals!" Even so, I saw a strange emotion in their eyes, one that wasn't masked by their Colgate smiles. Then, for a fraction of a second, their eyes simultaneously locked on the blonde next to me.

I don't know how I saw this, but I did. The teachers came caterwauling out of the classrooms and yelled for us to get a move on. I ran to biology to avoid being late.

As the day progressed, I started seeing more and more of Blondie. And whenever I saw her, I always had a sinking feeling in my gut, as if it was warning me that the girl was trouble.

After having my lunch in the library, as usual, I started my usual sprint to the gym all the way across the campus. When I entered, as always, a large crowd was gathered around Kori Anders.

I never knew how, but she somehow resembled a Victoria Secret model in our gym clothes, even though they were hideous polyester onesies. I stepped outside onto the gym floor.

The boys were already seated in their assigned places, so I went and sat on mine. Eventually, the girls came out, squealing and giggling about some girly crap nobody gives a damn about.

Coach Fessehaye came in the gym blowing his whistle so loud, I thought my eardrums would pop. She was a large, flat chested woman with strong, muscular thighs.

"Alright ladies and actual ladies, today we will be participating in the fine art of dodgeball. Since PE is scientifically proven to be the most important subject, we will be working on dodgeball for a few weeks. Furthermore,..."

She was interrupted by Victor Stone when he yelled, "You've been talking for ten minutes Sir, I mean, Ma'am! Let's play ball!"

A few people snickered, but Fessehaye kept her cool. She took the ball bag and threw out many of them.

"Let's play ball!" she shouted.

I must have been very exhausted because I got out pretty quickly and ended up running laps behind the girls who came to the gym to gossip with their friends. The only muscles they ever exercise were the ones in their mouths and they did those very often.

When were seven people running, Blondie entered the gym. She looked instantly confused as to what was occurring at the moment. Then her perplexed eyes met that of our furious gym teacher.

Poor innocent soul, so clueless as to why Fessehaye wanted us to be our uniform 24/7. I hadn't meant to be intrusive, but I slowed my pace to listen to their conversation.

"Why aren't you wearing your gym clothes?" Fessehaye demanded.

"I didn't know I had to wear gym clothes, it is my first day here. And judging from how all the girls look in them, I'd rather not wear them."

"Watch your tongue, young lady. We don't tolerate students that talk back to teachers in this school; remember that."

Tarassa was about to respond when Victor Stone's ball impacts with her forehead, which knocked her down. "My bad," Victor yelled, grinning before getting back to the game.

"You're out, New Girl. Now take a lap with the others." Fessehaye said before she marched away.

When Blondie joined us, I remember very vividly how she looked up close. She had heart shaped freckles that very barely noticeable. Her top lip was fuller than the bottom and I was embarrassed to say this - even to myself -, she had baby blue eyes that were like a sparkling ocean. To this day, I've never seen anyone else's eyes like hers.

She noticed me though but didn't say anything. Instead, she said, "This class is the worst."

"..."

"So you stare but not talk, huh?"

"..."

"OK, then I will. My name is Tarassa Markov and I'm new here."

"No shit Sherlock," I deadpanned.

"So you do speak."

"Yeah, but I prefer not to talk to people. "

"Why?"

Either that girl was stupid ( maybe, because she was a blonde ) or she didn't understand the 'don't speak to freaks' rule. But she was new and a social virgin.

"It's better for me to think people are idiots than for them to talk to me and prove it."

Then Tarassa giggled and we just kept running in silence. A few I minutes later, I changed in the locker room and went back into the gym and waited for the bell to ring. I took out my Teen Titans novel and began reading when a hand tapped on my shoulder. I didn't have to guess who it was. Tarassa smiled brightly like I was her best friend instead of barely an acquaintance.

"I love the Teen Titans books too!" she squealed.

"Yay."

"I favorite character has to be Raven though, she's so cool and deep."

"Cool? Deep?" I scoffed. Those were shallow words to describe an empath who had to cover her emotions for fear of losing control.

"Yeah, but I gotta say, I hate Terra; way too indecisive and stupid."

Those were words I was neutral about. Terra may have been an immature and indecisive teen, but she was much like Raven. Afraid of losing control and trying to gain it, but ultimately lost the fight in the end. I was sympathetic but also not.

The bell rang and everyone started to clear out, but Terra grabbed my hand.

"What do you want?" I hated being late.

"Thank you for being my friend today," she said simply and put an object in my hand and left.

This must have been the thing I remembered about Terra the most: how she acted when we met. But I also recall what she put in my palm as clear as day.

It was a golden T necklace.