Chapter 1: Luke

My dream started like this; I was standing in a forest by a cliff. The ocean was crashing into the insanely sharp rocks at the base of the overhang. There, standing on the very close to the edge of the steep drop was my sister, Anna. She looked down at the large waves; her black hair was flying out behind her in the wind. She took a step closer to the edge and looked as though she was going to jump. I tried to scream at her to stop, but my voice wouldn't make a sound. She slowly turned around, but her eyes shocked me. They were glowing a strange sea-green, the same sea-green that my dad's eyes were. She spread her arms out, but her arms weren't arms anymore, they were turning into wings. Gray feathers erupted over her skin, her mouth turned into a sharply curved beak, while she shrunk into an owl, an owl with glowing green eyes. I tried to take a step back to turn and run but Anna went up into the air flying, then swooped down, beak open, aiming for my throat.

Gasping I sat up. I gave a quick survey of the scene around me. It was still dark, and the two other guys in my dorm were still dead to the world. Sighing, I flopped back in my bed, still sweating like I had just ran a marathon. I laid there for a minute. The scene where Anna, as an owl, was swooping down lunging for my neck kept flashing before me. It took me a while to figure that there was no way I was going back to sleep, not after that dream and especially not with my roommates snoring that loudly. I got up and got dressed in the stupid Killian Academy uniform (slacks, a white dress shirt, and an incredibly annoying red and black striped tie) and snuck of the dorms and into the library. I knew that she would be up in the library, even though it still wasn't even seven o'clock yet. I scanned the rows of shelves 'till I found who I was looking for. As usual, her nose was buried in a book, most likely about World War II. Her one gray eye and one green eye looked up and smiled. "Hey Luke." I smiled, "Hey Anna."

For those wondering, my name is Luke Jackson. Anna is my younger twin sister, which made her naturally my worst enemy yet my best friend. I'm told that we're so much alike, both in looks and in personality. (Which I don't completely agree with but anyway…)

For the similarities, Anna, like me, has one green eye and one gray eye. We both have straight black hair. We both have ADHD like our parents. We always stand up for the underdog, and the last similarity, we like the nice, practical approach to situations. Violence, for us, is sometimes inevitable.

Differences… Anna is really pretty and smart, to put it in short. She has perfect model features which is what makes other girls hate her and other guys fall for her like a pile of bricks. Unfortunately, she got the brains of the family. Unlike me, she's not dyslexic. She can read fine at high school level while I'm still struggling with third grade material even though we're in 6th grade. She likes the logical way of things, she does amazing in school with straight A's, and she tends to take things seriously and with a "plan." Mom jokes around that I'm more exactly like dad while Anna's more like mom, which is fine by me, but Anna and I are always being compared by our teachers.

Am I troubled kid?

I guess that's one way to put it.

In about every class, the teacher would say something like why I couldn't be more like my perfect sister or that I might need to result to just copying my sister's homework. While they thought my sister was an angel, I was devil spawn.

I tried my best to ignore them.

I've never been to a school twice (except once) because I've managed to get expelled some way or another. The main reason I've been expelled so many times is mainly because of fights that are overdramatized by the principle. I've been to five different schools in the past six years. The only reason I went to one school twice was because my sister took the blame of one of my arguments with a boy who was annoying me by stalking my sister. The teachers didn't believe her at first, but Anna can lie like a pro when she wanted to.

My sister has dutifully followed me and my quest to find another school, which is one of the many things that I like about her.

Anna smiled at me briefly before returning to her book. It was an incredibly thick one, which (surprise, surprise) was about World War II. "Jeez," I said. "One look of that thing and I'm already bored."

Anna rolled her eyes and tucked the book under her arm to get another one. "You're just jealous."

I snickered. "Sure, whatever you say." Anna flashed another quick smile.

"Ready for the field trip?" she asked.

"Huh? Aw shoot. Forgot about that."

Anna smiled and rolled her eyes again. It was normal for me to forget things like that. The counselors said that it was a part of my ADHD, but why didn't Anna have my issues? I sighed and stuffed my hands into my pockets. The wakeup bell rang. "C'mon before some teacher gives me another week of detention. Anna grabbed her two books, checked them out, and we walked to the cafeteria to go eat breakfast.

The ride to the Metropolitan museum of art was bumpy, noisy, and boring. I sat beside my best guy friend Mark Greenlief. Mark is a guy who was most likely held back several grades because he was already starting a beard. Still, he was small and weak, and he walked funny like he had a limp because of an incredibly rare muscle disease in his legs. For jerk-headed bullies like Byron Seagraves, he was an easy target.

The moment Mark steeped off the bus and onto the sidewalk, Byron shoved him into me. Luckily, Mark was light, so it wasn't much of a blow for me. I whirled around to face Byron in the face. He was smirking like the idiot he was with his followers. The wind was blowing hard. My fists were already clenched together, ready for a fight. "Wow," I said. "For a person who acts like he can bench press 250 pounds, you sure are weak."

Byron's pug-like eyes narrowed to slits. He took off his jacket and handed it to one of his doting minions. He faced me, already shaking with anger. A group had already surrounded us and was almost at the point of chanting for us to fight, while the two teachers who were chaperoning the field trip stood out of the way. (The teachers were my reading teacher Mrs. Kamy and my English teacher Mr. McCarran, and they absolutely loathed me.) Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mark shaking his head furiously trying to get me to not fight. I was, according to the principal, one step away from getting expelled. I knew that if I left Killian Academy, Mark would be beaten up every day and I would miss him, but I needed to settle this.

Just as I was about to throw my first punch, (which I was hoping to hit Byron right in the eye) Anna pushed herself through the crowd. Byron took one look at her, blushed about 17 different shades of red, and lowered his fist. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins, and I was ready to deck Byron out, but Anna managed to whap me across the face before I could give Byron a black eye he deserved. Everyone burst out in laughter and Byron gave me a smug smile. I glared at Anna, (even though she hadn't hit me that hard) but I knew where she was going. Over everyone's snickers, Anna said loudly, "Don't kill him here Luke. There are too many cameras." It went silent. I smiled. Anna turned around and looked at Byron out of the corner of her eye. She glared at him, and he lost his conceited smile. "Pathetic." She muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear. She turned her head sharply; chin held high, grabbed Mark's wrist, and walked out of the circle. The crowd broke up in pairs whispering to each other. I gave one last look at Byron, who looked as though it was him who was just slapped by Anna, and sauntered over to where Anna and Mark were waiting for me.