A/N: Let me just say that I can't believe I updated. I've been feeling like crap all week and I have NOT been in the mood to write. At all. But, with Tris as my witness, I have updated! See, Tris? I kept my promise ;). And if I hadn't make myself get the chapter out I probably would've gone on the hiatus, and no one wants that. WOW! 11 reviews! Nice. I'm impressed. I love all of you soooo much!

Responses:

Demi: Yay! You were my first review! Congrats! I'm glad you like it so far.

justarandomname: Does this count as updating soon? I'm glad you liked it.

Epic Books: FIFI! GIVE ME MY CHOCOLATE! Geez, the reviewers of today. I liked that line, too. I might have been stabbing people in kindergarten... What? DON'T JUDGE ME FIFI! Of course she is. I'm glad you liked the dresses. I especially liked Nellie's. It was fun looking at all of the punk dresses online. Idk. I know I haven't been on the chatroom, but as I said before I was feeling sick. Probably on the other story, though.

39 clues lover: AHHH! What the heck happened to L and S? As I said before, the other story. Glad you liked it :D.

Crazy fangirl: Pretty much, yeah.

39clueslova4eva: Sorry it wasn't the next day. But here's your update! Glad you like my story!

KatnissCahill: I'm glad it was funny. The only way I can do humor is if I make it unintentional... if that makes any sense. I'm excited you used the word amazing to describe this story.

panko17O_o: What confused you? I know the last chapter and maybe this one are gonna be kinda vague and slightly confusing but if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them in my next A/N.

Reader277: I hope it'll be as successful as the first one.

Tris: Wait... I already sent you a ridiculously long PM at midnight. Oh. Wait a sec... that wasn't creepy-sounding. Not in the slightest...

Guest: Told you it would be. I'm glad you liked it!

Disclaimer: I'm gonna say this once for those of you who haven't gathered it yet. I don't own anything? Get it? Got it? Good.


Hope POV

I walk down an empty hallway. Not like one of those haunted hallways where you open the door and the serial killer gets you, but more like a warm, familiar, homey sort of hallway. But, there was something about it that told me something big was going to happen. The lights were off, but I didn't mind. I could see the distant orange glare coming from the last door on the left.

I walk on my tiptoes, just like my parents taught me. I tuck my long black hair into the collar of my white nightgown, not wanting it to tickle my face. I'm dizzy for some reason. As I get closer and closer to the door the hallway starts spinning.

I want to scream, but something tells me to keep my mouth shut. I hear voices surrounding me.

"What's with the 'half-branch scum' comment?" says Dad.

"I have it up to here with you all. You cross-breeding to create these... things," says a voice that sends chills down my spine.

"With the pointy end," I hear my own voice say.

"I stabbed the bad guy!" Maddie exclaims proudly.

"Isabel sends her regards." Isabel? Who the heck is Isabel? The name scares me for some reason.

"Surely Hope and Rebecca will remember something." That sounds like Aunt Natalie.

"Good for you! Kick his butt, ninja-style!" Definitely Uncle Dan.

"They have to grow up without the Cahills."

"They have to grow up without the Cahills."

"Without the Cahills."

"The Cahills."

"The Cahills."

"Baby! Baby! Baby! Ooooh! Like baby, baby, baby, noooo!"

I jerked awake, drenched in sweat. My long and usually smooth black hair was frizzed and sticking out in all directions and my head was pounded. Well, no wonder. I'm listening to the voice of a possessed man-baby, I thought.

I'm one of those people who are commonly referred to as "night owls". That means it's impossible to make me sleep before my body feels like it and impossible to wake me up before I'm ready. Mr. Beaver just happened to be the only voice annoying enough to wake me up. At least I didn't have to wake up as early as Lukas, who was in elementary school, which started an hour before middle and high school.

I slammed my fist down on the alarm clock to shut it up. Then I put my headphones on to listen to some real music. I picked up my iPod and scrolled through my playlists. Hmmm... sad... angry... happy... what mood was I in today?

Exhausted. But I didn't have a playlist for that, so I just choose a song at random: Numb by Linkin Park. Satisfied, I pulled the covers over my head and listened to my music.

I had the iPod on the "choose a random song, I don't care" setting, so it just went on and on, playing random songs I'd downloaded (which is a lot. 2,046 to be exact, ranging from Ed Sheeran to Metallica. In fact, I had songs from just about everyone, except Jaden and Jada Wizard, who my parents had some strange aversion to).

I had just settled into the song My Immortal by Evanescence (this song used to make me cry. Then I listened to it enough to develop an immunity to it) when I heard an obnoxious, high-pitched scream that could only belong to one person. Groaning, I shut the music off and opened my jade-green eyes to find a pair of amber ones staring at me, not three inches from my face.

Then it was my turn to scream. I fell of the bed, blankets and all, onto the floor. "Geez! What the hell, Rebecca?!" I screamed. She giggled and jumped on my bed. "Today we're officially sophomores! Today we're officially sophomores!" she chanted.

"Yeah, assuming you survive that long! Assuming you survive that long!" I mocked threateningly. She giggled and jumped on top of me. "Ow! My freaking spleen! Why would you do that?!" I exclaimed, holding my side as if to prevent internal bleeding.

She rolled her eyes and stood up, tossing her wavy shoulder-length blond hair over one shoulder, "Cuz we're best friends! And it's a best friend's duty to make sure her best friend gets to their first day of school on time!" "I hate you," I informed her. She pouted, "Well, I hate you, too!" Then we both rolled over, laughing like idiots.

"C'mon, Hope. It's our first year as sophomores, and you only have twenty minutes to get ready!" she encouraged. My eyes shot open, "Twenty minutes?! Crap! Gotta go!" And with that I "gracefully" bolted out the door.

After a rushed ten-minute shower I put my grey robe on and ran to my room, where Rebecca was waiting, clothes in hand. "You know, there is not a single primary color in your closet. The only colors are black, white, silver, dark purple, and dark red. And no, I don't count the dark red a primary color, since a shade darker it would be black," she said, tossing the clothes at me and leaving the room so I could get dressed.

Trusting Rebecca's fashion sense (hey, she was Natalie's daughter) I put the clothes on and looked in the mirror. I was wearing a black skirt that came down to my mid-thighs, fishnet tights, three-inch black heels, a tucked in neon purple cami, and small black hoop earrings. I had my black and purple hair pinned up in a messy bun.

"Well?" Rebecca burst in. "I swear you know me better than I do," I said, flabbergasted. She smirked, "Hey, if my best friend's gonna be all Gothic and stuff she might as well look cute while doing it."

I rolled my eyes and walked down to the kitchen with her. "Oh, look. She's arisen from her grave," my sister Madeleine (or Maddie, as she preferred to be called) said upon seeing us. "Maddie, stop teasing your sister," Mom scolded her.

"What? It's true! She sleeps all morning and wears the creepy Halloween makeup. How could I not think she's, like, a vampire or zombie or something?!" she protested. Then she gasped, "Maybe she's a vampire, like in My Supernatural City! Oh, Liam, you make my heart soar...!" Then she drifted off into a vampire-themed daze.

"Madeleine Grace Kabra! I said that's enough!" Mom yelled, causing Maddie to break out of her daze and pout. I smirked a true Kabra smirk, "Besides, isn't Liam too old for you anyways?" She jumped up, "No! He's sixteen! That's only three years older than me! How old is Devin again?!"

I rolled my eyes, "17. Which is only 1 ½ years older than me, since I turn 16 in four months." She grumbled and went back to pouting. "Besides, Liam and Arianna are totally meant for each other," Rebecca said suddenly, placing her hands on her heart and sighing.

Maddie put her fingers in the shape of a cross like people do in old movies to ward off vampires, "Hisssss! Larianna is not welcome in my domain! Hanniam forever!" Rebecca gasped, "You think Hannah and Liam would make a cute couple? What about Braxton?!"

Now they were in a full on debate.

"Braxtah?! Please. No remote interest is shown throughout the show. Besides, Hannah is fifteen and Braxton is, like, 21! At least with Hanniam they're close in age!"

"Oh please! Liam is actually 20, while Hannah is technically 306! At least Braxton is over 200 years old!"

"Girls, please! Enough with the vampire stuff!" Mom yelled, placing her hands on Rebecca and Madeleine's mouths. "Finally, the nightmare is over!" I sighed in relief. Then I looked at the clock. "Oh! We needed to leave like eight minutes ago!" I exclaimed. Mom immediately let go of their mouths and we jumped into action.

"I don't have time to go over to my house and get a ride with my parents and Maria, can I ride with you?" Rebecca asked. Mom nodded, "Of course. You're practically my daughter." Rebecca grinned and nodded. Maddie burst upstairs, looking for her backpack, while I was trying to shove a waffle down my throat.

"Maddie, let's go!" I yelled through mouthfuls of waffle. "Heads up!" Rebecca called, tossing my black and purple backpack at me. I caught it without looking (being a black belt in karate sure does wonders for the reflexes) and tossed a waffle at her, Frisbee-style.

She, also a black belt in karate, caught it. I swallowed the rest of my waffle whole and ran to the door, grabbing Maddie's silver wedge heels that she had laid out. "I found it!" I heard Maddie call. "Hey, Maddie! Catch!" I yelled, expertly tossing the shoes at her. She grabbed the waffle in her mouth and caught each shoe (do I even need to mention that she also takes karate? All of our parents had insisted. Even my brother and Rebecca's sister took it).

We worked like a professionally-trained unit of secret agents, and walked out the door in a minute and a half. "Nice work, team!" I exclaimed. Rebecca and Maddie giggled and saluted me. "Everyone into the over-sized vehicle!" Mom ordered. And then we were off to school.


"Okay, girls! Bye! Love you!" Mom said as she let us out in front of school. Technically it had already started, so there was no one to notice the ever-so-embarrassing minivan. "'Kay, bye! I'll just... walk over to middle school," Madeleine said before starting her trek across the street.

Mom rolled her eyes and gave Rebecca a half-hug goodbye, "Bye Aunt Amy!" Rebecca called as she walked towards the school. I started to get out, but Mom grabbed my wrist, "Hope." I turned and gave her a questioning look. Mom smiled, "I just want you to know that we are all very proud of you."

I gave a small, forced smile and a half-hearted shrug, "You always are." "Hellooo? Hope? You coming anytime soon?" Rebecca called from behind me. Mom hugged me before I could escape. "Make us even more proud than we already are," she said before releasing me. "Yeah. Bye, mom."

"What'd Amy want?" Rebecca asked. We only used the phrase "Aunt" and "Uncle" our parents were present. "More lectures on how perfect I am," I said, sashaying ahead with a model-walk. "Mmhm. Just be glad you didn't get your grace from your mom," Rebecca said, shoving me slightly and making me stumble. I rolled my eyes.

"Let's get this over with," I said. We walked into the deserted hallway. "First period already started, wanna ditch?" I asked. She shrugged uncaringly and sat in the hallway next to me until the bell finally rang.

Soon people came out and we merged into line. "Eeeeek! Becca! You're here!" I heard a squeal coming from behind us. Rebecca turned and squealed also, "Heather! Omg it's been so long!" We were met by a pretty, Size 0 blond girl named Heather Jackson.

Heather was a cheerleader and Rebecca's best friend after me. She was super tan and had light blond hair that came all the way down to her hips, complemented by sparkling electric blue eyes. Today she wore a short jean miniskirt and a lacy pink tank top. "Hey! I had a sneaky suspicion that you were ditching, so I snagged your schedule," Heather grinned, handing Rebecca the list. She turned to me, "I got yours, too."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed it. Then Heather went back to ignoring me and focused on Rebecca. See, in this school, there were two kinds of popular: the ones who are popular because they're... them, and the ones who are popular because they happened to know the popular kids before high- no middle school really. Rebecca was clearly the first, while I was clearly the latter.

It's not like I wanted to be one of those people. But if I wanted to hang out with Rebecca, it was kinda part of the deal. Anyways (now that my train of thought had completely left the station), Heather and Rebecca were talking about that show, My Supernatural Romance, when my phone vibrated. I looked down. It was probably from Devin, wondering where I was.

Unknown Number: Hope Cahill. We know who you are.

I reread it a couple times. Hope Cahill? Who the hell was calling me Hope Cahill? "Hey, Rebecca, come look at this," I said, gesturing for her to come over. She immediately came, "What's up?" I handed her the phone.

She read the text, eyed me, and then read it again. "Are you, like, pranking me or something?" she asked. I shook my head. She rolled her amber eyes, "Well. Clearly someone is. Here, let me do it." Then her thumbs were flying.

"Here." She handed my phone back. It now said:

Me: Buzz off, freak. Devin, if this is you we're breaking up.

Wow. It was amazing how grammatically correct Rebecca and my iPhone's spellcheck made me seem. It took about 3 seconds for them to respond.

Unknown Number: Oh. Hello my dear Miss Rebecca Kabra. You and Miss Cahill haven't forgotten about us, have you? You were already seven years old, after all. Luke and Madeleine would be so disappointed.

Oh, by the way, Isabel sends her regards.

Isabel? Isabel sends her regards?! Memories flashed by. A gun pointed to my head. Tossing Maddie a knife. Something about half-branches, whatever the hell that meant. Sweat poured down my forehead and my throat constricted. My breaths were coming out in pants and my hands were shaking.

Rebecca looked at me, concern plain on her face. What the hell? Why wasn't she freaking out? This text was for her too. I felt like I was re-living some trauma , even though I had no clue what the heck was going on. "Hope? Are you feeling okay?" Heather had come over, too.

"I... limo... Cahills... can't... breath..." "Hope? Hope?! HOPE?!" Rebecca screamed. Then everything went black and I crumpled to the floor.


Meanwhile...

"The text was sent, ma'am," said a voice. Isabel turned to see one of her minions wearing a red hoodie (hood pulled up), black converse, black sunglasses, and blue jeans. Dreadful attire, but it was necessary to keep a low profile. What teenager didn't wear jeans and converse these days? It was horrible for her to think about what this world was coming to.

"I know the text was sent, idiot! I gave the order! Honestly, this is what I get for working with children!" she screamed, that irritating eye twitch starting up again. "I'm s-s-sorry, ma'am," her minion stuttered.

"What?! Was that a stutter?! What did I say about stuttering?!" Isabel screeched. The poor girl looked terrified. "I mean, come on! You may as well dye your hair red and wear jade green contacts!" Isabel screamed.

The girl nodded. "I can't stand the sight of you. Filthy peasant!" The girl was now trying to stop herself from crying. Not that Isabel cared. "Did the girl get the text?" she growled. Her minion nodded furiously, "She got it about an hour ago. She had a panic attack and was admitted to the hospital soon after."

Isabel grinned maniacally, "Good. The girl is was unstable enough already, and those texts are going to raise a lot of questions. And do you think her parents will be willing to tell her?" The minion shook her head. "Of course they won't!" Isabel yelled, "Oh, their perfect little family is going to come crashing down. And this is only Phase One."


A/N: Wow. Rebecca and Hope actually remind me of me and my BFF and how we act around each other.

I hope this wasn't as terrible as I think it was. I'm hoping that's just my sick brain trying to put me down. So... was it good?

Clearly Isabel broke out of that asylum a bit too early. Also, yes Hope probably turned out completely different than you thought she would, what with the Gothicness and stuff. But something causes that. Well, actually it's more like two things. Both of which were hinted at in this chapter. You'll learn as you continue that there it a LOT more to these kids than what you see right now. And I do mean ALL of them, not just Hope.

Okay, I still won't put a review minimum for the next update if you keep up this awesome 10-12 reviews per chapter thing we have going. I like it ;).

Huh. There really isn't much to say except that I hope you liked it and YOU BETTER REVIEW! *glares at L and S* So... any questions, comments, or predictions? I love all three of those, btw. Almost as much as I love reviews.

-SpontaneousSugarRush