When Adam wakes up, it's usually from disturbing dreams that involve him being in flames as the angel of death laughs maniacally at his pain and blood-curdling screams, which end up coming out of his mouth as he shoots up from his bed in a cold sweat, gasping as his heart threatened to burst from his chest. When he first started haven't these types of nightmares around the age of sixteen, Aunt Brianna would run into his room, thinking he was about to be murdered or something. She would ask frantically, "What? What's going on?" and notice no one was in the room but a frightened teen and ask, "Are you alright?" He would swallow and say, "I'm fine. Nightmare."

Then they started happening almost every night. Aunt Brianna began asking if he needed to see a psychiatrist. 1. Because she was concerned that these dreams might not be healthy for Adam. 2. She was starting to lose sleep. Stubborn as he usually was, he refused to go to a doctor, saying only crazy people go to psychiatrists; he knew why he was having those dreams anyway. His godmother only shrugged, knowing from experience Adam wouldn't give in, ever. After that, his aunt stopped checking on him because of the frequency of his late night screaming.

The nightmares were starting to get to Adam after five years, almost always being the same with him on fire and the angel that gave him his scars staring at him as he burned with blazing red eyes and shark teeth.

Today was no exception: Tangled in his sheets, his eyes burst open to only be blinded by the morning sunlight that shone brightly through his window, illuminating his entire body. No wonder he had felt like he was on fire.

Adam sat up in bed, getting the sheets unwrapped from his legs and torso and letting his aching eyes dilate in the shade. He stared at the curtains swept to the side of his window. His aunt must've opened them up before she went to work at six in the morning.

He glanced at his alarm clock: 6:57 AM. School started at 7:20

"Oh shit!" Adam jumped out of bed and ran to his dresser, grabbing jeans and a T-shirt at random and sprinting to the bathroom, hopping in the shower at the speed of light.

He was out in 7.8 minutes, instantly brushing his teeth as he cursed himself for not setting his alarm last night.

He looked at the clock in the bathroom after he was dressed: 7:09. It takes about eight minutes to drive to school.

"God dammit!" he swore as he realized he didn't have time to shave, and he had dark stubble all over his neck and chin.

Adam ran out of the house and was burning rubber reversing out of the driveway, almost hitting some chum driving to work, who blared his horn at him.

Adam just quickly waved a hand at him in apology and sped off down the road, going faster than 30 miles per hour that was for sure.

Naturally, having his luck, he was stopped at every red light along the way, causing Adam to bang his head on the steering wheel several times out of plain infuriation.

When he parked in his spot at school, Luc, Annie and Cameron weren't there, not like Adam expected them to be. As he hurried into the front lobby, the bell rang.

It was official. This world was against him.

Adam stomped off to his class, unable to control the anger boiling inside him as he went to his first period, where all present in that classroom stared him down as he took a seat in the back.

He did his best to remain silent through the first three periods, trying to keep his irritation off of his face. But from the apprehensive glances of some students, he wasn't doing very well on hiding his murderous feelings from his features.

During third period, Mr. Clark's Physics class, Adam noticed Mr. Clark's continuous analyzing glances at him, distracting Adam from even his anger and turning it into confusion. Adam couldn't help but look up at Mr. Clark when he felt his eyes boring into the top of his head as Adam worked. What was he staring at Adam for? He didn't want to ask, thinking he would only bring attention to himself.

Adam pondered on his Physics teacher's behavior as he followed the A lunch crowd to the cafeteria.

The others were sitting at the same booth as the day before, and he sat down in the same spot next to Luc.

"Where were you?" Annie asked with concern.

"Lemme guess," Luc said, smiling as he noted Adam's stubble. "You slept past your alarm."

"More like forgot to set it the night before," Adam replied, looking and sounding exhausted.

"Did you come in late?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah. And I had that stupid dream again."

"Which one?" Annie inquired.

"The one where I'm on fire and that angel is laughing at me. It's really starting to bug me, especially since this one was clearer than usual."

Luc shook his head in mild amazement. "Man, you are messed up."

"Luc," Annie warned, glancing at Adam.

"It's fine," Adam said with a careless wave of his hand. "I know I am. No point in denying it."

Annie made a somewhat sympathetic face.

Adam looked at Luc. "But if you had been another person, I probably would've socked you."

Luc laughed. "I'm glad I'm me at this point."

"You do know how conceited you sounded, right?" Cameron said.

"Can we not start any bickering please?" Annie pleaded as Luc was about to retort.

Adam took advantage and changed the subject. "Hey, do you guys know Mr. Clark?"

"That new teacher?" Annie checked. "Yeah, I've heard of him."

"He kept staring at me last period, like he was sizing me up or something."

"Okay, I'm sure a teacher wasn't 'sizing you up'," Annie said, laughing.

"But he was kinda examining me from his desk, like he was trying to figure me out."

"Adam, I'm not trying to be offensive," Luc began, "But you just sound paranoid from the way your day's been going. I think you should just forget about it. It was probably nothing."

Adam sighed. "Probably." He glanced around the cafeteria and spotted Karisa sitting in her former table.

"I'm gonna go talk to Karisa," Adam announced as he stood up from the booth.

"There ya go!" Luc said with a wide grin. "Knock her dead."

Adam glanced back at him as he arched an eyebrow, laughing and shaking his head as he faced Karisa again.

He sat down across from her, her nose in a book. He expected her to look up but she didn't.

"Um…Karisa?"

She looked up, and at seeing him her expression turned from a focused look to one of surprise. "Oh!" She put down her book, placing a bookmark back in it and closing it as she said, "Hi, Adam."

"Am I interrupting or…?"

"No, no, I read it already anyway," she replied hastily with a sincere smile.

"So you like to read?"

"Yes, very much. I'm sort of known for it, always having a book on me." She seemed to catch herself. "Well, I was back at my old school. Do you read much?"

Adam shook his head. "No. I only read when I have to, and I haven't had many good experiences with books anyway."

"Well, I understand that," Karisa said. "Most of the required books that we have to read aren't really some of my favorites. Like Lord of the Flies." She grimaced.

"Oh I hate that thing!" Adam said. "It was so boring and…weird!"

"Did you have to read it for the symbolism?"

"Yeah. I didn't get any of it. I mean, who spends that much time making up who is what and what each character represents and stuff? I don't think anyone does that, and that all of that was made up by the teachers."

"It was the vulgarity of the plot and characters that bothered me," she replied. "The whole concept of boys turning into savages and killing each other was…disturbing."

"I hear that—I mean I agree." Why was he talking in slang?

Karisa noticed it and smiled amusedly, but decided to overlook it. "Maybe if I gave you suggestions for books, you'll give them a second chance?" she offered.

"Yeah," Adam said as a small smile grew. "I'd be willing to try again."

"Hey, Owens!"

Adam turned to see the big football jock himself coming over with a nasty sneer on his face, eyeing Adam with hatred.

"Get your little burnt ass away from my girl," Emmett snarled, standing right over him.

"Your girl?" Adam asked disbelievingly as he continued to sit and not be intimidated. His smile altered into a smirk. "Hah, are you still confusing a 'yes' with a 'no', or is rejection just not in your vocabulary?"

"Is this confusing to you?: Get the hell away from her!" Emmett shoved Adam in the chest and onto the floor.

Karisa had been sitting in complete shock until then and finally came to her senses. "Emmett! Leave him alone!"

"Sure I will," he replied. "After I make Owens a grease spot on the floor!"

Adam jumped back up, jaw set and fists clenched. "Listen to 'your girl' Emmett. She's trying to protect you from getting hurt."

"I'm not the one who's gonna get hurt." And Emmett threw a punch at Adam's face.

Adam, by some miracle, caught it in his hand and held it back, arm shaking from the exertion of his muscles. He didn't want to fight. Not in front of Karisa. Not to get suspended again and lose all chances of finally graduating.

Adam kicked Emmett in the stomach before he could retaliate, making Emmett take a few steps back as he doubled over.

"I don't want to fight, Emmett," Adam said, standing proud and tall. "I'm done fighting."

Emmett gave a short laugh as he straightened up. "How noble, little twerp. For that and how you held me back, I'll let you off the hook today." He got very near Adam and said in a low tone. "But next time you come over here and try to talk to my girl, bring your fighting with you. And let me tell you something: Once a fighter, always a fighter." With that and a knowing smirk, he turned on his heel and left the cafeteria with his disciples right behind him.

Adam noticed the dead and utter silence and glanced around. Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at him, including the teachers placed at the entrance, who appeared like they had been about to intervene, but just gave him threatening looks. He glanced at Karisa, who was now hiding behind her book, her face too close to it for her to be reading it. Clearly, she wanted no attention at this point.

He respected that and gave her peace, knowing talking to her again in here was going to bring exactly what she didn't want, and headed back to his own booth, all eyes still on him. The chatter didn't resume until he was sitting at his booth, its habitants still staring agape at him.

Adam didn't want anymore silence at this point. "What?"

Annie was the first to speak. "You…didn't fight him."

"Yeah? So? I have self-control, to the surprise of everyone." Adam looked at each of them in turn. "Can't you guys get over that I've changed for the better?"

"I am so proud," Annie admired with a sincere smile, eyes shining as she put a hand over her heart.

"Aren't you being a tad dramatic?" Adam asked uncomfortably.

"Yeah Annie," Luc said, giving her a look that seemed to question her sanity. "There's no need to cry about it."

"You're right, I'm sorry." She closed her eyes and fanned them as she took a deep breath before looking at Adam admiringly again. "It's just…I've never seen you stay calm like that before! I was astounded and I'm so proud!" Annie began to tear up once more.

Cameron pulled out a handkerchief out of his back pocket and held it out for Annie as he rolled his eyes. Annie took it gratefully and dabbed her eyes.

"I have to admit," Luc said to Adam. "You surprised me when you kept your cool like that. I don't think I could've done the same. The guy deserves to have the sense knocked into him."

"I think you'll need a truck to do that," Cameron said. "I bet the truck could teach him something."

Luc faced him. "That's one of the best things I've heard you say."

Cameron stared for a moment, emotionless. "No comment."

Luc pointed to Adam as he remembered something. "Karisa. How'd that go?"

Annie joined the conversation, entirely calmed down. "Yes. How was your chat?"

"Pleasant," Adam replied. "Until the douche bag decided to ruin it."

"You have the next two periods," Luc said. "You can continue talking then."

"Actually," Adam began, glancing back at Karisa's masquerade as an open book. "I don't think she'll want me talking to her for the rest of the day. She doesn't want any attention."

"How come?" Cameron asked.

"I don't think she wants bad press coverage having a conversation with me after that little incident. Word's bound to spread."

"But why so self-conscious?"

"That, I do not know."

There was a pause as they wondered, soon interrupted by Annie. "We have five minutes to get to class, guys."

They were soon out of the cafeteria, and Annie and Cameron went their separate ways down a different hallway.

"Hey." Luc caught up with Adam and patted him on the back. "Good luck with Karisa."

"Thanks," Adam replied. "I know you don't need it but good luck with Charlotte."

"You're right; it's not needed, but appreciated." Luc smiled and moved up the oncoming stairs on his right as Adam continued down the hall.

The next two periods with Karisa were a bit awkward. Karisa was reading before class, her eyes moving back and forth as she read each line of each page with amazing speed that Adam couldn't help but admire. He knew he couldn't do that. But she seemed extremely focused and strained, as if she was trying to distract herself but wasn't exactly succeeding, because she appeared troubled when she put the book away as the bell rang and the teacher started speaking.

Adam didn't sit next to her, but kept his distance. He didn't know if he should comfort her and tell her that whole fight was nothing.

It was nothing; it was just about you, Adam thought sarcastically at some point through Pre-Calculus, barely focusing on his assignment which consisted of twenty problems, each taking about twenty minutes. He wasn't going to finish this homework anyway. He glanced up at Karisa from across the room, and he saw that she was reading her book again.

He stared in awe and glanced at the clock. There was only two minutes left in class, and Mr. Penski had given them twenty minutes to work, along with two days to finish it.

That's impossible! How could she finish the homework so fast?

Adam could only wonder until the bell rang, and he snapped out of it to grab his things. When he looked up, Karisa was already gone.

This is going to be harder than I thought, Adam thought bitterly.


Karisa wove through the hallway between students walking slowly to be cool, she imagined. She was like a driver in a sports car stuck behind a bunch of people driving with their cell phones to their ears and not paying enough attention to the road. The glacial-paced students only made her agitated as she strode using all the length of her legs, but she knew she was only trying to distract herself from the troubling occurrence at lunch.

There had been guys about to fight over her—on her second day! Where did that come from? No man in New York City had even given her a second glance, much less started a fist fight over her. She's never even had any weird boys stereotypically classified as nerds try and flirt with her, mostly because there were much more attractive girls to fish fruitlessly for when you lived in New York City, one of the centers of fashion and high-life. This just threw Karisa off of her usually stable balance entirely.

And the way the students at lunch stared—no, glared—at her after Emmett left. How was that her fault? At all? Was she fighting too? Last she recalled, she wasn't, but her peers were acting like it. She remembered some of the girls, three cheerleaders actually, all sitting together at the football team table, were giving her steel daggers laced with poison with their expressions, like they really wanted to kill her. But their eyes had been shiny like they had been about to cry. They had been all blonde and all blue-eyed and all very envious of Karisa, and it again baffled her to no end. How different suburbia was from the big city!

She had been trying to divert her attention on the incident at lunch by focusing as much as she could on reading and class work, but to no avail. The file she had tried to place in the very back of her mind magically comes to the front every time she's left with nothing to read, write or listen to.

Such as walking in the hallway.

As she finally made it to AP Government, a boy with wire-rim glasses and a wider build looked up.

Though this same boy who dressed in khaki pants and sweater vests had been glancing over at her during class the day before, Karisa was thankful for the opportunity to take her mind off of the fight, and jumped on it: Why is he always looking up at her? It wasn't a longing sort of look, as if he had a crush on her, but an observant look, like he was curious to see what she would do. It had her wondering, and she was going to find out.

Karisa sat in the desk on the boy's left. She smiled pleasantly and said, "Hello."

The boy, who had appeared to return to his textbook that laid open on his desk, glanced back at her cautiously, appraising her with a suspicious look. "Can I help you?"

Karisa was caught off-guard at his response. "Um…" She decided to just cut to the chase with this one and leaned in on her desk to reply. "Well, actually, I came over here to ask you why you keep glancing at me from across the room."

The boy's eyes went to the floor as he blushed lightly. "Well…I'm afraid the reply to that would…perturb you in some way."

"At this point, there is nothing more than can perturb me today." And Karisa prepared herself for a proclamation.

He shrugged as if her explanation was understandable, and hesitated much on his answer. "I'm simply…well…I'm watching you for someone else. Just being observant," he added innocently.

Karisa raised a skeptical eyebrow. "For who?"

He let out a nervous laugh. "You already know him."

Her eyes narrowed. "Emmett?"

The boy started as if he'd been electrocuted. "What? No! No, no, no, no, no." He gave an honest smile, still cringing slightly from her tapered gaze. "I have no contact with that man at all, thankfully."

"Then who?"

"Um…"

Beeep! went the bell.

"Quiet down and take your seats," the teacher's voice drawled as he walked into the classroom.

The boy sighed deeply in relief as he turned to face the front in his seat and avoiding Karisa's gaze as she still glanced at him warily.

When it came to the end of class and the final bell rang, the boy was prepared to escape anymore interrogation from Karisa, practically racing to the door.

Karisa let him go, instead following him closely down the hallway to see who he was reporting too. Several times, she almost lost him, but the boy stood out with his unusually neat attire where every other boy wore a t-shirt and jeans.

He came up to an open locker while a short girl of about 5'4" with straight-leg jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with a square neck line came up next to him, both facing the man behind the locker. Karisa could tell it was a man because of the ripped jeans and black combat boots—wait…

The locker slammed shut to reveal the one being informed.

Karisa approached them, feeling like her head was steaming.

She stomped up to him. "Adam?"

He appeared alarmed at her expression. "Uh, hi, Karisa."

"Why are you using your friends to spy on me?" she asked angrily.

"What?" Adam cried, ultimately surprised at the question that just seemed to have dropped from the sky. "What are you talking about?"

"Your friend"—she indicated Cameron with a finger—"said he was watching me for someone. That would be you, wouldn't it?"

Adam stared open-mouthed at a stiff and feeble-looking Cameron. "Why did you say that?"

"I—I didn't mean—"

"I know exactly what you meant," Karisa interrupted Cameron's stuttering and faced Adam. "Are you too afraid to talk to me now with Emmett threatening you, so you have to use your friends to check on my progress?"

"What? No! I was—"

Karisa eyes started to tear up as her voice cracked. "Were you too afraid to be caught talking to the class suck-up then?"

Adam's stomach dropped at her tortured expression and raised his hands in an attempt to comfort her. "Karisa—"

"Stop," she ordered, taking a step back and shaking her head. "Just stop." And she was running away down the hallway, clutching her textbooks to her chest.

"Wait!" Adam cried in vain. "Karisa, wait!" But she had already vanished with the crowd of departing students.

How could she think that? He had talked to her at lunch, he had talked to her in Pre-Calc, and all because of that stupid fight with Emmett she was going to think that he thinks of her as an outcast? How could everything that could have gone wrong, gone wrong in the exact same day?

"AHH!" He hollered at the sky as he punched the locker with the side of fist, breathing hard. He moaned as he laid his forehead on the cool metal and slid down the lockers, head still leaning on them.

Cameron and Annie stared in horror and pity at Adam, barely comprehending what had happened.

"Hey!" A cheerful voice came from behind them both, and Luc stuck his head between Cameron and Annie as he leaned on each of their shoulders with his elbows. "What'd I miss?"

Cameron and Annie simply looked at him with appalled faces, and Luc caught the vibe, his grin fading as if their expressions were contagious.

Luc looked cautiously at Adam's form on the floor. "Is it about…?"

"Yes," Annie answered, knowing who he was silently referring to.

Luc sighed and walked around Annie to kneel next to Adam. "Adam, whatever mess got started can be cleaned up easily."

"You wouldn't know," Adam replied, still staring off to where Karisa disappeared. "You didn't see the look she gave me."

"Man, you're not gonna fix this by sitting here. Now stand up, and let's go home." Luc tried to grip Adam's arm to help him up but Adam shrugged it off.

"Adam," Annie began, her tone motherly as she approached him. "You need to pull yourself together. You know you can fix this up tomorrow."

Adam wanted to yell at them so bad, to get away from him and let him wallow in self-pity, but when he became angry at his only help and yelled nasty things to them, somehow he would pass by a mirror and see the full side of his scars, reminding him of what he had to do. The sight made him feel terrible, as he had shown them his ugly, scarred side that symbolized the rotten core that had gotten him that scar in the first place. He didn't want to be reminded of what he had to do to get rid of the scar and how his last chance had stormed away from him with tears in her eyes.

Adam breathed deeply through his nose to keep his fury at bay and stood up slowly, refusing to look at any of them as he walked ahead of them, and they closely followed.

Cameron was finally able to speak as they drew near their cars, but softly. "Adam…I'm truly sorry about that whole mix-up."

Adam sighed through his nose again and said to the ground, "It's not entirely your fault, Cam. Shit happens. Today just wasn't my day to begin with."

"Good things come from bad," Annie reminded with an encouraging smile. "You'll fix this tomorrow. She was probably having a bad day too."

"I'm gonna blame that on Emmett, the douche."

Annie inclined her head and put her fists on her hips as a mother would disapprove her child, but then sighed. "If blaming helps…"

"It does for me. I feel better already."

As Luc opened his car door, he said with a smirk, "Don't forget to set your alarm tonight!"

Adam gave him a mock salute as he backed to his own car and gave a lopsided grin, "Thanks for that."

Luc returned the salute before getting in the driver's seat, and speeding off with a squeal of tires. Adam could only imagine how Cameron would feel in the front seat, his hands bracing himself as he stared at the road, terrified, then yelling at Luc for his reckless driving. Adam grinned as he thought of Luc smirking at his brother mischievously. Adam knew Luc was torturing him on purpose, probably because Cameron admitted it had been his fault that Karisa had accused Adam, but mostly because Luc loved bugging the hell out of Cameron.

Adam's smile diminished as he drove, though, when he thought of Karisa's accusing eyes shining with tears, all the pain she had endured from her peers clear and plain upon her beautiful features. Looking back now, he realized that no mascara had run; she had had no make-up on.

Well it wasn't like she needed any, he thought, and he seemed to just then realize how truly unique this girl was. All girls in the high school wear make-up. It was automatic because all of them felt they needed make-up to be beautiful, therefore a good majority go overboard and end up looking like painted China dolls. But Karisa must not think she needs any. She must like the way she is, and is simply disappointed rather severely that her peers don't like who she is—or more like appears to be, since none of them have given their time to get to know her, unlike Adam.

I am way over my head on her, he admitted after a moment. And he was right.

But Karisa might not see it that way, and that thought gave him hope.

This can be fixed. It's just a misunderstanding.

Lunch. He will talk to her at lunch, Emmett or no Emmett.

Adam sighed, puffing his cheeks as the air blew out of his mouth. I hope she forgives me…


A/N: I hope it was worth the wait! Sorry it took so long. :/ I don't have much to explain right now without being redundant. Many thanks to those who have reviewed and signed my story up for story alerts! :)

'Til next time!

~Annabeth Snicket