I left at sunrise the next day. I couldn't take the chance of Silena turning me into those Social Services or whatever their called here in America. She was a really sweet and nice girl yes, but when you're me, sometimes you just don't want to take the risks. And not to mention how I needed to get lost before her father woke up and found me in his house. Talk about trespassinssg eh?

I gazed around room once more and my eyes locked on it neatness. Just like her bathroom, Silena had put and made sure that everything was in order and that there were no things out of place. The dresser and night stand were both of matching polished white and the walls in every side were of hand painted red flowers. They all swirled around each other and connected in some way, whether it was at the stems, leaves, and petals. The flowers were always touching each other.

Just like miserable situations and I.

I set my gaze on the dresser where a box full of jewelry sat. Silena had showed me it and told me that she got all new necklaces and bracelets and everything every week because her dad had always liked to spoil her with girl stuff. She said that she never really wore all of what her father gave her, so taking a handful or so of jewelry wouldn't maybe hurt…

I stuffed half of the box's accessories down deep in my bag but kept the silver and gold bracelet around my wrist. It was of beaded flowers carefully crafted into a circle so that it could easily be kept as a bracelet. The flowers on it would remind me of Rose Smelling Silena, of how sweet and beautifully amazing she was.

No matter how hard she was judged…

I walked out of the chocolate shop and walked east, back in the direction of Chris's apartment and home. Even this early people were up and everywhere, none of them noticing me or paying any attention. They probably thought that I was going to some library or whatever.

I pulled my sleeve down to look at my watch (the sleeve is of a black sweater that Silena gave me: "Black's not really my color so…") and I saw that it was only six AM. Dang I had lots of time. I could always set up a stand to sell that jewelry and least get some crash. I grinned proudly. Good thing Silena had taught me about U.S money and their values…

Three Hours Later…

"Ten dollars." I said to lady who asked how much the teddy bear ring was.

She gladly paid me and walked away, going on with her business and new bought merchandise.

I stuffed the bills in my pockets and displayed all of left over rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. I still had enough to make and do for an hour or so more. I was in Times Square and it was about nine in the morning, yet I was still getting plenty enough money to get myself a real meal.

A red headed girl with dancing freckles across her face and hands walked up to me and looked over all of the jewelry I had. She wore splattered paint ripped jeans and a raggedy sweat shirt. Her hair wasn't combined and the ends stuck up in every direction, spiking out like thistles in a plant. I wondered how this girl could even be interested in jewelry if she looked more of an artistic, crazy, type.

"How much for this?" she held up the black leather string with a mood sun pedant attached to it.

"Ten dollars." My accent made me pronounce the word dollars like 'doll-uh-s'.

"I'll take it." The girl pulled out a twenty from her pocket and I quickly give her the change of a ten. I was just handing her the bill when a man in a gray business suit came up behind her and grabbed her shoulders suddenly.
"Rachel there you are!" his voice reminded me a father who never wanted to be with his children. "I've been looking all over for you. Why did you wander off on your own?"

"I was just exploring daddy." She mumbled. More to herself than him I might add.

I gave her the money and she took it gingerly, clipping on the necklace afterwards. Her father had a disguised look on his face when he saw it but he made no comment about it.

"We have to go. You're mother's waiting in the limo and she's already getting impatient." The man grabbed his daughter by the hand and pulled her away, leaving the girl to look at me with a sad face.

I watched as they left horridly then looked back down at my table of accessories. There was a folded up piece of paper on it that hadn't been there before. Curiously I picked it and unfolded it, amazed by the painting left on the front.

It was of a girl with auburn hair and yellow-gray eyes looking out at the ocean. She was standing behind the rail of a cruise ship and her hair was flapping in the breeze, fighting to touch the stars of the night sky. Little rays of moonlight casted themselves around her but she didn't seem to notice it. Her back was to the life going on in the cruise ship and her gaze was on the wonders of the world. Her eyes were soft and beautifully drawn, gently colored and thought about.

I didn't know why Rachel had left the painting that day. I asked her once about it many years later; when we were much older and wise. She just said that she drew it from her dreams and imagination, nothing that could possibly have been important or anything during those times. She had only left it behind because the girl on the front reminded her of me. The same color of eyes and hair, soft face expression, height and face shape; she just couldn't help herself to let me see her work silently.

One morning while it was the two of us alone at the beach, she was eighteen (or supposed to be anyway wink, wink), and I was seventeen. We were watching the waves wash back and forth onto the soft white sand when I asked her the question that had been on my mind for so long.

"Rachel," my voice drowned out the birds chirping everywhere, "why did you leave that picture behind? The one from when we were about ten. I mean, I know that the girl on it was me and everything, but there's got to be another reason. Something else that drove you to come up to me and buy that necklace. So… what's that reason?"

Rachel gazed out at the sea then back at me, those bright green eyes matching her smile. "Because Selene, I wanted you to read the Greek message scribbled in where the stars where. Didn't you notice the weird colors there when you looked at it?"

I shook my head slowly, guilty of being oblivious. "No. what did it say though?"

"It said," she took a deep breath, staring into my eyes like the world had evaporated around us. "To remember Rachel Elizabeth Dare, you're future friend."

I couldn't stop smiling after that.

Author's Note: so many people putting this on their favorite stories list or addition to their story alerts. I ask though, why don't you review it? Tell me what you think of it, what you don't like, what you think is going to happen, anything and/or everything. Just review and spread the word about Sun's New Moon. And besides, it's not every day that Selene meets a character from Camp Half Blood. So why not take in the moment of this chapter? Selene tells me that Rachel smells like Skittles… ;)