Jess' POV

December, at last.

Zack and I were grounded-- set to serve hard time doing chores and extra miscellaneous things (I'd rather not talk about) for the damage done to Alex's house.

Alex wasn't exempt from punishment either. He had to take time off from his experiments, and we weren't allowed to come over as often as we used to, putting a hold on all virtual world-related activities. When we were allowed to come over, it was only under constant adult supervision. Alex's mom was huge on safe, constructive fun, which limited the activities to "sitting still" and watching TV. Very fun.

I concentrated mainly on doing my usual study habits with Becky and acting like my life was normal, which was hard, considering the fact that my possibly-could-be boyfriend was a video game character that lived in my cousin's attic.

Zack even contributed to this charade of normalcy by having daily Spanish lessons with Becky.

It was almost December, and we'd decided to go with the original plan:

Admit Roxas to our school as a foreign exchange student from Japan.

Alex had made a huge production out of the fact we would go to prison if the federal government happened to stumble upon our risky exploits, but eventually he got used to the idea, and went along with it anyway.

We had created a new identity for Roxas. We thought to gave him a new name, but decided that it would be too confusing...so we voted-- 2 to 1. Alex and I voted for the name Rox. Zack wanted to call him Bobo.

After a lot of research, a bunch of technical jargin only hackers would know, 2 am Saturday get-togethers, and getting drugged up on caffeine, we'd finally formulated our proof and were officially sick of coffee. Thanks to Alex, we had everything: Rox's proof of citizenship, school documents and history!

For the first time in a long time, everything seemed in control. On the outside, it looked like our lives were getting better, but I knew it was only a matter of time before something came along to wreak havoc on the balance.

That's when I started receiving some very strange e-mails:

From: CREEP

To: Jess

I know your little secret. Don't tell, and I won't tell.

I suspected that "Don't tell" meant "Don't tell anyone about the e-mails."

At first, I remembered that I'd told Becky about my ordeal with the Organization last Christmas break. Maybe she'd finally put the pieces together. But I didn't want to confront her about it, and make her more suspicious. Plus, I couldn't tell anyone about the e-mails, not even my own family. When I asked Becky if she'd been online lately, she replied that she had way "too much studying to do, and that the internet was getting boring." Movies were her thing now. Besides, it wasn't like Becky to lie.

I concluded that Becky was clearly out of the loop. Maybe she really did think I was crazy last Christmas.

Besides the e-mails, my star-shaped scar had been really bugging me. Not itching, just stinging randomly at different times during the day. This occurred most often at school, especially at lunch-- when the pain was at its strongest. I found myself not attending the cafeteria as often as I used to, instead going straight for the Art room...

I couldn't explain it. Suddenly, all those feelings of doom and loss I had stored away crept back into my heart- an unwelcome visiter. The image of anti-Jess, and the creepy, lulling sound of her wicked voice echoed in my head, over and over again...like a siren call. Was she still alive? Was she still hunting me? Whenever I felt the pain, it was like I was re-living the black, hellish pit all over again.

That's when it happened...on a snowy, downcast day in December, that Tyler Perris approached me in lunch.

Roxas was to be admited to school the following day. We'd already taken an "online tour" of our school and had had a "web interveiw" with our school principal. How Alex managed to pull that one off? I do not know.

"Hey Jess!" Tyler waved. He and his friends were just getting into the lunch room.

Alex and I had decided to bring our own lunches. We were already enjoying the brief silence of the empty lunchroom before the crowd rolled in. I was thankful that Zack was at the Dentist that day, because he would've flipped. Tyler had been trying to get my attention ever since October, but Zack had given him the evil eye, so he greeted me from a safe distance-- waiting for the perfect opportunity to slip by.

As Tyler left his table, Alex got up to go to the cafeteria kitchen, though he already had his lunch.

"Hey. What's up, Tyler?" Tyler took a seat beside me, in Zack's seat.

"Zack must've gotten to your cousin too..." He said, nodding at Alex's retreating back.

"No, Alex just wants to give us some privacy." I countered.

"Well, I know a better place for that. Wanna see?" He offered, getting up.

Was it safe? Did curiosity not kill the Cat?

I ignored my gut, and decided to check it out anyway.

Two minutes later...

"You have keys to the roof?" I was amazed.

I walked out onto the landing to enjoy the view. It wasn't much, but I could see everything- the parking lot and the vacant football field... My hands gripped the pole blocking us in, as a wintry gust of air hit us. Tyler joined me, the same look of fascination on his face.

"Well, I am the superintendent's son. I can have anything I want." He crowed. He ruffled his brown hair in a casual way that only I could notice.

I let out a laugh. "This place is a little creepy though. Like one the places in those slasher movies?"

Why did say that? I felt like the idea shouldn't amuse me, but I heard myself laughing anyway. He laughed too, it was a calming, musical sound.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to see a movie tomorrow night." As he said this, I noticed him carefully stepping towards me, closing the gap between us...

"Isn't this view really awesome?" I replied distractedly. It was obvious that I was trying to change the subject. I didn't want to give Tyler the wrong impression...but I was afraid I already had...

Tyler caught me off guard when he planted his hands firmly on my shoulders, and lightly swiveled me around to face him. I tried not to meet his uncomforting gaze, but he lifted my chin to look at him. There was no running away from it now. I started getting the feeling that even if I had rejected Tyler Perris' offer, that he probably would've found some way to force me into coming. For some reason, I'd pictured this so differently in my mind. Once, I had imagined myself liking- even being at ease with Tyler. But nothing about the way he held me- about the way he looked at me now, with those penetrating, all-knowing eyes, made me at ease. I wanted to run away. To hide myself from him. Something about him just felt wrong. I took a deep breath.

"I'm a little busy tomorrow night. Maybe next Friday?" The little voice in my head told me that "next Friday" probably wouldn't happen. I was sure it was right.

"You're difficult, you know that?" He teased, grinning.

The moment he said that, the crippling pain returned, shooting from my wrist to my heart. I bent over, one hand clenched to the pole, the other grasping my chest as the pain threatened to shatter all control. Tyler was standing so close to me, he offered his hand to steady me, but I pretended like it wasn't there.

"Are you okay? What's wrong with your wrist?" He asked.

He took my wrist, and unhooked the wide, leather bracelet I'd been wearing over the mark, catching sight of the star-shaped "tatoo". He chuckled, perhaps trying to lighten the situation. He failed miserably.

"I thought you were the goody-two shoes type." He said, a mischeivious look in his eyes. I yanked back my wrist.

"Who said you could look?" I replied, rather harshly.

"I'm sorry"- he innocently held up his hands- "It's cool though. I like it. We should make some plans sometime." He smiled, as he ushered me back into the building.

Little did I know what I was getting myself into, getting involved with a guy like Tyler Perris.