Yay! Irene didn't decapitate the statue of liberty like I thought she would! Wohoo! But on a sadder note… 'sniffle' 'sniffle… waaaa! I had an allergic reaction to some stupid poison plant! Well, that's what I get for crawling around the woods and playing demon in the daylight all day.

"Hey Vanessa."

Vanessa smiled. "Hi Colin."

Colin gestured to her dress. "You look really pretty."

"Thanks."

Colin smiled and glanced at the floor. "I was wondering… would you like to dance?"

Vanessa blushed. "I'd love to."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pillow smacked Vanessa in the face.

Vanessa groaned and shoved the pillow away from her face. She sat up and glared over at Candy who sat chuckling in her desk chair. Vanessa grabbed the green pillow that Candy had hit her with and chucked it at Candy.

"Ow." Candy mumbled adjusting her headband in the mirror.

Vanessa rolled her eyes and fell back against her own pillow. "I was sleeping." She mumbled.

"Well get up, you missed breakfast and class starts in twenty minutes." Candy adjusted her headband one more time in the mirror, before turning to face Vanessa.

Vanessa groaned and pulled the covers over her head.

Candy rolled her eyes and grabbed her green pillow that Vanessa had thrown at her. She walked over to the side of Vanessa's bed and smacked her with the pillow. "Get up!"

"I'm up." Vanessa mumbled without moving.

Candy smacked her again.

"I'm up." Vanessa shifted slightly.

Candy smacked her again.

Vanessa shot out of bed. "I'm up!" She yelled.

Candy giggled, unfazed by Vanessa's morning crankiness. She had been roommates with her for almost two months and was used to it by now.

Vanessa walked over to her closet and lazily opened the doors. She pulled her nightgown off and changed into her purple dress and leggings. As she pulled on her black flats, she watched Candy pull out her small blue bottle and poor two white pills into her hand.

"Are you ever going to tell me why you take those?" Vanessa asked crossing her arms.

Candy smiled. "Trust me. I don't want to depress you with my medical history."

Candy tossed the pills in the air and caught them in her mouth, smiling at Vanessa's puzzled expression as she swallowed them.

"You're a freak." Vanessa said while smiling and grabbing her backpack.

Candy smiled and grabbed her backpack also before walking out the door with Vanessa. "Aren't we all?"

…

Candy and Vanessa walked into History class. Some kids were already there, talking to each other before class started in a few minutes.

Yumi was already sitting at the assigned table that she and Candy sat at. Yumi had her arms crossed on the table and her head resting on top. Her long black hair was sprawled around her, covering her closed eyes.

Candy and Vanessa smiled at each other and approached Yumi.

As loud as possible, Candy dropped her green backpack on the table. Yumi shot up, her eyes wide.

"A little sleepy, are we?" Candy snickered as she pulled her history book from her bag.

Yumi rolled her eyes. "I'd much rather be back home in my bed than here."

Vanessa smirked. "Aww. Were you dreaming of Ulrich?"

Yumi grabbed the closest thing to her to throw at Vanessa. Unfortunately for V, that would be a heavy text book.

Vanessa yelped and jumped away, avoiding the flying book by inches. She frowned. "That could have hit me!"

"That's the idea!" Yumi yelled.

Yumi and Vanessa glared at each other for a moment, before bursting out laughing.

When Vanessa finished laughing, her eyes were drawn over to her assigned table. She gazed at the person who was also assigned that table, and who so happened to be sitting there right now.

Colin sat on the table top tossing a soccer ball up in the air. He was talking to Adam who sat at the table across from him, and laughing every so often.

Vanessa smiled and walked over to their table. Colin smiled when he saw her. Vanessa smiled back and took the soccer ball from his hands, then sat down on the table top next to Colin.

"What'cha talking about boys?" She asked. She started tossing the soccer ball up in the air, mimicking the way Colin had done it moments before.

"Home." Colin said as he admired her forwardness. "Adam thinks Canada is better than the U.S."

Adam nodded his head. "It's true. "

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "You're saying that a big ice box is better than the U.S.?"

Colin laughed. He threw his arm around her shoulder. "See? Vanessa agrees with me."

Adam crossed his arms. "But she's from America too. That's not fair."

Vanessa shrugged. "Hey, that's American's for you. We're cheating, unfair, rude jerks."

Colin laughed. "But we're awesome too."

"Yeah." Vanessa high-fived Colin. Colin quickly stole the ball back.

Vanessa frowned. "Hey…"

Colin smirked. "You snooze you loose blondy." He said flicking a lock of her blonde hair. He stood and started juggling the ball on his knees.

Vanessa also stood. She quickly spun her leg around, knocking the ball from Colin's control and onto the ground. She rolled the ball back with her foot and popped it up, and started to juggle the ball herself.

Colin smiled. "You play soccer."

Vanessa shrugged. "A little." She caught the ball in her hand and handed it back to Colin.

Colin took the ball. "We should hang out after school sometime, maybe kick the ball around a bit?"

"Yeah, that'd be fun." Vanessa said.

Their moment was cut short when the bell rang. Mr Condor walked into the class room. "Alright class. Take your seats. Turn to page seventy four in your text books."

…

Ulrich was sitting on a bench in the park. Yumi was lying down on the bench, her head resting in Ulrich's lap.

Gusts of wind would sweep by, sending a storm of leaves blowing around them. Yumi watched the leaves dance in the breeze and smiled.

"I love autumn." Yumi said.

Ulrich smiled down at her. He was playing with her hair. "Yeah, it's nice."

They watched the leaves for a moment. Yumi shifted to get a better view of the leaves, but she cringed as she put pressure on her bad shoulder.

"How's the shoulder?" Ulrich asked, sensing her discomfort.

"A little sore, but it's fine."

Ulrich and her remained there in silence for a moment, until Ulrich finally spoke.

"We haven't really talked about what happened."

Yumi sat up, and looked him in the eyes. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

They remained quiet for a moment.

"Do you remember anything after William, you know…" Ulrich trailed off.

Yumi bit her lip. She hesitantly nodded.

"The doctors said you had a near death experience. What was it like?" Ulrich asked.

Yumi scratched her head. "You'll think I'm crazy if I tell you."

Ulrich smiled. "And I'll still love you anyway."

Yumi started to play with a strand of her hair, debating whether to tell him or not. After a moment, she looked up, deciding that she would tell him.

"It was weird. I remember feeling this excruciating pain. Like, nothing I'd ever felt before. That was William stabbing me. But it was quick. As soon as I felt it, it was gone. Everything started to glow, and everything turned white. I was lying in the middle of some sort of white train station thing. I couldn't feel anything, like I didn't have a body. There were white roses everywhere, and everything was marble. I was on the tracks. And I remember looking one way, and seeing you and all are friends. You guys were smiling. And then I looked the other way. There was a bright glowing coming from that end of the tunnel, and it was somehow beckoning to me. So I started to walk towards it. As I got closer, its glow grew stronger."

"But it didn't feel right. So I stopped and looked over my shoulder, where you guys were. You were still smiling. I couldn't decide which way to go."

Ulrich gazed at her. "Then what happened?"

"I stood there for a moment, unsure of what I should do. Then, I heard a voice. It said, 'it's a tough decision, huh?' And, the voice brought me comfort. So I nodded my head. Then it said 'most people don't get the choice.' And I sighed. Then I asked, 'how do I know which one is the right decision?' And the voice, well I don't know how, but I could feel it smile. And it said 'just go with your heart.'"

"So, I looked at the glowing light one more time. And Ulrich, you don't know how alluring it was. It was mesmerizing, and I could feel it trying to take all the pain away. But I turned away, and ran back towards you guys. And then everything turned so bright, and I could feel pain again, but I knew that it was the right decision. And I became aware of my surroundings; I was in your arms, half conscious. And I remember, well, feeling the voice smile."

Ulrich gazed at Yumi for a while. "Wow. That's amazing."

Yumi nodded her head.

Ulrich held her tighter. "And the voice, do you think it was…"

Yumi nodded her head. "Yup."

The two of them looked up at the sky, Ulrich having a new respect for the man that watched over all of them.