My beta completely gave up on helping me shaking off the fluffs said that I can stay this way if I want. But she was successful on making me change the story title oh well, I guess she can have it her way today.

Beyond Yesterday

One particularly sunny day Elena walked home with me after school. She didn't say much, and I wasn't in the best mood to talk either. We just trudged along the pavement, kicking the snow.

Finally Elena broke the silence by clearing her throat louder than usual. "The first semester will end in two weeks."

"Yeah. And then—"

"Here comes to midterms!"

Both of us giggled as the image of testing papers rushing in our direction came into our minds.

"So, how's life?" Elena asked, her face still red. "I mean, how's school? I haven't seen you a lot lately."

I shrugged. "Not much. You know, it's weird that you can hardly tell that the three of us were best friends for the past three years."

Elena looked up at me. "Three of us?"

"Yeah. You know, me, you, and Anna."

"Oh. Yeah, Anna." She said slowly, cocking her head to one side. "Haven't seen her for like, an eternity. Do you know that Anna broke up with Shawn?"

"Anna broke up with who?" I asked, as I had no idea of what she was talking about.

"Shawn. You know, her senior boyfriend that she was so proud of."

"Oh."

I couldn't think of anything else to say, and Elena probably didn't either.

"I'm sorry," she suddenly blurted, startling me. "I'm really sorry about all this."

"About what?" I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You didn't do anything wrong. You couldn't have done anything wrong; we didn't have any classes together—"

"That's what I had done wrong!" she said, her voice too high for her tiny figure; for a second I thought she was going to explode. "We should've stayed together! But now she's drifting away--"

"There's nothing that you've done wrong," I said firmly. "I don't think anyone knows what's going on with Anna anymore. But I don't give a damn about her if she doesn't want us as her best friends anymore; we still can be friends without her."

She was silent for a moment, as if trying to think everything through in one second; I could almost hear the gears turning in her systematic mind; Anna was the wild one. Me and Elena, we stick to the logic, just to be safe.

"But I'm still worried about her," she said slowly. "Especially when she's out 'hunting' again."

"Hunting?" I laughed dryly. That's a good word for this situation. Hunting.

She looked up at me with a serious expression. "That's not even funny, you know. I mean, she shouldn't be acting on another senior after this one."

Now it was my turn to sigh. "Doesn't she ever learn her lesson?"

"I don't know Dana, I really don't know. But I think you know the guy she's after right now."

My heart was sinking so fast I had trouble just to breath. "Let me guess: Mulder?"

"Yeah, I think that's his name. The guy who sat in the freshmen section."

"He's really nice," I said without thinking.

"That's not my point," Elena said, aiming her snowball at a tree—I didn't realize that she was holding one until now—"I mean," she said, scooping up more snow. "He's a senior and she's a freshman. Not that I believe in senior superiority or any of that bullshit, but I think the only reason that she was always looking for an older boyfriend is because she wants to show off."

My snowball—ice ball, really—dropped out of my hand. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, although they were under the protection of my turtleneck sweater. "Show off?"

"Yeah. You heard me right. And as to my understanding, this Mulder is a good friend of yours, and I certainly don't want Anna to use you or any of your friends just so that she could gather more attention."

"And the same thing apply to you," I said, and I was sincere. I really was.

"Thanks," she blushed. "I hate to tell you this, but I don't think that anybody in the whole school thinks that I'm his or her friend."

"Well guess what? You are my friend! And you'll stay my friend for the rest of--well, our high school life, at least."

"Thanks Dana. It means a lot to me. I mean, you think that we're still friends."

We've reached my house without knowing it, and we almost walked past it. I was wondering why a lot of people seemed to be busy thanking me these days when my mom opened the door.

"Dana, you're late! I was starting to worry—oh hi there Elena," she said, turning her attention to my tiny friend standing next to me. "I haven't seen you in a long time. Would you like to come in for some hot chocolate?" As if trying to get my friend into our house, she added, "I'll give you a ride home later, of course. Wouldn't want you to walk all the way home and catch the flu!"

"Okay," Elena said, more cheerful than she had been for the long walk home. She followed my mother into the house, and I walked in behind her, wondering why Mom was always making some kind of snack; it almost seemed like she expected us to bring friends home every afternoon.

***

I decided to talk Anna straight out of this, so the next day after dropping off my bag and books at home and told Mom where I was going, I walked over to her house.

Anna lived with her mother a block away from my house. Her parents were divorced, but she didn't seem to care about that. The only thing she ever complained is that lacking of a father figure made her hunger for attentions from guys. We used to laugh at it, but it seemed like a bitter fact to me now.

I knocked on the door and waited, wrapping my arms against my body, attempting to block out the cold winter air.

Anna threw the door wide open when she saw it was me. "Dana! I wasn't expecting you to visit. Come on in."

"Thanks," I said, my mouth felt dry. "Anna, we need to talk."

She tossed her head and asked, "Is it about Shawn? I'm sorry that it made you so worried that you had to come over yourself!"

"Yeah. I'm really sorry about that. Listen—"

She interrupted me before I could continue. "Hey, do you want something to eat? Or how about some cocoa? It must be freezing out there."

I shook my head. "No thanks." There was a lump in the back of my throat, and I couldn't couch it out or force it down. Too many warm memories here. It made the walls and floor feel so cold. "I just want to talk."

Anna shrugged and plopped herself down on the carpet. I sat down next to her, not sure how to start on the subject. But she started talking before I could process everything through my mind.

"So how's school?" she chirped in her usual bright way, although her voice sounded just a bit too stiff this time. "I mean, how's everything besides English? Isn't Cooney just terrible? And oh, I'm really, really sorry that I haven't been eating lunch with you lately!"

"It's alright," I said. "I figured that you wanted to spend more time with Shawn. But well, are you alright after this? Elena and I are really worried about you."

She laughed, leaning her head back so that her long hazel hair fell on the floor. "Really? I'm so happy that you guys are still so concerned me. But I figured that Shawn just isn't the right type of guy for me."

"I'm sure that you can get any type of guy that you prefer."

"Sure. Thanks for the compliment." And I could tell she really believed my words. She knew that it was true. "Hey, remember the time when Elena's hair got stuck in the filter of my pool? We thought that she was going to drown. But then you can back with the scissors"

I wasn't listening. I knew that I couldn't listen. I didn't want this. I didn't want the image of Elena yanking her hair and me saving the day to come back. Just like I didn't want Anna to use Mulder to get more attention.

It didn't matter now that Anna was one of my best friends; Mulder had earned his place in my mind now. He was loyal, which Anna had failed to prove. What did Mulder say about Anna? The other side of the spectrum. I could see that so clearly now it hit me hard in the face. Why didn't I notice before?

"I'm not here to talk about Elena and I'm not here to talk about how many times I've saved the day," I interrupted her, my voice hard and foreign to my own ears. "I want to talk about Mulder."

Anna's expression stiffened. "What about him?"

"We think you're out hunting again, Anna."

She laughed humorlessly "Hunting? What are you talking about?"

"That's the only word that fits what you're doing. Or planning on doing. We've saw it so many times and I want to stop you this time, even if you think I can't."

"Look," she said, her big, cat-like green eyes landed on my face like a pair of bugs. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what's going on with you and Elena anymore. But I'm not interested in Mulder; I'm not interested in your boyfriend, if that's what you want to call him. The high school is full of great guys and he's certainly not the best of them."

My eyes narrowed but I had managed to prevent myself from clutching my hands into fists. "Whatever you say Anna, just stay away from him."

She laughed again, her laughter so fake and cold I thought a window must be open. "Get a grip, Dana Scully. You need to see things more clearly. I suggest a pair of glasses. I'm surprised that nerds like you two are not wearing them yet."

I was so angry that I thought my eyes would pop out any time. I wouldn't allow anyone to insult Elena or me like that. "I don't need glasses and you're the only person who needs to see things more clearly."

"You know," she said coldly, "It was very kind of me to suggest you to get glasses, since we're not friends anymore."

"I already know that," I replied just as coldly. "I've known that for a long time. And I wish that Elena and I had saw that when we were in sixth grade. I guess people do change, but some just take more drastic steps."

"Well, it's too late." She was getting up from the floor now, her eyes blazing. "Now, get out of my house."

"Wouldn't think about staying even if you asked me to," I said, getting to my feet as fast as I could. I didn't want this, I said to myself. But I didn't want to regret what I said to Anna either, because each and every word of it was true.

I yanked open the door and walked out. Anna swore at my back, then slammed the door, sending a cold blast of air at me.

I didn't stop walking until I was back at my house. I threw my coat and scarf on the chair next to the door; Mom would take care of them. I rushed upstairs to my room; luckily Melissa wasn't in there.

I fell onto my bed head-first, and buried my face in my pillow.

"This is way too much for a week before the midterms," I shouted, grateful that the pillow would block my voice so Mom wouldn't know how upset I was.

But surprisingly enough, I didn't cry.

***

Well, there you have it. Flame away. This is probably the worst chapter yet. Just hope that I'm not losing grip on things.