Chapter 1

I awoke one morning by the sound of my mother calling me.

"Alice, Alice honey its time to wake up."

"No mom, jus five more minutes." The sound of my voice was muffled by the covers. She pulled back the sheets and opened the curtains, the light blinding me for a second. I yawned and glanced up at my clock.

"Umm....mom, why am I awake at eight thirty on a Saturday?" I sat up and looked at her.

"Because honey, today is your grandmother's funeral." She sniffed, and wiped a tear from her eye. I reached up and gave her a hug, her arms tightening around me.

"Mom, its going to be okay. Please stop crying." She let go of me and wiped more tears from her eyes.

I cant believe I had forgotten about this. After mom went down stairs to fix breakfast, I made my way over to my wardrobe and looked for something to wear. I pulled out this hideous dress with a lace collar, cuffs, and ruffle. It looked to be about three sizes to small for me anyway.

"Where is that dress?" I rummaged around in my wardrobe until I found it. It was black silk and it came down to my ankles. The sleeves were quarter length and it had a red silk rose sewn on to the left shoulder. My grandmother had made it for me. It was so beautiful. I layed the dress on my bed and got my black Mary Jane's from the closet. After I got dressed, I walked down stairs and into the kitchen.

The house was much more quiet now that my 'dad' was gone. He and my mom had divorced about a year earlier. So now it was just mom and me. I walked over to the refrigerator and got the orange juice out. Mom was fixing grits, eggs, sausage and biscuits. I walked over to the dish drainer and got two glasses. I poured mom and myself some orange juice and put the rest back in the fridge. Mom was being very quiet, which was different from her usual talkative and funny self. She was taking this harder than I thought she would, but then again it was her mom that passed. While the biscuits were baking, I fixed both of our plates with grits, sausage and eggs. As I walked over to the table the phone rang. I sat our plates down and picked up the phone.

" Hello"

" Hey Alice, Whats up?" It was my friend Lucy.

"Mom and me are getting ready for Grammy's funeral."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Al. How's your mom taking it?"

"Not to good. So, what are you doing?" I didn't like talking about stuff like this, so I decided to change the subject.

"Oh my god, I cant believe I didn't tell you, Number 16 asked me out!!"

"Number 16? You mean Bobby Larson from the football team?"

"Uh-huh! Can you believe it?!"

"Not really." Sadly, I wasn't as enthralled as Lucy.

"Al, your supposed to be happy for me." I heard her stomp her foot on the floor.

"I am Luc, I'm just a little down today. Hey, I've got to go. Mom and I are going to eat breakfast and then go on to the funeral. I'll call you later."

"Ok, Love ya."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye." I had known Lucy sinse we were four years old. We were both fourteen so we've known each other for ten years. After I hung up the phone, I walked over and sat at the table where my mom was already eating.

"Who was that?" my mom was barely eating.

"Just Lucy. She's going out with Bobby Larson."

"You mean that steroid junkie on the football team?" I laughed.

"Yeah, that's him."

"Well, whatever makes her happy." After we finished eating, I put our plates and cups in the dish washer and we walked out to the car.

The ride there was very quiet. Niether of us talked and the radio was off. It took us about twenty minutes to get there, and we weren't the first ones to arrive. Just from glancing out the window, I spotted my aunts Tillie, Vickie, and Sharon, and my uncles Charley, and Bill. Mom and I got out of the car and walked over to join everyone when I was bombarded with a huge bear hug from my great grandmother Rosie, which nearly suffocated me. After recovering from that, everyone sat down and the ceremony started.

About fifteen minutes into it, I just couldn't take it any more. I slipped out of my seat and walked past about thirty grave stones until I found a tree to sit under. I sat down, put my head in my hands and cried. I hadn't shown any emotions until now. I usually keep all my emotions hidden, but I couldn't keep them down any longer. I cried and cried until I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I thought it was my mom so I looked up. It wasn't. It was a boy.

He looked to be about the same age as me, and he was very pale. He wore a baggy black shirt and a pair of jeans. He had shoulder length black hair and the most brilliant blue eyes I had ever seen. He crouched down beside me and looked deeply into my eyes. I felt like I was being hypnotized by his stare.

"Whats the matter?" he asked, his voice had a hint of british in it. I sniffed and wiped the tears from my now rosy red cheeks.

"My grandmother died. That's her funeral over there." I pointed to the crowd of people that was my family.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Dorian Le'Vaur, Pleased to meet you." He smiled very sweetly.

"I'm Alice Turner." I stood up.

"Um...I havn't seen you around school. Did you just move here or something?" I decided to talk to him to keep my mind off the funeral and any further out bursts. He stood up and walked beside me.

"I'm uh...Home Schooled."

"Cool. I go to West Brook High. Are you in 9th?"

"Yeah...... 9th."

We walked around and talked for a while. Every time we would walk into a sunny spot, Dorian would cringe and walk quickly under another tree. It was very strange. As we talked a light breeze began to blow and some nasty looking clouds rolled in. When this happened, a look of relief came over Dorian's face.. I glanced over to the funeral and everyone was getting up. They had already buried my grandmother and the funeral was over. Wow, it didn't seem like we had been talking that long. My mom stood up and looked to my seat. When she saw that I wasn't there, I decided it was time to go.

"It was very nice talking to you Dorian." I smiled at him.

"It was very nice talking to you too Alice. Umm, I was wondering....if you're not doing anything tomorrow, could I see you again?" I couldn't believe it, no one had ever asked me out before.

"I'd love to see you again."

"Ok, can you meet me here tomorrow around seven?"

"Sure, that sounds good. But why here?"

"ALICE! WHERE ARE YOU??" my mother screamed.

"I'd better go, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye."

I waved good bye to him and ran over to my mom.

"Alice, where have you been?"

"Sorry mom, I got a little upset and decided to take a walk."

"Oh, ok. Well come on. There's going to be a storm and we need to get home quickly." Her mascara was running and her eyes were puffy from crying. My mother was so beautiful, even when she was sad. We hugged and started for the car. I looked back to see if Dorian was still there, but he had vanished. We reached the car just as it started raining.