A.N. You guys must realize by now that I am but a poor, innocent Borrower. I own nothing but a couple names and a slightly new plot.

Elyssa jerked awake to the sound of her phone ringing. Sitting up, she frantically searched the tangled bed sheets. She finally found the phone half underneath her textbook, which she had used as a pillow. The screen told her that Sabrina was on the other end and Elyssa tiredly pressed the button.

"Morning sunshine!" Sabrina said with a grin, her green eyes twinkling at Elyssa's bedraggled appearance.

"It's not fair that you look perfect in the morning," Elyssa muttered to her best friend, sighing.

Sabrina just smiled. "Did you fall asleep on your chemistry again?" Elyssa yawned and ignored the teasing question. "You're so going to be late. Well, unless you learn to fly and can get here in fifteen minutes."

Alarmed, Elyssa glanced at her clock and shrieked. "Oh God."

"See you in second period," Sabrina chuckled.

Clicking the phone off and leaping out of bed, Elyssa dashed to the closet and threw a few things on the bed. Rushing around the room, she wondered if she could convince Nilsson to break any speed limits to get her to school. But, a second glance at the clock confirmed that she would never make it to school on time no matter how fast they drove.

Tossing a tank top and jeans on her body and all her books and computer her backpack, she shoved her feet into her sandals and ran for the door. Yanking it open, she dashed straight out and into James, who had just raised his hand to knock.

"I'm so late," she said, as they tried to disentangle their limbs.

"I noticed." James picked up the backpack she'd dropped and threw it over his shoulder. Elyssa paused a moment to marvel at how much like a student he appeared. The backpack was perfectly at home on his shoulder.

"Nilsson has the car ready and Poppy made you some toast to eat on the way." James began towing her down the stairs.

"Wait," Elyssa muttered. "You made all these preparations for me in case I was late, but no one thought to come wake me up?"

James ignored her glare and tugged her down the stairs, handing her the backpack and a comb he produced from his back pocket. "Car's out front. Have a nice day." Kissing her on the forehead, he shoved her out the door.

Disgruntled, Elyssa ran down the front steps and climbed into the passenger side door to a nondescript tan sedan. Nilsson smiled at her from the driver's seat and waited until she buckled her seatbelt before handing her the package in his hand.

"Toast?" she asked with a lopsided smile. Nodding, he shoved the car into gear and began the long drive to school.

On the way, she ate the toast, while organizing her homework files. Nilsson silently navigated towards the high school. He'd never been a morning person.

As he pulled up in front of the school, he finally spoke. "Do you have your phone?"

"Yes."

"Your books?"

"Yes."

"Emergency money?"

"Yes, Nilsson." Worry was still in his eyes as he gazed at the sedate building with distrust. Shaking her head resignedly, Elyssa leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I'll be fine."

Then she waved, jumped out and ran up the steps, ready to battle the evils of the administration office.

"So, how was your birthday?" Sabrina asked, taking a bite of her apple. Pushing her dark hair out of her catlike eyes, she studied Elyssa as the blonde searched through her backpack.

"It was good. We went out to dinner. Thierry bought out the whole club for the night."

Nearly choking on her apple, Sabrina quickly took a swig of her water. "What?"

Sighing, Elyssa gave up looking for her favorite pen, the one that never seemed to run out of ink. "Yeah. Kind of disconcerting, being the only people in a huge dining room. But you get used to it."

"Oh, of course," Sabrina agreed wryly. "Did you get any good gifts?"

Laughing, Elyssa opened her lunch bag and took out a sandwich. "Yeah. Thierry got me a new microscope. I thought he would just get a new bulb for the old one, but apparently they came out with a new model that can do an even higher resolution, and you really don't care about that."

"You need bulbs for a microscope?" Sabrina asked doubtfully.

"He gave me a necklace." Elyssa said, knowing this would get her attention.

"Ooooh. What kind?"

"It's a sapphire in a silver filigree setting with a silver chain. It's short, though, so it sits right in the hollow of your throat." She pointed with a finger before taking a bite of her sandwich.

Longing flared up in Sabrina's eyes. "You think he'll adopt me, too?" she asked longingly.

Elyssa laughed. "You already have parents."

"Yeah, but they're no where near as good at giving gifts." Sabrina winked.

Knowing her friend was just joking, Elyssa laughed again, but couldn't stop the slight hurt the words brought. It was an old wound, one that Sabrina probably didn't even think about anymore, for which Elyssa was gratefully. No way did she want Sabrina to pity her for her lack of parents. But she would give anything if she could go back in time and spend just one more day with her mother.

No one understood that.

"And did you get a birthday kiss?" Sabrina asked wickedly.

"Sabrina," Elyssa groaned. She felt her face flush and she tried to hide behind a soda.

"Did you ask for one like I told you to?"

"Of course not! I can't do that."

"And why not?" Calmly eating her lunch, Sabrina stared at her best friend as if daring her to come up with an excuse.

Glaring, Elyssa crumpled up the crusts from her sandwich and threw them into the bottom of her lunch bag. "You know why not. He has a--" Pausing she looked around and leaned forward, lowering her voice. "He has a soulmate."

Sabrina rolled her eyes and pointed out, "Lyss, according to you, everyone has a soulmate."

"Yeah, but he's found his. That means that he'll never love anyone else. Not that I want him to love me, per say," Elyssa added quickly.

"Who said anything about love? I'm talking about good old fashioned--"

"I can't settle for that," Elyssa interrupted.

Sabrina winced and nodded. "I know," she said seriously. "How do you even know Lady Hannah was his soulmate though? I mean, you heard it from one person five years ago right before they just," she made fluttering motions with her fingers, "disappeared."

"It just made sense," she answered, playing with her soda can. "I mean, she lived there for her whole life when she wasn't working. She ran the whole project with him. Gloria even once told me that he saved Lady Hannah's life."

"From what?" Sabrina asked with a frown.

Elyssa frowned, too. "She wouldn't tell me. She got all weird after saying it, as if she'd said something she wasn't supposed to."

"Weird," Sabrina said, fiddling with one of the multitude of silver bracelets hanging on her wrists.

"Yeah. But it's not all that surprising that Thierry would save her. He's just that kind of person. Even if she hadn't been his soulmate," Elyssa added wistfully.

Sighing, Sabrina put her elbows on the table, her bracelets jingling. "Elyssa, you either have to get over this, or do something about it. It's not healthy to live with a man you're in love with, knowing you can never have him."

"I just have a crush on him. And I've been doing living with it and him for seven years. Why should I have to stop now?"

The bell rang and the two girls stood to throw away their trash. Sabrina gathered up her book back and Elyssa followed suit, walking in silence for a moment.

"Besides," Sabrina added a bit more happily. "We're heading off to college in a year, and then we'll be surrounded by cute guys. You'll have to be tempted by one of them."

Elyssa shook her head in amusement, knowing she would never really get over Thierry, even if she fell in love with someone else. But Sabrina didn't need to know that. She'd just drag Elyssa to a therapist. Immediately.

"I can't wait to get out of this desert," Sabrina muttered, trying to smooth down her hair that was blowing in the dry, hot wind. "Princeton, here we come."

Elyssa snorted. "You do realize we'll be suffering through snowy winters, right?"

Shrugging philosophically, Sabrina tucked another strand of hair down. "We'll also have ice skating. We've never been ice skating." A pleased smile lit up her face. "And girls always look pretty in the snow. That'll be a real plus."

Blinking, Elyssa stared at her friend. "What? How do you figure?"

"Well, the snow catches on your eyelashes, your cheeks get all red--"

"Yeah, so does your nose, Sabrina. And better yet, it runs."

"You're such a pessimist, Elyssa."

Reviewers:

Charlotte-Thanks! I thought the last chapter might be a little too short. I just got to the juicy stuff at the end, and then Thierry doesn't even appear in this one. sigh Oh well. He will in the next one!!

thelotuspath-Thanks! I've never experienced unrequited love, so I hope this doesn't end up sounding too angsty at times. Isn't the phone fun? : p I was thinking about giving it internet access, too, and maybe making it a tiny computer. I think I'm having too much fun with the phone.

Akasha11-They definitely hold a massive appeal. Ash especially. Whoa, his name is Redfern? That's so awesome!

laura-Thanks for the review! I hope you keep reading!

Terriah-Hehe, thanks! hugs I love loyal reviewers! I hope you liked this chapter!