1Chapter 3: Connections, Coincidences, And Something More...

The sun had gone down, but there was some remnants of the day earlier. Tyler stood at the intersection, waiting for the light to change so he could cross, along with the half dozen of others wanting to go to their homes. After a moment, the signal changed and Tyler, along with the other people waiting at the corner, crossed the roadway. As he continued to walk, he listened to the sounds of the city: the jet planes high above, the distant clang from the bells from the street cars, the periodic honk of vehicles during rush hour. It was music to his ears.

"Hmm, why's there a U Haul truck in front of the house?" Tyler asked to no one in particular as he rounded the corner to his street.

He squinted and focused his sight in on the truck and its license plates.

"Washington," he mouthed silently, then took notice of a car that looked frustratingly familiar parked just forward of the van.

Being 'special' certainly has its perks in a pinch, Tyler thought as he memorized the owners of the car–a Toyota Hybrid–a car Tyler wasn't to partial to.

"Tyler? Tyler!" A girl yelled out, running towards him.

Instantly, Tyler recognized the girl who had piercing gray-blue eyes and sandy blonde hair as his best friend, Jennifer Wallace. She leapt into the air and latched onto Tyler, wrapping her arms around his neck. Caught off guard, the drastic shift in weight–even though Jennifer was just barely over a hundred pounds–caused Tyler to lose his balance and the pair came crashing down to the sidewalk with Tyler taking the brut of the fall.

"Jay? Nice to see you too. What are you doing here?" Tyler asked.

"We're moving here!" Jennifer exclaimed excitedly.

Happy that his best friend was in town, Tyler smiled knowing that the transition from Seattle to San Francisco would go much smoothly, especially now that he had a close friend near by.

"And guess what?" Jennifer added. "You remember my friend I told you about from Veggie Camp?"

"Uh... no," Tyler said.

"What? I talk about her all the time. Her name's Chelsea."

"Oh!" Tyler exclaimed as if it finally hit him.

"Now you remember?" she asked him, the two still on the pavement.

"Can't say that I do," Tyler replied as he stood up, Jennifer still latched on him like a young monkey grasping on its mother.

It then hit him that he had met a Chelsea earlier, and he was infatuated with her. But there could be hundreds of Chelsea's in San Francisco. There was no way that Jennifer was talking about the lively young redhead that he could only manage a weak greeting when he met both her, and Raven.

"C'mon, Chelsea doesn't live too far from here!" Jennifer demanded.

"How do–" Tyler began, but was soon dragged off.

Jennifer sprinted up the sidewalk.

"Whoa! Jay, trash can! Trash can!" Tyler cried as he vaulted over a volley of trash receptacles, laughing triumphantly as he leapt over them.

"Hurry up, Tyler!" Jennifer ordered.

He didn't have much choice other than to keep up with her.

"Bikes! Jay... oh man!" Tyler pleaded as he attempted to jump over the parked bicycles but ended up crashing to the ground, which finally caused Jennifer to stop.

"Are you okay?" she asked, trying not to laugh but to no avail.

Tyler, who lay in a crumpled heap, quietly responded, "Yeah.. I'm fine. My pride's a lil' broken and I think I have a nice lil' boo boo on my arm.

"Stop laughing!"

Tyler got up, gathered his things and attempted to stand the bikes back in place. Just then, he saw her.

"Chelly!" Jennifer squealed.

"Oh my God. Jennifer! What are you doing here?" the most beautiful redhead Tyler ever saw asked excitedly.

"Remember? I told you I was moving down here." Jennifer exclaimed, hardley able to control her excitement.

The pair then embraced in a tight hug, both giggling and talking incoherently. Next, on the porch of Chelsea's house, they proceeded to do a strange cheer about fruits and vegetables and Camp Waccamosh. Tyler could only watch and wait as they chanted 'Wacca! Wacca! Wacca!' to the point where it was giving him a brain cramp. Tyler then took notice of another figure in the house, who also seemed to be sharing the same agony of enduring the cheer. The figure soon approached the door, and as if on cue, her demeanor took a 180 and she too squealed one of those high pitched squeals as she embraced Jennifer.

"Tyler? I didn't know you knew Jen," Chelsea said as she walked down the steps and towards him.

Tyler's heart began to thump against his ribs. His eyes darted back and forth. "Uh, y-yeah. She's my best friend." Tyler studdered.

Chelsea then smiled, which almost made him melt. "Well, I guess that makes up friends too?" she asked as a stray breeze tousled some of her hair.

Yes! Yes! Oh hell yes! Tyler thought, then said. "Of course it does."

For some reason, those words rang hollow as Tyler said them. He wasn't sure what was going on–maybe something within him was malfunctioning, but he wanted to be more than 'just friends' with Chelsea. He knew that wouldn't happen, however. She was with Ben.

"Well, since we're friends, maybe we should introduce ourselves more properly," Chelsea offered, then stuck out her hand. "I'm Chelsea. Chelsea Daniels."

Briefly, Tyler looked at her small, outstretched hand, then back at her eyes. Those beautiful brown–he quickly embraced her hand with his before he lost his train of thought. "I'm Tyler McGinnis. Pleasure," he said as confidently as he could muster–which wasn't much.

After what felt like an eternity of awkward silence, Raven hopped down the steps to reintroduce herself to Tyler. Raven was a few skin tones darker than Chelsea, but lighter than Tyler. She moved a stray few strands of brown highlighted hair from her face. As soon as he shook her hand, he started to feel weird again–and this time, it wasn't just his hormones. There was something about Raven that was, in a word, different.

As soon as Raven embraced hands with Tyler, a strange vision occurred. Not like her normal visions she usually had. They had become routine. This vision was more like she was inside of Tyler's mind. All she could see was brief glimpses of his past, as if she was thumbing through a photo album. The rest was clouded, as if trying to block her from access.

Quickly, she released her grip. The two had a shocked look on their faces.

"Uh," Raven quickly shifted her eyes back and forth, then focused them back on Tyler, "what just happened there?"

"Got me," Tyler replied. "But you psychic, aren't you?"

Raven's hazel eyes shot wide open. There was only a select few who knew her secret and she had evaded being caught countless times. So how did one boy figure out after only a handshake?

"Wh-what 'chu talkin' bout," Raven nervously snickered. "I-I'm no–"

"I won't tell anyone. I promise." Tyler said reassuringly. "You probably already know my secret, too."

Before she could answer, Jennifer came up to them, and as if the two were mentally linked, they both switched gears from their secrets to something else.

"We'd better go, Tyler. It's getting late," Jennifer suggested.

The four said their "see you later's" as Jennifer and Tyler walked on home. Chelsea walked down the stoop and stood beside Raven.

"Y'know, girl, I've only met Jennifer a couple times–but she is strange." Raven mused.

Chelsea softly elbowed Raven in the ribs.

"And that Tyler," she added, "he's–" she searched for the right words.

"Cute? Nice? Tall? Dark?" Chelsea suggested.

"Well yeah," Raven smugly replied, taking a quick swipe of her nose with her finger, sizing him up as he walked down the hill, then added, "but he's... different. Like me different."

Chelsea furrowed her brow in thought. "You mean he's loud, likes to mettle, and has more pairs of shoes than Donatella Versace?"

Raven's eyes narrowed and she said with an calm aggressiveness, "No Chelsea. I mean he has a secret too. When I shook his hand, I could read his mind. It-it was like I was thumbing through his memories."

"Like when you get a psychic cold?" Chelsea wondered.

"Sort of. But I feel fine." Raven said with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"I'll be the judge of that!" Chelsea announced and promptly placed her hand on Raven's forehead, feeling her temperature, and causing Raven to get somewhat irritated.

"Chelse..."

Yes, Rae?"

"Get your hand off my head before you ruin my foundation!" Raven grumbled.

Chelsea complied and mouthed a silent "sorry". Then noted, "I didn't know you were wearing make up."

"Yeah, girl. I just bought it."

"Really? It looks so natural."

"Yeah it do, don't it."

When Tyler got back home and parted ways with Jennifer, he thought about what had happened earlier with Raven. Somehow, she had probed into his mind and possibly knew everything about him as well as his memories about his past. He decided that if he saw Raven the next day, he'd talk to her and hopefully see what she had found out.

Tyler opened the side door that led into the garage–his bedroom–and he tossed his duffel bag to the side. Most of his belongings were still boxed up and neatly stacked in one corner. Only the things that he used most–his bed, television, and couch were somewhat in place. Just then, he remembered what he intended to do when he got home.

"Mom?" He called as he walked up the steps to the main level in the house and found her in the dining room, thumbing through a take out menu to a restaurant called The Chill Grill.

Tyler's mom–named Eva–was a vast contrast from Tyler, who stood at six four and had a dark caramel complexion, though he didn't know his ethnicity–but assumed he was part African American and part Navajo, Eva stood just over five feet and had a light tan to her otherwise pale (at least compared to Tyler) tone.

She held up a finger before he could speak, indicating that she was on the phone ordering some dinner. Sitting on the floor beside her was the family dog, Kia, a Siberian Husky. Kia wagged her tail, ran over to Tyler, then got up on her hind legs, placing her front paws into his hands. Tyler gave her a scratch behind the ears and set her paws drop back to the floor.