A/N: Okay... so, this is my first fanfic on this site and I know it probably sucks but... still. And I know the title sucks and is probably a little cliche but it's honestly the only one that works. So... yeah.
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters mentioned from the Darren Shan Saga or Angel.
"Write about a recent dream you had. It can be good, bad, happy, scary - anything so long as it's a dream that you had. I want it on my desk by Monday morning." The teacher waltzed back to her desk and shoved her nose back into her romance novel – either completely oblivious or completely ignoring the mumbled complaints from her students.
I picked up my pencil and started writing some ridiculous made up dream about finding my way to a creepy candy land, where I had the time of my life but had to resort to eating the mayor (made entirely of chocolate) because the village people wouldn't give me their Lucky Charms. I could never write about a real dream of mine – they'd send me to the counselor again. Despite popular belief, it's actually a lot like visiting a psychiatrist; an annoying, meddling, thick headed psychiatrist. Thank god the assignment is about a dream and not a 'scary experience' like last time. Now that was hard to get out of, especially when we had to present. The one thing I learned that day; when your teacher tells you to write about a scary experience, don't be an idiot and write about the time you almost got yourself gutted by an angry demon.
When I finished writing about 'my dream', I snuck a peak over Miles' shoulder. Just as I thought, Miles had spent almost the entire time doodling. Today, it was the 'zombie ninjas' he was convinced he could write a comic book about. If DC comics could write about a finely toned man with no super powers what-so-ever besides his immense wealth… no, Miles could never write a comic book. I'll be blunt; his zombie ninjas suck ass. The bell rang, signaling the end of Language Arts and the end of the day.
As we walked through the empty halls, my friends and I talked about anything and nothing and everything between. My friends are a… unique bunch. Most of our tastes are so different it's amazing we're friends in the first place. First, there's Tawny. She has blonde curly hair and is 16 – just like me. She loves older music like Elvis and Frank Sinatra and stuff. Her wardrobe is basically jeans, converse (she has over 15 pairs) and various t-shirts – most of which are marked by her favorite bands, but a few have the random saying or symbol. Then, there's Peyton. She's got long black hair that's dyed bright red at the tips and is 17. Her wardrobe consists of… well, mostly black, but there's some reds, blues and purples mixed in too. I've absolutely no idea what Peyton listens to, every time I've looked at her she was either reading, writing, or drawing a picture of some mangled person. They're really good. Even the subjects in the drawings say so. Next we have Miles. He's 16 and has blue spiky hair (his real hair color was orange- think carrot top orange- but he wanted to change it because, and I quote, 'it clashed too much with his sense of style'). He mostly listens to techno and metal and stuff like that. His wardrobe… well, it's different. It's kind of hard to describe since it tends to change from week to week. One week he'll be wearing the brightest clothes you can imagine, and then the next week he'll be dressed in dark colors – except for his hair. Not once after he died his hair blue has he ever changed colors. Last but not least, there's Nadia. She's got long black hair, dark eyes and is 17. Her and my taste in anything is almost identical, probably because we've pretty much grown up together. The only big difference is that her closet is loaded with skirts and she wears them almost religiously. You'd have to shoot me, stick me in a straight jacket, and gag me before I'd wear a skirt voluntarily.
We walked through the front doors of the school and down the front steps. The sky was cloudy, as usual. It was rarely ever sunny out, and if it was the sun only shown for a few hours. We walked across the lawn, laughing and joking as we went. It was then that I saw him, the new kid. He was standing under a tree, his brown messy hair hanging in front of his brown eyes. For a second that felt like hours, our eyes locked.
'Hi.'
The look of shock on his face was priceless when I played my greeting in his mind. His mouth was slightly open as we passed him. I shot a glance at Nadia and saw her smirk before my attention shifted back to our conversation, something about what Miles did to a cheerleader at school. "Speak of the devil," he muttered under his breath as three cheerleaders walked out of the school. "Sherry! What a pleasant surprise," Miles said cheerfully as the brunette in front shot us all a death glare. "Still mad about this afternoon?" he asked in the same cheerful tone. "Oh. Nice. Very lady-like," he said as she showed him her finger, the two girls by her side grinning like they'd accomplished something especially devious. Tawny and Miles were laughing hysterically at this point, Nadia and I were smirking, and Peyton… was staring after them, smiling – grinning more like. "Peyton!"
A shout came from somewhere on our left as a boy walked up to us. His black spiky hair and pale face giving him away instantly as Marti, Peyton's brother. She stared at him blankly then bid us a quiet 'good-bye'. "Bye, Peyton," Nadia said softly as Peyton walked across the lawn to her waiting brother. The group was silent for a few moments. It was odd, often times when Peyton would leave, everything would get quiet between the four of us. It was like she set the mood for our conversations or something "Well, on that note," Tawny said, succeeding in breaking the silence, "I gotta go. C'mon, your old man will have your neck if you're late again." She was talking to Miles. They lived right next door to each other, and would often times sleep at each other's houses. They didn't have the best parents in the world so when things would get rough (which, as much as I hate to say it, it often did), they'd sleep on the floor of the other's room. "Bye guys," I said as they waved and walked through the gate of the school.
Nadia and I followed the brick wall of the school until we got to the back. We crossed the deserted playground and stepped through the gate at the very back of the playground. I loved that playground. It was eerie and old and always seemed to be wet. The swings would creak in the wind, and the see-saw would go up and down on its own. The slide had once been a shiny metal but over the years had rusted, giving a very small illusion of blood running down the sides and through the crevices if you stared at it long enough under the right light. I'd go to it when I felt bad, and oddly enough, it always made me feel better. That and the rain… but I won't get into that. Not now. We walked down the sidewalk to the somewhat hidden neighborhood behind the school. "The new boy," Nadia said, "Darren's his name right?"
I sighed. "Yeah, I think so."
"He seems… different."
I grinned. I knew what she was getting at. He spoke differently than everyone else in the room when he introduced himself – different words and phrases. I was almost confident that I knew what he was, his eyes gave him away almost immediatley. "You noticed too?" I asked.
"How could I not with… our past experiences?" said Nadia, smirking as she said the last part.
I laughed and we walked in silence off the sidewalk and down the hill to an old brown fence. We were standing in a small forest-like place. Trees formed an almost complete circle, stopping at the beginning of the hill and leaves littered the ground. It was a few degrees cooler in here than up on the hill - the sunlight never really made it through the branches to warm the floor. Just as I was about to swing my leg over the moist wood of the fence, Nadia spoke. "I don't trust him. " I stopped and hopped back off the fence.
"So?" I said slowly, "You hardly ever trust anyone. None of us do."
"I still think it's strange for him to be here." She paused; clearly hesitant about what she was about to say, "What if he works for her?" She said the last part in a whisper.
"Nadia, come on," I said skeptically, "Do you really think a vampire is going to be in league with Gizera?"
She sighed and looked down at the ground. "All I'm saying is it's a possibility," she looked back up at me, "I think we should tell Angel and Spike about this."
I stared at her for a minute before I agreed. She had a point; we couldn't really trust him. We had no idea what he was doing here, or where he came from. He could've been sent to kill us for all we knew.
She sighed and looked out over the fence and into our neighborhood. She shifted uncomfortably and bit her lip.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Look, we'll tell Faith about it, she'll tell Spike, he'll tell Angel, Angel will tell Wes, and then they'll all look into it, okay?"
She nodded thankfully and I turned back to face the fence.
"I swear, you're acting more and more like Wesley every day," I mumbled. I swung my leg over the fence and landed on the other side, facing Nadia. I froze as I saw the heel of someone's trainer disappear behind a branch. Nadia spun around when she saw my face. I slipped my messenger bag from my shoulder and set it down on the wet grass. I hopped back over the fence and stood by Nadia. "Do you think it was him?" she asked quietly, her tone full of alarm. I didn't answer and instead stepped forward cautiously. I scanned the trees, searching for any sign of whoever had been spying on us. A jolt went through me as a pair of eyes locked with mine. In a split second, the eyes had disappeared and I was left wondering if I'd been seeing things again. "Do you see anything?" Nadia asked, eyes narrowed and focused on the same spot I was looking at. I looked around at the upper branches and the rest of the clearing before my eyes settled back onto the same place. "No." There was silence only for a moment before it was shattered by the leaves rustling in the breeze. "We should go," said Nadia,"we're down wind from whoever that was. If they're… like us, they'll have our scent by now."
I gave one last glance around the clearing before I turned and walked back to the fence. We hopped the fence and walked to the house in silence, Nadia occasionally looking around at the surrounding trees to make sure we weren't followed.