Ok, peoples, prepare for some maaaajor fluff!

Sunlight filters through my window.

I hear my sister playing basketball outside.

Hard, hollow sounds fill my ears.

Everything reminds me of him: the warmth of his smile, like the winter sun. So warm, yet hard as steel, like the reality of the thoughts I have…

I wouldn't be able to tell him, even if I tried.

I wouldn't be able to reach him, to love him, he doesn't want me.

He thinks he wants me, but he doesn't.

He only wants my sister.

It always was like this, it will never change.

Abby groaned. She threw her journal away, under her bed. She'd find it back when she had some inspiration for a new poem.

... Not like I've had any o' dat lately…

It wasn't easy concentrating on anything, not for Abby. Before ninth grade, she had had no problems with that at all.

… Until she came back from summer vacation. He was back, and she couldn't help noticing him. She then found out that she couldn't hide it anymore. She had a huge crush on Hoagie Gilligan.

Crud.

He was a little tanned, he was tall, and he had actually learned the rules of all the sports she liked. He had short, light brown hair that made her fingertips ache for a single touch. And… what had made her admit her crush to herself… the muscles…

No, she was not a bobblehead. She was everything but a bobblehead. She was the top of her class, she was an expert in Karate, she was a tomboyish, strong, independent 14-year-old.

There was just something about him that was different. Something that made her a giddy, happy go lucky littlegirl around him.

She was about to grab her journal again and write about him, when her sister, Cree, peeked into her room.

"Wanna shoot some hoops?"

Abby noticed a basketball under her sister's arm. "Sure, why not?"

Cree smiled, and Abby got up and followed her outside.

"I think we should stop now." Cree checked her watch. 7 o'clock."We've been playing for an hour."

"Ok" Abby puffed. "Phew, I'm wiped!"

Cree tilted her head upwards and laughed that gorgeous laugh.

The laugh that made Hoagie fall in love with her...

"You did great! Guess that after school activity really helped!"

"Thanks, Cree... But it was mainly the things you taught me when I was little that made the difference."

Cree grinned. "Now go shower, and fast, Abby!"

Ten minutes later, with a fluffy towel wrapped around her lean body, Abby emerged from the bathroom. She pulled on a pair of dark blue jeans that hugged her small hips, then flared at the bottom, and on top a simple, long sleeved, cranberry shirt. Later she'd pull a black cardi over it, but that was downstairs.

Just as she was about to pull on a pair of striped socks, her long fingers touched a bit of softyarn around her ankle. Her hands stopped instantly; the sock dropped.

Flashback

The sheets are rough. Her breathing is ragged, but she is awake. Her cheeks are red, striped with painful burn marks. The room is small, cold, quiet. Too quiet. Even too much so for me.

"Abby..." A quiet sigh, coming from her usually rosy, full lips. Now, they are dry, and a deep, red cut severes her once perfectlower lip.

"She's here, gurl, don't worry." I coo from my seat next to her bed.

"... tommorrow you won't know me." a silent tear rolls down her cheek, stinging every wound as it slowly makes its way to her chin. I can see she's trying to hold back the tears. "Tommorrow you can't help me."

I see her, lying there, and I can't help her. It hurts to see her like this, even more than it hurts to see hercry like she normally does,sobbing loudly, waterfalls of tears falling to the ground. But now, she can't sob. It hurts to sob.

"... that's why we gotta do dis. I know we ain't allowed to, but Kooks..." I look down and notice I took her hand in mine. "You mean too much to me..." I gulp and place her hand back on the covers of the hospital bed. "And I wanna be friends again, when you come back..."

"When is that?" Her voice trembles. She looks up at me like she's done so many times before. Her lovely, dark eyes question mine.

"I don't know... " My voice sounds choked up. My eyes fill up with tears "... I don't know... " I can't say anything else. This is the only thing she needs now, and I can't give it to her. I have always been her provider, her protector. I reach for the pair of scissors in her bag, and, crying quietly, pick a strand of silky black hair off of her face.

She has fallen into a fitful sleep, and I do the rest in silence.

Abby blinked, and looked at the anklet between her fingers. It fit around her ankle perfectly, and she had never taken it off. It was pretty, made of braided yarn. One strand was navy, another was bright green, and the middle one was a weird plastic tube, filled withshiny black hair.

"Abby's forgotten..." Her nose felt stuffed up from what her mind had just showed her. "I'm sorry, gurl." She whispered through the soundless tears.

Whoever you are, I'm gonna find you. I promise.

She closed her eyes and said a prayer, the way her mom told her to whenever she needed help.

"Hey!" Cree's voice sounded a little impatient. "You comin' to breakfast? I'm starved!"

Sigh.

"Yeah, comin'."

"Hey, Abby!"

Abby locked her blue bike and turned to see Wally, weaving through crowds of students hanging around the entrance of the school.

Wally was popular; it was hard to believe he had never dated. Nobody knew, except for Abby. He knew he could trust her. He had known her for as long as they both could remember, but didn't become real friends until they found out not only did they live very close to each other, they also attended the same martial arts classes.

He was now sending a threatening glare to some fake platinum blonde who had just gotten a little carried away with her flirting.

"Hey, dude. How's ... uhmmm..." She motioned to the girl standing behind him, who was now caught up in a chat with her friends from the school paper.

"Ugh, don't even talk about it... " He rolled his eyes. "That girl won't take no for an answa'!"

Abby chuckled. "Well, you two do seem to make the perfect match- -" She was snickering at his annoyed expression. It soon changed into a sly grin.

"And how's things with you an' Hoagie?" He was kind enough to keep his voice down at that last word. Abby felt her face getting hot. She looked up at him and noticed his attention fixed on something behind her.

"Wha'?" She turned slowly, somehow scared of what she was about to see.

"Abbs! Quick!" Before she could register that scene before her, Wally had pulled her along and she was caught in a fist fight between him and another boy, a thin japanese girl sitting on the sidewalk, at the verge of sobbing.

"Gurl, what happened?" Abby rushed to her side and helped her up. The girl's hands now covered her face.

"Th-that boy just sneaked up to me, and grabbed me on my way to school." She sniffled. "I managed to break free and run almost all the rest of the way, but when I was almost there he knocked me down!"

The girl was wearing a very long black coat, and Abby could only see the bottom of a pair of light blue jeans and some black sneakers. She put her arm around the girl and squeezed her slightly.

"I'll bring ya to da secretary... afta we beat the crud outta dis creep!" Abby smiled and left her side, but not for long, because Wally was just watching the attacker run away.

The girl sniffled. "Thanks so much." She flicked her shiny, black hair over her shoulder and smiled. "I owe you guys." Her breath caught in her throat when she looked up at them. An athletic, good looking african girl with gold earrings, and a tall, blond boy with deep green eyes, almost piercing through his long bangs.

They're from the picture!

Abby stuck out her hand."Abby Lincoln."

The girl shook it and replied, "Kuki Sanban. Call me Kooks."

"I know we ain't allowed to, but Kooks..."

"Are you feeling ok, now?"

Kuki stared blankly.

Idiot! If you can't completely remember why she wuz in dat hospital, she probably doesn't, either!

"Uh... the guy, I mean." Abby motioned towards the way the attacker whent.

"Oh... yeah, fine. Now, at least." She giggled.

Abby was about to inquire whether or not Wally was going to introduce himself, but found him hopelessly speechless. She cuckled, "I'll, uh, leave you to it..." and slipped away.

"Uhm... Wally." He mumbled finally, and stuck out his hand. She was slightly pale, withalmond-shaped eyes and a cute nose. Her lips where rosy and full, and curved at the corners.

He was staring into her lovely eyes. They where a blackish brown colour, deep and swimmy, reflecting years of loneliness, sadness, but filled with hope. She placed her delicate hand in his rough one. His responded, though not immediately.

She is so beautiful... her hand is so soft.

She blinked, and smiled. Her eyes glittered amethyst. She blushed at how long he was holding her hand.

It's like the world is fading out around me... and it's ok, as long as I'm with him...

Awww... they finally found each other. I can imagine you guys being impatient 'n'all, not only for the romance to begin but also for me to FINALLY UPDATE!

... so I did. Thanks sooo much to my reviewers! bye!

p.s. don't hope for an update any time soon, i'm still houseless. well, I'm actually staying in a friends' flat with my mom, but... well, that isn't exactly home. Sometime in Feb. my situation will be made known. Not all of it, cos I don't want some creep lookin for me... uh, yeah, Ima go let my mom buy a ticket now.