A/N: Hello people! Thank you so much for reading this! It makes me happy! Um ok so the prologue was just a little insight into Zales life and this is where it starts to get interesting. By the way, Reviews make me type fast. Just saying… if you have any questions feel free to ask! (sometimes my words get jumbled as they come out of my brain…)

I was walking through my old house. The house I used to live in with my parents. I was looking for something but I couldn't find it. I looked through all the doorways searching. "Where was it?" I kept asking myself. "What is it?" All I knew for sure was that I had to find it.

I was running now, no, sprinting around the house. It was empty. No furniture, no books, electronics, rugs, paintings. Nothing!

"Zaly! Zaly! Wake up! Wake up!" a small chime like voice woke me up. Usually I would have pushed my little roommate of my bed and rolled over. Today however I was happy to get up. The dream had left a cold sheen of sweat on my forehead.

The little girl who had delivered me from the nightmare was smiling ear to ear. "What is it, Sarah?" I asked as I got up and stretched.

"What do you mean, 'What is it!'?" she had her hands on her hips and her angel face was scrunched up. I stifled a laugh at her expression knowing she was attempting seriousness. "It's you birthday!"

Crap. I had forgotten all about my eighteenth birthday coming up. It wasn't exactly a day I looked forward to. Eighteen meant I was legal, an adult.

Ever sense a few months ago I had been living in a girl's home. Now that I was eighteen I would be forced to go find a place on my own. I had been working at the local grocery store and had money saved up from that. I was planning on getting an apartment and trying to get another job; an internship or something. I had been smart in school, A's and B's so it shouldn't be that hard. The home had all my records and would be returning them to me within the week.

I stretched again. "You don't look happy." Sarah told me.

"That's because I'm not." I had to change the subject quickly or she would start lecturing me. "Did you brush your teeth?"

"Yes I did." She said proudly. She was such a cute kid. She was in second grade and was extremely philosophical- for a six year old. She often gave me lectures on the importance of sharing your feelings, relieving stress, and a variety of other topics.

Of course, even a philosophical six year old was still a six year old. That meant short attention spans and shiny things could get them to do anything for you. "Sarah, if you go play for an entire hour while I get dressed and stuff, I will give you… two nickels."

She thought for a minute. "Okay, sense it's your birthday I guess I could do that… but I want to see the nickels first!"

I showed her the nickels and gave her one, promising the other one if her end of the bargain was upheld.

And so I was left alone. I usually hated being alone because I thought of my family and how much I missed Eric. He had been a jock, big muscular and scary to any guy who tried to ask me out. He always told me that if I wanted a guy I could do better than the one asking me out at that particular moment. He was crazy and fun. We even shared some of the same features. We both had the same soft, curly, dark brown hair. We also had the same color eyes, same light skin, and same ears. I always thought it was funny when my mom told me and him that our ears matched.

There were plenty of differences too though. I for example didn't have the genes that made it easy to replace fat with muscle. My stomach would always be slightly pudgy and I would always try to reverse that. It seemed like all Eric had had to do was look at a weight to get a work out.

"Zal?" a quiet voice called. I immediately recognized it as the manager of the home, Miss. Reno. Everyone called her Becca though. Her name was Rebecca Riley Reno. We always had had that in common though, different and unusual names. Of course, hers wasn't nearly as bad as my name, Zales Brigieta Hanson. Brigieta. What the heck was that! It sounded like a German hooker.

"In here Becca." I called back to her.

"Hey hon. How are you today?" She asked me that every morning, in fact she asked me that every time I saw her.

Never the less, I was always polite and courteous. "I'm okay. A little nervous, I mean, your going to have to kick me out of here within the week."

Becca looked at me and sighed. "I wish there was some way to avoid that. After everything you've been through recently! You should be able to stay. Hey! You could apply for a job here! That way you would be aloud to live here-"

"No, becca," I interrupted. "I can't. There are too many girls without a home, and I'm just taking up space here. I was actually going to look for apartments today."

She smiled at me lovingly. "Zal, you've really grown up. When you came in you were so broken. You had depended on people and now the other girls look up to you. You have brought so much happiness here. Thank you." She had tears welling up in her eyes.

I looked down and felt myself blush. She was so nice, loving, and motherly. She had been a mother to me when I came here. She was right I had been broken. I moped around, crying occasionally. The social workers had wanted to send me to a mental hospital to "cope" as they put it. Becca had been able to convince them that I would get better, I just needed time. She was the one who helped me cope. Her greeting every morning had started the process, just by getting me to open up. It was always a conversation starter. She asked how I was, I responded with an adjective, and she would ask me why I felt that way.

"I came to give these to you," she said, handing me a manila folder. "It's your transcript and stuff." She saw my face change expressions and understood immediately. "Oh no, Honey! We're not kicking you out. You still have a few days. I just wanted you to have this so you could send it to the places you were applying for jobs."

I was relieved. I knew that becca would bend the rules a little if I needed more time to find a place to stay or a job but I didn't want to depend on someone for my whole life. I had seen what it could do to you. I had depended on my family and when they were gone, my life seemed to disappear. I would never let a bond between me and someone else get that strong. I loved the people here a lot; they had helped me through my darkest days, but I had always told myself that one day, this would end and I would have to leave.

"Thank you so much, for everything." I whispered reaching over to hug her.

"No problem, Zal. Everyone loves having you here, and will be sad to see you leave." She pulled back, squeezed my shoulders and left, leaving the folder on the bed.

I stood there for a moment. Finally, I picked out a nicer shirt, black jeans, bra, and panties and headed to the bathroom. I knew that you should "dress for success" so I carefully hung my clothes on the rack in the bathroom instead of folding them in a sloppy fashion and throwing them on the counter. I ran the water for a bath- there was no shower- and undressed. I waited for the tub to fill up and got in, cursing as the hot water, scalded my feet. I sunk down so my entire body was covered by the hot water. It was very relaxing but my mind wandered to more difficult things.

I had no idea how to become a successful person. I had watched the Pursuit of Happyness recently and couldn't help picture myself in that position. Of course, I could never solve a rubix cube that quickly, but other than that, it was what I feared my future would become, minus the happy ending. I would be evicted from apartment after apartment and eventually I would just live in homeless shelters.

No, I couldn't let myself think like that. I tried to forget the movie and thought about something my mom had always told me. "Work towards your strengths. They are the only things that will keep you alive." It was true. I had always been practical, and that meant carrying out well thought out plans. Now I just needed a plan for the rest of my life. How could I possible plan that far ahead? Then it hit me. Music made the world go round here. And music also made my personal world go round.

My dad had been a high school music teacher; chorus and band as well as some specialty classes. Ever since I was small, I had been playing some sort of instrument. Like most kids I had started on piano. I loved the piano. I loved the way my hands looked while playing it and the sounds that came from striking the keys. I had a knack for music and had the original Fur Elise memorized by the time I was six.

That wasn't the only instrument I played either. Anything my dad taught in school, I learned how to play. He actually had me fill in for any missing instruments in the band. Trumpet was my favorite wind instrument while piano was my favorite string.

There was a music store down the street that I sometimes looked at. All my instruments were in storage and since there was no room at the home for them, they stayed there. One employee named Stephen always let me play the keyboards they had on display. It was fun to play on occasion but I was always more of a grand piano sort of girl.

I hurried to finish my bath and get dressed. My hair was wrapped in a towel and unfortunately was the only thing that couldn't be rushed. I wasn't a girly girl and didn't really care about clothes as long as they remotely matched, but my hair was an all the way or nothing kind of deal.

For one thing it was curly. Not one inch loose curls that waved down to the center of your back, no way. My curls were more like tight little corkscrews, about a centimeter in diameter. They weren't easy to manage and if I didn't do anything to them, they would frizz up, making it look like I had an afro. Most of the time I just pulled them up into a ponytail or messy bun, but going with my "Dress for success" theme, I decided to wear my hair down.

I opened the cabinet below the sink and got out the products I would need to contain my hair. Since I was getting used to applying all this stuff to my hair it didn't take as long as it used to. I would be in here for hours trying to put the right combination of anti-frizz, mousse, gel, water, and leave in conditioner. It was very frustrating when you got to school only to find that part of your hair hadn't been gelled/moussed well enough and was starting to dry wrong.

I unwrapped the towel and let my hair fall over my shoulders. It was just beginning to dry, so I sprayed the ends with water to make sure they dried with mousse on them. Then I got the anti-frizz and leave in conditioner and rubbed them into my hair, again, focusing on the ends. The mousse was next and I squirted a generous amount into my hand before smoothing it onto my hair, again, focusing on the ends. I looked at the back of my hair to see if gel was even needed, and decided that I could live without it today.

I put on some flats and ran downstairs swinging myself around the banister at the end.

"Becca!" I called. In order to get down to the music store, I needed a car. In order to get the car, I needed to ask Becca for the keys.

"What's up?" she called back from her office.

I walked in, clutching the folder with all my records, in both hands. She looked at my outfit and instantly understood. "Need the keys?" she asked a smile spreading on her face. I knew she didn't want me to leave, but I also knew she was happy for me to get out on my own.

"Yep! I'm going over to the music store to see if they might have a job. I could stock instruments, man the cash register, or even give private lessons-"

"Whoa there Zal. You're getting ahead of yourself. They have to hire you first."

That was true. I knew that there was a chance I wouldn't get the job but I was still giddy with anticipation. "I know, I know," I sighed trying to calm down, but failing miserably; I felt like my face was going to bust open from my ear to ear grin. "Sooo… can I have the keys?"

"Of course you can Zales, just make sure you get back here for lunch," she reminded me. She threw me the keys and I raced out toward the back door to where the old green Nissan quest was.

It was probably the worst van ever created, but hey, it was one of the first to have a TV with tape player in it, and it might have been ok, if it wasn't about 18 years old. I shuddered thinking that this car was new when I was.

I opened the door and got in. After adjusting the mirrors and carefully looking for any kids hiding around it I backed out onto the street and headed into town.

Town consisted of a couple of windy, crisscrossing streets that had music related stores practically every other building. There was my personal favorite, "Kick some Brass" that specialized in any and all brass instruments. It also happened to be next to my personal hangout, a cyber café/coffee shop. Because the home had no computer, I found myself going there a lot after school during the school year.

I had to park at the little parking lot down a little ways from my two destinations. I figured while I was here, I might as well make the most of it. I walked the short way under overcast skies that threatened to open up on the world at any moment to the cyber café mostly keeping my head down so no one would see my smile that was plastered on my face. I finally managed to control the smile as I walked into the café. That was good, especially upon noticing that the store wasn't empty as it usually was.

There off to the side were the most beautiful people I had ever seen in my life. There were two boys and one girl. The boys were both lean but muscular and looked like they would be tall, if they were standing. One of them had bronze hair while the other had brown. The girl had chocolate brown hair and perfect features. All of them I noticed had the same pale skin, and the same topaz eyes.

The brown haired boy looked up quickly at me while I diverted my glance to the menu. Jeez Zales, you don't need to act like a stalker or anything, I thought to myself as I ordered my coffee. I pushed them from my mind and proceeded to a computer. I went to my favorite one in the corner and waited for the internet to pop up.

There was a loud crash that made me jump. I turned to see the barista being summoned into the kitchen by what sounded like a very angry cook. I stifled a giggle and turned back to my computer.

The next large crash came from relatively close behind me, followed by someone shouting, "NO!" I didn't have time to turn before I felt a piercing pain in the back of my neck and sudden darkness dragging me into unconsciousness.

A/N: soooo whadya think? Good? Bad? Craptastic? Pick an adjective, any adjective and send it to me in a review! That would make my day! (It would make my week if I got more than one word too! Hint hint…)