It was always a hassle for me to get up and go to school, but today I was pumped up full of energy. Scenes from the dream I had last night ran through my mind all morning, replaying his words. I wanted to understand what he meant, but…I couldn't come up with anything. I shrugged my shoulders and headed towards the school. My friends were waiting out front, huddled together. I could tell they were talking about something important.

"Hey guys! What's going on?"

They turned to me suddenly and scratched their heads. "H-hey there, Simca!" Kasuki waved as I came closer, with a suspicious smile on his face.

"Hey!" Jeyleah, my other best friend, sounded surprised to see me here, which was weird…since I'm always here.

They're hiding something…

"So what were you two talking about?" I narrowed my eyes. I hated when they did that.

"Nothing special…" Jeyleah looked over at Kasuki for a brief moment as they exchanged words through their eyes.

"Umm… your birthday is coming up! We can't tell you your surprise!" His smile was genuine but it didn't hide the fact that it felt like it wasn't my birthday they were talking about.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt and let them slide with that. I smiled. "Yeah! Tomorrow, I can't believe it. What do you guys think I should do?"

"Simca, it's your birthday! How can you ask us what YOU should do on YOUR birthday?" Jeyleah smacked my arm playfully. "Sometimes, I just don't know what to do with you!" She shook her head laughing.

"Hey, it's just my birthday, nothing special right?" I winked at her and she smacked my arm again. "Anyway, I don't have anything planned anyway. I was just thinking about cutting school and going to see a movie with you guys or something."

"That sounds awesome, except I have a big calculus pretest tomorrow that I can't miss." Jeyleah was taking college classes, while we normal eighth graders were taking normal classes. "I'm free after school so how about then?"

"Well, Kasuki, I know you don't have any tests, so you wanna go with me first and then we all meet up later?" I was a little bummed about Jeyleah, but Kasuki and I always had fun when it was just us since we were kids. My feelings for him have changed since then, but I was always too shy to say anything. A few hours alone with him might be a chance for me to test the water.

"Sure! I don't have any tests!" Kasuki exclaimed, but then Jeyleah elbowed him in the stomach and his expression changed. "Oh yeah! Sorry Simca, I forgot that Mr. Ogano said if I miss another class of his he's gonna leave me back a grade. After school sounds awesome though!"

"Y-yeah sounds awesome! You guys can both meet me at the mall in the city and we'll go see a movie then!" Trying to hide the hurt was actually easier than I thought.

"It'll be our treat! We can go out for pizza and ice cream afterwards!" They both smiled again as Kasuki spoke, those same skeptical smiles from before.

I said my goodbyes to them and went off to my first period class. There was nothing to special about it, just everyone asking me what I was doing for my birthday. The first half of the day was usually boring and today was no exception. The bell rang and I gathered my belongings quickly to try to meet up with Kasuki and Jeyleah.

Unfortunately, I didn't see them anywhere.

Odd…

I brushed it off, seeing as it was just the morning, but still it bothered me that it felt like they were hiding something from me. I headed off to second period and on my way there, hidden in a secluded little hallway, I saw Kasuki and some other girl. She touched his arm gingerly and flipped her hair from in front of her face.

Ayami?

She flashed a pearly white smile at him, which looked a little friendlier than a usual smile would. Ayami ran her fingers through her cotton pink curls all the way down to the tips, which flowed past her lower back. Kasuki's eyes followed her every movement. She reached in her pocket and pulled out something petite and shiny, putting it into his hand. It had some kind of symbol, but I couldn't make it out from where I was.

She leaned over and her lips touched his ear slightly, whispered something softly in his ear. My face heated up and something began to burn inside me as I saw a giant smile appear on his face. She pushed him against the wall playfully, and walked away from him swaying her hips. I moved from view, but sadly, she still saw me.

Actually, she bumped me.

"Hey watch it!" She picked up her books off the floor; her skirt shorter than it should be, and took a second look at me. "Oh, hey there Simca, I had no idea it was you!" She only sounded so nice because Kasuki was walking over to me as well. "Hey Kasuki!" She winked at him and the anger boiled inside me.

"Hey Ayami! H-hey Simca, sorry I wasn't here after class; I had to see the principal again." He and Ayami kept swapping glances at each other for a few seconds before either of them spoke again. When they tried to, they both kept speaking at the same time.

He really thinks I'm that stupid…

I tried my best to sound calm, and not like I was holding back from screaming. "Listen, we're already late for class. Let's just all go…" I looked at Kasuki, but his eyes were locked on Ayami, who was already walking away. I don't even know why I cared because no matter what, all the guys looked at her that same way.

When she was out of view, he spoke to me again. "Hey you okay?" Now, he was focused on my face, or rather my eyes. I guess my feelings were starting to show, but I didn't answer. "Simca? Hello?" He waved his hand in my face. "Anybody there?"

We were two doors away from my classroom, which actually turned my mood around. It meant I wouldn't have to say anything else to him. "Well, my classroom is right there so uh, bye!" I ran into my classroom and slammed the door, resting up against it. Then I realized, everyone was staring at me clutching the door. I laughed awkwardly and smiled, running to the back of the classroom.

I barely paid any attention to the lesson, as usual, so I stared out into the hallway hoping something interesting would happen to make me forget the morning. Surprisingly enough, I saw Jeyleah walk by with Kasuki. Funny, seeing as they were in different classes completely – Jeyleah was upstairs with the eleventh graders.

I asked for the bathroom pass and headed down the hall after them. They turned the corner into the staircase, but luckily for me they walked up the first flight of stairs. I hid beneath the stairs, with an almost perfect view of them both. The object I saw Ayami give to Kasuki before, he brought it out of his pocket and showed it to Jeyleah. It was some kind of symbol from what I could see. The sun shined on it and I could see two words printed on it, but I couldn't make it out.

"So this is it? The new one?" Jeyleah asked with interest. "Sheesh, it doesn't look much different than the old one, Kasuki."

"Hey, a lot of effort was put into it!" He snatched it out of her hand and rubbed it gently with his shirt, making the corner sparkle. "Besides, I spent half my pay check on it!"

"Oh, I'm sure you spent more than just your paycheck with little miss Ayami!" Jeyleah started to mock the way Ayami always walked around the halls, and usually I would think it's funny. This time, a pang a jealousy rose through me. I started to wonder what else he did with Ayami…

They joked about her chest size and how short her skirt always was, but I still didn't see what was so hilarious about it to make them both burst out in laughter. Jeyleah was like one of the guys, even wore the male uniform to 'make a statement against conformity' or whatever, so it didn't surprise me that they would easily joke about this without me around.

After being wrapped in my own thoughts, I missed their entire conversation, not that I'd want to hear about Ayami's body anyway. That is, until I heard my name pop up in the conversation. I leaned in closer to try to get a better listen in. "So why don't you just skip the battle and go with her during school?"

Battle? Huh?

I was right. They were hiding something from me this morning.

"Because, that would just be…weird, you know. A guy and a girl don't go to the movies on a girl's birthday unless it's a date. We're just friends."

Ouch… So much for testing the waters.

"So, then make it a friend date? C'mon if both of us bail you know it'll hurt her!" Jeyleah pushed his arm, but he didn't budge. "Kasuki!"

"Then why don't you go! You're her best friend too! Besides, the parts war is coming up and we need to warm up! We have to move up to the next class already!"

What is all this their bringing up? Parts wars? Next class? What life were they living without me?

She signed heavily in defeat. "Forget it; we'll just stick with the original plan. But, you better get her a birthday gift!"

"I always do and it'll be better than yours!" He stuck his tongue out at her and she pushed him like a little kid. They play fought for a little bit and it made me laugh a little to myself. It was always funny to watch them fight ever since we were kids. I decided I was going to let them both slide for tomorrow and just go shopping before I meet up with them.

After they finished, they walked back down the stairs together and went their separate ways. Second period was pretty much over by the time I left the staircase and I knew I would just get yelled at for taking so long, so I decided to go home. I texted Kasuki and Jeyleah that I wasn't feeling too well and then I left afterwards. I wasn't in the mood for all these secrets right before my birthday.

Waking up on my birthday was exactly all it's cracked up to be. I didn't feel any different than I did yesterday and nothing spectacular happened. My parents gave me a card with a hundred dollars and some random assortment of clothes. I chose an outfit out of that and headed out to the mall. From the money my uncles and aunts sent in mail I had about five hundred all together, so I decided to have a little me time and go shopping.

I window-shopped around because honestly nothing really caught my interest until I came up to a secondhand shop that I didn't see in the mall before. I stepped inside and the store was surrounded in the most random things such as cell phone cases to umbrellas to hello kitty merchandise. It peaked my interest to keep looking around, but then I saw something that was unlike anything I've ever seen.

What is that?

In a clear case there were a pair of shoes, but not just ordinary shoes…they had two wheels on each shoe. A bright light flashed before me and a voice whispered in my ear: Find the winged road. I shook my head and the images of my dream from two nights ago flashed through my mind. The boy from my dream was wearing these shoes, just his were slightly different.

A man came through the black curtains, along with a white haired boy who looked around my age. He had a box under his arms and they mumbled something as they passed each other. I got a glance at the items in the box and it was another pair of those weird shoes. The white haired boy looked down at me and when I caught a glimpse of his snowy eyes, I had to take a second to catch my breath.

He closed the box and smiled; I nearly melted right there. "Hello Miss, never seen you around here before. I'm Ryu and you are?" He reached out his hand for me to shake, but I was stunned that someone like him was talking to me.

"Uh…I'm uh…" I couldn't remember my name at that moment, so he laughed slightly at my discomfort. "I…my name…my uh…name is Simca?" It sounded as if I was asking him if that was my name or not. Again, he laughed.

He has an amazing laugh…

"Nice meeting you, Simca. I know someone with your name…" He mumbled something else to himself and then looked at me. "So I see you looking at that case there." He pointed at the case with the weird shoes in it, smiling. "You have your own?"

"Huh? Why would I have my own? I don't even know what they are…" But he knew what they were. "What are they?"

"Nothing you need to worry about right now miss…" He turned and walked towards the exit. Before leaving he turned around and said, "You'll find out soon enough." Before I could run to him and ask him what he meant by that, he disappeared. I ran out the store and I didn't even see him in the mall at all. I turned to the store to look inside for the guy that was with Ryu, but he was nowhere to be found, neither were those shoes…

So the movies and ice cream was canceled for a surprise birthday party at the park. Jeyleah called me and told me that Kasuki was about to get into a fight and I needed to talk some sense into him. When I got to the field, I saw everyone and all the balloons they tied to trees. We blasted some music, danced, ate and drank. We talked; some flirted, like stupid Ayami kept trying to flirt with Kasuki and others conversed about…secrets…

Overall, we all had a pretty good time at my party and the cake was super sweet as well. My gifts were awesome, though I would have never suspected that everyone there had a gift – whether it be small or big – for me. Everyone eventually started going home once it started to get dark and the three of us stayed behind to clean up everything with the help of the park staff.

They dropped me off at home along with all of my gifts, and I went straight up to my room. I kept thinking about Ryu, the shoes, and the way he just left. My parents called me downstairs saying there was a package for me, which I thought was weird because the mail is never delivered this late. I brought the box upstairs in confusion as to what it could be. I searched for a shipping label, but there wasn't any.

Slowly, I ripped the tape off the box to open the flaps. In caution, I was very careful just in case whatever was in there wouldn't break. After all the bubble wrap and Styrofoam was taken out, my gift was in a black cloth bag. I removed the bag from the box and a small little piece of paper fell out. I opened the paper and read what was written: You'll find your wings with these, Simca.

A wave of confusion washed over me and immediately I turned back to the bag. What's going on? I unzipped it and my eyes popped as I saw what it was. From my dream, from the mall, from that guy…the same shoes were right there in front of me. I had no idea what these things were, but they reminded me of roller skates. I was wearing them in my dream…I was flying with these skates.

I pulled out my laptop and went straight to searching about everything on these things. I typed in 'flying with roller skates' and over a million hits came up. I clicked on the first link and a picture loaded on my screen of the same skates I had in my room, just a slightly different version. I read the article 'Air Trecks now illegal to ride. Anyone who is caught riding will be arrested.' Apparently, a long time ago there used to be people who rode these Air Trecks, who formed teams and competed to be kings and queens. Now, there weren't any known riders left.

I snuck out my back door and took the Air Trecks with me. I slid my feet into them and put slight pressure on the tip of the AT and surprisingly, I started moving. I felt the breeze run through each strand of my hair. I applied more pressure and I went racing down my driveway. Then I realized…I never learned how to stop!

CRASH!

Right into the mailbox, my head banged into the pole. I shook my head and looked down at the AT's. They had scuff marks and slight scratches. I took them off and ran back into my room. I put them back into the cloth bag they came in to preserve their design, and put the bag in the back of closet. I couldn't let anyone see them, not my parents and not even Kasuki or Jeyleah. I wasn't ready to be arrested.