Okay, so this really isn't going to be a pointless one-shot. (I promise!) It just took me a while to update... and then I procrastinated... then I put up new stories to procrastinate on... and now I'm finally getting around to working on this!

Chapter Two

It was weeks before Cherry saw Danny again. She was at school this time. It was right after lunch, during recess. She was standing by the monkey bars with Marcia, her friend. Cherry liked Marcia. She was really nice. They had met when Marcia's father had come over to have a meeting with Cherry's father. Marcia had dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin.

Surrounding the playground was a chain-link fence. One minute Cherry was laughing with her friend, everything normal as ever. The next Cherry spotted Danny standing behind the fence.

Cherry gasped. The girl had appeared just as suddenly as the last time, with absolutely no warning preceding her arrival.

"What's wrong?"

"Um, nothing. I just forgot something... I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay." Marcia glanced around the playground. "I'll be with Elli!" She called over her shoulder, then hurried off to go sit with Ellen Mark's group.

Elli and her friends sat at one of the little picnic tables and just talked during recess. She was another girl Cherry had met through her father's business. Ellen's father had spent quite a bit of time in meetings with Cherry's also. Cherry didn't really like Elli that much, (not that she'd ever shown it; Elli was nice enough to her) but she wasn't too sure why. Marcia had no such qualms.

Normally, Cherry would have tried to persuade Marcia otherwise. Today she was grateful. Elli's group sat on the other side of the playground.

Cherry rushed over to the fence. Danny looked at it for a moment, as if she weren't sure why it was there. Then she began to climb over it.

"What do you think you're doing?" Cherry hissed once she got over to her, trying not to attract any attention. But by that time Danny was already on her side of the fence, in the playground. Cherry looked around. How had none of the teachers noticed? Was she going crazy after all?

Cherry reached into the pocket of her dress and felt the blue ribbon Danny had given to her on their first encounter. For some reason she liked to have it with her. Danny had to be real... unless she was really crazy.

Cherry pulled her a few feet away from the fence. "Can they see you?" she asked.

Danny looked a little confused, just as she'd looked when she'd seen the fence in front of her. "Who?"

"The teachers."

Danny made a face. "Of course. Everyone can see me. I am real, you know."

Cherry was about to question this when a teacher called, "Girls, come away from the fence, please."

Cherry and Danny looked over and then walked away from the fence, just as the teacher had asked, not attracting any more attention. Cherry looked her over and saw that Danny was once again in casual clothing. She had on blue jeans and a purple t-shirt, along with her sneakers. Didn't she have to go to school?

"So, why am I here?"

Cherry just looked at her. "How would I know?"

Danny looked thoughtful. Then she said, "My dad said that there are only two ways to for someone like me to appear somewhere. The first one is just a random thing. Like the first time we met and right now. The second is when someone summons you. They have to do this spiritual mind thing..."

Cherry noticed how she stammered over the word "spiritual" so she figured that for the most part Danny was quoting her father.

"So is your dad like you then?" she asked.

"He was..." Danny said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"There can only be one of us at a time. He died a few weeks ago... And then I became the time traveler."

"Oh..." Cherry wasn't sure what to say. She never talked to someone who'd recently lost a parent.

Danny was quiet for a moment, but then she brightened. "Every time we meet, it's supposed to mean something, though."

"Oh..." But Cherry was never quite sure what this meeting meant, because in the next second Danny was gone once more, and again she seemed to be the only one that noticed.

So, by the next chapter this story may actually have a real-live plot! :D

Review please!

Officially revised 8/4/14. (Wow... this chapter was pretty bad...)