Hay everyone. People of earth and beyond I have the next chapter finished. My challenge is still up by the way for anyone up with any ideas. So, a quick note to all the readers if you guys don't like the way I'm doing something or if I write(say) anything offensive or I do something that annoys you-all, just let me know and I hope we can try to get that cleared up. Enjoy!

A/W: I do not own DP

SPROV

I bolted up in bed, one hand clutching my pendant, the other wrapped in my sheets. I struggled to recapture wisps of the dream already fluttering away.

I looked at Chloe. "So it was a dream?" She shook her head. "Then what?" Tori asked beating me to the question. "Just a memory," she said with a shrug.

Something about a basement… something about a little girl… me? I couldn't remember ever having a basement - we'd always lived in condo apartments.

"Condo apartments, very nice." Tori said. I scowled at her for the interruption.

A little girl in the basement, something scary… weren't basements always scary?

I shivered just thinking about them, dark and damp and empty. But this one hadn't been…

I couldn't remember what. A man behind a furnace…?

I think we all glanced at Chloe in sympathy. She just smiled slightly at us but you could tell it was forced.

A bang at my bedroom door made me jump.

"Have you always been skittish?" Tori asked, looking at Chloe with one eyebrow raised. "Unfortunately," she said with a giggle.

"Chloe!" Annette shrieked. "Why hasn't your alarm gone off? I'm the housekeeper, not your nanny. If you're late again, I'm calling your father."

"Housekeeper?" Derek said looking at Chloe with an amused look on his face. "Spoiled much Chloe?" Tori said in a board toan. "Lay off Tori," I told her. She mumbled something too low for me to her but Derek growled. I quickly continued.

As threats went, this wasn't exactly the stuff of nightmares.

Even if Annette managed to get hold of my dad in Berlin, he'd just pretend to listen, eyes on his Blackberry, attention riveted to something more important, like the weather forecast.

He'd murmur a vague "Yes, I'll see to it when I get back" and forget all about me the moment he hung up.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tori soot Chloe a look of understanding. Maybe, just maybe she had a heart.

I tuned on my radio, cranked it up, and crawled out of bed.

A half hour later, I was in my bathroom getting ready for school. I pulled the sides of my hair back in clips, glanced in the mirror, and shuddered.

The style made me look twelve years old… and I didn't need any help. I'd just turned fifteen and servers still handed me the kiddie menu in restaurants.

I paused, "Seriously?" Chloe nodded, "It's so embarrassing." I couldn't help but snicker and she narrowed her eyes at me.

I couldn't blame them. I was five foot nothing with curves that only showed if I wore tight jeans and a tighter T-shirt.

"I'm sure Derek wouldn't mind Chloe," Tori teased. Chloe and Derek's faces were both red. "Bro. are you blushing?" I asked joining Tori's teasing. "No," he half mumbled half growled. Before I could say anything else Chloe cleared her throat. "Please keep reading."

Aunt Lauren swore I'd shoot up- and out- when I finally got my period. By this point, I figured it was 'if,' not 'when.'

"You've never gotten your period?" Tori asked in shock. Chloe's face went red again; and Derek and I sat there awkwardly as they talked about girl stuff. "Yes I have; this all past tense."

Most of my friends had gotten theirs at twelve, eleven even.

I tried not to think about it too much, but of course I did.

I worried that there was something wrong with me, I felt like a freak every time my friends talked about their periods, praying they didn't find out I hadn't gotten mine.

"You would have been screwed socially if they did." Tori said and we all gave her a look.

Aunt Lauren said I was fine, and she was a doctor, so I guess she'd know. But it still bugged me. A lot.

"Chloe!" The door shuddered under Annette's meaty fist.

"Housekeepers gone wild," I joked and everyone rolled their eyes expect for Chloe who just smiled at me.

"I'm on the toilet," I shouted back. "Can I get some privacy maybe?" I tried just one clip at the back of my head, holding the sides up. Not bad.

When I turned my head for a side view, the clip slid from my baby-fine hair. I should never have gotten it cut. But I'd been sick of having long, straight, little-girl hair.

I'd decided on a shoulder-length, wispy style On the model it looked great. On me? Not so much."

"You should try a shorter style," Tori suggested. "It might help." "Really-." Chloe stared but I interrupted by continuing on with the story.

I eyed the unopened hair color tube. Kari swore red streaks would be perfect in my strawberry blond hair.

I couldn't help thinking I'd look like a candy cane. Still, it might make me look older…

"So that's where you got that at." Derek said and chucked.

"I'm picking up the phone, Chloe," Annette yelled. I grabbed the tube of dye, stuffed it in my backpack, and threw open the door.

Tori snorted but made no comment.

I took the stairs as always. The building might change, but my routine never did.

The day I'd started kindergarten, my mother held my hand, my Sailor Moon backpack over her other arm as we'd stood at the top of the landing. "Get ready, Chloe," she'd said. "One, two, three-"

"Your mom sounds nice," Tori said her eyes distant thinking about something else. "She was." Chloe said her eyes misty.

"The best." she barred her face in Derek's should and he glanced towage me unsure of what to do. "Comfort her," I mouthed, and he carefully put an arm around her.

And we were off, racing down the stairs until we reached the bottom, panting and giggling, the floor swaying and sliding under our unsteady feet, all the fears over my first school day gone.

We'd run down the stairs together every morning all though kindergarten and half of first grade and then…

well, then there wasn't anyone to run down the stairs with anymore.

Chloe was whipping her eyes and putting on a brave face.

I never knew my real mom and kind of under stood where she was coming from. Then again I think all of us in our little group of misfits had, had some sort of mother problem.

I paused at the bottom, touching the necklace under my T-shirt, then shook off the memories, hoisted my backpack, and walked from the stairwell.

After my mom died, we'd moved around Buffalo a lot. My dad flipped luxury apartments, meaning he bought them in buildings in the final stages of construction, then sold them when the work was complete.

Since he was away on business most of the time, putting down roots wasn't important. Not for him, anyway.

"Same here," I said with a sigh. "At least it seemed that way, right D?" Derek nodded.

This morning, the stairs hadn't been such a bright idea.

My stomach was already fluttering with nerves over my Spanish midterm.

I'd screwed up the last test- gone to a weekend sleepover at Beth's when I should have been studying- and barely passed.

Spanish had never been my best subject, but if I didn't pull it up to a C, Dad might actually notice and start wondering whether an art school had been such a smart choice.

"Now I kind of wish that I had gone to an art school when I had the chance." I said with a fail attempted to cheer everyone up.

I wasn't sure about the others but being on the run had actually made me miss school. Sports, Friends, and just having something to do besides sit around.

Milos was waiting for me in his cab at the curb. He'd been driving me for over two years now, through two moves and three schools. As I got in, he adjusted the visor on my side.

The morning sun still hit my eyes, but I didn't tell him that. My stomach relaxed as I rubbed my fingers over the familiar rip in the armrest and inhaled chemical pine from the air freshener twisting above the vent.

"You Know I kind of hate the smell of pine." Tori said scrunching up her noise.

"I saw a movie last night," he said as he slid the cab across three lanes. "One of the kind you like."

"A thriller?"

"Thrillers are classics but I love horror. There's nothing like a good scare." Chloe rolled her eyes, "Like you don't have enough excitement in your life right now."

"No." He frowned, lips moving as if testing out word choices. "An action-adventure. You know, lots of guns, things blowing up. A real shoot-'em-down movie."

"Shoot-'em-down?" I said questionably and looked at Chloe who snickered.

I hated correcting Milos's English, but he insisted on it.

Chloe smiled faintly.

"You mean a shoot-'em-up movie." He cocked one dark brow. "When you shoot a man, which way does he fall? Up?"

"He had a point." I said, and Derek gave me a confused look.

I laughed, and we talked about movies for a while. My favorite subject.

"That's our Chloe," I joked.

When Milos had to take a call from his dispatcher, I glanced out the side window.

A long haired boy darted from behind a cluster of businessmen. He carried an old fashioned lunch box with a superhero on it.

I was so busy trying to figure out which superhero it was, I didn't notice where the boy was headed until he leaped off the curb, landing between us and the next car.

"Oh my god," Tori said. I had to agree, I mean did the kid have death wish or something. Derek glance at Chloe and a look past between the two of them.

"Milos!" I screamed. "Watch-"

The last word was ripped from my lungs as I slammed against my shoulder belt. The driver behind us, and the one behind him, laid on their horns, a chain reaction of protest.

"What?" Milos said. "Chloe? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong; she sictizo that's what wrong." Tori said and shook her head. "If we had only known." None of us augured with that.

I looked over the hood of the car and saw… nothing.

Just an empty lane in front and traffic veering to our left, drivers flashing Milos the finger as they passed.

"That's not very nice," I said. "So," Tori said. "So, it's not very nice." She lifted her finger up and flicked me off.

"Th-th-th-" I clenched my fists, as if that could somehow force the word out. If you get jammed, take another route, my speech therapist always said. "I thought I saw some- wha- wha-"

Speak slowly. Consider your words first.

Chloe gave us all a look daring us to say anything.

"I'm sorry. I thought I saw someone jump in front of us." Milos eased the taxi forward.

"That happens to me sometimes, especially if I'm turning my head. I think I see someone, but there's no one there."

"If only that was really the case," Chloe said with a sigh.

I nodded. My stomach hurt again.

"Ok, Who's reading next?" Tori let out an aggravated sigh, "I guess I will."

Please R&R thanks!