Hey y'all! I finally broke through WB long enough to make a new chapter! Woo! Special thanks to the people who made suggestions and kicked my lazy butt into gear! You know who you are, but the list is too long for my still-lazy person to write down...

Still not owning anything. Wishing I did, but unless JP decides to give me story rights as a very-belated sweet sixteenth birthday present, I probably never will own anything beyond Frii and Tiff. Yes, I know it's a depressing thought.

Anywho, enjoy!

BZZZZZZZZT!

"Alright, we're out of time. The rest of you will present your videos tomorrow. Dismissed!"

I yawn and head for the door. After Tiff's video everything got boring, and I've really been fighting my instinct to fall asleep. I look around, and notice her absence. Odd…

Okay, something is definitely up. Either Tiffany's been avoiding me all day, or she's developed the power of invisibility. And since I'm almost positive she's human, the latter idea is highly improbable.

Finally! The end of the school day! Now I can get to work, constantly repeat, "Do you want fries with that?" for a few hours, and then I've got a whole night of nothing to do but relax. Around lunchtime I just decided to do the video of angel-me battling red Eraser-demon for a toddler's soul. I'm not going to stress over it anymore. It'll get me a passing grade.

"Frii!" Rob comes charging at me like a dog that's spent a week away from his owner. I force myself not to jump into defense-mode. I've learned not to beat the crud out of quick-moving people without proof of dark intentions. Not all humans want to kill the freak; at least that's what I've been telling myself since I started my "normal" life. But still, the reflexes are natural, considering.

"What?"

He puffs for a bit as he tries to catch his breath. "Listen, I'm really sorry I blew up at you yesterday. I know you like to keep your home life private and all that. I just thought, since we've been friends for two years now, maybe you'd trust us more. But I guess I can't force you to do something you don't want to."

I wait a few seconds to see if he'll continue, and then ask, "And you didn't tell me this at first, fifth, or sixth period because?"

"Well… I guess you just looked like you were preoccupied with some other stuff and I…didn't really want to bring it up."

I lift an eyebrow, but decide not to push it. Time to change the subject.

"No," Rob replies to my query. "I don't know what's up with Tiff. I enjoyed her video in DMM and tried to compliment her, but she wouldn't talk to me in any of the classes we share or at lunch. She's normally so chatty, but she hasn't said a word to me all day." He starts heading for the lone maple tree in the small park behind the school. He and Tiff say they've been climbing it since elementary school, and that's generally where we go on sunny days to meet up and make plans.

"Same here. Any clue as to why that may be?"

He shrugs. "Maybe she's mad at us or something?"

"For what?"

Another shrug. "I dunno. Fighting? I haven't seen her this way since kindergarten when I threw up in her lunchbox." Oh, yeah! I remember that story! A six year old boy with black hair had been chucking smushed brownies at him and saying they were "doggy doodies". Little Billy's weak stomach gave in and he hurled in the nearest container he could find—a pink Barbie lunch pail. Little Tiffany had silently glared at him for at least a week. Heh heh heh. Wish I could've been there…

"So what do we do? Just wait for her to get over whatever it is she's bugging at?" I may be attending a normal school and stuff, but dealing with human emotional tendencies is still out of my league. The Nazis stopped the tormenting of Jews and such a long time ago (I'm not sure exactly when, but I should probably find out before I have to take the semester test in history tomorrow…) so I doubt any present-day humans have felt what I have. Not only are these people completely on a different mental and physical level than I am, they're also on a different emotional level as well. How do you comfort someone who thinks that a minor spat between friends and a lack of conditioner is a serious crisis? As far as I can tell, that kind of thing should be the least of our problems.

"I don't know. If she's mad at us then it would probably be safer to stand back until she's cooled off and then apologize. But if she's worried about something or hurt, then we should see how we can help. But since I don't know which…" Rob sighs and drops to his heels in the shade, resting against the sturdy trunk. I jump and, grabbing a thick branch, nimbly swing up onto it. I quickly get into my favorite position: hanging knees over the wide, low branch, and leaning my upper back on a higher branch.

Propping my elbows up on my improvised back rest, I ask, "What if you invite her over to your house, and see how she reacts?"

"Why me?"

"After last night, do you really want to try and suggest we take her to my place?"

"Well…" I ready the death glare. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. Bringing you guys over, I mean. I was hoping to have a movie night already, so a change in plans towards that being tonight might not be that bad of an idea."

I nod and check my watch. "Wake me up when you find her."

Eyes closed, I hear movement, and Rob's voice comes from a few yards away. "Kay."

"Hey, Frii! WAKE UP!"

"WhoWhatHuh?!" OW! Rubbing my hip from my not-so-graceful exit from the tree, I stand up and narrow my eyes at Rob's laughing face. You'd think, being part bird, I wouldn't fall out of trees all that much. But no. Super-human strength, sight, and speed I do have, but when it comes to balance, especially when I'm startled, I'd be better off on the ground or a couple thousand feet in the air.

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Shut it, Billy." Now it's his turn to glare. Looking behind him, I wave. "Hey, Tiff. Sweet vid." I quirk a sly smile and add, "Although it would have been better if Team Fire had won."

She looks at me for a few seconds like she thinks I'm going to bite her head off. "Uh, thanks. I'm…glad you liked it." Hmm…

"So, we going to Rob's for a movie night?"

She shrugs. "I guess."

"Cool. But it will have to be a short one; I have work tonight."

Trying to look anywhere but at me, she replies, "Um, okay. But I'll need I ride home afterwards, then. My mom started a yoga class, and it doesn't end until six o'clock or so."

"I can walk you home," I volunteer. "Your house isn't that far from BK."

Tiff jerks and adopts a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look (or at least that's how I've heard such an expression be described as before; I don't ride cars very often, much less in areas where deer live). "That's okay! I mean, uh, I probably can't walk that far anyway! Even an escort couldn't make me more athletic! So, um, maybe I could just catch a ride with Rob, right!" That was too fast of a response. I'm obviously the one she's avoiding; though why she wouldn't talk to Rob all day either is beyond me.

"Desperate not to be around Frii, much?" Rob caught it too. "Or just desperate not to walk?" Well I really hadn't thought about that…But still, even if she is just being lazy, that wouldn't explain why she's been avoiding us.

That was an interesting afternoon. We watched a movie about some magical cat that could become human when he wore boots, and then Rob's older sister came in and started blaring strange music on the radio. I have to admit, some of the songs were pretty good. If I had to pick a theme song for my life, I'd probably pick one of them.

Then I had to leave for work, and Tiffany couldn't find anybody to give her a ride. So now I'm walking with a jittery nervous wreck. Every time I try to start a conversation, she jumps like she thinks I'm going to attack her, makes a pitiful excuse for a response, and then stops talking again. So I finally just gave up and we fell into an awkward silence. It doesn't exactly fit into my earlier plan of relaxation, but what can ya do?

"Hey, Frii?" I take it the silence is about to end. Finally.

"Yeah?"

"Frii, you know you can trust me with anything, right?" Umm… As long as it's not about my wings or my past.

"Yeah…" I raise my eyebrows and look at her through the corners of my eyes in an expression that should clearly say, "Where are you going with this?"

"And I can trust you, right?"

"Of course." I hesitate and add, "Tiff, what's wrong? Why are you asking me this?"

She bites her lip and studies me for a moment. (No, not study. That word gives me the creeps when it's not about schoolwork. She's looking at me.) "Well, you see, I, uh…"

Rolling my eyes, I grunt a bit and tell her to spit it out.

Tiff takes a deep breath and says, "Are those pictures you always draw real?"

I jolt a little. "What are you talking about?" I squeak, then clear my throat and continue, "What makes you think werewolves and all that other stuff could possibly be real?" I'm going to avoid reminding her that my drawings also include winged people.

"Nothing!" She definitely said that too quickly for it to be just idle curiosity! Oh no…

She stops and stares at her feet. "I…sort of followed you yesterday…after you lost your temper and stormed off…"

Code red! All systems on high alert!

Gritting my teeth and getting ready to make a run for it, I force myself to reply, "And…?"

She sighs, "If you were a werewolf, would you know it?" Well, that's definitely not what I expected her to say. I expected something more along the lines of "HOW THE HECK DID YOU GET WINGS, YOU FREAK?!" But apparently I was wrong.

"Did I ever give you any reason to think I have a tail and howl at the moon?" Keep her focused on the werewolves, in case she actually does have some evidence that I'm not completely human. Up until the moment I have to rip off my hoody and disappear, that's my game plan. Not that she's indicating that this might, in any way, be just a game.

"Well, not exactly…" I watch her, showing no emotions at all. Even though I'm on the verge of a panic attack. Finally, Tiff cracks and it all comes out in one big rush: "I wanted to catch up to you and see why you were so upset but then I got lost and some old lady told me that monsters like werewolves with wings run around at night and I didn't believe her but then I turned around and saw a person grow wings and then I freaked out and the person saw me and called me by my name and it sounded like you but then they flew away and I ran in the opposite direction until I found a donut shop and used their phone and my mom came and picked me up and when I came to school you didn't seem different at all so I thought I was wrong but then I saw some of your drawings and realized I might have been right and I was scared and didn't know what to say so I avoided you but then Rob came and found me and then I had to walk home with you and I don't know what to do!"

I blink and take a few seconds to process all the information. Then it hits me: When I dreamed Tiff found out and I flew away—! Holy hamburgers, that wasn't a dream!! She SAW!!! I start running backward, fumbling with my hoody and trying to find the wing slots. I'd just pull it off, but I'd prefer to see if she's going to take a weapon or something and attack me. Last time someone figured out my family's lack of human DNA, he grabbed a broken beer bottle and gave Dark Wing a nasty scar and a few broken tendons on the back of his hand. I'd rather get away a few seconds later with complete ability to pick things up than to get away immediately with the need to become a cyborg bird kid. Not that it would be bad to get away immediately while still retaining all of my body parts, though.

"Frii! Wait!"

"No! I will not be put into a cage again!" I growl, finally giving up on ejecting my wings and just turning to run full speed away. "Go tell the media! Your best friend is a freak! I'm sure they'll pay you a lot for the story! But I won't stick around to be experimented on again!"

So, whatcha think? Working on chapter nine as fast as I can! Still appreciating any comments, suggestions, and reviews!

Anyone think I need more details on my characters, mainly Frii? I wonder what you guys imagine she looks like? Large parts of the next two chapters rely on her looks, but my lack of details has made me slightly forget some of what I had put in my original character profile, which I've lost. Could you please review or PM with how you would view her? Include hight, hair color, eye color, hair style, and general clothing colors, please. I obviously can't force you, but it would be really great if you did, and it would help me update faster!

And thanks for reading my story!!