A/N: Yes, although I use my friends' first names, I changed the last names; I don't want any psychos following anyone around… I did a slight – only slight – rip-off of the dream in my other story, so sorry about that. Pardon my pathetic descriptions – 'a very model-like face' – I just had no idea how to describe him, haha. The Almighty Shelby says she wants to see Alex's POV, so I'll probably write a sequel after this story's finished. I'm sure you're doing a happy dance right now :P I now reward you with an extra long chapter for putting up with me and my random updates (and personality).

I watched him walk away from me, and I fought the urge to scream while my tears flowed freely. Why were these emotions surfacing so easily? I'd fought so hard to keep them locked up for all these years.

I subconsciously touched my wrist and frowned. Pull yourself together; you have a reputation to keep intact. Do you want to go back to the way things were? I shuddered. I would die first.

The bell rang overhead, and I mentally cursed. Now everyone's going to wonder what I've been doing.

I put a happy, carefree expression on, and walked towards my next class in that breezy way, greeting everyone with a smile on my way. I made a supreme effort to pay very close attention in class the rest of the day, but my efforts were in vain. No matter what I did, my thoughts drifted back to Alex.

We were so similar, yet so different. I'd give anything for him to trust me. Almost anything.

He must have ditched, because I remember us having most of our classes together, and I didn't see him at all the rest of the day. In our last period, our teacher instructed us to split into groups of two's and three's. Shelby, Maddie, and I grouped together, naturally.

"Hey where were you during lunch?" Shelby whispered once the teacher's back was turned.

"Yeah, were you, like," Maddie made a gagging motion.

"No, I don't scarf and barf," I rolled my eyes, "I don't have a gag reflex, remember?"

"Ooh, and how did you find that out?" Maddie winked.

"Not the same way you would," I joked.

"Hey, I wish I didn't have to deal with having one," she frowned, "it's useless."

"Well, try not to choke."

She laughed quietly and smacked my arm. "But really, where were you?"

I'd planned out my answer earlier, knowing they would ask, "I was fixing my makeup, then I had to turn down a guy that asked me out."

"Wow, it took that long?" Maddie asked.

"Yeah, I didn't want to sound mean," I smiled apologetically.

"Who was it?" Shelby inquired.

Crap. The one thing I didn't think of.

"Oh, I don't know his name," I shrugged.

"Well, what did he look like?" Maddie prompted, "Was he cute?"

I rolled my eyes, "Not really my type. He had, um, blond hair and blue eyes."

"Sounds cute. Was he a junior?"

"I don't know!" Our teacher glared at me. "I told you I don't really know who he is," I whispered.

She pouted.

"Hey, do we have practice today?" I asked, quick to change the subject. Bring up Cheerleading with Madison; you can have a conversation for hours.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

When I got home, I plopped onto my bed, starting my homework. I tried to concentrate, but I just couldn't. I sighed, pulling my phone from my jeans' pocket.

I dialed my friend Jazmyn's number. She knew everything about everyone – along with everyone's numbers.

"Hey," she greeted me, "Sup, homie?"

"Hey, um, I need a number."

"Just tell me who and you got it," she stated in a professional manner.

"Um, I don't really have a name to give you," I laughed, "Do you know any cute blonds with blue eyes?"

"Ooh, girl knows her type."

I laughed, "No, it's for a friend. So, do you have any numbers for me?"

"Um...Oh, here we go! I'll send you a pic, hold on."

A few seconds later, a picture of Jazmyn with a few other people showed up. There was a blond guy on the far left looking up at the camera with a slightly arrogant expression. Perfect.

"He a junior?"

"Uh huh. His name's Chad. Pretty hot, right?"

"Uh, not really my type. So what's his number?"

She giggled and gave it to me, along with a suggestion to hang out soon.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you in forever," I smiled sadly, "What about Saturday?"

"Great! See you then. Later, girl."

"Bye."

I entered the number scribbled onto my palm into my cell, and called it.

"Yeah?" a pleasant voice answered after the second ring.

"Hi," I greeted brightly, "its Jamie Miller."

"The Jamie Miller?"

I laughed. "Yeah."

"Cool. So I'm guessing you want to go out, right?" he asked in a bit of a cocky tone.

My smile vanished. "No, I was wondering if you'd be interested in meeting a friend of mine. Madison Reed."

"Oh her. Yeah, she's cute."

I smirked. "Yeah. We should hang out tomorrow, so I can introduce you. 'Kay?" Straight to the point; I didn't like bullshitting people.

"Sure."

"Good. Bye." I ended the call, secretly glad I didn't have to keep talking to him.

I wondered if it was a good idea to introduce him to Maddie. He seemed like…such a jackass. But I needed someone to fit the description I'd given today, and Maddie wanted another boyfriend "for fun" as she'd put it. I was lucky I'd found a cute guy anyway. Oddly enough, beauty seemed to be a bit of a rarity at our school, so it was all but worshipped when happened upon.

I checked my phone again, looking at all the messages I'd ignored – 17. All asking to hang out or just saying "Hi."

It had been less than an hour.

I replied to all the invites saying that I was doing homework – my usual answer. I don't know why they still bothered to ask.

I turned my phone off and resumed my homework, finishing quickly. I walked downstairs, checking the time off the microwave in the kitchen – 5:30.

My stomach was twisted in sickening knots, so I avoided the kitchen, opting for my room instead. I tread back up the stairs and snaked under my covers. I felt at ease almost instantly, for which I was grateful. The last thing I remembered was closing my eyes.

I was floating.

I looked around me, realizing I was on a raft of some sort. Alex was next to me, smiling. I'd never seen him smile before. I liked it.

We were floating down a gently moving stream, the water a pure, clean blue. The sun beamed down, reflecting off the water like diamonds, and warming us to the perfect degree.

A benign breeze swept my hair – now impossibly long – in his direction. He captured the strands between his long fingers, and kissed them. I blushed, and he tucked them behind my ear.

Suddenly, the water rippled, and its color morphed to something darker. Blood.

As I watched in terror, a giant collection of something, looking somewhat in the shape of an arm, rose from the water. As the raft drifted closer, the giant arm glinted in the quickly retreating sun, and I realized it was made of a collection of many sharp objects – scissors, knives, needles…

Razor blades.

Whatever the arm was connected to stood from the river. It was distinctly humanoid, but still looked very much like a monster. It roared, an ear piercing cry, like rusty metal scraps being gnashed together. The raft had continued its voyage, and the monster was now in front of us. It reached for Alex, and began scratching at him, slashing all over his body.

I screamed in anguish, and reached for him, but I was stopped by a wretched pain in my arms. I watched in horror as my old scars surfaced on my wrists, and my skin slowly split open in their place. I cried out in pain.

The monster then turned. It had no eyes, just hollow sockets, and its mouth was a gaping hole filled with shards of glass for teeth. It brought back its other arm, and I watched as it flew towards me. It felt like my lungs exploded as its fist connected with my body, cutting me, and I flew backwards into the river of blood. I began sinking impossibly fast, but I just didn't care. I don't know why I didn't care, but I didn't. I kept sinking, for an impossibly long time, before black clouded my vision, and I was simply gone.

I gasped.

My alarm clock was beeping erratically and I reached out to silence it. I got out of bed and went through my morning routine robotically, not paying attention to what I was doing. I glanced at myself in the mirror after getting dressed. A ghost of a smile crossed my lips. Even when I had no idea what I was putting on, I still looked like a fashion icon. Well, I always did look good in sundresses…

I put on a little natural makeup and spritzed on some perfume that made me smell like a flower garden, then I tied my hair into a side ponytail, leaving a few curls loose. I drifted to my car, and made my way to school.

My nightmare was really starting to bug me. I'd had tons of them before, but they were usually of me being back in my past social life. They'd never been like that. I'd never died.

Hey. You. You need to amp up the social butterfly-ness. Pretty soon people are going to think you're weird and stop liking you. I sighed.

I pulled into the parking lot and got out, walking towards the meeting spot, when someone called to me.

"Hey, Jamie! C'mere for a sec."

I turned at the sound of the voice. It took me a second to recognize him. It was Chad! A feeling of dread consumed me.

"You coming?"

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. His voice reminded me of the douche-y guys you see getting drunk and grinding all night at clubs. Oh yeah, guidos. I smiled at my joke and walked over to where he was standing with his friends.

They didn't really look like they belonged on the Jersey Shore, but they sounded and probably acted like it. They all wore that annoying Hollister stuff when they didn't have their Lettermans on, and many of them attempted the Beiber-hair.

Chad was standing in their midst, wearing a Letterman and jeans – surprising – and his light hair was styled in a fashion that looked suspiciously like Edward Cullen's. He had bright, oceanic blue eyes that looked very giddy and childlike, set into a very model-like face. His mouth was always quirked into a cocky grin that was annoying yet adorable. I'd be lying if I said he wasn't beautiful, but he wasn't really the kind of guy I'd go for.

"Need something?" I asked brightly, flashing a blinding smile.

His friends leered at me, and he smirked. I had to fight to hold my smile in place. "Just wanted to ask if you're still able to hang out with me later today." He smirked.

Oh right, today's Friday. "Of course! You can finally meet Madison!" I replied slyly.

His smile faltered momentarily.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you don't want to hang out with Maddie," I faked a pout.

"No. I'm thrilled."

"Totes. Okay, I'll see you later, then. Bye." I waved as I walked away, giggling quietly to myself. It was having way too much fun rejecting this guy's advances.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

"And he's hot?"

"Mm-hmm."

"And a Junior?"

"Mm-hmm."

"And we're meeting him today?"

"Mm-Well, you are."

"You've met him?"

"Uh-huh."

"Scale it." Maddie commanded me, referring to our habit of rating people on the 1-10 ratio.

"To you? A 12."

She squealed, and bounced a little bit on my bed.

"Chill."

"Yeah, Maddie. Guys aren't everything," Shelby added.

"Just most things." She giggled.

"Hey, I agree with Shelby!"

"Oh, you just need a cute guy to come along and…loosen things up," she winked.

"Oh you are horrible!" Shelby and I shouted in unison, laughing like idiots.

"Don't act like you don't love me."

"Hey, Shelby. Are you coming with us tonight?" I asked.

"Um…Well isn't the point of this like a matchmaker sorta thing?" she frowned.

"Why don't you just bring Shane? He'll be so proud; you're finally tolerating him enough to go on another date with him!" I teased.

Shane was Shelby's boyfriend of almost 4 years. They were practically made for each other, but they didn't hang out much because Shelby had known me and Maddie forever, and she firmly believed in "Sisters before Misters" – or as Maddie and I preferred, "Chicks before Dicks."

She laughed. "Fine!"

"You know, J, I think you should do a little scouting yourself tonight. You've never had a boyfriend. Ever." Maddie looked at me seriously.

"I don't want one. At least no one at this school. Everyone just wants to get in your pants! I mean, I'm not searching for my soulmate right now, but even dating for fun, that's all anyone ever thinks about!"

"So?" she replied sarcastically.

"Hey, drop the sarcasm, missy, we all know why I care so much," I gave her a meaningful look.

Everyone knows how boys talk, right? Especially about girls. Let's just say my social position and supposed good looks put me pretty high up on the list of "Desirable." A few guys started talking big and rumors started going around. Almost anyone who knows me, knows I don't take kindly to having things said about me that aren't true, and anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a good enemy to have. Let's just say those guys don't go to our school anymore.

"Right." She blew out a breath. "Now, let's go shopping!"

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

"Girl, if I was a lesbian, I'd be all over you right now." I was currently appraising my hard work to make Maddie look absolutely amazing. Well, with her, you didn't have to work very hard, but you know what I mean.

We'd bought a mountain of stuff, and I'd hand-picked an outfit for each of us. I'd dressed Shelby in a simple, loose white tank top and some chic, light-wash denim shorts with medium sized buttons all the way up the sides. I'd added a wide, dark brown belt at her waist to add some curves. She was already tall, so I gave her some brown flats. Upon my request, she'd straightened her short hair, so it hung with an edgy flair. Her makeup was golden in color, but slightly on the darker side. It successfully brought out the golden tones in her eyes, making them closer to amber than their normal chestnut brown color.

I'd dressed myself in a loose, white with black polka-dots shirt, tucked into a ruffled grey skirt that stopped right above my knees. I was a little on the short side – though still taller than Maddie – so I wore black, suede ankle boots. My hair was curled to its usual waves, but more glamorously, and cascaded over one of my shoulders. My makeup was silvery, and brought a lot of light to my usually dark eyes, showing off the green and gold hidden underneath.

Maddie was who I focused the most on. We wanted her to be the "Wow!" one. She was the one trying to impress the guy, and we were going to use every trick in the book to make it happen. I'd dressed her in a peach, off the shoulder top, and tucked it into a short, high-waisted, leather pencil skirt that was nude in color. I'd easily convinced her to wear nude colored pumps. The skirt/shoes combo made her petite form appear taller, and her legs looked mile-long right now, while the shirt/skirt mix gave her a cute, busty form. I'd pulled her hair into a messy up-do, with a few curls hanging loose, accentuating her slender neck. Her makeup was natural, but with a slightly pink hue. I'd done the most work on hers, so she looked like she was glowing.

"I know," she replied to my compliment, giggling.

"I cannot believe you made us look this amazing on such short notice. And we're not even wearing dresses or anything!" Shelby was practically worshipping the ground I walked on.

"Fashion mags. I read."

"She's right though, J. This is amazing." Maddie hugged me.

"Hey, don't cry, I spent a long time on your makeup."

She laughed. "I don't know how you got it to look this good, though. There's barely any on."

"Practice. And you have a pretty much perfect complexion already, so it's not necessary to paint your face. And I figured you wouldn't want to have to worry about smeared makeup later tonight." I winked.

"You know me so well!"

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"I got it. I'm least likely to fall down the stairs and break my neck," Shelby smiled.

She left the room, and Maddie and I walked to the end of the hallway, peeking our heads around the corner to see who was there.

"Shay!" Shelby launched herself at her boyfriend when she opened the door, being caught by a very disoriented, and slightly confused, Shane Bracey.

"My name is just one more syllable. Just one." He smiled down at her. He was easily embarrassed, and nicknames tended to be embarrassing, so we always teased him about it, but we knew he'd take the nickname "Dr. Pee pee" if Shelby wanted him to. Lucky for him, Shelby wasn't as evil as me or Maddie.

"But Shay is so cute. I like it." She pouted, fingering his short hair.

"Anything for you," he said dramatically, grinning when she threw her head back in laughter.

The way they looked at each other all the time was right out of a romance. Maddie and I had informed Shelby of our thoughts, but she dismissed it as playful banter. There was no question about it. They were in love.

"Aw, they're just so adorable together!" Maddie squeaked.

"They should get married," I added.

"They will get married."

"And we'll stop at nothing to make sure they do!" we promised in unison.

"Oh yeah, there's some guys outside." Shane shouted. So he knew we were listening. Smart boy.

"Oh, hey. When did you get here, Shane?" I asked innocently.

He just rolled his eyes.

Maddie and I bounced down the stairs, slowing at the door, and sashaying out. Chad was the first one I saw, so I subtly shifted to walk behind Maddie.

"Hey, Jamie!" Chad shouted. Damn him, it was like he was purposefully ignoring Maddie. For all I knew, he was, since I'd been walking behind Maddie and I was dressed in very plain colors while she was in nice ones.

"…Hey." I forced a smile. I noticed Maddie frown in the corner of my eye, so I took evasive maneuvers. "Chad. You haven't met Madison yet." I gave her a slight push in his direction.

"Hi." She gave that sly smile she'd perfected over the years; innocent on the surface, but still sexy.

"Hey. So you're Madison." He was appraising her as he spoke, which kind of bothered me, but I made no comment.

"Call me Maddie." She moved to tuck a curl behind her ear, and slyly traced down her neck with her finger in the process. Who says flirting has to involve words?

His smirk became more prominent. "Maddie. I didn't know you were this much of a beauty in person." The line was perfectly executed, and I had no doubt he'd said it hundreds of times.

"Not too bad yourself," she winked inconspicuously, walking slowly around him to the shiny Hummer parked by the sidewalk.

His eyes followed shamelessly after her, watching her every move. I'd seen this display many times, but with Chad, it just…I didn't like it. At all.

Chill. Maddie knows what she's doing, she's done this all sorts of times. She's the one in a relationship who's most likely to have commitment issues, so just calm down; she's not going to get hurt. I sighed.

"Everybody just hop in the car, there's more than enough room for everyone," a guy whose name I didn't know called out, falling into step beside me. He turned to flash a lopsided grin at me. He wasn't unattractive, but was kind of plain looking; I wasn't really interested.

We jumped into the car, which was like climbing Mt. Everest for me. Forgettable Guy sat next to me and I watched as Maddie and Chad were practically in each others' laps as they flirted. Shane was taking notice of how perfect Shelby looked while they cuddled. In a way, it was kind of entertaining. I decided to humor Forgettable Guy; my ignorance was making me feel a little bad.

I giggled. "Where are we going, anyway?" I took my finger lightly between my teeth.

He smiled widely. "Chad's house. You'll like it. It's big…lots of rooms…" I took note of the slight shift of his smile to more of a leer. Well now I know what that "lots of rooms" bit was aiming at.

"Great," I did my version of Maddie's sexy smile, touching his shoulder briefly.

"Oh, we're here." Chad chuckled as we pulled up to an absolutely huge house.

"Wow. This is amazing!" Maddie approved, eyes wide and roaming, like mine.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." Chad shrugged.

Oh, such a poor little commoner like myself. Too bad I can't afford a house that could eat half of the city, or a shiny, new car.

"Thanks, Jeff." Chad knocked on the driver's side window lightly.

"Jeff?" Maddie asked.

"My chauffeur," he smirked.

Or a chauffeur to drive me everywhere. I smiled to myself.

We walked past a set of double doors and into a huge foyer. Maddie and I stood in awe, taking in the beauty around us.

"Nice, right?" Chad asked, though he knew the answer.

"Hell yeah!" Maddie laughed, holding onto his arm.

"Don't worry about doing anything 'inappropriate' or whatever. My parents aren't home right now anyway."

There was a murmured agreement within the group.

He led us to a very fancy looking couch and chairs, which turned out to be surprisingly comfortable. I chattered away for a while before I needed a break.

"Hey, Chad?"

"Yeah?"

"Um…where's the bathroom?" I giggled awkwardly.

He smirked. "Down that hall there." He pointed to a very long hallway to the left of our current position.

"Thanks." I flashed a dazzling smile.

I whisked down the hall and stopped at its end, reaching for the handle on the door located there. I turned it, but it didn't move. I started shaking it a little, but it wouldn't budge.

"Damn it, it must be locked." I pushed against it. Nothing.

What if someone's in there? Ugh, that'd be really awkward. I frowned, and stepped away from the door, waiting for the theoretical person to come out. I stood there for about 5 minutes, not making any noise, until I heard a barely audible sigh.

Oh, then there was someone in there. I stayed silent, still waiting…

Then, I was face to face with Alex under the doorway.

A/N: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUNNNNN! Bet you didn't think the chapter would be that long! ;D I'm sure you were thrilled, if not wishing you had a gun while reading this, but I need reviews so I know what you think! And don't assume they don't mean anything either! I apologize for my sucky descriptions during some parts; architecture is not my forte (and apparently neither is describing people when I don't really care about their characters. Haha, that sounds mean…) I will hopefully be able to update before the school year starts, otherwise I might not be able to for a while. I'm sorry if I sound like a very annoying person who you just want to fall off a bridge, get raped by a shark, and eaten by that same shark for saying this, but the more reviews I get, the faster I'll update. They're like my motivation. If you were an artist, but no one was showing interest in any of your work, would you want to keep painting? Probably not. Anyhoo, apologies, reviews, and trololols. Thanks for putting up with me! (: