The next week passed by without problem, except for the nightmares, but they were always there. She came home every day after school, just like her aunt had told her to. As a compromise, Maria spent a lot more time at her house, the two hanging out and giggling until the sun began to dip below the horizon.

It wasn't till Thursday that things began to change.

Izzy sped through the main quad, sprinting to reach her history class on time. She was running late, again. Slipping her phone out of her pocket and fumbling to click it on, she stared at the clock for a split second before shoving it back into her pocket. She had eight minutes.

She could do this.

By the time she flung the door open she was wheezing and gasping for breath, sounding more like a dying animal than a human.

Her teacher stood behind the podium at the bottom of the lecture hall, wooden bench after wooden bench lining a stadium style half circle.

"You're late." Mr. Romano snapped.

"Actually," Maria immediately stood up, hand on hip, holding an arm up as if to show off her watch. "She still has thirty seconds."

Izzy stood there for a second, looking back and forth while wiping the sweat off of her brow. Mr. Romano grumpily nodded and began walking to his computer. When his finger grazed the mouse pad, the projected image of some Venetian Renaissance building sprung to life, covering most of the back wall with its high arches, and carved stone.

Maria gave her a frantic, come on look as she motioned her hand in a giant circle.

"Fifteen seconds Ms. Eposito. I expect you to be in your seat."

Realization hitting her foggy brain, Izzy took off down the steps. She was regretting not letting Maria choose the seats at the beginning of the semester, having to run down step after step until she hit the fifth row from the bottom. Mr. Romano pulled his sleeve back, click clicking his watch with a finger nail.

"Five."

Izzy jumped over a row as the two occupants ducked to either side, gasps of surprise leaving their mouths. She had seen the move many times in Assassin's Creed, and since now was time to either go big or go home, literally, she might as well imitate an assassin.

"Four."

"Three."

She used the momentum to slide over the next row, accidentally taking down a few notebooks and textbooks with her. Luckily, she was friends with the row. One guy boisterously laughed, turned towards her as he watched the action while the girl squeaked in surprise, but when she started to lose momentum at the count of two, he gave her a push.

As "one" began to leave Mr. Romano's mouth, her shoelace caught on something and she was sent crashing over, her head inches from hitting the hard concrete floor as her feet dangled over the back of the bench.

A whoops came from the row behind her.

"Zero. I'm afraid you are not in your seat, therefore, you are late."

Izzy didn't have time to take it in, Maria giving a frustrated sigh that sounded more like a growl than anything else. As she stood up, Izzy was pretty sure she heard her mutter hard ass.

"Didn't you once define sitting as" Maria started, clearing her throat in a professional manner, "planting your butt in a chair? Well," She waved a hand over Izzy who was failing like a turtle stuck on it's shell, "Her butt is definitely planted in the chair" Izzy stopped flailing and nervously grinned at the teacher. "I think everyone can agree with that." Laughter started to run through the classroom.

Mr. Romano shot her a dirty look, grumbling to himself. Maria grabbed Izzy's hand and yanked her up. She groaned slightly, no doubt in her mind that she would have bruises the next day. The teacher didn't seem to argue, just spewing out random words of his lecture like always. Izzy gave a full body sigh of relief. That had been way, waaay too close. She didn't like being late. In fact, she hated it beyond measure, but she couldn't fight the nightmares. They had full control over her, and she was always left floating in the darkness. Izzy ran a shaky hand through her messy hair, trying to ignore the way her scars slightly shone in the light. It was too hot to wear long sleeves, and she was too tired to really think of the consequences when she threw on her favorite shirt…

"Did you even brush your hair?" Maria gawked whispering.

"No time." Izzy whispered back, biting her lip as she stared at her bare arms.

Rolling her eyes, Maria took a brush out of her backpack and began unknotting Izzy's hair. "What am I going to do with you." She complained, though Izzy could hear the kindness and warmth in her words. As the brush flew through her hair, it felt like they were kids again. Maria was always taking care of her…

Mr. Romano threw them a glare, though Maria just ignored it, or she was too busy focusing on Izzy's hair to notice… Izzy couldn't help the wide grin that parted her lips.

She saw Maria glancing at her golden shirt before whispering "I'm glad you wore the shirt I got you. It really brings out the gold flecks in your eyes."

Izzy was too distracted to fully hear the compliment though, because as her smile faded off of her lips, replaced by a look of pure shock, she realized she had missed a substantial detail in the chaos.

A flimsy, metal chair sat on the edge of the room, not quite facing the teacher or the class, but somewhere in between. Yet the figure who occupied it was definitely facing one direction, hers. Two, bright, sea glass teal eyes shone at her, and she could feel the blush attacking her face as she froze.

"M-maria." She whispered, no reaction. "Maria. Maria!" She whisper yelled the last one, elbowing her in the side.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

Izzy pried her eyes away from his and stared at her, trying, and failing to ignore the impromptu rave her heart's was throwing, the quick boom boom booms echoing all the way up to her brain. She motioned with her eyes, careful not to catch his. If she did her heart would probably explode. Maria followed her gaze, her eyes widening beyond what should be possible when she saw him. They seemed to lock eyes for a moment, and Izzy watched as something passed between them.

Did they, know each other?

"You know him?" She tried to nonchalantly ask as her heart began twisting into a pretzel. She hated the feeling, but she had to know. Though if they did know each other in that way… She didn't want to think about it, but she would of course choose Maria. She mentally cursed at herself for being an idiot. She didn't even know him. He was probably a jerk anyway. All of the cute guys she met always were.

"No." Maria snapped after a while. Her voice was bitter, and an icy expression passed over her face. "No. I don't know him."

She definitely knew him.

Maria went back to brushing Izzy's hair, though it was a bit more aggressive than before. After the fourth "ouch!" she began to calm down. Izzy saw her occasionally glaring at the teal-eyed man, but besides that everything was normal, thought Izzy's heart kept twisting.

Izzy spent the rest of the class trying to concentrate, failing, and occasionally glancing at the man. Every time their eyes met. Was he, watching her? It sure seemed like it, though if he knew Maria that was probably the real reason. Part of her still wanted to believe it was her though. Every time their eyes locked he smiled a movie star worthy grin, and the way he looked at her, it almost seemed like a silent conversation. He seemed to have a way of making her feel like she was the only one there.

Maria, who was putting little braids into Izzy's hair, noticed and gave a sharp tug on one. Izzy yelped and gave her a look, but she just acted like it was a simple accident, like Izzy had moved suddenly. Izzy tried to ignore his gaze after that, but it was hard. It made her feel like butterflies were fluttering around in her chest, and she loved it. But if it hurt Maria, it wasn't worth it.

When the class began to empty out, Maria tried to pull her away as quickly as possible. Like always though, it took Izzy a while to pack everything up. Maria began grabbing things and throwing them into her backpack, leaving it a chaotic mess. She then grabbed Izzy by the wrist, yanking her too hard and pulling her from the class room. Izzy struggled to keep up, but Maria was taller, her legs longer, which meant Izzy was dragged up the steps. Maria was completely off, though Izzy didn't know why. If she had had a boyfriend, Izzy definitely would have known, so why did she seem to hate him? They definitely weren't related… Maybe, it was before her memories started? Either way, she had to yell at Maria to loosen her grip. Maria instantly let go, leaving Izzy to gingerly rub her wrist. Once again, another bruise she would have the next day.

As they walked out of the doorway which was now propped open, he was there waiting. Leaning nonchalantly against the wall, he didn't seem real, like a picture someone had painted. Izzy's heart fluttered at the sight. Then he glanced over and flashed a bright smile which definitely didn't help. He stood up and began walking over to them, but Maria grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the door. She glanced back, but his face was frozen like stone.

He easily sped up, cutting them off. "H-Hey, umm, Isabella right? "He ran a hand through his perfect hair as he spoke. He seemed, embarrassed, nervous? That, couldn't be possible, right? "Sorry about earlier. I was wondering, if I could make it up to you?" He smiled at the end, though it seemed to falter.

Wait, was he asking her on a date?!

Izzy froze, having no doubt her face was tomato red. Her brain started to swirl with loud thoughts. She wished she had done her hair, or maybe put on lip gloss? What would someone even do in a situation like this?! She mentally screamed.

"Umm," he started when she didn't reply "Would you like to go get some, uh, coffee? My treat."

A wide smile covered Izzy's face. This couldn't be happening, right? That was definitely a date, right? "S-sure! I'd um, I'd l-love too!" She tried to suppress the overwhelming amounts of energy building up in her chest. Then, she saw a slight swish of curly hair from the corner of her eyes, and her smile dropped.

"I-is that ok with you Maria?"

Maria glared daggers at him before giving the fakest smile she had ever seen. "Of course, why wouldn't it be?"

The man seemed to stare at her for a second like she disgusted him, a look of pure rage flying across his features, but then he turned back to Izzy, a normal, genuine smile lighting up his face. "Would now be ok?"

"Umm," she started. Maria definitely didn't seem ok with it, but something told her she wasn't going to spill, which was odd. She had to find out some way, right? And she was going to find out. The only other option would be pestering an already upset Maria until she snapped. This was definitely the better of the two. Plus, this seemed like a once in a lifetime chance… She had wanted to see him again, wanted a chance to get to know him. This was it. And if she declined now, she would lose it and never see him again. Then there was something about the way he looked at her that told her she could trust him. Something was strangely familiar about his eyes…

She smiled. "Sure, that would be great."

"I'll see you later then." Maria snapped. "Text me when you're done."

Izzy nodded, slightly taken aback as she watched Maria turn and walk away, her hair bouncing behind her. Had she made the wrong decision? Maria was pretty outspoken though, she would have said something, right?

Maybe not.

"So," a crisp accent cut through her thoughts. "I know of a great place, it's only a block away."

She smiled up at him, deciding to ignore the whirlwind of thoughts. She would figure it all out when they got there. "Sounds great."

He smiled to himself and started to walk forward. "My name is Fitz by the way."

She had completely forgotten to ask his name…

"Fitz, that's a pretty unusual name. Is it short for anything?"

He got to the door first and held it open for her. "No, just Fitz."

She smiled as the warm sunbeams hit her face. Something about this felt… right, like it was meant to be all along. Her gut told her to trust him, and she had ever intention to, after she figured out how he knew Maria.

He took a few large steps forward before pacing himself. Izzy tried to hide her blush as they walked down the brick walkway together. Some girls along the way sent googly eyes at him, but he never seemed to notice. He showed her the way as they chatted about random things. Once she pushed past her nervousness, it was surprisingly easy to talk to him, like they had known each other forever.

"It's right over there." He pointed across a waterway to a small, quaint café.

She smiled at the water, watching their reflections as they crossed the bridge.

"I think you'll like this place. They have some great pastries. Have you ever heard of Mallowmelt?"

She shook her head.

"It's the best thing ever. You're going to love it."

She watched the excitement twinkling in his eyes and smiled. She had no doubt she would.