A week had past, and I hadn't cast a glance at Eddie. I may have hated him before, but it was nothing compared to the amount of hate I had for him now. He was unbelievable! I have never met someone so irritating, obnoxious and egotistical in my existence. It doesn't help that he has almost every girl in the school, throwing themselves at him , it only boosts his ego.

Even worse than that, he had the nerve, to call me weak! Me? Weak? There is no possible way I could be weak, not even if the devil himself, reached up and consumed me in his deep burning inferno.

I shook my head, trying to clear out the angry thoughts that crowded my mind. Forget about him Patricia, he's not worth your time. I sighed and took out my maths textbook, and slammed it on the table. The summer exams were coming up and I rather not fail. I opened it and flicked through the pages, selecting the topic I wanted to study…Inequalities. I groaned just at the sight of it…I'm going to regret this.

Solve the inequality –x²(4-2x)0, and write the solution under the form of xa. What is the value of a?

I stared at the page, baffled out of my mind, my hate for maths growing by the second. When will I ever need inequalities in my life? It's completely useless.

Well I don't know what the value of a is, how about you tell me! I thought, frustrated shutting the book and moving it to the side, where I couldn't see it. At least then I wouldn't be forced to think about it.

I sighed and let my mind wander, thinking about all the questions I have yet to find the answers to. The most significant at this moment in time, what was that red bird I keep seeing. It was weird how everytime I looked at it, I felt a strong connection between us. As if it was an actual person and not a creature. I took out my budget laptop from underneath my desk and opened it up in front of me.

It was time for me to get some answers. I waited as my laptop buzzed to life, showing a selection of random pages before I could insert my password. As the home screen appeared I directed the cursor to google, and then stopped at the search bar. What do you search when researching a red bird? I shrugged to myself and typed in the first thing I could think of.

Red bird

The good page went blank as the computer processed my request. When the page had loaded, five images of a red bird appeared at the top of the screen. They were all the same kind; Fat, fiery red, sharp beak. Interesting and the colour close to home but, not what I was looking for. I scrolled down the page and nothing better turned up.

I continued patiently, thinking of another phrase to type in…fiery red bird? No that will just come up with the same thing. The problem was the normality of the birds that I was seeing, this bird was something different, magical almost. That's when an idea popped into my head.

Mystical red bird

I looked at the pictured of magical looking birds, printed on someone's naked body…tattoos. I groaned internally, if I wanted to look for non-existent birds as tattoos I would I have typed it in. Not bothering to scroll down, I remove the phrase from the search bar and lean my elbows on the table.

It was hopeless, how was I supposed to find the name of a bird that looked like it came from Harry Potter. I was beginnings to wonder whether such a bird was real or not, maybe I was just imagining things. You were just frustrated Patricia, it wasn't real. I sighed and leaned back in my seat, how could something so…nonorthodox seem so real. I sat up and let my fingers dance across the keyboard, typing whatever came to mind.

Red bird Harry Potter

It seemed so ridiculous as I finished typing it but it was the only thing I could link the mysterious bird to. If I was going to get answers, I was going to have to try. So I pressed the search button, expecting no more than a bunch of pictures of Harry Potter, but I was surprised to see the one word I didn't think of.

Phoenix

I small gasp escaped my mouth as I clicked on the website and looked at the picture. It looked exactly like the bird I saw in the forest. It's official, I saw a Phoenix.

The Japanese Phoenix is medium sized mystical bird, with fiery red wings and golden feathers on its stomach. The golden beak and talons contrasts with its jet black eyes.

In many myths the phoenix is known for its loyalty, it was referred to as 'The Guardian of the Lost'. The belief behind this was that the Phoenix would be sent out to find anyone who had run away or had been kidnapped, and its fiery wings would lead them home.

Alternatively the Japanese Phoenix is also known as 'The teacher' It was believed that if you were worthy enough, you could approach it and ask for its wisdom and guidance.

I leaned my back in my chair as my brain processed all the information I had just read. For some reason I was reluctant to believe that this was all true. Even though I had seen it myself, it just felt like this was all a dream and I would wake up to my normal life.

The door clicked open and I sat up and quickly shut my laptop. Then I scrambled to get my maths textbook and slam it on the desk, so it looked like I was studying. I didn't really want Trudy to know that I was being stalked by a Phoenix. I shuddered at the thought, Trudy would think I was insane, and that's the last thing I needed.

When the door opened, I was surprised to see that it was not Trudy but it was my roommate, Joy. Even though it sounds odd that I was surprised to see my own roommate in her own room, it really was unexpected. After… the incident, Joy made sure to avoid me at all times. If I was in our room, she would be downstairs. The only time I really saw her, was when we went to bed, and even then she made sure to go to bed before I did.

"Trixie" My Head snapped up at the sound of my old nickname. Joy smiled at me and walked over to my desk, and I watched, staring at her in confusion. Part of me wanted to ignore her, pretend she didn't exist, just like she had done to me for the past five years. The other part of me wanted to reach out, hug her and tell her how much I missed her.

As I shifted my gaze to look back at my text book, I knew my resentful side was overpowering. I trusted her and she let me down, in the worst possible way. Now after five years of ignoring me, she's decided to talk to me again? No way.

"I know you're not revising Patricia" She alleged cautiously. I could sense she was trying not to piss me off, but I felt like that was inevitable. With that thought in mind,I sighed and looked back at her, narrowing my eyes.

"What do you want?" I questioned suspiciously, my voice sounding more bitter than I intended. I knew there was a particular reason why she was speaking to me, and I didn't like it. Had Jerome sent her, persuading her to try and finally get rid of me? I wouldn't be surprised.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry, and that I still care" She murmured, placing a hand on my shoulder. I blinked. Her words span around my confused mind, I'm sorry…I still care. My eyes travelled across her face, reading her expression. Her cheeks pulled into a slight smile and her skin was slightly flushed. Was she nervous? Or just tired? I then searched her eyes, they were wide almost pleading. They were genuine.

Before I had a chance to respond, She sighed and left the room, leaving me with my thoughts. My irritating tangled thoughts. My list of questions were building every day and it was getting a little harder to deal with.

Hi, yeah I know I kind of disappeared off of the face of the earth, things are getting a lot harder for me? Forgive me? Chi x

*at* HiddenRomantics