The Dreamer

“Where dreams become reality, and reality becomes dangerous”

To all the people who have supported me in writing. Especially: My friends and Family, bookrix supports, ect. More On my Page For Dedications.

Prologue

Life can be hard. I should know that better than anyone. Another quality of life is that it’s weird. It’s weird because you think you know what’s going to happen then there’s a twist and next thing you know you’re all turned around and life isn’t so good anymore. But the biggest quality about life is that everything happens for a reason. There must be a reason why one minute I am fine and the next minute I’m running for my life. But I guess that’s what you get when dreams become reality, and reality becomes dangerous…

Chapter 1

I shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. I looked in the steam-covered mirror and smiled. It was finally here. It was the first day of school for most kids but I literally lived at school. A boarding school named St. Julia’s was considered my only home then. I’ve lived here ever since 6th grade when my dad got promoted and we were forced to move away from our small town apartment. Since both my parents work, and my mother travels often, they decided to ship me away so they could continue living normally. They even had arrangements so that when everyone else gets to leave for summer, I stay here. Naturally I was rather bitter for awhile, after all, they did just send me off to be raise by someone else, but I got over it seeing as I’m not exactly the grudge-holding type. Originally I loathed St. Julia’s, but overtime I’ve grown to love it.

After waiting for the whole summer with my only company being annoying teachers,a downside of living a school,

I was dying to get some of my social life back. I was even excited to see my roommate, Stephanie. Stephanie had never really enjoyed my company but towards the end of the year she started to act like I existed and I was so desperate I’d play popular girl for the chance to talk to someone.

It’s going to take more than acting,

I silently reminded myself as I threw on some make-up and began to gloss my lips. Maybe Stephanie will forget about last year,

to this I shook my head doubtfully, she really isn’t the forgiving type.

I shuddered as I remembered the memories of last year.

Her hate for me had all started when I was made her roommate instead of her best friend, Charity Windler. I’m still not exactly sure why she blamed me for our rooming situation, but she did unfortunately. She, along with her entire group blamed me, and from then on hated me. After Charity mysteriously dropped out I was certain that Stephanie and I’s relationship would improve, but if anything, it only got worse. But this year is going to be different,

I reminded myself, maybe if I keep thinking that, I’ll actually start to believe it.

I mentally kicked myself for that last thought and continued getting ready.

I got dressed and neatly side braided my messy hair. Today I dressed in ripped blue jeans and a tank top. I grabbed my phone from my bunk and shoved it in my backpack. Then I headed out the door. I was almost down the 3rd staircase when Stephanie stepped in front of me. I could tell it wasn’t going to be like last year. Nope, she was going to hate me way more this year. I could tell, from the way her posy snickered and stared, that an insult was coming.

“Hey roomie,” Stephanie said mockingly in her high soprano voice. “What’s with the homeless kid costume?” She asked pretending to look innocent like she hadn’t just slammed me.

“Costume?” I asked trying to push past her blocking arms.

“Uh! Rude much?” she yelled as I accidentally pushed her while trying to escape. I broke into a sprint, when I reached the bottom of the staircase more arms than I could count reached out and snatched me to the side.

Suddenly hands were tugging my hair, shoving and pinching me. I tried to call out but a hand gagged my mouth. I felt a sharp blow to my legs and my knees buckled. A blow to my head made me close my eyes in pain and I tried hard not to focus on the throbbing pain in my shin. They didn’t bother picking me up they just kept hitting and kicking until suddenly I felt relief. The strong grip released my arm and I sprawled onto the cold tile.I heard footsteps and assumed they were walking away and I let out a sigh of relief. My ears were ringing and when I tried to open my eyes the room around me spun, so I stayed on the ground and waited for what must have been at least an hour until I heard footsteps.

I tried to look up to see who was coming but found I was too exhausted to move. All of the sudden I was lifted into the air by a warm comfortable form. I struggled weakly for a few moments but after realizing they weren’t hurting me, I surrendered. I managed to force my head up and saw that my attackers were gone, which I took as good sign.

“Waking up so soon?” A guy’s voice said and I lifted my head to see a gorgeous guy. He had sandy blonde hair, that reminded me of a beach, bright blue eyes the sparkled when he smiled and wore kakis and a white tee.

“Yeah, how’d you find me?”I asked absentmindedly resting my head on his warm shoulder.

“ Your attackers weren’t very quiet with their dirty work, I heard them plotting it.” He replied as I inhaled deeply and was pleasantly surprised by his sweet smelling cologne. Suddenly he set me down on a nurse’s bed and I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Chapter 2

The Nurse ran some quick tests then, coming to the conclusion that I was fine, allowed me to follow her to the counter to check out. “Your first class is History and you can pick up your schedule from that boy who accompanied you today,” the nurse stated as I signed the last health form. “Thanks” I replied as I waved and then slipped out the door. to make sure nothing was broken then sent me on my way.
I crept down the hallway till I reached my first classroom. Even though history is my worst and least favorite subject I couldn’t have been any happier to be in a safe controlled area even if it meant I had to get tortured with boredom.

As it turned out my so called safe savior failed. As I walked in I noticed that Stephanie’s zombies were in the class but the head zombie herself wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Then I saw him. Zane was sitting in the back reading a text book and I noticed how adorable he really was. He smiled silently to himself and his usually hidden dimples showed themselves. I could’ve stood there all day just staring at him but Stephanie’s crew was beginning to notice my presence and as it turns out they weren’t very happy that I’d been saved.

“Hey Blondie, how’s the shin feeling?” a bulky guy asked turning around to face me. I recognized him now, Tyler Droda, Stephanie’s current boyfriend.

“Just fine thanks for asking Tyler, “I replied not giving him the satisfaction of my fear even though I was terrified on the inside.

“ You aren’t going to escape this time, “Tyler said stepping forward. I backed up and bumped into Zane.

“No, you aren’t going to touch her this time,” Zane said gently pushing me behind himself.

“Whatever, your little boyfriend won’t be around all the time, Summer,” Tyler said sliding back into his seat again.

Zane led me to the back of the room and offered me the seat next to him which I took gratefully. “Ignore those jerks,” He said as the zombies started to throw spit wads at me.

“Thanks for sticking up for me,” I said looking up at him and smiling, “it means a lot.”

“No problem,” He said and handed me an envelope. “That’s your schedule, the nurse asked me to pick it up for you.” I took the envelope with a shaky hand. What if Stephanie was my roommate again? Would I get stuck with one of her followers? There was only one way I’d find out. I opened the letter and read:

Dear Miss Summer Charard,

Your roommate will be Sierra Coblik. In room # 215.Your schedule will be on the sheet following this letter. Your belongings have been transferred for you already so all you need to do is unpack and you should be able to accomplish that during your lunch break. I have already been informed of the incident that occurred earlier and I have informed you parents who were very worried and I would highly suggest assuring them of your well health after this letter. Best regards,
Ms. Kelly

1. History
2. Algebra
3. Art
4. Lunch
5. Self Defense
6. A.P. Chemistry
7. Dance
8. ELA

I folded the letter and put it back into the envelope then turned towards Zane. “Do we have any classes together?” I asked silently begging him to say yes.

“Any? We have every

class together,” He said smiling as my jaw dropped.

“Every class? That’s like impossible,” I said gawking at him.

“Well then I guess I’ll have to tell them to change it,” He said pretending to get up. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

“No way, I need my personal savior around,” I said sounding a lot more confident then I felt.
“Well would you let your personal savior hang out with you tonight,” He asked shooting me a smile so cute I could’ve died and I wouldn’t have cared.

“Well I do sort of owe him don’t I,”I said feeling my cheeks turn bright red. Had he just asked me out? He’s So Cute! I thought to myself. I smiled shyly and winked at him.

“I’m taking that as a yes,” Zane replied his smile brightening at the outcome of his invitation.

Chapter 3

So there I was. It was 5:30, a half an hour before my ‘date’, and I still didn’t know what to wear. I curled my light blonde hair into ringlets and started powdering my face as I tried to find something to wear. Only problem was that when Ms. Kelly transferred my belongings she messed everything up I couldn’t find anything. Finally I found a navy blue sundress that complimented my pale skin.

As I finished up with my preparations I heard a knock on the door and my heart skipped a beat. I walked over to the door and opened it with clammy hands. There stood a Blonde Valley girl. “Hi, you must be Sierra, I’m Summer,” I said extending my hand towards her.

“Oh I know who you are, you’re the girl who escaped Stephanie,” She said shaking my hand energetically. “Congrats, I hate her too,” She added stepping into our room. “You looking for something or are you just really messy?” She asked scanning the clothes covered room.

“I was but I found it, sorry about the mess I’ll clean it up when I get back,” I said grabbing my jacket off the dresser.

“When you get back? Where are you going?” She asked turning away from the mess.

“Zane Invited me out for a evening stroll,” I replied hearing the pride in my voice.

She looked up, confused, then asked, “Zane?” and before I could answer she continued, “Oh! You mean the tall, blonde, new guy, right?” She said. I nodded at her, and smiled at her description of him. “Oh ok then you go and have fun,” She said turning to give me a wink.

“What?” I asked desperate not to be late but curious.

“Well he’s not too hard on the eyes if you know what I mean,” She said smiling mischievously. Before I could reply there was another knock on the door only now I knew who it had to be. I opened up the door and used the handle to steady myself.

Zane stood in the door way looking so handsome I almost had to look away. “Are you ready for our walk?” He asked as he looked me up and down the smiled, obviously satisfied.

We went out for an evening stroll near the campus lake. After the half an hour of walking I had to take off my heels to relieve my aching feet. Though most guy would take a girls walking around barefoot with her shoes in her hands a total turn-off, Zane said it was cute.

After a while of strolling we gave up with it and sat by the lake. We talked about every topic from the weather to debating alien life. With every new topic Zane found a new way to make me laugh. “So you actually got fired from fry cook,” I said giggling flirtatiously and dipping my toe into the water.

“Yes, a bit embarrassing isn’t it?” He replied laughing with me.

“Maybe you should try pro wrestler,” I said, “You
took down my attackers pretty well,” I add laughing awkwardly. Zane’s smile disappeared masked with a new serious face.

“You shouldn’t joke about that,” He said pulling his feet out of the water.

“I didn’t mean to make you upset,” I said getting up and brushing myself off and mentally kicking myself for ruining the mood.

“I just don’t want you getting hurt again,” He said looking over as Stephanie and her cronies walked out. “We should go now,” He said grabbing my hand and pulling me over to the opposite door.

“That’s right you better run,” Tyler yelled. Zane’s back stiffened and his body began to tense.

“Ignore him, let’s go,” I said uselessly trying to pull him into the building.

Chapter 4

I just stood there for while, processing everything that just happened. I thought I was going to stand there all night until I heard the night wardens. Knowing how much trouble I’d be in if I was caught up and about past curfew, I quietly slipped into my room.

I did a quick scope of the room, noting that
most of the mess had vanished, a good sign. My eyes fell upon Sierra who was quietly snoring, fast asleep, in dream world now. Then I realized how nice she’s been she gave me advice, cleaned up my mess, and didn’t fuss over me leaving. Maybe all roommates are like that, though I’d never know, I’ve been stuck with Stephanie my whole life.

I pulled off my shoes and slipped under the warm sheets. Not bothering to change because I smelled like him, I closed my eyes and before I knew it I was dreaming. But I realized all to soon that I wasn’t having a dream, no, I was having a nightmare.

Chapter 5

I was falling into a never ending dark abyss. When my feet hit the ground, my knees buckled and I fell forward onto a hard, rough surface. I felt the tiny rocks underneath me and came to the conclusion that I was lying on gravel.

I pushed myself up with my hands, spitting mud and pebble out of my mouth. I finally got it together enough to stand. As I looked around I spotted a light in this pit of never ending darkness. I took a step forward but feeling my knees turn to jello I just sat down. I was about to try standing again when I saw a figure approaching me. “You’re one of them,” He said his voice deep and rough, he scared me and his voice sent shivers down my spine.

“One of what?” I asked deeply confused by his accusation.

“To powerful….deadly…..must die,” His voice was low and hushed and as I tried to hear what he was saying I began to grasp what his previous words were.

“Must die? What are you-” But he cut me short as he pulled a knife out of his long trench coat and lunged forward at me. I closed my eyes and screamed, sounding even more terrified then I actually was. I braced myself for the blow, I even felt the knife pierce my skin and sink deep down my chest and into my arm. I cried out in pain, and readied myself for his next attack when I was pulled out of my nightmare, and everything disappeared.

Chapter 6

I bolted straight up in bed. I was completely tangled blankets and was drenched with sweat. I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself but I only managed to make myself hyperventilate. “I tried to wake you up,” Sierra said startling me with her presence and making me jump. “Did I wake you up?” I asked, feeling like the worst roommate ever.

“To be honest, I doubt there’s anyone who you didn’t wake up within a mile from here,” She said turning on a lamp so we could see better.

“Was I that bad?” I asked as I started to untangle myself from my mess of blankets.

“ Let’s just you would win the part of horror movie scream girl, hands down,” She said trying to lighten my mood, but not getting very far. I couldn’t even bring myself to smile, I was still too stunned from my crazy dream to respond how I normally would. “Probably not the first time you’ve heard that before though, right?” She asked snapping me back to reality.

“Yeah it’s definitely not, say what time is it?” I asked desperate not to go back to sleep, no matter what the time was.

“About 5:00, but if you want company I can stay up with you,” She said climbing onto my bunk, as if to prove her point. “ Whoa! That’s one nasty cut you have there!” She said then pointed to my chest, then moving her finger in the air down my arm as if the trace the cut in the air. I followed her gaze down to my right arm where a long, deep, red cut was present. I heard Sierra gasp as she too just realized that it was still fresh and gushing blood. “God! How did that happen? Is that fresh? Do you need to see the nurse?” She asked talking so fast her words were jumbled together.

“I don’t know how it happened, yes to it being fresh, no to having to see the nurse.” I replied having already spent an hour earlier in the day in the infirmary I wasn’t looking forward to spending another.

“Are you sure? It looks pretty deep. What if you need stitches?” She asked observing how far the cut went into skin, which was a fairly great amount.

“No, I’m fine really I’m-,” I started but I was cut off by a loud click and our door swinging open. Ms. Kelly stood in the doorway dressed in her nightgown and looking slightly disheveled. In her right hand she held a key and in the other she clutched a cell phone. Her fingers were resting on the phones key pad, ready to dial at any sign of danger. She silently put the key back into her pocket then produced a flashlight from her pocket to replace it. She clicked it on and a bright light flashed Sierra and I in the face, then it clicked off. She walked over and flicked our light switch so our room came to life.

I took a moment to examine my arm in the light. Sierra was right, I would definitely need stitches. But I wasn’t concerned about that, I was concerned why I had a mark on my arm in reality when I got cut in a dream. I heard Ms. Kelly gasp and I looked up to see her frightened eyes bulging as she saw my arm. “Oh My! Summer, why don’t you let me help you climb down and then we need to get you to the nurse,” She said grabbing my good arm and helping me down from my bunk.

Ms. Kelly didn’t let go of me until I was lying down, safely on the nurses bed. She kept the frightened look on her face the whole time the nurse ran tests. She only left the room once, to call my parents. When my parents arrived things began to get out of control. My dad demanded to know who did it, and my mother wanted to know why they did it. When I didn’t answer either of them my parents panicking began to turn quick to anger, and they ended up leaving me alone awhile so they could cool down.

Chapter 7

As I stumbled down the hallway, I took a good look at everyone passing by. Even though I’d dreamt his face, it seemed so familiar, so familiar I’d almost convinced myself that he was real. Almost. But deep down, my sanity remained, and I knew that man or no man, dreams are dreams, not reality. But that still didn’t explain the cut. I was still trying to figure out a logical reason about my cut when I stumbled into a chest so solid with muscle it could be mistaken for a wall. I knew a chest this buff could only belong to one person, Zane.

I flirtatiously flipped my hair without looking up and said, “Why hello there stranger,” in the sexiest voice I could manage. But when I looked up expecting to see Zane’s familiar bright blue eyes I found myself, instead, looking into a pair of beautiful sea green eyes.

“Pardon me, I wasn’t watching where I was walking,” He said his voice ringing like chimes.
“Oh, um, no that’s fine, so are you an exchange student?” I asked referring to his slight British accent.

“No, legal American,” He replied making my cheeks flush bright red in embarrassment.

“Do you need help getting somewhere?” He asked after an uncomfortable silence.

“Oh, no, just heading down for breakfast,” I replied.

“Well,” He said as a mischievous grin made itself present on his face, “that’s exactly where I’m going. May I escort you?” He asked bowing down like a English gentlemen.

“Sure,” I said laughing at my, oh so clever response as he links his arm through mine and we walk down the hallway catching many glances, but to caught up in talking to care.

Chapter 8

“So what’s your name?” I asked between mouthfuls of food.

“Kyle Landon,” he said, “and you must be Summer Charad.”

“Indeed I am ,” I said not stopping to wonder how he knew who I was.

We talked small talk, about things like the weather and upcoming exams. Kyle was funny, and when I laughed, the smile didn’t feel fake on my face. He almost made me forget about the man’s face. Almost, but not quite.

“ So how’d you get that nasty cut?” He asked smiling innocently but there was something hidden behind his expression that made the hairs on back stand on end. I opened my mouth to tell him my story/lies but found I couldn’t speak when I looked across the cafeteria. There Zane stood. Pain visible across his face, it hurt me to think that I may be the cause of that pain. But I haven’t done anything wrong

, I thought to myself, I was only talking to Kyle and it’s not like we’re dating anyways.

“Excuse me,” I said to Kyle as I got up and started walking towards Zane.

As I got closer I realized that I’d mistaken his expression for pain when instead it was panic. I quickened my pace and as soon as he saw me coming he quickly hurried over to me. “Are you okay?” the tone of his voice so urgent that it worried me.

“Yeah, of course I am,” I said my eyes looking at him question, “I’m fine,” I said again, pulling off my cardigan and fanning myself.

“Woo! It is really humid in here, want to go grab a drink or something?” I said about to start walking toward the drink cooler until I saw the look on his face, then stopped abruptly. “What now?” I asked feeling a bit annoyed.

“How did that happen, and in what world is it ‘ok’?” He demanded motioning to the ugly, jagged cut that would forever remain on my chest and drag down to just above my elbow. “I’m serious Summer!” Zane said his expression stony.

“Hey SS have a good sleep?” Stephanie said strutting past us, laughing with her crew of robots, who of course thought she was hilarious.

“SS?” I asked regretting opening my mouth as soon as the words were out. Stephanie halted and spun around
to face me.

“ I only have 3 things to say to you,” She said and her robots held back giggles of anticipation.
“1. You do not under any circumstances talk to me. I talk and you listen. “2. SS is for Summer’s Scars because of that ugly marking you have now,” She said pausing to allow anyone watching to laugh at me then continued,” and 3. You better watch your back because this is my school and no way in Hell are you going to take it from me.” And with that she flipped her hair over her shoulder and strutted away, shaking her hips so much I thought she was going to ‘booty bump’ one of her cronies but they quickly moved out of her way.

Chapter 9

“Look can we just talk about this later?” I asked, “class is going to start soon.” Then, as if to prove my point, the bell rang and students began to slowly clear the premises.

“We have every class together, I’m sure you could explain on the way,” Zane said staring at me with those bright blue eyes of his that sparkled in a way that made me catch my breath and I couldn’t help but cave.

“O.k.,” I said beginning to walk with him to our first class.

Then I told him everything. I blurted my entire being to him and he just nodded and never interrupted me or told me I was crazy. It took me all day to tell him the full story and when I was finally finished he was walking me to my room.

“You lied to Ms. Kelly,” he said.

“Yes,” I said wondering for a moment if he was going to tell her.

“But you didn’t lie to me,” he said. It wasn’t a question, simply a statement but I answered him anyway.

“No, I didn’t. I told you the complete and totally insane sounding truth.”

“Why?” He asked cutting me off and turning around to face me. “Why didn’t you lie to me?” He asked again looking at me with questioning eyes.

“Because I don’t have to,” I blurted and then without thinking I continued, “when I’m with you I don’t have to pretend I’m something I’m not, you don’t judge me,” I said smiling up at him.

“No, no I can’t judge you Summer,” He said stepping in closer to me, “not when your personality is so bright and colorful.” I blushed deeply; I’d never had a guy compliment my personality so greatly. “You’re beautiful Summer, you know that?” Zane said staring at me with such awe that I had to look away.

“You don’t mean that,” I said looking down and shrugging shyly.

“No, I really do,” He said and as his words sank in I leaned into him and closed my eyes.

When our lips met there was a kind of passion there that I’d never even imagined. He kissed me gently as if he was afraid he’d hurt me but as I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my body against his, his kissing became more powerful and urgent.

“I hate to interrupt your um personal yet still public ‘hangout’ but I kind of want to get into my room,” Sierra cleared her throat shyly as my cheeks took on a new rosy color and I untangled myself, unfortunately, from Zane.

“Thanks,” She said as she stepped around us and went into our room.

“That was embarrassing,” I said putting my hands over my face to cover my bright red cheeks.

“I think it was worth it,” He said pulling me close and wrapping his arms around me.

“I should go talk to her, she looked kind of upset,” I said sighing.

“Yeah, okay. Hey listen, if you have another dream like that tell me, okay?” He said, his face suddenly serious again.

“Yeah, of course,” I said, “well I’ll talk to you later,” I said giving him a quick peck on the cheek and opening my door and stepping in.

I closed the door behind me quickly, but not quickly enough to catch the movement in the shadows right where Zane and I had been standing just seconds ago. Was someone spying on us? I wondered silently but then forgot all about my dreams, and creepy shadow figures. Instead I just concentrated on my new best friend.

Chapter 10

Sierra and I talked for awhile and turns out she was fine, just a little homesick. Her mother was on vacation in Panama and doesn’t know the first thing about a cell phone so Sierra hasn’t talked to her in over two weeks. We talked more, and I tried to comfort her but there was an awkward silence in the air. “So,” She said breaking the uncomfortable silence, “are you and Zane a ‘thing’ now or what?” She asked and I realized I wasn’t really sure.

Yeah, I like him and I am quite sure he likes me too, heck just hours ago we’d been kissing, but does that really mean he’s mine?

I was positive that Zane wasn’t interested in anyone else but me, but did that mean he actually wanted to be with me? My head began to spin as questions began forming and multiplying in my head.

“Um, Earth to summer?” She asked pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Oh, yeah,” I said sounding really stupid and unsupportive.

“Yeah you’re a couple or yeah your back on Earth?” She asked making me giggle.

“Yeah I’m back on Earth, as for the other question you know as much as I do,” I said feeling totally confused.

Sierra must have noticed my sigh because she laughed and said, “ Well I guess we’ll find out with time to come,” and then quickly dropped the topic, thankfully.

“I’m kind of tired so I’m going to take a nap,” I said climbing up onto my bunk and snuggling down under my blankets. As I laid down my head and closed my eyes I fell asleep almost instantly into what I hoped was a dreamless sleep.

Chapter 11

I dreamed I was lying down. Whatever I was lying was hard and odd, my guess was a slab of concrete. There must be torches or candle around me, I thought silently, because I can feel the heat radiating from something to me. I opened my eyes and saw my guess was surprisingly accurate. I was lying on what look like a bed of rocks and ceremonial candles glowed in the dimly lit room.

“So you return,” said a distinctly familiar voice and my shoulders tensed as I felt a stab of fear. I whipped my head around and bravely met his piercing green eyes.

“As do you,” I said making sure to keep the trembling fear out of my voice.

“No,” he said smiling darkly, “I’ve been here, it is you who chooses to keep returning.”

“You’re Wrong!” I said sounding like a defiant little girl.“I don’t want to be here! I don’t want you here!” I yelled sitting up more and noticing that his face had a look of amusement on it.

“Oh I’m sure you don’t,” he said, “but you don’t really have a choice, do you?” and with that he lunged at me and grabbed my wrist. Using his hold on my wrist he flipped me over and made my head smack against the hard concrete.

“Get off of me!” I said kicking and punching blindly.

When I made contact I heard him gasp and felt his grip loosen on my arm. I took advantage of his weakened grasp, and slipped my arm from his grasp while he tried to recover from my blow. I ran as fast I could down the hallway till I reached a large wooden door. I flung it open and then everything went black and the only thing left of the dream was a small cut on the back of my hairline and an odd looking bruise on my wrist.

Chapter 12

The rest of my sleep was surprisingly peaceful. When I awoke it was still dark out and my clock read 5:45 A.M. Had I really only slept that long? It’d seemed a lot longer than a mere 7 hours. I sighed, it was to early to call Zane and no one else knew the true story.

My phone vibrated against my thigh from the inside of my sweats pocket. I pulled it out and peered tiredly at the ultra bright screen. I had over 7 voicemails in my inbox and all of them were from my parents. I sighed as I listened to them, each more panicked than the first. All they did was worry, even when I was young they were always worriers. I swear my mom could get an ulcer just from me arriving late for something.

I knew it was early, well very

early, but I hurried and dialed their number, knowing that they wouldn’t rest until I called. It barely even rang once before my mom picked up. “Summer? Summer is that you? Are you okay? What took you so long, honey?” My Mom’s questions were coming so fast they began to merge and I decided to just wait until my mom was done talking. When she finished talking she sounded tired and out of breath.

“Summer, are you there?” she asked and before she could start babbling again I quickly answered, “Oh yeah, I’m here mom. Don’t worry, I’m fine,” I said but looking down and seeing my wrist made me shift guiltily.

“How’s the cut healing?” She asked and from the exhaust in her voice I guessed she’d been up all night worrying about me.

“Oh Mom! It’s fine, actually it’s just a scar now. You’re the one who I’m worried about! You need to get some rest,” I said feeling, not for the first time, like I was the mother and she was the daughter.

“Oh, honey I guess you’re right, I probably should get some rest,” She muttered mostly to herself. “Well I’ll let you go now honey, I just wanted to make sure you were alright, call me if anything else happens, and take care honey.”

“Bye mom,” I said then hit the end call.

I hadn’t meant to make my talk short with her but she’d sounded exhausted and I still needed to call Zane. I thought of how worried Zane would be and that I shouldn’t rule out the possibility of him rushing over here. So I decided against just calling him right away and instead grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom to take the longest bubble bath ever recorded.

Chapter 13

By the time I got out of the tub, and had myself looking ‘presentable’ it was 7:30. I figured I’d given Zane enough time to sleep in, so I grabbed my cell and started to dial his number. “It’s a little early for calls, don’t you think?” Sierra said sitting up drowsily sitting up and giving me a questioning look.

“Oh, did I wake you up?” I asked, completely avoiding her question.

“No, my alarm did,” she said matter-of-factly then added, “and you didn’t answer my question.”

I sighed, Sierra really was a good person. Heck! She was the greatest roommate a girl could ask for. Didn’t she deserve the truth? Yes she did, unfortunately I wasn’t brave enough to tell her. So I did what I’d been doing ever since I had that first dream. I lied.

“Yeah, it’s still pretty early but Zane wanted me to call him right after I woke up,” I said, which wasn’t a complete lie.

“Okay,” She said looking unsatisfied with my answer. Since she was suspicious I knew Sierra would be watching my every move so I decided to make my message to Zane short and sweet.

“Hey Zane, it’s Summer. Yesterday you asked me to call you, you remember that, right? So anyways here I am, call me back if you want to talk more. Bye!” I said and quickly hung up the phone and silently questioned my message. Would he be able to understand what I was telling him? Or would he think I was just a freaky, clingy girl who called guys way to early in the morning?

I sat on my bunk thinking of all the worst case scenarios when Sierra suddenly got up. “I’m going down for breakfast, have fun being hungry,” She said walking towards the door then pausing and turning around. “Though I suppose when your with a guys like Zane, hunger doesn’t matter, neither does the truth,” And with that she walked out.

“Ugh!” I said exasperated, “I’ll have to deal with her later. She really does have a lot of reasons to be mad at me. I guess I can’t blame her. Oh goodness. I’m talking to myself.” I sighed; maybe I’d really lost it. Heck! I think anyone might act rather insane after having a dream like mine.

“Sometimes we talk to ourselves when we feel like no one is there to listen.” Zane’s voice surprised me so much I nearly jumped and I had to catch my breath as he continued from where he was standing in the doorway. “You know I’m always here if you need someone to listen,” He said stepping in and closing the door behind him.

“Of course I do,” I said turning around and was yet again shocked by his extreme beauty.

“Pardon me,” He said reminding me of an English gentleman from the 1800’s. “But your message has left me a bit confused. I’m afraid I don’t understand what you were trying to tell me.” He finished, his sparkling blue eyes tainted with looks of confusion.

“Yes,” I said pausing to get my bearings, “and I have a lot to tell you.” And with that I started to tell him my story, a story that was so utterly and unbelievably strange that I myself doubted it was true.

Chapter 14

When I finished we just sat there. I hoped Zane would understand, that he would have a solution to my nightmares, but he just sat there. Unmoving and silent. “You said you hit your head, are you okay?” he asked finally, breaking to uncomfortable silence.

“Yeah, it’s just a little sore,” I said then unconsciously rubbed my wrist then grimaced from the applied pressure. I checked to see if Zane had noticed but he wasn’t look at me. He was looking straight ahead of him, and there was a distant look in his eyes, almost as if he was blocking out this world and was entering another.

“What do you think they are?” I asked and as soon as I spoke the words I saw fear flash across his face. But as quickly as it came, it was gone, replaced with a calm, preserved look.

“Summer, they are simply bad dreams,” He said, and with every word my heart began to crumble. “It’s childish to think that they are anything more than that,” He said his voice cold and harsh.

“How do you explain my injuries then?” I demanded beginning to feel my pulse quicken like it always does when I get angry.

“You’re a restless sleeper,” he said, his voice still calm and emotionless.

“You don’t get it!” I shouted at him, feeling tears begin to form in my eyes. Why had I thought he would understand? Yes, He’d listened once but did he really care or even understand? No, no he didn’t care.

“Summer, it’s childish to fight about this,” He said.

“What happened to being here? What happened to listening?!” I yelled feeling the tears begin to spill out over my eyes.

“I have listened Summer, let me know when you have something other than childish tales to tell me,” And with that he walked out, leaving me standing there, tears running down my face, and my heart broken in two.

Chapter 15

When Kyle found me I was lying on the floor sobbing and tears streaked my face. “Summer? Summer, what’s wrong?” he asked walking over and crouching next to me.

“Life,” I sobbed. Kyle sighed and pulled me close into his comforting embrace and there we sat for hours. I sat there, with the comforting smell of Kyle’s cologne and I cried. I cried for the hurt of Zane’s words, for the fear that haunted me every time I went to sleep, for the hatred that radiated at me from Stephanie and most of all for the confusion of why it felt so right in his arms, Kyle’s arms.

But aren’t I Zane’s girl?

I doubted I was, after the talk we’d just had, and after what he said, I wasn’t sure if I still wanted to be his girl. After hours of crying and self pity I got up and began wiping my smeared mascara off my face. “Are you feeling and better?” Kyle asked taking the washcloth from me and carefully removing the rest of my make-up.

“I just feel num now,” I said as he wrung the cloth out and threw it into our hamper.

“And that’s good, right?” He asked, turning to face me.

“It’s neither good nor bad. It just means I’m done with my pathetic self pity,” I said.

“Sometimes we deserve self pity,” he said stepping towards me. “What happened to your wrist?” He asked and though his words made me want to break down into tears again, I stood strong, and repeated the words that just hours ago had broke my heart.

“I’m a restless sleeper.” With that I grabbed my purse and headed for the door.

“Summer, where are you going?” Kyle asked beginning to follow me.

“I’m sorry but I have some unfinished business that I need to take care of,” I replied and feeling as cold as ice I strode out of my room, leaving Kyle just standing there, just as Zane and Sierra had left me.

Instead of sticking around with Kyle, the easy choice, I was choosing to go to the place I wanted to go least. It wasn’t the easy thing to do, but I knew it was something I was going to have to do sometime. So as I walked toward Stephanie’s room I took deep breaths, trying to build up my confidence, I was going to need it.

Chapter 16

As I made my way towards Stephanie’s, the hairs on the back
of my neck began to stand on end, and it had nothing to do with the lack of heat. A little ways down the hallway I recognized my old rooms familiar door and stopped wearily in front of it.

As I knocked on the solid, wood door, I held my breath, silently hoping that she wouldn’t answer. But as fate would have it she was there, and did answer. She swung the open the door and I saw by her frustrated expression that she wasn’t exactly happy to see me. “What do you want?” She asked.

“I wanted to talk,” I said and I barely got my last word out before she snidely replied, “Well I’m busy.” As the words left her mouth an incredibly handsome boy made his presence known by coughing.

“I was just leaving anyways,” he said getting up and walking over to us.“I’m Lance, and you must be Summer,” he said and I briefly wondered how he knew my name but then followed his gaze to the long, jagged scar that lie permanently across my chest. It was visible due to the tank top I was wearing and I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. “Well I must get going,” he said and with that he grabbed his backpack off of Stephanie’s bed then said, “Next week, same time, Okay Steph?” He said and after she gave him a nod he quickly walked out.

“Don’t like guys with broken noses?” I asked referring to the fact that she was dating Tyler yet had Lance in her room.

“As if it’s any of your business, but if it was I’d tell you he’s just a tutor,” she replied and I saw Stephanie’s frown begin to lessen, without an audience, Stephanie was somewhat nice.

“You said you want to talk,” She said walking over to admire herself in her mirror.

“Yeah, well you know Zane right?” I started but stopped quickly as she whirled around with an angry look on her face.

“If you think I’m going to sit here and listen to your stupid romance issues with your jerk of a boyfriend, then you’re crazy,” She said then walked over to sit in her chair, as if her last has taken all of her energy. I wasn’t surprised by her outburst, after rooming with her for a year I was used to them, so naturally I knew how to get her to be nice, or at least civil, again.

“Ok listen,” I said and then took a deep breath and began to do my best impersonation her that I could. “1.) I totally didn’t mean to offend you, 2.)There’s no way that he’s my boyfriend, and 3.)Why would I want relationship advice for me and Zane, when I’m mad at him?” As I finished I knew it’d worked because she began to giggle, something she rarely ever does.

“Well done,” She said and flashed me one of her
winning smiles before she continued, “so if it’s not about relationships with Zane, then what is it?”

“Well,” I started questioning whether I should confide fully in her of not, but my mind urges me one, so I continue. “Sometimes he’ll act like a different person, and one day he’ll understand and another, he won’t,” I said and was surprised to see her shifting uncomfortably, a sign she was either nervous or guilty which are also two things that rarely occur with her.

“What?” I asked and her eyes flashed up to meet my gaze.

“Oh well, it’s just,” She started.

“Yes?” I asked trying to get her to hurry up and spit it out.

“Zane’s a guy, guys act like that sometimes,” She replied but I know that not what was on her mind and I feel my temper begin to flare up.

“Really? You too? Why is everybody treating me like a moron and thinking I can’t see that their hiding stuff from me? Why can I tell no one the truth, because no one understands? Why?!” I yelled at her and I can tell that I’ve surprised her with my outburst.

“Look Summer, this is why nobody tells you anything, because you just blew up at me without even asking what I’m hiding. Maybe I would’ve told you. Ever think of that?” She asked and then smiled smugly at me.

“Ok, I’m sorry, maybe getting the crap kicked out of me, by you and your group, has been messing with my manners,” I replied and I felt my temper beginning to rise even higher.

“Ignoring that last comment, I’ll tell you all that I can, which isn’t a lot, but it’s more than Zane’s telling you,” She said and her words about Zane felt like she was firing a gun straight to my heart. Why should Stephanie a girl who hates my guts, tell me more than a guy who thinks I’m ‘special’? Though I doubt anything he said then is still what he thinks now.

“All I can tell you is that Zane knows more than he’s letting on,” She said and then watched me closely as if to see how this news would me react.

“How do you know?” I asked and though I sounded like an annoying child I didn’t care as long as I got the answers I’d been waiting for.

She sat up straighter in her chair and smoothed her dress before she answered, “I know because I also know the information he’s keeping from you, he told me. Not recently of course, but either way at one point he told me and I know. I’m sorry but that’s really all I can tell you.” She said and I can sense that she’s telling me the truth.

“Thank-you Stephanie” I said as I turned and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” she asked as I pulled open her overly decorated door.

“I need to talk to someone else about something that’s somewhat normal, I can’t deal with all this other drama right now,” I said and with that I waved goodbye and walked out.

Chapter 17

As I made my way down the hallway I tried to clear my mind from all the questions that were already starting to form in my head. Just relax

, I told myself as I headed towards Ms. Kelly’s office door, She can’t possibly know you lied, Zane wouldn’t tell her. Of course he wouldn’t…Would he?

I wasn’t sure.

When I reached the door I knocked timidly and then waited until a flustered looking Mrs. Brown opened the door. Mrs. Brown, the over-worked secretary for Ms. Kelly, was a short, cute, younger woman, in her mid 30’s, with short cropped black hair, soft, soft brown eyes, and a pearly white smile. Everyone wondered why sweet Mrs. Brown had applied to be Ms. Kelly secretary, but whenever a student asked her about it she’d simply smile and reply, “Why, I can’t imagine living without you kids life,” in her soft, overly peppy voice that reminded me of a cheer squad anytime I heard it.

“Oh Summer, come in dear. I’m assuming you’ve come
to talk with Ms. Kelly?” She asked and as I nodded she quickly continued on. “Yes, of course you are. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until after she’s finished with the mandatory punishment for today,” She said and then after motion for me to take a seat, began quickly straitening the papers on her crowded desktop.

As I took a seat in one of the waiting chairs my
curiosity got the best of me and I turned back towards Mrs. Brown. “Mandatory punishment?” I asked. She’d finished organizing her desk and had moved on to filling out paperwork before she answered.

“Oh yes dear, in fact she’s in there now with that awful trouble maker, Tyler Droda,” she said shaking her head in disgust.

“What’s Tyler down here for?” I asked pretending that I thought it was unusual for Tyler to get into trouble.

“Well, originally he was called down to receive punishment for the violence he exploited on you,” She said and I made a mental note to ask Stephanie how she and the rest of her group got out of their punishment. “But then,” she continued, “There was the issue of that fist fight, and now that Zane boy’s down here too,” She said and her last words made my heart squeeze. I wasn’t ready to see Zane yet but as Ms. Kelly’s door swung open I knew if didn’t matter what I wanted.

As the door swung open wider I saw Ms. Kelly step out and hand both Tyler and Zane a green slip of paper before ushering them out of her back office. Green…

I wracked my brains trying to think back to our old school handbook. What does green mean?

I thought to myself impatiently. Suspension? Expulsion?

At the moment I didn’t which I was hoping for more.

As the boys walked out Zane’s sparkling blue eyes met mine and it took all of my self control to pull my eyes away from his, but not before giving him one of my signature annoyed eye rolls. I heard him sigh and then the door click as it opened and closed behind them. Good, you deserve to go through a little sadness yourself,

I thought moodily to myself.

“Summer, can I help you?” Ms. Kelly asked then flashed me one of her huge smiles that none of the students neither believed nor liked. “Yes, I was wondering if I could get a schedule change?” I asked before I could convince myself not to and then I desperately prayed I wouldn’t break down into tears as I thought about why I wanted it. I want this to get away, away from him.

I thought to myself, I couldn’t bring myself to even think his name of I was sure I’d break down again.

“A schedule change? We don’t normally allow those after the first day of school. Why? Is there a conflict with your schedule?” She asked and my hopes began to plummet. What was I supposed to say, my boyfriend/ex/friend, or whatever he is, is being mean? That I don’t want to face him because I’m embarrassed and mad that he doesn’t believe my crazy stories?

“No, there’s not really a conflict but I’d really appreciated if I could change it, not to different classes, maybe just a different order?” I asked, trying to use my most innocent, sweet girl voice. “Normally the answer would automatically no,” She said in her normal no-feelings-spared, harsh tone, “but I realize that you’ve been through a lot and if this will help you out, I suppose I could bend the rules a bit,” She replied and even though she’d just agreed to what I’d asked I couldn’t help but feel sad, and I still didn’t get why she always felt dangerous and untrustworthy even when she’s smiling at me like she is now.

“I’ll have your new schedule sent to your room sometime tomorrow, since it’s the weekend you won’t have to worry about missing classes, you’ll start on Monday,” She said as she hustled me out of her door. As I left I headed for the door I waved at little Mrs. Brown as she began filing paperwork. She gave me a quick smile and then quickly got back to work. What a hard working little women,

I thought to myself as I abandoned the cool office air for the warm hallways, then quietly jogged till I reached my room.

As I flung the door open I noticed that Sierra was still gone and the Kyle had left. Good

, I thought to myself, I want to be alone anyways

, but as I flung myself down, onto my bed, I knew that was a lie. I wanted my friends to be there with me, I wanted Zane there, and I especially did not want to be alone. I curled up into a ball and pulled the covers up as far as they’d go. It was still early, 6:00 P.M., but I was so exhausted that I forgot about the time and gave in to the drowsiness that was taking me over.

Chapter 18

When I opened my eyes I was laying a green meadow. The ground beneath me was covered in beautiful flowers and bright green, grass. I laid there basking in the warm sun and almost drifted off until I heard soft footsteps in the plush grass surrounding me. I quickly sat upright and found myself staring at a beautiful little boy. He had dark hair, and beautiful, familiar looking brown eyes. He looked about 5 or 6 years old, and his face held a very white smile, teeth and all.

He raised his tiny hand and waved at me. I laughed joyfully and picked the little boy up and spun him around until we were both dizzy and doubled over in laughter. ‘Such a cute little boy,’ I thought to myself, ‘with his soft black, his perfect features, and his eyes, deep pools of chocolate.’

Now where had I seen those eyes before? Just then he laughed and his laugh, a sweet, innocent, little kid laugh, sounded very familiar also. Then suddenly it seemed as if the little boy was laughing at me, and not with me anymore. Her smiled, as if he was in on some private joke.

Then a thought occurred to me, “Where are we?” I asked and the little boy smiled a devious smile as if he’d been waiting for me to ask this. “The land on eternal youth,” He replied and then motioned for me to look down. “We become children again when we enter this realm,” He said and then, after he motioned again, I looked down and gasped. I was looking down at the tiny fragile little girl’s body of my younger self. I was wearing a frilly dress and my tiny feet were covered with white buckle shoes. I raised my hands and saw that they too were small and fragile looking. I looked even younger than the boy sitting next to me, which made another thought occur to me.

“So what do you really look like?” I asked and as soon as the words escaped my mouth, I knew I was going to regret asking. “Another good question,” The boy said in that terribly familiar voice and then his face began to contort and transform itself. I screamed not because of the gruesome sight but because as I got up to run away, I felt my own skin begin to bubble and transform. I saw the beautiful meadow slipping away and it was being replaced by a terrifyingly familiar all stone room, lit only by the torches the hung on the walls, and the candles that surrounded the slab of concrete in the center of the room.

My screams echoed off the walls as the little boy I’d just laughed with transformed into someone I’d hoped I’d never have to see again. Even though standing next to me was the man from my reoccurring nightmares he wasn’t the one who made me scream. I screamed when I caught sight of the person who was standing in the corner. Zane’s eyes sparkled under the light of torches and I could’ve admired his beauty all day if I hadn’t been terrified, he hadn’t been yelling.

“Get out!,” I screamed at him, wanting desperately for him to leave before he got hurt, but Zane continued yelling at the man, as if I wasn’t even there.
“I thought I told you to stay out of her dreams!” Zane shouted.

“Guardians are supposed to protect and educate, no chastise and endanger. I must say, you’ve done a rather poor job,” The man replied in his usual cold tone and as soon as he got the words left his mouth Zane tackled him to the ground and they began writhing and rolling around on the stone.

By now my age transformation was completely done and I was myself again. I wanted to run, yell scream, do something, but I was frozen in place. All I could manage to do was clamp my eyes shut and as I did so I began to feel the room around me, yet again, slip away. I didn’t want to open my eyes but I forced them open and when I did, I fell into black nothingness.

Chapter 19

My eyes flew open and I sucked in air. At some point during my nap Sierra must have come back because I could make out her soft snores from underneath me. By now my breath was coming in short, uneven gasps and my room seemed to be spinning. Once I had taken enough calming breaths, had plenty of oxygen flowing to my brain, and could see straight again I grabbed my phone and checked the time. It read 11:30 P.M.

I took another deep breath to try to steady my shaking hands and began my text message to Zane.

Look, we need to talk. ASAP. –S

I quickly hit send before I could change my mind and then set my phone back down near my pillow.

I need answers

, I thought to myself, I need the truth. Why am I having these dreams? If they are even considered dreams… What’s Zane hiding? Who is that creepy reappearing guy?

I let out a sigh of annoyance and blinked back tears of frustration as Sierra began to wake up.

“Summer? Was that you?” She asked then seeing the tears in my eyes, which I was trying(unsuccessfully)to hide. She quickly got up out of her bed and began climbing up onto my bunk. “What’s wrong? Did you get hurt again? Or was it just a bad dream?” She asked as she positioned herself at the foot of my bed.

“Well,” I began but was interrupted by my phone ringing. My heart leapt and Sierra, who must’ve seen my excited face, quietly mumbled something about having to take off her make-up, then got down and walked into the bathroom we shared to give me privacy.

“Hello?” I asked when I was finally able to speak.

“Summer, It’s Zane, I got your message,” He said and there was almost a hint of precaution in his voice as he continued, “but I can’t meet with you.”

I frowned when I heard that and couldn’t help but feel my anger from beginning to rise again. “No? Well I’m pretty sure you can talk,” I replied, and even I

shivered at the ice cold tone of my voice.

“Look, can you drop the attitude? It’s not like I don’t want to talk. I’m in detention and we aren’t even supposed to have phones in here but the teacher walked out so I figured I’d risk it.”

“Detention, huh? For what?” I asked and as soon as the words left my mouth I realized why he was there and felt like a complete, utter moron.

“I’m in here for punching a guy who threatened to hurt this really amazing girl. I never would’ve guessed that I’d be the one to hurt her,” he said his words felt like blows to my heart and normally I would’ve been flattered by him calling me amazing, but tonight it just annoyed me.

“Well the ‘amazing girl is looking for answers and, though she may be mistaken, she thinks she deserves something that starts with I’m and ends with Sorry,” I said and then remembering my dream I added, “You could start by explaining yourself.”

“Look, I want to talk Summer, really I do, but I can’t do
this right now, and I’d rather we talked about this face to face, anyways,” He said an I felt my rising anger begin to slip away piece by piece as it always did when I listened to his soothing voice.

“Meet me outside under the big oak at 6:00 A.M. That’s assuming you’re not in detention then?” I asked and I felt a pang of heart break as I remembered when we’d sat by the oak on our first date.

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” He said pulling me out of my flash back.

“See you then,” I said and was about to push End Call when
Zane said, “And Summer?”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“I’m sorry.”

I took a deep breath and replied in a calm, even voice,” We’ll talk later.” Then I hung up on the only guy I’ve ever loved and for the very first time in weeks, fell into a dreamless slumber.

Chapter 20

“Need to talk?” Sierra asked as I curled my hair and got ready for me and Zane’s meeting this morning. “Yeah, I do,” I said, turning to face her. “I’m sorry; I’m probably the worst roommate you’ve ever had. I’ve been super messy, I’m always running out, and I’ve managed to make you want to leave the dorm instead of hanging out with me. I’m really

sorry,” I said and as I finished my apology I noticed she was smiling.

“Look Summer, when I left yesterday morning, I got breakfast and then I went to the study session I go to every Saturday, I wasn’t leaving to get away from you. If anything I think I should be the one apologizing. Even a blind person could see you’ve been living Hell since the first day of school and I should’ve been nicer to you. I guess I just didn’t want any more complications in my life,” She finished and then we sat in silence for awhile until she added, “but then I realized the I’d sacrifice an easy life any day for friendship.”

I turned to face her and saw that she was smiling so I ran over and gave her a hug, which she squeezed back at. “Thanks, that really means a lot,” I said and then I broke the hug to go change into the skirt and tank top that I had set out on our bathroom counter.

I wasn’t really sure why I was getting so dressed up just for a talk, or why I’d gotten up at 5:00 so I could curl my hair before I had to meet with him. Sierra had only woken up around 5:30 when my nervous, shaking hands accidently dropped my make-up case. After seeing my flushed, nervous, face she promised that she’d stay up and keep me company until I had to leave.

As the time ticked away my palms began to sweat and my pulse stared to speed up. What am I going to say?

I thought nervously. I had no idea how to approach the subject of my dreams with him, but I knew that it had to be done.

When I checked the clock, for what seemed like the 25th time in the last ten minutes, and it read 5:53 A.M I decided it was time to start walking over. “Well I better get going,” I said as I grabbed my purse and headed for the door.

“I hope it goes well,” She said and I smiled silently to myself.

“Yeah, me too.” With that I forced myself to pull the door open and start off down the hallway. It was after curfew and I was supposed to be in bed sleeping now, so I had to be very quiet and be on the lookout for any patrolling night wardens.

Finally, after silently creeping down hallways and flights of stairs, I’d made my way to the old oak tree. It was hard to believe that just a week ago we’d had our first date under this same tree. It was so easy then

, I thought to myself, That was before I’d ever had any of these dreams, before I’d ever saw that man’s face.

I sighed and tried to clear my mind as I kicked off my sandals and sat down under the tree’s branches.

I checked my watch and it read 6:01 A.M. He still has time

, I thought silently to myself and then I realized what little sleep I’d gotten in the past week and I felt my eyelids begin to droop. Hurry up Zane,

I thought to myself and then I gave in to my exhaust and I fell asleep against the hard bark of the tree.

Chapter 21

30 minutes later I woke up from my pleasantly, dreamless sleep to find that someone was shaking me by my shoulders and asking if I was alright. They sounded alarmed and I wanted to answer them or at least open my eyes but I seemed incapable of doing either, at the moment. After a few more minutes of shaking and questions I was finally to pry open my eyes and found myself staring at Lance Millers, Stephanie’s tutor. Other than in Stephanie’s room, this was the first time I’d even seen Lance since he was a keep to himself sort of guy, so I was quite surprised that he cared enough to check if I was alright.

“Summer, are you okay?” He asked for what had to be the 30th time and finally I was able to make my lips work.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I said sitting up and then realizing Zane wasn’t there I added, “Just disappointed.”

“About Zane?” He asked and must’ve notice my surprised expression because he then said, “I can explain.”

“Go ahead,” I said and then motioned for him to sit down with me under the oak, since my legs still felt like jelly.

“Though you might not know it, I’m Zane’s roommate,” He began, “so I obviously know he’s been in a bit of trouble lately.” He said casting me a glance before he continued.
“Zane told me he was supposed to meet you today, but see, he ran into a bit of a problem. “The Night wardens were literally guarding the outside of our door. “They said the he wasn’t leaving the room for any purposes until his punishment was done,” He said and then seeing how I was still confused he began to elaborate more.

“But see, me, being a tutor and all, they’ll let me out early just as long I tell them the right stuff. “I told them Stephanie had a project due today and this was the only time we could work on it, and they bought it,” He said, smiling proudly at his own cleverness. “He asked me to find you and give you this, since he couldn’t make it,” Lance said then produced a folded piece of paper out of the messenger bag slung over his shoulder, and held it out to me.

I took it and carefully unfolded it and held it to where it was only in my view, though Lance didn’t look as if he were trying to read it either way. I took a deep breath and began reading.

Dear Summer,

I regret missing our date. You must understand how sorry I am. Not just for missing our date, but for every time I’ve ever hurt you. I know how confused you must be and I promise I’ll explain everything. I get out of detention at 8:30 P.M. tonight, afterwards is the only time I’m able to go anywhere without being followed by wardens. I’ll meet you outside my dorm, it’d #43. You don’t have to come and I’ll understand if you don’t, but I’d like a chance to explain this, if you’ll let me. And please remember: I could never judge you, and I hope your opinion on that hasn’t been swayed by my ignorance.

Yours Truly,

Zane

I took a deep breath to steady myself so that I didn’t burst into tears. He really cares

, I thought to myself, tonight I’ll get the answers I’ve been waiting for

. But then reality sunk in and my smile faded. Has my opinion on him changed?

I wasn’t sure. As I muttered somewhat of a thank-you to Lance, I folded up the letter and started walking back to my dorm.

Chapter 22

On my way back to my dorm I ran into a few night wardens and was forced to quickly scamper off into janitor closets to avoid being caught and sitting through lectures. About 1 hall from my room I heard footsteps coming towards me. The loud clanking on the tiled told my it was a student girl, since none of the faculty nor wardens were allowed to break dress code, which doesn’t include high heels.

Though I was almost positive it was a student, I figured I’d better not risk it and quickly ducked behind a potted plant. As a pair of hot pink stiletto’s made their way around the corner I heard their owner let out a sigh of impatience.

“Would you get up from behind that plant? You look like a moron and I so don’t talk to morons,” She said and between the hot pink heels and the snarky comment I knew it had to be Stephanie who was standing in front of me.

I quickly got up and brushed myself off as she put on lip gloss to her already glossy lips. Once I was done straightening myself up she turned to face me and I could get a good look at her. I Think this is the worst I’ve ever seen her look,

I thought to myself and though her shoes were cute, and her designer only dress was adorable she still looked terrible. Her eyeliner was smudged, her mascara running, there were circles under her eyes and her nose was red and puffy.

“Are you okay?” I asked, not sure how to address the situation with her.

“Tyler and I broke up. In case anyone asks, I dumped him,” She said and then she laughed silently to herself as she absentmindedly rubbed what look like a bruise on her arm.

“What happened?” I asked motioning to the bruise, but she wasn’t looking at me and took it as a question about her break-up.

“I dated an abusive jerk,” She said matter-of-factly then seeing my face, explained. “Tyler was always a hands-on guy, and I knew that, but he was just so mad tonight and he pushed me into my dresser. “He tried to apologize but sometime between me punching him and me kicking him out, he understood that it was over.”

As she finished I looked at Stephanie, really looked at her. She was the girl all girls envied. With her slim build, long legs, naturally tan skin and blonde hair, girls just assumed she had the perfect life, or at least the perfect relationship. But come to think of it, in my 6 years of room and board here I’ve never seen her parents come to visit, not even on the family visiting days. Her brother, Tye, graduated 3 years ago, and even when he was here he refused to acknowledge her. As for her relationship, no one would ever guess that Tyler was abusive, or at least not to her. When I really thought about it, was it really a surprise that Stephanie has a cold, hard, demeanor?

She must’ve notice my staring because as usual, she felt obligated to defend her turf. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” She said snidely and then she smiled. “A love note from the boyfriend?” She asked motion to the letter sticking out of my pocket and then giving me a wink that made us both burst into laughter

“Yeah, but he’s not my boyfriend,” I said, pausing then added, “yet.” Stephanie smiled then checked the polished, designer, diamond watch on her wrist that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.

“30 minutes till breakfast starts, we’d better head back or the warden’s will catch us,” She said and turned to start walking towards her dorm when she added, “I’m sorry about the whole S.S. crap and if you ever tell anyone this I’ll deny it but, I kind of regret not being a better roommate.” And with that she started off down the hall and within
seconds, disappeared into her dorm.

Chapter 23

I stood there for a moment trying to comprehend what had just happened. Stephanie never

apologizes. But hadn’t she done just that? I shook my head as if to clear my thoughts and started off down the hall. By the time I reached my room Sierra had already taken a shower and was waiting patiently for me to return. She’d pulled her short, choppy, blonde hair back in a small bun at the nape of her neck and was wearing a casual shirt and jeans, overall she looked very pretty and very eager to hear about my ‘date’.

I told her about Zane’s note and my meeting with Lance, carefully skimming over any parts that involved crazy dreams or Stephanie.

“Aw I’m sorry you to wait longer now,” She said and then grabbed my purse and threw it to me. “We’d better head down for breakfast, I’m starving,” She said and then, pulling me with her, she skipped off down to the breakfast hall.

*~^~*

The rest of the day flew by quickly and before I knew it I was sitting in my room and getting ready for my meeting, but the clock seemed to moving slower than ever. Around 7:00 a night warden knocked on our door and gave me my new schedule. I thanked them and tried to hide my disappointment as I silently assured myself that I did the right thing by changing my schedule. I opened the envelope and read.

Dear Summer,

I hope this suites your wishes, because I won’t be changing it again. You’ll start these classes Monday.

Best regards,

Ms. Kelly

1. Art
2. Self Defense
3. Dance
4. Lunch
5. ELA
6. Algebra
7. A.P. Chemistry
8. History

I folded up my new schedule and stifled a sigh. I definitely got what I asked for

, I thought to myself, now I have absolutely no classes with him. Why am I disappointed with that?

I didn’t know what the answer was to that last thought so I shrugged it off and turned towards Sierra, who was sitting below my bunk, looking bored. She’d offered to stay up till I got back but I didn’t know how late I’d be out and judging from the dark circles under her eyes, she could use the extra rest.

“No that’s okay, I’ll talk to you in the morning, alright?” I said in what I hoped was an assuring tone as I slipped on my heels and reached for my purse.

“Okay, hope you have fun,” She said and then dropped onto her pillow.

I quietly shut the door behind, so I wouldn’t disturb her and then started off towards the boy’s hall.
Girls technically aren’t allowed to be in the east wing, since that’s where the boy’s dorms are. But since that rule was made, few supervisors enforce it and even fewer students pay it any mind. I was in luck; Zane’s dorm was located on the outskirts of the wing, by the stairs. This way I had an even less chance of getting caught.

My phone buzzed in my pock and I quickly took it out and examined it.

Running Late. Be there soon, Don’t leave. -Z

His text calmed me somehow, almost as if he were actually there, whispering those words in my ear, with that voice that always makes me melt. I put my phone away, leaned against his door and allowed myself to imagine him next to me, lips brushing against mine…

I didn’t have to wait long; only about five minutes of day dreaming had passed before the sound of footsteps brought me back to reality. At first I tensed, thinking of the wardens and how sometime they made their rounds earlier than usual but then listened more carefully and found that even his footsteps were familiar.

When he finally rounded the corner I wanted nothing more than to run to him and feel his strong arms around me, but I stood my ground and silently kicked myself for even thinking that. Aren’t I supposed to be mad him? Just yesterday I was angry enough to get my entire schedule changed, and now I want to run into his arms again?

I silently scolded myself, but as I looked into his sparkling blue eyes I felt that, that really was what I wanted to do. To hurl myself at him and have his arms wrapped around me. I felt my anger slipping away, and though I tried to hang onto it, it was soon gone.

I forced an annoyed look onto my and glared at him as he
approached. I didn’t want him to know that I was secretly yearning to run over and his soft, lips. Apparently, I got the point across because his blinding white smile disappeared once he caught sight of my expression.

“I know I have a lot of explaining to do,” he said and as soon as I hear his voice my glare slipped away and I felt a very unwelcome smile appear on my face.

To make up for my smile slip I added an even icier edge to my voice when I replied, “You certainly do.”
Zane nodded then motioned towards his door. “Lance is tutoring today, this way we can talk alone,” he said and I felt my heart flutter. If just being in the east wing would get me detention, then going into a boy’s dorm room alone was definitely juvenile home worthy. I shrugged off my worries by reminding myself why he wanted us alone. So no one knows his secrets.

After reminding myself of this, I felt my anticipation lessen.

As he shut and bolted the door behind us I took the time to check out his dorm room setup. It was clear which side of the room belonged to who. Lance had his side decorated with photos of him and his family and friends. By his bed he had a few posters of bands like ACDC and Kiss and his desk was meticulously neat.

Zane’s side looked as if no one even roomed there. His desk was completely empty except for his gray laptop and a few stray pens. His walls were completely bare and his closet was empty except for the small suitcase lying at the bottom of it.

He must have noticed my scrutiny because he shifted uncomfortably and motioned to his bed for me to sit.

“Where do I start?” He said after we were both seated. I knew his question didn’t require a response, but I couldn’t resist.

“From the Beginning,” I said and he laughed silently under his breath as if I’d just humored him and then said, “This is going to take longer than I thought,” Then he let out a deep sigh, as if to ready himself, and began.

Chapter 24

“Every few centuries a baby is born with a gift, only they don’t realize they’re gifted until they start socializing with the others, people like them. “You, being one of the gifted, should understand what their gift is,” He said and then seeing my confused face he went on. “When most people dream it’s a figment of their imagination, but when these children dream, it’s reality. “They posses the ability to change all of Earth just when they close their eyes, though almost all of them have no idea how to use their gift like that. “But like always, people fear what they can’t understand, and a group, called The Tanghar, are set for using those gifted children for their own selfish reasons, some of them want to wipe out the gifted race completely. He paused for a moment and though he tried to hide it, I could tell he was nervous about continuing.

“When I was young I was told my parents told me I was born for one reason, and one reason only, and that was to serve faithfully as Princess Laurel McKons guardian. “Miss McKons is one of the most gifted children and therefore considered royalty among your race. “But when I turned 12, about to begin my training, my parents were killed and their dreams died with them. “I was then sent to an orphanage and by the time I started my training it was too late. “They told me I wasn’t qualified to guard royalty, but if my training continued, they’d allow me to guard one the normals.” He cleared his throat and searched my face to see if this term affected me. When I gave no sign of emotion he shifted uncomfortably in his seat and then continued.

“I trained for years and when I was on the brink of quitting, they finally passed me and I was an assigned guardian. “The girl they assigned me to was presumably average so they shipped me off to the board school at which she was attending, no extra training needed. “As always, they had me relatively close in age to her so as to not cause any awkwardness and for backup they sent me where another guardian was, since this was my first assignment. “

“But they underestimated this girl. Both me and my partner were shocked. “None of the normals were supposed to be able to make contact with the Tanghar at all, yet alone so early in the cycle. “We were stunned and after calling in to our main office we were told to deny her gifts, and persuade her to the same.”

“See, when a gifted child, or more frequently
called a lucid child, learns more about their gift, the more endangered they become. “That’s why we were given those instructions, to keep her safe. Only one of us wasn’t careful enough, and she found out more than she should have.” He said and only then did my brain start putting all the pieces together.

“I’m the girl from you story,” I said and then more of the pieces came together. “You knew…This whole time?” I said and felt my anger flaring up.

“Yes, but Summer-“ He started but I cut him off before he could finish.

“You yelled at me and told me I was being childish! “You said I was just a ‘restless sleeper’!” I yelled at him and I wasn’t surprised to see that he was staying relatively calm, like always, but it still annoyed me.

“Yes Summer, I did, but I did it to protect you,” He said staring at me with those bright blue eyes. I continued on as if he hadn’t said anything.

“You told me I could trust you, could tell you anything, yet that whole time you were lying!” I screamed and felt my rationality slipping away, but at this point I didn’t care.

“Summer, Please just-”

“That’s all you do! Lie!” I yelled at him and I furiously wiped at the unwelcome tears that were spilling down my cheeks.

I wanted to get up and run. But where would I run to? I was where I’d wanted to be for the past month and now I was wishing I’d stood him up. I could tell he wanted to comfort me and my steady glare kept him from coming any closer. “I’m sorry…I just thought that Stephanie and told you some of this, she told me you guys talked and I guess I just assumed…” His voice trailed off and his eyes lifted to meet mine.

And that was when I snapped. Any part of sanity that I had left at the moment slipped away and I took a step closer to him. “Stephanie!? So she’s the other one!” I screamed and though Zane was trying uselessly to calm me down, I was way beyond any point that I could ‘calm down’.

“I’m leaving!” I yelled. I pushed past him and headed towards the door but he caught my wrist before I made.

“Summer, Please… I’m sorry for lying but you have to understand-”

“I don’t have to understand anything I don’t want to,” I said furiously then added, “And I said I’m leaving.” With that I push him with my free hand and made contact with his chest, momentarily catching him off guard, he stumbled backwards. That was all I needed. While his grip was weak I slipped free. I quickly unlocked the door, then flung it open and sprinted down the hall as fast as I could with the 6 inch heels I was wearing.

Now that I was finally running, I didn’t know where to go but my feet seemed to have a mind of their own. They carried me back, out of the east wing and made me bolt out of the school and over to the outdoor garden area. Since it was late the pale yellow lights that surrounded the garden were glowing dimly. By now I stopped running and walked over to admire the flowers. It reminded me of the garden my mother and I use to have before we moved, and I was forced to go room and board at my new school.

She used to walk around with me in the early mornings, just as the sun was peeking up over the clouds, and she’d let me quiz her on all the different flower types. I felt a pang of homesickness as I recalled some of the long hours I’d spent at our old make-shift garden. This garden was absolutely stunning in comparison to me and my mothers and I felt myself calming down as I walked around the gorgeous plants.

The roses were a deep red, and by far the most popular flower type in this garden; next to it were Lilly’s in a pastel purple shade. I silently congratulated myself on having remembered almost all the plants names and facts as I scoped out the garden. Though there were hundreds of plants that made up the garden only one type stood out among them all. Zantedeschia. It had always been my favorite flower type because of its tie-die like colors, but my mother had always refused to plant it because of me being so young, and it’s poisonous reputation.

I walked over and sat on a stone near the patch of the colorful flowers. A thought appeared to me and I laughed silently. I know why this was always my favorite now

, I thought silently to myself, because it’s me, in flower form. Bright, colorful, and pretty from far away, but deadly if you get too close.

I was still seething from my talk with Zane but I couldn’t seem to stop laughing at the irony of my favorite flower. I knew it wasn’t really that funny but I kept laughing, I laughed till me sides hurt, till tears were running down my face, and till I was beginning to wonder if I was losing my sanity. When I was finally finished laughing I was out of breath and panting, my sides hurt, and I had no doubt that my eye make-up was probably running. But at the moment, I didn’t really care. I just wanted to sit there and admire my beautiful flowers. That’s when I heard the footsteps.

Chapter 25

My head whipped around fast and all of my muscles tensed. I got up from my perch near the flowers and slowly crept to the center of the garden, where I could get a better view of my surroundings. My sneaking skills could use some work

, I thought to myself as more leafs and stray branches cracked under my feet. My heart continued to thud loudly as I heard more noises around me and at one point, I was positive anyone within 10 feet could hear it.

I was still wearing the bright orange sundress I’d worn to
talk to Zane in, not my best choice of camouflage

, I thought moodily. With my bright orange outfit, high heels in one hand, and spare key in the other, I was beginning to feel like a criminal on the run. Normally, a key wouldn’t have been my first choice of a weapon but it was either that or the spare Kleenex in my pocket, so I went with the metal key.
After what seemed like an eternity of crouching, I finally made it to the center of the garden. Once there, I scoped out my surroundings but didn’t see anything that could’ve made the noises. After several more minutes of searching, feeling foolish and embarrassed, I turned to head back towards my dorm when I came face-to-face to a black hooded figure.

I screamed as loud as my lungs allowed me to until the figure clamped a hand over my mouth. Feeling trapped and suffocated I bit down and didn’t stop until I felt I tasted their blood and they finally released me. As my captor clutched their and cursed loudly their hood fell back and I gasped aloud.

“Kyle? What are you doing here?” I asked and then feeling bad for hurting him, knelt down beside him.

“Damn Summer!” He said and even though he was yelling his voice sounded more playful rather than angry, which was odd since I had

just bit into his hand for no reason.

“I saw you laughing and figured I’d go ask what was so funny but then you went all Nancy Drew on me and started sneaking away, though not very successfully I might add,” he said then gave me a wink as my cheeks turned rosy out of embarrassment. “Then I finally caught up to you and before I can even say anything, you start screaming bloody murder,” he said and seeing me shiver from the cold, offered me his jacket. I took it gratefully and couldn’t help but smile as I inhaled more of his sweet cologne. His scent reminded me of an old childhood memory, familiar and nice, I liked it very much. As we walked back towards the dorms a silence settled between us, it wasn’t awkward though, we spoke more through thoughts than words.

We were almost out of the garden area when he finally spoke. “So which is your favorite?” then seeing my confused expression he explained, “The Flowers. I saw you admiring them, do you have a favorite?” I gave him a smile and motioned for him to follow me as I led him to the patch of Zantedeschia’s. In the moonlight their petals glowed with an orange hue, then thinking of my dress color, I bit my tongue to keep from laughing from this new found similarity.
“That’s Zantedeschia, right?” he asked and I nodded, then catching his smirk asked, “What?” His smile got bigger and seeing his boyish grin made the corners of my mouth turn up also.

“Most girls would’ve led me to roses or maybe lilacs, or even lily’s, but only you would lead me to the only poisonous plant in this entire garden,” he said.

“Sorry to disappoint,” I said frowning slightly at his words and looking down. Catching my reaction he put his fingers underneath my chin and raise my head so I was looking directly at him.

“That’s a good thing, Summer,” he said, a grin spread across my face, “if you were like other girls then guys like me would be hopeless.” He didn’t give me time to wonder what he meant by that because he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the school.

When we passed the school windows I caught a glimpse of my frazzled reflection and gasped in horror. “I look horrible!” I said and desperately tried to wipe away the black smudges from underneath my eyes, and straighten my frizzy hair.

Kyle’s soft hands gently pulled mine from my face and turned me away from the window so that I was facing him. “Relax Summer, you look gorgeous, like always,” he said and I felt a dizzy rush of joy from his words as he pulled me into the building.

As we walked through the hallways Kyle slipped his hand into mine and though I felt a little guilty I didn’t pull away. Why feel guilty?

I thought silently, You never were with Zane anyways.

When we reached the end of the hall that led to my room he pulled me over and gently pushed me against the wall. He leaned in close to me, close enough that I could get another sweet smelling whiff of his cologne. “I don’t know what Zane did to you, “he began and I felt my heart clench at the sound of his

name. “But I tell that whatever it was, it hurt you,” he continued and then paused to gently brush his fingertips over my cheeks bones, making me shiver.

“But I want to make sure you know that I will never

hurt you. No matter what, okay?” he said and by now stray tears had spilled out from the arising of the memories from earlier. I let out a chocked sob and Kyle pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around me. I tried to pull away, insisting that my tears would ruin his shirt, but he held me tight and assured me it was fine.

As I snuggled closer to him I was hit by a major case of déjà-vu. Yet again Zane had made me cry and yet again, Kyle was here to comfort me. Maybe,

I thought, Just maybe, I’ve been falling for the wrong guy all along.

But my heart ached and my throat closed up whenever I even thought about living with someone other than Zane. He’s a part of me now, he’ll always be, but that doesn’t matter. I need to make new parts too,

I thought silently.

We stood there for awhile, locked in our embrace, until I realized how late it was getting. “It’s after curfew and we have school tomorrow so I’d better get going,” I said and Kyle gave my hand one more squeeze before dropping it to my side. I stood on my toes and gave him a peck on his cheek. “Goodnight Kyle,” I whispered as I bent and fumbled in my pockets for my room key. “Sweet dreams, beautiful,” he said and I flinched at the irony of his words but when I looked up to question him, I found myself staring at a blank wall and Kyle was nowhere to be seen. “Sweet dreams indeed,” I muttered quietly then opened my door and quietly shut it behind me.

Chapter 26

As I flung myself down onto my bed I realized that in order to stop my exhaustion I was going to have to sleep, which in turn meant I was going to have to endure one of my ‘dreams’. I sighed, though I wasn’t sure if it was out of exhaust or frustration, and grabbed my purse. A quick check of the clock on my phone told me that it was going on Midnight which normally isn’t very late for me, but I had to start my new schedule tomorrow and I could use all the rest I could get. I’ll just check my messages and then I’ll go to bed

, I thought silently and as if my body were in protest, I let out a huge yawn.

I slowly got up and sat down the computer desk in the corner of my room. I quietly turned it on and flinched when it let out a loud beeping noise. My head whipped around to see if it had woken up Sierra but she was still sleeping soundly. Soon enough, I had my school e-mail up and was logging on. When my account was loaded I noticed that I had five new messages; Two from Zane, One from Stephanie, One from Kyle, and One from my Parents. Looks like sleep’s going to have to wait.

I sighed as I clicked on the message from my parents.

To:SummerCharard From: Linda and George Charard
Dear Summer,

Your mother and I haven’t heard much from you lately. Naturally, we are very worried. It’s been nearly two whole weeks since your last call and we just want to make sure everything is okay. Hope to hear from you soon.

Love you,
Mom & Dad
I sighed, it’s so like them to worry over this,

I thought as I began to compose my reply.

Dear Mom & Dad,

Please stop worrying! I’m perfectly fine, really, there’s no need to stress. Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve talked to you guys, I’ve just been so busy lately. Talk to you soon! Love you guys!
Summer

I clicked send and silently prayed they wouldn’t ask what I was so busy with. One down, four to go,

I thought silently to myself as I clicked on the next message, Kyle’s.

Summer,

I had a great time with you tonight. If you want to hang again text me, my numbers below.

-Kyle P.S. Looking forward to hearing from you, beautiful.

I smiled silently to myself as I added his number to my phone. Three messages left,

I cursed silently under my breath. God I’m tired!

I thought grumpily. Hesitenly, I moved my mouse over the bold, red button at the top of my inbox that read, DELETE ALL. Sighing, I moved my mouse over the three remaining messages, One from Stephanie, and the others from Zane. A soft, annoying voice in the back of my head whispered warnings like, You really should at least see what they said

and It could be important,

but I brushed them off and quickly clicked the bright red button. The messages disappeared from my inbox as if they never existed, and if it was up to me, they didn’t.

Then, just to be thorough, I erased my recycle bin. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath until I let out a sigh of relief. The voice was still there, whispering in the back of my head that I was going to regret doing that, so I put my ear-phones in and turned my I-pod up to a deafening level. I kept laying there listening to my music on blast and cleared my mind of all thoughts until I started to drift into a deep sleep.

Chapter 27

When I opened my eyes I saw that I was surrounded by people, many of which were dressed in formal wear from the 1800’s. The women were clothed in huge ball gowns and had expensive jewels hanging from their necks. The men of the party were dressed in odd looking suits and many of them had their hair slicked back. I wanted to look around more but it was then that it hit me how bad me rib cage was hurting. I looked down and was surprised to find that I too was dressed in old clothing. I wore a light pink ball gown with that waist synched in tightly, corset-style, to show off my narrow waist. I had exquisite looking jewels that were embroidered on the front of my dress that matched the large stones that hung from neck and wrists. I loved the dress, it was gorgeous after all so I tried to push any thoughts of my aching ribcage out of my mind, though my efforts were unsuccessful.

Just as I began to finally stop fidgeting with my dress, in an attempt to make it less tight, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and found myself staring at a very handsome young gentleman. He smiled and extended his arm to me. “May I be honored with a dance Madame?” He said and the way he addressed me as ‘Madame’ made me feel like I was royalty. I nodded eagerly and followed him as he led the way to the dance floor. The young looked very familiar but I couldn’t remember where I knew him from. As we twirled eloquently around the dance floor, all eyes were on us. I laughed in delight when he lifted me up into the air and spun me around then gracefully caught me in a dip, causing many of the guests to gasp in awe.

Still, as the wonderful night went on, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was forgetting something, something important. “You look absolutely stunning tonight,” the young man whispered into my ear as we gracefully swayed around the dance floor, his voice soft and sweet even compared to the music playing. I smiled in spite of myself and then felt a pang of guilt. “I’m terribly sorry sir, and I feel very guilty for this, but I can’t seem to remember your name,” I said then silently added, or if I’ve ever met you. I expected him to be upset or offended but he merely smiled, as if I’d just humored him.

He pulled us to a graceful stop and brushed a strand of hair behind my earlobe before he answered. “Oh Summer, you need not feel guilty, and of course do not have to refer to me as ‘sir’ anymore. We’re on a first name basis.” He said and as he flashed me a brilliantly white smile I shifted guiltily, yet again scolding myself for not remembering a young man as handsome as this.

“Alonzo Montlatzo,” he said and smiled. Alonzo Montlatzo, I thought silently, he definitely fits the royalty-sounding name, I added in my head, taking in all of his flawless features. His soft blond hair was so blond it held a silver cast that was almost mesmerizing. Unlike most of the other men, his hair hung lose and flowing just past his ears. His big eyes held a brilliant gold hue that made it almost impossible to look away from. He dressed in an old fashioned looking suit, like the other gentlemen, he wore a ruffled dress shirt under a brightly floral colored dress vest. On anyone else, his outfit would’ve looked ridiculous and rude but on him it looked sophisticated and well thought out.
Alonzo smiled and grabbing my hand, pulled me off towards one of the back halls. The walls were lit by small torches that hung on the stone walls. As we passed several different wooden doors I began to wonder where we were going and my worries increased once the smooth marble floor started to go uneven underneath my feet. At one point, I stumbled and almost fell but Alonzo’ strong arms caught me before I hit the floor and from then on, he kept his hand on the small of my back, guiding me.

Finally, after a tiresome hour of walking up and down hallways, staircases, and cellars, my aching feet were relieved as we came to a stop in front of an old, polished wooden door. Alonzo produced a fancy looking skeleton key from a pocket in his vest and soon had the door open and was ushering me inside.

Once inside, I scoped the room out. The walls were completely covered in ancient looking paintings. The rest of the room was mostly bare except for the lone chest in the corner. The floor was stone but mostly covered in exquisite, overly expensive looking rugs. Overall, the room made my gut churn and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked examining one of the oldest looking paintings and racking my brains trying to think of what I was forgetting, and why I was having a sickening feeling of déjà-vu. I could feel Alonzo’s golden eyes on the back of my head so I nervously continued to be immensely interested in the devilish painting in front of me. I felt him place his hands lightly on my shoulders and I let out an involuntary shiver and automatically flinched away from his touch. I snuck a glimpse at Alonzo’s face and saw that he was smiling at me with his perfectly straight, and crest white smile.

“There’s no reason to be afraid Summer, I’ve only brought you here to show you something,” He said and started walking towards the lone chest that sat in the corner, motioning for me to follow. At first, I intertwined my fingers with his and followed behind him but then a memory came floating back into my mind. It was one where I was dancing with a little boy, in a magical glowing field. He to, had laughed and danced with me, he had also tried to kill me. I yanked my hand away from his and started to quickly back away from him, towards the door.

Alonzo looked startled at first, and then hurt. “Summer,” he said reaching for my arm, “Please! I’m not one of them! I won’t hurt you!” he insisted as I dodged away from his hands and quickened my pace back to the door. “Wait! Please!” he called after me but he didn’t attempt to grab me again so I continued on my way out the door.

I scurried out as fast as I could while wearing the enormously full ball gown and tried to ignore his pleas as I shut the door behind me but there was one that caught my attention. “I can help you! I can help you get rid of him!” he called after me and I was momentarily stunned by his words. I blinked a few times to clear my thoughts then clamped my eyes shut and imagined my old garden.

When I opened my eyes I found myself staring at the back on my old, falling apart little town house. Oh the days of minimum wage I thought silently, to be honest I preferred our small town house tons better than the new mansion my parents purchased shortly after my dad’s promotion. Around me was our make-shift garden that I used to spend all my time in. I walked around the small garden countless amounts of time until my mind was completely refreshed and Alonzo was out of my head. Tired, I trudged over and laid down on the dangerously-close-to-falling-apart wooden bench that stood in front of a patch of daisies. Daisies, I thought absentmindedly, mothers favorite. With that I closed my eyes and feel asleep next to the small patch of happy childhood memories.

Chapter 28

I woke up to the annoying beeping of my alarm clock and was startled to find myself fully rested. I looked up and over my bunk and saw that I had a cute, blue plaid dress laying out for me to wear. Why did I lay that out? It’s awfully dressy for lounging around…

My thoughts trailed off when my answer hit me. My first day with my new schedule.

I stifled a groan when I rolled over to check my clock and found that I was already running late.

I threw my covers back and hopped down, off my bunk. Where’s Sierra? I thought, puzzled for a moment until I saw her note and picked it up to read it.

Summer, Left early for my study session, hopefully I’ll see you in class. If not, have fun! We’ll talk later, Sierra

I tossed her note into our trash bin and hurried off to take a shower. Though my aching muscles protested, I only allowed myself five minutes to shower and dress. According to my clock, I had ten minutes to get to my first class or risk getting detention.

My damp hair left puddles of water droplets on my wooden floor as I grabbed my bag and cell phone. I hurried out of my room and used all of my will power not to sprint down the hall to my art class. Five minutes now

, I told myself, that’s more than enough time

. I hurried off down the hall to my art class and crossed my fingers in hope that a friend would be there.

When I entered the classroom I saw Mr. Brentol, the much laid back, under qualified art teacher, sat lazily in his chair reading a newspaper. The class around him was quickly turning into a loud, rowdy group but when I entered everyone seemed to quiet down.

As I made my way to the back of the classroom I forced a smile on my face and pretended not to notice that everyone was staring at me. To my right I saw Stephanie, sitting in the corner and laughing quietly with Lance. When she saw me her laughter faded and she raised her hand, beckoning me to come over.

I pointedly swung my wet hair over my shoulder in a forced
impression of her, and continued walking as if she didn’t exist. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her begin to stand up and follow me but Lance put a assuring hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. Whatever he said, it worked, she gave a small, quick nod and then sat back down.

I found an empty seat at the back of the classroom and quickly took my seat. The red head in front of me whipped her head around and gave me a ugly glare. “Why are you here?” she asked and it was then that I recognized her high pitched, nasally voice. Terri Levi, a ex-BFF of Stephanie’s, and an incredibly annoying air head,

I thought to myself moodily. Terri kept her face in an unattractive glower.

“I transferred classes,” I replied and let out a sigh of annoyance as the petite brunette next to here, who I recognized as Emily Bungler, turned my way.

“Yeah, I heard that,” She said, then offered me a carefully polished, dainty hand. “Well it’s great to have you here,” she said enthusiastically as I gave her hand tired shake.

“So I heard you got Tyler to dump Stephanie, how’d you do it?” Terri asked loudly so the several students in the class turned around to stare at me.

I heard the distinct clunk of expensive heels and wasn’t surprised when I turned around to see Stephanie standing behind me, giving Terri a sly smile. “Look Terri, I normally don’t share tips but since it looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the cage, I’ll make an exception,” She said coldly and paused briefly to flash a smile at the surrounding classmates that were giggling at her last insult.
Terri’s smug smile disappeared from her overly make-upped face.

“Have you gone shopping recently?” Stephanie asked, sugar-coating her voice and flashing an innocent smile as her. Terri shook her head and looked down so that her natural red hair fell in her face, hiding most of her face from view. “Well there’s a new sale and you should probably check it out. They’re selling lives, and from what I’ve seen, you could use one,” She finished, her tone icy, and harsh.
Terri opened her mouth to speak but then clamped it shut again as the bell rang and Stephanie strutted back to her seat.

I bit my tongue to keep from laughing at the completely shocked and angry face Terri wore now. Stephanie must’ve noticed my enjoyment because she shot me a wink and then a smile. For a moment, I smiled back and thought about the old days when I would’ve done anything to have her as my friend, but I was quickly brought back to reality when Mr. Brentol cleared his throat and my school day began.

Chapter 29

Mr. Brentol’s slow, mono-tone voice started to fade in and out of my mind as he continued to go over the different types of art with the class. Several of the students around me had dozed off at some point and were now quietly snoring. Lance, who was sitting three rows in front of me, was gazing out the window and started to absentmindedly scribble on the corner of his notebook. Terri sat unmoving in front of me, casting an occasional death glare in Stephanie’s direction. Stephanie, who either didn’t see or didn’t care about the looks, was fidgeting quietly with something in her purse.

I didn’t realize what she was doing until I felt my phone vibrate against my stomach from the pocket of my dress. I quickly glanced up to see if anyone had noticed but Mr. Brentol was still continuing with his lesson and my classmates were still either snoozing or staring off into space. I let out a silent sigh of relief and looked down to read her message.

S, we need to talk ASAP.

I rolled my eyes and dropped my phone back into my pocket. I could feel Stephanie’s gaze on me but I didn’t check to make sure, I kept my gaze straight forward and pretended to be immensely interested in the art lecture. After what felt like an endless hour, the bell finally rang and Mr. Brentol dismissed class with a half hearted wave of his hand. I scooped up my books, quickly tossing them into my back pack, and hurried out the door.

As I walked through the overly crowed hallways I kept my head down and tried my best to blend into the walls, trying to avoid a confrontation. Particularly with Zane or Stephanie,

I added silently and felt a frown appear on my lips. When I almost reached the door of my next class I felt a timid tap of the back of my shoulder. I turned around and saw it was Emily.

I stifled a sigh as though silently of excuses to get myself alone again. I’m not in a very friendly chatting mood right now,

I thought silently as the petite brunette in front of me shifted uncomfortably.

“Yes?” I asked in a cold, harsh tone. She ignored my mean tone as she reached into her bright pink backpack and began digging for something. “Look, I’m really sorry but I have to get to my…” My voice trailed off as I saw the fancy envelope she pulled out of her bag and was now handing to me.

“I didn’t steal it!” she insisted as if I had begun to assume that, when in reality, I’d never seen the card in my life. “It fell out of your bag when you walked out of class. Don’t worry, I didn’t peak either,” she added then, after handing me the letter, scurried off down the hall before I could even thank her.

I opened the envelope and pulled out an even fancier looking card. The front was decorated in lavender flower designs and had a tie-die orange flower in the center of it, it even smelled of flowers as I opened it up and read:

Dear Summer,

I’ve left something for you outside your dorm. You’d best check it out before classes end or our classmates may ruin it.

I flipped the card over, and then read through it again. “No signature,” I muttered silently under my breath. The fancy, decorative writing sounded very familiar to me, but since the note was typed, I had a hard time guessing who sent it. Sent it? They snuck it into your backpack,

I reminded myself as I dropped the letter back into my bag. Half of me hoped desperately that the note was from Zane but I knew in my heart that this note wasn’t from him.

As I walked down the empty halls, my hands got slick for sweat. Every once in awhile a teacher would come out to shut their door, and I was forced to dart around a nearby corner to avoid being caught. Being the star student of my classes, I’d never skipped class before, and it made me a lot more nervous than I thought I would. Bulk up!

I scolded myself silently, It’s not like your going to graffiti a wall. You’re just skipping class, and you have a good reason too…

My thoughts continued like this until I reached the hall where my room was located. My room was at the very end of the hall, and from where I was standing, I could just make out an object sitting in front of my door.

I quickened my pace and when I reached my door I gasped. Lying in front of my door was one of the most beautiful flower bouquets I’d ever seen in my entire life. It matched the cards front perfectly. The purple flowers, which I now recognized as Lilacs, smelled lovely and were arranged to perfection. The center flower was really what made me gasp thought. There, in the center of Lilacs, was a single Zantendeschia. It looked absolutely gorgeous, in the sea of purple, its bright orange petals stood out wonderfully. Lying near the bouquet was a card that matched the one I’d received earlier. I picked it up with shaking hands and read.

Dear Beautiful Summer,

I saw these flowers and simply couldn’t resist. Mind you, I added the center flower, I thought that it made it more…You. If I’m not mistaken it is your favorite flower, so how could I get you a bouquet without it? Anyways, I’ve sent you these as my invitation. I would absolutely honored if you would accompany me to Autumn Ball. I know that it’s coming up rather quick, and it is last minute, so I do understand if you already have a date, but if you don’t I ask you to consider. Thanks again for a lovely evening with an even lovelier girl; I hope to see you again soon.

Yours Truly,
Kyle

I let out a squeal of pure joy as I scooped up the bouquet and cradled it in my arms. The Autumn Ball, I almost forgot that was coming up,

I thought to myself as I read and re-read Kyle’s letter again. My grin stretched wide across my face and I thought to myself how good it felt to smile again. I stood there gripping the bouquet and smiling like an idiot until I heard footsteps from around the corner. My smile disappeared instantly and I bit my tongue to

keep from letting out a yelp of surprise. I quickly hurried into my room and placed the bouquet and cards in the back of my closet, where I could retrieve them later. Jumping into bed, I tested out my fake cough as I pulled the covers up to my chin. For an extra effect I pulled my water bottle out of my bag and dripped some water on my face.

There was a loud, firm knock on my door just as my head hit the pillow. “It’s open,” I croaked, making my voice sound hoarse and weak. In a matter of seconds my door was flung open and Ms. Kelly was rushing through the entrance, hurriedly shutting the door behind her.

“I heard from your teachers that you hadn’t showed up to some of your classes. Everyone was quite worried about you,” Ms. Kelly said as she straitened her blazer. Her tone was meant to sound kind and worried but to me, it came across as cold and accusing.

“So how are you feeling?” she asked, her expression tight as she reached up to feel my forehead.

“Oh I’m feeling tons better after lying down for awhile. Actually, I can probably head back to my classes,” I replied, slightly flinching as her cold hand pressed against my forehead.

“Well, I believe it’s your lunch hour right now. If you’re sure your feeling better than”

“It’s lunchtime?” I asked, cutting her off mid sentence out of shock. Did I really skip that much class?

“Yes, it is,” she replied, her tone indicating that I was beginning to annoy her. Before I could respond she continued on, “Perhaps you should take the rest of the day off to fully recover,” she said giving me a smile that sent shivers up and down my spine.

“Perhaps,” I finally managed to mutter as she continued to stare unblinkingly at me, with her cold, harsh gaze.

“Well you just rest and I’ll notify your teachers,” she said in an overly sweet voice. “Oh and Summer,” she said as she turned towards the door. “Please try to make curfew tonight, that is a rule after all,” she finished then, shutting the door firmly behind her, she left me staring open mouthed behind her.

Chapter 30

I sat on my bed for a few moments, staring at my closed door. My head was spinning and spots were forming in my vision. How did she find out about last night? Was she watching me? And why did it seem like she knew I was just skipping?

I took a deep breath to calm myself and clear my thoughts. Then, when I was sure no one else was going to enter my room, I crept over to my closet door and scooped my bouquet up into my arms. I cradled it in my arms and inhaled deeply, loving the sweet scent of lavender that filled my nostrils. I sighed, instantly relaxed, as I went back to my bed and sat down. I sat there for a moment, admiring the beauty of the flowers, until it occurred to me that I should give Kyle a call.

I pulled out my phone and dialed his number, he answered on the first ring, making me smile. “Oh Hi Summer, did you get my present?” he asked surprising me with the hint of nervousness in his voice. Does he honestly think I’m going to turn him down?

I thought and let out a giggle.

“Yep, I thought I’d call you and tell you-”

“Tell me? Oh…” I could hear the disappointment in his voice which made me shake with silent laughter. He really does think I’m turning him down!

“Oh Kyle I’d love to go with you!” I said and I could hear him laughing along with me.

“Wow, that’s a relief,” he replied and the tone of his voice changed from sad, to happy with just one statement.

A bell rang in the background and Kyle let out a sigh of annoyance. “You’re in your room right?” he asked and I felt my gut clench with nervousness for a reason unknown.

“Yeah, but-”

“Don’t go anywhere; I’ll be up in a second. Just got to get past the wardens,” he said then hung up before I could protest.

I began to chew anxiously on my fingernails as I waited for him to arrive, though it was only about five minutes before I heard a soft knock on my door. I hustled over and flung it open to see Kyle with a smile lighting up his face. What’s he staring at?

I wondered looking down then, seeing what he was staring at, I returned the smile.

“So I’m taking that as you like them?” Kyle asked, motioning towards the bouquet that I was still cradling in my arms.

My smile widened and I motioned for him to come in as I answered, “Like them? I love them, Kyle! Where did you get them?” He stepped through my doorway and I shut the door behind him, feeling my stomach churn as the good girl inside of me remembered the no-guys-in-the-bedroom rule.

“The Lilacs are from my mothers garden,” he said, shifting uncomfortably as I cast him a look.

“I think you know what I was talking about. Where on Earth did you get a Zantendeschia?” I asked, knowing that almost every store refuses to sell them.

Kyle smiled shyly at me and brushed his hair out of his eyes while I waited patiently for him to answer. “Well…I knew you they’re you favorite and…It’s not like the gardeners are going to notice…They hardly even water the place anymore…”he said, his voice drifting in and out as he tried to answer me.

“You stole it!?” I asked, feeling suddenly very guilty to be holding the flowers and set them down onto my chair.

“No! I left money in the gardeners shed, though I doubt they’ll ever find it,” he said and we both burst into laughter.

“So why aren’t you in class?” I asked scooping up my flowers again and plopping down onto my bed. Kyle shook his head so his hair fell into his face as he sat down next to me.

“Not everyone thinks that skipping class is equivalent to robbing a bank Summer, some people do it regularly.” he replied giving me a smirk that quickly disappeared when he saw my expression.

“Well, if you’re going to be a jerk than you can just leave,” I said motioning towards the door with my free hand.

Kyle’s jaw dropped, “Look Summer, I’m sorry…I was just joking around, but it wasn’t funny and-”

“Would you shut-up!” I said, playfully punching him in the arm, “I’m totally kidding with you. I can take a little sarcasm, I’m a big girl.” Kyle’s look of sorrow turned to amusement.

“That’s it, you asked for it!” he said leaping towards me and tickling my stomach till tears were running down my face.

“No! Stop it! AH!” I screamed as we both collapsed in fits of laughter.

“I came up here to keep you company, to answer your question,” he said playing with the ends of my hair which made me shiver out of pure joy.

“Well, thank-you. You mean a lot to me,” Crap! Did I really just say ‘you’? No, I couldn’t have! I meant to say ‘it’… or did I?

I looked up at Kyle to see him smiling.

“You mean a lot to me too,” he said and time seemed to slow down as he leaned towards me. It felt like Earth stopped turning and everything was moving in slow motion.

I leaned towards him and closed my eyes slowly, not wanting to lose sight of his beautiful face. When our lips met it was like fireworks exploded. It wasn’t like kissing Zane, but it was still wonderful and sweet in its own way. His soft lips continued to brush up against mine and he tangled his fingers through my light blonde hair as I scooted closer towards him. There was a burning passion between us that seemed to strength more and more as our lips met again and again. I felt his soft, warm hand on the small of my back and I smiled as his lips met mine once more before he pulled away.

“I love you Kyle,” I said and even I was surprised to hear the words come out of my mouth, I’d never told a guy I loved him before.

“I love you too beautiful,” Kyle said as he pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me. I sighed, If heaven is anything like this, I’m ready to die now,

I thought blissfully as Kyle kissed my forehead and I leaned my head back onto his shoulder. “I’m glad you said yes,” he said, stroking my hair after a few moments of silence.

“I’m glad you asked,” I replied smiling up at him.

“You really should put those in a vase, they’ll last longer that way,” he said motioning to the bouquet that was lying at the end of my bed, I’d tossed it there when we’d started to kiss and now my cheeks flushed bright pink as I remembered this.

I reluctantly got up from his embrace and crawled over to where my flowers where lying, smiling at the beauty of them. “They really are gorgeous,” I said and was startled to feel Kyle place his hands on my waist from behind me.

“They had to be, beautiful flowers for an even more beautiful girl.” I blushed even deeper, like always do when he compliments me, and leaned forward in an attempt to hide my face behind my hair. Kyle reached forward and tucked the few shielding pieces of hair behind my ear then shot me a smile, “Sorry, but it’s too pretty of a face to hide it.” I grinned at him and let out a giggle.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked and he turned to face me, suddenly serious.

“Anything.” He confirmed.

“Why me? Why do you like me, instead of Stephanie or Terri?” I asked and he let out a snort.

“Well, to start, Terri Levi and Stephanie Marlow aren’t anything compared to you. Second, I think we’ve already determined that I don’t ‘like’ you, I ‘love’ you. Third, how could a guy not love you Summer? You’re amazingly beautiful, smart, creative, edgy, feisty, you like to go on adventures, and

you’re one of the kindest girls I’ve ever met.” He finished and catching my shocked expression he laughed and pulled me towards him again.

“No wait.” I said putting my hand against his chest to restrain him.

“What?” he asked with a hint of a smile as he reached up and intertwined his fingers with mine.

“Do really think that highly of me?” I asked feeling rather flattered. The only person who’s ever talked to me like that is…

I felt my heart clench as I thought of him. How did he manage to sneak his way into my thoughts? Why can’t being with Kyle be enough for me? But It is!

I insisted silently as his soft fingertips caressed my high cheek bones.

“Well, I would stay, but Ms. Kelly has a habit of checking up on those who skip, and I’d like to avoid detention,” he said getting up off of my bed. Hearing Ms. Kelly’s name brought back her chilling image and the memories of our last conversation, making me shiver.

“You okay?” Kyle called over his shoulder as he headed for my door.

“Yeah, just a little cold,” I assured him feeling a pang of guilt in my stomach as I lied to him.

“Well, see you later Summer. Love you!” he said shooting me an extra white smile as he opened my door and stepped out.

“Love you too,” I whispered as my door swung shut. But do I really ‘love’ Kyle? Yes, I finally decided, Yes I do and right now, he’s the only one I love.

I laid back down on my bed and continued to repeat that to myself hoping that if I said it enough, it might make it more true.

Chapter 31

A few hours later, I heard the last school bell ring and let out a sigh of relief, no more visits from Ms. Kelly. I stared at the bouquet sitting on my widow sill and let out a sigh. Life should feel great right now. So why doesn’t it?

I wasn’t sure how to answer that thought, so I decided to ignore it.

The clicking of my door getting unlocked made me jump and crouch into a defensive stance. Sierra smiled and gave a small wave, “It’s just me.” I breathed a sigh of relief and returned to sitting on my bed. “Oh! What a pretty bouquet! It couldn’t be from Zane

, could it?” she asked, pulling herself up to my bunk, and plopping down next to me. The way she said Zane’s name suggested she knew something I didn’t and it made my stomach flip from nervousness.

“No, it’s not from Zane. Why would you think that?” I asked anxiously picking at my cuticles.

“Oh no reason,” she said giving me a wink and playing with her short, choppy hair.

“Spill,” I said, shooting her a glare.

Her smile dropped, “Oh, you really didn’t see it…” she said then got up and motioned for me to follow her.

We walked through our doorway and came to a halt right outside our door, where a note hung. A fancy Z was inscribed on the front, letting passing viewers know exactly who it was from. I shifted uncomfortably. Was that on the door this whole time? Did Kyle see it? Did he read it?

I shook my head to clear it then snatched the note off of the door.

Why couldn’t it have a K on in? It would make this so much easier!

I cursed under my breath as I opened the letter so only I could read it.

Dear Summer,

We need talk, no I need to apologize, and I’m not doing it through a letter or a text. Please meet me in front of the school at 5:00 tonight.

-Zane

I folded up the letter and put it my pants pocket with a defeated sigh. Was it really only a year ago that I had absolutely no life whatsoever? And now… I have 2 boyfriends!

I shook my head at that last thought, actually I have 1 boyfriend, and his name is Kyle.

I gave a quick reassuring nod to Sierra as her eyebrows shot up her forehead.

“Wanna talk?” she asked a concerned look crossing her face.

“I’d love to, but I can’t. If have to meet someone,” I replied glancing at my watch. I had five minutes till I was supposed to meet with Zane. I took a deep, steadying breath and started to shuffle my way down the hall.

By the time I made it outside I was 3 minutes late. I walked out door and towards the buff figure that had his back to me. As I approached he heard the slight crunching of twigs and turned around to face me. My breath got caught in my throat, I’d forgotten how handsome he was. He held out his hand to me and I took it. His skin felt warm and soft to touch, I missed it greatly. He led me over to the school’s outdoor fountain and we sat down on the side of it. Once we were seated, he dropped my hand and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

“They say that fountains reform hearts and-”

“Rekindle new love,” I finished for him. He smiled at me and I sat on my hands to refrain from throwing them around him at the sight of his adorable dimples.

“Look, Summer I-”

“You don’t have to apologize.” I said turning away from him. He placed a hand on my leg and used his other to turn my face towards his.
“Yes, I do. I know I was jerk, I know I shouldn’t have lied to you, and most of all I know that I hurt you badly. The worst part is that those were all the things I wanted to avoid,” he said whispering the last part more to himself than to me.

“Hey, look at me,” I said and instantly his bright blue eyes rose to mine.

“We all make mistakes, and if we’re gonna be honest with each other, I miss you.” I paused, choking back a sob then added, “I need you.”

“Oh Summer,” Zane said wrapping me in his warm embrace that I missed so much and pulling me close. “Oh Summer I’m so sorry,” he whispered in my ear, “I’m so, so sorry.” He said it over and over while I sat crying into the shoulder of his t-shirt. I let the tears slide down my face and into the fountains glistening waters.

“Just p-promise me one t-thing,” I said through choked sobs.

“Anything your heart desires,” he said and I sobbed even harder at the resemblance of his and Kyle’s responses.

“Don’t ever lie to m-me again, it j-just hurts t-too m-much,” I said and I felt him slide his fingers under my chin.

“Summer Charard, I promise, with all of my life, that I will never, ever lie to you again,” he said then, he kissed me. He kissed me with passion, with desire, and pure un-dying love. His kiss wiped my mind blank. No one else existed but him. No Stephanie, no Sierra, no Lance, and no Kyle. No Kyle…. Kyle!

I jerked away from Zane, losing my balance and falling feet first into the fountains icy water.

When my head broke through the surface of the cold water, my thoughts came back. They flooded into my mind like the rushing water surrounding my body. What did I just do!