He didn’t look anything like I had expected. He was much taller than the rumors said, and his hair was impossibly dark. I couldn’t help but stare at him. He was so beautiful he almost glowed. 

    “Class, listen up! This is Orin. He is new to this school, and I expect you all to welcome him with open arms. It must be hard switching high schools as a senior. Help him make friends, and have his last year of high school be worth remembering. Faylinn Kane, will you show Mr. Hobson around the school after home room please?”

    I shook myself out of my daze and nodded just once. I did not want the responsibility of being the first person in the school to have any kind of prolonged contact with the strange new boy. He seemed much older than the rest of us. There was no way, with his physique he could be just a mere 18. Maybe he got held back a grade. Or maybe he got in so much trouble at his last school that he had to hide for a few years, then, decided to turn his life of delinquency around, and go back to high school instead of getting his G E D and change his identity and lead a new life of good.

    He gave me a half smile and my heart fluttered. Something told me that he was not looking to necessarily lead the life of good. He had something mischievous behind his smile, but I could not tell for the life of me what it was. 

    I blushed back at him and he stared at me all the way to his seat, two in front of me, right behind my best friend in the whole world, Nissa. His ice blue eyes seemed to pierce through my skin and burn a hole into my heart. My whole body burned when he looked at me. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. I have had my school girl crushes, and I have felt love, but this... this was something darker, more mysterious. I don’t think it was just lust. It was more of a longing than anything else. I wanted to know who he was and how he ended up here, in my life. I felt like it wasn’t a mere chance that he was here, now, close enough to me to touch. I wanted to do just that. I wanted to reach past joe, sitting in front of me, and touch that shoulder length black hair. It looked so soft, and seemed to sparkle as the sun hit it.

    A crow cawed right outside the classroom window, and brought me back down to the history lesson.

    “The ancient druids believed in magic and magical creatures like fairies and elementals and guardian helpers. Many different civilization had similar tails as the druids about guardian spirits and little helper...” blah blah blah. Man Mr. Smith was so boring I could hardly stand listening to him talk. 

    *Ring Ring Ring* the bell couldn’t have come any sooner, I was about to fall asleep. Nissa came back to my seat before I could stand. Orin made his way to the front of the class to speak with the teacher before I could catch up with him.

    “Are you excited? Nervous? What?! Tell me! You have to meet me after your next class for lunch and tell me everything about that hottie! You are so lucky! Oh! i have to run, I dont want to be late for art again. The teacher can be a really bitch if you are late too often. By Fay! And good luck!” The winked at me and ran off to her next class, her short, blond pony tail bobbing gently behind her as she ran.

    Orin turned to look at me and said, “You coming? I hear we have the next class together. Biology with Mr. Johnson, right? It sounds too fun to miss.”

    I nodded and smiled, unable to muster any sounds let alone words. I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. I had been around cute boys before, and I could do it again. 

    I moved up next to him, and he had a good foot on my slight 5 foot 4 inch stature. Everything about him seemed to be the opposite of me aside from the fact that we were both very thin. His hair seemed to absorb light, while mine almost produced it, and became almost the color of fire. I never much liked the red orange it was, but I had never seen anything even close to it, so it was nice to be unique without the use of hair dye. His eyes were the color of the sky on the coldest winter day you can imagine. So blue you could almost feel the ice coming from them. Where as mine were the color of green summer grass. The differences were almost eerie. 

    We headed out the door, him motioning for me to go first. I waited for him outside of class and realized that once he moved into the hall, everyone was staring at us.     “Come on, this way,” I said trying to wave off the feel of the eyes on us. I could hear people whispering. Some things about us, but mostly about him.

    “Who’s that?” one girl said to her friend.

    “He’s sooo cute!” The other girl said.

    “What is someone like him doing with her?! I’m way prettier than she is!” That one almost hurt. High school girls can be so mean. But I just let the comments slide off as I walked with confidence. I didn’t mind if everyone thought I was with him. It was kind of flattering to be honest about the whole thing. Thinking about that gave me the confidence I needed to try and muster up a conversation with him.

    I looked up at him and squeaked out, “So, where are you from?” I cleared my throat and hoped he didn’t notice how nervous I sounded.

    “ I’m from Las Vegas.” He said sounding disinterested.

    “ Oh. That must be exciting. Why did you parents decided to move to Bozeman, Montana? Its way different from Vegas.”

    “My dad got a job managing a new hotel here. I guess the deal was just too good to pass up. Plus my parents didn’t think that raising a child in Las Vegas was the best idea. It can be very dangerous there. I lost an uncle to a drive by shooting when I was seven.”

    I looked at the ground, not sure how to respond. “Oh. I’m sorry for your loss. It must suck losing a relative at such a young age.”

    “ Not really. He was a low life. No better than a hobgoblin... I mean... I was too young to really understand what was happening. You know how it is. Kids dont really understand death or loss. The biggest loss we feel at that age is the loss of our teeth, and even then the tooth fairy brings us coins in exchange for them.”

    I tried to change the subject from death so I said, “ I never understood why anyone would pay for old baby teeth.” I giggled and looked him in the eye.

    He responded very seriously, “Same reason people pay for kidneys, some are just less fortunate than others.”

    I think he saw that I looked mildly horrified and he left out a little chuckle. “I’m just kidding. Man, you take people too seriously.”

    “Haha. Sorry. I guess I’m just not used to your kind of sense of humor. You never know with new people when they are being serious or not.”

    “I suppose thats true. Is this it?” He stopped me at a big wooden door that read “BIOLOGY.” 

    “Haha. Yup. Good guess.” We went for the door handle at the same time and our hands brushed each other slightly. I pulled away so quickly that I hit myself in the stomach. 

    He laughed at my “oof,” and let his hand fall to his side. “You seem to be a bit jumpy. Do I make you nervous?” He gave me a sly smile.

    I blushed again and replied, “Of course not. It takes a lot to make mer nervous. I just thought I saw a spider on the door handle.” He could tell I was lying. He gave me a raised eyebrow and went to open the door handle again. This time I didn’t even attempt to open the door.

    He again motioned me through the door. I thanked him and went to my seat at the front of the class while he made his way to introduce himself to Mr. Johnson. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that I could go back to being my old, awkward self, even if it was just for the next fifty minutes of class. It was so hard trying to stay composed and cool in front of a hot stranger. As I reached for my notebook in my backpack, I couldn’t help but notice that my hand still burned a bit from where we has touch. It was the oddest tingling sensation, like when you touch metal that is just a little to hot to be pleasant but not hot enough to burn. I kind of liked the feeling. Orin turned to me just in time to see me rubbing the back of my hand against my thigh.

    He winked as he passed me and took the seat right behind mine. I didn’t like not knowing what he was doing. It made me really nervous. And when I’m nervous, I get very very clumsy. During the corse of Biology, I manage to drop my notebook three different times, and sent my pencil flying at the teacher. That will teach me to play with my pencils when Im nervous. I should just stick to shaking my legs like every other normal person on the planet.

    As the bell rang, I realized that I didn’t hear a word of todays lesson. I was to distracted trying to think of what I should say after class. I couldn’t think of a cool question or statement to save my life, and a joke about biology was way out of the question. I must have missed it when everyone in high school became cool.

    Orin tapped my shoulder and said, “What comes next?”

    I thought for a moment, still feeling his touch then replied, “ Well, lunch is next. I’m going to meet Nis in the cafeteria. Seniors are allowed off campus for lunch so you don’t have to eat in the cafeteria. But you are welcome to join us for lunch if you would like to.”

    Orin tapped his chin and thought about my offer then said, “I think I will pass on cafeteria food. Thank you though. Could you point me in the direction of a fast food place?”

    “Sure. There is an Arby’s across the street and a McDonald's just up that way.” I pointed to the west, or at least what I thought was west. I was never very good at directions from inside buildings.

    He laughed and smiled. “Thanks. Where should I meet you after lunch? At the front?”

    “Sure. Sounds great. Enjoy your lunch!” I shouted as I ran off, waving behind me. I couldn’t stand another second of trying to be way cooler than I was. As I turned around to look in front of me instead of at Orin, I ran smack dab into a giant Varsity football player.

    “OOOFFFFFFFTTT!” I said as my butt hit the ground. I thought I heard a ‘crack!’ noise but it must have been my imagination since my tail bone didn’t hurt as badly as it should have.

    “Watch where you are going! Stupid little bitch!” The football player screamed. He hunched down to get into my face. “I don’t care if you are a girl. I can still teach you some respect!” he spit a bit when he pronounce that last ‘p’ noise.

    I whipped my face and muttered a hesitant “sorry,” right as I heard footsteps coming up behind me.

    “Back the fuck off you god damn piece of shit!” I turned just in time to see Nissa throw her back pack on the ground and pull out a roll of pennies. She was a scrappy little one. She was just an inch taller than me and just as thin, but she had some power.

    She came charging around me and grabbed the football player by the scruff of his jersey. “If you don’t leave her alone, meat head, I will have to teach YOU some respect. And I can assure you that it will hurt more than any hit you have EVER taken on the field. Don’t fucking test me, and don’t fucking mess with my friends.” Her eyes had almost lit up with anger by the time she had finished her little speech. She was ballsy.

    I could hear the football player gulp as he back away from Nissa. He was terrified. It was awesome. He brushed his jersey and smoothed it out in an effort to compose himself. He turn on his heals and mutter one final “bitch,” as he marched his way to the front of the school and out the door, to go find a lunch big enough to feed a third world country.

    Nissa reached down to grab my hand, “What happened?” She asked genuinely concerned. 

    “I was watching Orin walk away...” Nissa couldn’t help but smile at that, but she let me finish before she made fun of my girlish mistake, “And, well... right as I turned to look in front of me, there was that wall of a human. I can see why he plays football. He may be a fat ass, but damn he is a solid fat ass.”

    “Ha ha. He sure is. Well, I’m glad you are ok, Fay. And I am really glad that I was here to stop him from going ballistic. You can’t trust people like him. They are crazy and can go off their rocker at any moment. He’s probably already taken too many blows to the head playing football. It is probably better you steer clear of him for a while until he can cool down a bit.” She turned me around and helped me brush the dirt off of my back and butt.

    “ Thank you, Nis. You are always here to save me. I really appreciate how much you stick your neck out for me.” I gave her a big smile and a tight hug.

    “It’s my job, sweet cheeks.” She hugged me just as tightly back. She pulled away, grabbed my hand, and jerked me in the direction of the cafeteria. “Come on. Lets go get some food. I don’ want you passing out from hunger while you are showing the new hot guy around school,” She winked and nudged me.

    “His name is Orin!” I corrected her. I felt that if she used his name instead of “new hot guy” I would blush a little less.

    “ Oh sorry. I don’t want you passing out while you are showing the new hot guy named Orin around school.” She giggled and I blushed.

    The cafeteria hadn’t changed one bit in the week and a half I hadn’t eaten there. The lunch lady still had a mustache and the kids still sat in their assigned groups. I was not exclusive to any of the groups. Neither was Nissa. We were sort of like a mini group of just us. And we could find friends in almost any group in the room. The cafeteria was serving pizza and tater tots. Two of my favorites, although I could never figure out who decided that they would go well together as a meal. It turns out that the whole ‘healthier foods in school cafeterias across the united states’ hadn’t come to Bozeman yet. And for that I was thankful. I loved my fried food and pizza. What teenager doesn’t?

    “Hey. Faylinn, right?” A tall, beautiful brunette said to me. Her name was Jennifer and she was without a doubt, the queen bee of the whole senior class. She has won homecoming queen all four years of her being here and she was for sure going to be senior prom queen.

    “Uh, yeah. Thats me.” I said sheepishly. Nissa looked at me with an eyebrow raised. The popular girls never talked to us. Nissa was as surprised as me that Jennifer knew my name at all.

    “Cute shoes,” Jennifer said. I looked down at my two year old pair of pink converse. 

    “Uh, thanks?” I said, not even trying to hide the suspicion in my voice.

    “What do you want, Jennifer? We are very busy people.” Nissa wasn’t fond of wasting time, or people bull shitting her.

    “Jeeze. Can’t a girl just pay someone a compliment without being accused of wanting something?” Jen tried to look innocent.

    “Sure she can if she’s not you. You have only spoken to Fay once, and that was to make fun of her in freshman gym class. So. I’ll ask you again. What do you want Jennifer? Or do I have to beat it out of you?” Nissa wasn’t fucking around. She would hit Jennifer if she didn’t spill whatever she wanted to say soon. And I would probably have enjoyed watching that a bit too much, so I didn’t see the need to push Jennifer to talk.

    “Ok. Fine. You got me. Fay, I saw you with that cute new guy earlier. What’s his name again?” She asked twirling her hair.

    “Orin.” I crossed my arms across my chest, trying to subconsciously show her I was annoyed and bored.

    “Thats right. Orin. I saw you with Orin earlier. And I thought to myself, ‘I am so much prettier that her, yet she get a guy like him. How is that even possible?’ Then I realized that its not. You must just be the person assigned to show him around the school. What a relief it was for me to figure that out. Ha Ha.” She shifted her weight from her left leg to her right and popped her hip out just a bit too far to be comfortable.

    “Get to the point, Jen.” Nissa said as she took a step closer to her. Intimidation is Nissa strong point. If this were an old crime movie, Nissa would most definitely be the bad cop. 

    Jennifer threw her hands up in defense and took a step back. “Hold your horses,” she said trying to hide her fear. 

    “Talk faster! Tic Tock, Tic Tock.” Nissa said inching closer to Jennifer.

    “Ok. Christ. So what is Orin into? What’s he like. And most importantly, how can I make him mine?” She smiled a sinister smile with that last line.

    I sighed and replied, “Look, Jen, I don’t know. He and I didn’t talk about relationships. Why would we? We only had the ten minutes in between class to talk. I thought I would start with the basics. You know, not scare him off right away. Looks like you are on your own with trying to nab him.”

    Jen laughed, “Of course he wouldn’t tell you anything. How foolish of me to even think he might tell you something like that. You might be pathetic enough to think he likes you if he had said something. Thanks for the information, Fay. And don’t forget. He is mine.” She laughed again, this time louder. She tuned around and waved a half hearted goodbye and retreated to her table.

    “Good luck!” Nissa shouted after her. “Bitch.” She muttered just loud enough for Jen to hear her. “I can’t believe people like her. That is so messed up what she said to you. You are totally hot enough to be with someone like Orin. That and you actually have a personality. Unlike the spawn of satan herself over there.” She pointed at Jen right as Jen looked over. Nissa turned her point into middle finger and mouthed ‘fuck you’ to Jen. Jen just rolled her eyes and went back to talking to her clone like friends. I could tell they admired Nis’s ability to not give a fuck about Jen. Half the time they look ready to kill her themselves. But that would be social suicide. And it would, you know, land them in prison. But that’s beside the point. 

    “Come on, Nis. Lets just go sit down and ignore her. I think if we give her any more attention, that she will think that she has won. She hasn’t. I don’t care one bit what she thinks about me. She’s peaking in high school. I still have years left to be awesome.” I giggled.

    “You rock, sweet cheeks.” Nis said as she followed me to an almost empty table in the back of the cafeteria. 

    Just as we sat down we head a blood curdling female scream from outside the cafeteria, by the gym. The whole room jumped up, Nissa and I included. We ran to the hallway and Nissa pushed us through to the front of the crowd. Everyone wanted to see what kind of tragedy could possibly be happening in our small town high school halls.

    Gabi Peterson lay on the ground right in front of us. She didn’t look like she was breathing, and she certainly wasn’t moving. We heard the gym teacher, Mr. Wilson blow his whistle and scream, “Everyone move. Get out of our way. Let us get to the girl! Make some room for the paramedics! Come on, people. MOVE!” Someone must have already called 911. And when a kid is down, the medics don’t mess around wasting time. They don’t want the city to get sued. 

    The crowed made a barely big enough path for the adults to move through to the girl. The crowed asked questions as they passed to no one in particular.

     “What happened?” one young boy said.

    “How could something like this happen?” a girl said as Mr. Wilson passed.

     “Who was she?” Another girl said.

    “Why her?” I heard a teacher ask.

    No one seemed to have any answers for any of the questions posed. 

    “I wonder what happened, Nissa. Nothing like this has ever happened here. How strange.” I could barely make sentences. It was so weird to look down at a potentially dead body. I was really hoping that she was breathing and that I just couldn’t see it. I suppose that was possible. Maybe.

    “I don’t know. Ill have to ask around tonight and see if anyone knows anything. This shouldn’t be happening,” Nissa responded just as the paramedics hoisted the girl on to a rolling bed. Her red hair trailed of the side a bit as she sped through the crowed. It was probably the fastest anyone has ever made it through a hall at lunch time in this high school. Too bad she wasn’t conscious to see the feat she pulled off. Poor Gabi. Ill have to tell her about it if she is ok. I bet she would find it very funny.

    “Fay?” A man said behind me. I feel his hand on my shoulder, trying to get me to turn around. Orin’s touch is unmistakable.

    “Hey, Orin. Whats up?” I was too shocked to remember to be shy and dumb around him.

    “Ha ha. I just got back from lunch and I saw this crowed. What happened. Is everyone ok?” He looked as though he didn’t really care about the answer, but asked out of obligation. He, after all, hadn’t gone to school with most of these people for the last twelve years like Nissa and I have. When we were much younger, maybe first or second grade, everyone used to get me and Gabi confused. We were told that we looked so much a like that we could have been sister. As we aged, we started to look a bit different, but every now and the someone or another would get us confused. Teachers seemed to have the hardest time with it of any one.

    Just then the loud speaker came on. “Will everyone please report to the south gymnasium for an emergency assembly.” Principle Krill said. He continued, “It will begin in ten minutes. Find your home room teacher and sit with your classes, please.”

    We made our way into the gym and found our teacher. I sat in between Nissa and Orin. We were so close together that even with my legs closed tight, I was still pressed against Orin. It felt really good. Orin looked at me and smiled as the Principle walked up to the microphone in the middle of the gym.

    “We are pleased to say that Gabi is not dead. She is, however in a coma but in stable condition. We are not sure what happened, and there appears to be no sign of foul play. But to be safe, we ask you all to call your parents and go home early. We have also arranged the busses to be here within the next 15 minutes. We will tell you everything we can about Gabi, her condition and the investigation. Have a good evening everyone, and please remember to be safe.”

    “Oh. Damn. I was so looking forward to spending the rest of the day with you, Faylinn,” Orin said to me as we stood.

    I wrinkled my nose at the smell of too many teenagers in one room. It seemed as though at least half of them had not discovered the glories of deodorant. I don’t know how teachers can stand this for years and years. They must get used to it. I know I couldn’t. The smell of boys hitting puberty is just to over powering and vomit inducing. I tried to respond without breathing through my nose but nothing but a nasally squeak came out. I tried again, this time after a deep breath through my mouth, “ Aw. Im sorry. Shit like this doesn’t happen very often. I will show you around tomorrow for sure, Orin. Hopefully things will have calmed down by then.”

    “I’m looking forward to it. Orin Gestured for Nissa and I to walk out of the gym before him. He was so gentlemanly. It was kind of weird. I had never once had a guy treat me with such respect. I could totally get used to it.

    I waved goodbye to Orin as we went our separate ways to our lockers. I shared one with Nissa. When we got to the locker she said, “He is totally into you.”

    I slapped her arm gently and replied, “No way. He is just being nice. Not bitting the hand that feeds and all. He knows he has to be nice to me or I might get him all turned around. This school can be quite confusing to a new comer. I could just stick him in freshman hall and see how he likes that. And he probably knows that too.”

    “Ha ha. Naw. He is so totally into you. Just admit it!” She poked my stomach, trying to get me to agree with her. Its not that I have low self esteem or anything like that, but I just couldn’t accept that someone like him, so mature and mysterious could be into someone so plain and simple like me. I didn’t exactly scream ‘seductress’. I more scream ‘I’m pretty nice and can probably bake some good cookies when I feel like it’ which is not really what most bad boys, such as Orin, tend to go for. They go for girls like Jennifer. Girls that are tall and mature for their age and who know where to find a cheep bottle of vodka and a pack of cigarettes when they need to. Its kind of pathetic, but I guess to each their own and all that nonsense. 

    “Hey Nis, want to come over and play with sonic? Or are you busy? I mean, we did get out early and my parents will be gone till tomorrow.” I asked loading a few books into my back pack. I may as well get ahead on my homework since we were going home half way through the day.

    “I still can’t believe that you named your hedgehog ‘sonic.’ How lame is that? And its not even a boy hedgehog!” Nis said rolling her eyes.

    “I was ten when I got her! You cant blame me. It was the only thing I knew that was associated with hedgehogs back then.”

    “You got her when you were ten? Wow. I didn’t realize it had been that long. How long are hedgehogs supposed to live anyways?”

    I shook my head and replied, “You know, Im not terribly sure about that one. I guess I always just assumed they were like parrots and could live for like ever. Or is that snakes that live forever? I don’t remember. But anyways, she is still as healthy as she was the day I got her.”

    “Huh. Weird. Sure. I will come over for a bit anyway. Want a ride?” My car was in the shop and Nis new how much I hated riding the bus.

    “Yeah. That would be great.” I said and smiled in thanks.

    “You don’t really like me. You just used me for rides!” Nissa said very dramatically. We both laughed and headed out the front doors of the high school and headed to her car in the senior parking lot.

    The next day at school was bizarre. Everyone seemed to have almost forgotten about what had happened to poor Gabi. I only heard maybe one or two freshman talking about her. And it was only in passing, in relation to something else. I couldn’t quite pick up on much of the conversation. I saw Orin on his phone around the corner from home room and decided to sneak up on him, to remind him not to be late. It was bad form to be late on just your second day of school.

    As I walked up on him I heard the tail end of his conversation. He said quietly, “the wrong girl yesterday. It was a mistake. One you will pay...” he snapped his head around in time to see me approaching. “I got to go,” he said quickly and snapped his phone closed. “What are you doing, Fay? Sneaking up on people is rude.” He walked by me, unfazed and unwilling to give me a chance to explain. I tried anyway.

    “I was just trying to surprise you, to remind you not to be late. I don’t want you to be late on your second day. It would suck to get on the teacher’s bad side so early on in your stay here. I was just trying to be nice.” He waved me off as we walked into the classroom. Im not sure why he was so angry, but I think I must have heard something I shouldn’t have. I just wish I knew what he had been talking about when I snuck up on him. I was probably over thinking the whole thing and in reality he must just not have gotten his coffee yet. That was probably it. It had to be.

    I took my seat two behind him and tried desperately to pay attention to what was going on. No such luck there. It was impossible. All I could think about was Orin. It was so weird how much I just wanted to talk to him. I had to restrain myself. I had to be cool.

    Once the class bell rang, I took my time getting my things together since Orin was talking to the teacher once again. Right as I hoisted my back pack on to my back, Jennifer cut in front of me and made a straight line over to Orin. She had to get to him before I did.

    “Hi Orin.” She said in the highest pitch her voice could go. It was so obnoxious it almost made my ears bleed.

    “Um hi,” he said looking confused. He continued, “Who might you be?”

    Jen laughed a squeaky laugh and said, “You don’t know yet? Im Jennifer. The most popular girl in school. Im someone you should know. If you ever want to hang out and get away from losers like her,” she pointed over at me and said, “come talk to me. I can make you one of the cool kids. I can make this year the best year of your life.” She gave him a sinister and sexy smile and said, “I’ll see you around, sexy.” She gave his biceps a squeeze and sauntered out the door. Her hips swayed like hunting cat’s. 

    “She is sure is full of herself isn’t she?” Orin said to me as I walked up.

    “Yeah. That’s one way to put it I suppose.” I rolled my eyes.

    “She will be so hurt when I tell her she isn’t really my type. At all,” He laughed and headed through the door.

    Right as I was working up the nerve to ask Orin more questions about his life his cell phone started ringing. The sound startled me since it was just a normal telephone ring. I hadn’t heard a phone ring without a special ring tone in years. It was so strange.    

    “Excuse me, Fay. I will meet you outside the biology classroom. Sound good?”

    “Yeah, sure.” I shrugged and walked down the hall alone.

    The second bell for class to begin went off just as I saw Orin walking up, in no hurry at all. He said, “Hey, Fay. I have to leave early today. Seems there is some kind of family thing happening that I completely forgot about. Will you please let my teachers know that I will be gone today? That would be great, thanks.”

    “Is everything ok?” I asked, obviously too concerned.

    “Yeah. Just fine. It must have just slipped my mind this morning. Have a good day. I will see you tomorrow,” and with that he took off.

    I dragged myself into the classroom and told the teacher what Orin had asked me to. The teacher didn’t seem to care. Tenured teachers rarely seem to care about anything other than making it to the end of the day without too much strain.

    As I took my seat, Jennifer said, “So, you managed to scare him off that quickly? That’s impressive.” She and her friends all got a good laugh at my expense. I pretended not to hear her.

    After class I met Nissa outside of our lockers. She said as I walked up, “Hey, sweet cheeks. Why the long face? Where’s Orin?”

    “He had to go home early. Is that lame or what?” 

    “Totally lame. Sorry dear. It was nice to have some eye candy hanging around. Let’s go get some food. Hopefully another student won’t mysteriously slip into a coma today too.”

    We both laughed, even though we knew it was a wholly inappropriate subject to laugh at. We really didn’t know what else to do other than to laugh. It was scary. What if it was a strange virus that was picking us off one by one, and soon we would all be in comas or worse... zombies? That would really suck. I hate zombies.

**

    The day went by as normally as it possibly could. Nothing of any sort of consequence happened other than Bobby farted in the middle of art class right as the teacher was trying to explain the water color painting assignment to us. It was gross. Bobby always did things like that. He was one of those really gross clowns. The type that thinks everything he does it just oh so funny, yet only he and his loser friends are the ones laughing at his antics. The rest of the class just shakes their head and hopes that he might, maybe, someday grow up, but we all know that that will never happen. I pity people like him. They will never have a chance in the real world. I hope his parents like him living in their basement. I suspect he will be there for a really long time.

    Nissa drove me home again. This time she didn’t make a big deal about me using her for her car. She comes over almost every day after school anyway, so it was just car pooling at this point. I’m not sure why we didn’t think of doing it before my car broke down. It really does help save on money.

    “Are your parents back from their business trip yet?” Nissa asked.

    “Naw. They called and told me they were going to be gone another few weeks. Its not really surprising at all. They are never around. I can hardly remember what they look like at this point.” I respond. It was mostly true. I only see my parents a few weeks out of the year, and that’s usually on holidays. 

    Nissa’s eyes widened, “Really? Im sorry, sweet cheeks.”

    “Im kind of joking. I mean I know what they look like. I just miss them a lot. It’s kind of funny. Every high school kid dreams of having a place away from their parents. I do. And all I want is to see my parents every now and then.”

    Nissa nodded, understanding how lonely it can be to live alone. Her parents were similar to mine. They just never seemed to be around. Hers were almost worse. I think I have only met her mom once in all the years we have been friends. Nissa stopped nodding and squinted her eyes as we pulled into my driveway. She said, “Hey. Did you leave your front door open, Fay?”

    “No. I remember locking it before I left. I never forget to lock it. Why?” I replied.

    She pointed at the door, “Because its open. Look.”

    “Oh shit oh shit oh shit. This can’t be good. I have never been robbed. Do I call the cops? Should I go in first to see if anything is missing? what if the bad guy is still in there? What should I do Nis?” All of my words seemed to run together. My heart was racing as if I had just run a mile in under seven minutes. Which was damn near impossible for me.

    “Well, I’m hear, so provided the bad guy doesn’t have a gun, I can kick his ass if he is still in there. I doubt he is though. It was probably just a bored kid. We will go see if anything is missing, and then call the cops to let them know what happened. I will go in first. I will wave you in if the coast is clear. Ok?” she grabs her two faithful rolls of pennies just in case she has to do some punching. 

    “Yeah. That sounds good. Be careful.” I pleaded.

    “Hon, you know me. I am always careful!” we both laughed at that one. 

    Nissa got out of the car and walked up to the door slowly. I could tell she was just a little bit nervous by how she slowed down more and more the closer she got to the door. She peaked in the windows as she passed by to see if there was any immediate danger. Once she decided it was safe enough, she pushed the door open. She let it swing all the way open before she stepped over the threshold of the house.

    I didn’t hear anything once Nissa was inside. Which was probably a good sign. If there was a fight going on I bet I would have heard something. After five very long minutes, I saw Nissa walk past the living room window and back to the front door. Her blond hair looked even lighter next to the dark blue trim of the door and the forest green of the house. She smiled at me and waved me in saying, “It’s all safe in here. Come on in!”

    I popped out of the car and closed the door quietly behind me, still not wanting to alert any bad guy to my presence. I know Nissa is thorough, but I couldn’t help but to be a bit cautious. You never know where someone could be hiding.

    I worked my way up the sidewalk to my front door, not hurrying in the least. I was afraid of what I was going to see when I went inside. I was more afraid of how long it was going to take me to clean it up. I know I would have to tell my parents about what happened, but I would at least like them to be able to come home to a clean house. I know Nissa will help me clean it up if there was a lot to do. She is an amazing friend to have. That is for sure.

    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I walked through the door. Nissa stepped out of the way to reveal the damage to me. I was stunned. Nothing at all seemed to be touched. Either we scared the burglar away before he had a chance to get anything or he didn’t find anything he liked. Which I doubt was the case. My parents are well off enough to afford some really cool electronics like a big screen plasmaTV, a blu ray player and every gaming system under the sun. 

    “Looks like the guy didn’t find anything he wanted. Maybe it was just a local kid being a jerk,” Nissa said.

    “Yeah, maybe. It still seems weird to me. Did you look upstairs? Maybe they found my mom’s diamonds or something like that.” I asked.

    “I took a quick run through. Your room was locked up so I couldn’t look in there. But your mom and dad’s room looks untouched, just like down here.”

    “I wonder why they didn’t try to get into my room. Let’s go look anyway.” I said, grabbing Nissa’s arm.

    “Sounds good, sweet cheeks. After you.” She motioned up the stairs with the arm I wasn’t holding on to. I gave her a bit of a tug and up the stairs we went.

    As we got to my room, I pulled my key out of my shirt. I always kept it on a chain. It was a beautiful key. It was bronzed and had a lovely yellow gem on the top. It was small enough to be kept under my shirt without being visible. I knew that if I tried to have it on my key ring or just loose somewhere that I would lose it. And that would really suck. I can be so forgetful sometimes. As it turns out, it is hard to lose something that is almost always attached to your neck. For that I was very very thankful.

    As I stuck the key into the lock I thought I heard something move in my room. I hesitated for just a moment. Nissa seemed to hear it too. She said, “It was probably just sonic making some noise. You know how noisy that little thing can be.”

    That was reassuring. I tried to believe her as I heard the lock click and the door open. I pulled the key out and put it back around my neck. I tucked the key back under my plain black t shirt and pushed the door gently, not sure I was read for what I was about to see.

    What I saw was horrible. Everything of mine that was in a drawer or on a shelf was now laying on my floor. I ran into my room and went straight to sonic’s cage. I looked in and to my terror, she was no where to be found. I frantically started digging though my clothes and commanded Nissa to do the same. Why in God’s name would a thief break into a house just to steal a girl’s hedgehog? They were only like a hundred dollars down at the pet store in the mall. 

    I heard some rustling under a pile of clothes down at the edge of the bed. Nissa and I both froze as we heard the little snorts of an excited Sonic. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I dug through the pile of clothes to find a scared, yet unharmed little hedgehog. “Sonic! You’re ok! I’m so freaking happy you’re ok. I love you little one! Let’s get you back in your cage, and call the cops.”

    “I don’t know if involving the cops in this is such a good idea, Fay,” Nissa said as she picked up an unfamiliar black glove from the floor.

    “What? Why? I don’t understand. How could you tell that a silly little black glove?” I asked while I cuddle Sonic.

    “Faylinn, there is something you need to know. Sonic?” Nissa looked at my pet and smiled.

    I looked down at her. Sonic jumped on to the floor and shook, “Let’s start at the beginning. My name is blossom, not sonic.” I blinked in disbelief then my world went black. I couldn’t help my self from passing out after seeing my hedgehog talk.