I stood up and exited the classroom and walked into the hall. I pushed through crowds of people looking around for Sara, one of my other close friends, I don’t know what shape I’d be in now if Enzo was my only friend. As I wasn’t looking where I was going, which of course was really smart of me since I knew how not clumsy I was, I ran smack dab into someone. We fell to the ground and I landed hard on their chest, a strong pulse hummed through me. Great, first day of school and it couldn’t go without embarrassment, and that had hurt. I silently prayed that it was some random stranger that I would never see again, or to just die, like now. I had no such luck. I glanced up and saw it was Ash. OMG, I wanted to die. I peeled myself off of him and stood up, then he got up. “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry.” I said my face turning beet red, he probably thought I was some major clutz and idiot. He shook his head. “I’m fine. But do you think you could help me find my next class?” “Sure.” I replied, I didn’t want to be rude and say no. It was the least I could do. I grabbed his schedule and took a look. My eyes widened. You’ve got to be kidding me. Ash was in all of my classes and even had the same lunch. I gritted my teeth, great. This was going to be a very long year, maybe I could just change my schedule tomorrow, hopefully, and to save me from further embarrassment. “Actually I can show you to all your classes. You have the same schedule as me.” I said, trying to sound cheerful, crap, why did I say that now I would have to stick by him the whole day. I wanted to hit myself in the head. Stupid, stupid, stupid. “Great.” Ash said almost smiling. We walked down the hall to our next class. Practically everyone we passed stared at us. So much for trying to have a normal year. I took a seat in the very back and of course, Ash sat next to me. After the struggle of getting through three more classes, fourth hour finished and we had lunch. “Is it ok if I sit with you?” Ash asked me. “Sure.” I said not wanting to be rude again, but why in the world would a guy like him hang around with me, I was a nobody, and I couldn’t handle my feelings around him, I was bound to make a fool out of myself. But anyway, Sara would probably love it, she was a big gossiper and wanted to know everyone and everything. “Follow me.” I said, gesturing with my hand. I lead the way to the cafeteria and over to a round blue table were Sara, Emily, Jenna, and a few other girls sat, I grimaced, just who I needed. “Hey, Sara.” I said smiling, as I approached. Emily looked up from her conversation and her face scrunched together in anger. I smirked, good, she was jealous. Sara ran over and gave me a huge hug. “Sofya, oh I’ve missed you so!” She exclaimed. Sara had not seen me all summer, she had been off in Italy and I had gone to the Bahamas. She stepped back and then looked over at Ash, a sly grin spreading across her face. “And who is this?” She asked mischievously. “This is Ash, he just moved here.” I said then took a seat, placing my backpack on the floor. I looked back, Sara nodded slowly. Oh no, that was her planning face. I turned back around. Ash sat down next to me on my right and Sara sat across. I felt warm hands slide onto my shoulders, I turned around to see Enzo. I frowned, he didn’t have the same lunch, was he skipping class? Who was this new Enzo, first the bulking up, and now turning into a troublemaker. “Hello ladies, new dude.” He said, glancing at Ash. Then he settled down next to me, on my left. “That’s Ash, Ash this is Enzo.” I said introducing them. They glanced wearily at each other, and Enzo still had his arm around me, I shrugged it off, what is with him? He was never this touchy before. Sure, I had considered before that Enzo could be more than a friend, but I didn’t want to ruin our friendship that we have, but now there was only one person filling my thoughts, Ash. Then suddenly Sara went straight to bombarding Ash with many, many questions. “So Ash were you from?” She asked first. “Melbourne, Australia.” He answered. Then she asked. “Why did you move here?” “My parents died.” Ash said, regret touched his answer. I touched his arm. “I’m sorry.” I said. He looked gratefully at me. I knew what it was like to lose parents. I noticed from my peripheral vision, Enzo glaring at Ash. “Sofya is an orphan too, she lives with foster parents.” Sara said. I glared at her that was my business to tell, even though I didn’t mind Ash knowing. Sara just shrugged then continued with her questions. “Do you have a girlfriend?” My eyes widened, did she really ask that. “No, I don’t.” He said looking straight at me. Heat flushed through me. This was so not good and I swear I heard Enzo growl and Emily looked like she wanted to kill me, ugh this was too much. The bell rang and I stood abruptly. “Uh, I gotta go.” I said quickly. As soon as I dashed off I realized how ridiculous that had sounded. Dear god. I darted into the bathroom, luckily there was no one there. I wanted to scream. Sara came running in after me. I turned to face her. “Sara what the heck.” I yelled at her. She just smirked. “I did you a favor, now you know that hottie’s single and into you, also I think Enzo has a thing for you, it about to get all macho up in there.” She said laughing. I shook my head and stomped out of the bathroom. Did me a favor. My foot, and Enzo didn’t have a “thing” for me, did he? Then, suddenly, I ran into a hard chest, before I fell a strong arm wrapped around my waist and a humming pulse spread through me. Ow. At least this time I wasn’t on the floor, but it was Ash again. Oh come on! This day was getting better and better by the minute. Ash looked at me with slight irritation in his eyes. His face was so close, just inches away. I bit my lip. Why did he make my insides go all mushy? “Sorry.” I mumbled, heat climbing my face. “No problem, you forgot your backpack in the cafeteria.” He said softening his expression and holding my backpack up. “Oh, thanks.” I said reaching over to grab it. He lifted it higher and released me. “I’ll carry it, you look injured.” He said looking at me as I winced with my hands in the air. Then he started walking to our next class. I sighed I didn’t have the strength to argue. Then I ran to catch up with his long strides.

At the end of the day, I went to my locker to grab some books. I closed it and saw Ash leaning casually on the lockers next to me. “Hey.” Ash said. “Hi.” I said back. “Want to come over to my place?” He asked. Maybe Sara was right. Should I go? Probably not, but my heart totally disagreed with my head and spoke in its place. “Sure.” I replied. He smiled revealing cute little dimples, I almost swooned. I scolded myself, Sofya have some dignity. “Great I’ll text you the address come at around four.” He said then took my phone out of my hand and entered his number then put my number in his phone. “Bye, see you later.” He said then walked away with a grin. I shook my head. Boys. I ran all the way home, I was all giddy, I had never been this excited about a date since, well since no one, sure I had been asked out, but no one had ever made me feel like this. My phone dinged. Ash had texted me. 1800 Oakwood ln, btw wear a swimsuit. We were going in the water. Fun. I picked out a red bikini that Sara had helped me find, then put a cute t-shirt and jean shorts on over. It was three forty-five and his house was a ten-minute walk away so I decided to head over. I walked along the beach, the wind was blowing my hair around, mostly in my face, I hope I didn’t look like I had walked through a tornado by the time I got there. I took a deep breath, and the salty ocean smell filled my nose. I approached the address and my mouth fell open, the house was like a mansion, scratch that it was a freaking mansion. Dark mahogany wood made up the porch and portions of the walls, large windows dotted around making up most of the walls, and there was a tower building attached to the side which made it look like a castle. I went up the steps and knocked on the door. Ash answered. He had on swim trunks and his chest was bare showing off sculpted abs. I gawked. I wanted to kiss him. I bit my lip, shrugging the thought away. He noticed my gaze and smiled. My cheek went ablaze, Then he stepped out, closing the door, his bare chest brushing slightly against me. “Hey.” He said. “Hi.” I said back, getting myself together. “Come on.” Ash said grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the beach. “You know how to surf?” He asked me then went over to a little shack near the water. “Yeah.” I called out. I loved surfing. I took my shorts and shirt off dumping them on the ground. When I looked back up Ash was staring at me. “What?” I asked raising an eyebrow. He shook his head. “Nothing.” I flashed a smile then grabbed one of the surfboards laying on the sand and ran into the water. It was warm and felt refreshing as it washed over my skin. A wave was coming, I turned around and started paddling. I stood up and rode the wave, adrenaline rushing through me as I sped to the shoar, I jumped off as I hit the sand. I bowed, a little surprised I didn’t fall. “Show off! Let me show you how it’s really done” Ash called out, grinning. I was sure he would, he was from Australia, they had major surfing skills down there. He took off into the water. I gasped, the wave he chose was huge it was like ten feet tall. About halfway to shore he fell off and got crushed under the wave. I waited a second. He didn’t pop back up. Crap. Anxiety spread through me. “Ash!” I screamed frantically. I ran into the water and dived down, the water was murky but it cleared after a moment, it didn’t sting my eyes as I opened them to look for Ash, it took me a few minutes to find him, he was behind a rock drifting lifelessly near the bottom. Oh my god. I grabbed him then swam to the surface, then to shore as fast as possible. I dragged him onto the sand, placing him on his back, I knelt over him, I took a deep breath to calm down. I was a trained lifeguard I knew what to do. I started CPR and tried not to think about what I was doing as I pressed my mouth to his when I pulled back his mouth opened but he didn’t gasp for air. “You’re an aemon.” He said quietly. Then he sat up. I stared at him, bewildered. What the hell just happened. “Sorry to have scared you.” He said apologetically. Then he wrapped his warm arms around me and pulled me close. “What, you didn’t drown?” I stammered. He shook his head. “I’m like you Sofya, we were down there for thirty minutes.” My jaw dropped, crap this was bad, very bad. Wait a minute, he was like me? What? “How so.” I said defensively. He couldn’t know this, he couldn’t, no one could. He lifted his hand that wasn’t wrapped around me and showed me his watch. It read thirty minutes and counting. It had started at about the time Ash fell. I gasped, if we had actually been under that long we would both be dead. Then the realization set in. He knew my secret. How I was different, not human, a freak. The secret I had worked so hard to keep hidden. Just one day, one day was all it took to ruin that. “You are not a freak.” Ash said angrily. I noticed his arm was still wrapped tightly around me. I jerked back and stood up, prepared to run. This was not happening, But before I could dash away Ash caught my hand. The world started to spin, my head was throbbing. A wave of dizziness came over me, I started to fall and then all I saw was deep, dark blackness.

I blinked. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I looked around in disbelief. I was somewhere in the mountains, large snowy peaks encircled an open meadow, tall green grass stood about, all around people and creatures were fighting, explosions shook the earth. How in the world had I gotten here, wherever here was. A few feet away was a girl with long light brown hair on her knees sobbing, over someone laying on the ground. She had mud and blood stains all over her, and a huge bloody gash across her arm. She was wearing really strange clothes, some sort of black leather. I stepped closer to get a better look. Oh, My God, it was me. I squinted in disbelief. The other person, who was laying on the ground was Ash. There was a dagger buried in his chest. Blood was oozing out of the wound. I fought the urge to scream, this was not real, it couldn’t be. Right? Suddenly a jolt of pain shot through my head pulling me back into the deep darkness.