"Ugh" I rolled over to my back on the bed. It was 1 am and I had a headache from trying to understand what was written in the book.

What exactly did grandpa want me to understand from this book when it wasn't even written in English. Was this some kind of riddle.

It was barely held together. The pages were so worn out the words were barely visible and those that were weren't comprehensible.

At some point I feel asleep and was woken up by the alarm, blaring in my ear.

I groaned and managed to open my eyes. The sunrays were coming in through behind the curtains and were giving the whole room an orange glow.

I got up, stretched and started getting ready.

While I was organizing my bag, I glanced over to my bed where the mystery book was still laying open.

Maybe Austin would know this foreign language, though it was unlikely but still.

"Tiff, you're breakfast is getting cold and you're late." Mom called out from downstairs.

I stuffed it in my bag and ran down the stairs.

"Where's Emily?" I asked walking over and hurriedly putting on my shoes.

"Already left." She came up behind me dusting off her hands on her apron. "Eat something before you go."

"I Don't wanna miss the bus." I turned toward's her with a small pout.

Her eyes clouded with worry of her child not eating enough and she crossed her arms and opened her mouth and was about to say something but I cut her off.

"I'll eat a lot at lunch, promise. love you. Bye." I leaned over squeezing her cheeks and planting a kiss, making her shake her head and smile at the same time.

Just as I stepped outside and closed the door behind Me, I saw someone rush out of our garage. His hands were in his pockets and he was walking briskly.

"HEY, wait. who are you?" I called out to him started walking towards him.

He jumped and spun around. His hair was messed up, bags under his eyes and skin was pale.

'who was he?'

for a second he just stood there looking shocked. then taking a deep breath he sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"I'm.....no one." He said, taking a step back.

"And what were you doing in our garage?" I asked giving him a suspicious look.

"nothing" he muttered and turned his back to me.

'oh no you don't'

"hey, wait." I grabbed his wrist before he could get away.

"let go." he turned around and jerked away a little too hard making me lose my balance, hitting the ground and scraping my hands against the ground.

I winced and rubbed my hands. looking up at him, he was biting his lip with a guilty look in his eyes.

He sighed and pressed the bridge of his nose.

"sorry" his voice was tired.

he bent down and offered his hand to help me up. I was about to grab it when I saw it.

My eyes widened momentarily as I jumped up and grabbed his hand abruptly making him jump too.

"OH MY GOD THAT'S-"

"what?" he tried to pull away.

before I could answer I heard the bus arriving at the stop.

"shit, I'm late." I turned towards him. he was frowning, eyebrows drawn together, still trying to pry his hand out of my grip.

I couldn't leave him. the only other option was to take him to school with me. Austin would know what to do.

"come on" I started pulling him along.

"why? and where to exactly?"

"I need to catch the bus. I'll explain later, okay?"

"o-kay" he said after a moment of thinking. He still looked skeptical, but started to follow.

It was a miracle I was able to catch the bus. I got on and dropped down next to Emily, taking deep breaths. he sat down next to me also breathing heavy.

"who's that?" Emily raised her eyebrow and jerked her head towards him.

"A weird random guy."

"says the girl who screams out of nowhere and drags random guys wherever she wants." he shot back and Emily started giggling.

"I don't" I said, indignantly and he raised an eyebrow. "ugh, my headache's gonna come back." I grabbed my head. "Emily. stop. giggling. it wasn't that funny."

"so why did you scream?" He said, pulling his good over his head.

"Oh, that's right." I said remembering. "your hand."

he turned his palm facing up, looking at the mark.

"what's so special about it?"

"oh my gosh" Emily leaned forward whisper screaming. "is that?.......are you two?.......soulmates." she squealed.

I groaned and leaned back in my seat, my head hitting the head rest.

"Are we?" he tilted his head.

"of course not. my sister is an idiot."

"oh. thank god." he said, pressing a hand against his chest and heaved a sigh, making Emily start giggling again.

I narrowed my eyes at him and he pressed his lips together and started looking around the bus, pretending not to notice.

the bus stopped and Emily got up still giggling.

"well this is my stop. It was nice meeting you...um..." she looked towards me and I shrugged in response.

"I'm Elliot" he offered her a smile.

"see you later then."and she hurried off.

"she's sweet." he said looking after her.

"yeah, just precious."

"so... am i gonna get any answers?" he said, turning towards me.

"you will after we meet with Austin."

"your boyfriend?"

"NO" I deadpanned.

"I was just asking" he raised both his hands. "no need to give off a murderous aura."

The second we arrived I started dragging him out of the bus.

"What's the rush?" He asked, chuckling at my attempts to push through two girls taller than me without any success.

"Stop laughing," I huffed and gave up on reaching the front door and turned around and started dragging him to the back door. "The bell will ring any moment now, we need to hurry."

I pushed through all the people to the back door only to see it was blocked too. I groaned. Elliot started shaking beside me, I looked up to see him with a hand on his mouth trying to hold back his laughter.

"Alright alright." He said, as I glared at him.

He cleared his throat and the girls in front of us turned around.

"Excuse Me, could you please move aside. You're blocking rhe way." He said, instantly becoming a gentleman and giving them a smile.

They started giggling and apologising and moved out of the way.

He turned towards me and gave me a smug look and I rolled and eyes.

Just as we got off some girls started shouting, we both turned around. One of the girls had collapsed on the steps of the bus and her friends were helping her up.

"what happened?" I turned around and started to walk towards them.

"probably didn't eat her breakfast. come on, weren't we going to meet someone?" he pulled me back.

I have him a questioning look.

"Weren't you in a hurry?" He asked.

'when was he so excited to meet Austin.'

"ye-ah, okay let's go." I decided to dismiss it.

I lead him down the halls towards Austin's class navigating through a sea of students trying to get to their own classes.

"you don't have to hold on so tightly, I won't get lost you know."

I stopped and turned towards him and he glanced down at his wrist which was still in my hand.

"you're too slow, I was just dragging you along." I said, letting his wrist go and started walking. He caught up laughing and shaking his head.

"That's a big personality you've got in that tiny body."

"I'm. not. Tiny."

"Sure." He drawled out.

"wait here." I told him when we reached his class and went inside.

Austin was as usual bent over his desk, unsocial as always. I walked over to him and he was completely in his own world not even noticing me. I grinned as I slowly bent down.

"Austin," I hissed in his ear, making him jump.

He turned towards me, glaring at me as I laughed.

"You fall for that every single time." I said still laughing.

"TIFF, I swear-"

"I need to show you something." I cut him off, grabbed his arm and tugged him, recovering from my giggles.

"what?" He said, annoyed.

"will you come with me?" I gave him a pointed look, hoping he'd get the message.

he sighed and got up following me out of the classroom.

"What is it?" He asked looking around as we walked out into the hallway.

Elliot wasn't there, I started panicking and looked around only to see him leaning against one of the lockers looking amused by my panic.

I ignored him and walked towards him with Austin behind me.

"Austin this is Elliot. Elliot Austin." I said, gesturing between them.

Elliot stayed quiet and so did Austin, instead he turned to me and gave me a questioning look.

I sighed.

"show him your hand." I turned towards Elliot.

He showed him his palm and the reaction was almost immediate.

"Whoa...wait....isn't that?" He looked towards me, confused.

"yup it's exactly same."

"same as what?" Elliot said, exasperated. "Will someone tell me what's going on here."

"oh, sorry," I turned towards him. "I have that exact same mark on my shoulder." I pattted my shoulder.

"you what? how-"

"so what? they're two chosen ones" Austin interrupted him.

"they'd be called chosen two's then." I grinned and he groaned.

"I don't understand any of this." Elliot furrowed his brows.

"neither do I." I answered honestly and he sighed and pressed both his hands to his forehead.

"stop it, your idiocy is giving him a headache."

"I'm the one with a headache." I grumbled.

Before Austin could come up with a reply, the bell rang.

'well, see ya." he gave a small wave and turned around.

"wait, you have to keep him with you." I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"why do I have to?" he said, pulling away.

"well I can't keep him. weird rumors might start."

"oh, so miss popular is worried about her reputation." he raised an eyebrow.

"I am not popular." I scoffed

"you're the only one who thinks that."

"come on Austin, pleeeease?"

he let out a defeated sigh. I looked over towards Elliot who had been quiet for a while now. He was looking at the floor, a serious expression on his face.

deciding not to interrupt him I turned towards Austin.

"see you later."

A/N - I straight up blanked for a week and inspiration just hit me a 1 am in the morning and I sat 3 hours straight on this. (probably doesn't seem like it thou)

anyway hope you guys are enjoying the story so far vote and comment.