-Laelyn-

I had to get up early that morning, to pack for Alyrica's. I was staying over at her house for her birthday. I was still half asleep, and didn't register half of what I threw into my backpack, but I got done quickly and stumbled down the steps to the dining room.

"What's for breakfast today?" I asked.

"No clue, but whatever it is, make it quick." Link yelled from the living room. "Mom had work today, remember? You're late, we have to go."

Crap. Not again. Good thing I set my alarm a bit earlier.

"Sorry..." I mumbled, grabbing a granola bar from the counter and following Link through the back door. We had to walk about a mile to school, so we had time to talk on the way there.

"So, you studied last night, right?" Link asked me.

"Yeah, a little." I confirmed. In reality, all I did was read over my study guide, but Link didn't need to know that. Knowing him, he would go insane again. I was not in the mood for another one of his lectures that morning.

"A little?"

"Yeah, I studied."

"Alright. Mini quiz time!" He skipped a little, smiling.

I groaned loudly. "Do we have to?"

"Of course we do!" He exclaimed.

"Well can we do that later? We should talk about other things first."

"Like what?" He asked, as if nothing could be more important than studying.

"Like Alyrica?" I rolled my eyes.

"Oh God. Don't even bring that up- I'm nervous enough as it is." He sighed heavily and ran his hand through his light blonde hair again.

"So you're really gonna do it then? Ask her out?" I asked.

"Yeah. Definitely. If I don't do it today, I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life."

"You can't do it later?"

"No. I'm too scared. And besides... today's perfect."

"It really is. I think she's gonna say yes."

His head jerked up to stare at me. "You do?" He smiled wide.

"I've got a good feeling, yeah." I answered, trying not to give it away too easily.

He clasped his hands, unable to contain his nervous excitement. "I'm terrified. But if she says yes, or even if it just makes her smile, it's worth it." He smiled again.

I smiled as well, fully aware of how ecstatic Alyrica was going to be when he asked her. It would be perfect. Who would have thought that my brother would be so romantic? Afraid I would give too much away by not responding, I quickly added, "I sure hope she does."

We kept walking for a few minutes, in silence. Suddenly, Link stopped in his tracks and turned to me in horror. "Practice! Oh my God, I'm going to be late two days in a row!"

"We'd better run then, right?" I smirked, challenging him. "Let's race."

"Oh, you don't wanna do that, Lyn."

"Oh, but I do." I winked, and took off in the direction of the school.

"Hey! Not fair!" Link protested, sprinting to catch up. We ran the remaining half mile to school, and I slowed to a jog as the parking lot came into view. I checked my watch. "You've got exactly 7 minutes to get to practice. You'd better hurry." I turned to inform him. He had just jogged up to catch me. "Oh, yeah, and you lost." I laughed and he stuck his tongue out at me before running to the school building.

While he may have almost been late, I had loads of time to spare. It was 7:08, and first hour didn't start until 8:00. I walked up to the building, taking time to catch my breath, and I saw Brent and Corrine talking by the school sign. The sign was obnoxious in my opinion, with Simon J. Bernard High School written in large, orange letters surrounded by paw prints- our mascot was the Saint Bernard. But it didn't bother me that day. Brent and Corrine were debating about some sort of science project, it seemed. I approached them, but they were so caught up in their discussion that they didn't notice me. I listened in on their topic, and it seemed like a simple problem. I sighed happily- they weren't fighting. They never fought, and I was quite glad. I hated any sort of disagreement. Though, Corrine and Brent hadn't had more than two fights the entire year and a half they had been dating.

"I'm telling you, we're going to get a much better grade if we do a more complicated project," Corrine said.

"But these are the projects Mrs. Hill gave us to pick from." Brent argued.

"She said they were ideas, Brent. She expects us to pick something more challenging." She explained.

"Then why would she give us such a long list? I'm sure she won't change our grade based on the type of project we do, just the quality of our work." He objected.

"But that's going to be so easy!" She complained.

"Bingo!" He tapped her nose. "That's the whole point, Wren." That was his nickname for Corinne.

She was laughing now. "Fine, as long as you know for sure we won't get marked down, you can pick the topic," She conceded, "Maybe it will be better. We've got so much homework already."

"That's my girl!" He gave her a bear hug, and she laughed again.

"Hey guys!" I cut in. "What project are you talking about?"

"The final project for Mrs. Hill's biology class. We both have that class for third hour." Corrine explained.

"It won't be too difficult, we learned all the important stuff in the first couple weeks of the trimester." Brent added. "But I bet it's going to be a nightmare for that new chick, Daeva."

My words caught in my throat. Daeva? Where did I recognize that name from? "Oh, a new girl is in your class? What's she like?" I asked, almost scared to hear the answer.

"She's very quiet- in fact I don't think she can speak at all. She has black hair, that's really all I know. She had her head down the entire time." Corrine answered me. The dream I had in gym yesterday, I remembered. Oh, she could speak all right, if she was who I thought she was. No, Laelyn. She's not the girl from your dreams, I reprimanded myself.

"That's nice." I mumbled, not really paying attention anymore. I looked around for a clock, and the large one right inside the glass doors read 7:21. There were still nine minutes before the bus arrived, bringing Cowyn, Tayvis and Alyrica to school. I was definitely going to be the first to tell her happy birthday. That was a little game I always played- I loved being first at things, even when I was the only one keeping track. I was very good at it, mostly because no one else knew of its existence.

"Laelyn?" Brent said, and it sounded like he had been trying to get my attention.

I looked up. "Yeah." Let's hope he hadn't asked me a question.

"Wait, what?" Corrine asked.

"Sorry, what did you ask?" I questioned, mentally facepalming.

"We were wondering how old Alyrica is going to be today." Brent reiterated.

"Oh, right. Sixteen." I nodded a little too hard, pretending I had been paying attention. But no matter how much I tried, my mind went back to that new girl... Daeva? If that was in fact her name, how in the world had it come into my mind? I was still trying to convince myself that it wasn't really her, but I couldn't think of any logical explanation at the moment. That's because the only explanation is that Daeva was in my dreams, I thought. No. That couldn't be true. I didn't want it to be true- because that would mean that everything in my dreams could be true, as well. I shuddered at the thought of her voice shrieking at me again.

I had apparently spent a few minutes daydreaming, and the bus pulled up. Was it still called daydreaming when it was a nightmare? Who knew. I ran up to the bus stop and patiently waited for Alyrica to get off the bus. When she finally dismounted, I ran up to her and almost tackled her to the ground in a hug.

"Happy birthday!" I yelled. She screamed.

"You scared the crap out of me!" She wheezed, after I let her go.

"Welcome to the club." I teased. Since she had the latest birthday out of all of our friends, we joked relentlessly.

"Oh shut up." She giggled. "I am so excited for tonight!"

The sleepover, right. "Me too!" I replied. We walked into the school together, closely followed by Cowyn and Tayvis,

"Happy birthday!" they yelled in unison, startling Alyrica again.

She hit Cowyn on the shoulder. "Hey! you scared me!"

"That was our intent!" Tayvis laughed.

She hit Tayvis on the shoulder as well.

"Hey! That hurt!" He yelled.

"That was my intent." She looked over at me and we burst into laughter. Picking up our pace, we headed down the hallway to our lockers. I stopped to throw my lunchbox in Link's locker before following Alyrica to hers. I looked around for a clock. 7:43. Two more minutes until Link got out of practice. I wondered when he was planning on asking Alyrica. I just planned to leave them alone whenever it was possible, to give him time. He definitely needed it, with his nerves. By the time we made it to first hour, practice had been over for a few minutes, and Link came bounding into the classroom with Chanson. I wonder if he told anyone else about asking her, I thought briefly. Probably not, I reasoned. I immediately took it on as my responsibility to make sure he could get her alone. "Chanson!" I called.

"Yeah?" He looked at me inquisitively. Crap, what was I supposed to say that would get him over here?

"Did you finish your study guide for sixth hour?" I asked frantically, "I need to fill in a few blanks."

He walked over to my desk, setting down his binder. "Yeah, sure. What do you need?" He opened his social studies folder, and I glanced over his shoulder at Link. He gave me a grateful smile, and I returned it.

"Alright, here you go." Chanson handed me his papers.

"What?" I asked. Mental facepalm. "Oh, right! Thanks so much!" I blurted. He turned to walk back towards Link. "Wait!" I cried, grabbing his arm. He gave me an odd stare. "Sorry, I just... could you explain number... umm... number eight!" I exclaimed. "Yes, number eight. It's confusing."

"You don't understand that Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492?" Chanson asked, incredulous.

"Oh, did I say eight? I meant eighteen." I lied.

"Eighteen? Oh sure, let me see..." He flipped through the packet, then looked up unbelieving. "Lyn, I think you might need to study more. Leif Eriksson sailed to America long before Columbus did. You didn't know that?"

"Oh, so that's his name! Thank you so much!" Wow, I was not good at this. I couldn't hold him any longer, so when he turned around to leave this time, I let him. I just hoped that Link had gotten enough time to ask Alyrica. I looked in his direction- nope. Definitely not. His head hung low as Chanson walked up, and Alyrica began to walk towards me.

"Oh, Link, was there something you wanted to ask me?" Alyrica questioned on the way to her seat.

He shrugged. "Maybe later." He sulked back to his chair and Chanson followed.

***

Second and third hour were quite uneventful, except a few puns on Treyden's part. Link and I walked down the hallway to fourth hour, and he was still sulking. "Hey," I said, "You've still got half the day left. I'm sure it's going to be perfect."

"Hopefully..." He mumbled, opening the gym doors for me. Alyrica met us right when I walked inside. "Hey, Lyric." Link waved. She smiled back happily.

"Oh hey, what was it that you needed earlier?" She asked.

"Right!" Link immediately stood taller and smiled wider. "Yeah, I'll find you right after I get changed!" With that, he jogged off to the guys' locker room.

"What do you think he wants?" She wondered. I looked at her and realized she had addressed me with the question. Crap. Time for more stalling.

"Who knows?" I replied, "He doesn't tell me everything, you know." Not until I brought it up, that is.

She laughed. "I know, it just seems important."

"Oh, believe me, it is." Mental facepalm. Geez, how many of those was I going to have today? "I mean, it seems like it would be! I don't know anything about it, so how would I know? I wouldn't." I awkwardly smiled, and gave her a thumbs up before going to the locker room. The next time I have to keep a secret, I'm staying home sick, I decided. I was just not good at lying. All my life, everyone told me that was a good thing. It definitely wasn't right now! I opened my combination lock- 30-17-09. It was purely muscle memory by now, and I barely looked at the numbers anymore. I pulled out the first pair of clothes I came in contact with, and the match I ended up with was a light blue v-neck t-shirt and grey shorts. I debated whether or not I should wait a bit before going back into the gym, so I wouldn't distract Alyrica from Link or reveal his intentions, but in the end I just walked out normally.

I saw Beckham sitting alone again, and I joined him on the bleachers so Alyrica wouldn't call me over. "Hey," I said, "How are you?"

"Oh, hey Laelyn! I'm alright." He answered a little too quickly. Something was definitely off about him- I just couldn't figure out what.

"What's wrong?" I asked, eager to find out.

"Nothing!" He waved the idea away. "I'm fine."

"Okay, I barely know you and I know you're lying." I accused. He laughed lightly.

"It's not important."

"Are you sure?" I pushed. "I'm a good listener."

"It's not that," He replied, "I just can't- I don't want to talk about it."

"Alright." I answered, wishing he would just trust me with the truth. "Well, what's up then? How are you feeling about that test in sixth hour?" Why was my nervous go-to the test?

"I'm actually worried about that class- the test, I mean." He began. "I'm not sure I'll even show up."

"You're going to skip?" I thought aloud.

"Not, not skip... Just... Not go?"

"It doesn't work that way, Beckham," I said. "You need to come to class. What are you so worried about anyways?" When I glanced at his study guide yesterday, he had already finished the day before. He knew the material- we all did. It was an easy course.

"People." He answered, simply.

"Nice. Real specific there," I rolled my eyes. He wouldn't look me in the eye. "Beckham." I started, to get his attention. "Like who?" He finally looked up.

"You can just call me Beck," He said, "But it's really not important who."

"It's important if you want to skip class because of it!" I remarked. He looked at me with pain in his brown eyes.

"I.. I'm sorry I just can't tell you right now." He looked away.

"Well, I want to know one way or another. You can't skip class for something and say it's not important." I demanded.

He shook his head, and strands of his light brown hair fell in front of his eyes. "I can't." He said again, more forcefully.

I was worried about him. If a certain person was bothering him that much, wouldn't he want someone to know? "Why not?"

"Because... that person might end up hurting you, too."

"What? Who? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I can't... I'm sorry. I just can't tell you!" He sounded so hurt, so scared.

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Beck, I'm going to help you. If someone is bullying you-"

"It's not like that. This can't be fixed. Just leave it alone, alright?" He said, tears forming in his eyes. He blinked them back rapidly, and I pretended not to notice them.

"I can help you, you know. You're not alone."

"You can't. Not with this."

"I can, and I will." I said, determined.

"I don't think you really know what you're doing, Laelyn." He warned. Helping him, that's what I was doing. Or, trying to, anyways.

"Beck, what is going on?" I asked, exasperated. He turned to look me directly in the eyes.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then stared at me again. "You aren't supposed to know. You're just supposed to be warned."

***

I was back in the alleyway. The back wall was glowing bright again. Daeva was pointing her finger at me, and I braced myself for the impact. I closed my eyes, accepting my fate.

"Stop this Daeva!" I heard that familiar voice again, and I was knocked to the ground. I opened my eyes in panic. The man was protecting me from her. She shrieked again, and disappeared in the glow. Tears began running down my cheek, and I couldn't move. I was paralyzed with fear, and it just frightened me more. The boy turned around and crouched down to look at me.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" He wondered, and he checked my arms and face for harm.

"I... I'm f-f-fine..." I stuttered. The man pulled back his hood, revealing a young boy with light brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles. My eyes widened in recognition. "Beck?"

"Shh." He pressed his index finger to his mouth and looked around. "Get away from here. Don't come back. And don't ever follow Daeva." He paused, and his eyes filled with pain. "Goodbye." He turned towards the back of the alleyway, towards the terrible, unnatural bright light, and disappeared, just as Daeva had before him.

Author's Note! 

I love this chapter soooooo much. Do you guys understand that she is having visions when she passes out? Just making sure that comes across- if not, please tell me! And please comment with anything you're thinking or how you feel about any part in the story. Love you guys!

Savy Pearson