First+Person

The piercing sound of my alarm clock screams into my ears and reluctantly I slightly open my eyes. I sigh as a reach onto my dresser and press the alarm button. Through my half opened eyes I see the numbers 6:25 in bright red flashing at me. The urge to just roll over and stay in bed like I have all week surges through me. I decide that missing one more day of school couldn't hurt me too badly, and I close my eyes. Unfortunately a few minutes later I hear a soft knock on my door. Instantly I knew that it was Julie and I figured that she was going to try to make me get out of bed and go to school, but I knew that no matter what she would say I would just refuse to go. I have lived with my Aunt Julie and Uncle Scott since I was four. Both of my parents had been killed in a car accident, and I could hardly remember either of them. The only memories I really have of them are the pictures that Julie and Scott had collected from my old house. Even though I was so young it was still very hard trying to grow up with my Aunt and Uncle as parents. They were both young; at the time of the accident Julie was only twenty-two and Scott was twenty three, but somehow they managed to take care of me. Julie was still a teenager at heart, so it made growing up very interesting.

"Go away Julie." I mumble grumpily from under my comforter. This same thing had happen for a full week now, and by now my Aunt Julie knew better then to just turn around and walk away even though that is exactly what I wanted her to do.

But of course, she opened the door and covered the small distance between my doorway and the edge of my bed before collapsing beside me and crawling under the covers with me.

"Hi." She said simply and curled up in a ball, closing her eyes.

"Don't make me go." My voice cracked as a spoke making it seem like I was truly going to break down any second.

"It's Friday anyways, I wouldn't go either." She mumbled and the next thing I knew I fell asleep to the steady sound of here breathing.

I was awaken from my sleep the same way I had been the entire week. The dreams seemed to becoming more intense, and it seemed that even though they felt more real I couldn't tell who it was the always screamed for me before I felt as if I was falling.

I didn't understand it, but Julie thinks that they may just be a side effect for the medication that I was prescribed after being stuck in the hospital for three days with some kind of viral sickness, but I can't be sure, all I know is that I always wake up sweating, and feeling like I'm in danger. Every time I tell Julie that she thinks I'm just paranoid, which very well may be the case.

At first the dream was very vague. I could only see the green walls and a black and red figure standing in front of me, and the only thing I could hear was the figure calling out my name. Even through this basic dream I had woken frightened. It was as if some intuition sensed that the figure was dangerous, but this didn't make much sense to me either, because I was always running towards it. To my disappointment the dreams became worse, and within three days I could tell that I was standing in the hallway at school, and the green walls were actually lockers and could tell who's classrooms I was standing beside and even knew some of the closer locker numbers. Even though I could easily make out all of these details the figure was not any clearer to me. I could tell he was wearing dark pants and a black and red shirt but that's all. I couldn't see his face, nor the color of his hair, and this seemed to interest me.

I lounged around my house all day and answered the text messages that my three best friends had manage to sneak to me during the school day. Everyone was curious as to wear I was, and I was sure there were plenty of rumors floating around like there always are whenever someone is missing for a long period of time. Only my three best friends, Lexi, Katherine, and Chloe, were the ones who knew that it was only the fact that I was sick that's keeping me from going to school. After leaving the hospital on Tuesday morning, I've hardly had the energy to even eat.

When 3:30 rolled around I was sitting on the couch waiting for the doorbell to ring, like it had the two days before. Today though I was surprised when the the girls busted through the door, almost screaming my name.

"Jade you wouldn't believe what happened today!" Lexi started and instantly I knew that this was going to be another time where all of my friends finished the story together, by alternating sentences, and even sometimes words. It was cliche, and very over dramatic for my taste, but I knew that I couldn't stop it no matter how hard I tried.

"There's two new students! Brothers!" Chloe continued.

"Twins." Katherine's tone was tinted with just a hint of annoyance and instantly I could tell she wasn't too excited about these twin brothers.

"They are so cute!" Lexi continued, obviously pretending not to notice Katherine's tone.

"Adorable actually," Chloe added. " They're names are Logan and Ethan."

"They are built perfectly! They make Jason look bad!" By Jason Lexi meant the all American high school quarterback that they seemed to obsess over daily. Jason was cute, but his arrogant attitude made me have absolutely no interest to him.

They continued to ramble on for a few more minutes but I didn't seem to catch much of what they're saying. Instead I let my mind wander to how I picked such a group of over dramatic friends. Before I knew them I kept to myself. I was athletic, but by no means the best player on any of the teams. It seemed that in only the few days we spent together at a basketball camp our friendship seemed to take off, and fortunately it's been that way sense.

It wasn't until Chloe mentioned that my science teacher, Mr Pearson, had made everyone in the class chose two partners that they were going to have to do a project with. Instantly I knew that the girls had left me alone so I asked who I had in my group.

"Well..." Lexi started, but was quickly interrupted by Katherine.

"Logan and Ethan were partners of course, and no one seemed to want to join them."

"So I'm with two people I don't know. Great." I wasn't the best at making friends it took me till the second day of the camp to even talk to the girls, even though they were perfectly nice to my the whole time. Obviously my people skills weren't great.

The girls continued to talk for a few more minutes until Lexi remembered that she was late for a swim practice, and since she had driven everyone here they had to leave to. We said our goodbyes and they promised that they would come and see me again tomorrow.

I spent the rest of the night with Aunt Julie and Uncle Scott watching a variety of different TV shows until I finally couldn't hold my eyes open.

I stumbled up the stairs half awake and the next thing I knew I was running towards the mysterious figure again, only this time as he screamed I felt something cold wrap around my neck. I woke with my scream still caught in my throat and a layer of sweat on me, but before I had time to over think what the new twist in this disturbing dream three girls ran and jumped onto my bed.

I groaned and rolled over, trying to ignore them even though I knew they wouldn't leave.

"What time is it?" I finally asked after a few minutes of them ripping the covers off of me leaving me shivering.

"9 a.m. sunshine!" Katherine said with a bright white smile plastered onto her face. "Get up, Julie gave us permission to take you shopping!"

"Of course she did...Can I at least shower?"

"Car leaves in twenty minutes, we will drag you to the mall in only your towel if we have to so hurry! There's a huge sale today at..." I didn't hear where the sale was because I cut off her voice by grumpily slamming my bathroom door.

Less then ten minutes later I was walking into the kitchen while towel drying my hair. Lexi, Katherine, and Chloe were all at the kitchen table talking with my Aunt Julie.

"I'll be ready in five minutes." As I spoke a poured myself a glass of milk.

"Yea, lucky for you your hair curls perfectly every day and you don't have to try to look gorgeous." Katherine was in love with my hair, but only because her hair was a mess to deal with daily, and often she just pulled it back into a pony tail.

Five minutes later I was back at the kitchen table, my dark brown hair was beginning to dry and curling just like it always did. I wasn't wearing any makeup, but the slight blue tint of my contacts made the blue in my eyes even more piercing then it naturally was.I grabbed my wallet off of the counter and told Julie that I'd be back later, then we all piled into Lexi's car and made the ten minute drive to the mall.

The mall was busy, just like it was every Saturday. There were plenty of teenage couples walking around, or should I say that the girlfriends were dragging their boyfriends into the local shoe department. There were parents trying to control bratty children, and flocks of teenage girls like us just looking to spend money on things we don't need.

Lexi and Chloe headed straight towards the Hollister store that was near the front entrance. Instead of following them like Katherine did I yelled to them and told them that I wanted to go into the Barnes and Noble.

"I need to just pick up a few new books!" I told them when their eager expressions turned into ones of disappointment. I was never the girl for shopping, and they knew that. I spent much of our "girl bonding time' at Barnes and Nobles, tucked away in a corner reading something that wasn't so girly. So they knew that there was no point in trying to talk me into coming with them.

"If you find anything you think I'd love buy it! I'll just pay you back!" I said as they began to walk away again. This got them excited, but that was no surprise to me. The girls loved to try to change my wardrobe, so I knew that they would buy me at least a few pieces of clothing.

I made my way into Barnes and Noble and began to wander through the fiction section. I had picked up a book; a few actually. Though the one that caught my attention was something about a futuristic world that turned disastrous, causing the girl had to live in a post-apocalyptic world. I opened the book and began to walk to my usual chair. I knew this store like the back of my hand so of course I was paying no attention to where I was going, and who else was in my way. I had almost made it to my seat when //smack//, I ran into a guy who was turning the corner beside me. He must have been reading too, because both of our books tumbled to the floor and we both knelt to retrieve them, only I was a second faster.

"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed as I picked up both of our books and looked at the covers. They were exactly the same, and I let out a small laugh. "Good taste." My face was burning as I spoke. Like I said before I am not the best people person.

"You too!" I could hear the smile in his voice before I even got the chance to see it, but when I did look up it wasn't the smile that caught my attention. His eyes were cobalt blue, which isn't a eye color I have ever seen before. I have blue eyes, but compared to my light sky blue his looked cold, but surprisingly in a good way. I was able to stop myself from staring, but it was hard.

We both rose to our feet and he extended his hand towards me, well at least he was a gentlemen. "Logan." I still could help from glancing at his eyes, but luckily again I was able to concentrate, something that I didn't do well when it came to communicating.

"Jade." I reached out to his hand and shook it firmly. I hadn't seen him before, but he looked my age and instantly I wanted to ask if he was new. Then it hit me.

"Oh you're Logan, and you have a twin brother. I heard that we are partners for Mr. Pearson's class." As I spoke I was instantly grateful that I had listened to at least part of the girls rant about the twins. It gave me something to talk about.

"Oh! So you're the girl that is causing all the rumors." He put his hands into his pockets as he spoke.

"Yea, well most likely anyways. I think. I mean if they are bad rumors then they're probably not about me. I've been sick, and I was in the hospital for a few days but I'm better now." I realized I hadn't taken a breath, so I inhaled deeply. " I'm rambling, sorry. I'm not the best 'people' person." Again I felt my cheeks begin to redden.

"It's okay. It's kinda cute."

My face caught on fire. Well okay, maybe not literally but it felt as if it did. "T-thanks." I stuttered.

He smiled brightly before saying that he'll see me Monday in school. I couldn't help but to watch him as he walked around the corner of a bookshelf. I expected him to reappear a second later through the glass window of the store, but he didn't. This puzzled me but I still continued to my original seat.

I sat in my seat and settled down to read my book, until the girls came and finally dragged me into an actual clothing store. As I read I couldn't help but to think of Logan. I know, it sounds cheesy. Just like every other story you've read. Girl meets boy. Girl falls head of heels in love with boy. I promise it's not like that. I wasn't day dreaming about what it would be like to go out with him or any thing even close to that. I was only thinking about how I couldn't have seen him again as he walked out. My seat was facing the window, so there was no way that I could've missed him. Eventually though I let the thought slip from my mind, but it wasn't long until the girls dragged me to the store.

After what seemed like hours of shopping I had talked them into going to the food court and getting something to eat.