Previously...

It was Tuesday. My heart seemed to ache at this news. I've spent the last half-hour staring blankly up at the ceiling in my room. I know that I'm not supposed to be dreading about this, but I can't get over what just happened yesterday. It seemed like it happened minutes ago than 17 hours ago. 

 And then I said I was going to introduce him to Matt! Why did I do that? When it was so obvious he was so unwilling to, but no I was so stubborn and pushy that I practicly made him to.

I sighed as my phone started shrieking, announcing it was time for school. I simply just laid there and let the thing shrill and shriek.

Then came my mother, who snatched my covers to the side, and pushed me to the shower. Then minutes later as my hair started drying up I walked downstairs, totally unaware of my surroundings.

After I had finished my oatmeal and bacon I was out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was like a zombie. Walking through the halls of school like a groggy zombie, but instead of eating people I was eating myself up. And alive.

Yeah, maybe I was exaggerating, but I didn't think so. 

As I started spacing out, Jodie nudged me awake and cheerfully said,"Arielle? Didn't get much sleep, huh?"

"Yeah. That's it" was my dull response.

I didn't look at them, but I could sense the stir I just created.

Seth cleared his throat and said,"So, uh, Arielle, are you going to the party? I think I am. Well, not like 100%, but its in between there. So, are you?"

I furrowed my brow as I really thought about that. I took a deep breath and said," Maybe. And if I do go I will already have a costume. It's like a faerie costume. Something like that, anyway."

"I think you should go. You may think I'm being pushy, but I think it will be a good idea since you seem like you need some fresh air and letting out. Like, partying until you get sick and just partying! How's that for summarizing a "dreadful" party?"

I actually smiled at the idea and I officially agreed there. "That actually sounds nice and exciting. So, I think I am going. It's like 2 days from now. Wait, woah! That was fast! Anyway, should we meet or like how should we do this?"

Jodie tapped her jaw with her forefinger and snapped her fingers in expectation. "I know! I think we should all meet at Seth's house 'cause it's the closest to school and we could go their like at sevenish or earlier. Wait, what time does it start?"

Ruby told her and Jodie continued,"Oh, okay. Then we'll meet at 7:30. Sounds good? Is that alright Seth?"

Seth nodded and said in a fake booming voice,"Get ready to see the ultimate Scream! And to get slaughtered in pieces my friends."

We all laughed and feigned horror looks at Seth. He just grinned and nodded.

Then Seth widened his eyes and shook my shoulder. "Oh hey didn't you say you were gonna meet up with Matt? Yeah, well he's right over there for your information." He turned me around by my shoulder and I spotted his lazy slouched beside his aunt and the principal, Mrs.Brewett.

They were pointing at us, well, actually they were pointing at me. I stared in confusion and then after a few seconds of exchanging some words they made their way over here.

Matt tagged along and had a half-smile plastered on his face. I smiled back, but my eyes were focused on the adults.

Mrs. Brewett smiled at us and said,"Hello Mrs. Martinez." She nodded to the others who waved. "I'm here to say that since you know Matt over here that you would show him around the school and how to get to his classes. I would really appreciate it and since you both know each other that you wouldn't have much problems in communicating. So, are you in?"

For some reason I was amused by this, but quickly dismissed it. "Yeah. I would like to and I'll make sure everything is alright."

She smiled and said,"Very well. I'll check on both of you later and have a good day!" She gave a last nod and walked away with Mrs. Elle who gave Matt a hug and waved at us goodbye.

Matt waved another time and turned to us with an amused expression. "So, what up people! Recognize me or did Arielle tell you?"

I glanced at my friends and almost laughed out loud as I saw their expressions. Seth particulary caught my attention as he stood dead frozen with a look of horror on his face. Ruby and Jodie had their eyes bulging out that it wouldn't have surprised me if they fell out of their sockets.

Unable to contain myself I bursted out laughing. Not even that seemed to make them move.

Seth finally got out of his phase as he blinked a few times and looked at Matt over who has his lips presed in a tight line which indicated he totally wanted to laugh.

Seth's mouth made a popping sound as he opened it. "Wow. It's really you. I thought Arielle was just playing 'cause she seemed too fidgety. Uh, dude what's up?"

Matt shrugged and acted calm. "Nothing much, man. Ah, yeah well I'm really here so your not being punked like I thought I was when I saw Arielle here. Hey, are they alright 'cause they seemed shocked." I rolled my eyes since it was obvious. He grinned at me.

"We're alright" came the weak reply from Jodie. Matt cocked his head and said,"You sure 'cause you look like your about to faint or...die." 

Matt pursed his lips and and swiftly grabbed Jodie and Ruby in a bear hug. "C'mon guys. This is funny. Hey, Jodie, I always thought you were the calm one of the group! What about you, Ruby, thought you were the one who got ubber-excited on things not act like your made of stone!" He laughed and set them down.

Jodie smiled and said,"A lot of surprises have been going this year and they kinda wanna make me faint to my death." 

Ruby crossed her arms and said,"I'm not always ubber-hyper you know. And Jodie is totally right."

"Well, uh, hope you never die. And hey nice to see all of you again," replied Matt.

All of them smiled and said together,"Same here! So, how you've been?"

Then the fun came in which was learning what had been going on on Matt's life and jeesh was it a lot. He told us how it was for him to be living in Chicago and dealing with his dad, and then dealing with this. Said that he lived in downtown and cool things about Chicago is going to Navy Pier, Soldier Field, Shedd Aquarium, Sears Tower, and much more. He lived in downtown so it didn't take him two hours to arrive to any of those destinations. He said even if the Chicago skyline was beautiful in the night, the temperature there was sometimes unbearable. Then again it didn't earn it's name Windy City for nothing. Even if he had the amazing views and walking in the famous buildings, home was almost insanity. His dad and him almost disagreed on everything, they had fights, and pretty much they annoyed each other. Matt wanted to be out so he called his aunt and said if she could talk to him to let him live with her, and give up costudy on him. It was that bad. Then after a couple of months his dad gave him up and his sister now had custody of Matt. Mat said goodbye to Chicago and his friends to live with his aunt. He was gonna miss the city, but he couldn't live with his dad anymore and they've been living together for two years now. And now he was here. He smiply needed a fresh start.

Seth whistled as he finished and patted Matt on the back as he said,"Wow, dude. Sorry that things didn't go well with your dad and I hope things go well for you here on Oregon."

Matt shook Seth's hand and smiled. "Thanks, buddie," he said.

The bell rang and we stirred. 

"I guess it's time for class and amounts of homework," mumbled Ruby while Seth groaned and rolled his eyes.

We went our way with Matt since he was in the same class too. Please let this be a good day, I pleaded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me and Matt laughed as we made ou way out of Spanish class. So far I've been able to avoid Shadow in every class since I had to give instructions to Matt of what to do and to lead him to every of his classes which wasn't a problem since he almost went to every one of my classes.

I was relieved, but yet guilty of avoiding Shadow like that. My luck ran out as I bumped into him later on.

Me and Matt were just making our way to lunch until we approached a dark figure leaning against the wall near the double doors that led to the cafeteria. I ignored him, but as I got closer I realized it was Shadow and stopped in my tracks as I took this in.

Matt stopped and raised and eyebrow at me. I shook my head and moved on since I really didn't want to ruin it. I kept my face hidden under my waves of red hair and avoided his searching gaze.

As we neared the double doors, Shadow spoke out in a soft voice,"Arielle? Hey, can we talk?"

I froze, but moved forward, but more faster. I would have gotten past him if only he wouldn't have caught my arm and pulled me away from the crowd. I immediately caught Matt's sleeve and jerked him toward me.

Shadow pulled us to a dark corner and didn't notice Matt was there until Matt coughed out.

Shadow frowned and almost snapped out,"Who are you?"

Matt licked his lips and said in a more patient tone,"The question is who are you? Since your the one who dragged Arielle who dragged me here."

Shadow waited and they stared each other in silence. After a few long seconds Matt gave up and said,"I'm her friend, Matt. I just arrived here and um, yeah. Now, who are you?"

"Shadow. A friend too. So, your Matt?," asked Shadow. 

"Yeah, I'm Matt. You know me or did Arielle...Ah, yeah okay."

Shadow nodded and turned to me. "Arielle can we talk? I really need to talk to you."

I bit my lip and grabbed Matt's arm. "I-I can't. Maybe later, but not right now. And anyway I'm hungry." 

"Just for a minute. Please?"

Matt nudged me toward Shadow and said,"Yeah, go talk to him. And I already know where the cafeteria is and the rest of the guys are there so everything will be alright."

I glanced at Matt and said,"You sure? I wouldn't mind showing you-" 

"Heck yeah. Just go. I'll see you later. Nice meeting you, Shadow," replied Matt as he retreated. I looked at him until his silhouette disappeared around the corner to the loud noises coming from the cafeteria.

I shivered and faced Shadow. He glanced back at the direction of where Matt disappeared and finally settled his gaze on me.

"So, what do you want, Shadow," I asked.

"Arielle, please let me explain. I think you got the right idea yesterday," he pleaded. It was shocking to see Shadow this way since he always held himself up and never seemed the type, but I should know better since looks are deceiving.

"Shadow. It's not because I thought you were taking advantage of me since I think that's what you mean, but it was just that I don't know what I want. And I think you don't know what you either, am I right?"

Shadow nodded. "So, if we don't know what we want then what do we do? 'Cause I don't know."

"What about like a little break, but not to ignore each other. Just to like think things through and see if this is the right time. And then we can really talk about this. And what we want. You alright with this?"

"Not really, but it will do. Just be careful since who knows when Sebastian will pop out and decide to take care of business. Also, if your going to the Halloween party then you should be careful," he said.

"Yeah, I'll be careful. So, your really not going?"

"No, but maybe since sometimes Seb likes to do some...visits."

I shook my head and decided it was time to leave. "I guess I'll see you later then."

Shadow nodded and met my gaze. His gaze smoldered under mine and I was struck once again with the connection that flowed through us. You have no idea how much I wanted to cross the space between us and kiss him. With all the willpower I had left I rigidly nodded and backed away.

Then I ran toward the cafeteria to my friends. To safety.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sighed as I took in the fresh air. I swinged back and forth in the swing and relaxed against it. Every of my senses were widely awake as I tried to find tranquilty. I tried to find that small peace of comfort I always found here when feeling troubled.

School ended just hours ago and I went home feeling tired and uncomfortable. I would have visited Matt at his new home to catch up on things, but right now was not the time.

I was still going over the conversation between me and Shadow in my head. I cringed every time since the coversation was just painful to go through. Also, the words we exchanged were so stiif and small like we lost every connection between each other. Then we found each other's lingering gaze and found that strong connection to each other again. It was like when weren't in each other's presence we felt cold and strange. And when we were together we felt tingly and alive. It wasn't all the time that I felt cold and strange, but I did feel awkward at times like he was missing. Like, a part was missing in me and it was found when Shadow was in the room. At first I felt uncomfortable, but as I started getting to know him we flowed so easily together. We connected so well, but yet we couldn't quite be with each other.

This was an unexpected relationship at the wrong time. A relationship I never asked for, but can't help reaching for. We never knew each other and nor did we ever want to. Until now that fate brought us together. Was it really fate? Or mistake?

I got up from the swing and walked to my tree. A slight breeze slapped my cheeks as I turned my face to the darkening, blue sky. Leaves and twigs ran along my ankles and a few birds sang above me. Honeysuckle and oaks was in the air making me sway under it. I sat on my tree and crossed my legs and rest my head tiredly against it's trunk.

I rolled my head against my shoulders and cuddled close to it's trunk. As I stared up at the clouds I thought about everything I've been through with Shadow.

At the beginning I did my best to ignore him, but if wasn't easy since his sense of humor always seemed to grab me and turn my attention to him. Also, there was that smile and personality. I never even minded of him being emo since he was being himself. Music seemed to be everything to him like they were better than using words. Sometimes words can't describe what your feeling. Sometimes the clinking of a single drop of water clinking against a glass cup expresses your feelings since maybe you were feeling fidgety and impatient. Your heart was beating fast and you could feel the blood flowing through your veins as you waited. This may increase by the sound of that drop of water hitting the glass.

My point was that I didn't mind how he dressed or looked. Just the inside mattered since that's what attracted me toward him. His looks just came in with that. Then when my feelings started increasing that I felt urged to touch him like to caress his face, memorizing every detail and angle. Then it would go to kissing his lips and touching his body. There would be so many times that I would imagine cuddling with him and letting my hands wander over his chest. It would never go farther that that  since that was too far and I really don't know how he feels about me or about this.

I sighed in fustration and glanced away from the sky. It was dark. Twilight. When the sun was just below the horizon setting to nightfall. I folded my arms and took a look around the park. It wasn't that big, but not too small either. A playground was in the dead middle of the park with trees surrouding the whole park. There was a pond away from the playground. Bike racks were over there. And paths going here and there. What I liked about it was that it wasn't so crowded and there was space for a picnic or to fly a kite. Perfect. 

I shivered in my coat and sank deeper in the tree. Oh, Shadow, I thought. What will be of us? Will we last?

Then a realization hit me: I'm falling in love with Shadowfax Skywood. 

  The Shadow that I ignored.                                                                                                                                   The Shadow that unexpectantly became my friend and hero.                                                                   The Shadow that I connected with.                                                                                                               The Shadow that cares for me.                                                                                                                         The Shadow that I'm falling in love with.                                                                                                              My Shadow.

Some loves come in unexpected ways...