I picked up my bag and journal as the train began to slow. This was my first time on the subway and I really didn't want to be late for school. I just moved to my aunt's house so I could be closer to a school. My cousin would have been with me but she needed to go in early and do a make up test. I really didn't like the idea of having to go to a new school alone. I stepped out of the train and began to leave the underground passage. As I took a few steps away from the stairs I bumped into a guy, causing several papers to scatter across the ground. I muttered 'sorry' and moved down to retrieve them. I slowly began to pick them up and when I didn't see anymore on the ground I sighed and began to stuff them into my book. If it wasn't bad enough that I ran into him I saw that he was still standing there, reading a paper. I looked at him as he read. His eyes were a pale grey color and his hair was longer and black. I cleared my throat and he looked up. He smiled and said, "This poem is really good. Do you sing?" I looked at him and blushed. The poem he was holding was actually a song I wrote and sang in a contest and lost. I looked down at my feet and muttered, "I stopped singing a long time ago and don't plan to start again." With that I took the paper back and began the walk to the school not wanting to hear anything about being a quitter. As I came to the school the guy began to walk beside me and looked me in the eye, "why don't you sing now? I mean it's none of my business, but I would like to know why you'd leave such lovely words on a paper." I looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "my mother never was fond of me singing but she told me to follow my dreams until the weren't dreams anymore. I entered a contest she told me not to and as I was singing that night." I sighed and continued in a hushed voice, "My mother had a heart attack and died, at the moment I was told I didn't win." I could feel the sting in my eye and I looked away. I was such a geek, my mother was right, I'd never be a singer and she died while I did something she didn't want me too. In my eyes I killed her, even if it wasn't me, my spirit did, as I sang that damned song. The boy stopped me from walking further and lifted my chin up. "Okay first, my name is River, second, stop dwelling on the past. Your mother didn't die because you sang. Although you seem to have died because she did. Ask around for my number and call me." As he walked off I stood in stunned silence, who was this guy? I shook my head and walked over to a table and began to get lost in my writing, I already knew my way around the school. As words flowed from the pen I looked up and saw a guy sitting right in front of me and screamed. "Why must people scare me like that!" I looked at him and blushed; this was the second guy I was going to screw up in front of today. I swallowed and looked down at my paper. "My name's Jonnie, I saw you talking to River." I looked up at him, I wanted to know where this was going, "He's kinda cool, but he doesn't seem your type." okay that was mean this guy barely knew me. "And what kind of guy is my type prey tell?" I looked at him a little shocked that he would say that. He didn't even know my name! It pissed me off that he would even try and guess who I was on the inside. "I'm more your type then him, he's an outcast and I'm the basketball team captain, and you look like a cheerleader, a very nice looking one too." He flashed me a smile that I'm sure would have any other girl falling to her knees, but not me. Okay I did feel a little weak in the knees but I was fighting it. "You ain't my type Hun, I'm a Goth girl. A rocker, not a flip doing cheerleader," with that I stood up and walked away. Time to find someone who would know River's number. Perhaps my cousin.

~_^

I sat in my new room and tapped my foot. Should I call? I shouldn't. He won't be at home. He'll be off with his girlfriend. Or his big group of friends. Finally I gave in and picked up my phone, I carefully dialed the number. Ring. Ring. Ring. "Hello?" I nearly jumped out of my skin and answered, "River there?" and thought I might die. "I'm River, and from the sound of your beautiful voice you'd be the new girl? The non-singer? I should really ask what your name is, right?" I smiled and giggled nervously. "My name's Ocean, hard to believe I have such a beautiful name right? I mean just look at my face." I was always hard on myself. It was this gift almost that kept most guys away, most of them wanted a girl who could walk with her head high, and I was definitely not that. We talked for a while about this and that before my aunt called me down for dinner. I learned that he too was a vegetarian; he took ballet when he was younger, of his own free will even! We even talked about music for a while, although nothing about my singing, thankfully. I didn't want to start crying over nothing again. I asked him to go surfing with me on the weekend and he said yes! I had been surfing for two years now and I just loved it. I really hoped that River knew how. Why would he say yes if he didn't? During dinner I was quiet, not really like me. At least not with my cousin around, she and I always had something to say to each other but it was not a good time for me. Well it was the greatest time for me, just not one to talk about. I looked up hearing my cousin say my name, "well Ocean had Jonnie the hottest guy in the whole school ask her out and she said no!" I gave her a dirty look and muttered "Alex it's none of your business." and walked up stairs after putting my dishes away. Why was she always in my business? It pissed me off so bad! She never let one thing go, not even this. Good Gawd! I could never tell her anything without her telling everyone. I bet the whole school would know by the next morning. It wasn't fair! I walked over to my pillow and cried for a few moments and then my phone rang. I picked it up and said "Hello?" Only to hear River say, "I'm coming to get you! Boo!" and laugh. I couldn't help but laugh back as we got back to talking about nothing special. The call lasted about an hour and I was smiling by the time it ended, I felt like nothing could ruin my mood. The phone rang again, so I picked it up and guess who called. Jonnie. He called to say hi and ask if I wanted to go to the beach with him and his friends. It was the same day I was going surfing. I wouldn't go with him anyway but I said, "I have some things to do with some one else that day, sorry" and hung up on him. It was much nicer then I planned to be with him. Well I never planned to be remotely nice to him. So it was all in his favor.

~_^

The next day I sat in my math class and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was River dancing outside the door. I smile and motioned for him to leave, so he didn't get in trouble and it seems my teacher saw me and I got a detention. River got in worse trouble though. A week of bathroom cleaning. He said it was worth it to see me smile though. During lunch he and his friends sat with me and made faces at Jonnie. The whole school did know and most of the girls thought I was all that. I didn't want to be all that though, I wanted to be just me. River liked me that way too. I took a closer look at him, and realized he was black; it was a total surprise to me. I looked at him for a few moments and realized what Jonnie had been talking about. I looked around the circle and saw all of them except me were black. The school divided the whites blacks and Asians. It explained why I wasn't in any of their classes. I looked at everyone. That means a lot. It meant that my cousin would know I was hanging with the people I wasn't too. Well I didn't care.

~_^

That night there was yelling and getting thrown out. I walked around for a few hours and finally walked up to River's door. As his mother opened the door and smiled at me I walked in and I knew everything would be okay. I smiled at him and whispered, "I'm ready to sing."