Chapter One

“I can’t believe I got a D on my English paper!” Caitlin said, holding her 10-page report up to show her best friend Jodie. “I worked hard on that for weeks!” She slumped down in her seat on the bus, covering her face with her hands as her long brown hair fell forward. “Mom is so going to kill me…”

Jodie took the paper, flipping through its pages. “Everything looks fine to me. It’s not like you had a lot of grammar mistakes.”

“I know, I know….” Caitlin sighed, looking up. “Mrs. Bedder is such a witch. She gave me a bad grade for no reason at all!”

Jodie handed back the report, leaning back in her seat as the bus rocked back and forth from going over a few potholes. “Well, I guess you just have to take it. Either that or have your mom talk to her.”

Caitlin shook her head. “No….Mrs. Bedder would only lower my grade. She always does that when kids complain about the grades she gives them.”

“Well, then just be glad we only have one more year of high school left. Then we’ll be free, eh?”

“Sure, I guess….” Caitlin mumbled. But then I’ll have college to worry about. And then the crummy job that I’ll get stuck working, she thought.

The ride home was always the same for Caitlin. She’d meet up with her friend Jodie and they’d take the bus home together, since both of their parents wouldn’t buy them a car. Then all the way home they’d both complain about their day, and say how much work they had to do. But Jodie was really smart and she’d almost always get good grades, so basically she was the one who generally listened to all of Caitlin’s rants.

Caitlin felt a nudge and she snapped out of her depressing thoughts. She looked towards Jodie, who had made the movement. “What?”

“Hey, look,” she whispered. “That guy sitting over there is totally checking you out.”

Caitlin’s eyes searched the bus until she saw whom her friend was talking about. He had sunglasses on, but it seemed like he was obviously looking in their direction. He was wearing black baggy pants and a loose gray hoodie, so she assumed he must be around their age. Caitlin knew that he was surely looking at them when the guy quickly turned his head away when she turned her attention to him.

“So….he looked at me. What’s the big deal about it?” she asked.

“Well, you’ve been wanting a boyfriend haven’t you?” Jodie smirked.

Caitlin let out a small laugh. “Oh, please. I don’t even know him. Plus I have too much going on right now. He could be some stalker guy too. You know, those men who follow young girls home and stuff.”

Jodie brushed some black strands of hair from her face. “I think you’re overreacting. That’s why you don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Oh, and I suppose you have one?” Caitlin slipped in.

Jodie grabbed her backpack as they neared her stop. “No. Boys aren’t worth my time. I’m focusing on grades right now. But I could get one if I wanted to.”

“Sure you could…”

Caitlin glanced at the guy again. He started to get up and make his way to the door at the back of the bus, where Jodie and herself were. “See….he’s getting off….to stalk you…” Caitlin whispered.

“Sshhh…” Jodie shot back as the guy got closer. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, okay? Meet me at Hot Shots for lunch.” Jodie made her way out of the bus.

“You got it. Bye!” Caitlin closed her eyes for a second, feeling ready to sleep. She always ended up going to bed late after doing hours of homework. And then she’d get bad grades to show for it. The 17-year-old opened her eyes, surprised at what she saw. The boy hadn’t left….he had kept walking and now he was sitting down in a seat near her!

Caitlin’s heart began to beat faster. Oh my goodness….I think this guy actually does like me. But I don’t even know him. I don’t think I’ve seen him before in my life…

“Hey.”

Caitlin looked up and shook away her thoughts. “Huh?”

The guy held up her English report. “You dropped this.”

“Oh…thanks I guess. I don’t really want it though. I threw it on the ground for a reason.” She was about to grab the paper when the guy pulled it away.

“Why don’t you want it? Hmm….so you got a bad grade.”

Caitlin snatched her report from the tall dark-haired boy’s hands. “My problems aren’t any of your concern.” She thought that sounded a little harsh, but she didn’t want this guy to get into her personal business.

“But they are,” he replied coolly.

Ugh, what is this guy talking about? I should’ve gotten off with Jodie. Now this guy is probably gonna stalk me, Caitlin pondered. “No, my personal problems are none of your business.”

“But I can help get rid of all these problems you have.” The guy took off his shades, looking Caitlin straight in the eye. He had bright blue colored eyes, with what looked like maybe even a hint of purple in them.

“Whoa,” she whispered.

“What?” the teen questioned.

“Uh, nothing.” I got a weird tingling feeling when he looked at me, Caitlin thought. Who is this guy? She decided that maybe he wasn’t really dangerous. Maybe he just really liked her. “Hey, what school do you go to?” she asked him.

“None. I’m home-schooled. I go to places like Hot Shots after my lessons are over.”

“Hot Shots? I love that place! They have the best barbecued hot wings,” Caitlin said.

The guy nodded and smiled. “Those are my fave.”

“Yeah…” Caitlin then realized that her stop was coming up. “Oh, I gotta go now. This is my stop.”

“Alright. Hey, do you wanna go to Hot Shots tomorrow for lunch? When is your lunch period?”

“Fifth. That’s around 11:45.”

“Great. I’ll see you later, Caitlin,” the guy leaned back in his seat and made a small wave.

Caitlin grabbed her backpack and neared the back door. “Wait…how’d you know my name?”

“I read it off of your report paper.”

“Oh,” she laughed. “So what’s your name?”

“Jack.”

“Jack….” She whispered as she went down the steps and off of the bus. A sudden rush of cold air hit her, and she buttoned her coat closed. Caitlin smiled then continued walking along the pavement to her house. “Jack…”

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Clunk! Caitlin’s backpack hit the floor loudly, giving witness to the many books that were withheld inside. She walked straight to the kitchen, flinging the cabinet door open to look for a snack.

“Hi, honey, glad you’re home!” Caitlin’s mother, Eleanor, said cheerfully as she entered the room.

“Hey,” Caitlin mumbled through a mouthful of cookies.

“I have some great news to share with you!” Her mother added, which made Caitlin stop for a second.

“W-wait…. good news? That’s a first in this household…” Caitlin said as she sat down in a wooden chair, taking a sip of milk.

Eleanor took a seat next to her daughter, sighing. “Yes, I know things have been hectic lately with me losing my job and all. But the good thing is I’ve finally found some work! TinTech gave me a job proposal this morning.”

Caitlin felt the happiest she had been all day. “Really?! That’s great, El!” Caitlin never addressed her mom as ‘mom’, but she referred to her as ‘El’. She gave her mom a hug. Ever since Caitlin’s dad ran away and left them, her mom had to get a real job to support the family. The only problem was that after a while cuts were made at her work and Eleanor was fired. Caitlin’s mom had been out of work for months, and they were starting to get desperate for money.

“Yes, honey, it’s great. I’m very excited about it. But there’s one thing that might disappoint you.”

“Uh…what is it? We aren’t gonna have to move, are we?”

“Well….”

Caitlin’s heart sank. Sure, she was happy her mom would finally get a job, and one that would support them nicely as well, but she definitely did not want to move. She knew what that meant: new school, new friends, new life, new everything. But she didn’t want to reveal her sadness to her mom. “Oh, well, I guess we don’t have a choice, do we?”

“No…” Eleanor began rubbing her hands, something she always did when she was nervous or didn’t know what to say. “But, honey, don’t worry. I’ll make it as comfortable a transition as possible.”

Caitlin nodded slowly, getting up. “Yeah, okay…um, I’m just gonna go to my room now. I have tons of homework tonight.”

Eleanor sighed, frowning. “If you ever want to talk about anything, I’m here you know.”

“I know, El.” Caitlin mumbled, straining to lift her backpack up and then hurrying up the stairs to her bedroom. Why? She thought. Why does everything bad happen to me? Sure, I could get away from Mrs. Bedder, but what about Jodie? What about my whole life? What about Jack?

Caitlin locked herself away in her room and decided the only thing she could do was work on her homework. She tried not to think too much as she tackled some complex trig problems. Yet her mind kept wandering out of focus. She couldn’t get it out of her head that she would be moving. Even though it was in order for El to get a job, she still wasn’t too happy about the idea. After what seemed like days doing homework, Caitlin heard her mother’s voice calling her down for dinner.

“We’re having mashed potatoes and salisbury steak…your favorite,” Eleanor told Caitlin as she took a seat down at the table.

“Don’t try to butter me up,” Caitlin mumbled. “Nothing is going to change how I feel about leaving this place…”

Eleanor seemed a little shocked by her daughter’s answer. “If you think that is what I’m trying to do, then you’re wrong. I just wanted to make you feel better, not make you completely agree with me about moving.”

“Oh- okay.”

Most of the meal was in silence. Caitlin hated those awkward moments in her home, the ones that she felt when she was visiting distant relatives whom she barely knew. Her mind kept wandering to what Jack had said…But I can help get rid of all these problems you have…

“What did he mean by that?” Caitlin accidentally said out loud.

“What’d you say?” her mother questioned, looking up from her meal.

“Hm? Oh….nothing…it was nothing…”

“Oh.” Eleanor got up, putting her plate in the dish pan. “So…have you heard anything on what you got on that big report in English?” she said, trying to change the subject.

Caitlin cringed. She had almost forgotten about that crumpled paper with the big fat red D on it. She quickly stuffed some mashed potatoes in her mouth while her mom’s back was turned. “Muh, mphing gho phar….”

Eleanor shook her head. “Dear, please don’t talk with your mouth full…” She took a seat at the table again and waited for Caitlin to finish.

Darn…I guess stalling didn’t work…she thought. Then one thing hit her- lying. She’d just lie and say she hadn’t gotten her grade yet. Maybe it would be able to at least prolong the grounding she would get. After she swallowed her food, Caitlin spoke up. “Well, you see Mrs. Bedder hasn’t told us yet. I think she said she’d be done today but she was delayed because of some family problems or something like that.”

“Hm…I see. Well, don’t forget to let me know what you get on it. I know you worked so hard and I have a feeling that you won’t get lower than a B on it.” She smiled. “I just hope that the teachers at your new school aren’t hard. It won’t be that bad making new friends. And I promise that you can call Jodie whenever you want. Even though it’d be long distance, that still doesn’t mean you can’t be friends.”

Caitlin let out a sigh of relief. She fell for it. “Yeah…I guess so. At least you’ll have a job now, right?”

“Yep.”

“So, what exactly are you going to do at TinTech?”

Eleanor slowly got up, taking Caitlin’s plate to the sink. “Well, I’m not quite sure myself. I heard that they don’t make the women do the dirty work, but I know the men help bend and make metals. It’s probably for stuff like construction beams and whatnot. But as you know my last job was similar to this company so I’m sure I’ll feel right at home.”

Caitlin got up. “I better go finish up my homework. You know how much they pile it on us…” She slowly trudged upstairs, regretting the work that was soon to come. Maybe my new school will be easier. At least I’ll have hope for that…but who knows if hope is real…anything I ever hope for never comes true. I kept hoping that dad would come back…but he didn’t. I kept hoping that my life would get better, but it hasn’t. Caitlin soon realized that it wasn’t worth trying to make things better. It wasn’t worth her efforts to try to change her life. Deep in thought, her mind slowly lulled her to sleep atop an open textbook.

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The school day went by as boring as ever. It wasn’t until lunchtime that Caitlin perked up a bit. “Time to meet Jack at HotShots,” she said excitedly. It was the first time she had an actual relationship with a guy, even if it was on a friend basis. Usually any guy she tried to befriend snubbed her like she was a pile of slime from the sewer. That was one thing she didn’t understand. Caitlin wasn’t drop dead gorgeous, but she considered herself to be relatively good-looking, plus she was nice to most people she met. Maybe the guys all expected her to want to date them, use them, then dump them the next day. But really all she wanted were some true friends to hang out with. And Jodie was really her only friend. They both had almost everything in common, other than the fact that Jodie was really smart and got good grades on every assignment thrown at her.

As she walked into the popular fast food joint, Caitlin suddenly remembered something. That’s right…I told both Jodie AND Jack that I’d meet them at HotShots today for lunch. But that’s no big deal. We can all hang out together…

“Hey, Caitlin, over here!” Two voices called out simultaneously. Caitlin quickly spotted Jack and Jodie. They were sitting relatively far apart. As both of them shouted out to Caitlin, they looked at each other, a little surprised. Caitlin ran over to Jodie. “Oops, sorry I forgot to call you and tell you Jack was going to eat with us too.”

Jodie glanced at Jack again, a confused look on her face. “Hey…isn’t he that stalker guy?” Caitlin nodded sheepishly. Jodie smiled. “Heh…so I guess he’s not so bad if you’re going to lunch with him…”

“No…he’s pretty cool. He’s home-schooled and after school he pretty much can do whatever he wants.”

Jodie laughed. “You seem to like him a lot even though you barely know him.”

“Well, come on Jodie, he’s the only guy who’s befriended me. I mean, it’s not even like I went to him. He came to me…”

Jodie smiled back. “Well, I don’t want him to be uncomfortable. You two should eat together. I’ll take my meal to go and eat on campus.”

Caitlin’s eyes went wide. “Really?! I mean…no . You’re my friend too.”

Jodie grabbed her backpack, picking up her food. “Come on, Caitlin, you know this is best.”

Caitlin slowly nodded. She wanted to tell her friend that she would have to move, but she just couldn’t. Jodie was a true friend to her, and she showed it right at that moment. She decided she’d let Jodie think everything was okay, then tell her the day before she’d be leaving. Caitlin knew that Jodie wouldn’t want to know right away. “Thanks, Jodie. You’re the best.”

Her friend smiled, then made her way out of HotShots. Caitlin looked over at Jack, who seemed a bit confused. She quickly walked over to his table. “Oh, sorry about that. My friend thought I was eating with her but she’s going to eat somewhere else.”

Jack squinted his eyes a bit. “Hey, isn’t she that girl you were sitting with on the bus yesterday?”

“Yeah. She’s the only other friend I have, not counting you.”

Jack turned his head towards Caitlin. “You think of me as your friend? I mean, we haven’t even known each other that long…”

Caitlin looked down. Her mind searched for the answers. “Well, for some reason it seems like I’ve known you for a long time. It doesn’t seem like we just met yesterday. I don’t know if you understand that.” She tried not to look into his eyes, but she did, and she got that strange feeling again, just like yesterday.

Jack leaned back, deep in thought. “No…I do too. It was weird. Yesterday I was just going home like I usually do, but then I happened to look in your direction. And for some reason, it was hard to look away. I don’t know…there was something about you that…that kinda drew me in…” Jack’s face flushed and he shifted in his seat. “Heh…I know it sounds kinda wrong-”

“No, it sounds perfectly right,” Caitlin interrupted. She noticed that she was blushing a little bit too. She decided to change the subject. “Uh, so, how was school for you?”

“Easy. I hardly work, yet I still pass all the state exams we have to take. Did you get in trouble for that bad grade you got?”

“No, not really. Not yet anyways.” Caitlin played with a salt shaker.

“Not yet? So you didn’t tell your parents?”

“My mom.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t tell my mom.”

“Oh.”

“I lied to her about it. I figured that since I’m moving anyways it won’t matter what I do at school anymore, though I’m sure El, my mom, would say it was still important to do well. I mean, I’m going to a different school anyways…”

“You’re what?!” Jack exclaimed.

Caitlin realized that she had just blurted out her secret, the one that she wasn’t even going to mention to anyone until the day before she left. “Uh….whoops.”

Jack was now fidgeting with the peppershaker. “Moving? When?”

Caitlin sighed. “In a week or so. Maybe more. I…I didn’t really want you to know. Because then maybe you wouldn’t think it’d be worth being friends.”

Jack was silent for a few seconds, pondering Caitlin’s words. “It’s worth being friends with you, even if it is for only a little while. And I’m sure we can call each other or do e-mail…”

Caitlin nodded. “Yeah….that’s what my mom told me with Jodie….”

Jack stopped fiddling with the peppershaker, grabbing the salt shaker from Caitlin’s hands. “See…these two things look and taste totally different, right?”

“Yeah..” Caitlin smirked, wondering where he was going with all of this.

“But when you put them on certain foods, they both bring the same results. They both satisfy our palettes.”

“So, what about it?”

“Your life here and your new life after you move may seem totally different. And you may not like that. But maybe one of them will satisfy something inside of you that the other one couldn’t. You know…maybe at your new school you’ll have more friends or get better grades. It all depends on the situation. I dunno…I like to think up analogies to try to help make a bad situation better.”

Caitlin shook her head. “I understand where you’re coming from, but I’ve found out dozens of times that nothing is going to get better. Everything that I want and ask for never happens.”

“Well, I’m here, aren’t I?”

Caitlin thought about it for a minute. Jack’s right, she thought. I stopped wishing for things to get better. But then Jack came along without me even wanting him to. And so far maybe I do feel kinda better around him. I guess I can be more open now that I have another friend by my side. “Yeah, but I didn’t ask for you to come. Though I’m glad that you did.”

Jack put the shakers down on the small table. “I’m glad too. Say…I really want to show you something that I made. How about I meet you at the park after school.”

“Mayfair Park?”

“Uh huh. It’s really cool. Well, at least I hope it’s cool. I didn’t want to show anyone but I think I can trust you enough to show you.”

“Thanks,” Caitlin responded. She happened to glance down at her watch. “Oh my goodness! Have we been talking the whole period?!”

“Huh?”

Caitlin quickly got out of her seat, surprised. “My next class is starting in a less than ten minutes. I have to get back to school!”

Jack grabbed Caitlin’s wrist and looked at her watch. “You’re right! I can’t believe we’ve been talking this whole time. It doesn’t feel like it!”

Caitlin looked around. She hadn’t even noticed that a lot of people from HotShots had left, meaning most the other students had already gone back to go to their next class. “I totally even forgot to eat!” she said amazed.

Jack pushed out his chair and got up next to Caitlin. “I’ll get you some hotwings for after school, okay?”

“Thanks. You know I’m going to be starving. I’ll meet you at the park as fast as you can say superkalifragilisticexpiolidoscious…” Caitlin grabbed her backpack and hurried out the door, giving a quick wave to Jack.

He waved back, slowly taking some money out his pocket for lunch. “Super… superklatif…. ah, whatever….”

“Just my luck,” Caitlin said, pouting. At the end of her last period, she noticed that a few droplets of rain were splattering on the window. Soon, it turned into a near downpour. She thought about skipping out on meeting Jack in the park, but thought better of it. Plus he’d probably be waiting for her in the rain anyways. With only a jacket and no umbrella, she was sure she’d catch a cold if she stayed there too long. “I hope his project doesn’t get messed up…”

After the last bell rang, Caitlin rushed to her locker, grabbed her belongings, and raced outside. The rain stung her hard, and she noticed that everyone else was running to their cars or rushing to the buses. Sighing, she ran as fast as she could to Mayfair Park, which was only a couple blocks away. There he is…he didn’t ditch me…Caitlin thought as she spotted Jack, who was leaning up against the batting cage part near home.

The mud stuck to her shoes, but she didn’t care as she slopped through the baseball field up to her friend. She saw that he too only wore a jacket as well. By the time she got to him, they were both soaking wet. “This is crazy, isn’t it? My mom usually tells me if the weather is going to be funky…”

Jack spoke loudly above the downpour. “I didn’t know about it either. Here’s your food…” He pulled out a wet bag of hotwings, which Caitlin stuffed in her pocket.

“Well, I’ll eat it later. We have to get out of this rain. Just show me whatever you wanted to show me so we can get under some shelter.”

“Okay, it’s over here,” Jack said, leading Caitlin behind the batting cage. He pointed to where the trees began.

“Wha-” And then Caitlin saw it. It looked somewhat like a swirling mass of colors. For some reason, she hadn’t noticed it before. But now it was glowing brighter. “What is that?!” she asked, totally taken by this sight.

Jack ran a hand through his hair, which was now practically plastered to his head. “It’s a portal,” he said straight out.

“What?!” Caitlin didn’t understand. This thing was so out of the ordinary. “Did you really make this thing? It’s not a hologram, is it?”

Jack shook his head, beads of water flying everywhere. “Not a hologram. I kinda made it. But what matters is that I want you to go with me through it.”

“What did you say?”

Jack put a hand on Caitlin’s shoulder. “Remember what I said about getting rid of all your problems? Well, here’s the answer. This portal will take you to a world where you won’t have to worry about the problems of this world, of Earth. You’ll be free of the constrictions of school and moving and everything else.”

Caitlin still was a little confused. This seemed like something from a movie. “You aren’t serious, are you?”

Jack stared into her eyes, and Caitlin felt weird again. “I trust you. I can see it in your eyes, but still…”

“Weren’t you just complaining about everything a little while ago? It’ll all be worth it. And I’ll still be by your side.”

Caitlin looked around. The rainstorm had driven out any visitors to the park area, so no one was around to witness this scene and the portal. This is what I want, isn’t it? To finally be free without any of Earth’s worries? “Yes…yes I’ll go.” I don’t care about anything here. Sure, I’ll be leaving my mom and Jodie, but I’m willing to do that if it means a totally new and better life for me. She repeated her answer again. “I’ll go with you to this new world.”

Jack’s face had a huge smile on it. He hugged Caitlin, then moved closer to the portal. “All we have to do is walk in, say where we want to go, and we’ll be there, and the portal will disappear behind us.”

Caitlin gulped. She was excited, nervous, happy, and scared all at the same time. But she knew that this was what she really wanted. Taking Jack’s hand, she slowly walked towards the colorful vortex.

Surprisingly, as both of them entered, Caitlin felt like she was floating in a strange liquid substance, rather than air, yet she could still breathe. Jack was still next to her, and he shouted out an unfamiliar word, which she took to be the world that they were going to.

“Ebbarria!!!!”

Suddenly Caitlin felt a spinning sensation. It was hard to keep her eyes open, so she closed them. Finally, after about a minute of this, Caitlin felt her feet touch solid ground. She rubbed her eyes, then opened them. And she couldn’t believe what she saw.

Authors Note:

Well, there’s the first chapter for ya! Sorry for the cliffhanger!

I’ve been planning this story for over a year now, and I’ve just recently started typing it up. Just to let you know, I’m not doing this just for the reviews (although feedback is helpful). This means that I might not update each chapter very quickly, because I go at my own pace and sometimes it might be hard for me to get a chapter done. Plus, the chapters are long. So if you will be reading this story, check my profile so you know when my next update will be. I’m not going to leave it for months at a time, but I’m just giving you a heads up that this is not going to be updated weekly since I’m very busy in real life.

Thank you for reading and I would appreciate any comments you have on this story. (Oh and try not to give story suggestions, since I have almost the entire story planned out so I can’t really change much…)

Trust me…. It’ll get better!  smiles thinking about the upcoming plot