Well, I am at it again. This, as some of you may know, came from a dream I had over a year ago. I wrote down the main points, forgot about it and rediscovered it this afternoon while I was deleting files. Good thing I look before I delete, huh? Hope you all enjoy!

Dedication: To Taurus, Rock, Kiks and Jhon. Thanks for invading my subconscious.

Chapter One: The topper to an already perfect day

Ever have one of those days were nothing goes right and there is nothing you can do about it? I was stuck in a whole week of those. My car had died on me; I had been late to three of my classes, skipped homeroom twice, and was teetering on the verge of suspension. To top it all off I had been dumped not even five minutes ago and I lacked the energy to pull myself up off the bench and go to my French class. If this was the trend for the day, I would be suspended by third period.

I sighed and leaned back on the bench, listening to Mrs. White teach the fundamentals of poetry to her grade ten English class across the hall. I didn’t envy them one bit. I couldn’t stand poetry. I guess being a senior had its advantages. After this year I would never have to worry about poetry again. It almost made graduating a sweet thought. I was not looking forward to graduation, in fact I was dreading the day where I would have to move on and find a university and be separated from all of my friends. My dad always told me I was the one person alive who hated change and I guess he was right. Things were good right now. Why go and mess that up?

The bell for second period rang and every person in the English hallway surged out of the rooms and filed past me chatting merrily. I didn’t bother to move. Who really cared if I missed Biology as well as French? Mr. Durham always let me do what I wanted in that class, anyways, since it was all self-teaching work. I generally ended up in the library – one of my favorite places. This way I could just do the work and not get any trouble for it or not do the work and make it up later when I was bored.

“…And then Corey threw a spitball.”

“I always said he wasn’t too bright.”

“Hey, why so glum, Chicky?”

I looked up and shrugged as my three best friends made their way over to the bench. I had forgotten they all had spares during second. It was one of those little unfair things in life that was working against me. I had a spare during fourth…

“Nuh uh, you always do that when something’s bugging you, Kale.”

I sighed as Rylee and Aimee sat down on either side of me while Keira knelt down in front of me.

“It’s nothing,” I assured them. “I’m just feeling sorry for myself.”

“And that’s not something?” Rylee asked, raising a perfectly shaped brow.

“Fine. Danny broke up with me today.”

They all gaped at me and I tried to concentrate on my shoelaces, but it was a little hard with Keira leaning on my knees and staring at me with those kind blue eyes. If I looked to my right I would have seen Rylee’s piercing brown eyes and to the right would have been Aimee’s thoughtful deep blue-green ones. I supposed I wasn’t going to get out of this one, but I could always evade Keira the longest.

“You know, I told you I didn’t like him,” Rylee stated with no hint of anything but fact in her tone.

“I know,” I sighed.

“Aww, Kale, I’m sorry. He was a nice guy,” Keira offered.

“Yeah, there are hundreds of guys around here. Of course some of them have the IQ's of a doorstop, but still there,” Aimee offered and I cracked a little smile.

“You were talking about Corey Fredrick?” I asked to change the subject.

“Yeah. He got mad in Physics and threw a spitball at Mr. Hayes,” Aimee shook her head. “You can bet Principal Forbes had him in the office a few minutes later.”

“He’s like a hound dog, he sniffs out trouble and people are in his office faster than you can say ‘Bob’s your uncle',” Keira pointed out.

“I think he’s creepy,” Rylee offered. “And dumb. He hauled me into the office the other day and read out a list of things I was in trouble for and then he called me Kasha Staples.”

That was Forbes for you. There were very few ethnicities in a small town like Wood Haven and I think there where only three people who went to this school who weren’t Caucasian or Native American. You’d think he would have thought enough to keep them straight in his mind instead of making an ass out of himself.

“Isn’t Kasha Jamaican?” Keira asked looking confused.

“You actually think Forbes could tell an Indian from a Jamaican?” Rylee asked cynically.

“No, I guess not.” Keira frowned.

“Hey just remember –”

“One day he’ll be dead and you’ll laugh,” they chorused.

“Do I say that so often?” I asked grinning despite myself.

“Does every day end in ‘y’?” Aimee asked. “Well, that about sums it up.”

“Hey, Rylee, do you still want to go grab lunch?” Keira asked looking at her watch.

“A little early, isn’t it?” I asked.

“We have to write that Social test for Mrs. Simmons at lunch because we missed it last week,” Keira explained.

“Oh.” I felt like smacking my head to make my brain work. They’d been doing something for yearbook and today was when they were making up the test. I knew that!

“What’re the answers?” Rylee asked getting out a pen.

“That’s cheating.”

“I haven’t had a chance to study for it because I was helping you with that giant art project and you wouldn’t want me to fail, would you?” Rylee asked and I shook my head.

No, I didn’t want her to fail that test, and yes, I did owe her. She was my buddy and she got more flack at home for bad grades than anyone I knew. Her dad, man I wouldn’t want him mad at me. So I recited off the first ten answers. The last five she was on her own for

“Well, we’ll be back.” Keira rose and pushed her long blonde hair out of her face. “Are you going to be ok, Kale?”

“I’ve been dumped before, I’ll be fine,” I assured her.

“If we run into Danny, we’ll give him something to remember, if you want,” Rylee offered.

“No, that’s fine, but thanks anyways,” I answered and she stood with a shrug.

“Coming, Aimee?” Keira asked.

“No, I’ll hang out here with Kale,” she replied and they left without another word.

“You could have gone,” I stated.

“Nah. I know for a fact you really liked Danny,” Aimee got right to the point, “and I wanted to tell you I was sorry.”

‘Really liked Danny’ was an understatement. I had had a crush on him since grade eight and I had nearly died when he asked me out. I guess that made it hard to handle this break up. How do you let your dream guy go and not feel bad about it?

“Thanks, you know –”

I stopped right there in mid sentence feeling like something was gripping my chest. Aimee looked concerned and grabbed a hold of my arm, tightly.

“What’s wrong?” she demanded sternly.

“I got a bad feeling,” I stated needlessly.

This was nothing new. If I had a bad feeling, something horrible was going to happen to someone close to me. The last time it had happened, our friend Gabrielle had been hit by a train and needless to say, you don’t come out of an accident like that unless you’re lucky or superman. Gabrielle was neither. Aimee was keeping it together and looking me right in the eye so I would keep it together. Then I saw it.

I was up and running before I knew I was doing it and Aimee was right on my heels. I nearly fell down the stairs in my hurry, but there wasn’t time to waste. By the time I got out to the parking lot, Keira was just starting up the little blue car she and Aimee fondly referred to as their ‘Baby’. Aimee was right beside me then and we both reached the car just as Keira was about to pull out of the spot. I laid my hands on the hood and she cut the engine, looking confused.

“If you guys wanted to come – Hey!” Keira yelped as I ripped the keys from her hands.

“What the hell is up with you two?” Rylee demanded.

“Kale saw something,” Aimee offered since I was still out of breath.

Both of them went pale and Aimee gripped her sister’s hand tight. That’s when both Keira and Rylee got out of the car and I handed Keira back her keys. We were all pale and I was a little shaky at that point. Rylee gripped my hand and I squeezed back. I supposed we must have looked silly to anyone who was watching at that moment, but we were all scared and this was helping.

“You’ve never prevented something before,” Keira said with a bit of a tremor in her voice.

“No, I haven’t,” I answered not wanting to be standing here where a car could still do some harm. “Which means I’ve just put it off.”

“Let’s go back inside,” Aimee suggested, not liking being in the parking lot, either.

We all walked back towards the school feeling as if death was just around the corner. I hated that feeling. I hated it that I was the one who always brought the bad news even more. I would have rather not known. What was the point in seeing everything happen if I couldn’t do anything about it?

“What exactly did you see?” Rylee asked.

“A car, mangled and torn,” I answered simply.

A chill went through all of us that wasn’t attributed to the cold October wind. We all quickened our paces and we gratefully stepped into the school, feeling some safety in the building we all hated five days of the week. Normally we would have retreated to the library or the band room, but we settled for the empty cafeteria and the comforting smells coming from the kitchen in preparation for lunchtime.

“So, if you just put it off, what are we going to do?” Aimee asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered simply. “Keira shouldn’t drive home. Have your brother Joe come and get your car or something – no, just leave it. I don’t want him to get in an accident over it. You all can just walk with me across the field.”

Rylee didn’t say anything about her new boots and I knew she was as freaked out as I was. Aimee nodded and I knew she would end up coming home with us, too. It didn’t matter what happened in our lives, we always ended up there when something happened. It was our base, our sanctuary and it was a good thing we only had to cross a field to get there.

“Jerk alert,” Rylee muttered and we all looked over at where Principal Forbes and Vice Principal Judd where making their way over.

“Just what we need,” Keira and Aimee groaned at the same time.

“Miss Slater?” Forbes came closer looking serious.

Oh great. Here it comes: I was suspended. The topper to an already perfect day. Someone up there really didn’t like me.

“I don’t think there’s any easy way to say this, but your mother just called. I’m sorry to inform you that your grandfather has passed away.”

Rylee gripped my hand, but I didn’t grip back. I looked Forbes over closely and swallowed the lump in my throat with difficulty.

“Was it a car accident?” I whispered finally and repeated it a bit louder.

Forbes looked puzzled, but nodded. I’m sorry to say I felt a small amount of relief at that nod and I felt it go through my friends as well. They were safe at least. I couldn’t help but wonder if stopping their deaths had somehow managed to shift that fate to my Papa or maybe it was him all along. It was times like these that I wished I could just shut my brain off instead of taking in all the possibilities and making it even worse.

“Your mother says you’re brother will be by to pick you and Kane up. I’ll make a note to inform your teachers,” Forbes offered.

“Thank you,” I mumbled back, just wanting him to leave.

He nodded to Judd and they made their way back towards the office. I glanced at my friends feeling like I had yet again been hit by a load of bricks today. I’d loved my Papa a lot. I knew he’s been lonely since Nana died, but I was certain the crash was accidental. If it had have been intentional, he could have found better and more certain ways to kill himself. It wasn’t hard when you were 85 years old.

“I’m sorry, Kale,” Keira was sniffing.

She and Aimee knew my grandparents almost as well as I did and I knew she truly was sorry, they all were. We sat there for a long time and the only thing I could think about was that things just got worse as the day went on. Right about now would be when someone would say ‘things can’t get any worse than this’. Then things would get worse. No one needed to say it, I knew it was coming. I wasn’t really all that much of a pessimist, it was fact. That was just the way things where. I didn’t like the facts. I suddenly wanted a drink, really bad.

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Well, there’s chapter one. I hope everyone enjoyed and all that jazz. Not scary yet, unless you have a fear of teenaged girls with vivid imaginations. I hope toturn it up a notch next chapter.

As always, any comments at all are welcome and flames are accepted.

See ya in the funny papers!!!

Sonah