Chapter 1

It hurts.

Almost every night I wake up through the same pains. My head feels like something is trying to chisel its way through my skull with an ice pick. My body goes through agonizing pain, my heart feels like it's been ripped open and is oozing hot pits of blood, and my face drips with cold sweat. On top of that, it's a school day.

Oh, the anguish of realization.

"Sweet little bumble bee, I know what you want from me! Dub-di-dub-i duh-dah-dah, dub-di-dub-i duh-dah-dah…"

"Ahh! Bloody 'ell! Où est mon cellulaire?!"

When I raise my head from my pillow, I groan with irritation to see the disarray of clothing spread around my room. To others it may seem like looking into a vast, unknown territory of mystery and danger, trying not to be caught off-guard by the creatures looking about, but me, I know where everything is. Sometimes.

"You're my playboy, play toy, lover, my friend! I wanna be with you until the end. Sweet little bumble bee, I know what you want from me! Dub-di-dub-i duh-dah-dah…"

I definitely need to find my cell phone. I decide to look underneath my bed, considering that's where I put everything. My hand searches effortlessly because I'm so used to going through this process every day…not just with my cell phone, but other stuff, too.

Got it! Yatta!

"Que l'enfer est votre problème?! Addin' then changin' my ring tone to friggin' 'Bumble Bee'!" Don't get me wrong, I like the song, but I'm not particularly in the mood for it this morning.

"I only picked it cuz I knew it would wake you up, which it did, might I add. Plus it's cute," says Cailen in a teasing tone. Abruptly his tone turns serious. "And Zain…"

"What?"

"Meet me at The Circle in fifteen minutes." Click

Umm…Got Angst? I can tell you that Cailen is normally a very flamboyant person, so what was that all about?

Ugh. I hate friends; they just like to complicate life. But you've got to love them, or else life would be dull.

Plus I like messing with other people's lives.



It's going to take Zain forever to get ready, so I might as well find something useful to do.

…

Read manga.
Unlike Zain, I'm not a morning person. But recently, Zain has been waking up late, too. Probably because he's been staying up until the wee hours of the morning. Gods know what he's doing up at that time.

With this on my mind, I feel worried about Zain's health…I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the day progresses.

And why am I so cold?

"Ahh…crap…"I silently curse myself for not wearing any clothes.

I slowly drag myself to my walk-in closet. Personally, if it were up to me, I would just wear my boxers outside…stupid law…Who wouldn't want to see me naked? I'm a pretty, hot stud. I have fair, ivory skin, stunning light green eyes, long golden-brown hair, and a very slender build. Most people mistake me for a girl, not only because of my leanness, but because of my height of 5'8" (that's one hundred and seventy-three centimeters tall for you metric users out there).

What a cruel world.

'Kay, now time for clothing selection. Unfortunately, I don't have much choice, as today is a school day and I have to wear my school uniform. I actually like our uniform. We have two different sets for winter/fall and spring/summer. Right now, we are in the midst of October. It's getting chilly outside.

I pick up my black polyester trousers, a long-sleeved maroon cotton shirt with a collar, and my silver-trimmed black blazer with the school's crest on the right-hand side. To go with this ensemble is a black and red diagonally-striped silk tie, with a pin of the school's logo.

After getting all the pieces of my school uniform, I go to my desk. On it there's a tall maple jewellery box with two small drawers at the bottom filled with pictures and letters from my family. Above the drawers are two doors that open to a large space crowded with all my necklaces hung on mini hooks, and my earrings and bracelettes placed in the middle.

I pick out a black leather choker for today. Embroidered in gold thread on the front are my initials: C.M.D.G. I tie it around my neck with the strings, which have golden beads hanging on them.

I decide to go simple. I take out my belly and nipple rings, before putting in a black cross nose ring, a looped lip ring, and an eyebrow ring.

Come to think of it, Zain and I are the only people in the school with sufficient amounts of piercings. We could start a museum with the endless amounts of jewellery we have. Hmm…not a bad idea…

After closing the doors, I flip open the wooden lid of my miniature armoire. It plays a soothing lullaby, and a grim look comes across my face. Sighing, I close the lid again and go out the door.



As I see Zain running down the street, I watch him with hungry eyes. Every time I look at him I always want something sweet to eat. Like I say, once you've tasted chocolate, you can never go back.

His skin has the captivating milky and rich velvety colour of chocolate. His black dreadlocks are past his shoulders, and his eyes are a light brown with tints of dark green that bring depth to his facial features. When he smiles you can see all his teeth, which are as white as new snow. But it's not only that. His build is lithe and athletic, a physique that both men and women desire for themselves. Just looking at him gives me shivers of ecstasy all over.

His body, mind, and soul shall be mine once more.



Finally, after a long walk, I reached The Circle.

The Circle is actually a big, round, marble fountain set a few feet in front of the school's entrance gates. Pillars covered in carved ivy are set along the circumference of the fountain, with gargoyles perched on the tops. Water pours out of their mouths, and flows into the basin before shooting up from the middle to create a high arch that sparkles in the sun. It's very breathtaking, especially at night when the lights of the school reflect off the water.

But at the moment I can't really enjoy its beauty. It's 8:15 am and school is going to start in fifteen minutes. Where the hell is Cailen?!

Oh well. Might as well keep waiting.

Do you ever stop to think, and then forget to start again? Yeah. My mind wanders in thought about everything and yet nothing at the same time.

I don't notice the lurking presence of someone behind me. The arms of the stranger suddenly tightly wrap around me, sending a jolt of fear through my body.

"Holy Jesus Christ! You scared the living shit out of me!" I exclaim, kind of annoyed, when I realize who it is.

"G'day. Yeah, I thought that it'd be fun," Shane smirks. "You were so far from this world that I had to take the opportunity to scare you."

I glare.

Shane is my good friend from Australia. We met when I was 8 and my parents were on a business trip searching for an artefact in Ardath.

"¿Cuáles son tú que hace aquí? Pensé que estabas el vacaciones!" I add, suddenly realizing something.

He raises an eyebrow. "Mate, I know you're glad to see me, but I don't understand your lingo."

"¿Qué estás hablando?"

I'm looking at Shane, confused, until it dawns on me that I'm speaking Spanish.

"Ohh…whoops," I mumble, embarrassed by my language outburst. I only do that rarely.

What the hell is wrong with me?

"Happy?" I say, reverting back to English. "Anyway, as I was saying, what are you doing back from your vacation? I thought you were on leave for three months to regain your missing memories."

"Yeah…well…it was boring. Besides, I like it here in London."

"Well, it's good that you're here" I grin.

As we're waiting for Cailen, I find myself remembering how Shane used to look.

When Shane and I met, he was the scrawniest and smallest kid in his hometown. His hair was messy and light blond back then, but now it's short, straight, and a dark sandy colour. His body's also acquired a muscular tone and he's grown a lot. Now he's only two inches shorter than my 6'2". But the features that I still remember vividly, and I know will never change, are his all-knowing blue-grey eyes.

"When I saw you last year, I couldn't believe how much you'd changed," I remark, still reminiscing about the past.

"Well, seeing how it's been eight years, you look pretty different yourself," replies Shane, dryly.

As I glance into the distance I see something sparkle.
"Oi, Shane, did you see that?" I ask, bewildered. "It was some sort of flash." I pointed in the direction where I saw the weird sparkle.

Shane looks at me like my head isn't screwed on right.

"Er, right…Well, I'm going shoot through, mate. I'll see you in class."

Giving me one last weird glance, Shane stands up and leaves.

While I'm thinking, I realize Earth is really an insane asylum for the universe, but I eventually drop the matter of this thought, and take my iPod out of my crossover backpack, before putting on my DJ headphones. Might as well listen to music until Cailen shows up.

Closing my eyes, I let the beat of the music carry me away. It's really comforting. I begin to thump my hands on my thigh and hum out loud. But then I start thinking about reasons why Cailen is taking so long. Is it because he's been kidnapped by a gang? Or maybe shot dead on the street? Or worse…gangbanged. …well, I guess that wouldn't be so bad for Cailen; he's just a slut. But still…what if he's in danger?

As my mind trails along the worst case scenarios, I hear a shout.

"ZAIN!" hollers Cailen, running towards me.
I take off my headphones and look at Cailen, eyebrows drawn.

He stops in front of me, grinning.

"Blimey! Usually I would have to yell your name three times before you take off your headphones, but this time I only had to yell once! This is your personal best," laughs Cailen.

"What in the devil's name took you so long? We only have five minutes 'til school starts!" I exclaim, exasperated.

With a big grin, Cailen replies, "I saw a shiny."

Could it been that same flash that I saw in the sky?

"See, look." Cailen takes out a small shiny silver rock.

Guess not.

"Isn't it marvelous?" says Cailen, thrilled with his discovery.
I look at Cailen's face blankly, and sigh, "Let's go."

You can never distract Cailen from his shinies.

As we walk towards our school, I am once again amazed by how vast it is.
It was built in the mid 1700's, and since then, it's been refinished a few times to preserve its beauty. About thirteen years ago, a separate building was built to be the library, which is as big as an opera house. So I'm sure you can imagine how big our school is.

Bridge Wing Private School is an all boys' school which only the top international kids attend. It has four floors, plus the roof and basement. The basement is used for storage, the ground floor has the lounge and offices, the second and third floors hold the classrooms, the cafeteria (basically an international cuisine food court) takes up the entire third floor, and finally, there's the roof.

Cailen, Jack, Jasper, Shane, and I are here on scholarship. We graduated from middle school with such high scores that even the teachers thought we should be taught at university level. So, we won scholarships to the prestigious Bridge Wing Private School, an elite academy that challenges our mind to their full abilities, and is home to world renowned sports teams.

Seeing as school's about to start, there aren't that many kids out on the tree-filled grounds. We quickly walk through the black iron gates in front of the school, and swipe our student ID cards through the scanner next to the guards.

There at least six guards standing at the front of the school, keeping an eye on the perimeter. Once through the entrance gates, you have to go through this arch and swipe your ID card through a scanner, to prove that you attend the school. The guards are there to make sure no intruders enter the school. It may seem like a really long process to go through, what with the amount of students that attend this school, but it actually goes by really fast since it's so organized. Thank God for that, hey?

Once this whole process is done, we climb the front steps, and finally enter the mahogany-floored school.

As soon as you walk in, there is the head office. (Honestly, when I first attended this school I thought it was a cooperate office.) We pass this and keep walking straight down the hall, turning right after we pass the lounge room further down, then climb a flight of stairs to our first class.

As soon as we set foot into the hallway after the stairs, we hear a loud boom, and everything starts shaking. Caught off balance, I fall into Cailen, and we both tumble to the floor. After a few moments, the shaking stops, and we look at each other with wide eyes.

"What the hell was that?!" I exclaim, looking down the hallway.

"It's the apocalypse," Cailen whispers, not blinking as he stares in the same direction.

…what a stupid friend I have. Why do I hang with him?