I slid into a desk toward the back in my Civil War class, my hands twitching nervously. I dont know, just the thought of Damon being in this class with me made me nervous- something that was completely insane, considering I had already had two classes with him that day. Why would this class be any different than the others?

Damon came in only a moment later, not even looking at me, and sat in the back corner- the opposite of the one I was in. I carefully kept my gaze away from him, choosing instead to study the walls of the classroom. Wowwhite. How boring is that?

"Hello." I jumped, startled to hear such a deep voice so close to me. I looked up, meeting a pair of laughing hazel eyes. "You looked extremely bored." Collin continued, a smirk on his handsome face.

I smiled at him slightly, once again feeling something strange as I looked at him. Like I knew himalmost like the feeling I got from his cousin-

I'm losing my mind. That has to be it. I'm going to be locked in a padded room by the time I'm twenty.

"Just looking around." I told him, watching as he plopped himself down in the desk beside me. I glanced over his shoulder, seeing Damon staring at us with narrowed eyes. I quickly turned to Collin once again, feeling a blush heating my cheeks.

Collin was smirking at me. God, that smirk could get annoying after awhile. "I saw you sitting with my cousin at lunch. How'd that happen?"

I shrugged, not wanting to talk about Damon. "It just did."

Collin chuckled as I turned away from him, once again looking toward the white- institution like walls. "So, how'd you end up taking Civil War?"

I rolled my eyes. "I like it?"

His eyebrows shot up, "You like it? You like a war where over 618,000 American's lost their lives?"

"And why are you here?" I snapped, annoyed at the question. I didnt say I liked the fact that all those people died. I just liked learning about it. Was it my fault I found it interesting?

"Because I like it." Collin said back, a cheesy grin on his face as he sent me a wink. I shook my head, trying to fight back the angry words that were ready to burst out of my mouth.

"Okay, class. Roll time." Mr. Jacobs said from the front of the room, taking out a piece of paper. I took the opportunity to completely tune out the annoying boy beside me, focusing on the names Mr. Jacobs called.

"Avalon Malone?"

"Ava please." I said, raising my hand and smiling brightly. Mr. Jacobs cracked a smile, muttering something about people naming their kids weird names. I didnt take offence, why would I? My name was weird.

"Okay, this is Civil War." Mr. Jacobs started, passing out a syllabus. "We are going to start right off by getting split into two groups. As you should know- and if you dont, why are you in this class?- Missouri was one of the few states that was literally split down the middle. Brother fought against brother, father against son. So, I'm going to split you up, make you into either a Confederate, or a Union soldier.

Now, you and your team will have multiple assignments over the course of the semester, so we'll see who wins in our class. Confederates or Union."

He started calling out names then, finally he came to me. "Ava, Union." I let out a relieved sigh. I dont know why, but somehow I felt like I would bebetraying someone if I had been placed on the Confederate side.

"Collin Williams, Confederate." I blinked, somehow not surprised. "Damon Williams, Union."

And with those words, everything changed.

I was sitting in my room, staring down at the dirt road with tears running down my face. Why hadn't I heard from him? He had been writing me for weeks, why would he just suddenly stop? It didnt make any sense.

"Elizabeth?" Dad called from up the stairs. "Andrew is here to see you."

I quickly brushed the tears off of my cheeks with my handkerchief, then stood slowly and made my way down the stairs. A young man was waiting there. He had dark blond hair that was cut to his shoulders, and laughing hazel eyes. I knew most girls in town wanted to be noticed by Andrew McIlwane, just like they had his brother. Luckily for them, Andrew was still available. Thomas wasnt. "Hello, Elizabeth." Andrew said formally from the bottom of the stairs. He gently took my hand, looking at my cheeks. "How are you?"

"I miss him." I said softly, the tears welling in my eyes once again.

"I know." Andrew told me softly, leading into the main room and sitting beside me on the couch. We sat in silence for a moment, then Andrew let out a loud sigh. "My brother is an idiot. Who in their right mind would leave their fiancé behind while they go off to war? And to fight for the Union?"

"What's wrong with fighting for the Union?" I snapped, my voice harder than I had only a moment later.

"Come on, Elizabeth. Dont let my brother fill your head with his nonsense." Andrew said calmly, his usual light manner gone. "The Union isn't going to win this fight. You know that the confederacy-"

"I do not want to talk of this any longer." I protested.

"Do not listen to my brother on this, Elizabeth." Andrew warned me, his eyes flashing. "For once, he is entirely wrong. The Confederates have every right to-"

"It was good to see you, Andrew." I said swiftly, cutting him off mid sentence and walking toward the stairs. "Thank you for coming."

"Ava?" A voice called sharply, breaking me out of my thoughts. I blinked, trying to focus my eyes on the person in front of me. "Ava?"

"What?" I whispered, finally focusing just enough to see a pair of hazel eyes. Hazel eyes that matched Andrew's exactly. I felt my breath hitch instantly, making me pull back in shock. It couldnt be.

"The bell rang." Collin told me, a frown on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I muttered, grabbing my bag and walking toward the door as fast as I possibly could. It didnt help, as Collin just followed behind me.

"Do you need help finding your next class?" He asked, falling into step with me and looking over my shoulder as I looked at my schedule. I shook my head, only because I had asked Ashley before Civil War where it was. Collin just shrugged. "Alright, see you later." He flashed me a smile, then let it transform into a smirk as he walked away.

"You seem to have made a new friend." Another voice said. A voice that made my step falter momentarily. I turned quickly, only to see Damon leaning against a locker, his eyebrows raised and his eyes cold.

"Are you talking about your cousin?"

I watched in slight fascination as he winced at the word. "Collin Williams may be the son of my mothers sister." Damon said, a scowl on his face, "But I will never claim him as such."

"Right." I muttered, shaking my head at that odd little choice of words. I turned once again to start walking down the hallway, thankful for the chance to get far away from Damon. He looked so much like Thomas, but the similarities stopped there. Thomas had been so nice, joyful, happy. Well, he always was in my dreams. Damon wasnot.

"Do you really know where you're going?" Damon asked, having pushed himself off of the locker and come to walk beside me.

"I asked Ashley." I told him, rolling my eyes at the though of him thinking I had made that up just to get away from his cousin.

"Just making sure." He sent me one more of his unreadable looks, then headed off down the hallway, not looking back.

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"How was your first day of school?" Mom asked me, a broad smile on her face as soon as I walked in the door.

"It was fine." I muttered, shaking my head and moving toward the kitchen.

"Did you make any friends? Were they nice? Did you see any cute boys? How were your classes? Did you-"

"Mom." I said once again, turning around and shooting her an agitated look. "It was fine."

She scowled at me, "Fine. I told you to change." She muttered as she turned on her heel and walked back out of the kitchen.

I stared after her, shaking my head. My mothers main priority had always been to look her best and marry well. And she did- all three times. My guess now was that she was working on husband number four. Lets just hope that this time he wasn't married (husband number two), or had any kids (husband number three).

My mom and dad were actually high school sweethearts. My mother got pregnant with me at the nice age of sixteen, and the two of them married straight away. It lasted a grand total of two years, when my dad found his "true love" at the local movie store and took off with her a month later.

I got a postcard about every three or four months. From what little I can tell, he got married to the girl, had another baby, divorced said "true love", and is now married to a woman old enough to be his mother. I guess my parents really do have one thing in common- they marry for money. Too bad neither of them had any for themselves.

I didnt know a damn thing about my half sister/brother. And my father hadn't mentioned him/her in a postcard in almost eight years. Makes you wonder if that kids gets as much as I do.

Anyway, my mom never gave up her partying after I was born. She went out on a regular basis, leaving me with the sitters she hired. I dont think I ever saw my mother on a weekend until I was about twelve- and thats only because she married husband number two after sleeping with him for six months (while he was married). Husband number two was a Doctor, and a good one at that.

They divorced a year later when she "found" him having sex with the neighbor. To this day, I think my mother had something to do with that.

She married husband number three when I was fifteen. He was a lawyer, and with him came three of the most annoying kids I had ever met. I had to put up with them for two years before mom found out he was "seeing someone else."

And that's when she decided to move here. Why did she pick Joplin Missouri? I have no clue.

I grabbed a bag of chips, then hurried down the hall and into my bedroom. I closed the door softly, climbing onto my bed and grabbing the nearest book, trying to get my mind off of the thing it desperately wanted to think about.

Damon. Collin. Why did I feel like I knew them? And how was it even possible that Damon looked exactly like the guy that had been showing up in my dreams for the last seventeen years?

And what the hell had happened today in Civil War? It was likelike one of my dreams, except I wasnt asleep. But Thomas wasnt even in it! Andrew. Who the hell was Andrew? He said something about his brother- his brother Thomas. And that Thomas fought for the Union. My dreams always said that Thomas went away to war, but I never knew where. Was this just filling in another piece of the puzzle? Or was it just because of the class I was in? Maybe I had just dozed off and it was another dream. It was possible. And it explained why the guy looked so much like Collin, since I had just met him.

Of course, that didnt explain Damon.

And how had I just known that Andrew was Thomas's brother? I mean, the though had come to me, instinctively. Like I had always known it.

But I had never dreamed of anyone named Andrew before now!

I groaned, falling back onto my bed and burying my face in the pillow. I had the sudden urge to scream as loud as I possibly could. What was wrong with me?

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I Murder on Impulse

: Wow, glad you like it! Thank you so much!

MarieAnne:

As usual, thank you for your help! I'm glad to see you like this story, seeing as how its so very different then all of my other ones.

DOMOxKUN:

Thanks! Glad you find it so "mouthwatering". Lol. I'm going to try to get a few parts out on some of my other stories, though I dont know which yet. What do you think?

Has A WayWithWords:

LOL, finding out more will make it clickIt'll happen, just not yet.

CharismaAlexis7432:

Thanks! Hope this was worth the wait!

KelaBelle:

Do you think so? Hmm, maybe he does.

PamLee:

Damon and Ava will have more interaction soon, Promise!

Reizuki:

Thanks!

Soen22:

Lol, well thank you. I know, the names in most of my stories are kind of odd. So, were you just talking about the names here, or all of them? Lol

RockFan:

Yay! Glad you were intrigued enough to read this! And thank you so much for the link, I got my copy of Phone Calls from a Rockstar this weekend, and of course, read it as soon as I got it. Lol. Thank you so much for reviewing and helping!