"Just get it in your head, Mandy!" Jonathan shouted, "I don't care about you anymore!"

Mandy stood completely still, tears running down her pale cheeks. This could not be happening- there was no way this was happening.

Jonathan huffed, and then turned away from her, crossing his arms. His tall frame was reflected almost perfectly in the still waters of the lake.

"I-I-" Mandy croaked.

"Save it, Mandy," Jonathan said, and he turned back to her, his eyes fiery, "It's over." And with that, he stormed away from her, back to the loud music and the spilled drinks, back to the life guards and the pretty girls. Back to Amanda Cutter.

Mandy watched him leave, and stayed frozen even after he was a speck in the distance. It was the gunshot noise of him slamming the front door of the cottage that caused her to move.

With a sob, Mandy turned and ran. She ran down the beach, past the empty boats and discarded beach toys, trying to put as much room between her and the party as possible.

After several minutes, she realized that her families cottage was the other way, but for some reason that fact didn't affect her. Her whole mind, her whole body, was focused on her bare feet, slapping the sand.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

Eventually, with a sharp pain in her side and her hair flying all over the place, she fell to the ground. Now, it seemed that even the moon had left her. It was pitch black, and she had no idea where she was. Normally, this realization would have caused Mandy to panic, but no today. Today, she was beyond panic- beyond emotion- beyond thinking.

The same thought kept invading her head, and Mandy kept beating it back. Finally, when her mind failed her as her body already had, she relaxed, and let it in.

As Mandy Fawkins drifted off into an uneasy sleep, the final thought on her mind was, "I am alone."

The first words she heard when she emerged from her nightmare plagued sleep were "Hey, Pumpkin?!"

"Who are you calling Pumpkin?" she murmured, and opened her eyes. However, after what she saw in front of her, she shut them again, instantly.

"Oh thank goodness, she's alive," the voice muttered, "Praise the heavens, our sleeping beauty has been found!"

Mandy did not reply.

"Hello?" this time, the voice actually showed a hint of worry, "Are you alright?"

Mandy didn't dare open her eyes again, knowing that what she would see would probably bring back the memories even more.

"Seriously? Are you ok? Can you open your eyes?"

Mandy shook her head.

"Open them," an authoritative edge crept in, "Now!"

Mandy clenched her fists, and slowly opened her sleep dried eyes.

The boy looked to be about her age, perhaps a few years older. He had a small frown on his face, and he was dressed in a baggy blue shirt. She couldn't tell what colour his eyes were- but his hair, his hair was visibly a very deep black. Though not exactly the same shade, it sure looked a lot like Jonathan's.

"There. Can you get up?" the voice, or Pumpkin Boy, asked. "Don't ignore me," he said after a moment, "I know you can talk, so don't even try."

"No, I'm not alright, or ok, I can open my eyes, I just didn't want to, and while I can get up, I won't," Mandy spit, and, for a moment, was pleasantly surprised by the spite in her voice. Then, the pleasantness went away and, she closed her eyes.

"Jeeze. Rescue you from the sharks and this is all I get?" Pumpkin Boy asked, "Your mom is like, freaking, you know that, Amanda?"

Mandy winced, and screwed her eyes up, willing them not to flood over.

"That's right. Freaking!" said Pumpkin Boy, assuming that she was wincing over the news of her mother.

"Mandy," Mandy said, her voice less even now, "Call me Mandy."

"When your mother was screaming at mine over the phone I certainly didn't hear her call you any nicknames," Pumpkin Boy grumbled, and suddenly Mandy was airborne.

"Gah!" she shrieked, and her wet eyes flew open. She was now in the arms of Pumpkin Boy, leaning against his chest with her head almost hanging over his shoulder, "What are you doing?"

"Taking you home, obviously," the boy snorted.

"Home? Where's my home?"

"Across from mine, genius," she could practically hear his eyes roll.

Mandy thought for a moment- apparently, he knew her name- her official one, anyways- and her mother. Then again, kidnapping stalkers could probably look you up enough information on you, anyways.

"Anyways, don't you know there are beetles and ants in that sand?" Pumpkin Boy spoke up again, "You've probably been gotten by the Skeets a billion times."

Mandy acknowledged the fact that he had referred the lake's mosquitoes as Skeets, the popular nick name among the teenagers and children.

"-and besides, there was a boathouse practically twenty feet away, you could have just spent the night there-"

"I didn't see it!" Mandy broke in indignantly, "It was dark!"

"You shouldn't have been out in the dark anyways," he chided.

"Who do you think you are, anyways?" Mandy demanded. Taking a peek from behind his hair- the back of his head, she could see that they were walking down the beach, in the direction of her cabin, and probably the direction she had came from last night. The memories were rather hazy- and Mandy really didn't want to prod at them.

"Your rescuer, duh," he replied.

"So far you aren't rescuing anybody, just kidnapping as far as I can see," Mandy glared, "And I can walk, you know!"

"Yup. Sure. Whatever..."

Mandy felt a spurt of anger at his sarcastic tone. Who did this jerk think he was? She was about to jump out of his arms, and or kick him in the soft spot, when she heard a voice screaming her name.

"Amanda!"

"Oh, shoot me," Mandy muttered.

"Told you she called you Amanda," Pumpkin Boy said smugly.

"Amanda!" Claire Fawkins ran up to the pair, "Darling, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Mom," Mandy sighed. She couldn't really get a good look at her mother, seeing as Pumpkin Boy's head was in the way, but she was pretty sure that her mother was close to tears, and very, very angry. A huge blow up was probably waiting for her when she returned home.

"Thanks so much, Jacob," Mandy's mother gushed to Pumpkin Boy, or Jacob, "I don't know what I would have done! With Ron- erm, Mr. Fawkins gone, I don't know what we would have done-"

"It's no problem, Mrs. F," Jacob smiled, "My mom probably wouldn't have let me get off without helping anyways."

Claire gave a hysteric giggle. Mandy frowned- since when was Pumpkin Boy this polite?

"Have you two even met?" Claire said, suddenly surprised, "Amanda, darling, this is Jonathan's cousin- Jacob, Jacob West!"

And at that, Mandy felt her head give a huge throb and everything fell into black.

Yes, it is short. This is merely a tester chapter- hopefully, with reviews, the chapters will become longer. I am also aware that this chapter is rather vague and mysterious- all shall be explained in further chapters.

Please, if you enjoyed the story, review. I'm not asking for a long, winding review, just...something to know that someone cares about the story. Even a review that simply says "thumbs up" would be appreciated.

Thanks so much :)

~FlyingThroughDreams