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I walked through the doors of Grove High School with a feeling of determination.  I kept thinking to myself, “You will make new friends.  This won’t be so bad.”  As CEO of a computer company, my father’s job required him to move to a new location every once in a while.  His last job in Idaho wasn’t so great.  Idaho itself wasn’t so great either.  I felt tired, after the restless night I had just suffered through.  The dream came back again, and this time it was more detailed.  Once again I woke up in a cold sweat and a feeling of suffocation, wanting to scream the nightmare away.  I noticed the other students were running into the classrooms and stared down at my watch.  It was only 7:45.  If school started at 8 then why would everybody be worried about making it to class on time?  Unless....oh crap.  This school started at 7:50.  I vaguely remembered reading that little tidbit on the brochure before my mother threw it out.  I had 5 minutes to get to English, and I still didn’t know what building I was supposed to walk to.

“Sorry to bother you, but are you lost?”  I turned around to face a girl a few inches shorter than me who was staring back with a huge grin on her face.  She had short red hair and shocking green eyes that pierced right down into my soul.  There was something familiar about her, and yet I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“Uh, yeah.  I’m kinda new here so I don’t know where anything is,” I answered back as sweetly as I could.  I always despised being the new kid.  Eyes following you all day long.  Every male creature gawking over your “unique” beauty.  Shoot me now, please.

The girl smiled bigger.  “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll show you around.  I’m Riana by the way.”  She took my arm and began to lead me through the strange hallways.

“Andie.”  I couldn’t help but smile also.  Maybe I found a new friend.

Riana helped me find my English class and ran off to whatever subject she had.  I hesitantly turned the knob, hoping I wouldn’t be noticed.  Too late.  The entire class was already seated, and the teacher stood at the front with his arms crossed.  “You must be Andrea Johnson.”  His eyes seemed to bulge out as soon as he said my name.

“I prefer to be called Andie,” I corrected.  He told me where to sit, and I kept my head bent down as I shuffled through the narrow aisle to my desk.  The other kids began to whisper about me underneath their breaths, so I took my long brown hair out of the rubber band and hid behind it like a wall.  Every once in a while I glanced at the clock.  Only thirty-five minutes had gone by.  “Here we go again,” I thought, as I sat in complete isolation while the teacher lectured.

I thought it would be forever before it would be time for lunch.  I followed the large crowds of students into the cafeteria and got into the long line for food.  Although the food didn’t look as tasteful as it should have been, I had to admit it was much better than my last school.  I paid for my meal, a turkey sandwich, an apple, and a carton of orange juice, and scanned the area for a place to sit.  I saw Riana waving her hand at me from across the room, so I happily skipped over to her table.  I felt more relaxed that I found a friendly face to eat with, rather than having to skip a meal or eat in the phone booth like I did my first day in Texas.  I ate my sandwich and listened to Riana’s long story of how her family went camping the previous week.  And that was when I first saw him.

I nudged Riana’s arm.  “Who is that?”  She directed her eyes to the line.

“Who?”

“That guy in the brown jacket.”  I knew I sounded like an obsessed fan girl, but I had to know.

Riana nodded her head as soon as she knew who I was talking about.  “That’s Ryan Pierce.  He’s a sophomore and so out of any girl’s league.”  Her last sentence made me frown.  Even though she was right I couldn’t stop staring at him.  He was gorgeous!  He had light brown hair that fell over the top of his forehead and a body that was so mesmerizing to look at.  He turned and….his eyes were a soft green.  He had a smile that was too perfect.  I wanted to melt, and suddenly I noticed what the smile was for.  He was staring right back at me.  I felt the color pouring into my cheeks and let my hair fall over my face.  Did he like me?  Did he think I was attractive?  I pondered on these questions until the bell rang, and his perfect face was gone.  It felt like time was moving at a rapid pace, and I was the only one standing still.

I walked with Riana to the bus stop.  She was full of so much energy, and I began to wonder how many cups of coffee she drank every day.  For some reason my mind went back to the dream I had the previous night.  It was a good 3 minutes before Riana said something that startled and woke me out of my trance.

“Oh my God, Andie, I had the craziest dream last night!”  Please, how much crazier could her dreams be?  But I remembered to be polite and turned to her to listen.

“Well, this might sound insane, but I had a dream that I was giving orders to these guys to go kill someone.  Like I was their leader or something.  Isn’t that wild?”

“Yeah, totes.  But hey, it’s only a dream, right?”

“Maybe….I don’t know, I’ve been having the same ones every night for a long time now.”  That made my stomach churn.  And as if she expected it, I blurted it out.

“I’ve been having weird dreams too!”  Riana jumped at my confession.

“Really?!  Tell me!”

“Well, I’m asleep in my bed, and all of a sudden I wake up and this guy is just standing there.  He said it’s time.  And I’m like time for what?  But he ignores me and tells me to get dressed.  So I do and we go to his car and drive away.  At some point we’re blocked by a black van and I’m pulled out of my seat and thrown into the van.  Then some scary looking guy ties me up and puts tape over my mouth and inserts a needle into my arm to knock me out.”  I don’t know if Riana was scared or shocked, because her eyes widened.  She shook her head, as if to block out a thought.

“That’s really strange,” she whispered.

I nodded in agreement.  “Oh, that’s only one of them.”  Her head jerked in attention.

“Really?  Do tell.”

“I have dreams that I’m some sort of spy for this organization.  And I wear all black, and my codename is Dark Avenger.”

At that moment Riana almost collapsed.  Her face went pale, and I felt concerned about whether or not she was ready for that.  Well, let’s just say I wasn’t ready for what she had to say next.

“You’re…the one,” she stuttered.

“What?  What do you mean the one?  What are you talking about Ria?”  But I never received an answer.  Her parents drove up the lot and honked the horn.  Riana waved goodbye as she ran, her grin back on her face as if nothing had happened.

“See you tomorrow, Melanie Hart!”  I froze.  No, it couldn’t be.  It wasn’t possible.  But after several minutes of attempting to come up with reasons, only one question popped into my head.

“How does she know?”