The first time I heard of him was from Teresa, one of the popular cheerleaders in school.  She told me like she told all the others in class - loud, boisterous, with a large smile on her face like she'd won a million and had just found out her rich, dead uncle left her a billion.

 

And like always, everyone paid attention, including me.  Except unlike the others, I just brushed it off, like I always do and continued my task of trying to write decently with my left hand, or a continuation of me ignoring everyone else.

 

Why should I get excited about a stranger anyway?  You'd think by now they'd get used to it.  Don't they meet enough strangers in parties?  What's so special about this one?  They acted like children handed with a new puppy dog, which in a few years will be the cause of much chaos and sadness when the puppy grows up.

 

Still, I guess in their own way, it is better to get excited over something instead of nothing at all. 

 

With that thought, I picked up my scrap paper and left-handed scrawls and shoved over enough for my best friend, Tay Malloy, to slide in next to me.  He gave me a strange, quirked smile and a shake of his dark brown hair.

 

"I still don't get it!  I was really quiet this time!"  Tay scoffed, flinging down his heavy bag on the floor and flopping gracelessly onto the plastic chair.

 

"Really.  I didn't notice."  I grinned.  It was almost a ritual.  Tay trying to sneak in on me and I caught him every time.  Perhaps we think too alike and I just know when he's going to be behind me doing his failed stunt.

 

He blinked his blue eyes at me and continued his shit-eating grin.  "Have you heard?"

 

"Yes."  I rolled my eyes.

 

"Do you even know what I'm going to ask?"  Tay's grin deflated and he crossed his arms.  I didn't even need to look to know this.  Tay's behaviour has always been somewhat predictable.

 

"Yes.  New kid.  I know."  I answered dryly.  That's the latest gossip around here, even I, the social pariah knew this.  It's kind of hard not to.  But Tay just couldn't resist the urge to unsettle me and he gets upset every time he fails, and that's practically everytime.

 

Since Tay's mood was now currently somewhere in the lower regions, I decided to lift him up a bit.  It's not nice having your best, and only, friend irritated with you.  In a school, like Huntington High, where everyone knew each other since the freshman year, the groups are already in place even before you stepped onto the campus for the first time.

 

I was lumped into the studious group, the nerds, by the basis that I was half-Asian.  Then with sheer bad luck, into the subgroup labelled as the loners or freaks.  And, like all typical highschool culture, this was all accomplished without me knowing and was finished by the time I finished the first day of school. 

 

I am not trying to sound bitter, but sometimes, just sometimes, you wish that things could be a little different.

 

Tay was in the same category with me, which would make little conversation if he was angry with me.  And unlike me, he does have other acquaintances he could hang out with.  Which brings me back to my main point.  I don't want him mad at me.  I don't want to lose him.

 

I searched my head for a suitable distraction.  "What's the new kid's name?"  I finally asked, looking up from my doodles of a left-handed, lop-sided alphabet.

 

Tay's blue eyes lit back up.  He's so easily pleased, which is one of the reasons why our friendship was so lasting.  Although exactly what I'm giving back to him remains a mystery to me.

 

"Stephan Mayers.  Saw him on the way in."  Tay smiled when he finally saw me getting a little interested.  "All the girls found him hot.  Teresa's all over him."

 

I cocked my head a little, a bad habit whenever I'm thinking.  "He'll have a hard time getting up with with all those distractions."

 

Tay laughed loudly, making a few heads turn before what I said finally hit me.  I never claimed to be smart and inuedoes take some time in processing.

 

I smacked his arm hard, muttered 'hansup' under my breath, which meant 'pervert' in Chinese. 

 

Tay smirked back, blue eyes glinting mischievously.  "I'm not the one thinking that you 'handsoap'."  Then smacked me back painfully.  Perhaps I'm his outlet for stress.  We always get into arguments, which sometimes end painfully, like now.  Since I was chuckling and he just kept punching me to make me shut up.

 

I don't think anyone could mutilate a language more than him, yet still make sense to the native speakers.

 

~~~~NEGATIVE~~~PLUS~~~~

 

The day began as usual, in its boring monotonous way.  I had most of my classes with Tay, except Math.  That was when I really miss him the most.  When he's here, I could tune everyone out and when he's not, you can't help but feel exposed, naked.  Like everyone has a shield to hide behind and you don't.  So you're left facing the enemy artillery all by yourself. 

 

Staring around in an half-empty class, looking at how everyone seemed to have someone, and me, sitting in the front corner with empty spaces next to me, had no-one.

 

And I can't help but wish that I could be more like them, yet at the same time I knew it was too late anyway to start over.  Then I would start wishing that class would start soon, wondering what Tay was up to in his other class where he met his other friends, wondering what would have happened if I had flunked that exam last year so I wouldn't be in the AP class.

 

Math is the first class in the morning and being alone generally puts me in a sullen mood for the rest of the day.

 

But then someone began to make their way over to the corner, my corner.  I stiffened my posture and my left hand faltered into a stop.  I had been trying to write my name on the homework in a way that didn't look like a drunk 5-year old.  It was steadily improving and was beginning to look like a drunk 6 year old's. 

 

It was a great way to improve your mind, as well as a good excuse to block everyone else around you.

 

But that someone showed no sign on leaving.  I shoved the paper underneath my math book just in case it was a teacher.  Then, putting on my sleepy, yet innocent expression, I took out my lead pencil and pretended to wait in utmost boredom.

 

It wasn't a teacher.  Because teachers don't sit down next to you and say "hey wassup?"  even if they do surf and do say that to their other sufer friends.

 

I blinked at the teenager sitting next to me.  I haven't seen him around before, so that meant he must be the new guy, whom I had already forgotten the name.  I guess he looked ... 'cute'.  Blond hair streaked with bronze, large aquamarine eyes, dark, tanned skin and a killer smile. 

 

Definately a killer smile.  I can feel the wierd, envious vibes from the Teresa's table behind me, plotting to 'kill' me for information at the end of class.

 

I sighed to myself softly and sank down a little to hide, wondering why the hell would he choose the seat next to me - the oddball loser, out of the whole class.

 

"You're the new guy."  That came out blunter than I thought.

 

"Got that in one shot.  Name's Stephan."  His voice was deep, as if coming from the back of his throat.  I guess this is called a 'sexy growl' if I asked a girl.  But I'm not a girl.  It was a grunt, though a friendly grunt if the smile was any indication.

 

"Kaede Lee."  Most people find it easier just to roll the syllables into one making it out as Cade, but I always introduce myself fully, in vain.

 

Stephan smiled toothily, showing all his pearly whites just before the teacher hustled with arms full of coffee and books.

 

We didn't speak a word until the end of the class.  For once, I didn't fall in a sullen mood.  I appreciate working next to someone who seems to pay as much attention as I do to the inner workings of statistic formulaes.  It wasn't too hard for me to grasp the concept, but the teacher talked and wrote fast.  Thus most of my time was spent in trying jot down examples before it turned to chalk dust.  But I need peace and quiet to do this, and Stephan, unlike a sometimes sugar-high Tay, offered me that.

 

And he didn't punch me either, which is a plus in my book.

 

Oddly enough, Stephan followed me out the class, ignoring the strange looks and flirty smiles...and glowering glares directed at me.

 

"What class do you have next?"

 

I do appreciate his company.  I won't say I'm starved for attention, but after being living in the shadows for so long, the spotlight is a little uncomfortable.  More than a little uncomfortable.  Teresa's eyeballing is making me dizzy. 

 

But shouldn't she be the one who's dizzy? 

 

"Erm...Chemistry."  Incidentally, one of my worst subjects.  Luckily studying with Tay had its benefits...in a way...it meant a lot of cleaning up the day after.  Not that you pervs!  Tay just had a bad habit of cleaning out my fridge and bringing all the empty dishes into my room, then complaining I'm not feeding him enough.

 

Stephan had Chemistry as well, which wouldn't have been odd but having every single classes with me certainly was. 

 

I handed his schedule back and motioned him to follow me.

 

How wierd.  But it's nice to know I have one more person to copy off.

 

Tay greeted with a surprised look by my locker.  I know I'm not the most sociable creature on Earth, but I do have other friends you know...if you call acquaintances as friends.  I like to think I'm picky, but my mother kept complaining about my shyness then telling me to 'shut up' when I mouth off to her. 

 

Honestly, and she wonder's what was wrong with me.

 

"C'mon Tay."

 

Thus, our normal duo became a trio.  Tay was quite happy meeting someone new but I guess his excited babble overwhelmed Stephan.  Tay tend to babble whenever he's excited or just ate a pound of MnMs.  The rest of the time, he was subdued, when he's not punching me or trying to sneak up on me.

 

Stephan kept glancing at me for help, which I just shrugged and grinned the sight of Tay pouring acid like an experienced bartender.  It was a dangerous sight really, since we were working on acids and reactive metals, but Tay was the top student and the expert in Chemistry.

 

I just stood back, happy to take take notes and not having a clue at what the hell was going on.  Stephan didn't seem to have any clue either, but seem content enough to watch Tay and his mad 'shake the reactive metals' bar-tending skills.

 

 

~~~~NEGATIVE~~~PLUS~~~~

 

 

School came.  School went.  Kids poured out with sighs of relief - another battle won.  Another day lurking in the horizon.  Probably for Teresa, tomorrow will be a new day to start her hooking in the 'new boytoy'.

 

Me, however, I just wanted to go home and start rotting in front of the television.  It's probably not a good thing and there's nothing good on tv at this hour of the day, which is good incentive for me to start homework until something good does come on.

 

Stephan had other ideas.  After Tay and I separate our ways, Stephan somehow persuaded me that tagging along with him as a homework buddy would be better than doing it alone.  More brains = more work.

 

I agreed.  Privately, I thought it should be more brains = less work but I kept that to myself.

 

His house was close to mine, in the newly renovated housing lots on teh other side of a man-made park and pond.  I don't claim to be fond of the park.  Lots of mosquitoes in the summer, wasps in spring, and yellow dried grass all year long.  The only few redeeming factors are the children's play sets and the small clumps of tall gum trees and weeping willows surrounding the pond.

 

Stephan seemed more at ease here, walking at a pace distance ahead of me, humming a light tune.  He made the place seem like a perfect Sunday picnic spot when everyone else knew this place is the perfect lovers, smokers and druggers paradise.  They say the stuff works better there, whatever that means.

 

At this time of the day, the druggers haven't moved from their self induced hallucinations, the smokers hadn't arrived yet, the lovers only appeared at night.  This meant only Stephan and I were there.

 

Which is why I don't understand.

 

He was walking a pace ahead of me and I had to take longer strides to keep up.  He was taller than me, had longer legs, so it made sense he walked faster than me.  I was trying to keep up when I nearly stepped on something.

 

And no, it wasn't dog turd.

 

It looked like broken pieces of mulicolored beer bottles.  Lying on the ground, sparkling in evidence of what happened last night.  An underaged drunken spree that I heard the popular people boast about. 

 

"It's everywhere so watch it."  Stephan called back.

 

I did.  I tried.  I failed...to process it in time.  There was a crunch under my sneakers and I felt something brush past me, a strong breeze perhaps.  Or maybe something more unexpected because at that moment, Stephan disappeared.  And the place rippled like someone had throw a pebble into a still pond.

 

And Stephan was just a reflection in the waters.

 

Vanished like a ghost.

 

I couldn't even sense a presence of him, like I usually can with Tay. 

 

As I start to take in my surroundings I realized I couldn't sense anything. I couldn't make sense of anything.

 

It took a while before the situation clicked in.  (Like I said before, I'm not exactly that the brightest lightbulb in the string of Christmas lights.)  The pond beside me wasn't exactly there anymore, neither are the clumps of gum and willow or the sharp bottle pieces.  That wouldn't have phased me as much if I wasn't standing in the middle of a painfully uncivilized part of a coniferous forest.

 

Normally, I'm a calm, peaceful person - the eye in the storm, as Tay says.

 

But circumstances beg to differ.

 

I freaked.