1 Leah

I awoke on the floor stiff and unaware of my surroundings. I still hadn't opened my eyes but I felt myself coming out of a weird dream, where I had been floating through the forest in the arms of girl whose face I could not forget. I forced this dream to the back of my mind to ponder upon later. I opened my eyes startled by what I saw.

    The first thing my eyes fell upon was a huge pine tree covered in a light green moss that made it look as if it were glowing. It was still dark outside as I sat up slowly trying to catch my breath and figure out exactly where I was. As I took a deeper look around I realized I was in a forest that I had no recollection of coming to. The last thing I remember was falling asleep in my bed worrying about the stupid math class. I must have been sleep walking again. Knowing it must be close to the time I needed to wake up I got to my feet and did the best I could to brush the dead leaves and dirt that had clung to me onto the ground. the air was cool and smelled crisp and clean like it does after rain. I started running afraid that I would be late and knowing my mom would be worried if she found my bed empty. I was only running for a few minutes when it felt like someone reached out and pushed me to the hard dirty ground. I fell to the ground and scraped up my hands. I quickly looked around trying to find the culprit that pushed me, ready to give him a piece of my mind. I stopped short when there was no one.  

"Is someone there?" I called out

No answer. Getting to my feet I once again dusted the leaves off my fleece pajama bottoms and top. Feeling rattled and scared I bolted faster through the trees than before. At last I could see the trees thinning and finally made my way out of the forest into the large field that encompassed my house. The sky was just starting to lighten when I entered the front door. I heard my mom call to me then,

"Is that you Leah?"

"Yes mom, I'm home."

"Where have you been?" She scolded.

"In the forest mom, I woke up there."

"That sleepwalking is going to kill you one day. Hurry and get ready for school, you're going to be late."

I rolled my eyes as I ran up the stairs to my room. I stood in my room for a minute having a foggy flashback of my dream. It was a good sized room with a queen sized bed, the bedding was light blue with white fluffy pillows. There really was nothing immaculate about this blue carpeted room. I hurried now to my oversized oak dresser and grabbed the first pair of pants I saw. It happened to be my favorite pair of lucky jeans. My mom was adamant that I get them because I was always wearing really baggy clothes that she hated. I guess I just didn't see the point in dressing up all girly just to go to school. Most of the students ignored me anyways.

    I hurried and grabbed the rest of the clothes I needed as I thought out why it was no one ever seemed to notice me. I showered quickly and got ready for school, took one look over at myself as I was walking out of my room and decided that it really didn't matter, before running down the white staircase into the front room. My mom was a clean freak and everything in the house besides my room was always so spotless, I wondered if we were living with secret cleaning ladies hiding in the closets only to come out when I left the house. I was pondering how my mom really got our house to stay so clean when she yelled for me from the garage. I grabbed my bag as I walked in the door to the garage.

My mom looked so frustrated sitting in our white 2005 PT Cruiser. I hurried around and jumped in the passenger seat (She still wouldn't let me drive after I got pulled over for making an illegal lane change in front of a police officer,) Shut the door and buckled my seat belt. My mom huffed a little sigh and reversed out into the street. I was staring off into space thinking about why I tripped in the forest and how it felt so much like someone had pushed me. I couldn't get that fact or my dream out of my head, feeling weird like they were connected somehow.

    My dream was placed in the forest which made me think that was the reason they felt so connected. My dream had started with me in my room reading the Twilight books that had pulled me into a dream world every night before bed. I looked up from the book for a second to see a very beautiful girl my age standing in my room. This startled me a little but I still felt calm in her presence, I'd seen her face somewhere before but couldn't place it in this awkward dream world.

"What are you doing here in my room?" I asked with what my mother would call morbid curiosity.

The girl didn't speak, she just gestured with her hands to follow her. It made me feel uneasy that she wouldn't answer me but my body responded without me, as if I was a puppet on the strings of a puppet master. My legs moved one at a time towards her as my mind grew more numb. As I approached her outstretched hand I took it in mine, surprised by how cold her touch was. I sensed she could feel how uneasy I felt and when she smiled at me I knew that was exactly the case.      When I looked at her smile, which was so devastatingly beautiful, my anxiety about this stranger in my room disintegrated and I felt as though we were alone in the world and nothing could touch us. A smile played at my lips as I tried to discover the reason I couldn't take my eyes from her goddess like features. She had a strong but feminine chin, her eyes a light blue seemed to pierce into my soul. Her hair was a dark brown, long and straight, seeming to shimmer with silver streaks that made her look as if she had a halo. She wore a black hoodie with the hood pushed back and some skinny black pants with chains.

She was just a tad shorter than my 5'4 but altogether she was more gorgeous than any human I had ever met in my life. She pulled on my hand bringing me out of the trance her face had caused. When I finally did look away from her face I caught a glimpse of us standing together holding hands in the mirror. Compared to me her skin looked white and opaque. Standing next to her didn't help my already low self esteem. I was skinny and had long dark hair like her but my features weren't as prominently gorgeous. My eyes had a habit of changing from green to brown and back again. I didn't have the high prominent cheekbones or the perfectly shaped lips. I was just ordinary and invisible to the world as we know it.

She urged me to move from our reflection with a gentle tug of my hand as she started for the window, which totally freaked me out because I was very, very afraid of heights. She gave me another reassuring smile to let me know everything would be fine. I melted then and there as she swooped my legs out from under me and jumped out the window. Landing as soft as if she were a feather merely floating to the ground. I thought it was eerie that there was no noise coming from either of us as she still carried me off into the night.

"Leah honestly we're here and your late." my mom broke into what felt like a resolution to something I couldn't really remember right now.

"Thanks mom." I said sarcastic jumping out of the car and starting for the office with my late note.

"Here you go Mrs. Greene." I said as I handed her the late note my mom wrote me.

"Sleepwalking again Leah?" She replied in a friendly tone.

"Yeah, woke up in the woods this morning."

"Well hunny your set to go to class. I hope you have a good day and be careful."

"Thank you Mrs. Greene."

I always liked Mrs. Greene. She always looked worried when I told her I was sleepwalking, unlike most of the staff who seemed to care very little about me. I started hiking to class as I was thinking this, and I say hiking to my next class because our school was all on a hill, where my first class happened to be on top. I finally made it to the top and entered my Art class, the teacher only stopping long enough for me to take my seat in the back of the class. School was very monotonous for the beginning of school that day, as I walked from one class to another alone like usual. The only difference from any other day was at lunch instead of having the

table to myself a small group of outcast kids sat at the opposite end of the table from me. They were all quiet but I felt like they were watching me out of the corners of their eyes. They were all wearing black hoodies with their hoods up and covering their faces. I really couldn't make out who any of them were or if I knew any of them, since I mainly kept to myself at school, no one really noticed me but I pretty much knew who everyone was.

The bell finally rang to go to class and everyone started to disperse, the kids that were at my table slowly got up and started walking away except one. I stayed seated for a moment curious who this person was and wondering if they intended to go to class, then she looked straight at me for a moment and I knew immediately who it was. It was the girl from my dream! I went to say something to her but before my brain caught up with my mouth she was gone. I got up then and walked to my class, sitting down quickly and trying to listen to the teacher, instead my head kept wondering to lunch. I couldn't recall the girls name or if she was in any of my classes.

I couldn't keep from asking myself how I had never noticed her before and if I hadn't noticed her why was she in my dream? For the rest of the school day I couldn't think straight or about anything except for this girl I didn't even know the name of. Why did she stay behind at lunch? Did she want to talk to me? I even ran into someone on my way to math class I was so engrossed in my thoughts. I apologized quickly with my head down not wanting to know who it was or why I had run into them.

"Its ok I didn't mean to get in your way." I heard the voice say.

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked up to the sound of the most beautiful voice I'd ever heard. There she stood, not three feet from me, her hood up obscuring my view so I could barely see her face in the shadows. I stood dumbfounded like an idiot as she smiled, her eyes piercing through me, before she briskly walked away. I stood there for a moment trying to gather my thoughts and not feel like a total idiot before I ran to geometry class, afraid that I would be taken over by them again and run into someone else. I sat down as fast as possible to let my body rest as my mind took over everything. God Leah you are such an idiot, how could you just go run into the person you can't stop thinking about like a total dork. What is wrong with me? Why can't I stop thinking about her. It felt like someone drugged me, she was the drug, and I couldn't get her off my mind. She was everywhere and nowhere all at once. I could swear I'd seen her all day out of the corner of my eye but when I'd take a second look it would be nothing. It was as if I was addicted to her face, nothing completely stopped me from having her in my mind since lunch.

"Hello again. I didn't realize we had this class together. I don't really pay attention to many people." Said the beautiful voice again interrupting my obsessive thoughts.

I looked up knowing it would be her. It was like she knew I was a tormented soul and my only escape was her face. I couldn't seem to bring myself to say anything, all I could do was look at her. I guess the more appropriate word would be to stare at her, but she didn't seem to mind that I hadn't said anything back to her. She sat and waited patiently for me to get my thoughts together. I opened my mouth to tell her that no one ever really noticed me but right at that moment the teacher started class and I lost the chance. I smiled sheepishly at her and turned toward the short fat English teacher, feeling like a complete idiot.

   I hadn't even realized I'd been leaning in towards her until the teacher had started talking. I wondered why she had this effect on me, as if our bodies were magnets and I was pulled into her even when I hadn't told my body to move, I was starting to feel like a total wack job, not even being able to control myself around her. I couldn't stop staring at her out of the corner of my eye throughout the whole class, the whole while my body screaming at me, wanting the magnets to meet. Every piece of my sanity fought with the urges my body was having and all I wanted was for my dreams to be true, with me in her arms. I could barely stand the force of her pull, straining so hard my hands were white as bone around the desk I was grasping. Then salvation came in the sound of the school bell.   I got up and put my things in my bag so fast I felt like I was the comic book character the Flash. I could feel her looking at me but knew if I looked up I would lose all hold on reality and the last piece of control I had on myself. I grabbed my bag and headed for the bus using every inch of power I had left not to turn around and run straight to her.

    I got on the bus and sat down in the very back at my usual seat. I was looking down trying to catch my breath, that I had been subconsciously holding the whole way to the bus, concentrating on gaining full control of my body when I felt someone sit by me. Thinking it was unusual that someone would sit by me I looked up to see who it was and there she sat, as if she was following me on purpose. I felt as if she knew how hard I was struggling to keep myself under control around her.

I kept wondering if she was purposely taunting me, as if she was waiting for something from me that only I could give. I felt as though I should say something but the most brilliant thing I could think to say was, Sorry i didn't say anything in English, which sounded totally stupid even in my head so I just sat and waited for her to speak first. The bus started to pull away from the school and I had a feeling that this would be a very long bus ride home. It was silent for a while before she finally spoke, probably uncomfortable with my staring at her.

"Hi again. I never got to tell you my name. I'm Ashley Greene."

"Hi, I'm Leah Sherman."

"Oh, I know your name. I just wasn't sure if you knew mine. Not many people know the outcasts you know." She said looking to the front of the bus.

"Yeah people don't really know my name either. I guess if you wanted to put me in a group i would be a loner. I'm curious though, How did you know my name?" Great, First I couldn't talk at all and now I cant shut up.  

"I just pay attention better than others." She said her head flinching like she was trying not to look at me. "I'm pretty sure I know everyones name that goes to this school."

"Oh." Was all I could conjure to say.  

I wanted to keep her talking so I could hear her voice, on top of the fact that it seemed easier for me to control my body when she was talking.

"So why haven't I ever noticed you before, I thought I knew everyone in the school too."

"I keep to my group. We like to keep a low profile, too much teenage drama around that we don't care for." She said scrunching her nose with a disgusted look.

She looked up at me then, reaching her hand up and brushed a stray hair behind my ear. I immediately melted into a puddle on the seat from her touch and goosebumps covered my whole body. I could feel my limbs limp and dead to any command I would give them. I could see her stifling a grin as I let out an uncontrollable sigh. I was starting to feel like there was a lot more said between us when nothing was being said. I could feel a bond forming between us that I've never felt with any human before, not even my own mother. My mom always made me feel as though I wasn't a good enough daughter. It always seemed like she blamed me for my father leaving us.

"Well this is my stop." She said getting up from the seat more graceful than I'd seen any high schooler do before.

I hadn't been paying much attention to anything but her face and my own mangled thoughts. When she got up I looked out the window to see how much further I would have to ride without her when I realized this was my stop too.

"Wait." I called walking off the bus after her. "This is my stop too." I said as I caught up to her.

"Are you sure you're not just following me?" She said with a teasing smile.

"I'm not so sure I'm not following you, but this really is my stop." I said and immediately blushed at my bluntness.

"Well would you like me to walk you home then?" She said not noticing my red face, or choosing to ignore it.

"Ummm. Sure, I guess that would be fine." I said knowing my mom wouldn't be home for a couple more hours and hoping she would come inside.

"Well then, point the direction." She said with a smile I didn't understand. I pointed the direction to my house and we started walking. I usually walked as fast as I could to my house so I could go read the fantasy books I loved so much. This time was different as I walked as slowly as possible to lengthen our time together. She followed my pace without complaint as if she wanted more time with me as well. Then she surprised me by reaching down to grab my hand and intertwine her fingers in mine. I looked at her trying to figure out the reason for her actions. She was looking away from me at the ground so I couldn't read her face. She seemed embarrassed by her action and I couldn't understand why. I was dying to see her face or read her mind, but more than that I was dying to hear her speak. She was showing no signs of talking so I asked the first thing I could think.  

"Why do you always wear your hood up?"

She looked at me but, it seemed more like she was having the same desire to look at my face, that I was having to look at hers. Or maybe she did it out of habit when someone was talking to her, I just wasn't sure.  

"I don't like the sun, I'm allergic to it." She said as she scrunched her face towards the sky.

"You're allergic to the sun?" I said stunned by her answer. "But how can you be in the sun if you're allergic?"

"I have a special sunblock that I wear everyday." She said her voice singing as my heart tumbled around in my chest.

"Don't you get hot wearing a hoodie all the time?" I replied trying to concentrate on the conversation and not staring at her.

"Not really. I've gotten used to the heat."

"Oh. That's cool then."

We walked in silence the rest of the way to my house, hands still interlocked in each others. When we got to the front door we both stopped to face each other, she took my other hand and looked into my eyes.

"So how about it?" She said looking nervous.

"How about what?" I was completely lost as to what she was asking.

"How about you invite me in to see your house?" She smirked as if there were some big secret she was keeping from me.

"I'm not supposed to have anyone in the house when my moms gone. She's kind of a clean freak and I would be afraid to dirty it up." I said sounding like a total idiot.

Here I was blabbing about my mom and not getting in trouble when I had thought about having her come in just 10 minutes ago. I'm not one of those good girls so why wasn't I inviting her in? Why couldn't I just shut up and let her in while she was standing there staring as if she knew I was trying to decide still. Before i could tell her I had changed my mind though she took a step closer to me so we were only inches away from each others face. I could feel my heart trying to explode out of my chest while I did everything I could not to make a fool of myself and kiss her.

"Ok then, I guess I'll see you later." She whispered never taking her eyes from mine.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow then." I said stunned out of every previous thought I had.  

She gave a mischievous smile before turning and walking down the long drive way. I watched at the door until she disappeared into the thick of the forest before I ran up to my room. I threw my bag on the floor by my bed and threw my body on the bed face up. I took a few deep breaths to try and take control of my lungs that seemed to be working overtime. I tried to lay still and make sure I was completely calm before I even tried to get up and do homework. Blah. That thought brought me back down to earth as I realized I had no clue what went on at school today after lunch. I sat up in a rush for my backpack. I looked in it to see if there was any sign of notes or homework I might have absentmindedly taken. Nothing. There were just a bunch of old papers I hadn't gotten around to throwing away. I was in deep shit at this point. I already had trouble concentrating on doing my homework at home. Now I just plain didn't have any to do. I really need to quit daydreaming and get it together or my grades are going to go from A's and B's to C's and D's.  

My train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door. I walked from my room to the stairwell the whole time wondering who could be at my door. I didn't have any friends, or boyfriends for that matter. Mom always told me to wait until college before I fell in love. Not that I really cared for a boyfriend nor was it possible for me to get one from what I can tell. It really just seemed that men, past and present, were worthless.I was pretty sure if they were worthless then, things weren't going to change any time soon. So I figured I was just one of the lucky people who didn't have to deal with boy drama. I finally had gotten to the door opening it and taking a step back confused. I couldn't think, or breathe, and I was pretty sure I gasped at the sight of the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I recovered fairly quickly this time hopefully not looking like a total idiot.

"Ashley, I thought you left?" I finally got out probably sounding like a dork instead of an idiot.

"I did. I got halfway home when I decided you might want my number." She said seeming embarrassed.   

"Oh. Well yeah. I mean of course."

She pulled out a piece of crumpled up paper from her jeans and held it out to me. I took it from her soft cold hand and looked down at it.

"Thanks." I said trying to hide my excitement.

"Sure. Anytime." She said like she didn't want to leave again.

I looked up to see her smile at me and turn to leave when it hit me. She should have the homework I need and mom wouldn't get mad that someone was here if they were helping me with homework.

"Wait." I accidentally yelled sounding desperate and feeling like an idiot even more knowing what I was about to ask. "Do you think you might be able to help me with my homework?"

She smiled at me sparking my heart into overtime and making my stomach flip. I didn't even want to think about whether I could really even concentrate on homework.

"Sure but only if your mom won't mind." She said with a teasing tone.

"She won't as long as you really are helping me with my homework."

She held her right hand in the air and placed the other hand as if it were on a bible.

"I swear I am the best tutor you will ever meet."  

She grinned and the look on her face made me think she was laughing at some inside joke to herself. I stood there for a minute studying the mystery in her eyes, trying to figure out why they gave away nothing but were also so intense at the same time. I couldn't bring myself to look away from them but some instinct told me we had been standing here for longer than necessary. I grabbed her hand and started backing into the house leading her in. It felt stupid to do but the look on her face said she didn't mind and I had a feeling she was as lost in my eyes as I was in hers the moment before. I saw her hand reach back and shut the door out of the corner of my eye. She slowly looked away as if she felt the same tangible intensity between us that not only kept me from looking away but altogether made it impossible for me to do so. She looked around what she could see of my house, smiled an alluring smile and said.

"You're right. Your mom is a clean freak."  

"Don't I know it." I smiled back at her. "It's this way."

I Pointed upstairs as I started up them. I turned when I noticed the lack of sound behind me and was surprised when she was right there. She looked at me with a look of question on her face. Feeling like an idiot as I always did I turned not wanting to explain and made my way up the rest of the stairs and into my room. I went over to my bed, grabbed my purple Dickies bag and sat on the bed with my bag in my lap. I felt her sit down next to me while I was looking through my bag and started to tingle everywhere.

"So what classes do you need help in?" Came her angelic voice again.

"Well there's geometry, and U.S. History."

"Easy as pie." She said as she placed her arm over my shoulder. We looked each other in the eyes as the feeling of her arm touching me created an electronic charge through my body. She looked away after a moment and preceded to look in my book bag, pulling out my U.S. History book.

"What was the assignment?" She asked monotonously still sounding like an angel was sitting next to me.  

"Well that's kind of the part I need help with. I was having a hard time concentrating at the end of the day."

"What teacher do you have?"

"Mr. Holley."

"I know someone in that class hold on."

She pulled out a nice looking cell phone, opened it to the keyboard, her fingers a blur. She closed it quickly and 10 seconds later her phone vibrated. She opened it for what seemed like a nanosecond and closed it again.

"He said page 134 questions 1 through 20."

"Thank you." I said sincerely grateful she was here.

I had already pulled out a sheet of paper and written my name on it. I wrote down the homework and set the piece of paper aside.

"Ok how about geometry?"

"Here, I accidentally grabbed an extra worksheet." She said pulling it out of her back pocket.

It was the first time I noticed she didn't have a backpack. I was curious but didn't ask since I really did need help with my geometry.  

"So are you going to help me with the worksheet?" I asked trying not to stare.

"Your desire is my command." She said grinning her mischievous smile at me again.

That's when I did the thing I was trying so hard not to do and looked into her eyes entrapped there until she released me. She didn't hold my stare as long as usual this time before looking away.

"So let's get started." She said excited.

I pulled out a folder and set the worksheet on it. She scooted closer to me to see the worksheet better and her arm ended up around my waist. I was tingling from head to toe the second she touched me,  every time she touched me. This time my whole body started to heat up drastically and I was sure my face was at least a little red if not completely. She started to explain whatever we had been studying and I was trying very hard to pay attention. I started to relax a little into what she was saying and then I really started to understand how to solve the problem.

"Ok. I think I get it. Like this right?" I said solving the problem with the help of a calculator and pushed the end of the paper so she could see it.

"Yup that's right. you just have to do that with the rest of them now."

I looked up at her with a grin on my face excited to finally understand any kind of math.

"You are the best tutor I could ask for."

She smiled big at me and we looked into each others eyes again. I don't know how long we stayed like that before she started moving her perfectly shaped lips towards mine. I couldn't breath at all and my heart started beating a hundred times a minute. We were so close I could smell the sweet smell emanating from her, first I smelled vanilla and then she smelled like a beautiful array of flowers. These were two of my favorite smells and I was swimming in her scent now. Her skin seemed more translucent the closer I got to her, something I never noticed before. The sun hit us just then but she moved closer to me still. We were about to touch our lips together when she pulled away sitting on my bed looking innocent and I thought I saw an underlying disappointment. I was bewildered and thought I had done something wrong when I heard it.

"Leah are you up there?" My mom had yelled.

I had been so involved in what was going on I didn't even hear my mom come in and Ashley was already a foot away from me on the end of the bed.  

"Yeah I'm in my room. A friend from the bus offered to help me with homework so she's up here with me." I answered.

"You guys aren't making a mess are you?"

"Of course not mom." I said looking at Ashley with a smirk.

"Well bring her down, I want to meet the only person you've ever brought home."

My cheeks were definitely red now. I had forgotten that I hadn't had anyone home since the 5th grade. I grabbed her hand and led her to the stairs. She stopped me for a second and turned me towards her. She looked me up and down then moved my hair around a little.

"Ok. Now you look innocent." She laughed.

I turned and we went down the stairs to face the crazy lady as I sometimes called her. Letting our hands fall to our sides at the end of the stairs so my mom wouldn't see.

"Hey mom, this is Ashley." I said gesturing towards her as we walked into the kitchen.

"Well hello Ashley, it's nice to finally meet one of Leah's friends, you would think I was a pariah, she never wants me to meet any of her friends."

No need to tell my mom I didn't have any friends. She already thought I was, in her words, a little off.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much Mrs. Sherman, no kid wants their parents to meet their friends." Ashley said.

"Well thank you Ashley. Are you here to help Leah with her geometry?"

"Yes ma'am. I think she's pretty much got it figured out now." She said as she winked at me while my moms back was turned.

"Well thank you so much for your help. She's been struggling a bit in that class. Would you like to stay for dinner?" Mom asked sweetly.

Great. Now my mom was asking her to stay for dinner. I was sure I wouldn't be able to keep her from noticing the charge I felt around Ashley much longer. I already felt as if I would explode.

"No thank you ma'am, my moms making something special for me tonight." She said after she had looked at me.

"Ok then dear. You have a good dinner. Don't be afraid to come by anytime. It's nice to see someone so sweet and well mannered hanging out with Leah." My mom said pleased.

"It was a pleasure meeting you Mrs. Sherman. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around more." She said turning to me and smiling a devious smile. "See you at school tomorrow Leah." She said laughing to herself.

"Ya, see you. Thanks for the help." I said my voice cracking a little. She turned, opened the door and disappeared into what was now an

almost completely dark sky. We must have been in my room for longer than I thought because I hadn't even noticed it was almost dark. Mom was starting my favorite dinner of enchiladas and I smiled knowing I would eat a ton tonight.

"I'm going to go finish my homework while you finish dinner." I said getting up from the bar stool and heading for my room.

"Ok sweetie. I'm glad to see you have some nice friends. I was beginning to worry you didn't have any friends at all."

"I'm glad you like her. I think she'll end up being my best friend." I said smiling to myself knowing better after earlier.

"Well that's great honey. You need people like that in your life." Mom said approvingly.

I walked up the stairs and into my room right off the stairway to the left. I never understood why my mom insisted we have such a big house with just me and her but I didn't mind so much knowing I only had to clean my room and the bathroom. I plopped back down on my bed and laid there for a moment wondering what had happened. She had almost kissed me and I was going to let her. What was wrong with me. I didn't get romantic feelings for people and especially not girls. I couldn't help wondering why this was all happening to me and why now. I thought I would just end up alone without ever knowing how it felt to be in love and now I couldn't stop thinking about Ashley. Not only could I not stop thinking about her I felt an unnatural pull towards her as if she were her own planet and I was her moon. The pull was irresistible as if I didn't have a choice in the matter. I pulled out of my thoughts for long enough to realize I had to finish my homework. I started with the harder of the two while Ashley's lesson was still fresh in my mind. I finished quicker than I thought I would. Without her help I would've been here all night trying to figure it out. I finished the rest of my homework in a breeze and even had it all done before dinner for once.