1 Chapter 1

'...Why?'

'Why'd you make this promise if you were going to break it in the first place?'

'Why'd you make this promise if you were going to break…'

'This was your fault.'

'All your fault.'

'It wasn't only mine.'

'It wasn't only my fault…'

Tears welled up in her eyes.

How many times has it been?

The same dream, replaying in her head over and over again. It nearly drove her insane.

It was the same dream she cried over for what was the fourteenth time now. She couldn't fathom why she had that same dream stuck in her head. She couldn't understand why she couldn't get that darned dream out of her head.

When did it all start? One might ask.

Wait, did she even remember when it all started? When she realized it was a repetitive dream, she immediately noted how often she would dream about it. So many questions, yet none answered.

"Tia? Are you up yet?" Her mother shouted from the bottom of the stairs, snapping Tia out of yet another little daydream of hers.

She groaned before answering her mother with a simple, 'Yes,' and getting up to prepare herself for her very first day in her new school.

Usually, in the mornings, her hair was a complete mess. No one knew how she managed to make it look so adorably neat after a shower and a few brushes.

Tia ate her breakfast quickly before scrambling for her new pair of shoes and saying goodbye to her mother.

The walk to school was something that Tia loved. That was, when she still lived in New York City. It took her some reminding that she wasn't there anymore.

There wasn't anyone to talk to anyway; why would she think this would be fun in the first place?

You'd think it'd just be a regular morning where you woke up, walked to school before taking a seat in your desired spot. That was what Tia planned, at least, before she found out she was earlier than expected. She thought that maybe, just maybe, she could snatch her favorite seat in the back row of the class that was right beside a window.

Little did she know, a guy had already been there before she laid eyes on the desk.

Ever since the moment Tia entered the class and made eye contact with him, she felt uncomfortable.

Why? Why did she feel like she wanted to run away without looking back? She was a sociable person, for Pete's sake!

Even though she hated that she already felt uncomfortable with the first person she met at school, Tia stepped to the table in front of him and sat there instead.

To her, as long as her seat had a window view and was part of the back row seats, she appreciated her desk.

Tia didn't let her uneasiness show. She kept a smile on, letting her social side take over.

"Hello…?" She greeted the boy behind her desk, waiting for a response from him to receive none, to her dismay.

One minute passed by.

Then another two minutes passed.

Then eventually, three minutes.

'Well, that was awkward,' she thought to herself, wondering if he'd heard her greet him.

Tia nervously chuckled but still went on insistently.

"Hi," she greeted again, this time poking the guy to hopefully get his attention.

It seemed like the black-haired student finally realized there was another student in the room, someone other than him.

"Oh, um. Hi? I guess," he greeted awkwardly to her.

"Didn't notice you were standing there," he admitted to her.

Tia assured him, "Oh, don't worry, it's fine."

"Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Tiara, but you can call me Tia," she introduced.

"Theodore Reyes, although people around here usually call me Theo," he acknowledged her, introducing himself as well.

The conversation met its end. That wasn't the smoothest introduction Tia had ever done in a while.

She studied him; he had coal-black hair and a pair of piercing, coppery amber eyes. Overall, he was an attractive-looking fellow. He was relatively tall, him being a couple of inches taller than her.

Besides, he seemed strangely familiar. She couldn't connect the dots as to why but she felt as though they'd met before, but there was something about him that reminded her of a faint memory that lingered in her mind she couldn't quite place her finger on.

Crazy ideas popped up in Tia's head.

Did they meet before today?

Or did they meet in their past life?

As ridiculous as it sounded, it was a possibility worth considering.

The room went silent right after that.

No words were uttered.

They say silence is golden, but this one seemed more of an awkward type of silence. Tia didn't enjoy it at all.

The first morning was as dull as she expected it to be. She had no friends, after all.

Lucky for her, lunch came by soon enough. Classes didn't seem as long as they were in New York, but that was a better thing, seemingly shorter classes.

The redhead sat alone at one of the tables she found empty at the cafeteria. She never felt this lonely in such a long time.

She scanned the place for someone she could make friends with, someone that seemed… approachable and sweet.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see a blonde girl with maroon eyes staring back at her. Someone had approached her, just as she wanted to do them.

"Hi! I'm Mia! Are ya the new kid?" Mia beamed, offering a hand to shake. Boy, wasn't she shiny. Not that Tia minded, though.

"Well, yeah! I'm a new kid. The name's Tiara, but you can call me Tia if you'd like." She responded with a smile as bright as the blonde's, accepting the handshake offer.

Mia was adorable. Upon hearing that Tia is a transfer student, her eyes shone, and she sat beside Tia, holding the other's hand.

"Our names rhyme! That is so cool! Do you want a school tour since it's lunchtime? You seem to be done eating anyway," she suggested to Tia.

Tia nodded enthusiastically, she never had the chance to tour the building, so why not?

The girls spent their remaining lunchtime getting Tia familiar with the place, showing her around different rooms and locations all throughout the school building. It definitely was a school with fancy facilities. Wonder how much money it took her mom to enroll her in here.

It was nice to find a new friend so quickly. Tia felt extremely relieved when she realized that she was still able to socialize since she lost a little chunk of confidence when she stumbled upon her words when she was talking to Theo.

"....and so that's all we have in here!" Mia finished her sentence when they made their way back to the cafeteria.

"This whole building was impressive. There are so many facilities here. Thank you for the tour!" Tia thanked her new friend.

It was funny how their timings matched up with the school's schedule.

The bell rang, and that signaled the girls that it was time to resume their classes for the day.

"Seems like that's our cue! Come on, back to class we go," Mia dragged the taller girl back to class.

Tia enjoyed the bouncy energy Mia had. It matched her personality too, so she was able to quickly adjust.

They stepped into the classroom, and both Tia and Mia walked to their respective desks.

'What a rowdy class.' Tia smiled as she thought to herself. She looked around, seeing different friend groups still talking and playing because their desks are near each other.

Unfortunately, Mia's desk was a few rows in front of Tia's so it's hard to communicate with each other during class.

Yet, Theo's desk was right behind hers. It just had to be Theo's. Well, it was on her anyways, she was the one that picked the desk. She couldn't shift the blame over to him now, he was completely and totally innocent.

Or was he?

Forget about him, the teacher entered the class and Tia had to focus. She couldn't help it, however, and stole a glance.

Was he…asleep?

Oh no, he was asleep. She needed to wake him up. She wasn't so heartless to let the teacher scold him and embarrass him.

Reluctantly, for the second time today, Tia poked his sleeve to wake him up.

"Hey? The teacher's here. Wake up!" She whispered to him, looking back and forth between their teacher and him, poking him a couple of times to wake him up to no avail.

The last thing she wanted was for him to get in trouble.

Wait, why didn't she?

She furrowed her brows.

They'd just met, why would she care?

Why couldn't she simply mind her own business?

What did she care if he got into trouble…

Why was there an emotional attachment, yet so much discomfort?

Who exactly was Theo?

What was Theo to her?