Chapter 1

I've always walked the same way to school every day. Same old houses containing the same old people. But this time walking by, there was something different. Off the road a little way was an old house a family was moving into. I had only seen this house a few times, but never had I known someone to live in it. Let alone want to live in it. They seemed to be a happy couple with two kids. They all seemed to having a good time while unloading their van. The mother was very beautiful, she looked about my height, 5'10, with long brown hair. She didn't look like she spent much time outside, she was very pale. The father was good looking as well. He was taller than his wife, very muscled up with short brown hair. He too was very pale. They looked at each other with such adoration. The son looked just like his father. He was almost as tall as his dad with short brown hair, it fell perfectly on his head and was just as pale as his parents. Their daughter; however, looked nothing like them. She was taller than her mother but shorter than her father and brother, very pretty but not pale. She was perfectly tanned. While she was carrying some boxes it hit me why she looked tan. (Of course she would look perfect. She's a cheerleader) I thought seeing her uniform in a box. They all seemed to enjoy spending time with each other. They were all laughing and helping each other out as they unpacked their van. As I stood their watching them I couldn't help but wonder why I had their strange feeling like I knew them. After standing there for a few more minutes I decided that I better get to school.

Just barely making it on time, I went to sit at my desk and tried to copy down what the teacher wrote on the board when someone walks in the door. The teacher introduces them to the class, but I don't look up to see who it is until the chair beside me moves.

"Hi, can I sit here?" I catch myself staring at him and just nod. Class continues and I can't help but wonder off trying to think of where I had seen him at.

After class I see him run up to a girl and start talking to her, and that's when I remembered that they were the family I seen moving into that house this morning. (Why were they here? When I seen them going to school they were unpacking their van.)

In the next class I had with him as well. He sat by me instead of sitting in the other empty chairs. I got this strange feeling that I may have known him before, but that was impossible. I had only ever lived in this one place my entire life, and never had I seen him or his family before now.

During lunch I sat alone as usual, until he seen me. He grabbed his sister, pointed at me and came to sit with me. "So it seems we have a lot of classes together?" Startled by his question I look up and see that he is looking at me, waiting for a response.

"Yeah, we do." I said without even looking directly at him. I didn't want him knowing I was trying to figure him out, but it seemed his sister knew exactly who I was.

"I'm Justin by the way." I looked up and he was holding out his hand to shake mine.

"I'm Sarah." I said smiling instead.

His sister didn't seem too happy being there with me but instead of leaving, like she may have wanted to, she just talked. "I'm Natalia, but you already knew that. Even though you act like you don't."

"I don't understand. I haven't met you until now?" I said with a million thought running through my head, I was trying to figure out how I could possibly know this girl.

They seemed nice but something about them seemed off, and the more I talked to them the more I wanted to know who they were and where they came from.

I tried to avoid him as much as possible but it never seemed to work out. When I would get to class and sit in my normal spot, I figured he would find an empty seat, but he always sat beside me or behind me. I wasn't use to anymore being near me. let alone talking to me. Our last class together was Literature, one of my favorite classes, and I wasn't about to let him ruin this one for me.

"Okay class, today we are going to assign groups of two or three, and you guys are going to write a story. It can be about anything you want, but it must be something that makes the reader want more at the end. Leave it open for us to guess and wonder. We will be doing this assignment all semester. However, this will be done in partners."

(Now this is something I can do. Only problem is he is assigning the partners.)

As he starts assigning partners he finally makes his way toward me.

"Sarah you're with...."

(Please not Justin. Please don't let it be Justin)

"...Justin"

(Dang it!)

"Cool looks like we get to spend more time together. If you want, we can meet up and get started today. I may have some cool ideas if you're interested?" He seemed excited about being partners but something still seemed off.

"Sure. How about the library? It will make it a little easier on us in case we need to look up any information." In all honesty, I just didn't want to be alone with him.

"Okay, that works for me." When class let out I hurried out hoping I could get away from him so I could gather my thoughts a little better.

(Why me? Why does he want to spend more time with me? Why do they look so familiar? Natalia.....She seemed really intent on staying away from me. Justin on the other hand didn't.)

All I could think about is how Natalia stared at me when we were at lunch. She seemed to really hate me for some reason. But as far as I knew I hadn't done anything to her. I got home and tried to eat something before I had to go meet Justin. Once I was done I looked at the clock and saw that it was time for me to go, so I grabbed my things and headed out to the library.

Once I got there he was already on the computer typing. (How long had he been here?) "Hey Sarah! Sorry, had some thoughts and just wanted to put them on paper before I forgot them." I couldn't help but smile, because I did it too.

"It's okay. I tend to do that a lot when I'm writing." We both just laughed.

We sat in the library for over four hours just talking and coming up with little things here and there. We finally decided that we were going to write a murder mystery. One that happened in a small town, and once you entered the town you could never leave. Once we had figured out our topic and the plot we decided to take a small break.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked but wouldn't look at me.

"Sure." I couldn't help but wonder if he could hear the confusion in my voice.

"Why do you seem scared of me?" He seemed serious by his question.

"I don't mean to be. I just have this funny feeling I know you and Natalia. But I know that isn't possible. Is it?" He seemed confused.

"Sarah....I'm not sure I can answer this question honestly. I'm sorry." Before I could say anything else he started to gather his things and get up. "Look, I got to get home. Nat will be home soon and mom is cooking dinner. We will talk more tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, Tomorrow then."

Just like that he grabs his things and leaves. It takes me a moment to get my things and head home. It was a long walk home, but I needed to figure some things out. There were so many questions left unanswered now. I knew talking to mom about our past was hard on her. But I needed to know who Justin and his family was. Why he wouldn't answer my question.