Okay, so I decided to make a semi big change to my story. I haven't changed the direction of the plot or subplots. I did, however, go through and change up a lot of what was said, and the way it was said. I added more descriptions to certain areas, and took out the parts where I described something too much. The chapters are basically the same, just the wording is different in areas. I tried to make it flow better. And for the "change" I made to the story, well you'll just have to read to find out. :]

Oh, and the reason I decided to start a new thread is because I figured it'd be a whole lot easier than going through the two or three pages of the old thread and editing each one of my posts. If you guys like my original version of the story better, then I'll delete this thread and keep the old one, and vice versa.
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Chapter 1

Where was I? I didn't recognize the setting; an extravagant house in a rich neighborhood. I didn't recognize the people. Who were they? It seemed like I was at some sort of party, but who's? How long had I been here? I kept wandering, searching the throng of people for a familiar face, but I came up empty-handed. I walked up the staircase, in hopes of finding someone I knew. How long had I been here again? It felt like hours. I kept wandering and searching, searching, searching, searching.

Then I woke up.

Oh. It was just that dream again.

Every night, for the past three months, I've had the same re-occurring dream: I'm at a party, surrounded by people I don't know, in a house I've never been in. The whole time I'm just wandering around, trying to find someone I knew. But I never do.

I could hear someone banging around the hallway, clambering up the stairs.

"Milli, wake up!" my mom screeched in her shrill voice.

"Coming!" I called back.

My name is Millicent Grace Johnson, though I just prefer "Milli." I'm just your regular 17 year old girl. Another face to blend in with the crowd. From the outside, I'm just another happy-go-lucky teenage girl.

But looks can be deceiving.

Two years ago, I was the victim of a horrific crime. A crime that only I, and the one who carried it out, know about.

Two summers back, I was just a care-free girl. I was loving life, and didn't have a problem in the world. I was at the beach with some friends, enjoying the sun, the water, the overall atmosphere. My friends went off and made their way down to the snack bar, while I walked the opposite direction to the bathrooms. It was at this point where my life was changed forever.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone standing behind the bathroom building. Not really knowing why, I walked up to the edge of the wall, peeked around the corner, and right there, out in the open, in broad daylight, I witnessed a murder. I couldn't believe what I had just seen. My breathing hitched, and my entire body felt numb all over. As the murderer pulled the knife out from the other mans chest, the man fell to the ground; his lifeless body spilling blood everywhere.

I gasped aloud.

The murderer saw me, and I had no time to run. I was frozen with shock and fear. I couldn't seem to make my body move. He started strangling me, so I wouldn't be able to scream. I flailed my arms and legs, hoping that somehow, I'd be able to hurt him in some way. Unfortunately, I didn't do any damage. I prayed with all my might that he would kill me quickly, that I wouldn’t have to suffer.

I felt sharp blows to my head, my back, my face, everywhere. I could feel the searing pain as a knife went through my forearm.

In that instant, adrenaline kicked in, and I managed to kick him in the gut and deliver a sharp blow to his face.

He could tell I wouldn't go without putting up a fight. He saw that there might be a chance of me getting away. He managed to pin my arms to my side, long enough to say,
"Look here, girl, I know who you are, and I know where you and your family live. If the authorities find out about this murder, I'll know it was you who snitched. You're the only witness. You tell them it was me, and I'll come back for you, for your friends and family as well. You say one word about this to anyone, and I'll make your life hell."

He then pushed me down to the ground, lunging at me, with his knife aimed for my chest. I managed to roll over just in time to avoid being stabbed again. He had just fallen to the ground when I got to my feet. After one hard kick to his head, I took off running.

I heard my mom yelling at me once more, bringing me back to the present.

"Milli, if you don't get up RIGHT now, then so help me I will, "

But I didn't bother listening to the rest of my mom's threat. I rolled over on my bed, picked up my iPod, put it on Karate High School, and tried to tune her out.

My mom and I had always had a good relationship, up until two years back. When I got home from the beach that day, covered in bruises and blood, looking abashed and completely frightened, no doubt, she continually asked me what was wrong, and what had happened.

I felt bound and compelled to keep what had happened a secret. I didn't want to tell anyone what happened. The guy said that he knew me, so I assumed he lived around this area. I knew that if I snitched, he would find out, and he'd come after my friends and family, and me. I wasn't worried about myself, necessarily, but I couldn't bear to know that I had a hand in the death of my friends and family.

I told her part of the truth; that I had gone to the bathrooms by myself at the beach, and someone jumped me. I never told her about the murder I witnessed, about narrowly avoiding death, or about the threats. Every time she broached the subject, I started talking about something else. My evasiveness ticked her off, made her suspicious. She started to assume that I had gotten into drugs, or drinking, and that someone had attacked me because I ripped them off on a deal. How she came to that conclusion, I have no clue. She should know me better than to think I'd get mixed up in anything like that.

Ever since then, we stopped talking as much, drifting farther and farther apart.

Mom had recently remarried; my dad disappeared when I was a little girl and has never been heard from since,

Ever since mom married John, our relationship has gone from bad to worse. John thought I was the most miserable excuse for a human being, didn't want to have anything to do with me, and tried to talk my mom into throwing me out of the house.

She wouldn't, of course, but she might as well have. My step-dad's negativity towards me rubbed off on my mom and she started to act and think the same way as him. So now, according to them, I was nothing. I was worthless.

The only interaction we have now is when she's yelling at me to clean the dishes, or do her laundry, or go run errands for her. It was like I was her own personal slave.

"MILLI!!!" I heard my mom call from downstairs.

Not wanting to put up with her today, I rolled out of my bed, dressed swiftly, ran my fingers through my wavy, auburn hair, and quickly applied a bit of eyeliner and chap-stick. I snuck out of my window, agilely climbing down the tree that was right next to the side of the house.

I wasn't sure where I was going. I was just happy to be out of the house. Away from my mother.

I walked down the street, grateful to be away from home, if only for a little while. I put my iPod on Mae, another favorite band, enjoying the calm and serene atmosphere. I tilted my head back and stared up at the sky, letting the warmth of the blazing Texas sun soak through my skin.

I decided I'd go visit my best friends, Alex Channing and Bo Carter.

Alex was a smart, good-looking guy, who had black hair and bright blue eyes. He was tall, and always wore a dazzling smile. He was into music, reading, and playing guitar.

Bo was athletic, tall, and husky, with blonde hair and green eyes. He was the kind of guy who was loud and obnoxious, but you couldn’t help but love. Bo was mainly interested in sports, fast cars, and girls.

I never seemed to fit in with any of the girls my age. I was more of a "spend the day having belching contests and playing video games" than "spend the day shopping, gossiping, and gushing over hot guys" kind of girl.

And not even Bo and Alex, my best friends of about four years, knew my horrible secret.

I sent Alex a text, asking him if they wanted to hang out. He replied quickly, seeming eager, and accepted the invite. I was overjoyed by his eagerness, but I would never let that be known to anyone.

"Hey Bo! Hey Alex!" I called when they came into sight as I was walking down the sidewalk about five minutes later.

"Hey Milli! You look nice today." Alex said, flashing a brilliant smile, only to be made fun of by Bo, shortly after. ("Got yourself a girlfriend, eh, Alex?"

I could feel my cheeks turning pink.

The relationship between Alex and I was more than just your average friendship. He was my best friend. I could talk to him about anything, at any time. He was always there for me, as I was for him.

And each and every day I found myself falling more and more in love with that boy.

"Thanks, Alex." I said, ducking my head to hide my embarrassment.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Alex asked.

"Let's go toilet-paper someone's house, or egg someone's car!" Bo suggested. He was always up for anything that would most likely get us in trouble.

"How about we just go back to my place and chill?" Alex said.

"That sounds good to me." I agreed. I was up for anything Alex wanted to do.

So we stayed at Alex's house, playing video games and listening to music, eating junk food and talking about "the good old days." We were all laughing and having a good time, and everything was going fine until Alex said,
"Hey, whatever happened to you that one day at the beach? We all looked for you after we got back from the snack bar, but we couldn't find you anywhere."

I could feel the color drain from my face; I didn't know what to say.

None of my friends ever mentioned my sudden disappearance that day. Why would he bring it up now?

"Uhmm, my mom had called me. She wanted me to come home quickly for some reason, but I can't remember why." I lied quickly.

"But you didn't get a cell phone until about six months ago, how did your mother call you at the beach?" Bo pointed out.

I started mumbling something about pay phones, knowing that what I was saying didn't make any sense. I got up quickly and said that I needed to get going. Bo thought nothing of it, but Alex could tell something was up. In my haste to get out, Alex stopped me, grabbed me lightly by the wrist, spun me around, and put his hands on my shoulders, momentarily making me lose my train of thought.

"Okay, what's going on here?" He asked, his face stern.

I just gazed back into his ocean eyes, seeing nothing but concern for me in them.

"Nothing," I retorted.

"C'mon Milli, don't lie to me like that. I know something's up, or you wouldn't have reacted that way. I know you too well. Now spill."

"Look, I've really got to go, before my mom finds out where I've been." And that really wasn't a lie.

I quickly made my way back home, feeling jumpy and nervous. Them bringing up the subject of that day at the beach made my buried memories of what happened come back to the surface of my thoughts. I was thinking of the murderer. Thinking of the guy he killed, lying on the ground, blood spilling from his chest. Thinking of him attacking me, and the threats he made. I was feeling anxious the whole time I was walking home.

I knew it was ridiculous for me to have reacted that way when they asked me what had happened. Why did I freak out that way? It wasn't like me to lose my head like that. Why couldn't I have just created a simple lie and convinced them it was nothing?

What happened two years ago was something I tried very hard to not think about. The very thought of it always made me jumpy and nervous.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I always feared that that man would come back for me. That he would come back to finish off what he had started two years ago.

I was almost certain he was never caught. I watched the news often to hear if they had ever caught the guy in the case of "the murder at the beach", but they never did. I never heard any mention of it at all.

I thought, or hoped, really, that maybe he was caught somewhere else. That maybe he had committed a crime elsewhere, and that he was put away for that.

But I knew that it was a vain hope.
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Alex
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I awoke to the sound of my dad banging on my bedroom door.

"Alex, get out of bed, you lazy bum!" I heard my dad yelling, while laughing at the same time. My dad and I had the best relationship a father and son could have. We rarely ever got into arguments, and when we did, they didn't last long; we'd be apologizing to each other within seconds. He had woken me up because we were going to watch a football game together. I didn't care much for football, but my dad really liked it, so I put up with it for him. I rolled out of bed and took a quick shower, and made my way towards the living room where my dad had covered the coffee table with chips, dips, popcorn, and soda. He was wearing his favorite team's hat, and on his hand he had on a foam finger.

"Overdoing it much?" I asked sarcastically.

"Oh, just shut up and sit down. Oh, hey! Why don't you invite Bo over? You know how much he enjoys watching a good game of football."

"Awesome idea. I'll go call him right now." I went back towards my bedroom to get my cell phone, and I called Bo. He accepted the invite instantly, of course. He only lived a few blocks from me, so he was at my house within the next five minutes, sporting a foam finger of his own. I quietly laughed to myself at how crazy my dad and my best friend were, and ushered him into the living room.

I must have jumped ten feet high out of my seat at least twenty times. Bo and my dad would both be so absorbed in the game, not saying a single word, then the next second, they'd be howling out a bunch of cheers and a whole lot of "Wooo!" 's.

After about two hours, the game was finally over, and we were all sprawled out on the couch, with our feet propped up on the coffee table and our hands over our bloated stomachs.

"Well, that was quite a game, wasn't it, Bo?" My dad asked.

"You know it! The Sooners were totally trampled! Did you see that one play where, "

My dad and Bo had gotten too deep in their conversation for me to really understand what they were talking about, so I pushed myself up off of the couch and walked towards my bedroom. I figured I should probably get dressed; I was still walking around in my boxers and a wife beater. I pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a band tee, and then went to the bathroom to fix my hair, which was still partially wet. When I was done with that, I walked back into my bedroom, and I heard my phone go off. I picked up my cell phone and saw that I had a new text message from Milli. My heart did a little jump. Calm down, I thought to myself. It's just a text message.

It said, "Heya! You and Bo want to hang out today? I'm just roaming around the neighborhood and I'm bored out of my mind." I accepted her invite quickly, which was stupid. I should have waited at least a few minutes to reply; I didn't want to seem too eager. Oh well, too late for that.

I walked into the living room, where my dad and Bo still sat on the couch. "Hey Bo, you wanna go hang out with Milli for a bit?" I asked in a bright tone. Bo and my dad obviously noticed my cheerier tone, because they both looked over at each other, small smiles making their way onto their faces. Crap, I gotta stop being so obvious about this.


"Sure. Sounds cool to me." Bo responded.

"Welp, I gotta go to work guys. Later!" He called as he was walking out the front door. I went back to my room and put on my Converse, and sprayed a bit of cologne. Bo walked in shortly after, pretending to choke as he proceeded to make fun of me. "Trying to make yourself smell all yummy for Milli, eh?"

"Ah, shut up," I replied, throwing a shoe at him.

"Do I look okay?" I asked him a few minutes later. Did I really just say that?

"Dude, I'm a guy. I'm not about to answer that question." He replied. I just laughed, and, with one quick glimpse in the mirror, Bo and I made our way out of the house and down the sidewalk. I knew exactly where Milli would be; every time she wanted to escape from home, she would always walk the same path. We walked down the familiar trail, and Milli finally came into sight. She looked absolutely breathtaking; her auburn hair blowing in the wind, her deep, brown eyes looking up towards the sky

"Hey Bo! Hey Alex!" She called out to us when she finally saw us.

"Hey, Milli! You look nice today." I responded with an involuntary smile. Crap, crap, crap. I seriously needed to learn how to control myself. However, I found it harder to do so with each passing day. This girl was simply amazing.

"Thanks, Alex," she replied, ducking her head down to hide her blush. She blushed, that means something, right?

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" I asked.

"Let's go toilet-paper someone's house, or egg someone's car!" Bo suggested, of course. If it involved trouble, Bo was always up for it.

Not really in the mood to get in trouble, I replied, "How about we just go back to my place and chill?"

"That sounds good to me," Milli said.

So we all walked back towards my house, and plopped down on the couch. I watched as Milli creamed Bo in the video game they were playing, again. Milli always beat Bo; something that severely wounded his male ego. That was one of the things I liked most about her; she wasn't like most girls. She was content with just staying at home, playing video games and eating junk food. After Bo got his butt whooped about ten times, we sat around listening to music, talking about all the fun times we had in the past.

I thought of one particular day; Bo, Milli, and I, along with a few others, all went to the beach. Milli had to go the restroom, so, while she went, the rest of us went to the snack bar. I didn't think anything of it, really; Milli was constantly running off without letting anyone know. We all looked for her for a little bit, but we didn't find her. The others, like myself, didn't think anything of it, as they knew it was in Milli's character to do such a thing. I was kind of curious now, though. So I asked, "Hey, whatever happened to you that one day at the beach? We all looked for you after we got back from the snack bar, but we couldn't find you anywhere."

She instantly stopped giggling at the joke that Bo had just told, and her face went white.

"Uhmm, my mom had called me. She wanted me to come home quickly for some reason, but I can't remember why." She replied. I could tell she was lying; she was biting her bottom lip. It was a nervous habit of hers, and it was incredibly adorable, to be honest.

"But you didn't get a cell phone until about six months ago, how did your mother call you at the beach?" Bo questioned, asking exactly what I was about to ask. She then started mumbling something about pay phones, which wasn't making any sense whatsoever. She got up quickly, then, claiming she had to leave. Bo didn't think much of it; he wasn't as observant as I was, therefore he didn't notice that she was lying. Or was it because I paid so much more attention to her than he did? It was probably the latter; I was constantly finding myself wrapped up in observing her.

She had almost made her way to my front door, when I grabbed her wrist and spun her around to face me. Wow, I can't believe the effect such a simple gesture could have on me. I placed my hands on her shoulders and asked, "Okay, what's going on here?" in a demanding voice.

She gazed up into my eyes, her brown eyes boring into mine, making me lose my train of thought at the moment.

"Nothing," she said in a frustrated tone.

"C'mon Milli, don't lie to me like that. I know something's up, or you wouldn't have reacted that way. I know you too well. Now spill." I ordered.

"Look, I've really got to go, before my mom finds out where I've been." She replied. She hastily ran out the door and shut it behind her. I didn't bother going after her; apparently her mom didn't know she was over here, and I wanted her to get home before she could get in trouble. Her mom had been acting so strange these past couple of years. She was always so sweet and kind; it's like she did a 180 or something. I was actually scared of that woman.

"What was that all about?" Bo asked as I walked back into the living room.

"I don't really know." I replied honestly. Bo shrugged it off like it was nothing, and then challenged me to fight him in some video game. I complied, and he beat me four times in a row. I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing. I was a little worried about Milli; what would cause her to act like that? It wasn't like her at all. All I did was ask her a simple question, and she pretty much freaked out. I didn't know what was going on with her, but it was quite clear that there was something going on, and I had every intention of finding out exactly what that was.
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Note:
AHH! So how did you guys like being in Alex's head? Should I just stick with Milli telling the story, or do you like hearing Alex's part as well? I thought it would make it more interesting, but pshh, what do I know? Please give me your honest opinions on this. The reaction to this change will determine whether or not I keep this change. If the reaction is mostly negative, I'll probably get rid of Alex's telling the story. Then again, I might not, because I quite enjoy it, and it was a joy to write.

Another thing, did his part sound okay? I mean, it was kind of weird being in a guys head, so did it sound like a guy was telling the story, or was it painfully obvious that it had been written by a girl? Like I said, please give me your 100% honest opinions, even if they're brutally honest. I need to hear 'em.

Chapter 2

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Milli
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Consciousness was threatening to override my dream. My eyelids fluttered and I rolled over a let out a muffled groan. I was not ready to wake up; I felt much too exhausted. Feeling dazed and slightly disoriented, I pulled myself up. I looked over at the clock; it was 5:00 in the morning. Ugh. Monday.

I got up and got ready methodically, taking a shower, blow-drying and straightening my hair, and then started fussing over what I was going to wear. I finally settled with a pair of black skinny jeans, my favorite band tee, and silver ballet flats. After applying some eyeliner, I dug my books out of my backpack and looked over my homework, checking the answers. I needed to do something to kill the time; I had woken up much too early today.

I was a junior at Spring Hill in Longview. I'd gone to school there for practically my whole life, with the exception of two years. Those two years, I was attending elementary school in California.

I was born in Texas, but my mom had moved to California for a few years, to live with some family. But all too soon, she started to miss the blazing heat, the big cities, and the Mexican food back home. So, after I finished 2nd grade, my mom and I moved back to Texas.

High-school definitely hadn't lived up to its’ expectations thus far. It’s said to be some of the best years of your life, but for me, it was just like any other time.

I wasn't a reject at school, but I wasn't not popular. People knew me, but they didn't talk to me often. Bo and Alex were in a lot of my classes though, so I had that to look forward to.

Alex and I made our way to physics; our first class. Mr. Bowler was rambling on and on about electromagnetism, whiles Alex and I sat in the back of class playing Hangman on the back of an old math quiz of mine.

"So what was up with you on Saturday?" he asked in a hushed whisper.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, playing dumb. I knew exactly what he was talking about.

"When I started asking you about that day at the beach… you got all freaked out and started rambling. That’s not like you."

"Oh, I was just worried. I had snuck out of my window to go and see y’all, and I wanted to hurry and get back before my mom would notice that I was missing." I replied, shrugging it off.

Mr. Bowler interrupted with a question, then, so he didn’t have a chance to broach the subject again.

The bell rang, and I jumped out of my seat, grabbed my books and my binder, and shoved them into my messenger bag. Alex caught me before I was able to leave the classroom, and, worried that he was going to bring up the subject again, I said the first thing that popped into my mind.

"So who are you taking to the back-to-school dance?" I asked, while we were walking to Spanish 2 together.

"I dunno," he said, contemplating, "I was thinking about asking Jessica Wheeler."

"Oh," was all I could manage to say.

"Who are you going with?" he asked, with what seemed to be intense curiosity.

"Eh, I don't know really. I might not go at all." I wasn't much into dancing, or any kind of school function, for that matter.

"Why don't you ask Skylar? He seems like he's into you."

Skylar was a guy that I had known for several years. I only saw him every once in a while, when I would go watch one of our school's soccer matches; Skylar was the captain of the team. He was a good looking guy, no doubt, with his spiky light brown hair and his deep brown eyes, but I just never really felt any connection deeper than friendship between him and I.

I looked up at Alex, stared at his perfect face, gazed into his eyes, so mesmerizing and hypnotizing, and blurted out the truth.
"Nah, I'm not going to bother with Skylar. I've already got my eye on someone else." I said. I could feel the color rushing to my cheeks. I wish I could just cut my tongue out.

Thankfully, we had reached our next class, so nothing more was said after that. I took my seat next to Anthony, while Alex took his seat behind me, next to a red-headed girl with freckles. I had this nagging feeling that Alex was staring at me, but I didn't dare turn around in my seat to find out. The final bell rang, and we all made our way to the parking lot.

Alex and I rode to school with Bo; we all lived within five miles of each other, so he picked us up every morning in his Nissan Versa.

Bo was already at his car, leaning against the side, when Alex and I walked out of the building. I could see Bo scrutinizing the looks on our faces; no doubt a hint of awkwardness on them.

The car ride home was quiet, as far as conversation between Alex and I goes. Bo and I talked for a while, mainly about music. We always got into arguments over which bands were the best. I’ll try to convince him that rock music is better than country, but he doesn’t agree with me. He’ll try to make me listen to Brad Paisley, and I’ll try to get him to listen to Alesana, all to no avail. Alex sat quietly in the back seat, looking quite deep in thought.

Bo pulled up to my house, which was a fairly decent-sized, two story house, with blue shutters and burgundy doors. I hopped out of the car, waved at Bo and Alex, and walked up the steps to my house.

My mom was at home, of course. She never left the house these days. She sits around all day, drowning her sorrows in a bottle of booze. I walked in her room, asked her if she needed anything, ("Yeah, for you to get the hell away from me.", and ran up to my room to start on the massive pile of homework we were assigned today.

Forgetting about my homework for the moment, I laid on my bed and stared up at the ceiling, wishing for something, though I wasn't quite sure what it was.

My life wasn't horrible; my mom and step-dad treat me like crap, but it could be worse. I wasn't really deprived of anything; I got everything that I needed. I had the best friends a girl could ever ask for. But it still felt like something in my life was missing. Something was lacking.

Contemplating that, I picked up my guitar and started playing. Not really playing a song, but just playing a series of random chords, figuring out what sounds good together and what doesn't. I created a little melody consisting of the A minor, D minor, E, and E minor chords. I quickly jotted it down in my spiral notebook, which consisted of poems and songs I’d written over the years.

Music had always been a big part of my life. Music and reading. There's nothing I enjoyed more than hearing a killer guitar solo and some heartfelt lyrics, or curling up and reading a good book. It was my temporary escape from the let-downs of reality.

I put down my guitar, laying back down on my bed, thinking about life. My eyes scanned around my room, not looking for anything in particular. I let my eyes rest on my bookshelf, reading the names of each book.

I was in the middle of deciding whether I wanted to re-read Pride and Prejudice or the Harry Potter series, when I heard my phone go off; someone had sent me a text message.

I picked up my phone, hoping that the text was from Alex, when I read it and it said "I see you."

Quickly, I scrolled down on my phone to see who had sent it. It said "Sender: Unknown."

Weird. As far as I knew, it wasn't possible to block your number in a text message.

Thinking it was a joke from one of my friends, I called Alex and asked him if he had sent it. I didn't think he would do something like that, but I thought I would check, just in case. He said he hadn't sent it, and I could tell he was being honest.

I hung up with Alex and called Bo, whom I knew would do something like this. But when I asked him about it, he sincerely sounded like he didn't do it, and I believed him.

Freaking out, I looked at the text message again, and again. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't text back, as there wasn't any number. Therefore, I couldn't try calling, either.

Then it hit me, like a truck running into a brick wall at 200 miles per hour – what if it was him?

I stood there holding my phone, hands quivering, body trembling. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't tell anyone, of course not. His threat was definitely not something I had forgotten.

Frantically, I went to my window, locked it, pulled down the blinds, and drew the curtains closed. I ran to my door, pulled it shut, locked the doorknob, and slid the sliding lock to the left, locking that one as well.

I sat back down on my bed, staring intently at the window with wide eyes. How long I sat there, I don't know, but next thing I knew, I was waking up to the bright light of the early morning. I sat up, feeling slightly dizzy, thoughts buzzing around in my head like angry bees.

Did I dream it all up?

I looked at the windows, blinds down, curtains drawn. I looked at my door, the doorknob locked and the sliding lock at the top slid into place.

Maybe it wasn't a dream, I thought.

I picked up my cell phone, the clock claiming that it was 6:30 in the morning, looked through my text messages, and sure enough, the text was there, from the unknown sender, saying "I see you."

I was a nervous wreck all morning. I woke up late, so I had to get ready for school quickly; Bo and Alex would be here in an hour. I still had homework to finish, and my hair was all matted, no doubt from me tossing and turning so much in my sleep last night.

I finally brushed through the tangled chaos that was my hair, showered quickly, towel-drying my hair and rubbing some gel into it (it was naturally wavy), and finished up the last bit of homework I had left. I ran down the stairs, popped two waffles in the toaster, and started to fix my make-up at the kitchen table.

At that moment, I heard four quick knocks on the front door. I swiftly ran over to the toaster, grabbed my waffles, flung my hair brush and make-up into my school bag, and ran to the door. I looked through the peep-hole before opening the door, and then swung it open to see Bo and Alex sitting on my porch, talking about some concert coming up.

"Heya, Milli! Good morning." Bo greeted me.

"Mornin' Bo." I replied.

Bo made his way down the steps towards his car, but Alex stopped right in front of me, blocking the way.

"Milli, you look like a train wreck," he said, looking over my face, seeing the fear in my eyes, my frantic expression. "What is going on here?"

And to that, I didn't know what to say.

I stared back into the face of my best friend, the guy that I loved more fiercely than I've ever loved anyone else, trying to make a decision.

Should I tell him the truth?

_________________________________________________________

Alex
_________________________________________________________

The shrill buzzing of my alarm clock and the sound of fists pounding on my door woke me Monday morning. Dang it, I was having such a good dream. Milli was in it, of course. We were walking together, hand-in-hand, and she was wearing a brilliant smile. The wind was blowing through the soft waves of her thick hair, the sunlight danced across her face, lighting up her flawless skin, and her eyes sparkled with wonder and amusement.

I got up and got ready for school, with Milli still on my mind. What was with all that evasiveness on Saturday? Even yesterday, I had sent her a few text messages, but I never got any replies to them. There had to be something she was hiding from me. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, I thought to myself. But what else would explain the way the she had acted? I knew I didn't just imagine that.

About an hour later, Bo showed up at my house; he always drove Milli and I to school. He chattered away happily on our way to pick up Milli, oblivious to the mystery that I was trying to solve in my head. Milli jumped into the car then, looking happy but somewhat flustered. We made it to the school then, and we all set off to our first class. The first hour of school was quite uneventful; I wanted to talk to Milli alone, but seeing as how Bo had the first class with us, I didn't get the chance.

The bell rang then, and Milli and I made our way to physics. When we sat down in our chairs, I asked, "So what was up with you on Saturday?" in a quiet voice, trying to avoid being heard by the teacher.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. I knew she was just playing dumb. She knew very well what I was talking about.

"When I started asking you about that day at the beach… you got all freaked out and started rambling. That’s not like you." I replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I was just worried. I had snuck out of my window to go and see y’all, and I wanted to hurry and get back before my mom would notice that I was missing." She responded, using that as an excuse.

Our teacher, Mr. Bowler had asked a question, then, while shooting a stern look in my direction, motioning for me to shut up. Not wanting to get in trouble, I didn't bring up the subject again during the class. The bell rang, and Milli got up out of her seat as quickly as she could, shoved her books into her backpack, and made her way to the door. She wasn't getting rid of me that easily. I caught up with her, and I was about to start questioning her again, when she abruptly asked, "So who are you taking to the back-to-school dance?"

It took me by surprise when she asked me, but I replied to her, saying "I dunno. I was thinking about Jessica Wheeler." and trying to act as though I was really thinking about asking her. In all honesty, Jessica kind of got on my nerves. She was a nice girl, but she was too obsessed with materialistic objects and status; she wasn't my type at all. I had only said that to Milli because I wanted to see her reaction.

"Oh," was all she said. I thought I saw a flicker of pain in her expression, but maybe that was just my ego that made me think that.

"Who are you going with?" I asked her, incredibly curious to see what she would say.

"Eh, I don't know really. I might not go at all." She replied. Her answer didn't surprise me; she wasn't really the going-to-dances-and-other-school-functions kind of girl.

"Why don't you ask Skylar? He seems like he's into you." I asked, trying to lure her into telling me something about who she liked, if anybody.

She thought about it for a second, and then she looked up and held my gaze. I couldn't help but to get lost in her eyes.

"Nah, I'm not going to bother with Skylar. I've already got my eye on someone else." She finally said, while her cheeks flushed bright red. She instantly looked down at her feet, looking as thought she regretted saying that. Surely she couldn't mean me, could she? No, there goes my ego again.

We walked into our Spanish classroom then, and she went and took her seat next to Anthony, while I went and sat down next to a girl who I was fairly sure was named Rebecca. The whole duration of the class, I could help but look up at her, watching as she ran her fingers through her long hair, or hearing how she would sigh because she wanted this class to be over.

The final, and Milli and I walked out towards Bo's car. He was already there, leaning up against the side of his car, and he was glancing back and forth between the two of us. He could probably tell that something had happened; Milli's face displayed it clearly, as her cheeks were still a faint pink color.

We got to Bo's car, and I hopped in the backseat, letting Milli have shotgun. I sat back there, completely lost in thought. I was still thinking about Milli's evasiveness towards the questions I had asked her about that day at the beach, and then I was thinking about when she said, "I've already got my eye on someone else." Who could she possibly mean? I wondered. I fervently hoped that she had been talking about me, and for a second, when she held my gaze, I thought she might be. Very quickly, though, that hope was washed away as I thought about how incredibly impossible that would be. I knew she didn't think of me as more than just a friend. Milli and I were incredibly close, but we'd never be anything more that friends, would we? I knew the answer to that, and it hurt. I knew that the answer was no. She only thought of me as a friend, and I would never put her in a situation that made her uncomfortable, and I also didn't want to compromise our friendship. What if I made my sentiments known to her, and she didn't feel the same way? Of course, she would say that we could still be friends, but there would always be that awkwardness between us; we'd never feel completely comfortable around each other. I then knew what I had to do; I had to keep my mouth shut about everything. I wouldn't slip and let Milli know how much she truly meant to me, how crazy I was about her. I didn't want to risk ruining such an amazing friendship.

Bo pulled up to Milli's house, then, and she hopped out quickly, waving to me and Bo as she walked up the steps to her porch. Bo started to pull away.

"Wait a second, man." I said.

"Why?" He question, but he stopped.

"I just want to make sure she gets inside before we leave." I replied.

"Hmm, someone's a bit protective, now aren't they?" He teased.

"Just shut up and drive, slave boy." I responded, whacking him in the head.

Bo dropped me off at my house, and I sauntered forward towards the front door. I walked into my bedroom and plopped down on my bed, with thoughts racing through my head. I was still thinking of Milli, as always. I decided I better get started on my homework. A bag of chips and three hours later, my phone rang. I looked down at the screen; it was Milli. I flipped my phone open quickly; I was eager to hear her voice. Stupid! I thought to myself. It didn't bring me the sense of satisfaction I had longed for, though; her voice was so strained with fear and worry that it had me panicked in a second.

"Hey, you didn't just send me a text message, did you?" She asked in a whisper.

"No, I didn't. What's wrong, Milli?" I asked, anxious.

"Nothing, nothing," she said, trying to play it off, "I just received a strange text message and didn't know who it was from."

"Oh, well, what did it say?" I inquired, wondering what it was that caused her to act that way.

It took her a second to answer. Finally, she said, "It was, it was just blank."

"Oh, well, I promise you, it wasn't me. Now what's wrong?" I asked again.

"Listen, I gotta go. Lots of homework, ya know. Later!" She said, and with a click, she was gone. I went to bed, trying to figure out what was going on.

I woke up late the next morning, so I got ready quickly. I ran into the kitchen, quickly making two pieces of toast, and ran outside and hopped in Bo's car.

"Good morning, sunshine," Bo said with a smile. He was always in such a good mood.

"Morning," I replied, leaning my head back against the seat and closing my eyes. We got to Milli's house then, and we were a few minutes early, so both Bo and I walked up towards her door. We knocked on the door, and she was taking a while to answer, so Bo and I sat on her porch, talking about a concert while we were waiting. She opened the door then, looking beautiful as ever. Her expression, though, was one of fear and worry. You could tell just by looking into her eyes that she was scared beyond measure. What the heck was going on here?

"Heya, Milli! Good morning." Bo greeted her.

"Mornin', Bo," She replied.

Bo didn't notice her frantic expression, though, so he walked off and made his way towards his car. Milli followed right after him, but I abruptly stopped right in front of her, cutting off her means of escape.

"Milli, you look like a train wreck," I said, gazing into her eyes and seeing how panicked she was, "What is going on here?"

And to that, she didn't have anything to say. She just stared into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity, not saying anything. It was obvious that there was something going on; she couldn't hide that any longer. It was clear on her face. Seeing her so scared, so worried, sent little stabs of pain throughout my entire body. What I wanted right now was to know what was going on, so that I'd be able to comfort her and assure her that she would be okay, and that I would take care of her. She continued to hold my gaze, then she looked down, biting her lip. I had this nagging feeling that something was even more wrong than I had thought.

Chapter 3

_________________________________________________________

Milli
_________________________________________________________

I sat in the back seat of Bo’s car, listening to my iPod, and singing along in my head to one of my favorite songs by Mae.

Lately I’m alright,
Lately, I’m not scared.
I figured out that what you to do me,
Feels like floating on air.

Bo and Alex looked back at me like I was crazy. Crap. Did I just sing that out loud? How embarrassing.

Every so often, I’d catch Alex throwing impassive glances at me. I didn’t answer his question; I didn’t tell him what was going on. I just walked passed him, not saying a word, and got in the car.

He definitely knew by now that something’s up. What else would explain my abnormal behavior? I tried to act like it was nothing, and that he was just overreacting, but he saw straight through me.

We all made our way to our first class; English. We were lucky enough to all have this class together. I slyly glanced over at Alex; his expression was hard and he looked like he was in a bad mood. I tried to lighten things up by making a joke about our bald-headed gym coach, Mr. Williams, who very strongly resembles Mr. Clean. This joke had no effect on him, though, most days it’ll have him laughing hysterically.

I fervently wished that Bo would go off on his own; Alex and I needed to talk. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to him, but I needed to say something.

We finally made it to English, and I was surprised when Alex didn’t take his normal seat right next to me. Instead, he went and sat in the desk next to Jessica Wheeler, the girl he said he might ask to the Back-To-School dance, and they started chatting away.

Jealousy burned inside me, but I tried to reel it in. Why should I let this bother me? I’ve known all along that Alex and I were just friends. I knew that our relationship wouldn’t progress any farther than friendship.

I tried to force them from my mind. Needing a distraction, I turned to Bo, who was sitting behind me, and chattered away until the teacher came in the room.

Three more classes were over with, and Alex and I still hadn’t talked. I was determined to get him alone during lunchtime, to try and sort everything out. Things had never been like this between us before. All such plans were ruined, though, when I saw him sitting at a table alone, with the exception of Jessica.

I was so mad, and so jealous. I was mostly mad at Jessica, irrational as that may be. I knew there was no reason why I should be mad at her. She hadn’t done anything wrong. But I couldn’t help but feel this strong resentment towards her.

Bo, Alex, and I had always sat together during lunch. Well, apparently Alex wouldn't be joining us today, I thought sarcastically. I scanned the cafeteria, looking for Bo, but came up empty-handed. I didn’t see him anywhere. He must have skipped lunch to go practice football; he did that occasionally.

The lunchroom was already packed, and there wasn’t anywhere for me to sit. I was just about to turn around and walk out of the cafeteria, when I heard Skylar calling my name.

"Milli! Hey, Milli! Why don’t you come sit with me?" He asked.

I walked over to his table and sat down, feeling kind of self-conscious. Skylar was one of the more popular guys, and he usually had a different girl on his arm every week. Why would he want to talk to me?

"So… what’s up?" He asked, sounding awkward.

"Nothing much," I said, feeling pretty awkward myself. "Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Err, well… I was kind of wondering if maybe… if maybe you’d like to go to the Back-To-School dance with me?"

I was just about to turn him down, when I looked over and saw Alex and Jessica, flirting and giggling, and Jessica putting her hands on him every chance she could get.

Hoping in vain that it would make Alex jealous, I instantly accepted his invitation.

"Sure, Skylar, I’d love to go with you." I said, with a sweet smile. Skylar’s responding smile lit up the room.

Not wanting to deal with any more awkward silences, I quickly said, "Hey, I have to go, but I’ll catch you later?"

Skylar just nodded and smiled in reply.

The rest of the day dragged by slowly. I was counting down the minutes to the final bell, when I would finally be able to talk to Alex. I caught up with him in the hallway, stealing a quick glance at his face. He obviously wasn’t out of his bad mood yet.

"Hey, what’s with you?" I asked him.

"What’s with me? What’s with you?" He snapped.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about." I said, though we both knew that I knew what he was talking about. He was angry. His next words came out in a rush.

"Look, Milli. We’ve been best friends for over four years now. I’ve always been there for you, no matter what. Whenever you needed me, I was there. Lately, you’ve been acting so strange, so different. You’re not yourself anymore. You’re always looking anxious, and you’re extremely jumpy. I know that something is going on, something major, so don’t play dumb. If you can’t trust me enough to tell me what it is then maybe we’re not as good as friends as I thought we were."

We had stopped walking. I stared at his face, his features a mix of fury and anguish. I could tell that I had really hurt him by being so secretive. But what was I supposed to do? If I didn’t tell him the truth, it might mess things up between us. He feels like I don’t trust him. But if I do tell him, how do I know that he won’t go running off and tell someone? If I told him, he would get worried, he would freak out, because someone tried to kill me, because someone threatened me. He would want to protect me, and he would end up telling the police the whole thing. And obviously, the police are the last people that I would want to know what had happened.

Of course, I couldn’t be certain that he would do that, but I knew there was a good chance that he would.

I looked up at his face, at his deep, pleading eyes.

I was torn.

What I wanted more than anything in the world right now was to be able to tell him the truth. Tell him the truth so that we would be on good terms again. If there was one thing I hated more than anything else in this world, it was causing him pain. And it was clear on his face that I was causing him an immeasurable amount of pain right now.

"Alex…" I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

Before I could say anything else, he shrugged my hand off of his shoulder and walked off.

The car ride home with Bo and Alex was one of the quietest rides ever. Bo knew something was up between Alex and me, but he didn’t dare bring it up with both of us present.

I hopped out of the car quickly, anxious to get out of that tense atmosphere. I walked in the house, trudged up the stairs, and chunked my school bag on my desk. I sprawled out on my bed, thinking about everything that happened today.

I was so frustrated I wanted to cry.

The murderer sent me that text (I was almost certain it was him), saying he could see me, so did that mean he was spying on me; trying to see if I’ve told anyone yet? What if I confided in Alex, and the murderer happened to find out? I couldn’t bear that.

My life without Alex in it wouldn’t be much of a life at all. He was the very best part of my life. I was so deeply in love with Alex, it was ridiculous. With one look, he knocked me off my feet. The sound of his voice took my breath away. His smile never failed to make me feel weak all over.

A loud, shrill tapping on my window pulled me out of my abstraction. I froze with fear. Certainly that wouldn’t be him, the murderer. Could it be?

I didn’t know what to do. I figured I should probably run, but I couldn’t seem to make my legs move in the right direction.

I slowly inched closer toward my window, and, much to my relief, I saw that it was just a little jay bird; he had gotten stuck in the tree next to my window.

"Calm down," I said to myself, "You’re just letting your imagination run wild."

Slowly, I made my way back to my bed, and plopped down, suddenly feeling exhausted. I picked up my cell phone, went to my contacts, and went to Alex’s name.

I probably sat there for about 30 minutes, staring at my phone, at his number, debating. Finally, I hit "options" and then "create new text message."

Fingers trembling, I typed "Two years ago, I witnessed a murder. The murderer caught me, and tried to finish me off, but I escaped. He had threatened me, saying if I told anyone that he would come back for me, my friends and family."

I lay there for another ten minutes, my finger hovering over the "send" button. Finally, with a resigned sigh, I pressed "send." I rolled over in my bed, quickly glancing at my clock, which claimed that it was 2:30 in the morning, and prayed for a peaceful sleep

_________________________________________________________

Alex
_________________________________________________________

Milli didn't answer my question. She didn't even look back up at me. She just ran right past me and jumped in the backseat of Bo's car. This is bad, this is something really bad. At that moment, Milli's voice broke through my thoughts.

Lately I'm alright,
Lately, I'm not scared.
I figured out that what you do to me,
Feels like floating on air.

Bo looked back at her like she was crazy, but I looked back at her with an awed expression on my face. She was embarrassed, of course, as she sang out loud the song that she was listening to on her iPod. Milli had the most appealing voice that I had ever heard, and I thought that there was no way that it could possibly be any more alluring, but that was until I heard her sing. It was one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. Sure, I had heard her sing before, to a song playing on the radio, or singing along with Bo and I while we were acting goofy, but I had never heard her sing by herself. It was such an amazing sound, and it made my heart flutter. This is ridiculous. So she can sing good, big deal. It shouldn't have this kind of effect on me, I thought to myself.

I would look back at her every so often, and every time I did, she would look away from me. I was starting to get a bit angry. Why didn't she trust me enough to tell me what was going on? [/i]We had always been there for each other. If I ever had a problem, no matter what it was, I would always talk to her about it, and vice versa. So why won't she tell me what the heck is wrong? I was stewing over that the rest of the way to school, so, by the time we arrived, I was pretty mad. I couldn't believe she didn't trust me.

The three of us all made our way to English; the one class we all had together. She could tell that I was in a bad mood, so she tried to make a joke to lighten the mood, but it just didn't work on me today.

We walked into our English class, and I didn't even bother to take my normal seat next to Milli. I knew that if I did, I would just end up questioning her some more, and, of course, she would ignore every one of my questions, thus adding to my frustration, and I didn't want that. Instead, I sat down next to a girl with light brown hair; I didn't even bother to look over to see who it was.

"Hey, Alex!" The girl exclaimed excitedly. I looked over and saw that it was Jessica Wheeler.

"Hey, Jessica," I replied, trying to hide my frustration.

"So how have you been lately?" She asked, trying to make small talk.

"Eh, I've been okay, I guess. Could be better, could be worse." I replied honestly.

"So I'm guessing you know about the Back-To-School dance coming up soon, right?" She asked eagerly.

"Yes,"

"So, who are you taking?" She asked curiously.

"No one. I don't think I'm even going." I replied watching as her face fell.

"Oh, okay." She said, and turned away. I felt bad for the girl, but the teacher walked in the classroom then, so I didn't have the chance to say anything else to her.

The class seemed to stretch on forever. As soon as the bell rang, I got up and walked towards Spanish 2, not even bother to wait for Milli and walk with her. Again, I didn't want to ask her the questions that I knew she would avoid, as it would just add to my bad mood. Spanish ended, and then the next two did, and I headed towards the cafeteria. As soon as I walked in, I heard Jessica call my name from the other end of the cafeteria. I walked over to where she was sitting and sat down across from her. She chattered away about classes and teachers, and then I saw Milli walk into the cafeteria. I quickly looked away, trying to look as if I were completely absorbed in my conversation with Jessica. [i]Why am I doing this? It's not like it's going to make her jealous, not that that's why I'm doing this. Okay, fine, that's exactly why I'm doing this. From the corner of my eye, I could see her looking around the cafeteria, searching for me or Bo, no doubt. Okay, seriously, Jessica is a nice girl and all, but if she touches me one more time, I'm just going to have to leave her alone. Milli must have seen Jessica and I sitting together at that point, because she turned around and headed out of the cafeteria.

"Milli! Hey, Milli! Why don't you come sit with me?" A male voice asked, echoing throughout the entire cafeteria. I looked over to see who the voice belonged to; it was Skylar Jennings. Of course, everyone in the cafeteria had stopped talking, and were craning their necks to try to get a better look at what was going on. Skylar was in the "popular" crowd, so people liked to watch his every move. I saw Milli hesitantly make her way over towards his table, and she sat down across from him. Hoping that she would look over at me and Jessica, I turned back to her and started chatting animatedly. Unfortunately, Milli and Skylar were sitting on the other side of the cafeteria, so I wasn't able to hear what was being said. I felt so incredibly jealous, that it was ridiculous. I was already angry, because of the situation with Milli, and her not trusting me enough to tell me what was going on, and now I was pissed because Skylar was flirting with my girl. No, stop thinking about her like that. She's not my girl, I don't have any claim over her. I sighed at that thought, and I very politely dismissed myself from Jessica's table and left the cafeteria. The bell rang a few short minutes after that, so I went to my next class with thoughts of Milli festering in my head.

Finally, all of our classes were over, and since I had spent the whole day thinking about the situation with Milli, I was still pretty angry. I knew I shouldn't feel that way; it was obviously something big, and she just needed time before she would be able to tell me. But the irrational side of me, the pessimistic side of me kept saying that she didn't want to tell me. That she didn't trust me enough to tell me.

I walked down the hall towards my locker and Milli caught up with me.

"Hey, what's with you?" She asked. Was she seriously asking me that question?

"What's with me? What's with you?" I snapped back irritably. I knew I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," She replied, ducking her head and biting her lip. I was tired of her pretending like she didn't know what I was talking about. Due to my increasing anger, my next words came out quickly.

"Look, Milli. We’ve been best friends for over four years now. I’ve always been there for you, no matter what. Whenever you needed me, I was there. Lately, you’ve been acting so strange, so different. You’re not yourself anymore. You’re always looking anxious, and you’re extremely jumpy. I know that something is going on, something major, so don’t play dumb. If you can’t trust me enough to tell me what it is then maybe we’re not as good as friends as I thought we were."

I saw a flicker of pain flash across her face, and I felt bad for what I had said. I said exactly how I felt, though, and that was something that I thought she should be aware of.

She stared into my eyes, as if she was trying to make a decision. She placed her hand on my shoulder and said, "Alex," but I cut her off, and walked away. I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take seeing all that fear and worry in her eyes that were once lit with wonder and joy. I couldn't bear to see her pained expression. I felt bad, because I knew that what I had done had hurt her, but I couldn't deal with any more of that at the moment. I walked towards Bo's car, Bo already sitting in the driver's seat, and slipped quietly into the back seat, with Milli following shortly behind.

The car ride home was incredibly quiet. I wasn't about to break that silence, as I didn't know what there was to be said. Milli looked on the verge of tears, and I wanted to reach out, to touch her shoulder, or hold her hand, and let her know that everything would be alright. I couldn't do that, though. I couldn't do anything until she told me what was going on, and it didn't seem like she was inclined to do so. I could tell that Bo felt very uncomfortable. You could literally almost cut the tension with a knife. He didn't say anything, either, although I knew that he was dying to find out what was going on.

We arrived at Milli's house, then, and she jumped out of the car quickly, not even bothering to chime a cheerful "Goodbye" like she usually would. With her departure, I jumped up into the front seat. Of course, as soon as she was out of the car and pulling away, Bo attacked me with a plethora of questions.

"Okay, what the heck is going on? Is she mad at you? Or are you mad at her? Or are y'all both mad at each other? Why am I always kept out of the loop?" He questioned quickly.

"Sheesh, settle down, Bo. It's nothing, really. I just saw her talking with Skylar Jennings, and I got kind of, mad. I unintentionally took it out on her, so that's why she was upset." I replied, hoping that I had him convinced. I hated lying to my best friend, but obviously, whatever it was that Milli was going through, she didn't want anyone to know, not even me. So, mad as I was, I didn't mention it to Bo.

"Oh," He said, still looking sort of confused, "why were you mad at Milli for talking to Skylar? You weren't jealous, were you?" He asked, elbowing me in the ribs and raising one eyebrow.

I didn't answer him though. I could have just said no, but that would have been another lie. He took the hint and stopped questioning me, and left me free to think to myself.

Bo pulled up to my house, and after saying goodbye to Bo, I trudged up the steps and walked into my house, going straight to my room. I dove right into my homework, because I was in desperate need of a distraction. All too soon, though, I was done with my homework. I went into the kitchen and made something to eat, then sat down in the living room, watching my television as Tom and Jerry chased each other around the house, leaving heaps of mayhem and destruction behind them.

The television couldn't hold my interest for very long, however, so I went back to my room and picked up my guitar. I played for a few minutes, then I put my guitar back down; it reminded me of Milli. Every now and then, she would come over and we'd play a few songs together. I loved hearing her play the guitar, because she put so much soul into it. You could tell that it was her one true passion in life. She was such an amazing guitarist, too. Definitely a lot better than I was.

I looked over at the clock and decided that it was late enough to go to sleep. I tossed and turned in my bed for about 30 minutes, then finally sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

nicey!
me likeys

honestly it makes an interesting read.
i hope you get your break soon.
most known authors did not start this well.

the beginning was somewhat dry sha!
i had to skip it to get to the juicy meddle part.

me think the opening paragraph should grab my attention.
all the same keep it up.
cheers
Onyinye Nwadinma.

you changed the method of narration

katy, from what I have read so far,if I were a publisher I would have considered giving you a try. You're good, really good;don't let anyone tell you anything less. Your sentence and grammatical structure is nothing short of exceptional.If you keep going at this pace then your novel will definately end up been a Best-seller. I wish you absolute success in your endeavour. You will get there. Just believe in yourself;in your work and in GOD. The sky my Dear is the limit. I wish you well.

Thanks a bunch, you guys!
Your comments really mean a lot to me. :]

I think I'm just going to continue writing the story from Milli's point of view only.
I think that when there's Milli's chapter, then Alex's chapter back to back like that, it's too repetitive.
So I'm just going to continue with the story from Milli's perspective.

I might still write the chapters in Alex's point of view as well, just because I really enjoyed being in his head.
So that'll probably just be a fun, side-project for me.

Thanks again for all your comments! :]