Text and Cover copyright © 2009 by Imogen Rose

First eBook Edition: January 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

First eBook Edition: January 2010

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Paperback Edition ISBN: 978-0-615-34507-9

Website: http://www.imogenrose.com/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I woke from a dream and, still in my pajamas, started writing this story. My eight-year-old daughter, Lauren, sat patiently by the printer and read the sheets as they appeared. Her insistence that I share them with her kept me writing. So, Lauren, a big hug–without you, this story would probably have remained in my imagination.

I am indebted to my friend, Sue Bernstein, for editing this novel and for her patience with me. She is generous, upbeat and always encouraging. I’m very privileged to call her my friend.

I am extremely grateful to Barbara Muller for copy editing my work so carefully and to Angela Laskoff and Joanne Restivo, for proofreading chapters and for their invaluable suggestions. I would like to thank Ted Risk for converting this novel into an eBook–thank you so much, you are amazing. I would also like to thank my friend Stacy Patterson’s daughter, MacKenzie, for reading the story and for her helpful insights.

The warm, generous encouragement and support from my family and friends gave me the confidence I needed to pursue this and I would like to specially mention and thank my friends from THG.

A dreamer must dream

A storyteller must tell

I dream to tell

A STORY FOR LAUREN

PROLOGUE

LONDON, 17 Years Ago

Olivia Stevens braced herself. The cold October breeze sent a shiver through her as she stood outside the Alexander Fleming pub in Paddington, impatiently waiting for her girlfriends to show up.

She needed a drink. She had just completed her doctoral thesis, so a celebratory glass of Champagne would be perfect. A drink would also help dull the pain of her stagnant marriage to her philandering husband. However, to top it all, she’d just found out that she was a month pregnant.

Yes, a drink is just what she wanted, but she would have to settle for a glass of sparkling water to celebrate her best friend Celia’s birthday, which was, after all, why she was waiting outside the pub on this cold night. She looked up to the sky and caught sight of a shooting star. It was the start of the Orionid meteor showers. Olivia made a wish.

Celia and the others finally arrived, stumbling toward the pub. They had started their pub crawl hours earlier while Olivia was still finishing up in the laboratory. Celia planted a wet, alcoholic, kiss right on Olivia’s pink-glossed lips as they hugged, and then pulled her in the direction of the pub. The group of nine made a noisy entrance as they pushed their way to their regular table.

Let the rounds begin! Olivia put her hand up to indicate that she would deal with the first one, and tried to remember the orders as they were shouted to her. She turned and headed for the bar.

As Olivia made her way through the crush of bodies, she noticed an unfamiliar hand reaching for her. Ignoring it, she plowed on ahead, but the hand was still reaching for her as she got to the bar. Abruptly, however, the hand then moved down and picked up a wooden guitar. She looked up, curiously.

Olivia was unprepared for the tremor that jolted through her when she looked into his deep blue eyes. The deep intensity was hypnotic, she felt like she was being drawn into his soul. Embarrassed, Olivia gave herself a shake and laughed, the laugh turning into nervous giggles. Guitar man suddenly joined in her laughter and started strumming his guitar.

Olivia composed herself and turned to the barman, reciting her drinks order. Nine glasses were put on a tray. Before she turned to lift it, guitar man picked it up and looked at her for direction. She pointed to the table in the corner and smiled gratefully as he threw the guitar over his back and deftly maneuvered the tray through the crowds.

“Ladies, your refreshments!”

“My! Where did you find him, Ollie? He’s adorable!” Celia grinned, looking him up and down.

Olivia examined him carefully. She had been so enthralled by his eyes that she hadn’t noticed how irresistibly attractive he was.

“I’m the birthday girl, so I get the first kiss!” Celia giggled, as she stood up and puckered her lips. Olivia felt a strong wave of resentment, but couldn’t understand where it was coming from. She looked up at guitar man who must have noticed her obvious irritation. He smiled back at her reassuringly before heading over to Celia and kissing her gently on her head.

“Is that all I get?” Celia teased. “How about a tune on your guitar at the very least? It’s my birthday after all!”

Olivia was relieved when he walked back over to her and sat down on the arm of her chair. He strummed his guitar as Celia got up and sang along.

Olivia tried to analyze her erratic reaction to this stranger. Why was she feeling so utterly possessive of him? It didn’t make any sense. She was even envious of Celia singing along to his music. How absurd!

He turned to face her as he made a move to leave their raucous party. She felt a shot of pain tear through her body. He gently pulled her hair away from her ears and came up so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath. He softly whispered, “Ollie, I’m your Rupert.”

Then, just before he left, he whispered the words that changed her life forever.

“Come find me two years ago.”

I’m going to take him out! I clenched down on my mouth guard so hard that I could feel the salty drops of blood on my tongue. Then I took a firm grip of my stick and zoomed over to number 4 in less than a heartbeat. Snarling under my breath, I lifted my stick and brought the end down hard on to his thigh and pounded my shoulders into his chest. He was down. Mission accomplished. The whistle sounded. Typical! The two minutes in the penalty box was so worth it. Seeing the look in his eyes as he realized that the girl had brought him down….

I inhaled. Slowly. What was that smell? The sweetness was interfering with my game replay. I tried to open my eyes, without any success; my eyelids felt like they had been glued down. I rubbed them with my fingers and the smell got stronger. Was it coming from my hand? Perhaps it was coming from my sleeve? I took another deep breath – the aroma wafted up my nose.

It was perhaps technically not a smell, more of a scent. I don’t have a good nose like my sister Ella, who’s like a sniffer dog. The only perfume I can recognize is my mother’s. She uses a very heavy French perfume. This was different, much more delicate, almost pleasant with a hint of cinnamon.

I thought about trying to open my eyes again but it was too much of an effort. My whole body ached. I tried to recapture the feeling of thrill from my hockey dream but drew a blank. So, I concentrated on the sound of the heavy rain clatter instead, a perfect lullaby. I started drifting, thinking back to the SAT’s I had taken that morning.

The sound of Lily Allen’s whiny singing rudely interrupted my thoughts. When will Mom ever move on to some new tunes? What was I doing in Mom’s car anyway? I clearly remembered Dad picking me up at school after my SAT’s.

Mom lives in California and was not supposed to be back in Princeton until next week. I’ve been living with my dad in New Jersey for the past eight months while I finish high school. My sister lives with my mom on the other side of the country.

Well, whatever the explanation was, I had plans for tonight. The new Star Trek movie is playing at the Imax, and I needed to be ready to head out with my friends shortly. I better get up and deal with life. I forced my eyes open.

It was dark! My SAT’s had finished at 1 PM, it should still be daytime. This was strange. The rain was coming down hard. I went to switch on the DVD player to drown out the Lily Allen noise so I could concentrate.

I scrambled about looking for the control knob. It was missing! How could it have disappeared? It was one of those built-in entertainment systems that could be accessed from the back seat. Ella and I had insisted on two being installed into this Hummer so we didn’t have to deal with each other. I looked over to my left. She was fast asleep in her booster seat, her mouth slightly open.

Ella, my sister, is eight. She’s a fairly typical eight year old, and by that I mean totally annoying. The best times were like this when she was completely out of it. There was something different about her. I looked closer.

It was her hair. It seemed to have blonde highlights! My eyes had now fully adjusted to the dark, but I was still feeling groggy. I reached over and touched her blonde tipped strands. She stirred, ever so slightly, but did not wake up. As I pulled my arm back from Ella, I felt a warm, rough, tongue run across my palm.

I looked down at Gertrude who lay between us. I had disturbed her sleep. She stretched out lazily on the back seat next to me and rolled onto her back waiting for me to rub her belly, and then yawned and closed her eyes again. Gertrude is the love of my life. She is my five-year-old Chihuahua. She looks more like a Jack Russell terrier, though. She is supremely lazy, but friendly and incredibly cute. She stretched out on her back with her tongue hanging out the side of her open mouth, fast asleep. I absentmindedly stroked her tummy as my eyes moved over the driver’s seat.

I first noticed the glimmer from the seat, which looked like leather. Strange, Mom’s Hummer has fabric seating. Leather or fabric had been the source of one of many arguments when we were buying the Hummer.

A set of perfectly manicured nails grasped the steering wheel. Black nail polish–Chanel, no doubt. I am embarrassed to admit that I even know that. Long, straight, brown hair… no wait… it looked lighter than my mom’s. An uneasy feeling came over me. However, I caught a reassuring whiff of my mother’s perfume. What was I was doing in her car, her new car?

She turned her head around, she must have heard my shuffling.

“Arizona, are you up?” Mom asked in her annoying British accent. “Could you hand me a Starbucks from the cooler?”

If I absolutely have to, I thought to myself as I rummaged through the cooler at my feet and extracted two glass bottles, one for her and one for myself. I handed it to her, carefully making sure not to touch her. I avoid any physical contact with her.

“Thank you, baby.”

Baby? Had she completely lost her mind! We have a complicated relationship. In short, I can’t stand her. I find myself boiling up with rage whenever I have to deal with her, which is one of the reasons we live apart. Our confrontations have landed me in serious trouble, so I really have to watch myself around her. However, Ella needed to be dealt with.

“Mom, Ella sprayed perfume on me when I was sleeping….” Not that I expected her to do anything about it; she never did.

“Arizona, she did play with your perfume bottle, but I asked her to put it back in your bag. It does smell lovely. What is it?”

My perfume? It was certainly not mine, but decided to let that slide for now. I needed to know what I was doing here and where we were going.

“Mom, where are we? Where are we going? Where’s Dad?”

“Home, of course,” she said, as she turned up the music.

Good, she must have come back to Princeton early to pick me up from school. It was a bit odd though. I clearly remember Dad picking me up. My eyes felt unbearably heavy again, so I closed them and allowed the sedative sounds of the raindrops lull me off to sleep.

I began thinking about the SAT’s. What a disaster! It was my fourth time taking them, after having done both the Kaplan and the Princeton Review classes. Not that I had paid any attention, both courses had been totally boring. I guess I could kiss the Ivy League colleges goodbye.

I decided to cast off those negative thoughts for happier ones – my last hockey game. Now there’s something I’m really good at.

When asked to describe myself (like I was for the local newspaper last year), I always reply, “I’m Arizona Stevens, ice hockey player at Princeton High School.” Ice hockey defines me, and I’m very proud to be the only girl who has ever played for Princeton High varsity hockey team. My pride and joy is my hard-earned varsity jacket, it’s got my name and number: I’m number 11 and I play defense.

I’m sixteen and petite for my age. The promised (by Mom) growth spurt I was looking forward hasn’t happened yet. I’m about half the size of my team members who are fairly big guys. However, despite being small, I have strong shoulders and arms, and can pack a serious punch. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that I can look after myself. No one messes with me.

I wouldn’t describe myself as “pretty” even though my mom sometimes does, but I think that’s just to annoy me. I do like my hazel eyes, but hate my full, wide lips. I always wear my straight, brown hair in a ponytail and have worked hard at perfecting a mean, snarly look. Although I do sometimes forget myself and smile, and that’s when my very irritating mom says that I am so pretty! Pretty is not going to help me when I am surrounded by enormous hockey players all coming at me…. My snarl wins!

My parents have been separated for a while, which suits me just fine. Life was pretty rotten living in their war zone, although I must admit I did my very best to contribute to the battles. Now I live with my dad, Dillard. He is totally hopeless at getting anything done, which works for me, as I am not that into getting things done either.

My mom is a perfectionist. Neither Dad nor I could stand it, and we now live together in a house that we haven’t bothered to straighten up for eight months. How cool is that! Mom and Ella moved to California a while ago, so I really only have to put up with them during vacations when they always move to my mother’s Princeton apartment. She’s been dangling that apartment as a carrot to get me to study. There is no chance of me getting into Princeton University though, based on today’s SAT performance and my rather embarrassing GPA. It’s a pity really, as they do have a great ice hockey team, ah well!

Although I look and feel like an all-American teenager, I’m actually British. I was born and raised in Wimbledon, London, until we moved to New Jersey nine years ago when Dad was relocated. My parents’ marriage was over by then, but Mom decided to stay with Dad, as she was pregnant with Ella at the time.

It was hard. New school, new accent. I made sure to promptly get rid of my posh British accent to fit in better. But I wasn’t really happy until I got to high school. I love high school, well parts of it anyway. The work is annoying. After all, I just want to play hockey. What’s the point of calculus?

My school is not cliquey like the ones described in movies and books. There are no separate tables for the football team, geeks, and losers. I hang with the hockey team when I want things easy and uncomplicated, but try to hang with the girls as much as possible. After all, I don’t want people thinking that I’m weird in any way.

It’s hard work being friends with girls, though. There are so many complicated issues and all that talk about shopping! Honestly, who cares? My best girl pals, or BFFs, are Monica, Ariele and Simla. Monica and Ariele are not talking at the moment (something about Monica buying a dress that Ariele spotted first), which is annoying. Simla seems pretty issueless. She is super smart and seems to spend her entire life studying.

I consider myself a fairly normal teen, although I do have anger management issues when my mother is around. Perhaps issues is putting it mildly. It’s been a huge problem, one that landed me in behavioral therapy, and almost on meds, after a huge overreaction by Mom to some minor structural damage to the house. Big deal. What are a few broken doors and bashed in walls in the grand scheme of life? I have to be able to deal with the hatred I feel for her some way, right? Many have tried (and failed) to get to the bottom of this conflict with my mother. I can’t put a finger on it. I guess, simply put, I don’t like anything about her. She’s a pain. The worst thing is that now, any signs of inappropriate behavior and she’s quick to call my therapist. My biggest fear is in-house treatment. That would really mess up my hockey schedule. So, I really watch myself, I never react to anything around her.

It’s a huge relief having her out of my everyday life. So, life is good. I am well respected at school. I get along just fine with Dad. The only thing missing in my life is a car. I really, really want one. I will be seventeen in July and will need a car… not a lame car, but a super cool car. I’m thinking a Dodge Charger. Another upside of my parents being separated is that it’s easier to get what I want out of them, so I am thinking that the Charger is as good as mine.

The next step in my life, as my mother endlessly reminds me, will be trying to get into college. I really want to play college ice hockey. However, it seems like colleges want you to have good grades. Here is where I’m really screwed. I blew off my classes and my grades are worse than poor, just good enough to be allowed to play on the varsity team. I guess I’ll be retaking the SAT’s again.

My head suddenly lunged forward and then back again hard on to the seat. What seriously bad driving! The car must be on a rough road. Mom was having a hard time keeping the car in control. I held on to the seat in front of me with one hand and protected Gertrude with the other. Ella did not wake up, despite being thrown around in her seat. The car came to a sudden stop and my mother turned the engine off.

“Girls, wake up, we’re home!”

It was still dark, still raining heavily. I looked at the dashboard clock, 3 AM.

“Arizona, can you wake Ella?” Mom asked.

I tried to take a peek through the window to see where we were, but they were fogging up now that Mom had turned off the engine. I could barely see, but one thing was for sure, this is not home – not mine anyway.

This didn’t look the least bit familiar. I tried to clear my mind to figure out where we were. I so wanted to scream at Mom, but held my breath until the feeling passed. All I could see were dark, looming trees through the torrents of raindrops. I could vaguely make out the dark shape of what looked like a building; it was too hazy to make anything much out.

“Get your wellies from the back and put them on. It’s muddy out there,” Mom instructed in her usual direct, no-nonsense way. I was slightly annoyed at her use of the word wellies and wanted to shout rain boots, not wellies, we’re in the U.S. now! However, looking around I sort of wondered. I looked around for the wellies…. no rain boots! I couldn’t see a thing, so I switched the lights on. This was definitely not the H3; it looked more like an H2. Mom must have changed cars.

I turned around and got up to have a look in the back. It was full of junk, mainly ice hockey gear, but I managed to scramble around and found some boots. One of my nails broke as I dislodged the boots from under a box, I instinctively went to put my finger in my mouth. I stopped as I noticed my pink-tipped nails. I was horrified. What had they done to me? I was going to kill Ella. Spritzing me with cologne while I was asleep was one thing, but sticking fake nails to me…well that was a flayable offense!

“Ella, wake up!” I yelled, irritated.

She stirred, and stretched as she yawned. She looked at me through sleepy eyes and muttered, “What’s up?” Then she looked at Gertrude and smiled, “Hello, doggie!”

Gertrude wagged her tail and then settled back to sleep.

“Put on your rain boots, Ella,” I said impatiently as I handed a pink pair over to her.

“Thanks,” she muttered as she took them and clumsily put them on, stretched and closed her eyes again.

“Mom, where are we?” I asked annoyed.

“Home, silly!” she said, as she spoke into her cell phone.

Home? It didn’t make any sense. This was not my home. I held my breath again.

Mom turned off her cell and looked over at us. She looked different. The lighter hair made her look younger.

“Wait for Dad to come out to the car, he’ll bring some umbrellas,” she said.

Phew! Dad was here. Everything was going to be ok after all. There would be a simple explanation.

There was a sharp knock on Mom’s window. She opened the door. I was expecting Dad but was shocked. It was a man I didn’t recognize. He had dark hair and blue eyes that gleamed as he kissed Mom right on her mouth. Disgusting. He scooped her up in his arms with a laugh as she ruffled his hair. Ella shouted a delighted, “Dad!” as she tried, unsuccessfully, to scramble to the front seat. Gertrude was wagging her tail furiously, but thankfully showed restraint and stayed by my side.

“Hi, girls!” The stranger said with a smile. “Let me carry your mom in and I’ll be back for you guys in a jiffy!”

They disappeared. I felt a sense of panic. Where was my cell phone? I felt for it in my hoodie pocket where I usually keep it, but couldn’t find it. I felt around for it on the floor, with no luck. This was getting scary. I looked over at Ella. She didn’t look the least bit concerned as she traced stars on the fogged up window and tried to look outside. There was a second knock on Ella’s window before her door opened and the man appeared again.

“Dad, look at the doggie!” Ella said excitedly.

Dad? This was the second time she had called him that; I thought I’d misheard her before. Had she lost her mind? It was late and dark, but this man looked nothing like Dad. This man was over six feet tall, dark hair, striking blue eyes. Our dad is a balding blond with brown eyes and a beer gut (not from beer, but from those enormous New Jersey breakfasts). I felt a sense of panic wash over me again and could hardly breathe.

This had to be a dream! Silly me! A post SAT nightmare… what else could it be? I would just have to dream it out.

However, I found my mouth saying, “Stay, Ella. Don’t go anywhere with this man!”

“You silly!” she said, as she clambered into his arms.

“Come on, Arizona, it’s wet and muddy. Can you carry the dog in?” he asked looking at me, clearly puzzled, as he picked Ella up.

I looked over at Gertrude. She was wagging her tail at the man, but then she wags her tail at anyone. Ok, so I was dreaming. One of those dreams where you think you're awake, but you're actually still fast asleep. I hate those kinds of dreams!

I lifted Gertrude into my arms and followed Ella and the stranger through the muddy darkness. My feet sank into the ground with each step, it was heavy going. This mud was no match for the rain boots. My feet were soaked by the time we got to the building I had spied through the trees. I could still not tell much about the outside of it through the rain. I just tried to make it to the front door as quickly as I could, shielding Gertrude inside my hoodie.

Mom was standing by the door with an armful of towels. She threw some around Ella, and then proceeded to pat me dry… yikes… too much physical contact.

“Go to your rooms, shower and get into your pajamas. Then come down for hot chocolate,” she said, turning to remove Ella’s rainboots.

“You can both sleep in tomorrow,” added the stranger.

I had no idea what to do or what to say. I wanted to scream and shout, but that would only land me in the psych unit so I clenched my mouth shut, held my breath and went with the flow, as usual. This dream had to end soon; it was boring.

I looked around. We were standing in a ginormous hallway, dominated by a double stairway to another floor. There were five archways from the hallway leading to… somewhere. I had a room here? If so, I had no idea where to go. As dream/nightmare houses went, this was not too shabby. I followed Ella up the stairs. Gertrude ran past us and disappeared. There were a number of doors at the top of the stairs. I hung back to see where Ella would go. She went straight through the first door on the left and shut it behind her. The door had a pink sign on it that read Ella’s Room. Very handy, hopefully mine would have a nameplate as well.

Arizona’s Room

Perfect! Well, almost. The sign was in pink, my least favorite color. This is where I hoped that I was in a dream rather than nightmare. I was sort of hoping that my room would not turn out to be a cave full of tarantulas. I pushed the door slowly and went inside. Everything looked normal. No giant insects, monsters or murderous beasts. It was, in fact, almost exactly like my room at home in Princeton, which I guess would be weird if this was not a dream. There was my bed, some hockey posters, my Edward Cullen poster (hey, maybe this will turn into a romantic vampire nightmare!) and my electric guitar. On closer inspection, there were some differences from my real room. My New Jersey Devils bedspread was not on my bed. Instead, there was a pink monstrosity with the word CHEER written on it!

My eyes focused in on a big blank screen on the wall opposite the bed, a flat screen TV. Cool! I noticed two doors on one wall. Could these be the nightmare doors that had monsters on the other side? I slowly walked over to the first door, opened it and peered inside. It was pitch black. I felt around for a light hoping not to lose my arm to a beast. I found the knob and turned it.

What a pleasant surprise. My own bathroom! Hey, I’m beginning to love this dream! It was small but had a shower, sink and toilet. Excellent, it was all clean and tidy; I would soon change that. I opened the cabinet under the sink and found sets of towels and extra toothpaste.

I walked over to the second door with more confidence and opened it. I was floored. Now I knew I was in a dream–a walk in closet. It was huge, at least three times the size of the bathroom. All the clothes were neatly hung; there were drawers and even shoe stands. But I didn’t recognize the clothes. I would have to inspect them later. First a shower, I stank.

I took off my muddy jeans and hoodie, threw them into the laundry basket and stepped into the hot spray of water. It felt so good, soothing my aching back. That ride must have been long, my muscles hurt. I shampooed and conditioned my hair and wrapped myself in the large, pink (I am not a pink girl!) towel that hung on the railing outside the cubicle before I stepped back into my room. I dried myself, located a comb on a very prissy-looking dressing table and sat down on the bed to untangle my hair.

I absentmindedly relived my last hockey goal, my very favorite pastime. It had been my finest moment on ice this season. I had broken loose and jammed the puck right through the goalie’s legs. I could still feel the amazement of both my teammates and the opponents – sweet!

As I idly glanced into the mirror at the far end of the room, I was jolted back into the present. Who was that staring back at me? I slowly walked over to the mirror and gazed into it. My hand wandered up to my hair, I pulled it. Ouch! It was attached to my head, but it couldn’t be mine! It was BLONDE…platinum blonde! I looked ridiculous. Straight, blonde hair. I looked like an awful Barbie doll. I pulled at it again, harder this time, willing myself to waken. It just hurt more as I pulled off a clump. I stared at it in my palm, feeling the strands with my fingers unbelievingly. I felt a sense of dread and lost control. I screamed.

“MOM!”

I ran out of my room, still wrapped in my towel and stumbled down the stairs, nearly tripping. Halfway down, I stopped. I held my breath.

This was a dream, it had to be. Stop with the hysterics and get hold of yourself, I told myself sternly. In the grand scheme of nightmares, blonde hair did not really qualify. I sat down, put my chin on my knees and felt my eyes getting heavy again. I went back to my room and looked in the mirror at blonde Barbie and laughed, possibly slightly hysterically, but hey…it was blonde!

When I heard Gertrude jump into bed, I turned around. Bed was the best place for dreams, so I climbed in beside her and buried my face into the familiar smelling pillow. Gertrude made herself comfortable nuzzling up against my legs and fell asleep. I listened to her comforting snores until my mind blanked.

I woke to the sound of more rain clattering against the bedroom window. I was happy to be awake, the dream/nightmare now behind me. It had felt so real. I had sort of enjoyed having my own walk-in closet and en suite bathroom. However, I was glad to be awake again and back to reality.

The SAT’s must have really tired me out, especially since I didn’t sleep much the night before. I was mad that I had slept right though my movie date with the girls. I better give them a call and apologize. Today was going to be busy – hockey practice in the afternoon followed by a birthday party. It was Darren’s birthday; he’s one of my teammates. I don’t like him much, but decided that I had to go anyway. I just would go, hand him his present and then hang out with Will and Justin. I had actually totally forgotten to pick up an iTunes card for him, better do that soon. I guess it was time to get up.

I sat up and turned to put my feet on the floor but immediately pulled them back on the bed in horror. The floor was cold and hard! It didn’t feel like my blue-carpeted bedroom floor, which is always warm. I looked down and saw a stone floor. This was not my room.

I sighed, back to this old nightmare again? Surely I couldn’t possibly still be dreaming unless I had been in a nasty accident and was in some kind of coma. This looked too real, felt too real. I looked around. At least things were consistent. I was in the same room as last night. I slid my feet into the flip flops conveniently waiting by the bed and hurried into the bathroom where I splashed cold water on my face hoping that would force reality back into my life. No such luck.

When I looked up into the mirror, Barbie stared back at me. I struggled to remain calm. I tried holding my breath, unsuccessfully, and instead gave in to full blown panic. I screamed at the top of my lungs and collapsed on to the floor in a bundle.

Ella came rushing into my room with her mouth opening wide as she saw me on the floor and just as quickly, she turned around and vanished. She returned back with Mom who ran over and tried putting her arms around me.

I struggled out of her grip and yelled hysterically, “I hate you, leave me alone!” I could tell she was shocked but she let go.

“Ollie, what’s going on?”

It was a male voice, no doubt the stranger from yesterday.

“I’m not sure, Rupert. Arizona seems very upset about something,” said Mom with an edge to her voice.

Rupert came over and sat down beside me on the floor. “Arizona, whatever it is, we’ll sort it out. You do need to tell us what’s going on though so we can help you.”

I struggled to calm down. A thousand questions were thrashing around in my head; just one came flying out my mouth.

“Why is my hair blonde?”

There was a dead silence in the room as everyone absorbed my words. They’d clearly not expected this particular one. I could hear muffled giggling noises coming from my annoying sister. I wanted to turn around and hit her. Mom took hold of Ella’s hand and gave her the look. It just made Ella giggle more and she turned and fled from the room, exploding into laughter right outside the door. Mom sighed and tried to remain seriously concerned, I could see that she was as bemused as Ella.

“Arizona, you’ve had it blonde for at least five years now. What’s the matter? Do you want to change the color back? It’s really no big deal.”

It was totally clear that I was making no sense whatsoever to the people around me. I needed to be more careful or they would think I was completely mad. I really couldn’t risk being sent off to a psych unit. So, I clenched my teeth to stop them from talking, stood up and walked over to my bed.

“I guess I’m just tired and I do have a headache. Can you leave me alone for a bit?”

Rupert and Mom nodded as they left my room. Mom turned around to remind me to come down for breakfast.

I sat down on the bed and stared at the wall, the wall with the flat screen TV. I wasn’t sure what to make of all this. Mom is my mom, same bossy person. Ella is still annoying and Gertrude does not seem to be the least bit worried.

Where did this Rupert come from? Could he be Mom’s new boyfriend? Gross! And where was Dad? I would do what I always did in difficult situations, what my Dad always did – nothing. I would wait this out, whatever it was.

I lay down, looking up at the ceiling until the smell of maple-covered bacon seeped into the room sending Gertrude into a frenzy. She darted over to my closed bedroom door, whining to be let out. The bacon smell was followed by a whiff of cinnamon. I opened the door and Gertrude shot out and scrambled down the stairs.

The mouthwatering aroma was strong, my stomach grumbled. I decided that I was perfectly capable of doing nothing and eating at the same time. I quickly grabbed my dirty jeans and hoodie from the laundry basket, put them on and went to get Ella from her bedroom.

Ella looked at me in disgust. “Arizona, those clothes smell.”

I ignored her, grabbed her arm and led her down the stairs.

As we walked down, I noticed large pieces of framed artwork, Mom’s digital art. The giant hallway from last night came into view. It was covered in framed black-and-white photos. I’d need to take a closer look later. I followed Ella into the kitchen and into a scene out of the Brady Bunch – perfect domestic bliss. There were Mom and Dad preparing breakfast together.

There was another person in the kitchen. She was standing by the refrigerator with her back to me. She turned as she closed the refrigerator door. I did a double take. It couldn’t be, but it was–Grandma! I was overcome with emotion again, so unlike me. Tears started streaming down my face. I brushed them away hastily before anyone would notice. My grandma had passed away a few years ago, how could this be? Whatever the explanation was, this was the best ever. I rushed over and hugged her.

“Are you ok, Arizona?” Grandma whispered as she wiped the escaped tears drops off my cheeks.

“I think you must be coming down with something, Arizona. You seem overly emotional today,” offered Mom unhelpfully.

“Sit down, kids and help yourselves,” said Rupert.

I sat down between Ella and Grandma and found myself helping Ella select items to put on her plate – bacon, eggs and pancakes. This was extremely unlike me. Maybe I was coming down with something. My hand then decided to pat Ella’s head. I didn’t seem to have control of my emotions or body parts by the look of things.

There was nothing wrong with my appetite though. I helped myself to bacon, cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate and ate without a sound. Gertrude, who had finished her own bowl of bacon, sat by my feet staring at me, hoping for stray bits to hit the floor. Mom and Rupert joined us at the table and proceeded to chatter endlessly about mundane stuff. Rupert had his arm laid comfortably over the back of Mom’s chair. They seemed very close. I had never seen her like this with Dad. It made me angry but I ignored it by concentrating my attentions on Grandma.

Most of all, I just liked listening to my grandma’s voice. I had really missed her wicked sense of humor. She had apparently just returned from London where she’d been vacationing for a few weeks so she recounted tales from her vacation, the wonderful shopping and sights. I recognized places and names she mentioned–Wimbledon, Harrods, Harriet, Mortimer, Paddington… all very familiar. I gathered that she lived nearby and that we were to go over to her house for lunch next week. I was so happy to see her; I reached for her shoulders and squeezed them.

Once breakfast was over, I excused myself and went back to my room. I needed time to think. Closing the bedroom door behind me, I looked for my most important gadget, my cell phone. I had to talk to my dad and my friends.

There was an orange leather bag sitting on the couch next to the prissy dressing table. I picked it up and unzipped it. Hermès, not surprisingly, as my mother is a fan and is always trying to get me hooked on the brand. I found a wallet (Hermès again), credit cards, some cash and a driver’s license. I looked at it closely. It was a California license with my photograph (the Barbie version). I looked for my name, but found the name Arizona Darley instead. Who’s Arizona Darley? This was really strange.

I found a cell phone in the bag, my iPhone, which was comforting. Well, that’s until I checked my contacts, music and applications. Someone had messed with it. I didn’t recognize most of my contacts but I did notice Simla and Justin in there though. I had a look at my favorites: Mom, Dad, Harry, Ella, Kellan, Ali, and Maria. Who were these people (apart from Mom, Dad and Ella of course)?

I decided to give Dad a call first. I needed some answers. So, I clicked on Dad and waited for him to pick up. A man answered on the second ring. It wasn’t my dad but I recognized the voice. It was Rupert. I disconnected quickly but he called me right back.

“Arizona, you called?”

“Just pressed your name by mistake, sorry,” I said apologetically.

“Come downstairs, Grandma is leaving soon,” he said as he turned off his phone.

I tapped my dad’s cell number into my phone and hit dial. It went straight through to an automated message telling me that the number was not in service. I have to try his office later, I thought to myself as I heard the loud honking of a car and went to investigate out the window. It was a taxi to take Grandma home. I rushed down stairs to hug her goodbye.

As I walked back upstairs, I stole a glance at the various photographs on the wall. It was mostly pictures of me with Mom and Ella. Most of the pictures also included Rupert and a boy I didn’t recognize. These were mostly staged photographs taken during vacations (I recognized Paris and London) and artsy shots. I guess Mom was still into her digital photography thing. I looked so different in these photos, always smiling and not a blonde hair out of place.

When I was back in the bedroom, I pulled a chair towards the full-length mirror on the wall and sat down opposite it to take a good look at myself. I started with my toes, pedicured. They looked so clean and tidy, not like my normally dirty, broken toenails, feet rough from hockey skates. Same story with my hands, beautifully manicured except for the nail I had broken yesterday while scrambling for the boots.

I touched my face. My smooth skin had a sun-kissed warm glow, not a zit in sight. My eyebrows had definitely been plucked and my teeth whitened. I smiled at my reflection – who knew I could clean up so nice. My teammates were going to die laughing!

My teammates. Maybe not? I certainly didn’t look like a hockey-playing, snarly teen girl. I looked more like a girl straight out of Gossip Girl.

Time to investigate the closet. I opened the door to my walk-in and turned on the light. Jeans, pants, dresses, skirts, t-shirts… there was a varied selection. Mainly designer clothes, but I would manage to find a way to dress down. The shoes were more problematic. No skater sneakers, my main foot attire. All I could spot were ballet flats, sandals, heels… I spotted a row of flip flops, great! That would do for now.

After a quick shower, I threw on a pair of Marc Jacobs (not sure why I even mention that!) jeans and added a Juicy hoodie. Really! Did they not have a Pacsun here in wherever we were? I needed to better pinpoint my location. I slid on a pair of flip flops and emptied the orange Hermès bag onto my bed: wallet, makeup, tissues, gum and a set of keys.

I had heard Mom and Ella leave to do the weekly grocery shopping and I knew Rupert had left earlier. I was all alone in the house apart from Gertrude. It was a perfect time to do some snooping, starting with my sister’s room since it was closest to mine. Same story as mine, very nearly identical to the room she had in Princeton. She had her own bathroom and walk-in as well. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, Jonas Brothers posters on the wall and pink everywhere. I left her room untouched and walked toward the room at the end of the corridor, the one with double doors.

It was an absolutely gorgeous suite, like the ones I had seen in magazines Mom liked to leave sitting around. There were two bathrooms, two walks-ins and a flat screen in the sitting area. Mom’s walk-in was the size of my bedroom. I was tempted to go through her drawers, but decided to do that later. I had no idea how long they were going to be away and certainly didn’t want to get caught.

I then moved on to the other rooms. There were two guest bedrooms, they both looked spotless and unused at the moment.

There was a sixth room on the floor but the door was locked. I tried the various keys from my set, but none of them unlocked the door so I decided to go downstairs and investigate.

It was a magazine-worthy house, Mom had obviously gone all out. There was wood paneling everywhere, the walls were painted a warm red and the furniture was neutral – creams, beiges, and browns. The family room was warm and cozy with an elaborate Guitar Hero set up. I wondered who was so into GH, not Rupert surely. Ella?

Next, I wandered into the kitchen. It was modern apart from a big green Agha oven in one end. I knew all about Aghas. Mom had gone on endlessly about these, now she finally had one. The rest of the kitchen was all chrome with a big table in the center, heavily used by the look of things. Gertrude’s bowls were on the floor next to the pantry. They looked new, as did her Burberry bed by the kitchen table. I decided to head down and investigate the basement.

The basement door was locked, somewhat to my relief. I didn’t cherish the thought of going down there on my own. Instead, I went back into the kitchen and got Gertrude ready for a walk. I opened the doors to the patio and stepped into the fresh air. It was way too warm for a hoodie so I pulled it off and tossed it onto one of the garden chairs, happy that I had thrown on a tank top underneath.

There was an enormous pool out back with a pool house on one side. I stepped inside to find changing rooms, showers, a refrigerator and bar area. Cool. I went back outside. It really was too humid so I walked Gertrude around the house hurriedly. Just as we got back to the patio, I heard Mom’s car, so I ran back inside and hid back in my room.

I decided to call Darren to check if the party was still on. It seemed ridiculous under the circumstances. How would I even get to a party in Princeton? However, when I looked for his number, I noticed he was no longer in my contacts list – surprise, surprise. I did notice Justin’s though and called him instead. No pickup, so I texted him asking about the party. Then I put my ear buds on, turned up my iPod and floated back to my last game.

The music stopped abruptly and my ears hurt. Ella had yanked my ear buds out and was shouting into my ears.

“Dinner is ready, come on down!” She ran off downstairs. The little brat! Some things never change.

Dinner was much the same as brunch. Mom’s home-cooked chicken penne (which I love, but will never admit to) with garlic bread and a fruit bowl. Ella grumbled about ice cream but my mother’s rules never change: Friday is ice cream night, not Sunday.

“Have you done your homework, girls?” Mom asked.

Homework? I wasn’t even sure what that really meant, so I grumbled a “yes” under my breath. Ella was all done with hers and proudly read us her piece on volcanoes. She’s always been obsessed with natural disasters. It was apparently family movie night and we all headed down to the basement after dinner.

The basement space was awesome! It had been converted into a movie theatre, popcorn machine and all. We watched Grease for the zillionth time. I couldn’t help noticing how very intimate Mom and Rupert were again. It was impossible not to. There was not a moment when Rupert didn’t look her way to make sure she was happy. They sat close together as they watched the movie, his arm lazily around her shoulders. Her head was resting on his chest as he casually played with the strands of her hair. She looked happy and content, regularly glancing up at his face and smiling.

Ella got bored sitting by herself half way through the movie and climbed onto Mom’s lap and fell asleep. I did feel envious of their closeness and I hugged Gertrude tighter.

After the movie finished, Mom turned to me as if to start a conversation. I really wasn’t in the mood so I hastily excused myself saying that I needed to finish some homework I had overlooked. She stopped me before I reached the stairs.

“Arizona, can you drop Ella off at school tomorrow on your way in?”

I was taken aback. Drop off? How? Where? I held my breath and then nodded as I walked up the stairs.

“Sure, Mom.”

I had no idea what to do or how to handle this situation. Confronting Mom with this would just be translated as Arizona having an episode with a journey to the psych ward. I decided to wait for Ella to come up so I could talk to her. I could get her to shed some light on this, surely. An hour or so later, I heard the skipping sounds of Ella’s footsteps and peered into the hallway as she was about to head into her room.

“Ella, can I talk to you for a minute?”

She nodded as she ran into my room and plunked herself on my bed with a wicked smile on her face. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was up to.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing, really. I just wondered how you’d like me to drop you off at school tomorrow?”

She looked puzzled, “The usual way, silly!”

I tried another tactic, “I thought we’d try a different way. The usual one gets boring.”

“No, I like you driving me in your Jeep, it’s fun and bouncy. Taking Mom’s car is too boring everyday.”

My Jeep? Now that sounded more like it! Sweet!

“Ok then, let’s try to make it fun another way. How about you shout out the directions?”

She looked bored and sighed. “I don’t understand what’s so fun about that, but whatever! Can I borrow your MJ clutch for tomorrow?” she asked, suddenly sweet again. I guessed that’s what the earlier grin had been all about.

“Sure, why not? Good night, see you in the morning.”

Ella got up and quietly ran out the room with a mischievous smirk on her face. I got the feeling that she’d expected a different response. Maybe I shouldn’t have given in to the MJ (whatever that was) request so easily. I could hear Mom and Rupert coming up the stairs so I quickly closed my door. However, they opened it and walked in to say goodnight before they went into Ella’s room.

I lay back on my pillow and wondered what was going on. This could no longer be a dream, surely. I seemed to be in some kind of alternate universe. What would tomorrow bring? Maybe I would wake up back in my real life. However, what if I didn’t? I needed some answers; there must be a computer in here somewhere. I looked around, maybe in my desk? Could Arizona Darley be that organized? I opened the obvious drawer and there it was, my very own pink MacBook. I brought it over to my bed and turned it on. First, GPS locate my position. My iPhone would do that more efficiently. I hit the Maps application and the locate icon.

Searching…..

California….I knew that from the driver’s license.

The locator homed in on blank fields. Mountain View seemed to be the nearest town. I turned to my computer and googled Mountain View, Ca. I had sort of expected that, Mom had moved to Mountain View but I knew nothing about it. I tried Wikipedia first.

‘Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 70,708.’

So not interesting. I scrolled down. It seemed to be one of those “Silicon Valley” towns. I remember Mom mentioning the Silicon Valley. She had been offered a senior physicist position, if I remembered rightly, at NASA? I googled Mountain View and NASA.

Ames Research Center

That rang a bell, yes, Ames. I had heard that mentioned many times before. That’s obviously where she worked.

There was a sharp knock on my door. It opened and Mom stuck her head in.

“Arizona, lights out, school tomorrow,” she said as she closed it again.

I guess Ames would have to wait. However, I did need to know where to head off for school. This was truly insane. I had no idea. Why was I even considering school! I should go and have this out with Mom! I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. No, I wouldn’t risk psych intervention.

The thought of a new high school filled me with dread. I was hoping that Ella would direct me to her school, but where should I head off to next? Thank goodness for computers!

Mountain View High seemed to be the nearest high school – home of the Spartans. Were there any sign of Spartan in my room? I rummaged through the closet, nothing. I guess Darley wasn’t into displaying her school name or maybe she had a special place for her school stuff. The desk? Yes, bingo! Folders, files, books all labeled with my name, well Arizona Darley, and Spartan stickers. Phew, at least I knew where to head.

I searched for a schedule and found one in my bag. Great. I was exhausted. The rest would have to wait till the morning. It was already past midnight. I jumped into bed and cuddled up with Gertrude once again.

I woke to the sound of my iPhone alarm, it was already five. I was apparently still in Barbie Arizona land. I had decided to wake early, as I’d no idea what was expected of me. Or how long it would take to get to school. I got up and printed off a map of Mountain View High so that I wouldn’t be totally lost once I got there, if I got there.

What to wear? I thought jeans and a t-shirt would be the safest way to go. I threw on a worn out hoodie to disguise myself as much as possible. I wanted to keep a low profile, which was not going to be easy with this Barbie hair. I tied it in a ponytail and stuffed it down my back. Much better. I decided that I couldn’t really head to school in flip flops, especially with pink tipped toe nails. After rummaging around in the closet, I found a pair of muddy, black sneakers and put those on. Perfect. I grabbed my backpack and shut the door, after throwing a backward glance at my once tidy room. Well, it was back to being a mess, nothing a shut door couldn’t deal with.

I put my ear to Ella’s door and listened for morning sounds. I could hear music, so I knocked and opened the door. She was sitting on her vanity chair, drowning herself in lip-gloss. She turned around and stared at me with a bemused grin.

“What’s with the new look, Arizona? You look ridiculous.”

“What’s so ridiculous about it, Ella?” I demanded angrily.

She shrugged. “What did you do with your hair? You always wear it down!”

“Well, I feel like a change,” I said defiantly.

“Are you ready for breakfast, Ella? What time do you want to leave the house and head to school?” I asked changing the subject.

“Dad said that he would drive me on his bike this morning so I’m going with him. But I’m ready for breakfast now, let’s go.”

I was slightly concerned at Ella’s obvious distaste in my attire. What if the school kids here dressed a certain way and I’d got it totally wrong. I would stand out and that’s the last thing I wanted–attention. I looked over to see what Ella was wearing. She was wearing a pair of blue skinny jeans with a Juicy t-shirt and Uggs, so I couldn’t be that far off the mark. She was just being a pain, as usual. I was not about to start worrying about the way I dressed!

Mom and Rupert were already sitting at the table sipping coffee and pouring over newspapers as we got to the kitchen. I spied an Ames Research canvas carrier by the door, stuffed full of papers.

“Good morning, girls,” they both said in unison and looked at me with puzzled expressions. They thankfully managed to keep their thoughts to themselves. I had obviously dressed unlike Barbie Arizona normally did. Well they’d just have to deal with it for now.

“I have an early meeting, so I’ve got to rush off. Dad’s taking you to school, Ella. So, Arizona, you’re off the hook. You can head right to school this morning. Give Simla a call though, she may want you to pick her up. She got her car taken away from her last night by her mom. I don’t know the details. Rup, meet me for lunch?”

He nodded, stood up, gave her a hug and kiss. She was dressed in a pair of black slacks, a cream Chanel jacket and carried her cream Kelly bag (or old lady bag, as I like to call it) – her usual uniform. She grabbed her keys and the Ames canvas bag from the floor, blew us kisses and left.

“Arizona, can you walk Gertrude before you head off? I filled your Jeep with gas last night, so you are ready to go. Drive carefully, and I’ll see you back at the house at five. I’ll pick Ella up from school and she can hang out at the studio for a while.”

I nodded at Rupert as I went to get Gertrude’s leash, and headed off for a walk with her. A Jeep – I just couldn’t wait. I went back to the house to gather my stuff once I spied Ella and Rupert leave on his bike. I put some more food and water down for Gertrude and then went over to the garage. To the Jeep! I was beyond thrilled. I had been driving with my learners permit in Princeton for a while, but I’d never driven on my own.

The Jeep was parked in the garage, a bright yellow Wrangler. So much for keeping a low profile! There was a huge Spartans sticker on the back window. Well, at least it was clear that I was heading off to Mountain View High school this morning.

I programmed the directions into the GPS system, drive time 35 minutes. School started at 7:30 AM, I had plenty of time, but it would be good to be early. This was a first, driving by myself with no one in the passenger seat constantly nagging at me. It felt wonderfully freeing. Just me in this awesome Jeep! I could drive anywhere I wanted to, no one could stop me.

I turned the knob to the radio, but couldn’t get it to work. I decided to figure it out later. Perhaps I should head to New Jersey instead of this school. It was very tempting; I even had my own credit cards. I guessed it was about three thousand miles away? It would take me three or four days….

I drove on, without noticing my surroundings, concentrating on the GPS directions. I arrived at Mountain View High in no time, found the parking lot, parked and sat in my car watching the other students arrive. It dawned on me that I had completely forgotten to call Simla. What would she be doing here anyway? She should be back in Princeton wondering what happened to me. I’d try calling her later.

The kids arriving at school looked normal, no odd-looking vampires or werewolves. A bit disappointing really, a lone hockey playing Edward Cullen would’ve been nice. I was in the twilight zone after all. I wondered if I could take a vampire out on the ice. Of course I could!

The buses arrived, standard issue yellow school buses. As I watched the kids leave and head into the building, I decided to follow the crowds in. After quickly locking the car door, I hid under my hoodie and ran to mingle with the crowd. Keeping my head low, I stumbled my way through the throng wondering how I was ever going to find my locker, that’s if I even had one. My hood was suddenly yanked back by someone behind me, exposing me to the world! I turned around in fury, ready to floor who ever it was– Simla.

“Hey, why didn’t you call me? I was forced to take the bus this morning!” Then she looked at me curiously, “Are you hiding from someone?”

I shrugged off her question. “ What’s up with your car, Simla?”

“Did your mom not give you my message?” she asked irritated.

I shook my head, “I guess she forgot.”

Simla proceeded to bring me up to date with her car woes. Something about a bad grade on the trig test (didn’t we do trig last year?) and then telling her mom that she was going to drop out. I stopped listening, she sounded so different, so whiney. It seemed like her car had been confiscated for a week and by the sound of things she expected me to drive her around. Well, she was going to have to re-think that. I had other things to do, I think….

I noticed a lot of “Hi, Arizona” coming from all directions. I guess everyone knew me. I put on my best sunshine smile and waved a hello in all directions, trying not to offend anyone. I had no idea who these people were.

“Arizona, could you do my trig homework tonight? I want to sneak out and hook up with J?” Simla asked as we walked along the corridor.

“I guess,” I said hesitantly wondering who J was. I had no idea what I had to do myself this evening.

“Simla, come walk with me to my locker, I want to show you something.”

She looked excited. I let Simla get in front of me and I followed her to my locker. I quickly took some books out of my backpack so both my hands were occupied.

“Can you open it? My hands are full.”

I watched her turn the combination lock, same numbers I always used, great!

“So, what do you have for me?” she asked as two girls I had never seen in my life before came over, hugged me and grabbed my arms.

“Come on, we’re late!” the taller one said as she pulled at me.

“Later, Simla,” I shouted as I was dragged along the corridor. Hopefully she’d lock up for me. I turned around and did a “lock my locker” impression with my hands at her. She looked annoyed.

“Are you ready for the game tonight, Arizona? It’s so exciting!”

Game, what game? Was I due to play in an ice hockey game? I had no idea where my kit was. Possibly at the back of Mom’s Hummer, there was a lot of hockey stuff there.

I nodded at the two girls wondering who they were. I tried to get a closer look at them as we hurried along the corridor. Platinum blondes, very pretty, designer jeans and tank tops. Lip gloss that put Ella’s to shame. Fabulous heels. I guessed that these were my two BFFs and guessed that I normally dressed like them. No wonder Ella had been horrified.

“Yes, very exciting. Remind me, where we’re meeting?” I asked.

“Oh, the usual place,” said the taller of the two.

I instinctively knew their names, Maria and Ali and I felt comfortable with them. There was no awkwardness when Ali, the taller blonde, pulled lip gloss out from her bag and dabbed it onto my lips. It was mango, very pleasant.

She kissed my forehead and said, “See you at lunch!”

I smiled and waved at her. I noticed heads turning as she walked up the corridor toward her classroom. Not surprising really, she was amazingly beautiful.

Maria looked at me and said, “You look a bit different. Is everything ok? Did you hurt your feet?” She pointed at my dirty black sneakers perplexed.

“I think I may be coming down with something so ignore me today.” I offered as a sad excuse for my obviously shabby look.

“I hope you’re going to be ok for the game?”

“Don’t count on me, I’m feeling a bit nauseous.”

“Oh, you poor thing, I’ll keep an eye on you during our classes, nudge me if you need to go to the nurse,” she said kindly as she took me by the elbow and led me toward another corridor.

“Thanks, Maria,” I said gratefully. I followed her along the corridor, acutely aware that we had the same effect as Ali when we walked along. Lots of head turning, staring and a lot of “hellos.”

“How’s the new dog?” Maria asked as we walked along.

New dog? Did she mean Gertrude? Gertrude wasn’t new.

“Gertrude?”

“You named her Gertrude? That’s so cute!”

“Gertrude’s fine,” I said as we passed a group of girls who all turned around to me.

“There you are, Arizona!”

Yes, indeed, I thought to myself, here I am apparently, though I should be in Princeton….

It was the debate team by the looks of their t-shirts. One grabbed my arm and murmured, “Meeting at 1 PM, Dinner Hall, don’t forget to wear your t-shirt.”

I smiled and whispered, “Ok” as I hurried to follow Maria around a sign that read Science Quad. I followed her into a classroom, careful to not look at anyone and sat down on the seat next to hers. I watched her get her books out of her backpack, physics, great! I had never been in a physics class. I looked at the calendar, October 6th 2008. The last time I had been at school it had been June 5th, 2009. I guess the calendar was wrong. I quickly checked the date on my iPhone. It was October 2008. I felt a chill. How had I not noticed that before?

“Put that away, Arizona. You don’t want it taken away!” Maria hissed.

I quickly threw the phone back into my backpack, setting it on vibrate first. Not sure why, as it had been spookily quiet in the last few days.

“When did your mom give you the cell phone back? It’s great, we can text again,” she said.

The class went silent as a stubby, middle-aged woman entered the room.

“Dr. Lee is away at a conference today, so I will be substituting. My name is Mrs. Shire. Take your books out and read Chapter Three.”

I turned the pages until I got to Chapter Three and stared incomprehensively at the words. I had no idea what it all meant, it might as well have been in Spanish, which I totally suck at. I would read this later at home. I spent the time studying my fellow students instead. I looked around as much as I could.

There were fourteen students in this class. On the other side of Maria, was a girl with a Debate Team t-shirt. She winked at me as she caught me glancing over at her. She was Asian, very pretty with striking blue eyes. I instinctively knew that her name was Lily. She was sitting next to another Asian girl, also pretty; she smiled at me too… Amanda. There was one more girl in class, way at the back so it was difficult to turn around and get a good look at her. She was bent forward peering over her book, ear buds on. Her hoodie was so far down her face that I couldn’t make out her features. I had no idea who she was.

Maria nudged me. “She’s new,” she whispered. “Her name is Ariele and she is apparently from New Jersey.”

Ariele? From New Jersey? Could it be my BFF from Princeton? She was moving to California. How awesome! I felt both excited and scared, a shiver ran down my spine and I trembled. Maria looked at me with concern. I shook my head to indicate I was ok, and made sure not to look at Ariele again. I wasn’t sure how to handle this yet. I wondered if Ariele had seen me? She probably wouldn’t recognize me anyway with this ridiculous hair.

Of the nine boys in the class, four were Asian and three from India. None of them looked up from their books once, totally entranced by Chapter Three, whatever that was about. The other two boys were sitting right behind me. One yanked at my hair. I turned around – Justin!

“Can you drop Simla off at my house later?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“Simla? Why?” I asked bemused. They had never given each other the time of day before.

I couldn’t help but notice the boy sitting next to Justin. He was staring at me with a smirk that really riled me.

“What’s your problem?” I demanded challengingly as I scowled at him.

I could hear a sharp intake of breath from him as he shrugged his shoulders and whispered, “What’s up, Shrimp?”

Shrimp? I stared at him in disbelief and then turned back to Justin.

“Talk about it later, Justin,” I whispered.

I turned around again and pretended to read, but I could feel the boy next to Justin glowering at my back. I couldn’t help looking back again and caught his stare. He was breathtakingly attractive and so familiar, although I couldn’t place him.

“What’s up with you and Kellan?” Maria asked in a whisper.

I shrugged. In all honesty, I hadn’t a clue. At least I knew his name now. I’d have to figure out the history later.

The bell sounded and it was time to move classrooms. I quickly checked my schedule hoping it was something easy: computer lab, perfect.

“Come on,” said Maria.

Good, I thought to myself. She is in my next class as well; I’d just follow her. We walked past the swimming pool and gym, around the library to the computer labs. Someone shoved passed me roughly and I dropped my bag. I saw Ariele hurry along ahead, without looking back. Maria helped me retrieve my bag and then we rushed along to class.

Computer lab was a breeze. It was fun and passed quickly. Then it was time for lunch. The cafeteria was just across from the computer lab. Maria and I crossed the hallway, but I stayed half a step behind her so I could follow her lead. Justin got to the door first and held it open for us.

“Ladies,” he smiled.

We walked toward Ali, who was already sitting at a table with a bunch of girls. There were two empty chairs for us. I threw my bag on one of them and made my way to the fruit counter. I picked up a banana, an apple and a drink of water. I was more nervous than hungry, having to deal with the girls at lunch.

And, of course, there was the upcoming “game” to fret about. I glanced quickly around the cafeteria trying to get some bearing. This place was definitely cliquey. I could easily make out the different groups. I looked over at mine. Now, I was worried. The softball team maybe… a very glamorous softball team?

The girls were deep in conversation about the game when I sat down. I listened trying to understand what they were talking about. Why didn’t I have any instinct about this?

“Well, I guess at the end of the day it’s really up to Arizona, she’s the vice captain and Julia is off sick, so I guess Arizona is in charge,” Ali said looking at me expectantly.

I nearly choked! I had no idea how to respond. “Ali, to tell you the truth, I’m not feeling that good today, slightly nauseous. Could you take over?” I suggested hoping for the best.

“Sure thing, will you at least come and watch?” she asked obviously delighted at being put in charge.

“I’ll try,” I promised.

Lily’s tapping on my shoulders rescued me, “Time for the debate team meeting. Coming?”

Debate team? I suddenly felt overwhelmed and light headed; I could feel the blood draining from my face.

I heard Maria get up, saying, “I’ll take her to the nurse,” as she took me by the hand and led me out.

“I’m ok, really, I just need some fresh air. I’m going to cut the rest of the day, but could you come and pick me up for the game? I’ll come and watch.”

“Sure thing, let me walk you to your Jeep,” she said as she put her arm around my waist and walked me out.

I meant to drive straight home, but had to slow down and pull into the hard shoulder, five minutes past the school. I couldn’t see ahead of me for the tears welling up in my eyes. So, I put my head down on the steering wheel, trying to erase all thoughts from my mind. I just wanted to think about nothing. I yearned for emptiness. The millions of questions and thoughts swirling around in my head were driving me insane. It felt good letting the tears drip on to my wheel. I needed the release.

My peace was interrupted by a loud knock on the passenger side door. It opened. I was terrified! I should have locked the doors. My body tensed into action and I swirled around with my fists up looking for something that I could use as a weapon. The helmet wearing, leather-clad man who had opened the door, took a step back as I leaned forward to strike. He hastily removed his helmet. I couldn’t make out who it was through my tears.

“Shrimp, it’s just me, calm down,” he said as he took a step forward again. I felt myself relax at the sound of the voice. It was familiar. It was comforting. I looked at him again, rubbing the tears from my eyes. It was the boy from physics. Kellan? Now I was totally humiliated.

“Can I get in?” he asked hesitantly.

I didn’t want him to, but found myself nodding in response and watched him climb in and sit beside me. He turned and slowly reached for my hands. I immediately drew away, putting them safely under my legs and looked away trying to ignore him.

“Arizona, I want to help, but if you’re not going to talk to me, will you at least let me drive you home?”

I nodded without looking at him, got out and walked around to the passenger’s seat. He put his bike behind the trees and got into the Jeep, and we drove home. I spent the entire journey staring out my window, not saying a word. I could feel him wanting to talk to me, but I guess he decided to leave it alone. It was 2 PM as we pulled into the driveway.

Rupert was sitting on the porch steps strumming on a wooden guitar. He was bent over it, eyes closed. He looked peaceful and happy. He looked up and smiled when he saw the Jeep. Kellan pulled the Jeep right up to the porch and stopped abruptly as Gertrude ran down the steps and flung herself at the car.

“Hey, kids! What are you doing home, Arizona?” Rupert asked putting his guitar down and taking hold of Gertrude.

“I was feeling a bit nauseous, so I decided to come home and rest for a while.”

Rupert looked concerned and said, “Go and lie down. Are you still going to the game?”

“Yes, I promised to turn up to watch, Ali is taking over for the evening. Maria is picking me up at six.”

I looked over at Kellan and murmured, “Thanks,” as I picked Gertrude up and walked up the steps to my room. She was clearly happy to see me. I tried to avoid being licked in the face as she scrambled around in my arms, wagging her tail furiously. I remembered what Maria had said earlier, “New dog.” I had been given Gertrude as an early birthday gift five years ago. She was in no way new.

I couldn’t resist peeking out the window when I got to my room. Kellan was still by the porch talking to Rupert although I couldn’t see Rupert from where I watched. I couldn’t take my eyes of Kellan. Something about him had me mesmerized. Rupert came into view as the two of them walked toward Rupert’s bike, got on and rode away. I guessed to get Kellan back to his bike.

I was emotionally drained, too tired to think anymore so I lay down for a short nap.

I woke feeling groggy. It was just after four. I gulped down the now tepid water that Rupert must have brought up when I was asleep and made my way to the shower. The cold water struck my face, waking me up. Once the water warmed, I washed my hair. With the trusted pink towel wrapped around me once again, I went down to the kitchen to make myself some coffee. Gertrude was there, poking her nose at a cupboard and whining. I opened it, ah… the treat cupboard. I grabbed her favorite kind of bone and held it out to her. She jumped up and grabbed it, scooting off in a hurry. After making myself a really strong cup of coffee, I walked back up to my room where I switched the computer on to check the school website for today’s game schedules.

The swim team was having a competition and there was a basketball game scheduled. I checked the ice hockey roster, nothing. I did notice that the tryout for the varsity team was Thursday night. Maybe I should go?

I tried to narrow down the options that I could be involved in this evening. I’m no good at swimming so I couldn’t possibly be on the swim team. I had a look at the competition pictures on the website. No sign of me, or any of the other girls from our lunch table. Basketball? I’m not tall enough and I’m miserably inadequate at basketball but perhaps it was an all girls team, which could be fun.

I checked the website again, no girls team. There were a lot of pictures of the boys though. Mountain View High seemed to have a strong basketball team. I looked closely at the pictures… surely not! This couldn’t possibly be right….

A CHEERLEADER! I’m a cheerleader; surely Mom would never allow that? But there I was – front and center with the most nauseating sunshine smile ever, in an outfit that shouldn’t be allowed in high schools. Thank goodness I’d excused myself from this evening’s performance. What a nightmare! Except this situation had gone on too long for it to be a dream for sure. This was really happening.

I was a cheerleader, which would explain my current Barbie look. This was a total deal breaker. I decided that I had to play for the varsity ice hockey team, not just try out but play.

Still shocked at my discovery, I dried off and got dressed quickly. I called Maria and told her that I would meet her at the game. There was something I had to do first.

Google helped me find the nearest hockey supply stores. Play It Again Sports was a mile from the high school. Perfect! I grabbed my credit cards, jumped into my Jeep, plugged the address into my GPS and rushed off. I parked and hurried into the store. The ice hockey department was limited, but I managed to grab hold of a friendly shop assistant who helped me out. And then I did something a bit (understatement of the year) strange – I bought a pink helmet. I purchased a bag and stuffed all the items into it except my new U+ stick, my new pride and joy.

The drive to school felt different, it was thrilling glancing over at my new hockey gear. With the Jeep parked and safely locked, I ran over to the gym. I was early. There was a lot of noise coming from the gym, I opened the door, and someone shouted, “They are over in the small gym!”

So I walked passed the weight room and went to the small gym. The girls were congregated in one corner.

“Hey, Arizona, glad you came! How are you feeling?” a pretty brunette asked as she came running up to me.

“Better, but I’m going to sit this one out and cheer the cheerleaders!”

Maria walked over to me, “You sure? You still look a bit flushed.”

“I’m ok, really, and I do want to talk to you and Ali about something. Can we grab a pizza after the game?”

“Sure!”

“Ok, let’s get started girls!” I heard Ali shout. I looked over at her, she was glowing with excitement, I winked at her and she winked back happily. They got into formation and started with the sequence. I zoned out thinking about Thursday’s hockey tryout. There was no doubt that I was going to have to fight all the battles I had to overcome when I did this at Princeton.

My cell phone startled me by coming to life with a sharp tone. Strange, it never rings; even Mom uses text. It was Simla. Oh no! I had totally forgotten about her. I vaguely remembered that I was supposed to be doing something for or with her tonight, I couldn’t remember what.

“Hey, Simla, what’s up?”

“You were going to give me a ride to Justin’s and do my trig homework….”

I interrupted her whining, “Simla, I have a game on. Get your mother to drop you off here. She’s not going to say ‘no’ to that, and Justin can pick you up from here. I’ll meet you early before school and I’ll do your homework then.”

What a pain, whatever happened to Simla? What was she doing here anyway?

“Oh, never mind, I’ll have Justin pick me up, he’ll do my homework, too,” she said as she metaphorically slammed the phone down. I could feel her disappointment and anger. I would sort it out with her tomorrow.

The game? Well, since I’m not into basketball at all, I didn’t pay much attention. I cheered for the cheerleaders, they were awesome. There was no way I could have done any of that. No amount of instinct could have helped me out.

The Spartans won, madness ensued, the team rushed at me and I was up on someone’s shoulder. I felt like I was riding a crazed camel. Everyone was cheering. I threw my hands up in the air and tried to follow the cheering. The camel ride seemed to last an awfully long time, and I thought I would hurl on the camel’s head when I was finally lifted down. The camel turned out to be Robert, the team captain and Ali’s boyfriend. I hoped that this wouldn’t have any repercussions as Ali came bounding up to me. Her first triumph and she was on cloud nine. Robert scooped her up and they took off.

“Arizona, do you want to ride to the party with me?” Maria asked.

“Sure, Maria. That would be great. Can we get some pizza first? I need to talk to you and Ali, but she took off so I guess it’s just you and me.”

“Oh, Ali is riding with us too. She probably just went to get changed. I’ll go and get changed too and meet you here in ten?”

I nodded as she took off. I waited, pretending to talk on the cell phone so people would leave me alone. I was doing a good job having an imaginary altercation with my mom.

A text beep sounded.

When are you getting back home? (from my mother)

Is 11 pm ok?

Yes

Thanks Mom

That would give me a good excuse to leave the party early. Maria and Ali appeared. Ali was still glowing with excitement. I hugged her.

“You did great, Ali! That’s the best I’ve ever seen the squad perform.”

She beamed and we walked toward Maria’s car.

“I’ll follow you guys in the Jeep. Mom wants me home early.”

“Ok, Arizona. Shall we head to the pizza parlor at the mall?”

Maria and Ali got into a red truck as I got into my Jeep and started the engine. I glanced fondly over at my new U+ before I followed the red truck out of the parking lot. We pulled into the strip mall with the sports shop I had visited earlier and parked right outside a small pizza place. We were the only customers. Since I had barely managed lunch, I was starving. We ordered a slice each and sat down in the corner. Maria and Ali looked at me curiously.

“So what’s up, Arizona? It seemed serious,” Maria said as she took a big bite off her slice.

“I’m thinking of giving up cheerleading.” I had decided to get straight to the point. Maria put her slice down and Ali just stared at me.

Maria stuttered, “Cheerleading is our life, it’s what we do! You can’t give it up! Why would you even say such a thing?”

“I want to give something else a try and cheerleading will clash with it.”

“What?” Ali practically yelled at me.

I hesitated and murmured, “Ice hockey.”

They went silent and looked at each other with somber expressions. Then they burst into laughter amidst snorts and guffaws. Ali’s face was streaming with tears.

“O-M-G, that’s the funniest thing ever! That’s why we love you so, you are hysterical but B-A-D! You really had us going there for a minute.”

I took a deep breath and ran my fingers through my hair.

“Wait here a second, I have something to show you,” I said and then left to get my U+ from the Jeep. The girls were still laughing when I came back in, but stopped short when they saw my stick. Maria gave Ali a knowing smile.

“Trying to impress Kellan? I thought something was up with you two in physics today. Suddenly interested in him? This isn’t the way to go though!” She teased.

“No! Ali, Maria … I’m serious. I’m trying out on Thursday for the varsity team. It’s just something I have to do. Please try to understand. I’ll still hang with you guys and come to as many cheer meetings as I can.”

They both looked at me in disbelief, “You can’t even skate well!” Ali murmured.

I shrugged my shoulders, they could be right. “I just want to give it a try. Humor me, please?”

They looked at me like I had just completely lost my mind. I guess in a way I had.

“Will you come and watch me try out on Thursday?” I pleaded. This was going to be hard enough; I really needed their support.

“I’ve even got a pink helmet, just for you,” I tempted.

“They won’t let you, Arizona. It’s an all boys team,” said Maria. “Does Harry know?”

I had no idea who she was referring to so I ignored it for now. Perhaps he was the coach?

“I’ve checked the rules out. They’ll probably try to stop me, but they are legally bound to let me try out with the boys if they don’t have a girl’s team.”

Ali looked thoughtful, “Does that mean that boys can try out for the cheer squad? Yikes!”

“I thought something was up with you today,” said Maria. “Of course, we’ll support you in whatever you decide to do and we’ll be there to cheer you on Thursday. We were all planning to go anyway, weren’t we? If you haven’t told Harry yet, let’s keep this to ourselves for now and not spill at the party.”

I nodded.

“Let’s go, hockey girl,” she said as she grabbed my stick and walked out the door.

I followed them to Robert’s house. We were late but we got a loud cheer. Ali went straight to Robert, kissed him and we didn’t see her again. Maria and I found some chairs by the pool and sat down. We sipped our drinks watching the others goof around. I wasn’t really in the mood since I didn’t know or at least remember any one here. I didn’t see any signs of Justin, Simla, Ariele or Kellan, which I was thankful for. Maria seemed a bit somber too.

“What’s up, Maria? Not in a party mood?”

She shook her head as a bunch of basketball players surrounded us.

“Hi, Arizona, Maria! Where’s Harry? I thought he’d come tonight,” said one of them.

“He’s up in Vancouver at a captain’s camp. He’ll be back tomorrow,” replied Maria.

“Cool,” said the boy, “Tell him ‘hi’ from me.”

“We will, Ron. I think I’ll head off. You ready to go, Arizona?”

I nodded. I had been ready to go before we had even arrived here. I guessed that Harry was Maria’s boyfriend and perhaps the hockey captain?

“Yes, let’s go Maria, I bet you’ve missed Harry?”

“Yes, it will be good to see him. I’m sure you and Ella have missed him too,” she said as we walked back to the car.

I lay in bed mulling over my day. All in all it had been fairly successful. I had managed to squirm out of cheerleading and still managed to hold on to Ali and Maria. I felt strangely comfortable in this life and quite excited about what tomorrow would bring. It was clear that I belonged here, but I also belonged in Princeton with Dad. This didn’t make any sense. There were so many loose ends to look into: Rupert, Ariele, Simla, Justin, Ames–well, my whole life here.

I awoke the next morning with my face soaking wet from Gertrude licks. She had been trying to get me up to let her out for her morning business. I slid my feet into my flip flops and walked her outside, catching a glimpse of Rupert roaring off on his Harley. Cool, I wondered if he would let me ride it.

I had noticed that there was another bike in the garage. Maybe we could ride together? In fact, why not sneak in and have a go now? I went to the garage and peered at the other Harley. This was some bike, huge. I wasn’t sure that I was big enough to ride it or even strong enough to keep it upright. Running my fingers over the smooth metal, I pushed at the leather seat and then carefully mounted it. I put my hands on the handlebars and turned, closing my eyes, imagining roaring off with it.

“Wrroooom, wrooooom, wroooom,” laughed a male voice.

Yikes, busted! I turned around to make up some horribly lame excuse for Rupert but it wasn’t him. It was a boy, probably about the same age as me. He was about six feet tall, well-built, blue eyes and frost-tipped hair. He looked very familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I felt a strong urge to rush over and throw my arms around him but held back. He showed no such restraint though. He came striding over and bear hugged me as he lifted me off the bike.

“Shrimp, you know to leave my bike alone!”

His bike? Another one who thought it was ok to call me Shrimp. I turned to look at him, and with a strangely goofy voice replied, “Sorry!”

“Come on, let’s go in and get some breakfast,” he said as he took my hand and led me inside to the kitchen where he started cracking eggs.

“Come on, Shrimp, get the bacon, lazy!”

I got up to get the bacon from the refrigerator and started loading it into the pan. Who was this? He was a total puzzle. What was I doing putting up with this! Just as I was about to run off, I heard Mom come into the kitchen.

“Good morning, Arizona, Harry. Ella’s not feeling well, so I’m going to take some toast and juice up to her room for her. Harry, did you sleep well? You can unpack when you get back from school. Arizona, remember the rules… your bedroom is your responsibility, tidy it up.”

Harry? Could this be the Harry? Maria’s boyfriend, what was he doing here?

“Good Morning, Mom,” said Harry and planted one on her forehead. “Dad had to leave early. He said he would try to come home and have lunch with you and Ella at noon.”

I was baffled, yet again! Why did he call my mom, Mom? By Dad, did he mean Rupert? I shook my head in disbelief. Of all the strange things going on, this was the last thing I could’ve been prepared for. Could this be my brother? If so, it must be a half brother. How could that be? It had been just Ella and me for years. Where did Harry come from? Was he adopted? I had so many questions, but no way to get immediate answers without appearing to be losing it, which I was. So, I went back to concentrating on the bacon, sizzling happily in the pan. Mom started loading a tray for Ella while Gertrude was jumping on me in a frenzy trying get to the bacon.

“How was camp, Harry? Did you learn anything new?”

“It was cool, Mom. There were a lot of college scouts at it. I had fun,” replied Harry happily.

So, it was the same Harry: ice-hockey captain, Maria’s boyfriend… my brother? Wow!

“Shrimp, is that bacon done yet?”

I nodded and threw the bacon on to a plate and put it on the table. Harry had everything else under control. Mom left with Ella’s tray.

“What’s up with Ella?” I asked Harry for something neutral to talk about.

“She woke up with a tummy ache early this morning. Mom’s going to stay home with her. We’re having a family dinner at six. You don’t have cheer practice tonight, do you?”

“No,” I murmured. I’d have to find a way to break the news to him. I was no longer his cheer sister. This was so insane… my brother?

My mind wandered to hockey. How would I tell them all? I needed to test the ice. What if I just couldn’t skate, I didn’t want to have to embarrass myself. I needed some alone ice time to check out my skills before I shared my hockey news with the family.

There was a loud wrooming sound coming from outside. Was Rupert back? I saw a black leather covered figure walk toward the patio doors. It didn’t look like Rupert. I looked down at my bunny pajamas in horror. I had felt oddly comfortable wearing them around Harry, but now I suddenly felt self conscious.

“Ah, good,” said Harry and got up to get another plate.

The door opened. I froze as the helmet came off and the face came into view. Hazel eyes stared right at me, smirked, and drawled, “Hello, Shrimp.”

I was horrified. Kellan removed his leather jacket, threw it over the chair and sat down as Harry handed him some bacon and eggs. I tried not to look at him, but his very presence made me feel uncomfortable and all I wanted to do was flee. However, that would mean standing up and revealing the full bunny pajama spectacle. I could feel his eyes boring into me.

“Cute bunnies,” he teased.

That’s it! I stood up and fled from the room. I could see Harry shrugging his shoulders at Kellan who looked totally taken aback.

I fled up the stairs, stopping by Ella’s room to check in on her. She was laying down looking miserable, poor thing. I brought over a couple of her J-14 magazines for her to look over to try to take her mind off things. I left her happily reading the Jonas Brother’s article and went back to my room, and sat and waited for Harry and Kellan to leave so I could go back down.

After what seemed like a never-ending breakfast, I heard them go outside and roar off on their motorbikes. Phew! What was Kellan doing at the house? Harry and Kellan were obviously friends, I wondered if the breakfast thing was routine. I hoped not.

I was running late for school now so I hurried to my Jeep. My hockey kit needed to be concealed, so I hid it under some boxes at the far end of the garage and then drove off to school. There was no sign of the boys as I entered the school. I made my way to the school office to find out who the hockey coach was. I had meant to look it up at home but had run out of time. Thankfully, there was a school manual on the table in the waiting area. I quickly looked it up. Dr. Lee, who was also my physics teacher, was listed under hockey. He had been away yesterday, but I assumed that he would be back today. I located his office on the school map, walked over and knocked on his door. No reply, so I took a sheet of paper from my bag and wrote him a note.

Dr. Lee

I would be most grateful if you could send a pass for me, so I can talk to you, it’s fairly urgent.

I would have to get used to Darley for now, I thought to myself. Scratching out the name Stevens, I slid the note under his door. I bumped into Ali and Maria on the way to my locker and we went off to our first class together, biology.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. I concentrated on my lessons and tried to remember/recall as many faces as I could. I recalled Meg, in biology, another good friend. She was on the swim team and in three of my classes. Thankfully, I didn’t see Simla, Ariel or Kellan all day. Reprieve until tomorrow, when I’d have to deal with at least two of them in physics. I left school right after my last class, hurrying out before anyone could grab me for an after-school activity I wasn’t aware of. Once I was safely in my car, I got my iPhone out and located the nearest ice rink. It wasn’t far. I drove off to find it. I felt excited as soon as I saw the arena. With the Jeep parked, I checked the lot for familiar cars and motorbikes. No bikes, so I went inside. It was very quiet.

“Hi, Arizona, haven’t seen you here for a while, how have you been?”

I looked over at the lady. She was in her forties or fifties and she had a nice, friendly smile.

I smiled at her and said, “Hi! I’m fine, just been busy with school. It’s nice and quiet today.”

“Yes, no one really gets here until later. Are you here to skate? Did you bring your own or do you want to borrow a pair? How’s Harry?”

“I didn’t plan ahead, so yes, I need to borrow some size eights. Harry’s good. He got back from camp yesterday. I haven’t had the chance to catch up with him yet.”

“What about the Princess Ella?” she asked as she handed me a pair of figure skates.

“She isn’t feeling well today so I’m not going to stay long. Thanks!”

I took the skates and went through the door to the rink and sat down on the bleachers. I had obviously been here before, but it didn’t feel familiar. I put the skates on and walked over to the ice. There was only one kid on the ice having a private lesson with an instructor. They ignored me.

Although I felt balanced, I just stood on the ice for a few moments to make sure. Then I put one skate in front of the other and pushed off, it seemed to come naturally. As I slid along the ice, I felt well grounded. So I tried a few back wards moves and stops, no issues. I felt fairly confident that my hockey skills were intact.

Dr. Lee hadn’t sent for me today, which was probably for the best. I felt more confident talking to him now that I was sure of myself.

I made it home by five. A couple of bikes were parked outside, Harry’s and Kellan’s. The thought of Kellan made me feel slightly queasy, so I decided to try to sneak up the stairs quietly. However, when I heard laughter and screaming from the family room, I couldn’t help peeking. Ella and Kellan were battling it out on Guitar Hero and Harry was dancing along with Gertrude. I guess Ella had fully recovered. Well, that explained the elaborate GH set up. I had a brother! Mom and Rupert were cuddling on the couch, laughing so hard that tears were streaming down Mom’s face.

Gertrude was the only one who noticed that I’d come in. She jumped out of Harry’s arms and lunged herself at me. She took me by surprise and I stumbled, lost my bearings and fell flat. As I clumsily scrambled to get myself up I noticed the whole room had gone quiet and all eyes were on me. I felt my face go red as I plonked myself down on the nearest chair, carefully avoiding Kellan’s eyes.

“Are you ok, Arizona?” Mom asked as she came over to me.

“Yes, just fine,” I said trying to brush it off. “How are you doing, Ella? Feeling better?” I continued trying to divert attention away from me.

Ella came over and climbed into my lap for a hug. It felt very awkward, but I put my arms around her.

“I just beat Kellan at Guitar Hero. What could be better!” she said proudly.

I could hear Kellan mock crying in the background.

“I ordered pizza. Hope that’s ok with everyone,” said Rupert.

“Kellan, are you staying for dinner?” Mom asked.

“No, I better get home, tons of homework for physics.” He got up and bear hugged Ella, thumped Harry and Rupert on the shoulders and kissed my mom’s cheek. He slowly turned around, smiled and pulled at my sleeve and said, “See you at physics, Shrimp,” and left. I suddenly felt hollow. Inexplicably, I didn’t want him to leave. A lump was rising in my throat.

Rupert brought the pizzas into the family room and we helped ourselves. I sat down on one of the overstuffed chairs and looked around. Ella and Harry were sitting on the floor stuffing their faces. They were obviously very close. Harry seemed to follow her every move and helped her anytime there was even the slightest sign that she needed anything. She in turn adored him, but seemed to like to try to annoy him. So, nothing new with her, she’s such a brat!

Ella kept flicking bits of cheese onto Harry’s face, but he just laughed and play tickled her back. I felt a bit envious. All my life I had wished for an older brother who would look out for me and always be on my side. My relationship with Ella was strained or at least that’s how I remember it being in Princeton. We avoided physical contact, never hugged, touched or spent any time together. She knew how to push my buttons and I didn’t take kindly to it. And here she was, flicking cheese without any consequences.

I turned around and looked at Rupert. I wondered what his story was. I gathered that he could play the guitar. Could he be some kind of musician? I wondered where he rode off to on his bike. He looked at my mother with doting eyes. He rested his head on my mom’s lap and she absentmindedly stroked his hair. I wondered what she was thinking about. Where had they met, how long had they been together and the bigger question… why did we call him Dad? I could feel myself getting worked up again and I wanted to scream. So I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

Mom seemed to be her usual self, still bossy, but she appeared more relaxed and content. I had caught her looking with irritation at her Blackberry a couple of times this evening. I wondered what that was about. I opened my eyes again and looked over at her. She looked amazing for her age, she must be getting close to 45, but she didn’t look a day over 30, well maybe 35. I saw her trusted Kelly bag sitting on the floor by her seat, some things never changed.

My eyes were drawn to her hands. What was that around her finger, dirt? I looked more closely, it looked like a tattooed ring. I noticed that Rupert had the same tattoo. They had tattooed wedding bands? That was very alternative of them, almost silly! I held back my giggles by clenching my jaw shut.

Mom’s phone rang, and she seemed slightly annoyed as she answered. The conversation was one sided with Mom replying in one-syllable words. She looked at Rupert and whispered but I could still hear, “Problem at work, I’m going to have to go in for a while. Come with me?”

Rupert sat up and said, “Harry, you’re in charge. Get Ella to bed and read her a bedtime story. Harry Potter, it’s by her bed. Arizona, you have homework? We’ll be back in a couple of hours. I’ll be on my cell.”

They got up and kissed each of us before they took off on Rupert’s Harley.

As we got up to head upstairs, Harry asked, “Shrimp, do you need help with your physics homework?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t looked at it yet. I’ll come and find you if I do,” I said, not aware of any physics homework.

He scooped Ella up in his arms and carried her upstairs. I decided to take Gertrude for a stroll before tackling my homework. I found her leash and we ventured outside. Lazy little Gertrude did not seem to want to head out in the dark so it was a quick stroll. We went back inside and I went upstairs to deal with the homework.

I stopped outside Ella’s room and watched Harry read to her. I was overcome with jealously – I needed Harry to be my brother. Ella beckoned me to climb into bed with her, so I did. We listened to him read; Ella was asleep before he had finished the chapter. I got up, Harry tucked her in and we left her to dream her dreams.

“I’ll be in my room if you need any help, Shrimp.”

I absentmindedly yanked at Harry’s sleeve as a thank you and went to my room. I was almost scared as I opened my homework calendar and looked at the work. It seemed that this was basically a repeat of junior year, so I had done most all of this before, but with really bad grades in all the classes. Physics was a new one though, not a clue why I was taking physics. Had my mother forced me into it? I looked at the homework. Centripetal force problems, no idea what that meant. Despite skimming the textbook, it still made no sense. Was Harry really any good at this? I walked over to his room, the one that had been locked before. He was sitting by his desk, writing some kind of report. He looked up as he heard me come in.

“Need help, Shrimp?”

I nodded, “Any idea what centripetal force is?”

“Sure, let me see what you have to do.” He took my assignment and explained the problems. It was actually very simple and we finished the work in no time.

I looked around his room. It was hockey themed with some bike stuff thrown in, a typical boy’s room. There were lots of posters (all framed), a row of helmets (some biker and some hockey), signed hockey memorabilia, sticks and pucks. Harry watched me looking at his stuff with amusement.

“Why did you lock your room when you went away?” I asked curiously.

“So you wouldn’t come in and meddle with my stuff!” he laughed.

I was a bit hurt, but I guess that made sense. I knew all about little sisters not being able to keep their hands off personal property. I guess I was his pesky little sister.

“What were you and Kellan talking about at breakfast?” I asked.

He looked bemused, “Can’t really remember. I guess I told him about camp and we discussed the tryouts.”

He sat up and looked at me with a mischievous grin, “What’s going on between you and Kellan? Did you fight about something while I was away? You guys acted strange at breakfast.”

I shrugged, “Oh nothing…Harry, can we hang out after school tomorrow? I’ve missed you.”

“Sure, I’ve missed you too, Shrimp. I have a date with Maria at six, so why don’t we hang out right after school?”

I nodded happily as I got up to leave.

“Shrimp, are you coming to watch the tryouts on Thursday?”

“I’ll be there,” I said carefully.

I kept my face down as I entered physics class, trying to keep a low profile. How should I approach Ariele? She was one of my best friends; I needed to talk to her but was almost afraid to. I needed her to know me, Arizona Stevens. But how would I explain my current pathetic predicament! I was so preoccupied worrying about her that I almost ran into Kellan. Well perhaps not almost, my face got rather close and personal with his chest as it rebounded off it with a thump. He smirked at me or that’s what it looked like anyway. I guess it could be his version of a smile. If so, he needed to work on it.

“Shrimps first,” he whispered into my ear as I tried to squeeze pass him through the doorway.

I suddenly felt intensely irritated. It was one thing for Harry to call me Shrimp, but it annoyed me when Kellan did. I’m not sure why. It seemed less affectionate when he said it, almost teasing. I gathered that he was one of my brother’s (a brother… it sounded so odd. My mind wandered momentarily, but I shook myself back to the present) best friends, however, surely I didn’t have to put up with this? No, I definitely did not! I turned around and snarled at him, baring my teeth.

“Stop calling me Shrimp!” I glowered at him with my fists clenched at my side, ready to punch him if I needed to. The expression on his face changed immediately to one of shock. I instantly regretted opening my big mouth.

“Are you ok? I’ve called you Shrimp since we were eight! What’s going on with you? You’re acting very bizarre. There is something different about you. Did something happen?” he looked me over carefully, narrowing his eyes.

I realized that I had made a big mistake. I was horrified. The hurt in his eyes was unbearable; it made my stomach heave. I tugged at his sleeve nervously.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean it. You know that.”

Thankfully he nodded and his mouth broke into an infectious smile. I felt a sense of relief wash over me. I walked over to my seat with Maria. She was pinching my elbow and she gave me a clearly disappointed stare. She shrugged her shoulders at Kellan and more or less pushed me down on my chair.

“O-M-G, what’s up with you?” she hissed clearly irritated.

“I don’t know,” I whispered back wearily.

She went around to her desk and sat down. I could feel everyone looking at me. This was clearly out of character. I wondered if Ariele was sitting at the back and if she had noticed my little fit. She’s the only one who wouldn’t give this a second thought. After all, this was quite normal behavior for Princeton Arizona. This is how I always was.

I wasn’t feeling brave enough to turn around to see if she was there. The thought of meeting Kellan’s gaze was more than I could deal with at the moment. I could hear Justin laugh from behind me and it took all I had not to turn around and wallop him. It was really hard to suppress my natural instincts, but I felt I had to. This was so clearly not how the Arizona they knew would behave. Well, I can’t be perfect all the time! At least, I looked like Arizona Darley today. Ella had helped me get back to normal. I looked pretty and well polished. I would have to work on the attitude.

I did feel bad for Kellan. He was clearly hurt and disappointed in me. Best to find a way of making it up to him, although I wasn’t sure exactly why I felt I had to. I rummaged around in my bag, pulled out my physics folder and pretended to go through my homework.

After what seemed like eternity, a very late Dr. Lee entered the classroom and everyone went silent. I was a bit taken aback. I had expected a burly ex-hockey player, but Dr. Lee looked like your everyday science nerd who had never skated in his life. I guessed he had hidden talents, however, I was starting to wonder if this team was any good. I gave myself an imaginary kick. How could I be so judgmental? After all, I, a petite girl, was expecting to be accepted as a serious candidate to play for the varsity team.

“Miss Darley, I got your note this morning. Please come to my office during lunch,” he said as he adjusted his bow tie.

Maria shot me a curious look, as did the rest of the class. I put my head down and pretended to concentrate on my work. Thankfully, with Harry’s help last night, I was able to keep up with Dr. Lee as he moved on to equilibrium and torque. I was actually starting to enjoy this class. Physics seemed to be fairly intuitive and I seemed to get the various concepts without too much effort. Memorizing all these equations would be a challenge though. Dr. Lee seemed to command attention and there were no whispers or chatting during class thankfully. We put our homework on an open folder on Dr. Lee’s desk on the way out.

Kellan brushed past me on the way out the door and said, “Beat you at Guitar Hero later, Shrimp?”

I could feel his breath on my neck and felt strangely drawn to him. I nodded thankfully and squeezed his arm. He was sweet to make an effort to make me feel better. On the way to the computer lab, I asked Maria if she had seen the new girl in class.

“I didn’t notice, Arizona. You had my attention, the whole class’s attention!”

I nodded embarrassed, “Yes, I’m sorry about that. I’ll have to apologize to Kellan, again.”

“What on earth’s up with you two? Did you tell him about the hockey? Is he annoyed?”

“I didn’t. Why would he be annoyed anyway?”

She shrugged, “I guess he wouldn’t. I just don’t get it. There’s definitely something up with you two.”

I shook my head in disagreement but she rolled her eyes.

"Why does Dr. Lee want to see you?” she asked moving on.

“Oh, I’m just going to ask him about trying out, forms and all that stuff.”

“You could just get all that from Harry. Have you told him yet?” she asked.

“No, but I will, soon. This evening maybe.”

“Make sure you do. It won’t be pleasant if he finds out from anyone else. You can see that, can’t you?” she asked pointedly, obviously having lost all confidence in my judgment. I nodded and reassured her that I would take care of it.

I wandered over to Dr. Lee’s office after computer lab and knocked at the door.

“Come in,” sounded his surprisingly firm voice.

I went in and waited for him to ask me to sit. Dr. Lee is a very serious looking man. I hadn’t seen him smile yet. He is about five foot ten inches tall and slender. He appeared very formal in his gray slacks, navy blazer and red bow tie. He was a bit intimidating really, which was kind of weird as I was sure I could flatten him if I had to.

He waived me to a chair and asked, “Are you having any problems in physics, Arizona?”

I took a deep breath, “No, I am actually here to talk to you about ice hockey. You’re the coach?”

“I’m the director, not the coach. That would be Coach Stanislaw. Is there anything I can help you with?”

So, he was not the coach. That made sense. Maybe it would be better to make up a pretend physics issue to discuss with him and wait with the hockey stuff until I found Coach Stanislaw.

He continued, “Your brother is an amazing hockey player and we see a bright future for him in college hockey. I wasn’t aware that you had an interest in ice hockey, Arizona. My daughter plays hockey, for Princeton University now.”

I was surprised to hear that he had a hockey-playing daughter.

“Did she go to school here?” I asked with newfound respect for Dr. Lee.

“She did,” he replied with pride.

This was looking a bit more promising so I decided to throw myself into it.

“I was hoping to tryout for the varsity team. I guess I just need some information about the times and any forms I have to fill out. Do I need to fill out a medical form?”

He looked surprised, “Arizona, we don’t have a girl’s team. I wish we did. Tanya, my daughter, played for a local triple A team, The Mountain Cats. Have you heard of them?”

I shook my head as he continued.

“I know the coach fairly well and my wife was their manager for a few years. I’ll be happy to contact them for you,” he offered.

That did sound mildly interesting, and perhaps I would look into that at some point. It would be fun playing with girls. However, at the moment the priority was getting onto the varsity team.

“I understand that if there is no girl’s team available at the school, then the school is obliged to let me try out for whatever team is available. All boys or not,” I informed him firmly.

“That’s true, Arizona,” he agreed. “It will be hard though. We have a strong team. The boys are close and will not easily accept you. I was not even aware that you had played before?”

I ignored his comment, as I wasn’t prepared to delve into my other life as a star hockey girl. It would be too confusing to say the least! I did, however, wonder if I had played hockey with his daughter during summer hockey camps at Princeton University. Anyway, I asked him about the paper work and schedules instead. He went over to a filing cabinet and pulled out some forms and handed them to me.

“Arizona, I’ll let Coach Stanislaw know to expect you. The tryout times are on the top form.”

I nodded and thanked him. He kindly added that I was welcome to contact his wife for any support and advice as she had also played ice hockey.

“Arizona, best of luck tomorrow. I’ll be rooting for you.”

I gave him a thankful smile and left to find the girls. I was feeling much more hopeful and quite joyful by the time I got to the cafeteria. The cheer table beckoned to me and I went over and sat down.

Maria slid over a plate with fruit and asked, “Well, how did it go?”

“Better than I thought it would. I’ll fill you in later, but please don’t mention anything to Harry yet. I’ll try to break it to him this evening.”

“The new girl from physics came over earlier and asked me to hand you this note,” Maria said as she slid a piece of paper over to me. It was brief.

May I copy your physics notes?

I’ll come find you later.

Thanks, Ariele

I guess it was time to deal with Ariele, after all she was my BFF from Princeton. I looked around and spotted her alone at one of the corner tables. Walking over to her, I wondered if she recognized me from Princeton or if she only knew me as Barbie Arizona, like Simla and Justin seemed to.

“Hey, Ariele, I’ve got my notes right here. We can photocopy them in the office if you like.”

She looked up at me carefully studying my face. I smiled at her. She hadn’t changed a bit. Same beautiful Ariele, gorgeous chestnut curls that barely touched her shoulders and green eyes. I’ve never seen more perfect brows, and I knew they were natural, never touched by tweezers. I could see her trying to read me, but she was not brave enough to blurt anything out. Not yet anyway. She stood up, towering about a foot above me. She nodded silently and we headed out of the cafeteria toward the office.

“I heard you moved here from New Jersey?” I asked gently.

She turned around and looked at me tentatively, “It’s complicated. We were supposed to have moved here next June, but we seem to have arrived earlier than expected. It’s a bit of a strange story. I’m still trying to work it out. A?” Ariele said looking at me hopefully.

“Yes?”

“I knew it! You are A! This is beyond bizarre. You are A aren’t you?” she asked pleadingly.

I nodded; Ariele and Monica had always called me “A” back in Princeton.

“I wanted to ask you ever since I saw you at physics, but I was scared to make an idiot of myself again,” she said. She told me that she had run into both Justin and Simla and that neither had recognized her, and both were now treating her like a nut job. Simla had been spreading mean rumors about her.

“Have you got any idea what’s going on?” she asked looking me over with a smile. “I’m not even going to start going on about your new look,” she giggled.

I punched her fondly.

“The last time we saw each other was after the SAT’s at Princeton High. And here we were. I am the new girl and you seem to have been here forever. How can that be?” Ariele mused.

“I have no idea, Ariele. This is totally bizarre!”

“No kidding! I’ve been play stalking you for the last few days. I was trying to work out if it was really you or if you were like Simla and Justin. I got to say, I nearly gave up when I found out that you were the vice captain of the cheer squad!” She guffawed. “Gosh and on the debate team! The blonde hair and designer gear threw me completely. Have you totally lost your mind?” She chuckled, “It would have been priceless seeing you cheer! I came along to the basketball game hoping to see you in action. I was so looking forward to it! How did you get out of that?”

“Long story, Ariele! We really have to get to the bottom of this. What are you doing after school? Can you come over and hang out later this evening?”

She was hesitant. Her parents had her on a strict curfew. We decided that I would go along to her place with the pretense that we had to work on a physics project together. I programmed her new address into my iPhone.

“A, I am so glad you are you. Cool Jeep by the way! But guess who is driving the Dodge Charger?” she smirked.

I rolled my eyes at her. It felt so good to connect with Ariele. Turning toward her, I grabbed her in my arms and hugged her. It was so good to see her. There were so many questions we both needed answers to but they would have to wait until this evening.

“Oh, A, nice going this morning in physics. That’s when I was fairly certain that it was you!”

“You saw that? Great. I made a real idiot of myself.”

She chuckled and said, “Apparently, you have a debate team meeting at two, don’t forget! Lily was looking for you earlier.”

“Come with me, Ariele? Share my pain!”

“Ok, goose, I’ll meet you outside the dork room.”

Two o’clock came way too soon. I walked over to the “dork” room and found Ariele waiting for me.

She took my hand and whispered, “Strength in numbers, sister from the future,” and winked at me.

Lily arrived with the rest of the team and we went inside. I looked over to Ariele and rolled my eyes. I felt really bad for this enthusiastic bunch. They really didn’t deserve to have me here. I recognized a few kids from my other classes.

“You’re the new girl… Ariele? Have you been on a debate team before?” Lily asked.

Ariele sighed and said, “No, but I am trying to get a feel for the activities here so Arizona suggested I come along to see if this is for me.”

“Well, I hope it is. We would love for you to join.”

The meeting was beyond painful. Strategy, competition dates, speaker sequence. I tried to nod and make the right sounds at the right time. Lily tried to corner me for dates, but I managed to avoid that by saying that the cheer squad schedule had not been finalized yet, so I couldn’t commit to anything. It would be best to use me as a reserve (I had absorbed this concept during the speaker sequence bit of the meeting). Lily seemed to accept this unquestioningly. I guess my priority in this life was cheerleading. Ariele was asked if she would like to sit in on a few of the debates. She nodded, but looked relieved when the bell rang. The meeting was over and we all dispersed.

I nodded a “later” to Ariele and went to find Harry. I walked around the corridor and was stopped by Simla. She looked decidedly unhappy.

“Why are you hanging out with that weirdo?”

“Who, Simla?” I asked, knowing full well that she meant Ariele.

“Ariele, the new girl. You need to stay away from her. She’s really strange. Her parents are nuts too. They told the staff in the hospital that they’re from the future!”

I tried suppressing my laughter, “I’ll be careful Simla, but Ariele and I have a physics project to do together.”

She looked at me unhappily.

“I have to go and find Harry, Simla. I’ll try to catch up with you later. Bye,” I murmured as I hurried off. I walked over to the weight room where I had arranged to meet Harry. I spotted him by the door. Oh yuck, he was basically eating Maria.

“Cut it out you two!”

Harry laughed (Maria looked mortified) and let go of her.

“Come on then, Shrimp. See you later, Maria!”

We waved goodbye.

“So what do you want to do, Shrimp?” Harry asked.

“Can we go skating?” I suggested carefully.

He looked surprised but pleased. “That sounds great. I need some ice time before the tryouts,” he added.

I laughed to myself. Like they were going to cut the captain? I suggested that we get some sticks so we could practice his hockey.

He shook his head amused and patted my head, “You are funny! The best! Let’s do it!”

He went off to get some sticks for us from the locker room. I smiled at the thought of my hidden U+ stick in the garage. When he got back, we put on a couple of helmets, I took the sticks and we roared off on his bike. This bike thing was such fun, a real thrill! I was desperately trying to hold on to Harry as I balanced the sticks between us on the seat, my legs over them.

We rode over to the same rink I had been at yesterday. It was so much busier; I guess everyone was trying to get a little practice in before the tryouts. I spotted the lady who lent me the skates yesterday and smiled at her. She brought over a pair of hockey skates this time, as it was open hockey practice only. I put them on; they felt so much more comfortable than the figure skates from yesterday.

Harry took my hand and we walked on to the ice and skated to the center. He carefully positioned the stick in my hand (as I tried my very best not to giggle) and we started passing the puck to one another. I felt like a four year old, but decided to take things slowly with Harry. Some guys from the hockey team came over and asked Harry if he wanted to train with them for a while. He started to say no but I interrupted and told him to go, I would skate around for a while. He patted my helmet and skated off. I watched him for a while – he was amazing. Perhaps even better than me!

I started skating around. This was so much fun, especially with the stick in my hand. I spotted a lone puck on the ice and scooped it up with my stick and then let my stick guide it around the ice. I skated faster and faster and then had to skid to a dead stop as someone skated in front of me. It was Harry.

“You’re not half bad with that stick, Shrimp!” He said excitedly. “Show me what else you can do.”

“I’m not really sure, Harry. I was skating about without thinking,” I said truthfully. I showed him my backward skating and goal shots. I could tell that he was beyond amazed.

“When did you learn to do all this?” he asked amazed.

“I don’t really know. I guess I picked it up watching you?”

He seemed to buy it, typical boy! I was glad that I didn’t have to make up anything more elaborate. He looked at me thoughtfully.

“You should maybe think of trying some girl’s hockey. I bet you’d be awesome,” he suggested proudly.

I was still unsure how to broach the varsity hockey thing to him but decided to give it a go.

“Harry, wouldn’t it be great to be able to play on the same team? Do you think that’s an insane idea?”

He looked surprised and turned silent. He took my hand as he thought about it. We skated over to the side and walked over to the bleachers. Harry told me to wait at the bench while he got us some hot chocolate. I wondered if I had just blown it with Harry. I really liked him and wanted him on my side. He did not seem like the kind of brother who would be a buzz kill. He came back carrying two large hot chocolates and handed me one carefully as he sat down beside me.

“Arizona, you just took my breath away. I’m completely blown away by your skating; you are awesome. I’m not really sure what to say except I think we should get Ella onto the ice too. I bet she’s like that chimp in MVP!”

I chuckled. No chance. That girl was born to be a princess.

“Shrimp, we really should spend more time together this year, especially since I’m off to college soon. Playing on the same team may not be the best way to do it though. I’m the captain of the varsity team. Even if you made the tryouts and onto the team, the rest of them would assume you only made it because of me. The other issue for me would be safety. I don’t know that I could concentrate on the game with you on the ice. I would spend the entire time worrying about you. Have you thought about a girl’s team? I hear the Mountain Cats are really good.” He looked over to me waiting for a response.

He was right, of course. All those things had not been relevant at Princeton – no brother. I would really have to prove myself at the tryouts. Prove to him that he needn’t worry about me. I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.

“Harry, you’re right, I didn’t think about those things. It would be awkward for you. Will you give it a chance though, just for the tryouts? It’ll be fun. You can cut me if you want. I won’t be upset. Just let me give it a go?”

Harry nodded and said he would drive me over to the sports store for some supplies, but I reminded him that he had a date with Maria.

“Can you drop me off at school by the Jeep? I’ll drive over and get what I need. Can you help me with all those forms when you get home though?”

He laughed and took my stick and we headed over to get the bike. He dropped me off at the Jeep and sped off. I couldn’t wait to see Ariele. I programmed her address into the GPS and headed down the road to her place.

It took forever to get there. It started raining, and I could hardly see though the windshield. The defogger was not doing its job. I passed the house three times before I found the obscured driveway to the front of the house. It was much smaller than I had expected but cute. I ran up to the front door and knocked. Ariele’s mother answered.

“Dr. Moreau! It’s so good to see you.”

“It’s nice to see you too, Arizona.” She turned, looked up the stairs and shouted, “Ariele, come down. Arizona is here.”

Ariele came bounding down the stairs and hugged me. She grabbed my hand and led me upstairs to her bedroom. Her bedroom was nice and light, covered with posters. She closed the door and jumped on to the big bed. I sat down next to her. I had so much to tell her, but I wanted to hear her story first.

“Ariele, Simla cornered me earlier and told me to beware of you. Muhaaaaa, apparently you’re from the future!” I teased, putting my fingers to my head like antennae and wriggling them.

She collapsed laughing and said, “She’s right. We are from the futuuuure, beewaare!”

Then she turned somber, “Seriously though, we did fail the psych assessment at the hospital after the accident.”

She started rambling; I could barely understand what she was saying. She told me that when they regained consciousness they had all been asked, “What year it was? Who was the president? Blah blah. Obama of course and it’s 2009! But no, it was apparently 2008.”

I could barely grasp anything thing she said through her hurried rambling. I gathered that the psychiatrist had kept at them, but they had, naively, insisted they were right. So, they had failed the psych assessment carried out by Simla’s dad (whom I gathered was the psychiatrist) and the word spread. So much for patient/doctor confidentiality.

“Hold on!” I interrupted, “Accident? Ariele, slow down, I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

“You haven’t heard?” she asked.

I shook my head.

Ariele explained, “Remember the last time we saw each other in Princeton? Just after the SAT’s. Monica, you and I said our goodbyes as I was leaving for the airport. Well, I drove home first and did some last minute stuff before the limo picked us up. Mom, Dad and I got into the limo and headed for Newark airport. It was a miserable day, the rain was coming down in torrents and there were huge delays at the airport. The turnpike was jammed, but the limo driver managed to get us to the airport on time. I was surprised and excited to find out that we were being flown to California in a private jet, super cool. Apparently Ames Research was so desperate to have my mom come and work for them that they were going all out to get us here. The limo drove us right up to the plane. It was small but had a bar and super comfy seats. There were no other passengers. I had my own seat that folded down to a bed and a games console with Guitar Hero! We were strapped in for takeoff, which was delayed for over an hour due to the rain. Once we were up, I got served my favorite food, Taco Bell! I couldn’t believe it. My mom and dad got some sushi, yuck. We ate and then watched an early release of the new Harry Potter, which was awesome. It’s not even out in the cinema yet! The ride itself was bumpy. I guess due to the rain but no one seemed concerned. About half an hour before landing time, the ride became very bumpy, to the point we were getting thrown around. So we put our seat belts on and even had to assume the crash position, just in case. I have never really been afraid of flying until then. Then suddenly everything went calm before we felt a tremendous force and were sucked back into our seats, a bit like when going down a rollercoaster. I don’t know what happened next, I think I must have blacked out.”

She took a deep breath and continued, “I woke up in a hospital and found Mom and Dad sitting holding my hands. We were kept in isolation until your mom came to visit us. She explained that our plane had crashed and that the rescue team had found us and brought us out here. We all seemed to have survived the crash without any major injuries. No injuries in fact. Not even a scratch, which was weird. I was thankful. Your mom was very sweet and arranged to have us moved to a house. It would have been fairly smooth, the move I mean, had it not been for Simla’s pesky dad. He insisted on a psych evaluation first. None of us liked him. He’s a really irritating little man and we thought that he was being a pain arguing with us over simple things like the present year. I’m not sure how it happened, but your mother managed to get us discharged and out of there. She set us up here until we find a house we want to buy.”

She took a deep breath and continued. “We quickly accepted that we were perhaps a bit confused after all. It is October, 2008! We just couldn’t work it out. We still can’t, but decided to keep a low profile and get on with life as best we can while we figure it out. We wondered what your mother was doing here and how she had found us, but after the incident with Simla’s dad, we didn’t want to stir anything up until we found out what was going on. We didn’t even know that the psychiatrist was Simla’s dad until I started school.” She paused but I nudged her to carry on.

“My mom started her job at Ames and she was surprised to find out that your mother was her boss. She was the Dr. Darley who had headhunted her with this amazing job offer. They don’t really run into each other much so she’s not been able to corner her for answers. October seems to be their busy month. My mom has been working non stop on her assigned project, whatever that is, with her team.”

I was trying to absorb all this. It was complicated. I had gathered that Mom worked at Ames. Nothing else made sense.

“Ariele, do you know what kind of project your mother is working on?”

“No, but we can ask her. Tell me what you are doing here though. When did you arrive?”

“Ariele, my story is even more bizarre that yours if that’s possible. I don’t know when I arrived here. I can only remember this week, but I’ve obviously lived here a lot longer. Ella is here too. I seem to have a new dad, Rupert. And also a brother, Harry.”

Ariele looked at me in pity and sighed, “We really have a lot of stuff to work out.”

My phone interrupted us with a bleep. A text from Kellan.

Avoiding getting beat at GH?

I had to head home. “Got to go, Ariele. We have to get back to this soon!” I promised. “Ariele, I’ve decided to tryout for the varsity ice hockey team.”

She shrugged, unexcited, “You’re bound to make the team.”

I kissed her and turned around to leave but hesitated.

“What’s up,” she asked.

It seemed like such a ridiculous question given our situations, but I wondered if she could tell me a bit about Kellan.

“Ariele, this is a bit embarrassing. I’m heading back home to meet up with Kellan. I don’t remember who he is. Or what’s between us. I seem to get flustered in his presence. Can’t imagine why! All I know is that he seems close to Harry, my new brother, and is very chummy with Ella. He hangs out at the house, a lot! He seems comfortable calling me Shrimp. The only other person who does that, so far, is Harry, but I don’t seem to mind that. I like it, in fact. Kellan makes me feel really uncomfortable but he seems fairly familiar with me. I was sort of wondering if we have dated in the past or if we’re dating now or…” I looked at her sheepishly.

Ariele chortled, “All I’m sure of is that he can’t take his eyes off you during physics. Part of the ‘stalking you’ involved trying to find out what was up with you two. I asked Simla before I knew how evil she was. She probably thought that I was into Kellan. She let me know in no uncertain terms that he’s way out of my league. She said that he was not dating anyone and that you two had known each other for as long as she could remember. He apparently regards you as a kid sister. Are you into him?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I felt excited every time he came close to me and desperately wanted to reach out for him, but I also felt a sense of fear. Maybe not quite fear but danger. I wasn’t quite sure what it all meant. All I knew was that I was now desperate to get out of here and head over to see him.

“I’m not sure, Ariele. I’m just trying to work things out. It’s way easier for you being the new girl! I don’t know who I am! Will you tell me everything you find out about me?”

“Sure thing,” she said comfortingly as she squeezed my arm. I texted Kellan back.

YOU get ready to get beat…. I’m on my way.

It was almost seven by the time I got home. It was already dark, but the moon shone brightly, lighting up the night sky. I had missed dinner. Mom would probably be furious and I expected to have to kiss the Jeep or iPhone good bye for a while. I decided to delay the wrath for a bit longer and went into the garage to check on my hockey kit. As I was walking in, I could hear frantic barks from the house. Gertrude had sensed that I was home. This would have to be quick. I went to where I had hidden the hockey bag and picked up the U+. I couldn’t wait to give her a try! The yaps were getting louder so I put the stick under the boxes carefully. It wouldn’t be long till I could enjoy the full thrill of swinging it from my hands.

Kellan’s bike was parked up front. I wasn’t sure why he had waited for me this long. I was unacceptably late. I didn’t see Harry’s bike. He was probably still out with Maria. I wondered what their story was? They made a cute couple although I could see Ariele with Harry. Now that would be cool. I suddenly remembered that Ariele was not really into guys.

I walked in and found Ella and Kellan in the family room going at Guitar Hero. Trying not to disturb them, I slumped into one of the chairs and watched them play. Ella was not half bad and she almost had him beat. This seemed to be a routine – Kellan and Ella as GH buddies. Kind of odd.

Ella suddenly shrieked and threw her guitar down and proceeded to do a victory dance. Kellan winked at me as she danced over to me and sang “I am the champion…” and she threw herself down on my lap.

“Good going, munchkin! Where’s everyone?” I asked looking over at Kellan.

“Your mom had to go back to work and your dad’s not back yet. Your mom asked me to stay and watch Ella until Harry gets back. He should be back in a couple of hours.”

“Ready to get beat?” I asked looking over to Kellan.

Ella replied excitedly, “Totally, come on!” She ran to grab a guitar and looked at me expectantly.

Kellan laughed and whispered that he would beat me for real later. My stomach made a loud grumbling sound as I got up. I turned crimson with embarrassment. It did it again.

“Have you had anything to eat?” Kellan asked.

I shook my head. I had totally forgotten to eat. The last thing had been the hot chocolate at the rink. Ariele and I had been so engrossed in conversation that we had completely forgotten about food.

“I’ll go and fix you something while Ella beats you,” he winked and walked off to the kitchen.

I walked over to Ella and picked up a guitar. There was no way I was letting her beat me. I was a bit exasperated at the boys making so many allowances for her. I wasn’t going to.

The game didn’t last long. She had me beat in less than ten minutes. I felt strangely all right with that. Luckily Kellan came in before she could demand another game. I took the plate from Kellan and took a big bite of the delicious smelling panini. I looked at Kellan gratefully and tried to thank him between chews. Then I looked over to Ella who was trying to make Gertrude dance.

“How was your day, Ella? Do anything fun?” I asked her, trying to distract her from torturing Gertrude.

“Yes! The auditions went great. I’m sure they’re going to want me. I was brilliant!”

“That’s great, so what do you have to do next?” I asked, wondering what she was talking about.

“The second audition is in New York. Dad’s going to take me.”

New York? Maybe I could go with her. It would be easy enough to make a run for Princeton from there.

“Ella, do you have any information sheets about the next auditions? I would love to come and watch you.”

She sprang up and rushed to the kitchen. I could hear her rummaging through drawers.

Kellan walked over and sat down on the arm of my chair and whispered, “I really hope she gets the part. She’s been so excited about these auditions. I hope she’s not too disappointed when she realizes that it’s not a TV show but a made-for-TV Disney movie on location in New York. She doesn’t seem to have realized that yet! She was telling me excitedly that she hopes that I can move to Hollywood with all of you when she has to move there to do her show.”

We could hear Ella running back and Kellan got up and moved back to the couch. She flung the audition notice at me, “I think Dad has the recall note, but this was the call for the first audition. Cool isn’t it?”

The flyer was brief, just a call for Disney auditions. I guessed that Rupert had taken her earlier today.

“So, what did you have to do?” I asked.

Ella started beaming with pride. “I got some lines, actually a whole page, to practice for a while. Then Daphne and I walked into the audition hall. There were three people there, two ladies and one man. One of the ladies asked me a few questions, like my name, my age and my favorite song. Then she wanted to hear my best joke. I told the one about the monkey and bananas, but I started giggling before I got to the end. The other lady got up and read the lines with me. Then I sang A Hard Knock Life. I had to leave and wait outside with Dad while Daphne talked to them. She came out and told us that they want me to audition again in New York!”

“That’s so cool, Ella! Can I come to the New York auditions?”

She looked extremely pleased, “I’ll ask Dad. Mom can’t come, she has to work. So, it would be fun if you and Harry and you, Kellan could come. You can help me with my hair, Arizona.”

Kellan stretched and said, “Ok, famous one, it’s time for you to head upstairs and get ready for bed. Brush your teeth and do it properly. Stars have good teeth. Once you’ve put on your pajamas, come down and get me for story time.”

Our star looked annoyed, but stomped up to her room to do what Kellan had asked. It didn’t seem like this was the first time that he had been asked to watch Ella. They seemed to have a routine. He sat down and watched me finish eating. I hoped that I didn’t have cheese stuck to my chin, it felt awfully like it. He seemed pleased to see me finish the panini and move on to the grapes. He smiled.

“You seem a bit different, have for the past week. What’s going on?”

I shrugged and changed the subject, “Where did Mom go?”

He looked surprised, “Oh, the usual. October again, busy time at work for her.”

It didn’t make any sense to me, but I let it pass for the moment, as I didn’t want to weird him out.

Ella came bounding down the stairs with Gertrude at her heels. “I’m ready!” she shouted at Kellan.

He got up to follow her up the stairs. I picked up the hot chocolate and joined them. I sat down next to Kellan on the couch by Ella’s bed. He had found the bookmark in the Harry Potter book and started reading. His voice was animated but warm and it calmed Ella down. I almost nodded off as he read. He gently nudged me to show me that she was fast asleep. We quietly left her room to go back downstairs. On our way down we heard a bike roar to a halt outside. It was Rupert.

“Hey, kids! Thanks for watching Ella, Kellan. Is she asleep?”

Kellan nodded and said that she had fallen asleep a few minutes ago.

Rupert looked disappointed, “She did really well in the auditions today. I’m really proud of her. She worked so hard at memorizing those lines and the song. I wanted to give her a little present. I managed to find the cupcake maker she’s been going on about.”

“When’s the next audition?” I asked.

He rummaged around in his pockets and brought out an envelope, opened it and extracted a sheet.

“Well, it seems like it’s next Friday. Mom can’t come, but the rest of us should make a mini vacation of it and head over together. Ella would like that. Arizona, can you miss school for a couple of days? Any tests or cheer engagements? Kellan, do you want to come?” Rupert asked.

I wasn’t sure what was on the schedule for next Friday but saw Kellan nodding. He said that he would go if Harry went. I assumed that it would be ok for me too, so I nodded. I wondered if I should bring Ariele. I would bring it up later. It would be great to hang out with her in our regular stomping ground. Rupert removed his biker jacket, threw it on the coat rack and turned to head for the kitchen.

“Rupert, would it be ok for me to take Arizona out for a while? We’re all done with our homework, and it’s a great evening for a ride.”

Rupert nodded, “That should be fine. Have her back by eleven. Ride carefully!”

Kellan nodded and turned to me, “Shrimp, do you want to go for a ride?”

I nodded happily and we headed out to his bike. I saw Rupert waving at us from the kitchen window and we both waved back. Kellan handed me a shiny pink helmet. I put it on, a perfect fit. I got on the bike and held on to him tightly. He brought the bike to life and we sped through the driveway to the road. I had no idea where we were going. I should have asked him before we left. It was impossible to talk over the roar of the engine and the howl of the wind. I felt the same thrill that I had felt when I had gone riding with Harry.

We must have been riding for about an hour when he screeched to a halt and turned the bike to head into the woods. The ride was much bumpier now and I was starting to feel slightly nauseous. We zigzagged around the trees. It was pitch dark with no moonlight coming through. The beam from the bike seemed to hit one tree after the other. I buried my face in Kellan’s back and closed my eyes. This was scary and disorienting. I was petrified.

We suddenly stopped. I opened my eyes and noticed that we had arrived at a clearing. I could see a shimmer up ahead. Kellan cut the engine and tried to get off the bike but I was glued solid to him. He took his helmet off and turned his head around rubbing my hands, trying to get me to loosen my grip around him. He managed to get my hands in his. He slowly turned around so we were facing each other. He undid my helmet and let it drop to the ground. I sat still, not being able to move. He got off the bike with my hands still in his. Then he pulled me up and lifted me off the bike.

“Shrimp, are you ok?” he said with a concerned look. I, untruthfully, nodded but he seemed to believe me. I could feel him relax. He scooped me up and carried me to the shimmer, a lake, and sat me down on the grass. Then he lay back and looked up at the sky. He put his arm out for me to lay my head on. I slowly leaned back and lay down looking up into the sky with him.

“It should start any moment now,” he said.

I wondered what he meant. What should start? The sky was clear; the stars were twinkling.

I suddenly heard a whizzing sound coming from the woods and sat upright. It got progressively louder and I shot a worried look over my shoulders.

“It’s just Harry and Maria,” Kellan said as another bike pulled out from the trees and screeched to a halt. They waved and started walking toward us. Both wore leather. Maria came over to me and dropped a bag to the ground.

“Phew, that’s a really long ride! Can’t say that I enjoyed the last bit. I hope the showers are worth it. Dad said that we would probably not see much due to the moonlight. It may have been better to wait for the Orionids,” she mused.

“Well, no reason we can’t come back here for the Orionids. I think they’re supposed to happen around the nineteenth this year. We’ll see them at the Ball,” said Harry.

I had no idea what they were talking about. Orionids, what was that?

Maria nodded at Harry and said, “We may not have a perfect night for those either. I brought some binoculars. Not sure how much they’ll help though. More importantly, I brought some snacks!” She proceeded to empty out her bag of goodies on the grass. She sat down next to me. Harry sat down behind her putting his arms around her. We started munching on the sandwiches. I couldn’t tell what mine was. It tasted like ham and cheese, delicious.

Harry suddenly jerked and pointed to the sky, “There’s one!”

We lay back on the grass with our eyes scanning the sky. I could barely make anything out. I squinted and thought I saw a film of light move quickly in the sky. I tensed up. That must be one. My first shooting star! I was thrilled and grabbed Kellan’s arm in excitement. Another one flew by! Now that my eyes had adjusted and I knew what I was looking for, I was spotting them more easily. I saw another three.

“Amazing isn’t it?” Harry asked.

We lay gazing at the sky for a long while but I didn’t see any more.

Maria got up first and said, “That was better than I had expected, but I’ve got to get home now or my mom will kill me!” With that she pulled Harry to his feet, laughing as she nearly fell on top of him doing so. She gathered her binoculars and with a wave started walking toward the bikes.

“You guys coming?” Harry asked.

“In a while,” Kellan replied.

“Did you tell him yet, Shrimp?” Harry asked, as he got ready to go.

I frowned at him, annoyed.

“Tell me what?” Kellan inquired.

I shook my head, “It’s not important.”

Harry heard me and chuckled. “Later kids, drive carefully and have her home soon.” He took off after Maria. We watched them get back on the bike and disappear into the woods.

Kellan looked at me quizzically, “So?”

I suddenly felt a tremor beneath me. It was barely noticeable, but definitely a tremor.

“Did you feel that? What is it?” I shrieked.

Kellan laughed, “What’s up with you, Shrimp! That’s just one of the October shivers. Did you think it was a quake?”

“No,” I muttered sheepishly. “Of course not.” We lay watching the sky for a while longer. I didn’t see any more shooting stars but I did feel some tremors. October shivers, whatever that was all about. I started thinking about the hockey tryouts when Kellan turned to me again. I was sure he was going to ask me about Harry’s comment so I stood up and stretched.

“Can I have a go on the bike, Kellan?” I could tell from the expression on his face that it was not a great idea so I quickly added, “Just around the lake. I’ll be careful.”

He looked at me thoughtfully, “I guess it would be ok. It’s clear and the grass will slow you down. I’m sitting on the back though, just in case.”

I put my helmet on and got on the bike and asked, “Remind me how it all works.”

He laughed, “Remind you? You’ve never done this before! Don’t even pretend that Harry let you ride. He wouldn’t and he’ll kill me if he knew I did.”

I rolled my eyes at him and stretched my feet out to reach the pedals – they barely reached. Kellan put his feet on the pedals from behind me. He showed me how to turn the ignition on and how to accelerate and stop.

“Are you ready to take over? Don’t worry, I have your back,” he laughed and handed me the key.

I brought the engine to life gently, testing out the controls; they felt sensitive to my touch. I indicated that I was ready by trying to release the brake, failing miserable. So, Kellan reached forward releasing the break and pushed the bike to get it moving. I slowly accelerated and Kellan pulled his feet off the ground slowly and the bike lurched forward. It felt heavy and powerful. I wasn’t sure I could keep us both balanced. Kellan could feel my hesitation. He put his feet on the pedals beside mine and is hands on top of mine and maneuvered the bike into action, and we moved forward gingerly.

We started by riding around in circles. Then we drove along the lake. Kellan tried to let go a few times, but I had a hard time balancing so he kept us steady. We kept riding along the lake, the moonlight guiding us until we were back in the same spot that we had started from. We stopped, and I leaned back into Kellan and relaxed, content that we were still in one piece. I could feel his breath against my neck, warm and intoxicating. I wanted to turn around and kiss him but hesitated. I would probably freak him out. After all, he thought of me as a sister? His touch was irresistible. I turned around so I was facing him and studied him intently. I couldn’t read him at all.

He was gazing directly at me and asked or rather commented, “Arizona, something’s changed. I can’t tell what though. Did something happen? What was Harry taking about?”

I closed my eyes and moved closer to him until I felt my lips brush against his. I stopped wondering if I was taking things too far too fast. His lips brushed lightly against mine and I trembled. He hesitated and I could feel him moving away. Then I felt his hands cup my face and I opened my eyes. He gazed into my eyes and moved toward me. He found my lips and kissed me gently.

Neither of us said anything as we put our helmets back on and switched positions for the long drive home. I clung on tightly as Kellan deftly maneuvered the bike through the trees on to the highway. So many thoughts were going through my mind; I thought I was going to explode. This had been quite an evening. I wondered what Kellan was thinking about. Was he as confused about what occurred this evening as I was?

I wondered about our brief, but for me, significant kiss. Had I been too forward? He had kissed me back, so it couldn’t have been totally repugnant to him. I wondered if it had been our first time. It certainly felt like it. I think I would have remembered kissing him. It had been the single most amazing moment in my life. I was not particularly confused about the kiss itself. It had felt right, like it was meant to be.

I was more mystified by the “October shivers.” I wondered what that was all about? Was it a common occurrence? Did it only occur during October? What caused it? I had really enjoyed watching the meteor shower and hoped we could come back for the other ones I couldn’t recall the name of. Ori something?

We sped along the highway. I didn’t recognize anything. I hoped Kellan would come along to New York with us. He suddenly slowed down and pulled to the side of the road. My heartbeat quickened. He lifted up his visor and I followed suit. He checked his cell phone, I guess it must have buzzed him.

“Can I stop by my house and pick up a package for your mother?” he asked.

I nodded, and we were quickly on the road again. Kellan soon turned into a dirt road and drove toward an impressive looking mansion. It looked more like a hotel than someone’s house. The house was well lit with exterior lights; we pulled up by the enormous front door. The door opened and a tall man came out to greet us.

“Hello, Arizona! How have you been? Here’s the package for Ollie.”

I took it and carefully placed it between Kellan and myself. I thanked the man who I assumed was Kellan’s dad. He shared Kellan’s looks and smile.

“Dad, I’ll be back in about half an hour. Arizona, do you mind driving my kit to school tomorrow? We could drop it off at your place now.”

I wondered if my little Wrangler could handle three kits!

“Sure, but how will we get it on the bike?” I asked.

Kellan laughed, “We’ll take a car.”

We waved at his dad as we drove into the garage. Kellan parked along a black Porsche. He got up and fetched his kit from the back of the garage. I noticed his U+ stick. He threw it all into the back of the convertible. It barely fit. I took my helmet off and got into the car. Kellan hopped into the driver’s seat, backed the car out, and we drove off home. The surroundings started to look familiar, and we soon turned off at my driveway. Kellan drove right up to garage and jumped out to let me out.

“Is the Jeep in the garage?”

I nodded, keyed in the combination to open the doors and walked over to the Wrangler. I opened the back door to discover Harry’s kit. It pretty much took up all the space. I pushed at it to try to make space for Kellan’s kit. He nudged me aside and shoved Harry’s kit and threw his in.

“There!” he said, satisfied. “Thanks, Shrimp. This means that I’ll get to drive the bike in tomorrow. Are you going to come and watch?”

I muttered, “I’ll be there.”

“Good,” said Kellan and walked me to the house. I could hear excited yapping from inside.

“Bye, Kellan. See you tomorrow. Best of luck at the tryouts,” I said as I started walking to the door.

“Not so quickly, Shrimp. Come here!”

I turned around and met his gaze.

“You’ve avoided telling me what Harry was going on about. What’s the big secret?”

“It’s nothing really. I want to surprise you tomorrow. So can you wait a bit longer?”

He sighed and said, “I suppose. You’re going to have me wondering all night now!” He looked at me curiously. “Arizona, what happened this evening, by the lake….” He paused.

I waited, barely breathing. I stood frozen staring at the ground.

“It was….” He paused again. He took a step toward me. Then, Kellan cupped my face in his hands and turned it up to face his. He then slowly moved forward until I could feel every breath of his against my face. He brushed his thumb against my lips parting them slightly. He stopped and stared into the very core of me as I closed my eyes and found his lips.

Olivia Darley looked out her office window gazing at the wondrous sky above. She had always been in awe of its vast beauty. The planets, stars and galaxies provided a constant source of fascination. She was now transfixed by the Draconid meteor showers. Although she knew she could get a clearer view on her computer, it was so much more beautiful like this. She hoped that Rupert was out looking at them.

Her feet ached. It had been a long and difficult day. She went back to her desk and made herself comfortable in her soft, suede-covered desk chair. She threw off her trusted nude Louboutins and wriggled her toes.

There was a silver frame at the far end of her desk. She pulled it toward her and gazed lovingly at the photograph. She remembered the occasion well. It had been her mother’s 72nd birthday. The whole family posing in front of the Falls at Niagara: her mother, Rupert, Harry, Arizona and Ella.

Her life felt perfect now and she had contemplated closing down the October Project. After all, this time the portal could be shut forever. There were no further loose ends. Nothing more needed to be “retrieved.” She imagined saying goodbye to that life forever and felt no twinges of regret. She was certain that she had done the right thing. Everyone around her seemed happy and she was certainly more content than she had ever been in her life.

She looked at the tattooed wedding band on her left hand. This was a “forever” like no other. The October Project had been for him, for us, for the family.

Her computer bleeped a message. She wondered what it could be this time. It was late and she needed to get home. She was not going to make it back before Ella’s bedtime. She wondered how her lack of involvement in Ella’s auditions was affecting her little princess. It was unfortunate that they were taking place in October, a month when she basically lived at Ames. She clicked on the message icon: a brief message from Dr. Moreau. She needed a quick chat. Olivia replied, asking Glenda to come over to her office.

Her protesting feet were crammed back into the Louboutins. She wondered what Glenda needed to talk to her about. She hoped that Glenda would not become the first October Project failure. Although it wouldn’t be the end of the world, she was replaceable. It was only her “core five” that were irreplaceable. Glenda was an extraordinary woman, though. She would prefer to keep her, as long as she and her family could be controlled.

There was a knock at the door. Olivia checked her computer to see who was outside - just Glenda, looking slightly flustered. She unlocked the door and pressed the computer key, which activated the welcome message outside her door.

Welcome to Dr. Darley’s office. The door is unlocked. Please step inside and close the door behind you.

Olivia watched Glenda walk in and close the door carefully behind her. Glenda was in her late fifties, five foot ten, green eyes and curly blonde hair. Olivia remembered her as very chic, always dressed in smart pantsuits. She guessed that life in New Jersey had rubbed off. Glenda was comfortably dressed in blue jeans, a “Bushkills” sweatshirt and Nike sneakers. It was hard to imagine that this was the same woman from all those years ago at Imperial College in London.

Glenda was a woman whose mind stretched in impressive directions. Olivia had hoped that Glenda’s unlimited willingness to explore new horizons was still intact. It was Glenda who had inspired Olivia to delve into quantum mechanics. This was at Imperial College, over twenty years ago when Olivia was a student there. Glenda had been one of her professors. Olivia didn’t think that Glenda had any recollection of her from those days. She had been just one of many students.

“What can I do for you, Glenda?”

“It’s actually a personal matter, Olivia. Arizona popped over to see Ariele earlier this evening. They seemed to know each other fairly well, and Arizona recognized me. I didn’t hear much of their conversation, but I thought it best to let you know.”

Recognized? Olivia felt uneasy. She tried to maintain a calm front, but was screaming on the inside yearning for more information. She had been very uncomfortable about Ariele making contact with Arizona but it had been inevitable. She hoped that Ariele would have the good sense not betray their trust in her. However, Olivia had not been upfront with Glenda, so she or Ariele may have let something slip inadvertently.

“Thanks for letting me know, Glenda. They probably just met at school and Arizona would have guessed that you were Ariele’s mother?”

Glenda shrugged, “It seemed more than that to me. I’ll keep an eye on the situation as much as I can.”

“How are the tests going, Glenda? I noticed that the tremors were more pronounced today.”

Glenda twisted in her chair uncomfortably. “We had to increase the speed today and the collisions became unpredictable. The collider vibrated more than usual. I am sure the ‘October shivers’ were more distinct. The computer is still analyzing the data. I hung on to look at it. It’s taking much longer than I expected though. So, I’m going to head home and check it tomorrow.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Olivia. “Ariele is still adjusting, she needs you. Has she found any activities to get involved with at school? I hear she was a good lacrosse player at Princeton. Arizona is on the cheer squad and debate team. Would she be interested in those?”

“It’s too early to tell. She’s been moping around since we got here, not showing any interest in anything. Today was the first time I saw her smile, being excited and enthusiastic. It’s all thanks to Arizona. Her biggest issue in school is Simla. You know that I don’t understand all the ins and outs of this situation yet, but I really can’t understand Simla’s attitude. She doesn’t seem to recognize Ariele from Princeton. Perhaps you could find some time and explain all this to me?”

She was right – it did need to be explained. Olivia didn’t have all the answers though. Simla and Justin were not part of the October Project; she had no idea what they were doing here or how they had been transported over. They had not come through the portal, at least to her knowledge. Simla’s mom and Justin’s dad worked at Ames under Larry, but on entirely different projects. She needed to pin Larry down to find out how these families had found their way here.

“I will, Glenda, when I feel the time is right,” she replied firmly but reassuringly.

Glenda got up to leave and Olivia reminded her to ask a guard to walk her to her car. As the door was shutting behind Glenda, Olivia picked up her cell and called Rupert.

“Hi, Honey, how are things? I miss you.”

“Hey, Ollie, things are fine. If you’re going to be much longer, I’ll drive over. Both Harry and Arizona are home so I can leave Ella here with them.”

“That would be great. It’s dark and lonely here, but I still have a few things to do.”

Rupert chuckled, “Dark and lonely sounds good to me. I can work with that!”

Olivia smiled as she turned the cell off. She slid her heels off again turning to the computer. She brought up the collider readings. The computations were still being analyzed. She wondered why the speed had to be increased. The collider had been acting up, however, increasing the speed was exciting. The new data may provide some initial insights into building transportable mini portals, something she had been dreaming about for years. Still, was this something she should be spending her life on at the moment or should she be concentrating on her core five and letting this project die?

She turned back to her photograph, her core five.

Rupert was and had always been the love of her life, the reason she took her next breath. She had met him over fifteen years ago in a pub in London. She had been there celebrating her best friend’s birthday. She had not noticed him at first, as he strummed his guitar by the bar. The pub was busy and smoke filled. She and her friends had a table in the corner. She was married and pregnant, and should really not have been subjecting her baby to this atmosphere. She had decided to stay for an hour and then head home.

She had offered to get the first round so she could go home after that. It had been almost impossible to get through the crowds around the bar. She looked around for a possible route when a hand nearly grabbed hers but she avoided it. She couldn’t see who it was and hoped it wasn’t a drunk. As she reached the bar, she had turned to stare at the most hypnotic eyes she had ever encountered.

It had been the eyes of her fairytale. The eyes that had drawn her into a future that had at first seemed incomprehensible, but one that she had now made real. Her friends had noticed her instant and powerful attraction to the stranger. They had all heard him say, “Ollie, I’m your Rupert,” before he left. “Careful,” her friend, Celia, had warned. “Don’t forget that you are married!” Olivia had looked down at her wedding band and decided that she had to let him go.

There was a sharp knock on the office door, Rupert, Olivia hoped. She checked the computer camera and pressed the welcome buzzer.

Rupert came in smiling, “How about a ‘special’ welcome message just for me?”

“I’ll work on it,” smiled Olivia as she got up and flung herself at her husband. He carried her over to the couch where they sat silently holding each other. She was happiest like this, listening to Rupert’s heartbeat. Had it not been for the computer beeping at her again, she could have stayed in this position forever. She sighed and made her way back to her desk. It had to be a problem, at this hour.

It was a message from the Larry, the Director of the program and her best friend. The message said that he would keep an eye on things, she could head back home.

Olivia smiled and sighed with relief, “Rup, we can go.”

“No hurry,” said Rupert beckoning her back to the couch. “This is a comfortable place to catch up.”

She smiled as she sauntered back to the couch and made herself comfortable on Rupert’s lap. She rested her head against his chest so she could enjoy his heartbeat again.

“How did Ella’s audition go today? She seemed really excited when I spoke to her. Too bad I’ll miss New York. I’m really disappointed.”

Rupert stroked her hair comfortingly and kissed the back of her neck.

“She did good! We may have ourselves a little star in the making. I do hope we are not tiring her out too much though.”

Olivia recalled her conversation with Glenda earlier and asked Rupert if he had noticed anything amiss with Arizona. She repeated what Glenda had shared about Ariele and Arizona.

“I am so scared. It’s all so perfect now. I can’t bear the thought of anything going wrong. Arizona has been acting strangely though, don’t you think?” She looked at Rupert with tears suddenly streaming down her cheeks. He gently brushed them off with his lips and looked deeply into her eyes.

“We are us. We’ll always be. This is the right time, our time. I’m not going to lose you or our family.”

She closed her eyes and remembered how she had worked to move mountains to be with Rupert.

As she left the pub that cold October evening, she had felt a sense of deep desperation. She knew she had just let her lifeline walk out but what choice did she have? The ride from Paddington to Wimbledon on the District Line was monotonous. She had forgotten to pick up an Evening Standard to distract her. So her thoughts kept returning to Rupert and what he had said. She didn’t understand what he meant but she did know that he was her one and only soul mate. She would have to find a way to be with him. She gathered her trusted Kelly bag and her laptop as the train approached the station. She had a ten-minute walk home.

She knew that her husband, Dillard, wouldn’t be home, he would still be out drinking with his mates. She didn’t feel any strong emotions when she thought of Dillard. They had met when they were both undergraduates at Cambridge. They had been married for eight years now. The marriage had more or less run its course before this pregnancy, but she had decided to stick it out for the baby. Dillard came from a very different background to hers. They had nothing in common and no emotional connection. She often wondered why she had stayed with him this long. She had decided that it was out of habit – a habit that seemed so hard to break.

Olivia tried to remember back to when she first met him. It had been Dillard who had come up to her at a university party and asked her to dance. He had seemed very sweet and attentive and she had been attracted to that. The attention was something she had lacked in her childhood and had always yearned for.

They finished Cambridge and got married at the Town Hall in Paddington with no family present. They excitedly moved into their first flat. Both started working on their graduate degrees while they worked part time. There was never a physical or emotional connection between them. She could have lived with the lack of physical connection, however, the emotional disconnect become unbearable. She became more and more aware of Dillard’s arrogance and philandering. His sweetness disappeared all together as he experimented with drugs. She came to find him more and more closed minded over the years with no room to explore new things. Olivia found herself spending more and more time with her friends and at work.

“Hey, Baby, what are you thinking about?” asked Rupert bringing her back to the present.

She looked up at him and pleaded through her tears, “Tell me it’s going to be ok.”

Rupert looked concerned now. “You are really worried aren’t you? I’ll talk to Arizona tomorrow and try to get a feel for what’s going on. Whatever it is, we will work it out. We’ll do whatever we have to, to preserve our family. We already have and we will do it again. After all, who was it who found me two years ago?”

She nodded and slowly got up and pulled him to her, “I guess we better go and check in with the kids.”

Rupert loaded his bike into the H2 and they drove back silently.

Olivia’s thoughts drifted to their first meeting two years ago. She had returned to the same pub, The Alexander Fleming. It was exactly two years ago from their first meeting. She was standing outside, dressed exactly the same as the first time she met him: black shift dress, Hermès shawl, neutral Manolos and her faithful black Kelly bag. She watched the pub from the outside, too scared to venture in. Her stomach was in knots. What if he wasn’t here? She had spent so long trying to find him, constantly coming back here, but it was like he had disappeared into thin air. She had replayed his words in her head again and again come find me two years ago. Was there a way to do that? It seemed totally far-fetched.

It was only when she was offered the job at Ames that she started opening her mind to the possibility of using her expertise to explore and manipulate parallel dimensions. She had to do it on her own time; after all it was just a small step away from insanity.

She found a good ally in Morena over at the SETI institute. The SETI institute explores extra terrestrial life and was conveniently located in Mountain View. Morena had provided her with both emotional and technical support. She had been invaluable. Olivia had, with encouragement from Morena and Larry, been able to continue her extracurricular studies in secret.

Olivia had worked for Ames remotely from New Jersey where her family had relocated after the birth of her second daughter. In all aspects to those around her, she was a typical stay-at-home mother. She would take occasional weeklong trips to Ames (her family thought she was off to London to see her friends) to oversee her regular research and her October Project.

The October Project soon boasted a mini Hadron collider unit that would have been the envy of CERN. It had taken years, but she finally had a portal that would take her to where she wanted to go. It was all for one purpose, to come back for him.

A sudden cold breeze sent a shiver though her. This was insane. She should turn back and head home through the portal. Standing outside a pub in Paddington by herself? Utter madness! As she started to turn she felt a warming breath on the back of her neck and two arms enveloped her. She instinctively felt safe and warm. She didn’t feel any need to turn around. She was exactly where she belonged. They stood there for a long time, enjoying being one.

“Wake up, honey! We’re home,” nudged Rupert as he scooped her into his arms and carried her upstairs. They stopped and peered into Ella’s bedroom. She was fast asleep with Gertrude, both snoring soundly. “The sound of angels,” thought Olivia and shared a smile with Rupert as they went to their room. She sat up in bed as he started undressing, watching his every move.

It was almost twenty years later and he had not changed a bit. Every muscle of his body was imprinted in her mind. He looked over at her and smiled. Then he picked up the guitar that always stood by the bedside and brought it over to her. He climbed in behind her and wrapped his legs around her. Then he put his arms over her, laying the guitar on her lap and strumming it softy, humming along under his breath. She rested her head on his shoulder, leaning her head back so her face nuzzled against his neck. She took in a deep breath of him. His smell was intoxicating. Then she slowly turned around, carefully making sure not to disturb the guitar so he would keep playing. Once she was facing him, she brought her face close to his and brushed her cheeks against his. She could feel the electricity between them. He put the guitar down and grasped the back of her neck with his hand and pulled her head back and kissed her neck and slowly moved to her lips.

It was the same intense passion that she had felt for him that night when she went back two years ago. They both had enjoyed the closeness and the warmth of each other’s body as they stood outside the pub. She had finally turned around and looked deeply into his eyes. Those eyes that she felt she had waited an eternity to look into again. Neither of them said a word. They collapsed into one another in a passionate frenzy.

Rupert had gently pulled away and whispered, “It’s so good to see you! I don’t know how you did it, but I’m never letting you go again.” He pulled her close again until she could barely breathe. He eventually took her hand and pulled her over to his Harley.

“Oh, I’ve never ridden a motorbike before,” she said concerned.

Rupert laughed, “You’ll love it! Here’s the helmet I got just for you.”

She put the helmet on and got on the bike. She held on tightly as Rupert roared through the twisted London streets. He pulled up at a house in Camden.

“This is it, Ollie! I bought it for us. Do you like it?”

She loved it. It was quaint and she couldn’t wait to get inside. The inside was just as cute. Stairs everywhere, even a few between the hallway and the bathroom. There were two bedrooms; the smaller one was so tiny that a normal bed wouldn’t fit in it.

“Are you hungry, thirsty?” Rupert asked, putting his arms around her.

“I would love a glass of water. Time travel can be so dehydrating!”

Rupert laughed as he went to the kitchen to get the water. She followed him in. She could wait no longer. She felt like she was going to explode.

That was the night Harry was conceived.

She had to go back. The very thought of leaving Rupert devastated her. As they sat up in bed the next morning, picking at the breakfast that Rupert had prepared, he said, “You are going back, aren’t you? I can feel it.”

“Rupert, I have two girls, Arizona and Ella. I have to find a way to bring them back with me. I can’t just leave them there. Ella is expecting me back in a couple of days. One thing is for sure. I am not ever letting you go again.”

It was Thursday. Hockey tryouts. I looked at my bedside clock; there was still ten minutes before the alarm was due to go off. Ten minutes of trying to psych myself up for this day. I had done all this before, so there really was no need for all this trepidation. I was totally confident in my abilities. After all, I had played hockey for years. I was also totally sure in my ability to take on the boys and deal with whatever macho nonsense they felt they needed to throw my way. Been there, done that. The boys were going to resist, that was inevitable. They could be so babyish! After all, their egos wouldn’t let them just accept a girl – especially one with no track record. And a cheerleader to boot. What a hoot this was! I had never had the cheerleader label to contend with before. That added some extra juice.

There was also the complication that big bro was the team captain. And then there was Kellan. One nice big soup of reasons that meant that this was going to be a challenging day to say the least. Still, it would be worth it in the end, at least for me. Just something I had to do. Harry and Kellan would have to learn to deal with it just the same as all the other boys.

I missed my dad. He was a permanent fixture at my games. I wondered how he was doing. Had I just gone missing from his life? Was he desperately searching for me? I would have to find a way of contacting him.

I reached over and turned the alarm to the clock off seconds before the shrill noise would have filled the room. I rolled over to the side of the bed and sat up, contemplating my room. I kind of liked it being tidy. It was really handy to be able to find everything. I heard a knock at the door and Harry poked his head in.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure, Harry. Are you ready for the tryouts? I’m guessing that you’re not really trying out but selecting? What’s Coach Stanislaw like?”

“He’s ok. He is Russian, I think. A bit hard to understand at times but he knows his stuff. And yes, I will be the team captain this year. We are going to be selecting a new assistant captain; Kellan is the favorite. What was up between the two of you yesterday?”

I sighed and shrugged, not really knowing how to begin to discuss my love life with my brother, it felt wrong. I changed the subject.

“Any pointers? I’m still trying out, you know.”

“I was sort of hoping that you had reconsidered. If you are certain that you want to put yourself through this, then of course I’ll support you any way I can. I wish I had known about this sooner, we could’ve spent some time during summer practicing. Did you tell Kellan?”

“No, not yet. I don’t really feel the need to.”

Harry looked at me quizzically, “Oh, don’t you two tell each other everything? He may freak when he sees you at the tryouts without being forewarned. Do you want me to break it to him?”

“Harry, I’m not sure how to break it to him. You know, it sounds silly any way I say it. He hasn’t even seen me skate, lately anyway. It would be totally out of the blue. He would think I’ve flipped. I’m not sure it’s going to be any better coming from you. I’m thinking it may be better if he just sees me skate, maybe I can convince him on ice.”

Harry looked unconvinced, “I think it’s a mistake not to tell him, but I guess we’ll have to deal with the consequences. Did you manage to pick up a kit yesterday? Mom’s still here, she could show you how to put it all on.”

“I did. I tried it all on at the store. I am fairly certain I can manage. Besides, I haven’t told Mom yet.”

“Shrimp, you’re going to start quite a circus today,” he laughed. “I have your forms here, all filled out. You’ll need to take it to the nurse for a signature though. I enclosed your last physical, so you won’t need a new one.”

“Thanks, Harry, you are the best. I hate filling in forms.”

“I know!”

With that he handed me the forms and said, “See you at breakfast. I put my kit in your Jeep, do you need help with yours?”

“No!” I laughed, “That would totally blow my street cred!”

“Cheerleading street cred?” He laughed as he shut the door behind him avoiding the imaginary pom poms I threw at him.

I took a quick shower and put on my skinny jeans and Juicy top. I looked at myself in the mirror, pretty awesome. However, this Barbie look was not going to help me today. I looked so much fiercer with dark hair. I tried pulling it back. No, that didn’t help either. Perhaps Eyeblack would help? It would be a source of amusement anyway. I threw some black mascara (that would have to do!) in case I decided to fierce myself up, along with the forms into my backpack, and tossed the bedspread (whatever was the point of these?) on my bed and made my way to Ella’s room to get her up for breakfast.

Her door was wide open and there was no sign of her in her room so I headed down the stairs. I could hear her animated little voice from the kitchen. As I walked in, I saw that she had the rest of them totally attentive to her chatter. She was busy telling them what kind of house she thought we should buy when we moved to Hollywood. Mom was getting up as I came in.

“Good morning, Arizona. I have to rush off again! I feel as though I never see you. I’ll probably be late again.” She took her Kelly and Ames bags, and her keys from the counter then headed for the door with a wave. Rupert followed her out to the car.

Harry slid a plate over to me: bacon, eggs and toast. Perfect.

“Thanks, Harry! You’re up early this morning, Ella?”

“I wanted to have breakfast with Mom before she left. I had so much to tell her.”

“You’ve certainly been a busy girl. I bet she was excited to hear all about your auditions.”

“Yes, she is sad that she can’t come to New York with us. I told her that I would take a lot of pictures and text them to her.”

“That’s a great idea,” I said absentmindedly, biting into my toast, wondering if Kellan would show up for breakfast. I was not in my bunny pajamas and I missed him.

Rupert returned and we finished breakfast listening to Harry’s account of the meteor showers from last night.

“Can I stay up for the next one, Harry?” Ella begged.

“I’ll ask Mom. I can’t see why not,” said Harry leaning over to tug at her hair.

Harry got up and cleared the table, looked over at me and said, “We better get going.” He went over and kissed Ella and waved a goodbye at Rupert. I followed him out the door. He walked toward his bike and I looked at him fondly as he drove away. It was pretty awesome having a big brother. And he really was just perfect. I went to the garage and retrieved my kit and U+ from under the boxes and put them in my Jeep. There was no room at the back, so I threw the bag on the passenger seat.

Maria, Ali, Ariele and Simla were all waiting for me by my locker. Simla grabbed me first.

“We should talk,” she demanded.

“Sure, I’ll come and find you later.” The later would have to be much later maybe even never. She looked annoyed and grumped at me, but nodded and then walked over to where Justin was waiting for her.

I looked over to Maria, Ali and Ariele. Should I keep them apart or try to include Ariele in the group? I really wanted to include her. My only fear was that she would let something slip. I looked at her and immediately felt warm as she smiled at me. Of course I needed to include her! I needed her in my life. I went up to them and turned to Maria and Ali.

“This is Ariele. You know her from physics class, Maria. Our moms work together.”

Ali smiled at Ariele, “You’re the new girl. Welcome to Mountain View.”

Ariele did her best new girl smile, “Thanks.”

“Catch up with us at lunch, Ariele,” said Ali as the bell rang and we dispersed to our classes. I walked over with Maria.

“Maria, I like Ariele, she seems really cool. Can we include her in our group?”

“Of course we can. She does seem really nice.”

The morning passed quickly and we met up with Ali at lunch. We noticed that Ariele was sitting at the corner table on her own again and I beckoned her to join ours. She smiled gratefully and walked over, and Ali proceeded to do all the introductions. The girls were preoccupied taking about the next cheer sequence. I looked around to see if I could spot Harry and Kellan but there were no sign of them. It would soon be time. Ariele was fairly quiet through lunch.

I turned around and whispered to her, “Are you coming to the tryouts?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world! Where do you want to meet up?”

“By my Jeep after school.”

I turned around and whispered the same to Maria and asked her to pass it on to Ali.

The afternoon passed quickly and quietly. I didn’t run into Simla again and hoped to avoid her all together. I kept looking around to catch a glimpse of Kellan. I couldn’t stop thinking about last night; I didn’t see him at all.

Soon as the last bell sounded, I ran to my Jeep, Maria barely keeping up with me.

“Slow down, Arizona, you have plenty of time!”

“I know. I just want to make sure that Simla doesn’t catch up with me. I can do without her messing with me this afternoon.”

“Yes, she’s a real pain,” agreed Maria. “We never invited her to join our group. I wonder why she keeps bugging you. Can’t imagine what Justin sees in her! Can’t stand him either though.”

I rolled my eyes and nodded in agreement though I wasn’t quite sure what she meant about Justin. We waited by the Jeep for Ali and Ariele. They both arrived together with big smiles.

“I can’t wait to see their faces!” Ali said. “Maria told me that only Harry knows. You haven’t told Kellan yet?”

“No, I decided to surprise him,” I said with a wink.

“Not nice of you,” said Maria. “You should’ve told him. He’s going to be livid.”

I shrugged and got into the Jeep.

“There’s no space for anyone in here. I’ve got three kits. Can you guys meet me at the rink? I’ll wait in my Jeep until you arrive and we’ll walk in together.”

My phone buzzed, a text from Harry.

K and I are at the rink parking lot waiting for you and our kits

I texted back.

On my way

I spotted Harry and Kellan as I drove into the rink parking lot and parked my Jeep next to their bikes. The girls pulled in at the same time and parked next to me. We got out together. Harry and Kellan had already opened the back of the Jeep and were pulling their gear out. I walked over to them, Kellan smiled and pecked my cheek.

“Thanks for bringing my kit, Shrimp. I see we’ve got an audience, Harry.” He looked over and smiled at Ali, Maria and Ariele.

“You’re the new girl?”

“Yes, Kellan. This is Ariele,” introduced Ali.

Ariele nodded at Kellan and Harry. Harry went over and kissed Maria and then with a “See you inside,” and a sly wink at me turned and headed to the rink with Kellan.

We waited until they were safely inside and then I got my kit out of the car. We went inside and quickly made our way to the girl’s restroom. It was empty, so I opened up my bag and started changing into my hockey gear. It all smelled so new. I was used to my regular sweaty-sock smell. I was not one to clean my kit. Maria and Ali watched me in awe, Ariele yawned.

“You look fabulous, Arizona,” said Ali, “Really cute.”

Ariele giggled, “Real cute!”

I sighed, “I’m not really aiming for cute! Fierce, maybe.”

Ariele laughed, “Well, that Barbie blonde hair is not helping. Got some Eyeblack with you?”

I shook my head, “Mascara?”

Maria looked confused, “What’s Eyeblack?”

“Let me show you,” said Ariele as she brought out her kohl eyeliner. She drew warrior stripes under my eyes and laughed, “Now you look like warrior Barbie. Not sure that’s going to help with anything other than comic relief!”

I looked in the mirror and giggled. I looked totally ridiculous. The helmet should hide most of my face anyway, I put it on and pulled the cage over my face. What on earth had possessed me to get a pink one!

Ariele looked at me in horror, “Pink?”

I rolled my eyes at her, “I had an episode….” I stuffed my ponytail into my jersey as much as I could, grabbed my mouth guard, gloves, water and stick, and we headed out to the ice rink. I was starting to feel the butterflies now and looked around to Ali, Maria and Ariele. I smiled gratefully at them, thankful that they were here for me.

We walked into the rink together and I looked around to see if anyone had noticed us come in. No one, by the look of things. The other players were busy on the ice, already warming up. The girls surrounded me for a group hug before I stepped on the ice and joined the skaters already circling around. I noticed some heads turning back to glance at me, stupid pink helmet! A tall body drew up next to mine and skated along beside me, it was Harry. He beckoned me to follow him and we skated over to the bleachers where Dr. Lee and two other men were sitting. Harry took his helmet off and spoke to the bigger of the two men. Bigger as in huge!

“Coach, this is my sister, Arizona.”

“Arizona, this is Coach Stanislaw, our assistant Coach Pickett, and you know Dr. Lee our Director and Manager.”

Dr. Lee smiled at me and said, ‘I am glad you came, Arizona, nice helmet!”

Coach Stanislaw said gruffly, “Not sure that the helmet is going to make any difference, no points for cuteness here. It’s nice to meet you, Arizona. Your brother is our star player. I’m expecting a lot from you, so get out there and show me what you can do.”

I smiled and thanked them for allowing me to try out. Harry pulled at my sleeve to follow him back to the ice to continue with the warm ups. I skated, shaking Harry off. I didn’t want anyone to think he was babysitting me. He skated right back up to me again and shrugged at me confused.

“Harry, I have to be seen to be able to skate on my own! Please don’t take it personally but let me do this,” I pleaded.

He nodded hesitantly but skated off.

I noticed Kellan skate up to him and practically push him over to the wall. I ignored them, concentrating on my skating, finding a stray puck and heading over to the goals for some shots. I approached the goal zeroing in on the puck with my stick and ramming it dead center into the goal. Then I zipped behind the goal to turn and repeated the goal shot. I kept going, perfect every time. When the whistle sounded, everyone skated over to the box where the coaches had taken up position. I hurried over.

“For those who are new, I am Coach Stanislaw and this is Coach Pickett our assistant, and Dr. Lee our Manager,” he said pointing to each man. “We know most of you from last year, but have quite a few new boys trying out. There are more of you here to tryout than we have positions, so it will be tough. We do have a couple of reserve positions available this year. This tryout will take place over four sessions, each two hours long. Missing a session is not an option. Consider yourself cut if you do. I’ve already picked our captain and assistant captains. You all know Harry, he needs no introduction. Our assistant captains this year are Kellan and Mike.”

Kellan and Mike both turned around to wave at us. I could feel Kellan making a point of not looking at me.

Coach Stanislaw continued, “Of course none of you can possibly have missed the pink helmet!”

Everyone, including Kellan, turned around and stared at me. Gee thanks, Coach!

He continued, “The pink helmet is Arizona, Harry’s kid sister. She has decided to tryout so let’s welcome her. Our first girl to tryout.”

Everyone mock cheered and clapped. I was ready to kill the coach. He had just made my job a hundred times more difficult.

“Ok, skate over to the center line to begin the drills,” he ordered.

I turned around as quickly as I could and sped over to the centerline as I put my mouth guard in. Drills are boring and routine, but they do keep you focused so I stopped thinking about everything else, including Kellan. I immersed myself in trying to keep up with these drills.

Coach Stanislaw must have watched MIRACLE about a million times. He was doing a good job of pretending that he was selecting the Olympic squad! We skated up and down the rink innumerable times doing dead stops and turns. We moved on to some skate pass-and-shoot drills, skating two by two towards the goal while passing the puck to one another and then shooting it into the goals. I was paired up with Kellan a few times and I could feel him glowering at me from under his helmet. He was beyond furious. Coach moved us on to “sprint pivot and shoots,” which I have done so many times before that I did them without thinking. Sprint to second cone, pivot and skate backwards to the first cone, do a cross over turn, sprint back to second cone, make a cross over turn and then pick up the puck on the blue line and shoot no deeper than the top of the circle. We repeated these drills again and again until I thought I was going to pass out. But pure adrenaline kept me going. There was no way I was giving up in front of this crowd. I kept skating up and down. This coach was truly a nut job. When he finally blew the whistle, we had been going at this for over two hours. I was exhausted.

“Well done today boys and PH.” I assumed that he meant me, pink helmet, ha-ha. With that the boys took off toward the locker room and I started heading to the bleachers where the girls were patiently waiting for me. I couldn’t believe they had stayed all this time. I felt a tap on my shoulders and turned around to Harry.

“Not bad, Shrimp! In fact, you were pretty awesome. I’m so proud of you. I think you’ve a really good shot of getting into the team.”

“Kellan didn’t look too happy.”

“You can’t really be surprised, you didn’t tell him. I can’t imagine why. Anyway, he’ll get over it. I’ve got to go and change out of this. I’ll see you at home. I’m leaving my kit here tonight; we have a team room reserved for us. I’ll put yours in there too if you want?”

“Thanks, but no. I’ll leave it in my Jeep for now. Will you tell me if the Coach says anything to you about me?

He nodded as he headed off to the locker room.

They girls greeted me excitedly.

Ali practically shrieked, “Arizona Darley! I can’t believe what we just saw. You are AWESOME! How did you learn that? It was amazing to watch, we couldn’t take our eyes of you. I just have no words!”

Ariele smiled at me slyly as Maria and Ali made a fuss.

“Thanks, girls! I’ll go and get changed. I’ll meet you back at school tomorrow. I’m wiped out and need a shower!”

“No kidding, you stink!” Maria confirmed.

Laughing, I waved at them and headed for the girl’s restroom. Maria was right, I truly stank. So I stripped off. I tried to dry the sweat off with paper towels but it was no good, bits of paper clung to my sticky skin. I needed to find another system, baby wipes usually worked. I must remember to get some. I also needed to pick up some Under Armour from the sports store. I changed back into my clothes, picked up the heavy bag and carried it out to the Jeep. I threw it in the back and went to get in.

“Not so fast, Shrimp,” said Kellan from behind me. I froze. I smelled awful. I just couldn’t let Kellan get a whiff of me!

“Hey, Kellan! You were awesome today! Congrats on getting chosen as an assistant, that’s cool.”

“Arizona, what was that all about? How did you learn to skate like that? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was scared of your reaction.”

“I am furious, not just with you but also with Harry. This is totally irresponsible. You can’t play with us, I won’t allow it.”

“You won’t allow it?” I laughed.

“No, I can’t have you getting hurt. No matter how good you are at skating. You were great but that’s not what hockey is about. I can’t take care of you every second of every game!”

I could feel fury building up inside me, “Don’t be ridiculous. I can take care of myself! I don’t need you or Harry to babysit me. Treat me like you would any other player.”

“I can’t!” He sighed exasperated.

“Why not? Didn’t you notice my rather excellent skills! Just wait till you see me in a scrimmage!”

Kellan looked at me curiously, “A scrimmage? When have you ever been in a scrimmage? Do you even know what it is?”

I looked into his eyes wondering if I could make him forget the scrimmage slip with a kiss. He looked even hotter when he was angry, his eyes were blazing making them appear even deeper. I could almost imagine myself drowning in them. I was drowning in them. They drew me in, further and further, and I moved toward him reaching for his sleeve. I followed his sleeve up to his neck, put my hand around it and drew him in. I could feel is breath on my face. I hoped my smell wouldn’t cause him to faint, or even worse, hurl. I found his lips. We stood there in the parking lot totally immersed in each other, when we heard the raucous laughter of a crowd heading our way.

“Hey, Kellan, already laid claim to PH?” taunted one of them. I recognized them vaguely. They were boys from the tryouts, about eight of them.

“I’ve always had claim to Arizona so back off and play nice.”

“It’s up to you to babysit her then. We can try and play nice but our opponents won’t.”

“No reason for us to play nice either just because she’s Harry’s baby sister.”

I recognized the voice. It was Justin.

I looked over at him and snarled, “What’s your problem? Do you want me to floor you? I can take you out anytime.”

He laughed as he moved toward me and I picked up my stick, ready for action. I could feel Kellan’s arms surround me as he pulled me back. A body got in front of me blocking Justin – it was Harry. What a nuisance! I really could’ve taken care of this myself.

“Back off, Justin. Turn around and walk away now,” said my big brother furiously.

Justin growled under his breath and got up right to Harry’s face, “I will for now but she’d better watch out. Barbie should stick to cheer. We don’t want her on the team, she’ll be a nuisance.” He turned and beckoned the others to walk with him and they left heading over to their bikes.

Harry turned and asked, “Are you ok, Shrimp?”

I was furious, “Ok? No, I’m not ok! Why on earth would you do that, now they think I’m a wimpy girl! I could have totally taken that jerk. He can barely skate. I’ll show him tomorrow.” With that I jumped into the Jeep, slammed the door and sped off home.

I didn’t sleep much that night. I was way too annoyed. I should have been feeling good about myself. After all, I had performed exceedingly well and was proud of myself. Yet, I felt despondent. I had heard Harry come in and join the family fun downstairs. But I stayed upstairs and snuck down for a snack when everyone else had gone to bed. I had thought about calling Ariele, only she would understand. I really could take care of myself. Tomorrow was going to be hard, even more so if I didn’t have the support of Harry and Kellan. Support, not protection.

Why was Justin on my case? We’d played well together at Princeton, even been friends. So, why the aggravation now? I guess he had no recollection, or whatever, of me from before.

I must have fallen asleep briefly. Ella woke me. She burst into my room and jumped on to my bed. Arizona Stevens would have totally flipped and hit the little monkey but I turned around and smiled at her.

“Arizona, you played hockey?” she exclaimed.

“Cat’s out the bag?”

“What cat? Did you get a kitty?”

I laughed and tried to explain what the expression meant but very badly. I left her more confused than before.

She shrugged and said, “Oh, never mind the cat, tell me about the hockey? Mom and Dad just found out too. They’re in the kitchen waiting with Harry and Kellan.”

I looked at the clock. It was 6 AM! What was Kellan doing here at this time and why did they have to tell Mom and Rupert without discussing it with me first. I was annoyed (again) and slightly apprehensive. One thing was clear, I couldn’t head down in my pajamas. Time for the Munchkin to make herself useful.

“Ella, can you pick out some clothes for me to throw on while I take a quick shower.”

“Anything?”

“Something sensible!” I warned.

I ran into the shower as Ella busied herself in my closet. A two-minute shower this morning and I was out. Ella was sitting on my bed; her selection next to her, she smiled proudly at me.

“I said something sensible, Ella,” looking at her selection of a denim skirt and tank combination.”

“This is sensible and cute and you should wear it. Cute is going to help you downstairs. They seem a bit cross with you. Of course it’s not going to help with Mom and Dad, but it might with Kellan and Harry.”

Cross another one of those words that my mother had imported from England. It had become a regular in our household… someone was always cross!

“What are they annoyed about? I didn’t do anything wrong. I just tried out for hockey, nothing wrong with that.”

“Well, you should have told Mom and Dad about the hockey, but they’re not that angry about that. You did want to fight Justin though! Personally I think that’s super cool.”

I went over and hugged her, “You really are a little monkey. Ok, just for you, I’ll wear the outfit.”

“And put on some lip gloss,” she added.

“All right! Go on back down stairs. I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

I quickly got into the skirt and top. The skirt felt totally awkward, maybe I’d pack a pair of jeans to change into later. I smeared myself with lip gloss and brushed out my hair glancing at myself in the mirror. Wow, I did so not look like me! Way too pretty and fragile. Perhaps I should stick some Eyeblack on? I giggled at the thought of Ella’s reaction, maybe not!

I decided to walk into the kitchen with a cheery, “hello.” Best to take everyone by surprise, especially if I was walking into some kind of pathetic intervention. They all looked up surprised, it worked. I could feel Kellan looking me up and down, so I hurried over to table and sat down. Harry pushed a plate over to me and I started chewing on the bacon.

“So how’s everyone? You’re here early today, Kellan,” I said cheerfully.

Harry looked at me and said, “I know Ella came up and warned you, so you know what this is about.”

I looked over at him and shrugged challengingly.

“It’s mainly about Justin. What you did last night was just plain stupid.”

I exploded. No one gets to call me stupid.

“No, what you did last night was plain stooopid. You totally played into his hands. He wants everyone to think I am a girly girl who can’t take care of herself and he is dead wrong!”

Mom looked over at me thoughtfully, “I, all of us, can see your point, but have you forgotten that Justin has an issue with violence? It isn’t just because you’re our girl. I would be just as worried if Harry had done what you did last night. Justin has a big following and he is going to make it his business to get back at you.”

“I’ll talk to him,” I said offhandedly.

Harry sighed, “You can try Arizona, but he lost face last night and probably feels that he something to prove even if it’s picking on you, a girl. I wish he’d take it out on me. I’ll talk to him. We are worried and yes, Kellan is as well. We’re going to keep an eye on things at school today. Please stay with friends at all times. Maria is in all your classes so at least have her with you. We’ve called Robert to let him know the situation, so he’ll keep a watch, too. Don’t go to the restroom on your own, remember Simla is Justin’s girlfriend. Goodness knows what she is capable of. So, promise you’ll take care?”

I looked around at all of them. They looked seriously concerned.

“Perhaps it was a bit unthinking. I never realized it would cause you all this much worry. I can honestly look after myself but I’ll be careful. No need to babysit me every second of the day though.”

“Well, I need to head to work now, but I want to have some mother/daughter time with you and Ella. How about dinner, just the three of us tonight? I’ll take you out for pizza?” Mom suggested.

I heard Ella shriek with excitement, so I guess that was settled, dinner with Mom tonight. She picked up her stuff and Rupert walked out to the car with her and Ella, who did a few pretend karate chops at me before she left the room.

“See you at school boys.” I got up and left without looking at them, practically running to my Jeep. The boys were at my heel.

“We’re riding in with you, Shrimp.”

UNBELIVABLE!

I looked at them incredulously, “You can’t be serious! You are really going to babysit me all day?”

“You forced us into this. We’re none too pleased about it either. I would rather ride my bike in,” said Harry.

“Well, there is no need for both of us to ride in the Jeep, it’s way too cramped anyway. I’ve got physics with Arizona this morning so why don’t you take the bike, Harry. I’ll ride in with Arizona and keep her out of trouble. You don’t mind, do you, Shrimp?” Kellan queried.

“I guess not. At least it doesn’t look like I’m arriving in with bodyguards then!”

Harry nodded and said that it was fine with him; he’d catch up with us at school.

I was relieved. I got into the car and waited for Kellan to get in. We drove off in silence, a very uncomfortable silence. Kellan was still obviously mad with me. We were half way to school when I couldn’t bear his icy demeanor any longer. I slammed on my brakes and stopped by the side of the road. I sat silently, staring straight ahead. I wasn’t going to be the first to talk. We sat like that for a few minutes until Kellan broke the silence.

“We’re going to be late, why did you stop?”

“Why are you so angry with me?”

“Arizona, I’m not really angry with you. I’m scared. Justin’s not someone to mess with. I’m frustrated with you not taking this seriously.”

I took his hand and pulled at his sleeve, “Kellan, I’ll be careful. I promise. I won’t start anything with him.”

“Thanks, Shrimp. Stay out of trouble. Hockey is going to be hard enough. Better get going!”

I unwillingly let go of his hand and restarted the Jeep. He reached over and rested his arm on the back of my seat, I felt warmly comforted. I looked over at him, hoping that he would reach over and kiss me. He looked at me, smiled and did not disappoint. It was brief and left me longing for more.

“Shrimp, when are you going to tell me what’s changed? Something is different and I need to know what. I have to tell Harry what’s going on between us too. He can’t find out from anyone else, not even you.”

I nodded, he was obviously right. Something had changed. How would I ever begin to explain it all when even I didn’t understand any of it? All I knew for certain is that Kellan was everything to me.

I had to find a way to make him understand that at least.

He touched my fingers waiting for a response. I looked up at him.

“Kellan, you’re right. I do need to talk to you too, to try to explain. I don’t know how. I’m afraid that you’re going to think I’ve lost my mind.”

He looked at me reassuringly, nodding for me to go on.

“Kellan, it’s a bit of a long story. Can I tell you tonight?”

He smiled, “Putting it off again?”

“No, I will. I promise.”

“I guess I can wait.”

I pulled back into the traffic and headed to school. We were late. The car park was empty of other students, just rows of parked cars and bikes. We walked over to the office for our late passes.

Dr. Lee was already in class, deep in lecture mode and didn’t look pleased with us interrupting. As we handed him our passes, I looked over to Maria and froze as I spotted Justin in the seat behind mine. I had totally forgotten that he sat there next to Kellan, right behind me. Kellan could feel my body stiffening and followed my gaze. Justin glared back at me with a challenging snarl. Kellan shot him a warning look as we walked silently to our seats. I had a hard time concentrating, acutely aware of Justin’s presence behind me. I kept my eyes on Dr. Lee, pretending to drink in every word he said. I breathed a sigh of relief when the bell finally rang and the longest physics class in history was over.

Kellan was over at my side before I had time to even put my books back in my bag. He got between Justin and me as Justin passed my desk on his way out. I didn’t look up but heard Justin whisper, “Her bodyguard now?”

I looked up at him and hissed, “No, yours!” as I stormed out.

I could hear Justin laughing as Maria, Ariele and Kellan ran up after me. Kellan grabbed my shoulders and turned me around.

“You promised!”

I shrugged apologetically.

Ariele exploded, “What do you expect her to do? She can totally take Justin, has before!”

Maria and Kellan stared at her, as did I in total shock!

“What do you mean?” they demanded in unison looking at her expectantly.

I interrupted, “Nothing!”

“Kellan, you know that I said that I would explain all this to you tonight? Please bear with me. Maria, we better get to class. See you at lunch, Ariele?”

Ariele nodded apologetically and hurried off. Kellan followed us to computer lab and said to Maria, “Look after Fight Club girl, will you?”

She nodded as we headed in.

Computer lab was a welcome relief. Mrs. Goldner was sweet and easy going and messing around on the computer is second nature to me. It was over way too soon for my liking. I was not looking forward to lunch. I thought about skipping it and going for a walk to clear my head instead. The save the insane fight club girl group would, no doubt, insist on coming with me. Just imagine it, mother goose and her ducklings out for a walk. I decided to go to lunch.

Maria walked me over to the cheer table. They all looked ready to pounce. She whispered, “I’ll get you some lunch, good luck!”

I imagined getting up on the table with a song and dance routine to totally freak them out, but it would probably mean a full psych exam and missing the next hockey tryout. So I sat down and waited for the onslaught.

Julia first: “Arizona Darley, have you gone completely mad! You can’t give up cheerleading! We won’t let you!”

The others joined in:

“You tried out for hockey? Ice hockey!”

“You kissed Kellan?”

“You hit Justin?”

I started to laugh, “Girls, yes, I’ve gone totally insane! So, who’s coming to cheer me on at hockey tonight? I need my girls there. May need you to help me fight Justin and his posse, too!”

The girls (well, apart from Ariel) looked at me in horror.

“I’m ok. Really!” I quickly reassured them.

Ali spoke up, “Remember when Cassidy decided to try out for the lacrosse team? This is the same. We should support Arizona. I watched her tryout last night; she’s awesome! Justin’s just jealous.”

Julia looked at me. I nodded at her.

“Arizona, if this is something you really want to do, why didn’t you talk to us about it first? We need you on the squad.”

“Julia, you’re too sweet. I love being on the squad but you don’t need me. Ali took over when you were ill. She’s great, much better than me as vice captain.”

Ali shook her head but I continued.

“I really want to give this a go. It’s not going to be easy. The boys are having a hard time accepting a cheerleader as a player.”

A murmur of anger went through the group.

“So, I think we should show them, right girls?”

Julia and Ali looked at each other. Ali said, “Jules, she’s one of us, will always be even if she’s not cheering. Let’s go watch her play tonight.”

Julia nodded, “Ok, Arizona. Show us why you are giving up cheering. And is it true about Kellan?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond so I got up and said that I needed to use the restroom. Maria, Ali and Ariele got up to come with me.

“You’re kidding, right?” I asked in dismay. “Sit back down, I’m just going to the restroom. Be back in five.”

They looked at each other hesitantly but sat back down. I sauntered over to the restrooms keeping a look out for Justin. There were no signs of him so I slipped into the girl’s restroom. I could hear someone come in when I was in the far stall. I peered under the stall door, just some girl. I waited for her to enter a stall before I exited mine to wash my hands. As I was watching the water drip into my hands and then into the basin making random patterns, the stall door opened and Simla came out.

“Hi, Simla! How’s it going?”

“I thought we were friends, Arizona,” she growled at me with her eyes blazing.

I took a step back, she looked insanely furious.

“We are.”

“Not any more. How dare you threaten Justin?”

“He started it!” I said, sounding like a four year old.

“I’ve warned you before. I know all about your little family. I am sick of you treating us like this. Time someone teaches you a little lesson.”

She took a step toward me and I backed up against the basin losing my balance. As I tried to steady myself, she launched herself at me taking me completely by surprise. She grabbed my throat with her hands and squeezed my neck until I could no longer breathe.

~

“Where is Arizona, Maria?” asked Harry.

“She just went to use the rest room, she’ll be back in a second.”

“Who went with her?”

“No one, Harry. She wanted to go on her own. For goodness sake, she has to have some privacy!”

Kellan came in to the cafeteria and bumped into Harry as he was rushing out with the girls on his heels. He turned and joined them as they ran along the corridor.

“What’s going on? Where is Arizona, Harry?”

“In the restroom. By herself.”

They reached the restroom in seconds.

“Maria, go in and check, will you? Harry asked.

Maria gingerly entered the restroom. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the floor by the sinks. Arizona lay on the floor, her hands on her neck, writhing in pain. Maria froze and then screamed.

“Harry!”

The door flung open and everyone rushed in all at once. Kellan reached Arizona first and cradled her to him.

~

I had pretended to pass out when Simla grabbed my neck. I was taken so by surprise that I had not reacted in time to fight her off. I was disgusted with myself. She left as soon as I hit the ground. I couldn’t get back up. Something hurt. I couldn’t pin point what though. I was still trying to get my breath back, my neck stung.

I heard Maria’s scream! At least that meant some help would be on its way. I just needed to keep this from Harry and Kellan. They would be furious. I felt someone pull me in gently – Kellan. I nuzzled into his warm body. My body started shaking. This was just too embarrassing; I had to stop! They more I tried, the more I shook. Kellan held me firmer trying to steady my shakes but they wouldn’t stop.

“We’ve got to get an ambulance, she is shaking.”

An ambulance? No way! I opened my eyes and looked at Kellan pleadingly.

“Please, Kellan, no ambulance. Just take me outside. I need fresh air. It’s so stuffy in here, my neck really hurts,” I whispered hoarsely.

Harry peered over at me and said, “Shrimp, you have to see a doctor. I can take you if you don’t want an ambulance. I’m scared to lift you though. What if your neck is broken or something else?”

“I’m fine, nothing is broken. I’m just a bit bruised and out of breath.”

“You’re shaking, Arizona. You have to see a doctor,” Kellan said firmly.

“Harry, Kellan, please,” I pleaded, tears now streaming down my face.

“Let me get her outside, Harry,” suggested Kellan wearily. “She’s getting really upset. It’s not helping.”

Harry nodded and cleared the room so Kellan had space to carry me out.

“Harry, I’ll take her outside and sit with her. I’ll call you on your cell in about five minutes to give you an update.”

I could hear Harry’s disgruntlement, but as I started shaking even more, he relented.

Kellan sat down in the grass, cradling me in his arms. I was still shaking. Maybe thinking about something calm would stop the shakes. However, my thoughts inadvertently moved to images in the restroom. Simla’s furious eyes as she told me that she knew everything about my family. What ever had she meant? I started shaking even more. I could feel Kellan’s muscles tighten as he tried to steady me. This was beyond humiliating. I didn’t want Kellan to see me like this. I really needed to relax. I tried to concentrate on Kellan touch. It was so warm and comfortable. I felt safe. I tried to enjoy the feeling and could sense my body relaxing. The shaking turned to occasional trembles. I nuzzled into his shoulders and Kellan started stroking my hair. He ran his fingers across my face rubbing away the tears. As the trembling stopped, I became more aware of my burning throat. I needed something to drink. I opened by eyes to gaze into Kellan’s. He looked like he was in more pain than me. I tried to talk but the words came out in whispers, “Water, please.” I closed my eyes again as Kellan reached for his phone.

“Harry, she needs some water, can you bring some out? We’re by the Jeep.”

“Arizona, can you open your eyes again?”

I opened them and gazed back into his.

“Can you move your neck? Where does it hurt? How did this happen? Did you fall? Was it Justin?” I saw his expression change to fury with the last question. I knew it was best not to say anything about Simla, not yet anyway.

I whispered, “Not Justin.” No point in him and Harry going after Justin.

“Then who, Arizona? You have to tell me, I have to take care of him.”

“Later, Kellan. I need some water, my throat burns.”

“Of course you do. I shouldn’t push you. Sorry, Shrimp.” He drew me close again and I buried my head back into his chest.

“Hey, Kellan, how is she doing?” Harry asked, coming up to us.

“She’s been asking for water. Look at her neck. It’s got red blotches. From finger marks, no doubt.”

“Here’s some water, Arizona.”

I felt Harry move my head upright and I opened my eyes to see a water drop fall from Harry’s finger to my lips. I opened my mouth and Harry brought the straw to my lips and I sipped the water contently. The coldness of it felt good despite the burning when I tried to swallow.

“Thanks, Harry, that felt good,” I whispered gratefully.

“Arizona, I need to have a good look at you. Try to stay still and not freak out.” Harry started with my neck. He was being as gentle as he could, but I flinched as soon as he touched it. It was so painful that tears started streaming down my face again.

“Who did this, Arizona? These are clearly finger marks.”

Kellan said, “She’s already told me that it wasn’t Justin but she’s not saying any more. I guess it could’ve been one of the others from his group. We need to know. In fact, the cops are going to need to know.”

The cops? Why did they have to be involved? I would take care of this myself.

“We better get her to the hospital now that she has calmed down a bit. I’ll drive her,” said Kellan.

“Ali, can I take your car? It’s got more room at the back.”

“Sure, Kellan, we’ll follow you in the Jeep.”

I looked around and saw that Ali, Maria and Ariele were there as well.

Kellan picked me up and tried to get me into Ali’s back seat, but I was glued tight to him and wouldn’t let go.

“Kellan, I’ll drive. Try to get in with her, she’s not going to let go of you without injuring herself,” said Harry exasperated.

Kellan nodded and squeezed into the car, not letting go of me. Harry tried to get the seat belt around the two of us. It was not going to work so he let go and got into the driver’s seat to drive us to the hospital. The drive was long and uncomfortable. The bumps felt like stabs to my throat. Kellan had his hand behind my head, trying to steady my head against his chest.

“Arizona, tell me who did this to you.”

I looked at him, “I can’t Kellan. I have so many other things I need to tell you first. But my throat hurts too much.”

He looked at me frustrated, “Arizona, you could have died, just give me a name.”

“Kellan, I can’t. I’m fine.” With that I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I awoke to someone slapping me!

“Will you stop that!” I screeched as my throat nearly ripped open. I opened my eyes and glared into a set of glasses. I tried to focus, but the glare from glasses made it impossible.

“Kellan, where are you?” I whispered desperately.

“I’m right here,” said Kellan squeezing my hand.

“Hello, Arizona. I’m Dr. Everton. Sorry about the wake up,” he smiled. He proceeded to shine a light in my eyes and poke at my throat.

“Ouch, that really hurts!”

“My apologies, Arizona. I need to check to see if anything is broken. I’m going to send you up for an x-ray.

“Oh, I don’t need that, besides I have to be at tryouts soon.”

I could hear Harry chortling, “Arizona, you’ve got to be kidding. You can’t play hockey today.”

“I’ll get cut!”

“You’ll be ok, Shrimp. Coach will understand,” said Kellan reassuringly.

“Mom and Dad are on their way with Ella, they should be here any minute.”

Great! There was really no need to have told them! I could feel my bed starting to move.

“Taking you up to x-ray. It won’t hurt.”

I clung on to the hand I hoped was Kellan’s as we moved along the corridor. It was strange being moved in this position, hard to get my bearings. Mom and Rupert had clearly arrived. I could hear Harry updating them. Thankfully we couldn’t all fit into the elevator and they had to take the next one. I tried to think of a plausible story that would keep them from annoying me with endless questions. They caught up with me outside the x-ray unit.

“What happened, Arizona?” Mom looked worried and angry.

Rupert took my free hand, “Arizona, you have to tell us. The cops are waiting outside to speak with you once we are done here, but we would like to know as well.”

I could hear Ella crying. She was sitting on Harry’s arm looking down at me.

“I’m ok, Ella. Really, don’t worry.”

“You don’t look ok. You’re all red and look at your clothes!”

Mom nudged me for answers again; I turned to her impatiently.

“Look, I don’t remember what happened.” I knew it sounded lame, but temporary amnesia was the best I could come up with at short notice. I closed my eyes hoping that they would all leave me alone.

“She looks tired,” said Mom. “Let’s give her some time, if she can’t remember, there is nothing we can do. Stressing her out isn’t going to help.”

I heard a male voice, “Ok folks, it is time for her x- rays. You can’t come in. Please stay here.” Kellan tried to let go of my hand, but I dug my fingers into his until I could feel my nails tearing through his skin. My body started to tremble again.

“I guess you’re coming with us, she is not going to let go,” and with that I was wheeled in for my x-rays.

A whole load of waste of time, as I had told them. Nothing broken. Just bruises around my neck and back where I had fallen. I was forced to speak to the cops briefly before I was allowed to go. I gave them the same story as I had given Mom.

Kellan brought me to my bed and put me down, and I drifted straight off to a thankfully dreamless slumber. I woke, what seemed hours later, in a cold sweat. I felt Simla’s hands around my neck, unable to breathe or scream. I opened my eyes in terror and gazed into Kellan’s face.

His head lay next to mine fast asleep, making heavy comforting sounds. I couldn’t help myself; I touched his hair and the back of his neck and traced the contours of his face until I reached his mouth. I moved closer to his face so his every breath warmed my lips. I gently pressed mine against his. I felt him stir and move against me. Gently at first with the movements becoming more and more frantic. I put my hand under his shirt and against his chest. I could feel him suddenly stop moving and taking hold of both my hands.

“Arizona, what are you doing?”

“I need you.”

“I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. We can’t be doing this though. Not here, not now.”

He was right. I closed my eyes and nuzzled into his warm chest and fell back to sleep.

Olivia’s cell phone rang; it was Maria. How strange.

“Hello, Maria. What can I do for you?”

“Dr. Darley, Arizona’s been in an accident. We’re on our way to the hospital with her now.”

Olivia’s heart skipped a beat, “What happened, Maria? Did she fall on the ice?”

“No, I’m not sure exactly what happened. We found her on the floor in the restroom. Harry’s is driving her to the hospital in Ali’s car right now. I’m with Ali and Ariele in Arizona’s Jeep heading to the hospital, as well.”

“Thanks for calling and letting me know, Maria. I’ll call Rupert and meet you over at the hospital.”

She hung up, called Rupert and relayed the news.

“Ollie, I’ll meet you over there. I’ll have to bring Ella.”

Olivia rushed out of her office, down to the H2 and floored her way to the hospital. An accident in the restroom, had she slipped? What kind of injury did she have that she needed to go to hospital for? It must be more than a scratch. She was over come with worry. She pulled into the hospital parking lot just as Rupert arrived on his bike with Ella. Rupert picked Ella up in his arms and they ran together into the hospital.

“We’re Arizona Darley’s parents. She has just been admitted?”

The nurse behind the desk sat up in attention as she recognized Dr. Darley.

“They are taking her up to x-ray in a moment. I’ll take you to her.” She got up and signaled another nurse to take over for her and then led them along the corridor. They spotted Harry first and ran up to find out what was going on.

“She is being taken up to x-ray now. She said that she’s absolutely fine, but I guess they want to make sure. She is right there on the gurney.”

It was hard to see the gurney through the crowd. Olivia recognized Ali, Maria and Ariele. She could vaguely see Kellan bending over the gurney as it started to move towards the elevator.

“Is that Kellan?”

“Yes, she’s not let go of him since we found her.”

The elevator doors opened and the gurney was pushed in, with Kellan attached to it. The nurse got in and signaled for everyone else to take the next one. Olivia was about to protest, but felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.

It was the police, two of them, a man and a woman.

“Are you Arizona Darley’s parents?” The man asked.

“Yes, we are,” said Rupert.

“We need your permission to ask Arizona a few questions about the incident this afternoon.”

Rupert said, “Incident? I had assumed that this was an accident. She slipped and fell in a puddle? What’s going on?”

The policeman said that they had received an anonymous call to let them know that there had been an altercation in the girl’s restroom. A girl had been hurt. They were duty bound to investigate.

“Of course you are,” said Olivia. “An altercation? I want to know what happened too. You can question her, but in our presence only and I don’t want her upset. Wait here until she comes out from x-ray and gets an all clear from the doctor. I’ll try to find out what’s going on.”

The elevator arrived and Rupert and Olivia joined Ella, Ariele, Ali, Harry and Maria as the door closed. Rupert looked around at the teens in the elevator wondering what they knew and how much they would share.

“So, tell us what happened. The cops downstairs seem to think this is due to an altercation in the girl’s restroom?” Rupert asked, looking at Harry.

“How would they know that?” Ali demanded.

“An anonymous tip apparently,” replied Olivia. “Is it true?”

Harry, Ali, Maria and Ariele shot each other quizzical glances and shrugged.

Harry shook his head at his father, “We don’t know, Dad. Arizona says that she can’t remember. We found her in the restroom, on the floor with her hands around her neck gasping in pain. There was no one else in the bathroom with her.”

The elevator doors opened and they rushed over to Arizona. Olivia looked down at her, so pale and frightened, her hand clutching on to Kellan’s.

“What happened, Arizona?”

Ella tried to get a look at Arizona, but couldn’t see so Harry picked her up. However, one look at Arizona and Ella burst into a flood of tears. Harry hugged her close. Rupert took Arizona’s free hand and said, “Arizona, you have to tell us. The cops are waiting outside to speak with you once we are done here, but we would like to know as well.”

Olivia noticed Arizona flinch at the mention of cops. Something was definitely going on here. However, all the questioning could wait. Her daughter looked worn out, best to give her some time to rest. She stood back as the gurney was pushed into the x-ray suite with Kellan still attached to it.

Rupert looked around at the remaining teens.

“So, while Arizona is in the suite, can any of you shed light on why she would have been in an altercation with anyone? Was it Justin’s group?”

Harry looked uncomfortable, but knew that he couldn’t keep this from his parents, even though Arizona would want him to.

“There was an altercation between Arizona and Justin at the ice rink car park last night as we told you earlier.”

“You didn’t tell us exactly what happened. What kind of altercation? Surely Justin didn’t get physical?”

“I think he might have, had I not stopped him.”

“What was it about?”

“It started before I got there. Kellan was there with Arizona. We’ll have to ask him exactly how it got started. All I know is that Justin is after revenge and he can be an ass, so we’ve been looking out for her as much as we could today. She insisted on going to the restroom on her own and I am sorry we didn’t get there on time. We doubt it was Justin though; he was spotted in the cafeteria at the same time. Arizona did say that it wasn’t him. However, she does have severe bruising to her neck, so someone definitely had a go at her.”

Ariele made an uncomfortable sound.

“Ariele, do you know something?” Olivia asked.

“I’ll be breaking a confidence but I feel I have to. Lily texted me on the way to the hospital letting me know that she had called the cops. She saw Simla come out of the bathroom just before she saw us running up the corridor. Lily then heard what happened, but does not want to get involved. Her dad works for Simla’s dad. She called the cops using the school phone, but did not give them her name, just told them that an altercation had occurred in the bathroom and a student was hurt. Rupert and Olivia shot each other a worried glance. Could it be Simla? It seemed unlikely.

The door to the x-ray unit opened and Arizona, now in a wheelchair, was wheeled out holding on to Kellan’s hand.

“Is she ok?” Rupert inquired.

“Nothing broken, she is fine and can head home. She will need plenty of rest and the doctor is writing out a prescription for pain medication. Her throat will be sore for a few days.”

“Arizona, could you talk to the policeman waiting downstairs and tell them what you told us?” Rupert asked.

She nodded at Rupert, looking exhausted. Olivia wanted to take her home as soon as possible. A good rest is what she needed now.

“I want to push the wheelchair, Mom!” Ella demanded enthusiastically.

Olivia nodded and Ella took the handlebars and with Kellan’s help pushed the wheelchair toward the elevator where they managed to squeeze in with Olivia. Rupert waited and took the next elevator down with Harry and the girls. Once they got to the car, Olivia looked on helplessly and slightly amused at the state of Kellan trying to get Arizona into the car. There was no way she was letting him go so they finally got in together.

Rupert drove. It gave Olivia some time to mull things over. There was definitely something up with Arizona just as Glenda had warned. Her passion for hockey and her aggressive behavior was worrying. It was like she was a Stevens again, but that was surely impossible? She must be having a hard time dealing with this change in herself. Her friends must wonder what was happening, too. There had also been a significant change in the relationship between Arizona and Kellan. She seemed totally attached to him, which was unusual for both her Arizonas. Neither had exhibited a strong attachment to anyone before. Neither had ever shown an interest in boys. She wondered what Kellan made of all this. She would need to get him on his own and talk to him later. Why had she picked on Justin? Or perhaps it was Justin who picked on her? She would have to get to the bottom of this puzzle and deal with it before things got really out of hand again, as it had today.

As they pulled into the driveway Kellan asked, “Is it ok if I bring her up to her room and get her to her bed?”

“Thanks, Kellan, that’s nice of you. We appreciate all your help today,” said Rupert as Kellan let himself out with Arizona still in his arms and carried her upstairs.

“She’s like a baby!” Ella laughed.

“Ella, would you like a snack and then you can play Guitar Hero with Harry for a while?” Olivia suggested trying to distract her young daughter.

“Yes, please,” said Ella excitedly, “Here’s Harry now.”

They went to the kitchen together and sat down.

“Is Kellan upstairs with Arizona?” Harry asked.

“Yes, he carried her up the stairs like a baby,” giggled Ella.

“I should give him a break. Come on, Ella. Bring your snack with you. Let’s go up and read the big baby a bed time story.”

Ella got up and followed Harry up the stairs.

Olivia looked at Rupert with worry, “I guess we should try to find out as much as we can from Kellan?”

Rupert nodded as they heard Kellan come down the stairs and walk into the kitchen. He sat down, looking exhausted.

“What happened to your hand, Kellan?” Rupert asked, pointing to his right hand. It was scratched up with dried blood around numerous cut marks. Kellan looked down examining his hand and smiled, “Your daughter is strong.”

“Arizona did that?” Olivia asked in surprise.

“She didn’t mean to. It’s been a difficult day for her. She used me as a security blanket, I don’t mind.”

“Let me clean the cuts for you and put some bandages on,” said Olivia as she rummaged in the medicine cabinet for the first aid kit. She found it, came back and took Kellan’s hand in hers. It was worse than it had looked from a distance. There was still a nail attached to one of the cuts. She took a pair of tweezers and gently pried it out. She held it up for Rupert and Kellan to see and shrugged her shoulders. Then she cleaned out each cut, applied Neosporin and put bandages on the bigger cuts.

“My apologies, Kellan. Arizona really did some damage here.”

“I should go back up to her. She was asleep when Harry came up. She’ll freak out if I’m not there when she wakes up. It’s probably best if I hang out in her room tonight.”

“I guess that’s ok. Keep the door open so we can hear you if she or you need anything. Kellan, thank you again, for being so thoughtful. I’ll call your Dad and let him know what’s going on.”

Olivia continued, “It would be useful for us to know what happened in the parking lot to cause the row with Justin. Harry was able to fill us in with the part from when he arrived at the scene, but could you tell us what happened before that? What started it?”

“I should really head back up, the details aren’t important. Sufficient to say that Justin was being, well Justin and was winding Arizona up. She got so angry that she grabbed her stick to go and hit him. Harry arrived in time to help me deal with the situation. I held her back while Harry dealt with Justin.”

Kellan got up to leave. The last thing he wanted to do was discuss his kissing their daughter with them, especially since they had just given him permission to watch over her. That would be voided instantaneously.

“I’ll bring you up something to eat, Kellan,” said Olivia as he was leaving the room.

“Thanks,” said Kellan and left.

Harry came back to the kitchen with Ella.

“Well, that was boring, wasn’t it, Harry! She’s sleeping. We had to just sit there quietly and watch her. I want some more to drink.”

Harry laughed and got her some water.

“Here, drink this and then get Guitar Hero set up. I’ll be through in a minute.”

Ella purposefully marched off to the family room.

“Harry, what’s going on between Kellan and Arizona? They seem inseparable,” Rupert remarked as Harry rummaged around.

“You noticed?” he laughed. “Yes, I’ve noticed a change this week, mainly from Arizona. Not sure what Kellan makes of it, but he does not seem averse to it. He hasn’t said anything to me, but then this has been a busy week. I’ll try to pin him down for a chat later.”

“I said that he could hang out in Arizona’s room. I hope that was ok,” Olivia wondered.

“It’ll be fine. Kellan adores Arizona, always has. He’ll look after her.”

“Well, I need to pop into work and I was hoping to take Dad with me. Will you be ok with the munchkin? We’ll be on our cells. Call us if Arizona wakes or if there’s any change in her condition and we’ll head right back.”

“Sure, no problem. It’s almost bedtime for Ella anyway. We’ll play a couple of games and then I’ll put her to bed.”

“Great, thank you. I’ll go and say goodbye and then we’ll head off.”

They took Rupert’s bike. Olivia didn’t really need to head into work but she decided that she really did need to talk to Ariele. She had to try to figure out what was going on. Glenda had said that Arizona and Ariele had a conversation earlier this week and that she had a feeling that something was up. As she clung on to Rupert’s leather jacket, Olivia’s thoughts wandered back to their ride to the airport after their first night in their cozy London flat.

It had been a rainy, cold drive to Heathrow that October afternoon. She had clung on to Rupert wondering if this was going to be the last time that they would be with one another. When they reached Heathrow she had hung on to Rupert’s hand with the same desperation her daughter had shown today. She wouldn’t let go and Rupert had tried to persuade her to stay. But she had to go back for her two daughters. She had crumpled into a heap at the thought of leaving Rupert behind.

“Ollie, let me come with you,” Rupert had pleaded.

“Come with me?” Ollie mused, surprised. It was an option that she had strangely not considered.

“Yes, there is no reason I can’t get a ticket and we do this together.”

It had never occurred to her to take him back with her. What would be the harm? She wanted to share all of her with him, all her various aspects.

“Rupert, can you really come with me? I don’t want to leave you here.”

He nodded relieved that she was not parting from him again. They purchased another ticket and Olivia found herself happily sitting next to Rupert on the long flight back to California, holding on to him tightly.

As they pulled into the Moreaus’ driveway they saw Glenda waiting on the porch, Olivia had called her before they set off.

“Hi, Olivia, Rupert! Ariele is upstairs. Do you want to come in for a coffee with me first? You look like you need it.”

“A beer for me, Glenda, would be even better,” said Rupert with a chuckle.

“A beer it is! Wine for you, Olivia?”

“Yes, please, that sounds perfect,” she replied thankfully.

They congregated in Glenda’s small but cozy kitchen, perching themselves on the barstools.

“You guys look beat,” Glenda remarked as she handed out the drinks. Olivia sighed and nodded in agreement as Rupert put his arm around her and pulled her closer.

“You were right, Glenda, something has changed with Arizona. I think she has had some recall or perhaps it’s intuition that’s responsible for the changes we are noticing. I am hoping its intuition rather than recall. I couldn’t even begin to explain recall, but what you said at the office seems to point to recall though.”

Rupert looked over at Glenda and asked, “Has Ariele mentioned anything?”

“No, she’s been very secretive about her conversations with Arizona. They seem to have become close lately. She has now been included in Arizona’s circle of friends and seems more happy and settled.”

“Do you think she’ll share anything with us?” Rupert wondered.

“Not willingly. You’re welcome to talk to her though,” said Glenda taking a sip of her coffee.

“That would be great. I promise not to upset her in any way. I’ll keep it as casual as I can.”

Glenda nodded at Olivia appreciatively, thankful that she understood that interrogating Ariele would just have the same effect, as it always did when Olivia tried it on her own teens.

“I’ll go and get her,” said Glenda and went up the stairs.

Olivia looked at Rupert and said, “Hon, perhaps you should do most of the talking? Teens tend to freeze up on me.”

Rupert chuckled, “The girls maybe, but I know the boys are more relaxed around you.”

Glenda came back to the kitchen with Ariele who looked withdrawn and suspicious.

“Hi, Dr. Sssss… Darley.”

“This is Arizona’s dad, Rupert.” Glenda interrupted. Everyone noticed Ariele rolling her eyes at this.

“Why the attitude, Ariele?” Glenda asked.

Ariele took a deep breath, “Mom, you know as well as I do that this is not Arizona’s dad, not her real one.”

“Ariele, this is complicated and not something we have time to discuss with you right now. Did you say anything to Arizona about Rupert not being her real dad?”

“No, of course not,” said Ariele defiantly shaking her head.

Olivia sighed in relief and Rupert added, “Ariele, this is a complex situation. We need to know what you know about what’s happened over the last few days. It will help us help Arizona. She is very distraught at the moment.”

“I don’t know anything more than I already told you at the hospital. It would probably help Arizona if you two explained to all of us what’s going on,” said Ariele with a challenge.

Olivia ignored the teenage tantrum. “This is not the time for it. I don’t fully understand it myself. I need to figure it all out. For now, keep what you know to yourself. Do not share it with Arizona. It will do her more harm than good.” She was grateful to see Ariele nodding as she took a cookie and left the kitchen. No one spoke until Ariele’s bedroom door banged shut.

“Olivia, what’s going on? You haven’t shared anything with me, surely you brought me over to do more than just crunch data coming off the collider unit,” Glenda asked carefully studying Olivia’s expression.

“Glenda, I’m sorry but that’s all there is to your project for now. The data is extremely sensitive and I wouldn’t trust anyone else to it. There is something strange going on, but I can’t explain it to you because I don’t know what’s happening myself. Give me some time.”

“Can I ask you something else, Ollie? I was in Larry’s office the other day and he mentioned the ‘October Project’ to someone on the phone. I’m guessing it was you? I looked it up in our database but there was no output. Is this a project you’re working on? Is it what I’m working on? Does it have something to do with all this?”

“Glenda, I’m not in a position to discuss this with you at the moment. I really hope that you can be patient with me. I’ll discuss my projects with you when appropriate. For now, I would be grateful if you could keep an eye on Ariele. How’s your husband coping with all this?”

“He is coming to terms with it. He interviewed at the high school today for a French-teacher position and he is feeling confident.”

“That’s great, Glenda. Convey my congratulations to him when he gets the offer.”

As Rupert and Olivia stood up to leave, Glenda said, “It’s some sort of portal isn’t it? I always knew you had it in you Olivia Darley, but this is sheer genius!”

A portal. It sounded so simple.

I woke with Kellan still asleep next to me. It was four in the morning. He looked so peaceful that I decided not to disturb him. My neck was still throbbing. I ran my fingers over the bruises.

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Simla, I would teach her a lesson she’d never forget. What was going on with that girl? I couldn’t believe she did this to me, that I had allowed her to do this to me. Sweet, meek Simla, whatever had happened to her? She had become one of my good pals at Princeton. We had been unlikely friends, mismatched, but we had enjoyed each other’s sense of humor. Her shyness had put a lot of people off, however, I had gotten to know her in my geometry class during freshman year. I had spent most of my first week in that class peering over her shoulders to copy her work.

She had finally looked over at me and softly murmured, “I can help you out after class if you want.”

I had smiled at her. I didn’t really need any help. I just needed someone to do my homework for me occasionally. After all, hockey didn’t leave much time for math. We had initially struck up a silent friendship. We always nodded “hello” and smiled at each other when we passed each other in the corridor.

Princeton High had its share of bullies. I had long since established that I was not to be messed with and they left me alone. Although, they didn’t much approve of my hanging out with the hockey guys. Guys that they crushed on, guys that I had total access to. It didn’t go unnoticed that I was the girl who had been welcomed into the hallowed halls of the boys locker rooms for pre-game chats, that I was the girl who rode with the boys to the games, that I was the girl on their speed dial. I guess that it was odd that I had never dated any of them. I didn’t “crush” on the guys like the other girls. The last time I had “crushed” was in second grade, my best pal John, but I had not seen him in years. He had moved to France when we were eight.

Simla was an easy target for the bullies. She was almost always alone, always dressed in old clothes that were mostly too big for her. It was not long until the bullies noticed her and decided to make her life hell.

It all started in the girl’s restroom. One of the girls, Meghan, had decided that it would be fun to record Simla going to the toilet and then post it on Facebook. Of course, the video sucked. It was a hurried, blurred clip made by someone shoving a cell phone under the stall door for a couple of seconds. Simla couldn’t be identified in the clip but it left her humiliated. She withdrew further into herself and was absent from school for a number of days. When she finally arrived back she looked beat as she sat resignedly in her seat. I pulled at her hair to get her attention during class, but she did not respond.

“Simla, how are you doing? I heard what happened, so awful!”

I could see her body tense up as she deliberated whether to turn around and respond. After all, she may have thought that I was one of Meghan’s posse, she wouldn’t know. I was just the rough hockey girl who copied her work.

“Simla, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not one of them, honestly.”

She turned around slowly and peered at me through her glasses uncertainly.

“Have lunch with me today? You know Ariele and Monica?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“They are really good friends of mine, they’ll be at lunch too, join us. I promise it will be ok.”

She looked unsure but nodded. I hoped that she could gather up courage in time for lunch. She did and I was glad to see her. Simla was quiet to begin with, but she quickly came out of her shell thanks to Ariele, who has an easy, welcoming manner. Once we got her talking, she wouldn’t shut up! She had lived a fairly interesting life and the stories she told cracked us up.

I took care of Meghan and friends easily.

I wondered what had changed with Simla, she seemed like a completely different person. Where had she found the physical strength to create this damage, I wondered swallowing painfully.

My hand moved to my throat again. I sat up. My throat was so dry that I could almost not breathe. I needed water and looked around for some. The glass on the bedside table was empty. Kellan didn’t stir as I gently moved his arm from my waist. I got up, slid into my flip flops, and went down to the kitchen to pour ice cold water down my throat. That felt so good.

Gertrude had heard me get up and came in wagging her tail and poking her nose at the door. She seemed desperate so I got her leash and stepped outside with her. The cold air hit my face and felt good against my throat. Poor Gertrude was not fond of it and wanted to go back in as soon as she’d done the needful. We walked back inside and I gave her a treat before returning to my bedroom.

Although wide awake, I didn’t want to stay away from Kellan any longer. I crawled back into bed and watched him sleep. His hand moved finding my elbow. I noticed his hand was scratched up – nail marks, which must have been me, ugh. I watched him for ages studying every detail of his face, his sensitive mouth, which turned up at the corners, in what seemed like a sneer, but I knew better now. His long eyelashes, flawless brows and thick hair all messy from the day I had put him through. He really was amazingly hot.

After what had happened earlier, I resisted the powerful urge to touch him. I wondered what he made of his newfound Siamese twin. His lids flickered. I held my breath not wanting to disturb his peaceful sleep. I also didn’t want him to catch me staring at him in this creepy fashion. They flickered again and opened, gazing right into mine. His lips broke into a smile.

“Hey, Shrimp,” he said sleepily, “How are you feeling?”

“Embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed? Why?” he asked surprised as he took a strand of my blonde hair and pulled at it.

“Look what I did to your hand.”

“Oh, that’s nothing. Just a few scratches, you were scared.”

“Who does that when they are scared? I really made an ass of myself yesterday. I am so sorry.”

“Really, Shrimp, it’s ok. How’s your throat? It looks awful.”

“Still hurts, especially when I try to swallow.”

“I need you to tell me who did this to you?”

“Why?”

“So I can make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Kellan, it’s ok. I need to deal with this myself.”

“Oh, come on, Arizona! Look at you. Nice dealing!” He sighed.

“She took me by surprise,” I said totally humiliated that I had let Simla get away with this.

“She?”

“Yes, a she so you see why I can’t have you dealing with it.”

“Was it Simla? She was seen coming out of the restroom just before we arrived. I couldn’t picture it before. I thought it unlikely. Simla? Did she have others with her?” he asked baffled.

I was beyond mortified. I closed my eyes trying to remember how I let this happen. It was all a blur. I could just remember the feeling of helpless surprise and disappointment.

“Kellan, it’s a blur. It was Simla, on her own. I can’t believe I let this happen. I keep trying to remember the details but can’t. I have to deal with this myself. Can you see that?”

He shook his head and took my hands, “It’s not your fault. You can’t be on alert all the time especially when you are with those you feel you trust. What are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure yet, I need time to think.”

I lay back down on the pillow, a hundred different scenarios running through my head, each ending with me annihilating Simla. I had to get this anger under control. Kellan looked down at me, trying to read my thoughts.

“What are you thinking, Shrimp? You look ready to kill.”

I laughed, “I’m sorry. I had some less than sweet thoughts on how to deal with my Simla issue. Don’t worry though. I won’t translate them into action. What worries me more than what Simla did is what she said,” I slipped.

“What she said?”

“Kellan, I really have to talk to you. I have so much to explain. I bet you find me a bit confusing at the moment?”

“Yes, to say the least! However, I’m enjoying it, bits of it anyway. I could do without rebel Arizona though,” he grinned. “You’re avoiding my question again.”

“I am, sort of. Can I explain later, please?” I pleaded pulling his face closer to mine.

He brought his lips down on mine and brushed against them softly and whispered, “You make it hard to say ‘no’. Shrimp, you’ve no idea what you’re doing to me. I need some answers from you.”

I nodded, I had promised. I needed him to know the whole me.

“I’m going to head home, take a shower and be back here with a picnic at lunchtime. Can you explain everything then?”

He was going? I felt a shiver run down my spine and trembled. He shot me a worried look, his brows furrowed as he took my hands.

I tried to reassure him, “I’m going to be fine. I’m just a bit cold, I better get back under the blankets.” I lay down wrestling my feet back into the blanket as Kellan pulled it over me and tucked the sides under me.

“Get some sleep, you have some questions to answer later,” he teased and got up and left.

I suddenly felt all alone and scared again. All I wanted to do was to run after him and make him stay but I resisted. That would be beyond pathetic. I closed my eyes and concentrated on Simla again. What had she meant when she said, I know all about your family?

Perhaps I should talk to her and find out what this was all about. I had sort of avoided her; she was right to be angry about that. Maybe she could shed some light on my current situation, she certainly made out as if she knew something about it. However, Simla’s aggression worried me. She really must dislike me strongly to do what she had done. It couldn’t just be about Justin, surely? Was she that into him? How bizarre. I had not even done anything to Justin! I could go to the cops and get her into heaps of trouble. She must be fairly confident that I wouldn’t. What did she have on me that made her so positive? What she had done to me was so insane, totally whacked.

Did this have something to do with Mom’s work? Did Mom have something to do with Simla being here? Had she engineered this? Why would she involve Simla? It didn’t make any sense.

Mom was definitely happier here, life with my dad had been miserable for her. I had noticed in my short time here that she was far more content and relaxed.

Here…. I focused on that word. What did here mean? It was clear that we were in California, in Mountain View. But when were we here. We seemed to be about eight months behind, how could that be? I had tried to call my dad a number of times, but the phone line did not exist, neither his cell nor work. It was time for some Google.

I brought my computer over to my bed and made myself comfortable as it booted. Dillard Stevens NJ, produced no hits. I tried Dillard Stevens, this produced a few results, which was fortunate I supposed. I looked at a few of the hits and possible places an engineer might work. There was a Dillard Stevens listed at Penic Engineering in Leeds. Not really likely. Small chance of Dad being in England.

I googled myself: Arizona Stevens and Princeton. No hits. I didn’t exist. I held my breath. I felt the blood rush from my body. What was going on here? This was not a simple case of my mother stealing us and bringing us to California to live with her new man and his son. My past had been wiped. I needed to talk to Ariele again. I did exist, she knew me.

I could hear Ella’s door opening and her running toward my door.

“Arizona! Are you feeling better? She stopped short and stared at me. “You look awful!”

“Thanks, Ella,” I laughed. The bruises must look worse today. “Yes, I feel a whole lot better. What’s up?”

“Are you going to come to Grandma’s today?”

“No, I don’t think so. Like you said, I look awful. I think I’ll stay here and hang out with Kellan.”

“Kellan can come too,” she said sounding disappointed.

“I know, but I think its best Grandma doesn’t see me like this. She’ll worry too much, don’t you think?”

“I guess but we’ll miss you.”

I hugged her. She was ok, really, actually kind of cute at times. Harry, Mom and Rupert came in with a tray.

“Feeling up to some breakfast?” Mom asked, peering at my neck.

I was starving and my stomach positively grumbled at the smell of bacon. However, as I swallowed to test my throat, I wasn’t so sure.

“I’ll give it a try. I am hungry.”

“Are you feeling up to coming to Grandma’s?” Mom asked putting the tray down on my bed.

“Not really. I’m still a bit tired. I’ll hang out here with Gertrude and Kellan is coming over later at lunchtime.”

Rupert looked unsure, “I’m not happy about leaving you on your own. I can stay until Kellan gets here.”

“No, don’t be silly. Gertrude will keep me company. I’ll call you if I need you.”

They looked at each other uncertainly, but nodded and left to get ready to head off. They poked their heads into my room to said goodbye.

“Arizona, don’t go outside on your own. Gertrude has been walked. She won’t need to go out again until later. Call us if you need anything,” said Mom.

Ella added, “Don’t forget to throw a scarf around your neck before Kellan comes!”

It was ten thirty already. I took a long refreshing shower and washed my hair. I changed into dark skinny jeans and a chocolate brown hooded t-shirt. I added a leopard print scarf as an afterthought. Good suggestion from Ella – that looked so much better. I wrapped the scarf around my neck once and left the ends hanging in the front. After I had dried my hair and applied some lip gloss, I looked fairly presentable.

It was still half an hour before Kellan was due so I pulled on my Uggs and took Gertrude for a walk. It was cool but sunny and we stopped every minute or so while Gertrude sniffed at interesting smells and decided whether she wanted to add her own. What a strange little creature, happy as can be.

As we walked back to the house, I noticed that Kellan’s bike was already there and he was sitting on the porch waiting. My heart did a summersault. He didn’t look up. His eyes were closed as he absentmindedly strummed the strings of a wooden guitar. I stopped and stared at him and could have stood there forever, but Gertrude had different ideas. As soon as she noticed him her tail started wagging furiously and she sprinted across the lawn and launched herself at him. He fell backwards in surprise, laughing while trying to avoid the loving licks.

“Thank you Gertrude, thank you! I love you too.”

I walked over and sat down on the step beside him waiting for Gertrude to calm down.

He managed to cradle her in his arms and then turned to me chuckling, “I need another shower!” He stopped, noticing my mood. I was actually annoyed at Gertrude getting to him before me, honestly!

“How are you doing, Shrimp? You seem a bit solemn.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, ignore me.”

“You look great. How are you feeling?”

“Much better. Where do you want to head to?”

“I was thinking the lake if you are feeling up to it?”

I remembered the lake from the meteor showers. I assumed that’s the one he meant. I couldn’t recall any others. I nodded, but I wondered how my neck would hold up to the ride. I let Gertrude back in and went to get my helmet but Kellan stopped me.

“There is no way we are riding over on the bike, your neck is much too bruised. We’ll take your Jeep, I’ll drive.”

I was relieved. The thought of riding the bike through the trees, even in the daytime, was not the least bit appealing. He brought over a wicker picnic basket and a green blanket to the Jeep and we set off. He drove much more carefully and slowly than usual trying to bump my head about as little as possible. His hand found the iPod controls and he fumbled about trying to turn it on. Then laughed and said, “I give up, Shrimp. Why don’t you put some tunes on.”

I wasn’t really in the mood. I suddenly felt apprehensive. I couldn’t understand why. I felt oddly afraid, even though I was with the person I felt safest with. This person who I had known for less than a week. This person who I was about to share my secrets with. This person who I had hopelessly fallen in love with.

I didn’t know anything about him. I didn’t even know his last name! I had no idea how he would respond to anything I told him. I trusted him completely yet I had absolutely no reason to. So many aspects of my life were out of synch. Kellan was one of them. Did he belong to Arizona Darley or Stevens? Would I have to give him up? This frightened me and I felt my throat closing in and the tremors in my body start up again.

I felt Kellan’s hand on my shoulder and turned to look at him, he was gazing right at me with concern.

“Shrimp, do you want me to turn back? You look like you are getting worse again. I felt you shiver.”

“Kellan, I’m fine but I am afraid.”

“Afraid? Of what? I won’t let anyone hurt you, I’ll keep you safe.”

“I’m afraid of you, Kellan.”

The car jolted, turned and stopped at the side of the road. I could feel a sense of panic now and shivered.

“Why would you be afraid of me?” he asked as anger and hurt poured from his eyes.

“Because I don’t know you.”

I looked away and stared at my hands, my eyes concentrating exclusively at my fingernails. I could hear him breathing heavily trying to digest what I’d just said. He removed his hand from my shoulder and I felt a sense of abandonment. My eyes instantly teared up and a large teardrop slid down my face. I could feel his gaze burning a hole into me. We sat in silence for ages and then I heard him turn around and start the engine. I glanced over at him. I couldn’t read him; his face was expressionless. He started driving. I had no idea where to. I had thought that he would drive me back home and dump me there, but he didn’t turn around.

We offroaded onto a dirt road and stopped at the lake. Kellan got out and fetched the wicker basket and blanket and walked over to the lake. He shook the blanket out and put the basket on it and looked over at me. I was still sitting in the Jeep making no move to join him. He walked back over to the Jeep, opened my door and glowered at me. I sat still as he undid my seat belt, scooped me up and silently carried me over to the blanket and put me down. He lay down next to me and put his arm out for my head. I lay back on it and closed my eyes turning my body toward his.

Once again I felt safe. I could feel his gaze and I opened my eyes.

“You don’t know who I am? Arizona, I don’t know how to respond. What exactly do you mean? You mean you don’t understand me? Is that what you mean when you say you don’t know me?”

I nuzzled into his shoulders and kissed his chin, totally confusing him.

“No, it’s more complicated than that. You don’t know who I am either."

Kellan looked at me exasperated, “Are we about to have a deep philosophical discussion?”

I sighed in frustration and closed my eyes again. This was going to be more difficult than I had imagined.

“Arizona, come on! Don’t shut me out. You’re surely not afraid of me, are you?”

I opened my eyes again and studied his carefully. They were clear and honest.

“No, I do feel safe with you, but I am scared of how you’ll react to what I have to tell you. I don’t even know how and where to start.”

He looked at me and smiled, “Now I’m afraid of you!”

I laughed, “You should be. I’m about to blow your mind.”

“Less of the intrigue, Shrimp. Just spill!”

Where to start, where to start? I took a deep breath and played with his sleeve.

“Kellan, how long have we known each other?”

He laughed, “Oh no, you don’t! You are the one telling the stories today. Besides you know the answer to that.”

I took a deep breath and blurted:

“I’m not Arizona Darley. I’m Arizona Stevens. I live in New Jersey with my dad, Dillard. I go to Princeton High School and play defense in the all boys varsity ice hockey team. I met you for the first time last Monday morning in physics class. There!” I got it all out in one breath, not bad. I lay back down and closed my eyes while he, no doubt, contemplated calling a psychiatrist.

“Oh, I nearly forgot. I’m from the future.”

I got up and picked up some pebbles and started throwing them in the lake, following each vibration in the water. I felt him come up behind me and he started throwing pebbles into the lake as well. He was so close behind me I could feel his breath on my neck. He grabbed my hand as I was about to launch yet another pebble and threw it with me. We stood like that for ages throwing pebbles together. He finally let go of my hand and turned me around.

“You’re pretty good at pebble throwing for a Martian,” he said with a grin.

My fist came up and hit his chest knocking him down. He looked more than a little surprised as he hit the ground, but must have thought the whole situation hilarious as his laughs filled the air. It only made me angrier. My predicament was impossible to explain without this added nonsense.

“I am being serious,” I shouted angrily at him. Tears were starting to run down my face again.

He stopped and looked me incredulously, “You are, aren’t you?” He reached for my hands and pulled me down.

“I’ll be good. You’re going to have to explain all this though,” he said wiping the tears off my cheeks.

I nodded, “This is as hard for me to accept as it is going to be for you. But I am the one living it!

“Kellan, for me, last Saturday afternoon was June 2009. I was in New Jersey. I had just taken my SAT’s. I woke up in Mom’s car later that night and realized that things were strange. Mom and Ella’s hair were different and we seemed to have changed cars from an H3 to an H2. She drove me to a house I’d never seen before. I discovered that I had a dad named Rupert. My real dad is Dillard, he lives with me in Princeton. Imagine my confusion! I’m seriously not having a seizure of any kind.” I looked at him apprehensively. He nodded for me to go on.

“Then Monday, I had to find my way around a strange school except everyone seemed to know me. Then I had to get out of cheer squad… I can’t cheer!”

“I thought you seemed different Monday morning, the way you looked at me in physics,” Kellan remarked thoughtfully. “But this still doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know. I’m just telling you what happened to me. I’m not claiming it makes any sense. It is real though.” I continued, “So, then I found out that I had a brother! I also found out that my grandma is still alive. I also realized that it was no longer June 2009, but I was back in October 2008.”

“Slow down, Shrimp, too much information all at once. Relax and have a drink.” He looked pensive. I couldn’t even imagine what was going through his mind. I sounded like a babbling mad woman.

“You don’t believe a word I’m saying, do you?” I asked feeling beaten.

“Believe is not the word… absorb. I’m having a hard time absorbing this.”

“I don’t blame you. I can’t absorb it myself.”

He poured some lemonade into a wine glass and handed it to me. I took a long sip, mulling over what to say next.

“Kellan, when I saw you Monday morning, I saw you for the very first time.”

He reached over and touched my hair and said, “I felt like I did too.”

“That must have been so strange for you, Kellan?”

He nodded, “Yes, I’m still trying to work my feelings out. You’ve been like a kid sister for so long. I’ve never thought of you in any other way. Monday morning was weird; it was like you were someone else. I was powerfully drawn to you.”

I stroked his cheek with my hand and then continued. “The thing is, I am also Arizona Darley. I can remember some of the stuff about my Darley life and I’m remembering more and more everyday. It’s mostly the small things though, like where I like to keep my stuff and how I do my hair. I seem to instinctively know certain people like Maria and Ali. However, I have no recollection of you, Harry or Rupert.” I moved closer to him, “I have these strong feelings for you, had them as soon as I saw you, but couldn’t help feeling that they were inappropriate.”

“Yes, well, we have been friends for years, since we were eight. You are Harry’s kid sister, so yes, totally inappropriate,” he laughed. “This week has changed things between us. I doubt we can go back to our old selves. I won’t want to,” he mused.

I felt a wave of relief pass over me and moved closer into him as I laid my head down on his lap.

“I need to figure out what’s going on. This is not all in my head. Ariele recognized me from Princeton. She’s one of my best friends from there.” I could feel Kellan tensing up again and sitting upright.

“You’re kidding? Right?” He looked at me disbelievingly.

“No, she recognized me at physics, but was too scared to come and speak to me. She’d already tried speaking to Simla and Justin, but they didn’t recognize her.”

Kellan looked like he was going to have a fit.

“Simla and Justin? What have they got to do with this?”

I could see that I had said too much, too soon. I had not given him enough time to digest all the weirdness.

“Arizona, I was hoping it was all in your mind, but this changes everything. What about Ariele, Simla and Justin?”

I was a bit insulted at the insinuation that this was all in my mind, but let that slide for now.

“Like I said, Ariele is one of my best friends from Princeton. So is Simla. Justin and I played hockey together.”

He went silent. I could only imagine the turmoil of his thoughts.

I stood up and held my hands out. He took them, I pulled him up and we started walking around the lake. It was a beautiful day. The fresh October air provided a welcome breeze. We walked silently, holding on to each other’s hands, stopping to throw the odd pebble in the lake. I pulled him down when we arrived back at the picnic blanket.

“Kellan, let’s talk to Ariele. She may help me to explain this a bit better.” He nodded thoughtfully, but I could see that he needed more answers from me.

“Arizona, this has got to be impossible for you. Does Harry know? Your mom?”

I could feel myself tearing up again. The stress of holding all this in was getting to me.

“No, no one but Ariele knows. I don’t know how to tell anyone. Just look at how you’re reacting. And Mom, well I think she may have something to do with all this.”

He looked confused, “What do you mean?”

“Truthfully, I don’t know what I mean. It’s just a feeling. Do you know anything about Ames?”

“You think Ames is involved?”

“I don’t know. It’s just that my mom and Ariele’s mom work there.”

“As does my dad, Justin’s dad and Simla’s mom,” added Kellan.

“Simla did say that she knew everything about my family. What does your Dad do, Kellan?”

“He is one of the directors, works with your mom a lot. He’s your mom’s boss.”

“What’s his name?”

“Larry, seems strange that you should ask. You’ve known him for years, but I suppose you don’t recall?”

“We should talk to Ariele,” I said. He nodded and opened the wicker basket.

“Hungry, Shrimp? Can I still call you Shrimp?”

“I would be upset if you didn’t. And yes, I am starving!”

Kellan brought out some carefully wrapped sandwiches and strawberries. He laid them out on plates and handed me one. I ate the strawberries first. They were juicy and delicious. My throat still hurt and I had to wash them down with water to stop the burning. After we finished eating we lay down on the blanket and enjoyed the warmth of the sun. Kellan turned to me and I braced, as I knew more questions were coming.

He laughed, “Scared of more questions?”

I nodded.

“Just one more,” he promised.

I braced myself.

“Are we going to keep us a secret?”

I hadn’t expected that. It was not something I had given any thought to in my sea of issues. I wasn’t sure that any one cared? Or did they? Did Kellan have a girlfriend who would flip out? Did I have another boyfriend?

“I haven’t given it any thought!”

He laughed, “Well, I guess you have been busy worrying over other stuff and….”

I interrupted. “You have been my rock. I never considered that this would be an issue for anyone, but I guess it might. Is it? Are you seeing someone else?”

He chuckled, “No, Shrimp, that’s not the issue. But Harry might be, in fact he’s definitely going to be. He trusted his lil’ sis with me and now look!”

“Really, you think?”

“Yes, and then there is David. He’s had a thing for you, forever, but you’ve just kept putting him off. He’s going to be a bit disappointed with you.”

“Well, given that I put him off…..”

Kellan moved closer to me, “So it’s us? The two of us, whoever you might be?”

“Yes,” and I closed my eyes to let him seal the deal.

I texted Ariele on the way back. I felt we needed, I needed, her in my corner in order to figure out what was going on. Although I felt a sense of relief that I had shared what I knew with Kellan, I wasn’t sure that I had convinced him. I hoped that Ariele could take away any doubts he had. This situation had to be fixed although I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted fixed. I knew that I had to find a way back.

I strongly felt that my mother was involved and if she had managed to get me here she would be able to send me back. I wondered how my dad was coping. I had been gone for almost a week. I would have to figure out the best way to deal with my mother. She was not an easy person to confront, but I needed to get back to my real life, my school, my friends and Dad.

Ariele would be able to help, I was sure of it. Possibly her mother as well, they knew me from New Jersey. They would be able to help me deal with my mom. I felt Kellan put his hand in mine interrupting my thoughts and I looked up at him.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“Ariele said we could stop by her place, do you have time?”

“Sure, where does she live?”

As I entered her address into the GPS, Kellan asked, “What were you thinking about though, you looked pensive.”

“I was thinking about heading back to New Jersey, to my dad, to my friends.”

He didn’t respond, but his grip around the steering wheel tightened as he kept his eyes unfalteringly on the road. I wondered what was going through his mind, but was too afraid to ask. I suddenly felt hollow. I would lose him. I couldn’t bear that. But I had to go back.

As we turned into Ariele’s driveway, she appeared on her porch looking excited and happy to see us.

“My parents are still out so we’ve got the place to ourselves. Come on in!” She led us into the kitchen and we sat down on the barstools. My throat suddenly ached again and I took off my scarf.

“Wow, your neck’s really bruised,” exclaimed Ariele. “Does it hurt?”

“It looks worse than it feels. I’m ok.”

Ariele got up and poured us some fresh water from the refrigerator and handed us a glass each. I filled her in with what I had told Kellan. She looked surprised.

“I thought you’d keep it to yourself.” She looked over to Kellan and asked him what he thought of all this.

“Well, it’s hard to absorb, but if you both claim to know each other from New Jersey… well?” He shrugged his shoulders, “Question is, what do you plan to do about it now?”

I looked at Ariele and shrugged my shoulders.

“What do you want, Arizona? Have you tried calling your dad again?” Ariele asked.

“Yes, both his cell and work numbers are inactive. I tried googling him, again nothing. No Dillard Stevens in New Jersey that I could find anyway. I don’t understand it.”

“Did you try contacting Monica? She may be able to help?”

“Yes, I came up with a blank again. I don’t know what’s going on. I looked at our school website. I’m not shown on the hockey team. It’s like I never existed.”

Ariele looked over to Kellan, “This must be weirding you out totally.”

He raised his eyebrows and grimaced but remained silent.

“Tell us about Arizona Darley, Kellan,” I asked.

Kellan looked over at me, “You don’t remember anything?”

“No, not really. Although, I can feel things. Like I know certain things that only she would know about herself. I also seem to know who my friends are, some of them anyway. Like I told you before, I knew Maria and Ali almost as soon as I saw them and I seem to know a lot about them. I feel totally comfortable with them. I have no such recall about you, Harry or Rupert though. It is so strange. When did you first meet Arizona Darley, Kellan?”

“I can’t remember exactly. I moved here with Dad when I was about eight or nine, so then? My dad and your mother have worked together for years so our families are close; I basically live at your house. We spend all our holidays together, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Your mom has been like a mother to me, Harry is my best pal and like a brother to me. And you and Ella, well….”

“…Are like sisters to you?” I completed.

Kellan shrugged, “Well, were until this week, then something changed between the two of us.”

“I did.”

Ariele looked at us and smirked, “So are you two a thing now?”

We looked at each other and nodded and Ariele chuckled.

“Well, I never… Arizona with a boyfriend!”

Kellan looked at Ariele, “Strange?”

“Well, yes, if you knew Arizona at Princeton. The boys were scared of her. She is a tough cookie and she stinks most of the time! We always thought she’d bat for our team. Half the girls on the lacrosse team had crushes on her. I sort of wanted to date her myself.”

Way too much information! I shot Ariele a hate look that stopped her short and she giggled, “See that Kellan, that’s Arizona Stevens!”

Kellan looked confused, “Arizona Darley is a sweet, sensitive girl….”

I wasn’t sure that I could do, “sweet and sensitive” and that worried me. Maybe that’s what Kellan was attracted to? Not a rough, tough and smelly (thank you, Ariele!) hockey girl. Oh well, he would have to deal with it. After all, he’d known “sweet and sensitive” for years and hadn’t made a move.

Ariele suddenly looked triumphant, “I know what will help! Photographs!” She got up and rushed up the stairs.

I looked to Kellan for more information. “Kellan, what about Rupert? Who’s he?”

Kellan sighed, “Don’t you feel a closeness with him? You and he – you are close.”

I did, surprisingly and nodded.

He continued, “I’ve never met a couple as connected as your mom and dad, I mean Rupert.”

“What does he do, Kellan? Does he work at Ames as well?”

Kellan looked exasperated, “Shrimp, no, of course not. Close your eyes and try to recall what he does. You must feel it, it’s what connects you two.”

I closed my eyes; all I could remember was the time on the porch when I’d seen Rupert playing the guitar. I remembered being drawn to the guitar.

“He plays the guitar. He’s a musician?”

“And record producer,” Kellan added. “He taught us both to play the guitar and he wanted to teach Ella, but she’s decided that the cello is more her.”

“Do you know how my mom and Rupert met?”

“It’s one of their favorite stories. They met at a bar in London years ago, got separated, but found each other again.

“And Harry is their biological child?” I questioned.

Kellan nodded, “Harry is great, he’s been a truly great friend to me. I feel like I am betraying him by not sharing this with him. We should call him and get him to come down here.”

Ariele returned with an armful of albums. Kellan got up and helped her put them down.

“Well, here are some for starters. Let’s begin with the latest ones first.” She turned the pages to our latest girls’ night out, at the Woogie club in Manhattan. Kellan looked at the photographs carefully.

“Is that you, Shrimp?” He asked pointing to the dark haired, sassy-looking girl making a face at the camera.

“Yes, that’s me!”

“Wow, you do look so different!”

Ariele laughed, “You can say that again! I barely recognized her at school with this Barbie do.”

Kellan took his time. He flicked through the pictures, occasionally looking up at me to compare my face to those in the photographs. There were pages of pictures of me playing hockey, receiving trophies, me with Mom and Ella and my dad. No Rupert or Harry in any of the pictures. He finally put the album aside and shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know what to say….”

“Don’t say anything, Kellan. There’s nothing to say,” said Ariele. “I just wanted you to see the photographs so you don’t think we’ve lost our minds. This is real.”

“I can see that, Ariele. How did you get here?”

“I guess, more conventionally than Arizona, on a flight.”

She summarized what she had told me – that her family was moving here after school ended as her mother had accepted a job offer at Ames. However, they had arrived here eight months earlier than expected.

“I got on a flight in Newark and ended up in the past,” pronounced Ariele dramatically.

“That’s what Arizona said too. That she had somehow gone back in time,” he sighed.

As Ariele was talking to Kellan I remembered what Simla had said to me in the restroom and interrupted them.

“Simla told me that she ‘knew all about our family’ before she got me by my throat. So I am guessing that she knows something about this situation too. It would be nice to be able to talk to her, but she seems to hate me. Does she hate you too, Kellan?”

“I guess she does so now, after what happened with Justin. I don’t really know her. You’re not friends with her. You, Ali and Maria seem to treat her as an annoyance. She and Justin have been friends for years. I don’t think they’re dating. Both Justin’s dad and Simla’s mom work at Ames. They are the nicest people and they seem very close,” said Kellan.

We definitely needed to look into our parent’s work. And I had to figure out what Simla meant.

“I’m guessing that Simla and Justin are going to give me a hard time at school on Monday.”

Kellan growled, “No they won’t, they wouldn’t dare!”

“They’ll try,” said Ariele levelly.

“Best to be prepared. Be Arizona Stevens. Take her out. I’ll support you, although I did just get a manicure, so I’d prefer it if you flatten her.” Ariele said firmly.

I could hear Kellan protesting exasperatedly. I put my hand on his arm, squeezed it and whispered, “Just kidding!”

Ariele rolled her eyes, “Seriously, Arizona. You need to draw upon your Stevens’ strengths to better protect yourself. Darley is a wimp. Are you trying out Monday?”

Kellan shook his head and said, “No, she isn’t.”

I was furious. Ariele was right. Darley may be the darling here but Stevens was the one to protect her. “Yes, I am! Kellan, I’ll be ready. I’ve got one more whole day to recover. My neck will be fine and I am trying out. I already missed Friday, I can’t possibly miss another one.”

Ariele looked over to Kellan and said, “Kellan, this is Stevens! If you want to date her you’re going to have to learn to deal with her. She is amazing in so many ways and hockey is an integral part of her. You can’t squash that. You’ll lose her.”

“What’s the point, Arizona, if you are just planning to head back to New Jersey anyway?” Kellan asked ignoring Ariele.

“I plan to… but I don’t know how or how long it will take. If I even can. I have to play in the meantime.”

“And what about us? You’ll be mine in the meantime?”

Ariele looked frustrated, “This is very cute and all but you’re going to make me hurl. Stop with the gooey talk, Arizona. It’s not you.”

I absorbed her words, it’s not you. It wasn’t. It was Barbie Arizona. We were the same girl somehow morphed into one. I wondered if Barbie Arizona had always been in love with Kellan, but it had taken me to express it to him.

I laughed at Ariele, “I’ll stop, don’t hurl!”

Ariele looked at the clock, “It’s late, Mom and Dad will be back soon, let’s sleep on this and talk tomorrow? Let’s go to the Halloween house tomorrow for a laugh and hang out. Ask Harry as well?”

“Did you forget about Ella’s talent show tomorrow?” Kellan asked in surprise.

“Forget? No, I didn’t know anything about it,” I said exhausted.

“It’s the annual Mountain View talent contest tomorrow, hosted by her school this year. She’s been excited about it for ages and has been practicing her singing. You’re accompanying her on the guitar.”

I looked at him in horror, “You can’t be serious!”

He looked at me with a somber expression and I started to wonder if there was any possibility at all that he could teach me to play whatever I had to play by tomorrow.

“Kellan, you have to help me. Ariele, do you have a guitar?”

She nodded and went to fetch it. It was a wooden one, much like Rupert’s. I picked it up and started strumming the strings. They felt familiar; maybe I could do this after all.

“What tune, Kellan?”

“Hannah Montana, Best of Both Worlds.…”

I looked over at him in horror and noticed his lips quivering. He collapsed on the floor shaking. Ariele and I stared at him; he’d totally lost it. This was all way too much for him. I put the guitar down and knelt down on the floor next to him putting my arms around him to stop him from shaking. Ariele went to fetch some water.

He slowly turned around in my arms to face me. Tears were streaming down his face. He was LAUGHING! I let go of him and his head hit the floor with a loud bang. He sat up and brushed himself off and then pulled me toward him.

“I’m sorry, Shrimp! I had to, it’s just too funny, your face….”

“What’s so funny, Kellan?”

“Oh, Shrimp, you don’t have to play tomorrow. There’s no talent show. I was just making that up.”

I pushed him off me. I was furious.

“Kellan, that’s not funny, you really had me going. Promise me you won’t do that again. I have to be able to trust you, especially when I can’t trust myself.”

He stopped and looked at me earnestly.

“I promise. Seriously though, it’s my dad’s October barbeque tomorrow. You always come and I think you and your family are invited as well, Ariele?”

Ariele looked like she seriously was going to hurl right at us.

“I vaguely remember Mom mentioning something about a barbeque. ‘Larry?’ Is that your dad? I was going to blow it off, but I’ll go it if you guys are going to be there?”

“Yes, that’s my dad, Ariele, please come. We might be able to gather some information while we are enjoying my dad’s juicy burgers!”

“I’ll think about it, but you two have to promise to keep the PDA to the very minimum! It’s gross.”

“Kellan, is anything expected of me tomorrow,” I asked him tentatively. I could see the gleam in his eyes as he decided whether to try another one, but I am sure my sour expression prevented him and he just shook his head and laughed.

“No, just be your sweet little self!”

“Now, there’s a challenge,” chuckled Ariele and I looked at the two of them and burst into giggles.

It was a wonder that only two people lived in this palatial-looking mansion. The white stone facade was immaculate. It looked like it had been recently cleaned. There was beautifully manicured shrubbery lining the gravel driveway and post lights all along it. We pulled up into a mini parking lot, built to receive about ten cars and parked in the only free space.

We were late. Late mainly because of Ella, who had gone through at least ten outfit changes before she was forced to put on a dress with a yellow and white sunflower design. The problem had been finding something suitable for a “fall” barbeque, not too summery. Until my mom had finally lost it and made her wear this bright, summery number.

Ella was not the least bit pleased and sat in the car looking extremely disagreeable. Her main concern was that her two BFFs, Sally and Jonas were going to be here. Luckily, for me, I didn’t have these issues. I had thrown on a pair of jean shorts, t-shirt and my trusted Havaianas. I had made a little extra effort by putting a scarf around my neck to hide the bruises and added some lip gloss at Ella’s insistence.

I spotted Kellan at the door as we made our way up the imposing walk way. He looked so good, dressed casually in khaki shorts, white short-sleeved shirt and flip flops. He didn’t look as relaxed as usual though and I noticed that he nervously ran his fingers through his hair as he saw me.

He did manage a subdued smile and said, “Everyone’s round the back as usual. I just need a quick word with Arizona and then we’ll join you. Ella, you look beautiful! I love the yellow, it suits you perfectly.”

Ella instantaneously brightened up; the change was miraculous. She beamed as she led the rest of our group through the door. As soon as they turned the corner, Kellan took my hand and started dragging me through the hallways. We ended up in a large room that looked like a study or library. There was a huge leather-topped oak desk in one corner. The walls were covered in bookcases, filled with leather bound books. There was a sitting area in the middle with two large leather sofas facing each other and a glass coffee table in the middle. There was a flat screen TV on one wall and under it two small tables with lap top computers. I noticed a large painting sitting on an easel in one corner. It was of a very beautiful girl with a pensive expression; similar to one I had seen on Kellan’s face. I guessed it was of his late mother. Kellan put his hands on my shoulders and turned me to face him. I looked up at him, he looked hard and serious. It got me worried. He very rarely looked so grim.

“You’re scaring me, what’s up?” I asked with an edge.

He took my hand and gritted his teeth, “Simla and Justin are here.”

I took a step back, feeling my legs wobble. He put his arm around my waist steadying me and walked me over to the couch where he pulled me down beside him.

“Why?” I asked as my hand involuntarily went up and shielded my neck.

“Well, their parents do work for Dad so they always come, but always alone. They are really nice. This is the first time that Simla and Justin have come with them, as well as Simla’s dad. They’ve never come before. So, I didn’t even consider this. I’m not sure why they are here. I’m so sorry you have to put up with this. Maria, Ali, Ariele and Harry are all out there. We’ll make sure you’re not left alone for a second.”

I was going to have to face them sooner or later, later being at school tomorrow. At least I would be able to do it in a safe situation here, I hoped. I wondered what they were up to. Why would they choose to confront me here, when what Simla had done was so very obviously wrong? I could, if I chose, get her into heaps of trouble. What did she have over me, and my family, that made her so arrogant? I felt my head pounding and my neck felt raw.

“Kellan, I can’t do this. Please, take me home.” I could feel the anger building up inside me as I said the words and before Kellan could respond I shook my head and said, “Ignore me. I’m going to go out there, I can’t let this beat me.”

Kellan looked concerned, “Shrimp, you don’t have to. However, if you decide to, know that you are totally safe.”

“I know,” I stood up and pulled him up.

“I can do this. If I don’t, I won’t be able to show my face at the tryouts tomorrow. And there is no way I’m letting anything keep me from that.”

I took his hand and waited for him to lead me to them, but he looked down at my hand thoughtfully and whispered, “Are you sure you want us to come out to Harry and everyone else right now?”

I laughed, “I guess it will get everyone’s attention,” I said squeezing his hand. “You have an issue with it? Scared?”

He shook his head and laughed, “No, I think we should, I’m sick of hiding this,” he said squeezing my hand right back. “Although, maybe I should be scared. Harry is going to kill me.” He tightened his grip around my hand and pulled me closer to him. He kissed me softly before pulling me out the door with him.

I couldn’t help noticing the amazing décor of his house as he led me through it, everything was so ornate. Fancy chandeliers hung everywhere, the halls had white stone floors and the red walls were covered with abstract art. One looked vaguely familiar and I pointed to it.

“Your mother did that one, she’s really amazing.”

The furniture was an interesting mixture of vintage and modern. We walked into a huge kitchen, again very modern with a large aluminum island in the middle. A tall middle-aged lady stood by it, concentrating hard on putting decorations onto some pastries.

“Hello, Anna,” said Kellan acknowledging her.

“Hello, Master Kellan. Miss Arizona, how are you?”

“I’m good, thanks, Anna. Those pastries look yummy,” I said and she handed me one. I popped it into my mouth where it melted away into pure heaven, the best pastry ever.

I smiled, “Oh, Anna, these are delicious!”

She looked pleased and smiled as Kellan and I made our way to the porch doors and headed out into the sunshine. Harry came up to us first. He looked at Kellan.

“Did you tell her?”

Kellan nodded as Harry’s eyes moved down to our hands.

“What happened? Did you fall, Arizona? You really need to be more careful.”

Kellan squeezed my hand as he shook his head and shrugged at Harry.

“You’re kidding, right?” challenged Harry.

“It’s ok, Harry. I forced him,” I said mischievously.

I could see that he wasn’t the least bit amused, but decided to let it go for the moment. There were other issues to worry about.

“Arizona, you’re a monkey. Let go of him and stop winding me up. We have to keep you safe. Don’t do anything to prevent that.”

I nodded, but clung on to Kellan’s hand though I could feel him trying to loosen his grip. I turned around and gave him a Stevens stare. Thankfully, Kellan’s dad came up to us with some burgers.

“Hello, Arizona. How’s the neck?”

“I’m ok, thank you. Anna is making the most delicious pastries in there. She gave me a preview and these burgers look and smell mouthwatering, thank you.” I could see his eyes move to my Kellan-occupied hand and he winked at Kellan. Kellan and I took our plates and walked over to the cooler to get some drinks. Ariele, Maria and Ali walked over to us and Maria whispered in a hushed voice, “Simla and Justin are over there,” pointing to the trees in the far corner. I glanced over and noticed Simla chatting animatedly with Justin and some other girl I didn’t recognize.

“Who’s that other girl?”

“Oh, that’s Ingrid, she is an exchange student from Sweden. She’s here for a year, she’s ok,” said Ali, “Although a bit silly girly.”

“Where are Simla’s parents?” I asked, forgetting that I was supposed to know who they were.

“Over there, silly,” said Ali pointing right ahead of us at a smallish, nondescript man and a tall, elegant lady in a long gypsy dress. They were standing chatting with a tall, striking looking man. I guessed he was probably Justin’s dad.

“Ah, can’t see what’s in front of my eyes today,” I said trying to laugh it off sheepishly.

Ali looked over at me with a grin and winked, “Yes, your mind’s elsewhere? What’s with the handholding?”

I laughed, but avoided replying and I turned and started walking to the pool. I sat down on a pool lounger with Ariele. Ali and Maria took their shorts and t-shirts off and jumped in.

“Come on in, Arizona and Ariele, its warm, almost hot!”

I looked over. Ella was in the pool screaming angrily at her friends as they splashed her with water. She looked so cute in her little bunny swimsuit. Her face was red with fury. She spotted Kellan and shouted at him.

“Come in and help me, Kellan!”

He looked over at me, “Come in with me?”

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit….”

“Oh, you have a few here, let me show you where.”

“In a minute, Kellan, let’s finish our burgers first, the munchkin can wait!”

“No, she’s no good at waiting,” he laughed as he took of his shorts and shirt revealing his ripped chest and dove in to join them. Ella squealed with delight as he reached her and threw her over his shoulders and mock attacked Sally and Jonas. I closed my eyes enjoying the sun on my face and the happy giggles from the pool.

“Hey, Arizona.”

I felt a chill as I heard the voice behind me. I brought my hands to my neck half expecting Simla to put her hands around it and squeeze again. Ariele reached out and grabbed me. Kellan and Harry were beside me in a heartbeat, even before I had a chance to turn around.

“Simla, turn around and walk away,” Harry muttered quietly as I heard Kellan growl under his breath.

She laughed and said, “See you later, Arizona. Cute guard dogs,” as she walked away.

I sat frozen, not breathing, getting wetter as the drops of water dripped from Kellan and Harry onto me. I could feel a sense of fury rising within me and I felt like I was going to explode. I stood up abruptly, turned around and saw Simla and Justin laughing at me in the distance. My body stiffened and I felt Kellan and Harry grip my hands. I shook them off in anger and started running toward Simla before they could grab hold and stop me. I could feel everyone go quiet. There was no sound from the pool, from the adult gathering by the barbeque, or the group on the lawn. Everyone hushed as they saw me rush over to Simla.

I gritted my teeth and hissed, “You don’t want to mess with me again. You took me by surprise the last time, which is the only reason you’re standing here. That will never happen again.” Simla started to say something, but stopped short as her parents arrived. I could feel a very firm grip on my shoulders and my mom said, “Arizona, may I have a word please?”

I took a deep breath and turned to her, “Sure….” And then turned back to Simla and snarled, “later” under my breath. I could see that she was surprised, but she, much to my anger, did not look even the slightest bit worried. She threw me a challenging glance as Mom walked me back to the house. We walked in silence along the hallways back into the study that I had used earlier with Kellan. It must be the, “let’s have a chat room.” Mom closed the door behind me and waved to the couch for me to sit down. I walked over to it and waited for the onslaught of yelling.

There was none. Mom looked worried and said nothing for ages. I knew instinctively that she had gathered that something was up with me and she probably wondered what. I decided to shock her.

When she finally looked up at me, I said, “Mom, I’m Arizona Stevens. Know her?”

She did not look as surprised as I had hoped. Although I wasn’t sure why I felt I needed a more surprised reaction. This must mean that she had been warned and also prepared. That made me angry.

She looked at me thoughtfully and nodded slowly, “This must be very confusing for you, Arizona.”

I could feel a wave of hysteria building up inside me, “confusing?” Was that the best word she could come up with? I looked at her. It was clear she knew exactly who I was and who I had been. She had taken my life away from me. I got up and started pacing, looking for something to bash her with. I spotted a suitable lamp and walked over to it. I stopped short at the sound of a knock on the door. Rupert came in with Kellan. Rupert took one look at me and immediately strode to Mom’s side and protectively cradled her. That made me angrier, he knew too. Kellan stood at the doorway and looked at me bewildered.

“Arizona, what’s up?” he asked, as he walked over to me, took hold of my shoulders and pushed me back to the couch.

~

Olivia Darley buried her face as far into Rupert’s chest as she could, trying to hide away from the world. This was her only safe place while everything else around her was crumbling. How could this have happened? All the plans had been meticulously planned and executed. She knew that she didn’t need to tell Rupert anything, he would know intuitively. She stole a glance at his face and he just nodded in affirmation and then kissed her forehead. She wondered what the extent of her daughter’s recall/intuition was. There was only one way to find out now. She had to confront her furious daughter. She slowly pulled herself up and turned to face Arizona. Arizona was sitting on the opposite couch, with Kellan almost holding her down. She was glad Kellan was here. He was a good boy, a good friend to Arizona.

~

I waited, not patiently, for my mother to speak. After what seemed like ages, she finally emerged from Rupert’s arms and looked at me.

“Arizona, I’ll try to answer your questions, and I am sure you have many. This is not the place or time though. It’s Larry’s barbeque and we shouldn’t be responsible for a scene. This means a lot to him, can we talk more when we get back home?” she asked pleadingly. “This is a private matter to be discussed later.”

She had to be joking! There was no way I was going to give in to this. I wanted answers and I wanted them now. I started to talk, but Kellan took my chin, pulled it towards him and whispered, “Please.”

I looked at his face, hard as this was, I instinctively knew not to risk ruining things with Kellan. This was his dad’s barbeque so I nodded, took his hand and walked back out without looking at my mother.

It was hard walking back out to join the others. All eyes were on us. So I did the only thing I knew would distract everyone and give them something else to talk about. I turned toward Kellan and put my hands around the back of his neck and pulled his surprised face towards mine. I brushed my lips against his, softly at first and then kissed him.

~

Olivia and Rupert watched the teens leave in relief. They needed some breathing space and they needed to talk, but instead just sat in silence. Rupert finally broke the calm by saying, “Ollie, what did she say?”

“She said that she was Arizona Stevens.”

“Anything else?”

“No….”

Rupert tried to absorb this, “So, we don’t know the extent of this? That’s all she said? Kellan did enlighten me a bit on the way here. He’s very worried about her. He only had a couple of minutes while we walked, well ran, over so it’s not much but it’s a start.”

Olivia straightened up, “What did he say? Tell me, Rupert, I need to know.”

“Well, he told me that something changed for Arizona last weekend. She couldn’t explain it, but she suddenly found herself here, living the life of Arizona Darley although she knows she’s Arizona Stevens.”

Olivia was horrified and started trembling, “I don’t understand how.”

Rupert interrupted as he took her hand to calm her down. “Wait, there is more. Kellan also claims that it was Simla who hurt Arizona in the restroom. That explains the incident outside. That’s all he had time to tell me. He also made me promise not to repeat this to Arizona. He doesn’t want her to know that he told us. He’d agreed to let her handle this herself. He now feels that she could do with some help, but gentle help. I have noticed that the relationship between them seems to have changed, in fact look at them now.”

They could clearly see them through the window. Arizona and Kellan kissing each other. Olivia smiled. That was the least of their problems, in fact, it was sort of nice. Kellan was a good boy. He would never hurt Arizona.

Rupert noticed the smile and asked, “You approve?”

“Why not? They are cute together. Rupert, I need time to think and I also need to know how much Arizona knows and what happened to her before we have our ‘talk’ with her. Let’s get Larry in here to find out if Kellan shared any of this with him. And we need to decide how to deal with Simla.”

Rupert nodded and got his phone out, “I’ll text Larry and ask him to come join us for a minute. The kids seem too busy to notice him taking off.”

They could see Larry through the window, checking his phone when his message came though and then making a quiet exit from the yard to the house. He arrived at the library moments later.

“What’s up, kids? You look serious.”

Rupert filled him in and Larry’s look turned grave.

“Kellan hasn’t shared any information with me. I am not surprised though. He wouldn’t gossip about his friends with me. Arizona can’t possibly know anything about the portal. She must be totally confused about what’s going on, as are we. Any hypotheses, Ollie?”

She shook her head, “No, Larry, I do need to know what she’s gone through and I need time to think. I can’t possibly have her question me now, when I’ve no information. She’s so angry with me and seems certain that I’m responsible so she is going to expect answers. Answers that I don’t have.”

Larry nodded, “Ollie, I can give you ‘time’ easily enough by insisting that you have work to do at Ames and removing you from this situation until you can figure it out. However, this won’t help you find out what’s going on with Arizona. We could ask Kellan to help. I’m sure he wants the best for her and if we can convince him that sharing his information is in her best interest, he may well. But we’ll have to be completely honest with him.”

Rupert nodded in agreement, “That sounds like a good plan. Ollie, you don’t even need to head to Ames. Head over to the cottage and get some rest. I’ll join you there later and help you figure this out before we talk to Arizona. Larry, could you talk to Kellan?”

Larry nodded, “I’ll do so this evening after everyone has left. Ollie, head off, take one of my cars. I’ll let Harry know that we’ve had a work emergency. Hopefully Arizona will buy that. She doesn’t have much choice anyway.”

Olivia got up to go, but stopped at the door and turned around, “What about Simla?”

Rupert said, “Let me think that through.”

She nodded and headed off to the garage.

“Right,” said Larry looking at Rupert, “Let’s go and join the party.”

Olivia looked in awe at the impressive collection of cars in Larry’s garage. Her gaze was, however quickly drawn to the collection beyond the cars, a set of four Harleys. She walked over to them and looked at them in wonder, they were masterpieces. Larry had told her to borrow a car, but one of these seemed so much more tempting. A carefree ride on one of these would be just what the doctor ordered. It would help her get her mind off other things. The concentration she would require to keep one of these in line would be all consuming and delicious.

She looked down at her feet, nude Louboutins, not really suitable for such an adventure. She turned around and looked at the cars again, the convertible Porsche would have to do. She undid the scarf from around her neck and replaced it on her head, tying a loose knot under her chin and jumping into the Porsche. The roof was already down. She carefully backed it out of the garage, throwing the Harleys a last wistful glance and then sped out the driveway.

She had not yet made up her mind where to go. She didn’t really feel like heading to Ames, the office environment would feel too overwhelming and gloomy right now. Rupert’s suggestion of the cottage was more inviting and the thought of him joining her there later extremely comforting. She drove, enjoying the fresh blast of air hitting her face and the feel of the silk around her hair. She decided to take the scenic route. It would take longer, but she needed the distraction. Thinking would have to wait.

It was a beautiful day, as most days in October were. It was her absolute favorite month – home to two meteor showers, Halloween and, most importantly, the month when she had found Rupert. She drove through the winding gravel back roads, not exactly perfect for a Porsche. She should have been more sensible and taken one of the sport utility vehicles but where was the fun in that?

It was already dark when she arrived at the cottage. She parked, retrieved the cottage keys from under the vase by the rose bush and unlocked the door. This was her hideaway cottage. No one knew of its location, but everyone was aware it existed and it had been the butt of numerous jokes over the years. In reality it was more of a shack than cottage. It was tiny. The front door opened into the main room with a fireplace at one end and a kitchenette at the other. There was a settee that could double up as a spare bed by the fireplace but had never been used as such. No guests had ever been invited here. The walls of the main room were covered in bookshelves, mainly paperbacks that had all been read. There was also a small, old-fashioned TV perched on the kitchenette bar, which was hooked into a DVD system since there was no TV reception at the cottage. There were two rooms off this main room; a small bedroom with a king-size bed and a large bathroom with a Jacuzzi and sauna. The bedroom had a set of patio doors that led into the back yard, which bordered on to a pond. Rupert had built a barbeque pit and they had put some old patio furniture outside to lounge on. This had been their piece of heaven since they moved to California, their hiding place.

Olivia lit the fireplace and made herself comfortable on the cushions scattered on the floor. She lay down and stared at the ceiling, her eyes wandering to the bookcase and homing in on a framed picture. It was an old 35mm black and white photograph that Rupert had taken of them just as they were about to leave for Heathrow airport all those years ago after they had reconnected. She got up and retrieved the frame from the bookcase and lay back down on the cushions with it. She studied the faces in the picture, so in love but so somber, the pain of the impending separation clearly reflected in their expressions. The feeling of desperation that she had felt that morning still tore like a knife.

She was exactly where she wanted to be, with Rupert in the cozy flat in London, but she knew she had to cut this reunion short to go back to her daughters. The ride to the airport on the back of Rupert’s Harley had been the most difficult journey in her life. Her body ached with pain from the dismay she bottled up.

Olivia was brought back to the present by the loud roar of a bike, Rupert hopefully. She got up and walked over to the door and opened it. There he was, sitting leather-clad on his bike. It was always a thrill to see him. He got up and took his helmet off as he walked over to her.

“That was quick, I’m glad,” said Olivia welcoming him into her arms.

“I left the kids with Larry. They were having such a great time that the teens decided to have a sleepover. Larry will make sure they get to school on time in the morning. Ella is staying over with Sally.”

“Perfect! That means we can have a sleepover here….,” beamed Olivia. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll get some refreshments from the wine cellar,” she chuckled.

The wine cellar was a small cupboard in the kitchenette. She fetched a bottle and two of the Tiffany wine glasses that they had received as a wedding present, and brought them over to the cushions by the fireplace. She found Rupert looking at the photograph that she had put down. He reached over and took the bottle and glasses and put them down on the floor before taking her hands and pulling her down on the cushions next to him. He pulled her close, kissing her neck and moved to her lips. They lay there enjoying the closeness, both reluctant to break the perfect moment by discussing the issues that needed to be dealt with. They could wait, just a bit longer. They lay enjoying the music of each other’s heartbeats until they fell asleep.

Olivia awoke to the delicious smell of newly ground coffee beans and cinnamon buns. She stretched and she could feel her bones complaining about the night on the floor. She sighed… age! Rupert brought coffee over and they sat and enjoyed it while listening to the crackle from the fireplace. After she finished, she laid her head down on Rupert’s lap and while he stroked her hair, he asked, “Ollie, any thoughts?”

She giggled, “Plenty, most involve tearing your clothes off. Is that what you mean?”

“Silly goose! You know what I mean. We can’t put this off any longer, we can’t hide from the kids forever.”

“You certain?” she teased. Then she sat up and looked at him wearily. “Rupert, I am avoiding thinking about it mainly because I don’t know what to think. I have no idea what’s going on with Arizona. Who she’s told, what she knows. How did she take the news that I had to leave and the ‘talk’ was going to have to be postponed?”

“I didn’t really have to deal with it. Ariele, Ali and Maria had already decided on a sleepover so they were too busy being excited about that. Teenagers are so easily distracted.”

Olivia nodded thankfully, “I’ll need more information before we can decide how to deal with this. I’m hoping Larry has had time to talk to Kellan. I’ll give him a call.” Olivia picked up her cell and dialed Larry’s number and spoke to him while Rupert restocked the fireplace. She came back and threw herself back on the pillows.

“Larry didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Kellan this morning, the kids were in a state trying to get organized for school and the tryouts. He drove Harry and Arizona home so they could pick up their kits. He suggested talking to Ariele though. Kellan mentioned that she would be useful to talk to. I’ll call Glenda.” A number of phone calls later, a despondent looking Olivia returned to Rupert who was strumming on his guitar by the fireplace.

“What’s up, you look disappointed?” Rupert asked concerned.

“The kids are all busy today, they’re going to the hockey tryouts after school. I would love to go too, but I’m concerned that it would upset Arizona and it’s probably best to leave her be for the moment.”

Rupert nodded, “Yes, you’re right. Let me take care of this. I’ll call Larry and Glenda and set something up for later tonight with Kellan and Ariele. In the meantime, since you are not heading into work today, come to the studio with me. It would be great to have you around. I’ve missed us hanging out.”

“I’d love to and then we could pick Ella up from school together and bring her back to the studio. She’ll love that.” Olivia looked out the window and asked, “Porsche or Harley?”

They changed into their leathers and put the fire out. They looked around; the tranquility of this haven was unparalleled. They must make more time for it. It deserved to be used more. They took the scenic route again, perfect for this bright, clear but windy morning. They drove back to the house first and took Gertrude for a walk along the woods at the back of the house. Olivia looked at Gertrude. She had been the latest addition to the family, the last piece that she had gone back for. It had seemed insane to go back for a dog. But Gertrude meant a lot to both her and Arizona.

Gertrude had been the one thing that she and Arizona loved together, the one common bond they shared. It suddenly hit Olivia…. Gertrude! Could Gertrude be responsible for this current complication? It seemed unlikely, but the changes in Arizona coincided with Gertrude’s recovery. It was most likely just a coincidence. She had retrieved Gertrude on her own. Arizona and Ella had waited for them at Ames. Gertrude seemed to have adjusted with no problems; she had welcomed Rupert and Harry into her life. Dillard had never shown Gertrude any love so there was not much to miss on that front. She didn’t seem to have suffered from the journey through the portal.

Gertrude seemed to be enjoying the wooded area at the moment, as she ran between the trees smelling all the new aromas. They turned around when they came to the lake and walked back towards the house. Gertrude knew exactly where to head. She ran in front of them and reached the house first. They let her in and made sure she was set up with food and water until Harry got home and then left for the studio on the Harley. It was a forty minute drive.

She had not visited the studio in a while and saw that nothing had changed. It was the same busy place as always. They went into Rupert’s office and he checked his calendar.

“As I thought, I have someone coming in to record at 1 PM but until then the studio is free. So what do you say, let’s go in and mess about with the guitar?”

That sounded good to Olivia. They went into the studio and Rupert picked up his guitar. Olivia went over to the mixer as Rupert started strumming his new tune. She sat down and looked at him in wonder, could she be this lucky?

She had wondered the same thing when he had sat beside her on that first flight together from London to California. Everything does come with a price though. Had she paid that price when she married Dillard and devoted all those years to him, or was the price still to be paid? This amazing prize must come at an enormous expense. Whatever it was, she was prepared to pay it. Rupert had been prepared to give up everything when he had made that snap decision to board her flight and she would do the same for him.

She knew that she would have to leave him in California to go back through the portal, and then head back to Princeton to get her daughters. It wasn’t going to be simple though; she couldn’t just uproot a sixteen and an eight year old from their lives and shove them through a portal to live happily ever after with no questions asked.

She spent the entire flight time working out the logistics of how this could be handled. She would somehow have to reset the portal to take her back to an earlier time, perhaps just as they had moved to New Jersey. Arizona would be eight and Ella would be a newborn. Eight-year-old Arizona had been so much easier than the teen she had turned in to. If she could get them through the portal then, it would be easier for Arizona to adjust. Arizona had been aware of Dillard and her marital problems since she was a toddler and they had separated quite a few times, so this wouldn’t be something new.

She needed to talk to Larry, but he was still on the other side of the portal. Together they would need to figure out if they could open it earlier in the same dimension. The portal had not been active or even in existence at the other end at the time they would need it. So the adjustments would have to be made from this end. Larry would have to come though. It was still the beginning of October, so they still had some time to figure this out. The portal was set to close on Halloween.

Rupert looked over to Olivia as the plane hit turbulence. She looked worried.

“Are you ok? It’s just a bit of turbulence, nothing to be afraid of,” he said reassuring hugging her closer.

She smiled, if he only knew. Turbulence. This wasn’t turbulence, just the gentle rocking of clouds. Real turbulence was through the portal.

“I’m fine, Rupert, it’s just so good to be near you. My only worry is to be apart from you again.”

“That need never be, surely? Whatever we have to do, we can do together.”

“There are some things that may be best done by me alone. Rupert, I need to go back and get the girls.”

“I know. I’ll come with you. I’ll stay in the background, but I’ll be close by if you need me.”

“It’s more complicated than just going back and taking the girls. Both they and Dillard would have a fit. I need to reset the portal and then bring them back with me at an earlier time.”

“You’re bringing them through the portal? Why? Can’t we just live in California and have them join us?

Olivia thought about that possibility. There was really no reason why not. It was, in fact, the obvious thing to do. Ella would welcome Rupert into her life. She yearned for a proper dad. She yearned for a dad who would be there for Christmas and Thanksgiving, one to share family occasions with. She yearned for a family. Arizona, on the other had, was not going to be easy. She would be off to college soon anyway. Perhaps, in time, she would learn to accept Rupert. Dillard would be a pain, but she could deal with him with Rupert’s support.

They headed over to the portal as soon as they landed in California and were transported through. Larry was waiting for them at the other end.

“Hello, kids! So, Ollie, this is who all the fuss was about?”

She looked into Larry’s smiling eyes and nodded.

“Larry, I need to find a way to take the girls back with me through the portal,” continued Olivia.

“I thought we decided to live here, happily ever after?” Rupert interrupted, surprised.

Olivia turned around and took both his hands in hers and shook her head.

“Rupert, this is going to sound really bizarre. I didn’t know until a moment ago myself. It changes everything. We have to go back! And we have to take the girls with us.

Both Rupert and Larry looked at her expectantly, totally confused.

Olivia closed her eyes, how could she explain this. This was beyond comprehension. She decided to just come out with it. These were the two people in her life she trusted the most. She could share everything with them.

“I can feel another baby inside me.”

She could feel Rupert’s shocked gaze.

“Whose?” he whispered, cupping her face in his hands.

“Ours.”

Rupert looked at Olivia in disbelief, but with a hopeful gaze, “Ollie, there is nothing I want more but how?”

“The how is easy, think back to last night,” she giggled. “As to my knowledge of this, it’s intuitive. When I said I could feel the baby, I did not mean literally. I just know.” She continued thoughtfully, “I also strongly feel that I have to go back to give birth to it. To have this baby in this time would be all wrong.”

The room was silent apart from the buzzing of the equipment around them. Larry finally broke the silence and said, “Ollie, if you are sure about this, you’re going to have to go back with Rupert to have the baby. I’ll deal with matters on this end and figure out the transportation issues and bring the girls with me.”

She went over to Larry and threw her arms around him. He was one of a kind, she was lucky to have him in her life.

“I’ll head over to Princeton first. We have a few weeks before the portal closes, so I have some time to see the girls and get my affairs in order.”

Larry agreed, “Yes, take a couple of weeks and then come back. Let’s both keep in touch via cell and work on the various permutations in the mean time.

Olivia and Rupert took the next flight out to Newark and headed into Manhattan and to the Waldorf.

“Rupert, I’m going to head off to New Jersey now. I hate leaving you here, but there are worse places to be stuck,” she said playfully. “I’ll call you later and I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Rupert was reluctant, but knew that getting involved in her personal life with Dillard would only complicate matters.

She spent the next couple of weeks traveling between Princeton and Manhattan. The evenings and nights were spent with her daughters and she popped over to Manhattan during the school day to spend time with Rupert. She spent some time cleaning out her closet at her apartment in Princeton, packing up all the photographs and DVDs of the children.

She also spent a lot of time playing with Gertrude. She had not considered Gertrude in her original plans and the current one couldn’t include her. This devastated Olivia. Gertrude was like her baby, she loved her dearly. Her priority would have to be to get the girls back, but she would come back for Gertrude. Her mind wandered when she thought about the possibility of coming back in the future to retrieve Gertrude.

Her beloved mother had died a few years ago, she wondered if it was possible to go back and get her, too?

Their two weeks were up much too soon and it was time to head back. Olivia decided to have a pregnancy test before they headed back to confirm her suspicions. She bought a kit from CVS, and felt like a teenager when she headed to the restroom with it. She could feel a sense of nervous tension as she waited for the indicator to change. Overwhelming joy swept through her as it changed to positive and she bounded out to the bedroom and flung herself at Rupert, “It’s really happening!”

Could she be this lucky? She gazed at Rupert lovingly as he strummed the guitar sitting on the studio stool. She got up and walked up behind him. Then she slowly put her arms around him and squeezed.

I woke with Ariele’s legs across my stomach and struggled to sit up, throwing her legs off me. Maria and Ali were snoring soundly on the other bed. It was 5 AM, time to get up. I decided to take advantage of the sleeping beauties and proceeded to take my time in the shower, enjoying the quiet until I heard a loud rap at the door.

“Come on, we all need to use it!”

I rolled my eyes and turned off the water. They were not going to be pleased, I had steamed up the room but there must be other bathrooms in this enormous house that they could use. I stepped outside trying to look as apologetic as possible.

“Sorry, girls! There has got to be other showers, this one’s all steamed up.”

They nodded exasperated and proceeded out into the hallway to look for more suitable shower facilities. Great! They left me in the bedroom all by myself. I could get dressed in peace too, although having to put on yesterday’s clothes was less than ideal. I would have to ask Kellan’s dad to swing by the house before school so I could change.

I wondered what the “emergency” had been last night? Both Mom and Rupert had disappeared for the night. I wondered if it was a pathetic attempt at avoiding our talk. Oh, well, we couldn’t have gotten to it last night anyway. We had way too much fun here at Kellan’s after everyone left.

After we had shock kissed in front of everyone, Harry had come over and knocked Kellan down. It was ridiculous, I can’t imagine why. I can only guess that Harry’s ego was bruised because Kellan didn’t tell him. Boys! I had managed to calm Harry, but he was not the least bit pleased with us. I wondered if he was concerned about me. Did he feel that I wasn’t ready for a boyfriend? I was strangely happy about this possibility. It was kind of nice having a big brother so committed to my well being. I was touched that he cared so much, whatever his reason. Kellan and Harry left for a chat and when they came back they seemed to have come to a truce. I was relieved. I really needed them to be in the same corner.

Maria then came over and said that we’d been invited to stay for movie night and we decided to turn movie night into a sleepover. Kellan had a cinema room with real movie-theater seats like the ones in our basement, but his screen was about twice the size of ours. We sat down to watch The Transformers, but were interrupted when Maria started whispering about her gown for the Orionid Ball. I could barely hear so I turned to Kellan with a raised eyebrow and he chuckled under his breath.

“You don’t have a date?”

A date? For what? Maybe I did. That would wipe that smug look off his face. I turned away from him and nudged Ariele who gave me a blank shrug. So I raised my eyebrow at her indicating that she needed to ask about this as I was supposed to know already. She turned to Maria.

“Maria, what dance? This is the first I am hearing about it.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal. It’s just an excuse to get dressed up.”

I could hear Kellan chuckling.

Ariele continued, “Get dressed up in what? Do we need a date?”

Maria smiled, “Well, we use it as an opportunity to get dressed up in long gowns or cocktail dresses and some of us have dates. But we’re all going as a group so there’s no need for a date. Much more fun without one most of the time!”

I nudged Kellan again, “Do I go to this?”

“Yes, with me.”

“Was I always going with you?”

“No, but you are now.”

“Is anyone going to be upset with me?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know, Arizona. If someone else asked you, you didn’t tell me. It doesn’t matter anyway, you’re going with me.”

I didn’t feel entirely comfortable about that. I was happy we were going as a group. We had to include Ariele and we could also include anyone else I had inadvertently asked. I wondered if I had anything to wear? Perhaps Ariele and I could go shopping after the tryouts tomorrow. We could take Ella. My baby sister seemed to know her way around fashion.

“Ariele,” I whispered, “Lets go shopping for dresses tomorrow after the tryouts. It’ll be fun.”

She shrugged, “Shopping with you is never fun! You hate it. You’re a total nightmare at the stores. How about just getting something online?”

“There’s not enough time, I’ll be good, I’ll be Barbie Arizona, I promise!” I laughed.

I leaned over her and pulled at Ali’s sleeve, “Do you guys want to come shopping with me and Ariele tomorrow night for dresses?”

Ali looked bemused, “You’re not wearing that silver number? Ella is going to be pissed!”

“I might, but I wouldn’t mind another look. Besides Ariele needs to go shopping anyway.”

Maria turned to Ariele and nodded, “We’d love to, it’s a date.”

Last night’s sleepover was just the distraction I needed. It had been fun, especially after the boys left us alone. The four of us shared one big room with two king size beds. I shared one with Ariele. For most of the night, the girls teased me about Kellan. But, I guess I deserved that. I had kind of thrown it in their faces earlier and as a result spent a long time answering a lot of “how and when” questions. I didn’t mind.

We talked some about the upcoming dance and the Halloween Party. I made a mental note to make sure that I had the right things to wear for these occasions. I also managed to extract from Ali that I had been asked to the Orionids dance by David. I had, of course no idea who that was, probably some poor soul from my debate team with a crush on me. I hoped that I had let him down gently. I made another mental note to make sure to talk to David and ask him to join our group for the dance. I just had to figure out who he was.

Today was another day though, hockey trials. I needed to get my game face on. Kellan’s dad kindly dropped Harry and me off at the house so we could get ourselves organized. I hurried up to my room to throw on some fresh clothes and put on some lipgloss before I tore down the stairs to dump my kit in the Jeep and head off. Harry was already in the car waiting for me. I was obviously being taken care of today again.

“Shrimp, I wish you had told me about you and Kellan.”

“Sorry about that, Harry. Kellan wanted to tell you himself.”

“I wish he had.”

“Are you ok with it, Harry? I don’t want you to be mad. I really like him.”

“I suppose,” he said and turned on the iPod.

We were a bit late and the parking lot was full, but I managed to find a space at the very end. As I rushed toward my locker, I saw Ariele standing by it, fumbling around trying to look busy, but she was obviously waiting for me. She was my first bodyguard of the day.

“A, I can’t go shopping tonight. My mom wants me home for something. I don’t know what. It’s so annoying. She said I could go to the tryouts though, so I guess that’s something. Can we go shopping after school tomorrow instead?”

“Sure, no problem. I think the last tryouts are on Wednesday so tomorrow should be perfect,” I reassured her.

“Ariele, could you do me a favor? I need to know who this David is who asked me out to the dance. It’s probably some guy from the debate team. I feel bad and I want to invite him to join our group for the dance. Could you find out for me?”

Ariele chuckled and then nudged me, “He is right behind you, you silly!”

I turned around, but couldn’t see anyone likely so I turned to Ariele again and shrugged, “Where?”

Ariele took my shoulders, turned me around and said, “Hey, David!”

I nearly collapsed as this six-foot, ripped, total hottie (step aside Edward Cullen!) turned around. I was dumbstruck. I had turned this down! I really must be ill.

“Hi, Ariele! Hey there, poppet. How are you? I’ve been hearing some rumors about you.”

I nearly swallowed my tongue, “Hi, David. What kind of rumors?” I wondered about the word poppet. I had heard Mom use it before, maybe he had English parents as well. I liked it, it sounded nicer than Shrimp!

He looked somber, came closer and put his hands firmly on my shoulders and looked at me with what I hoped was mock hurt, “You turned me down for Kellan?”

I felt another set of hands around my waist pulling me back from behind.

“Hi, David! We missed you at the tryouts. Are you still planning to play this season?” Kellan asked from behind me.

I shrugged and smiled at David as he winked at me and said, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I hear you’re playing, poppet.” He said looking at me.

I could feel Kellan’s grip stiffening as I playfully thumped David’s shoulder and told him that I would see him at tryouts.

“Ready to walk to physics, ladies?” Kellan asked.

We nodded as Ariele ineffectively tried to suppress her giggles.

“Would you rather go to the Ball with him?” Kellan whispered annoyed.

“Of course not!” I said surprised and elbowed his chest.

We got to class and I noticed that Justin was already in his seat. Kellan gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and went over to the seat beside him. Maria waved and smiled as I sat down next to her.

“Ready for this afternoon?”

I nodded and got my books out of my bag. This was going to be a long day of “waiting.” I hoped not to run into Simla.

I ran over to the Jeep with Ariele as soon as the final bell rang and took off to the ice rink. Maria and Ali were going to meet me there and I expected Kellan and Harry would be waiting for me in the parking lot as well. I spotted them standing by Kellan’s bike.

“Ready, Shrimp?” Harry asked.

My neck still felt a bit raw, but I nodded to assure Harry I’d be able to handle the tryouts. I walked in with the girls and they waited outside the restroom while I changed. It felt great putting my kit on. I wondered if David would be here. How strange that I had turned him down especially since it didn’t seem like I was interested in Kellan then, or was I? I must get to the bottom of this. I’d have to get Ariele to look into it. I looked at myself in the mirror once I was done and put my helmet on. I looked so different from before, I really looked like a Barbie trying to play hockey, except I didn’t have to try. I could actually play.

Ariele, Ali and Maria performed some weird warrior dance as I exited the restroom.

“Very funny,” I laughed. As we walked into the rink I could clearly see that there were a lot more players trying out today. Coach Stanislaw saw me and waved me over to talk to him.

“Ok girls, wish me luck!”

They did one better, a group hug.

I walked down the bleachers to the box where the coach was standing. He looked at me and nodded.

“Darley, you ok? I heard about your mishap. I’ve had a word with Justin. I let him know that if anything happens to you, I’ll hold him personally responsible. So, I don’t think you need to worry anymore. He’ll behave.”

I nodded, “Thanks. Who told you about Justin?”

“Harry. Do you feel up to trying out?”

“I’m fine, can I continue to tryout? I missed Friday.”

He pounded my shoulders and gave me the thumbs up so I got on the ice and started skating around to warm up. Kellan was by my side in a flash, but kept his distance as we warmed up. I noticed a big player waving at me from a distance. I could only guess that it was David by the size of him. The whistle sounded and we skated back to the coach who looked grim.

“I’m going to push you hard today. This is going to have to be the last tryout as the ice rink won’t be available on Wednesday. I have to get a team ready to go for our first game next Monday. I notice that there are quite a few of you who have turned up for the first time today. Come and talk to me. If you don’t have mighty good reasons for missing the last two, you’re out.” He looked around and then focused his attention on someone at the back.

“David, I see that you’ve decided to grace us with your presence. Did you decide against football? You can’t do both, you know,” he said sternly.

David laughed, “I heard that you have the pretty girls trying out, so it was a no brainer.”

Coach looked like he was going to explode and everyone tensed up. He turned bright crimson and then exploded in laughter, “Good one! Well, whatever reason makes you join us is good, thanks PH!”

Everyone relaxed as Coach shouted out the first drill, up and down, doing dead stops and turns. Same as last time I remembered, at least he was consistent. We were split into two groups before we started, as there were too many of us to go at it together. The two groups would play each other at the end of the drills.

Harry and Kellan called out the groups. I was called first, which made me feel a bit self-conscious. Harry had called his kid sister to his group and I could almost hear the smirking. Kellan called Justin and so it went. I skated off with my group and we started our drills. We didn’t spend much time on the dead stops but quickly moved on to skate, pass and shoot drills. I was comfortably keeping up with everyone else, in fact much better than some. Harry skated up to me half an hour into the drill and asked about my neck. I had completely forgotten about it, couldn’t feel a thing. He seemed pleased as he ordered up the next drill set, sprint point and shoots. I was really enjoying myself now. There were no surprise drills. I had done all these a million times before.

An hour into drills the coach’s whistle sounded. I looked at Harry, he nodded at me, and it was time for a scrimmage. He skated up to me and asked “What position?”

“Left defense.”

He looked surprised but placed me in the starting line up. I noticed that I was playing against Kellan. Too bad, I didn’t want to hurt him. I noticed that Harry had chosen to play defense too. Now that was strange, he usually started the game for the team.

The scrimmage was really fun. I even managed to check Kellan a few times. He didn’t seem to try that hard though. I never came up against any of the competitive players or Justin, even David. This had been so rigged by Harry and Kellan, I should be furious. I took out the little fury I had during my encounters with Kellan. Boy, did he seem surprised when he was jammed into the boards! All in all though, I was a little grateful. I didn’t need any unnecessary drama today. I just needed to show the coach that I could hold my own and play a good game, which I was more than doing. My team narrowly won and we headed back to Coach Stanislaw on the bleachers.

“Good work, kids. Coach Pickett, Harry and I are now going to go through our lists and discuss the possible lineups. We may have enough players for a JV team, but we can discuss that once the varsity team has been picked. We’ll be picking eighteen players and two reserves. Our decision will be final and based on both tryout performance and history. So, Kellan, you’re in though you got whooped by a girl,” he laughed.

With that the three of them left and I watched the boys head to the changing room. Kellan stayed behind.

“Shrimp, you did good! I’ll be very surprised if you’re not on the team.”

“Thanks for babying me out there. It was sweet of you but no need in the future.”

He laughed, “You don’t have to tell me, I’m red and sore!”

I skated close up to him, removed my helmet and met his lips full on. It felt so good. The day was pretty much over. I had done my best without ruffling any feathers. Just then, Ariele, Ali and Maria arrived and I left Kellan to go and change, as I needed to get out of my kit and clean up a bit. I really stank, but had come prepared with baby wipes this time.

“Arizona, I’ve got to say, you’re pretty amazing out there,” gushed Ali. Maria nodded and Ariele gave me her knowing gaze. I stopped and got a soda on the way to the restroom and, as before, the girls waited for me outside. I changed back into a skirt and t-shirt, combed my hair through and added some lip gloss. I looked in the mirror, looking good, but the bruises were still visible so I covered them up with a scarf and went out to meet the girls.

“Kellan called me to ask us to join them in the cafeteria for pizza while we wait for the decisions,” said Ali.

Pizza sounded perfect, I was starving. We headed over to the cafeteria and walked over to Kellan and he immediately handed us slices. I sat down and gobbled mine up and looked at him for another one. He laughed and brought another slice over to me and sat down with us.

Ariele looked over to him with mock concern and asked, “Are you ok, Kellan? You took quite a beating out there.”

Kellan laughed, “Yeah, she can be mean, all right! She did good. I hope she gets on the team, I’m so proud of her.”

“You should be! Poppet, wow, way to go!”

I looked up into David’s delighted eyes.

“Thanks, David, I did my best. I guess it’s up to the coaches now….”

“And here they are,” said David as Harry walked towards the center of the cafeteria. Harry got up on a table and announced, “It was hard but we’ve reached a decision. We’ll have two teams this year. Please line up outside the dressing room. We’ll see each of you individually and discuss your options. Kellan will be the assistant captain of the varsity team….”

There was applause through the crowd; I beamed at him proudly.

Harry continued, “And Mike will captain the JV team. So I need both of you to come with me to the changing room. Ok, so line up everyone and lets get started!”

I rushed over, wanting to be as near the start as possible so I could head out soon. We’d been here long enough. I was ninth. I could see Justin up ahead, number one. Ariele had to head home so Ali and Maria stayed in line with me. It took forever. The coaches certainly took the “discussing your options” bit to heart!

Finally, it was my turn. David tapped on my shoulders from the back and shot me a thumbs up. I smiled and went in. We had not been able to watch the players exit as another door was being used for that. So, I had no idea how many were already on the team.

“Sit down, PH,” said Coach.

I sat down on an uncomfortable metal chair. Facing me were Kellan, Mike, Coach Stanislaw, Coach Pickett and Harry. They all looked grim.

“You are an enigma,” Coach said taking a deep breath and studying me thoughtfully.

“You are so ‘petite’ for the lack of a better word, but you surprised us all on the ice. I know that Kellan and Harry protected you today, however, they assure me that they didn’t need to in hindsight. I tend to agree, you’re sharp and strong on the ice. You tackle like someone twice your size. It’s hard to believe that you haven’t done this before. Your only ‘sport’ experience seems to be cheerleading,” he guffawed. “You’re in. Get out of here now and we’ll see you at practice Sunday morning.”

I so wanted to hug him but resisted. I threw a big grin at the beaming Harry and Kellan and floated out of the room. Ali and Maria were waiting outside the exit door.

“Well?”

“I made it!”

The delight on their faces filled me with warmth. They were happy for me even though it meant that they would lose me from the cheer squad. Although it wouldn’t be any loss at all if they saw me cheer. I shuddered at the thought.

“This calls for a celebration!” Ali proclaimed.

Maria coughed, “Small issue. Your mom called me, Arizona, while you were in there. She needs you back home to look after Ella. She has to head back to work and Rupert wants to go in with her.”

“Wow, she really seems to live at work,” I thought to myself. Oh well, spending some time with Ella would be nice. I needed to get to know her some more.

“That’s ok, we can celebrate tomorrow. Or even better, fly to NYC with us on Thursday and we can hit the stores there!”

Ali and Maria looked at each other, carefully at first, but then with excitement pouring from their faces.

“That sounds like a plan! We’ve got to convince our parents but….,” shrugged Ali jumping up and down.

“Great! It will be a blast. Ella is auditioning, so we should have plenty of free time for shopping and fun!”

They walked me out to my Jeep full of delight at our upcoming trip.

Olivia and Rupert watched Ella perform her audition piece with pride. She was belting out “Good morning, Baltimore” from Hairspray with gusto, her face alive with expression. Her pal, Jonas, was sitting watching her in awe. She finished and took a bow looking expectantly at Jonas as he clapped his hands enthusiastically.

“Awesome, Ella!” He shrieked with delight.

Rupert and Olivia clapped their hands with pride as Olivia got up and walked to her little daughter, picking her up for a major bear hug. “What a star you are, Ella! That was amazing! I’m so upset that I’m going to miss your auditions, I wish I could come.”

Ella looked at her mother, “Mom, maybe you should think about giving up working and staying at home again?”

Olivia nodded, “Well, as soon as this month’s out, I’ll only be going to work a few days a week and I’ll always be back in time to get you from school. It’s just October. Busy, busy! I’m sure you’re going to have a great time in Manhattan. Who’s going, Rupert?”

“Not totally sure yet, but definitely Harry, Arizona, Kellan, Ariele and young Jonas here.”

Olivia looked at Rupert thoughtfully, wondering about the wisdom of taking Arizona so close to Princeton, especially with Ariele going. She would have to carefully consider the possibilities of that and talk to him about it later.

As soon as Arizona got home to watch Ella, Olivia and Rupert would head off to Glenda’s. They were going to pick up Larry on the way. Kellan had been told to join them as soon as he was done at the tryouts.

Olivia wondered how the tryouts had gone. She wished that she could’ve been there. Arizona was always amazing to watch. She decided to take time off work on Monday and head over to watch their first game. Even if Arizona hadn’t made it, Harry would definitely be playing and he was awesome as well.

Harry, her son. A son she didn’t think possible, should not have been possible. She had in fact never wanted a son, but that changed the second Harry was born. She had been totally smitten, just like when she had first laid eyes upon his father. He was the calming influence that Ella and Arizona had needed, the protection they had craved. She thought back to the afternoon in Manhattan when Rupert and she had confirmed that they were going to have a baby. They had both been overjoyed, it was a dream that they had not even dared to dream. They lay in bed for ages studying each other’s faces wondering how they would translate into a new being.

The confirmation of the pregnancy presented complications though. This meant that they definitely couldn’t stay here. This baby couldn’t be born here, not in this time. They’d have to go back. It meant having to leave Larry in charge of getting Arizona and Ella back to her at the right time interval. This would mean almost a decade of separation from the girls, which would be unbearable for her. It wouldn’t mean a lengthy separation for them, though. They’d be with her in a matter of days. But it would be ten long years for her.

She had to learn to cope. Rupert and she went back through the portal and they returned to London leaving Larry to readjust it.

She had gone back and dissolved her painful marriage to Dillard who was nonplussed when she left him. She wondered if he even noticed. She had moved into the small cozy house with Rupert and they had spent their carefree pre baby months working and enjoying each other’s company. She completed her PhD again and sent off job applications to various places, including Ames in Mountain View.

They had decided to let the sex of the baby be a surprise. When Rupert gently put their warm bundle in her arms after the C-section at St Mary’s Hospital, she was more surprised at the striking eyes that stared back at her than the sex. She had never expected the clear blue eyes even though they were identical to Rupert’s. Both her girls had her hazel eyes. She had looked at the alert, tiny face in amazement.

“Chip off the old block, isn’t he, Ollie?” Rupert said proudly.

She looked up into his loving eyes and smiled, “Welcome, Harry Darley?”

Rupert laughed, “Yup, he looks like a Harry to me!”

Like Arizona and Ella before him, Harry slept in his parents’ bed until he was two and then moved to his own big-boy bed. It was funny listening to him talk in his posh little English accent. Arizona had lost hers soon after moving to the U.S. Olivia hoped that Harry would hold on to his, although it was probably unlikely.

Just before Harry’s third birthday, a position opened up for Olivia at Ames. Their new department head, Larry Fox, contacted her. He was setting up a new research program. She flew over to Mountain View with Rupert and Harry, wondering how this first meeting with Larry would go. It seemed so strange to be introduced to him in this dimension. Would he know her?

She walked into the interview at Ames with some trepidation. How did this fit in with the big picture? Was she being brought in to run the portal? She wondered what young Larry would be like. She was surprised when she saw him. He looked exactly the same.

“Hi, Ollie! I thought I would come through and give you an update. How have you been? How long has it been for you? Three years, just yesterday for me.”

Olivia was completely taken aback, “Larry, I thought this was for real, that I was going to get to see young Larry!”

He laughed, “I don’t think I’ve ever been young Larry. It was a fun prank and I also had to test the portal. It seems to be working. I need you based here at Ames to run the portal at this end. The current staff will stay and work for you. When’s the soonest you can relocate? I’ll need you here by next October at the very latest, sooner preferably. The logistics are only going to allow us to keep the portal open for a limited amount of time so we’ve kept October, as that’s when you requested the opening initially.”

Olivia nodded carefully, “That sounds workable. Have you seen my girls? How are the plans proceeding?”

“I’ve not seen them yet, but will head to Princeton to pick them up tomorrow. Dillard took off with his girlfriend for the week so they are staying with your mother.”

“Slow down, Larry! You’re going to have to elaborate here, it’s all going over my head!” Olivia took a deep breath as she suddenly realized that she might be able to get her mother back.

“It’s all fairly simple,” laughed Larry. “I’ve already reset the portal. I’m going back to the other end, which is now set up at the time when Arizona is eight. Ella is a baby and your mother is alive and well.”

“This is blowing my mind Larry, wow! And you said Dillard is with his girl friend. Interesting,” Olivia mused.

“Well, one of them anyway,” shrugged Larry

Olivia sighed and looked at him with resignation, “Can I come back with you and see them?”

Larry shook his head and said, “That wouldn’t be a good idea for a lot of reasons.”

Olivia looked at Larry, “I’ll take your word for it, though I miss them desperately. You’ve really worked on this and I am extremely grateful.” Then she looked sad. “I’m still going to have to wait though, aren’t’ I?”

“I’m afraid so, but keep yourself busy here.”

Olivia nodded resignedly but she was thankful.

They moved to Mountain View six months later. Little Harry lost his English accent and in no time turned into an all American boy. He was always a delight to be around. He was, like his father, musically inclined and spent precious moments strumming the guitar with his dad. He started playing baseball at an early age, at first with Rupert and then with the local teams. They started heading to the ice rink regularly during the hot summers to keep cool, as Olivia was sensitive to the hot temperatures. Harry proved to be gifted on the ice and was playing ice hockey in no time.

Rupert put his hands on Olivia’s shoulders and gently shook her out of her thoughts. She looked up at him disoriented.

He smiled, “Daydreaming?”

She nodded embarrassed, but was saved by the front door opening and Arizona arriving home.

“Hey, I heard you made it,” said Rupert, “Congratulations!”

Arizona nodded trying to hide her pleasure, “I’m hungry, any food left?”

“Congratulations, Arizona. Dinner’s in the kitchen. Will you be ok with Ella for a while? She ran off to the playroom with Jonas. His mom will be here soon to pick him up. We have to head off right now. In fact I’m already a bit late. Harry should be back shortly.” Olivia added

Arizona nodded curtly as they headed for the door.

They took the Hummer and stopped by Larry’s place to pick him up.

“Did you get a chance to talk to Kellan, Larry?” Rupert asked as he pulled out of Larry’s driveway.

Larry laughed, “You’re kidding, right? It’s like trying to get an appointment with the President. He’s been totally busy since last night. However, I did tell him to come to Ariele’s after tryouts and he texted me a while ago that he’d be there soon. He sounded intrigued.”

“He won’t be so intrigued when he finds out that this is a fishing expedition and he’s going to have to spill on his new beloved,” laughed Rupert.

“Ah, young love, I didn’t see that coming,” mused Larry.

Olivia’s mind wandered back to Kellan and Arizona’s first meeting all those years ago, when Larry was getting Arizona and Ella ready for their transport. Larry had decided that the journey was too complicated for the girls to make on their own even though he had managed to get Olivia’s mother to agree to accompany them. She had been tough, even after Larry had explained the whole procedure. She felt what they were doing was against nature. However, the thought of forever losing her daughter and granddaughters had made her reluctantly agree to this, in her mind, totally bizarre project. Larry didn’t feel confident in her commitment and decided to make the journey with them.

He had decided to bring Kellan as well because he couldn’t be absolutely sure of a perfect return and he couldn’t bear it if anything separated them. After Larry’s wife died during childbirth, Kellan and his dad only had each other.

Olivia hadn’t been there for that first meeting between Arizona and Kellan. Neither of them seemed to remember anything from that time. How surreal it all must have been for Larry as he transported them all through the portal with her waiting breathlessly at the other end.

Olivia pulled herself together as Rupert drove into Glenda’s driveway and parked. There was no sign of Kellan’s bike yet. Glenda greeted them at the door and invited them into the living room.

“Well, Ariele is not in a particularly good mood. She turned quite bitter when I hinted what this was all about. She clearly knows more than she’s letting on, but I don’t know how far we’ll get with her. Is Kellan coming, Larry? He may be able to help.”

Larry nodded and continued, “Let’s just summarize what we know and decide how we’re going to handle things. So, first of all, why are we suspicious that there is something going on?”

Olivia shrugged, “Well, I guess the most overwhelming indication is that Arizona herself proclaimed that she is Arizona Stevens.”

Larry looked thoughtful, “And you don’t think that this is something she’s just recollecting from before you changed her name here? Could she have suddenly remembered the past or found her birth certificate?”

Olivia shook her head, “That would be so much easier to deal with, but I have a feeling there is more. The sudden interest in ice hockey, for instance. She didn’t have that eight years ago, she was barely learning how to skate. We heard she made the varsity team this afternoon, so she must be fairly good.”

Glenda nodded in agreement, “She seems to be close with Ariele too, which is strange because a few weeks ago, she didn’t give Ariele a second look. Ariele has been acting very strange. I just hope that she didn’t initiate this.”

“Just one way to find out,” said Larry, “Let’s ask her.”

There was a loud bang on the door and Kellan stepped in. He dumped his jacket and helmet on the chair and asked, “What’s up? This looks serious.”

His father nodded at him and beckoned him to sit.

“Have you had a chance to eat?” Glenda asked him as he glanced towards the kitchen.

“I had some pizza earlier but I’m starving,” he said hopefully.

Glenda smiled and went to the kitchen while Kellan updated them on the tryouts. Glenda returned with a plateful of sandwiches, cheese, fruit and warm bread and pointed Kellan to the drinks.

“Get started with this, I have some cake for after.”

Kellan smiled at her gratefully and dove right in. and asked, “Where’s Ariele? I thought she was joining us.”

“She is upstairs sulking at the moment. I’ll go and get her in a minute.”

Kellan looked disappointed. “So, you’re all about to attack me on my own. Not fair. I’ve already been beat by Arizona this afternoon.”

“Kellan, it’s her we need to talk to you about,” Olivia replied. “We need to know what’s going on so we can help.”

Kellan laughed, “Well, I’ll try to help, but Arizona’s fairly sure that whatever it is, you are responsible. So she’s not going to be easy to help.”

Olivia interrupted him, “Kellan, do you remember when you first met Arizona?”

He looked grim as he replied, “Which one? Darley or Stevens?”

Olivia froze.

Larry thankfully took over and said, “They are one and the same. Olivia changed her last name when Arizona was eight. Did she suddenly remember the name Stevens?”

“It’s more complicated, Dad, but I am glad you told me about the name change. It makes more sense now, although it’s all far from clear. I noticed a big change in Arizona last Monday, at physics. When she turned around and looked at me, it was as if she was seeing me for the first time. There was no hint of recognition. She acted as though we were strangers, but strangers with a connection. I can’t really describe it. She went from being Harry’s sis to my…. Well, I just felt connected to her in a way I never did before.” He paused and took a long sip from his soda and then continued.

“I have to say, I don’t feel comfortable talking about Arizona behind her back like this, but I feel tremendous pressure to do so especially after what happened to her in the restroom with Simla.”

Olivia nodded, “Yes, we need your thoughts about that too in a minute. But continue…”

“Well, like I said, we seemed to have this new connection. I couldn’t stop thinking about her and felt the need to be close to her all the time. So, I decided to take her out to watch the Draconids with Harry and Maria. We got very close.”

Olivia’s eyes narrowed, but she relaxed as Kellan shook his head at her, “Nothing like that. However, you can imagine my surprise when she turned out at the ice hockey tryouts without warning me! So much for our new found closeness. I was pretty peeved. It wasn’t until Saturday that she filled me in with what was going on with her.” He stopped and looked uncomfortable.

“Go on,” Larry encouraged.

“I really don’t know if I should.”

“You should,” said Rupert quietly and waited.

“This is going to sound so whacked. I didn’t really believe it until Ariele confirmed some of it. Can we at least get her down here to back me up?”

Glenda nodded and went up the stairs to fetch her daughter. There were a lot of arguing sounds, but they appeared shortly. Ariele looked positively furious. Her demeanor changed slightly when she saw Kellan and she went over and plopped herself down next to him.

“I could get her to come down,” said Glenda glowering at Ariele, “but she’s not cooperating.”

Glenda looked to Kellan, “Go on now, Kellan.”

Ariele looked over at Kellan and hissed at him, “Keep your mouth shut!”

Kellan looked shocked, it was the first time he had seen Ariele so venomous.

“Ariele, I’m only trying to help. I love her and would never harm her in any way. You believe that, don’t you?”

“Well, get her to send Arizona back then,” she screamed and pointed her finger at Olivia, and then stormed out of the room.

Glenda looked around apologetically, “I’ve taken away her cell phone and computer so she can’t contact Arizona right now. Ariele could do this situation real damage.”

“Maybe she’s right though. Maybe you are the ones doing or have done the damage?” Kellan pointed out accusingly.

Rupert looked over to him and said, “Kellan, you’ve known us for years. Do you really think we’d harm our own children? We want to protect them. This is what this is about and we need your help to be able to do so more efficiently.”

Kellan nodded. He was confident that everyone here was in Arizona’s corner.

“After she tried out for the team, I was fairly annoyed. Not annoyed that she tried out, but because she kept it from me. She had clearly mentioned it to Harry. He was not the least bit surprised. So Arizona and I ended up having a fight on the way to school Friday morning, but she promised to explain later in the evening. Anyway, as you remember, that was the day she was attacked. I really needed some answers, which I didn’t get then.”

He continued, “We went back to the lake the next day and she started to explain. The explanation was all over the place though and I barely believed her. I guess, to simplify, the gist of it was that her name is Arizona Stevens, she is from the future, she lives in New Jersey with her father Dillard and plays ice hockey at Princeton High School.”

Kellan didn’t take his eyes off Olivia as he said this. He could see her tearing up. She stood up and excused herself, walking off toward the kitchen with Rupert following her.

Larry looked at Kellan, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Mainly because it sounds nuts. In addition, Arizona told me to keep it to myself.”

Olivia and Rupert returned from the kitchen with some more drinks and sat back down.

“Did she say how she got here?” Rupert questioned.

“She doesn’t know. Apparently she woke up here during a car journey last Saturday?”

Olivia shuddered. It must have been the journey back for Gertrude. How was that possible though? She looked at Larry. He nodded; he was thinking the same thing. Kellan looked over from Olivia to his father and caught the exchange.

“What’s going on? You two obviously have some ideas. I shared, I think you owe me the same.”

“We certainly do, Kellan,” replied Olivia. “However, we still need a few more answers from you first.”

Larry continued as he looked at Glenda, “What does Ariele know? I had a feeling that this would turn out to be complicated for her, but I was hoping you would deal with it, Glenda.”

Glenda looked frustrated, “Well you’ve all seen her, I’ve no control. I don’t think she went up to Arizona and blabbed, though. That’s not like her.”

Kellan decided to add his thoughts. “Ariele obviously knew Arizona from Princeton and helped her fill in the blanks about her life once Arizona confronted her. She feels awful about all this. I know you want me to go on, but you have to give me some answers first.”

Olivia nodded as he asked, “What happened Saturday for this change to occur?”

“Truthfully, Kellan,” replied Larry, “We don’t exactly know. We are trying to figure it out as you are giving us information. We didn’t even know for sure that there was a change then until you told us, though we obviously had our suspicions. That’s why it’s so important that you tell us everything you know.”

Larry looked over at Olivia, “I’m thinking that this happened when you went to get Gertrude.”

She nodded, “I can’t work out how, though.”

Kellan looked incredulous, “This has something to do with your new dog?”

Larry smiled, “Simplistically, yes. But it’s a long and complicated story, which I’ll share with you when we get home. The bits I understand, anyway. I really can’t explain this dog thing, though. That’s ok with you, isn’t it, Olivia? I think Kellan deserves to know what’s going on.”

“Yes, definitely Larry. Please fill him in. I trust your judgment.”

“What about Arizona?” Kellan asked. “She needs to know what’s going on, too. I can’t know and then not share it with her. I feel that it will be better coming from you two though, whatever this is. Does Harry know anything?”

“I don’t think so,” said Rupert, “He hasn’t mentioned anything. He was puzzled by her sudden interest in hockey, but she told him that she got good from watching him play….”

Kellan laughed, “And he believed her? Typical!”

Rupert continued, “And he is taken aback by her sudden interest in all things Kellan, but put it down to girly hormones.”

Kellan shrugged, “He’s going to have a tough time swallowing the truth. You’re going to tell him as well, aren’t you?”

Rupert and Olivia looked at each other and nodded.

“When?” Kellan asked firmly.

“Kellan, you have to give me some time to digest this and work out what’s going on. I’ll do it soon,” Olivia promised.

Rupert added, “It’s such a hard story to tell, to understand, even to begin.…”

Olivia looked up at him, kissed his lips and whispered so only Rupert could hear her.

“The beginning is simple. It started with the words, come find me two years ago.”

It was finally Thursday, time to head to New York! I felt energized, I sat up in bed and looked over to my suitcase. Just a few more last minute things to throw in and I’d be ready. Ella came flying into the room and threw herself onto the bed with a thump.

“Come on, lazy pants! Get up and get ready! We have to head off to the airport soon. I’m all ready,” she exclaimed.

So, she was. Mom must have curled her hair this morning. She looked very Shirley Temple.

“Mom’s driving us to the airport in half an hour. Come on!”

I jumped out of bed and rushed into the shower. Mom hadn’t been around much this week. She had been busy at work constantly and was not coming to NYC for the same reason. I would need to pin her down for a talk soon, but it would have to wait until after the trip. I had some investigating planned; it would hopefully help me when I confronted her.

We were all really looking forward to this trip. I loved Manhattan and this was going to be really fun since the whole gang was going: Harry, Kellan, Ariele, Ali, Maria and I. Ella had insisted on bringing Jonas as I had been allowed to bring so many of my friends. We were going to have to take turns babysitting him while Ella was busy auditioning.

I showered quickly and then threw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie. I grabbed my coat, bag and dragged my suitcase down the stairs. Everyone was ready and throwing luggage into the Hummer.

“Arizona, get some breakfast. Rupert will deal with your luggage. Did you bring a coat?” Mom asked as she struggled to roll Ella’s luggage out the door.

I pointed to my coat as affirmation and headed to the kitchen for some cereal. Through the kitchen window, I saw Jonas and his dad arrive. Jonas was jumping up and down with excitement as he waved his dad off. A tired looking Harry arrived in the kitchen and got himself a bowl of cereal and gobbled it down silently.

“Ready, everyone?” Mom shouted from the hallway.

Harry and I threw our bowls into the dishwasher and headed out into the car where Ella and Jonas were waiting impatiently, already strapped in.

The flight to New York was uneventful. We met up with the others at the airport and battled it out for seats. I sat between Kellan and Ariele. I noticed that they seemed out of sorts with each other, barely being civil and wondered what that was all about. I asked but they just blew me off. So, Ariele did not say much and I spent most of the flight watching a movie with Kellan and cozying up to him. I must have fallen asleep.

“Shrimp, wake up! We’re here, look at all the buildings! We’re landing soon.”

I lazily extracted myself from Kellan’s chest and looked out. The view was unbelievable, and I could feel the excitement building.

“Lean over, Ariele, you can’t miss this view!” I shouted and I nudged her sharply.

She leaned over hesitantly, peered out the window and broke into a smile. It was hard not to. I reached out, took her hand and squeezed it as I winked at her. This was our playground! I held on tightly to her hand and Kellan’s as we landed at Newark airport. We had a stretch limo waiting for us. I was overcome by the feeling of familiarity. Even the air felt like home.

As the limo reached the Turnpike and headed north, I wistfully glanced back at the southbound traffic. That’s the direction I wanted to be going in. However, once we reached the Lincoln tunnel those thoughts were behind me, at least for a while. Familiar sights hit me as soon as we exited the tunnel into Manhattan, the first of which was the bus station and the big parking lot. We took 38th street up to Madison Avenue and drove north on this shopping mecca. I looked at all the shops as if I was seeing them for the first time. Arizona Stevens had never had any interest in them, but Darley couldn’t wait to explore them!

When we arrived at the Waldorf, we went straight to our rooms to unpack, the boys in one and the girls in another. Rupert had a suite reserved for himself, which he expected would get used by Jonas and Ella when they wanted to get away from the teenage ruckus. There wasn’t really enough room in the girl’s room so we ordered up an extra cot for Ella in case she wanted to stay with us, although we were hoping she wouldn’t….

The time difference meant that it was already evening here. We changed our clothes so we could go out and hit the clubs later. Ariele had managed to get us some fake ID’s so we were all set.

However, we first walked over to Times Square for some dinner. Ella had requested Mars on 5th Avenue. Not my favorite place, I much prefer Tea and Sympathy, but that was much further south and this was Ella’s time. We entered the spaceship elevator, which took us up to the restaurant. This, for Jonas and Ella, was the highlight. They had a ball chasing the “Aliens” walking around. I don’t expect that the poor Aliens were quite prepared for the onslaught of naughtiness that Jonas and Ella demonstrated. They were on a high after the long flight from California. Rupert finally had to get firm with them and ordered them to sit down. The food was average, but it was fun spending time with everyone. Rupert decided to head back to the hotel with Ella and Jonas after dinner. Ella had an early audition the next day.

The rest of us hit Times Square. We wandered around and spotted the Naked Cowboy. What an odd sight! Ariele and I knew all the places to go to, it was home ground for us. Everyone was impressed as we marched from one store to the other. We headed over to Club Mango when we’d enough walking around. The ID’s worked like a charm and we were allowed in without any questions. It was so cool being at Mango. The music was awesome and I loved spending this fun, uncomplicated time with Kellan. We got some drinks and danced into the small hours. I can’t remember when we got back, or how we got back.…

I woke early, way too early, so I lay in bed quietly so as not to disturb the three sleeping beauties. Well, maybe not sleeping beauties. I smiled as I looked at them more closely. We had all fallen asleep in our club clothes. No one had bothered with tooth brushing or make up removal. I looked over at Maria, who was fast asleep next to me. Her head was on the pillow, her lips slightly apart with drool stuck to her lipstick-encrusted chin. Her mascara was smudged all around her eye area, she reminded me of a panda. I tried not to chuckle. If Harry could see her now!

She opened her eyes and stretched. Then she looked over at me and started giggling.

“Geez, Arizona, what happened to you? You look awful. Kinda like a skunk!”

“Take a look at your self, twin!” I guffawed.

We got up and stumbled over to the mirror and stared into it. We turned to each other and collapsed with laughter, waking up Ali and Ariele. They just grunted, turned over and went back to sleep.

“We better get cleaned up,” I whispered to Maria, “We’ve got to go and get Ella ready for the auditions.”

I looked at myself in the mirror again. This was no small cleaning job! I started with the make up, taking the remover pads that Maria handed to me and wiped the mess off my face. Five pads later my face felt raw, but at least it was clean. I combed my hair through, unknotting the tangled mess before I hit the shower where I applied generous amounts of shampoo and conditioner. Then, I wrapped my hair in a turban and went to the sink where I scrubbed my teeth till my gums nearly bled and splashed my face with cold water. I looked at myself carefully. While I couldn’t spot any blemishes, I could feel that familiar tingling sensation on my chin that occurred just before a nasty zit reared its ugly head. I gave the area an extra scrub and then moisturized copiously, and stepped back into the bedroom where Maria was waiting impatiently, pointing to her cell.

“Arizona, Ella needs us right away. Can you go and get started while I get ready?”

I nodded, threw on a bathrobe and headed over to Ella’s room. She shooed Rupert and Jonas away as soon as I entered the room.

“Arizona, call me when you’re ready. We’ll head down to the lobby in the meantime,” said Rupert.

“Will do,” I said and turned to my little sister.

“Big day, Ella! Are you nervous?”

“A bit,” she admitted reluctantly.

“So, what do you want me do?”

“Not a lot. I need to wash my hair. I have to leave it curly so maybe you could help curl the bits that don’t dry right? I’ll also need some help with my bow and my lip gloss?” she said shyly.

“No problem, go get into the shower and I’ll pull out your outfit. It’s in that pink suitcase?”

She nodded as she skipped off to the shower. I removed her outfit and put it down carefully on the bed. It was not what I had expected. For some reason I had thought it would be a pink princess number, but instead it was a junior “rocker” look, studded leather jacket included. Very cool! My phone rang; it was Maria.

“Do you need me? My head suddenly hurts so if you don’t absolutely need me, I’m going back to bed for a while. Is that ok?” she pleaded.

“Sleep. I have it under control here.”

I decided to dry my hair as I waited for Ella to finish washing hers and found her blow dryer and turned it on. I was nearly done by the time she came back through. She was soaking wet. Drying off has never been her strong point.

“Ella, finish drying yourself. I’ll be done in a minute to help you into your outfit. You look rocking, by the way!”

She looked pleased and proceeded to mock pat herself dry.

I finished drying my hair, helped get her dry and then started handing her the clothes. She put them on and stared at herself in the mirror. She looked awesome in them. Her hair was naturally curly unlike mine, so we didn’t really have to curl any bits. We just let her hair dry into natural ringlets. She didn’t really need any make up, but had brought her theater make up kit out so I applied some light gloss onto her lips and dusted her cheeks with a hint of blush. I took a step back and looked at her.

“Awesome, Ella! You look fantastic. Let me walk you down to the lobby. Dad and Jonas are waiting for you there. Is Jonas going with you?”

“Yes, he really wanted to so he is going to wait outside with Dad while I audition. I’ll lend him my iTouch to keep him busy. I downloaded some cool new games. Dad’s taking us to the M&M shop after the auditions.”

I was relieved to hear that. I needed some free time today and babysitting Jonas was not really what I had in mind. I had plans.

“Ok then, come on, let’s go! Don’t forget your make-up kit and bag!”

I took her down to the lobby and looked around for Rupert. I spotted him and Jonas sitting on the lounge chairs looking busy. Rupert had his head immersed in a newspaper and Jonas was concentrating on Ella’s iTouch. We walked toward them and Rupert stood up as he noticed us approaching. He wasn’t alone. I noticed Harry and Kellan get up from another couch. I looked down at my bunny slippers and bathrobe. Great!

“You look awesome!” the four of them said in unison looking Ella up and down. She glowed with pride and nodded bashfully.

Kellan pointed to her motorcycle boots, “Whoa, Ella, those are just like mine!”

She looked down at them proudly and smiled, then went over to Rupert and took his hand.

“Let’s go, Dad. I’m ready.”

We all wished her the best as she waved at us before getting into the limo with Rupert and Jonas.

I turned around and looked at Harry and Kellan. They both looked amazing. Did they not come out with us last night? They were both looking at my hideous attire with amusement, as were most others in the lobby. I rolled my eyes at them and walked back toward the elevator making sure that the doors closed before they could get in.

Ariele and I had made plans for today. We had decided to give the others the slip and head down to New Jersey for the day to see if we could locate my dad. I considered taking Kellan with us, but he and Ariele were not getting along at the moment and I needed her more than him for this expedition. So he would have to stay behind.

I did want to be upfront with him though, and let him know what we were doing so as not to upset him, like the last time I had hidden things from him. I cared too much for him to risk that. Once I reached the room, I called him and asked him to meet me for breakfast. Ali and Ariele were still asleep and Maria was getting ready for some alone time with Harry.

“How did you manage with Ella? Bet she looked cute!” said Maria

“She sure did, that rocker outfit is amazing! I’m sure she’ll do well. She seemed totally confident.”

I stopped as we heard a retching sound from the bed and watched in dismay as Ali sat up and looked as us pitifully before she hurled – right on the sheets, narrowly missing Ariele’s hair. Ariele sprang into action jumping off the bed and looking at Ali in horror. I went over and held Ali’s hair back as she wretched again. She looked up at me miserably.

“I’m ok, I just needed that out of my tummy. My head hurts, do you have any Tylenol?”

Maria came over with some pills and water and handed them to her, carefully avoiding touching the vomit covered bed.

“Drink that down, Ali. It will make you feel better, I hope. Look guys, I hate to leave you like this, but I promised Harry I would meet him for breakfast. Is it ok if I go? I’ll be back in half an hour. Will you guys stay with her until then?”

I nodded and she went off to see Harry. Ali stumbled toward the bathroom while I stripped the bed and threw the sheets into a plastic bag. Ariele just watched, she wasn’t being much help. She’s never been much good in the vicinity of vomit. I had to go as well, though.

“Ariele, you’re going to have to deal with this while I speak to Kellan so that we can head off to New Jersey soon. Ali will be ok once she’s cleaned herself up. I’ll be back shortly. I promise.”

She nodded, unenthusiastically.

I quickly changed into black jeans and a rose-colored hoodie, dug my feet into my Uggs and left while Ariele started protesting at being left alone with Ali. I really could have done without this. I had enough on my mind. I felt overwhelmed, almost ready to burst into tears, but I kept myself in check. This day was going to be difficult enough. I first had to tell Kellan what I was up to and that wasn’t going to be easy for starters.

When I saw Kellan waiting for me in the lobby, I ran up to him and threw my arms around him squeezing tightly so that none of my tears could escape.

“You ok, Shrimp?” he asked concerned, loosening my grip around him so he could see my face. I nodded and he picked me up and carried me over to the seats where he held me silently while I composed myself.

“I’m sorry, Kellan. Ali’s not well and I’m just feeling a bit stressed out with everything going on. Can we get some breakfast?”

We got up and walked over to the Peacock Alley for some food. As we were sitting and eating, Kellan looked at me and asked, “Feeling better? What’s up, Arizona? What’s stressing you out?”

“Kellan, I was thinking of spending the day with Ariele today if that’s ok with you?”

He looked disappointed, “Well, I was sort of hoping to hang out with you. What are you and Ariele planning to do?”

“We’re going to head down to New Jersey to find Dad.”

I could see his muscles tighten and his lips form into a thin line. He was angry.

“I’m coming with you,” he said un-compromisingly.

“Kellan, I want you to, I’d love for you to come. I just thought you would be happier not to since Ariele is coming. You two don’t seem to be getting along?”

He looked at me defiantly and shrugged his shoulders and said simply, “I’m coming.”

I reached over and took his hand. He melted slightly but not much, “I’m so glad. We have to leave soon though. We need to get there before school is over.”

“How were you thinking of getting there?” he asked.

“There are trains from Penn Station to Princeton Junction and we can cab it from there.”

He smiled, “Shrimp, go get ready and meet me down here in twenty minutes. I’ll have a limo ready to drive us down there, the train will take forever.”

I hugged him tightly and ran off to get Ariele. Maria and Harry were in the room with Ariele and Ali when I got back. Ali looked much better, but had decided to take it easy and laze at the hotel for the day.

“Good call, Ali, you have to be ready for the Rocky Horror Picture Show in the Village tonight,” I reminded her.

“I will be,” she promised.

Maria looked over at Harry and then asked, “Do you guys mind if Harry and I hang out today? We’ll stop by and check in with Ali regularly.”

“That would be great,” I said, “We’ll see you guys at dinner? Harry, call me as soon as you hear from Ella.”

He nodded. Ariele and I gathered our things and headed down to the lobby.

“Ariele, Kellan’s coming with us.”

“Oh, wonderful,” she muttered in disgust.

Kellan was waiting in the lobby with a packed breakfast for Ariele which she took gratefully as we walked toward the waiting limo. As we drove through the streets of Manhattan back toward the Lincoln tunnel there was an uncomfortable silence. I looked over to Ariele who was sitting with a hard expression resolutely looking out the window. Kellan was sitting next to me staring out the window too. I nudged his arm and he turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s up with the two of you? This is really awkward. What happened?”

Kellan and Ariele looked at each other, shrugged and stared back out the windows again.

This time, I pinched Kellan’s arm and grumped, “Tell me!”

“It’s nothing, Shrimp. Is it, Ariele?” he asked her pointedly.

She nodded, clearly revolted. However, I decided that since they were not going to be cooperative, I would have to let this drop for now. We had other things to concentrate on. The chauffeur asked where we were headed to first. I wanted to head over to the high school before it closed, but since we were making good time, I decided to stop in New Brunswick first to look my dad up.

“Could you take exit nine and take us to George Street in New Brunswick first?”

The driver nodded and we headed through the tunnel onto the Turnpike, south this time. Everything looked familiar, the airport, Ikea, Toys R Us. It was good to be going home. Ariele looked over and smiled at me warmly, she was excited as well. We took exit nine off the Turnpike and drove into New Brunswick asking to be let off near the State Theater. We walked over to Dad’s office from there. I had butterflies in my stomach and my heart was beating so fast I thought I would collapse. Kellan kept me steady with an arm around me.

We reached Dad’s office. What used to be my dad’s office, anyway. I was shaken to find that his office space was a hair salon. I was confused. I couldn’t possibly have come to the wrong place, I had been here innumerable times before. It was the right space, but my dad’s office was gone.

“This is strange, Ariele, isn’t it? We’ve only visited my dad here a thousand times before, haven’t we?”

She nodded, “Let’s go in and ask.”

I followed her in and she asked the girl at reception if they had just moved in. Turned out that they had been here for the last three years or so. We went back outside and looked at the location again. Dad’s office had definitely been here.

“This is really strange. I don’t understand….”

Kellan took my hand and squeezed it. He looked puzzled, “Let’s walk up a bit and see if you recognize anything.”

A few stores looked familiar, but I didn’t see anyone familiar to ask about Dad. We decided to head back to the limo and head down to Princeton. I would stop at the house first, hopefully Dad was home waiting for me. We headed south on Route 1, everything looked comfortingly familiar. We passed the Regal cinema complex where Ariele and I had spent many a Friday night with the gang. I pointed these sites out to Kellan, but he seemed to be deep in thought although he did nod as if he was paying close attention. We drove down Nassau Street through Princeton. We went past Hamilton Jewelers, my mom’s favorite place to buy those silly little trinkets. I looked at the University regretfully as we passed it, no chance of getting in there. We eventually turned into my street and stopped by the house.

“Here we are, Kellan, this is my home,” I said excitedly.

“Let’s go inside, I can’t wait to show you my room. It’s full of hockey goodies!” I jumped out and ran toward the house with Ariele and Kellan following closely behind. I rang the doorbell but there was no reply. I decided to let myself in with the spare key in the garage. As I went to enter the combination to open the garage door, I noticed that the door color had been changed, it was black instead of the white it had been since we’d moved in. I wondered why my dad would change the color. That was so unlike him. I tried the combination but nothing happened.

A blue car pulled into the driveway and a middle-aged man got out. It wasn’t my dad.

“What are you doing, kids? Can I help you?” he said sternly, clearly having noticed me trying the garage combination.

“I’m looking for my dad. I live here.”

The man looked puzzled as he walked over, putting his hand in his pocket and bringing out a cell phone.

He said, “This is my house, has been for years. Who are you kids? I’ve never seen you in this neighborhood before. I don’t want any trouble so I suggest you leave before I call the cops.”

Kellan steadied me as my legs gave way beneath me and led me back to the limo. We sat silently looking at each other, totally puzzled. How could this be? Where was Dad?

“Ariele, can we stop by your place?” I asked.

She hesitated but nodded. We couldn’t find it; her development didn’t exist.

“What do you think is going on?” I asked Ariele.

She shrugged tearfully, “I don’t know, but I don’t think I want to go back to the high school. I bet we never existed there either.”

She was right, that would be more than we could bear. The high school had been our lives. To not have ever existed.…

Kellan looked at us and sighed, “Let me go and check out the high school. I can go in and find out if you are students there. I can try anyway.”

“That’s a good idea and very sweet of you, thank you,” I said gratefully.

Ariele and I waited in the school car park dumbfounded. She looked at me suspiciously.

“Arizona, have you spoken to your mother yet?”

“No, but I will when I get back. I was kind of hoping to bring Dad back with me for support.”

“There is something very odd going on. How can this be? It’s like we never existed, yet I have all the photographs to prove that we did. We do exist! Let’s bring them along to your Mom. Did Kellan say anything to you?” she asked angrily.

“About what?” I asked

“This situation. Have you guys discussed it recently?

“No, not really. I guess we’ve been too busy with hockey. I suppose I was putting it off until we came here as well. You know, to prove to him that I have a life here. So much for that!”

Ariele looked like she needed to tell me something, but she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Kellan opened the door and climbed back in shaking his head wistfully. We headed back to Manhattan in silence.

I received a call from Harry just before we entered the Lincoln Tunnel.

“The munchkin got the part! She’s here, she wants to tell you herself….” He stopped short as the phone was obviously yanked from his hand and Ella burst into excited babble.

“I made it, I made it! When are you going to be back?”

“Congratulations, little star! We should be there in about twenty minutes and then we’ll go and celebrate.”

“Yay! Hurry,” she shouted as she turned off the phone.

I turned to Kellan and Ariele, “Well, let’s put our happy faces on. Ella needs to celebrate. She deserves us to be happy for her. We’ll have to put this mystery on hold for now.”

The rest of the New York trip was fantastic. We took Ella and Jonas out to Fright Fest at Six Flags in Jackson. At least that hadn’t changed. Ali had recovered enough to join us but stayed off the rides. Ella turned out to be a roller coaster addict and went on every one she was allowed to. It was nice to be able to relax with Kellan, to just laugh and have fun. I was a bit sad when we left for Newark the next day. It had been an enjoyable visit in some ways although I was left hollow by the realization that I had not existed here like I thought I had.

I wasn’t sure what to do next. I knew that I had to talk this over with Mom, who was sure to have some answers. It would have been easier with some proof, though. Then I remembered: Ariele’s photographs.

Olivia checked her watch, she had another couple of hours before she had to head out to the airport. It had been a particularly frustrating two days. Most of Larry’s and her theories were severely flawed. They had worked non stop since their talk with Kellan and his revelations about Arizona. Larry had, as promised, talked to Kellan and shared as much as he could with him. He had kept the details as vague as possible, but Kellan had nonetheless been traumatized. He hadn’t even said good bye to his dad before heading off to Manhattan.

She hoped that he would have the sense to not share what he knew with either Arizona or Harry. Olivia didn’t feel ready to deal with this yet. There were too many inconsistencies without reasonable explanations.

There was a sharp knock on her door and Larry walked through and sat himself down opposite her with his hands clenched in his lap.

“Ollie, Ollie, Ollie,” he murmured somberly as he studied her face. She was his very best friend, his confidante, and since his wife had died, a mother figure to Kellan. He loved her dearly.

“Larry?”

“Ah Ollie, Kellan called. It’s not good news.”

“Everyone’s ok?” she asked, suddenly anxious. She’d spoken to Rupert before they boarded the flight. “I spoke to Rupert before take off, everyone seemed ok…,” she said hopefully.

“Rupert doesn’t know.”

“Doesn’t know what?”

Larry looked worried.

“Larry, come on. Just tell me!” She demanded frustrated. “I’m sorry, Larry. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She very rarely did, without Rupert by her side. They were almost never apart, their nights were spent in each other’s arms as should be and it was almost unbearable to lay in bed alone. So, she had watched the bedside clock turn 3 AM, 4 AM and so forth.

“Kellan called me late last night. It was an awkward conversation. We didn’t part on good terms, as you know. Arizona and Ariele planned to head over to see Dillard while they were over there. Kellan found out and insisted on accompanying them even though he and Ariele are at odds with each other.”

Olivia stiffened; it didn’t take her by complete surprise. After all, she had feared that Arizona would try to pull something like this. It was only natural. All the same, the fact that she actually had could present frightening consequences.

Larry continued, “Kellan hired a limo to take them down to New Brunswick first where they found no signs of Dillard ever having existed. They similarly found no signs of their own past when they visited the house and school.”

Olivia nodded. That was no surprise to her or to Larry, but must have been a momentous revelation for the kids.

“How did the kids react? Are they devastated?”

Larry shrugged, “Kellan had been sort of pre warned, although he had not taken this permutation into consideration, but I think he was able to deal with it knowing some of the background. Arizona and Ariele, on the other hand, are confounded. Neither of them ‘freaked’ out to the extent that they could have. They didn’t have it out with Rupert. They didn’t even mention it to him. They’ve apparently decided to wait and have it out with you.”

“Perfect!” Olivia said, shuddering.

“Are you going to tell Arizona that her dad’s living in Leeds with his wife and four children?” Larry asked.

Olivia rolled her eyes, “He’s moved on. He left her a while ago. Didn’t I mention it?”

Larry shrugged, “You may have, I can’t remember. In any case, you could, if you wanted to, put her in touch with Dillard.”

“Yes, but he wouldn’t know her. It would be painful for her. She would be so much better off letting this go. Larry, how much did you tell Kellan? What was his reaction?”

“Not a lot. I did tell him about the portal and how we had transported you back to Rupert and then reunited you with your daughters. I was very vague but upfront and I admitted to him that I had no idea what was going on at the moment. I told him that we would work on it while he was in New York and I would try to make sense of it. He was furious about the portal. I didn’t tell him that we’d come through as well….”

Olivia looked thoughtful.

“I can’t even begin to think of how I am going to explain this to Arizona, even less to Harry.”

Larry got up, “I’d better go. Can you bring Kellan home? I have some things I have to take care of here. We do need to talk again soon.”

He turned toward her again as he was about to head out the door. He stared at her hesitatingly.

“Ollie, I didn’t want to mention this and add more things for you to worry about but.…”

“Larry, just spill. I can handle it… I think.”

“Ollie, the energy source for the portal is diminishing, we have to close it earlier than planned. It’s set to close on the 20th now.”

He paused and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Ollie, I am fairly sure someone has tampered with it.”

“Who? Why?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’m running all the security data. It’s going to take some time to figure out, though. Kevin is doing the same at the other end.

Olivia turned cold at the thought. Who in their small, trusted group would tamper with the data and put them all in peril? Or could it be an outsider? Someone who had gained access? The potential consequences were terrifying.

The iPhone rang waking me up from my post-hockey slumber. I scrambled around trying to find it. It stopped ringing before I managed to track it down. Where was it? I sat up in bed and looked under the sheets, under my pillow. I found it lying under the bed. I checked “recent calls” to see if anyone worthwhile needed to be called back. It was Kellan. Since he definitely counted as “worthwhile,” I pressed callback and waited.

“Hey, Shrimp, did I wake you?”

“Yes,” I drawled lazily, “Geez, who has hockey practice at six on a Sunday morning, it’s insane!”

He laughed, “Get used to it, it’s a regular practice session, bright and early every Sunday. You get to see me first thing!”

I guess that’s something, I thought to myself.

“Why did you get me up, Kellan? I’m tired,” I said grumpily.

“Just wanted to check in and ask if it was ok to pick you up at seven?” he asked warily.

I gave myself a shake. Why was I being so awful? He was just being his usual nice self.

“Kellan, it’s only two o’clock.… I miss you though. Can you come over and hang out for a while?”

“You sure, Shrimp? You don’t need to go back to bed and work on your temper for a while longer?”

“Sorry Kellan, I’m sure. I’d love to go for a bike ride. That will wake me up. A ride to Starbucks and I’ll be all set!” I begged.

He laughed, “Pick you up in twenty minutes?”

“Perfect!”

I hurried out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie and checked myself in the mirror to make sure I was drool free. My face was flushed, there was not much I could do about that, but I added some lip gloss and combed out the tangles. I added a scarf to my hair, grabbed my iPhone and bag and headed downstairs to wait for Kellan. The house was quiet; everyone must be out. I vaguely remembered Rupert saying something about lunch at Grandma’s. I must have slept right through that. I needed to make some time and head down to see Grandma. I missed her. It was so awesome to have her back in my life, but I wondered if she was real or a ghost. Maybe Kellan and I could head over and see her right now. He should know where she lived.

I felt excited when I heard Kellan’s bike drive up and I ran out to him. He looked super hot in his leathers. I melted. He came over and kissed me.

“Got over the sleepy time grumps?” he chuckled.

I smiled, embarrassed, “I’m sorry, Kellan. I’m a terrible morning person so I worry Sundays may be particularly bad for you, just ignore me.”

He sighed, “Come on, let’s get you some coffee. Where do you want to head to?”

I took the helmet he was holding out and started putting it on.

“I’m not sure, Kellan. I was thinking about Grandma earlier. I haven’t seen her much. Do you know where she lives?”

He laughed, “I’ve just come from there. The whole gang’s there, yours and mine. We just ate lunch. Ella said she tried to wake you, but you weren’t budging so they left you home to sleep. I’m happy to drive you over.”

“No, I sort of want to spend some quality time with her alone. Maybe we could go over after school one day this week?” I suggested.

“Sure, but she did say that she was coming over to see you in your dress this evening. She wants to take some photographs before the dance.”

I had totally forgotten about the dance! And I certainly hadn’t considered pictures. I better make myself presentable then. “Maybe just a short ride to the nearest coffeehouse?” I suggested.

I climbed on the bike and he brought it to life. As we roared out of the driveway, I tried to figure out what I liked better, the close proximity to Kellan as I clung on to him like a monkey or the thrill of the speed. Either way, the combination was exhilarating.

After my first Espresso, my thoughts collided in my mind as I started to revive. There was so much I needed to talk to Kellan about. However, this was probably the wrong time for heavy conversation. We both had to get ready for the main fall event at school, the Orionid Ball. If anything, I needed to quiz him about that so I didn’t make a total idiot of myself tonight.

“Kellan, tell me about the Ball. What happens?”

“You Juliet, me Romeo,” he laughed.

“We’re a Shakespearean tragedy?” I teased.

“No, the greatest romance of all time…,” he responded.

“Stop messing, Kellan, what happens?”

He looked at me with mock seriousness and continued, “It’s like a junior prom but with a meteor shower thrown in.”

“Kellan, I need more information. Like, is there food there or do I need to eat before we head off? Is it indoors or outdoors? Will I have to dance? What kind of music?”

“Shrimp, don’t worry about stuff like that. Just come and enjoy it. Some of it will be outdoors but you’ll have me to keep you warm. We normally go as a group so we have a stretch limo picking us up. Tonight, I get picked up first, then you and Harry and finally Maria and Ariele. Ali will be going in the basketball limo, but she’ll meet us there and hang with us a bit.”

I smiled at him, “I’m looking forward to it. Just one last question, will Simla and Justin be there?”

“Yes, Justin’s taking Simla, but don’t worry, this is one night when everyone just wants to relax and have fun. Just take the usual precautions and don’t go off on your own at anytime.”

I reached over for his hands and squeezed them, “Kellan, we have to talk about what happened in New Jersey. My mom’s taking the day off tomorrow. She’s coming to the game and promised to answer my questions after that. I have so many questions and I need to clear my mind to sort out the most important ones so I can hit her with those first. I’m going to bring Ariele’s photographs as proof that I’ve not lost my mind.”

Kellan’s lips parted as if he was about to say something, but he decided against it and looked at me quietly.

“Kellan?” I asked, looking at him for a response.

“You’re right. We do have to talk but not now, not this evening. I just want to take my girlfriend out and show her off to the world. Is that ok?”

I smiled and kissed him as we got up and headed back home.

Ella was sitting perched on my bed as I exited the shower. It was just after five, time to start getting ready and she was here to help I, assumed.

“Do you want me to get the dress?” she offered.

I was not quite sure what she meant. I’d been planning to go through my wardrobe and find something suitable. I had noticed a selection of long dresses in one corner but had run out of time. I decided to go with the flow. Ella obviously knew what she was talking about.

“That would be very kind of you. Thanks, Ella.”

She rubbed her hands in glee and dove into my closet and came back out grasping a red garment bag. She laid it across the bed and went back into the closet and retrieved four boxes. I had no idea what they contained.

She turned around and looked at me studiously, “You are putting your hair up like we talked about? Jane will be here any minute.”

I nodded wondering who Jane was and what I’d agreed to. There was a rap at the door and a blonde girl walked in.

“Hi, Jane,” said Ella excitedly.

“Hey, Ella, Arizona! Ready for me to do your hair and nails, Arizona? Let’s start with the nails. Did you decide on a color?” she asked looking at me.

I looked down at my nails in confusion, but recovered quickly turning to Ella.

“Ella, will you pick something that will go with the dress while I dry myself?”

She nodded happily and went over and opened Jane’s make up case and started going through the colors while I dried off and sat down on a chair. Jane came over and began filing down my toenails and reached for the nail polish Ella was holding out. Black, surprise, surprise! It seemed to be the uniform color at Mountain View High. Thankfully my fingernails were spared from the black monstrosity and simply tipped white. I glanced down at them, they looked so fresh and clean.

Jane then got started on my hair. She removed my turban and blow-dried it straight using several lotions and potions. She then started pulling it all back, spraying so it was super smooth and secured it in a ballerina bun. She proceeded to carefully detach some strands from the bun and curled them, allowing them to settle at the back. I noticed Ella opening one of the boxes and bringing out a small tiara (good grief!!), which Jane fitted around the bun. Wow! I felt like a poodle.

“Arizona, I’m thinking that you want to keep your makeup quite light?” Jane suggested.

I nodded, relieved. Light sounded good! She brought over her color pallet and started working on my face. She was done in no time. The hardest bit was keeping my eyelids steady while she prodded at them applying eyeliner and mascara. Jane took a step back, studied my face and beckoned to Ella.

“What do you think?” she asked her.

Ella sighed and whispered, “You look like Princess Aurora. Just the most beautiful princess in the world.”

Perfect! It’s always been the main aim of my life to be just like Princess Aurora, whoever that was!

“Do you want me stay and help you with your dress?” Jane asked as Ella shook her head.

“I’ll do that, but thank you Jane, you did a great job. Mom’s waiting for you down in the kitchen,” she added.

As soon as Jane left, Ella came over and felt my nail polish, it was dry, but she had me sit still for a bit longer just to make sure. She went over to the bed and carefully unzipped the garment bag and pulled the dress out. I was surprised. I had expected an elaborate princess gown with puffy sleeves and full skirt in a hideous shimmering material. This gown was incredibly simple. It was a silver gray, straight, long dress with spaghetti straps. The fabric was jersey like, it flowed beautifully and had just a hint of a shimmer.

I stood up and Ella helped me into it so I wouldn’t accidentally snag my nails. The dress fit perfectly and was super comfortable. Ella opened up another box and brought out a pair of pewter heels that were perfect with the dress and balanced off my black toenails. The third box contained a turquoise shawl, diamond eardrops, some rings and two bracelets. I put them all on and turned to look in the mirror.

Ella nudged me, “Wait there is one more thing.” She opened an orange box and took out an amazing looking gray clutch with silver studs. “Look, Arizona! Mom got you the Hermès mini Medor clutch that you’ve been whining about endlessly!”

I had no idea what she was talking about but took the clutch gratefully. Even I could tell that this was no ordinary clutch. It looked, felt and even smelled divine. I turned back and looked at myself in the mirror – not bad! I couldn’t help smiling at myself. I looked over at Ella gratefully. “Ella, thank you so much for helping me, I could never have pulled this off on my own.”

She smiled and nodded at me in agreement and then started to head out the door, but stopped and said, “I’m going to go down stairs and wait for Kellan. I’ll come and get you when he arrives. Make sure you make a proper entrance. Stop at the top of the stairs so Grandma can get her photographs, ok?”

I nodded and squeezed her warm little hands before she left me alone. I turned to look at myself in the mirror again, my eyes wandered down to my new clutch. I opened it and carefully placed my cell phone, lip gloss and credit-card holder in it. Ella burst through my door again.

“Kellan’s here! He looks so hot, even better than Edward Cullen! We’re ready, come on! Remember to stop at the top of the stairs and smile!”

I nodded, she was a funny little munchkin. I waited silently until I couldn’t hear her footsteps stomping down the stairs anymore and then I did what I had been told to do. I walked to the top of the stairs and took a few steps down and stopped. All the chattering ceased and everyone looked up at me. Ella gave me an approving grin. I spotted Kellan. He was looking up at me somberly. I couldn’t take my eyes of him. Step aside vampires, this mortal was immortally gorgeous.

And then the flashes went off, it was blinding. Grandma headed the paparazzi. I let it go on for a few moments before I shielded my face with my hands and made my way down the stairs into Kellan’s waiting arms. He pulled my hands away from my face and stood looking at me silently until I nudged him with my heel.

“Ouch!” He said surprised, as I laughed and kissed him lightly on his cheek. I turned to Grandma.

“Good to see you, Grandma,” I said as I walked over and hugged her.

“Doesn’t she look stunning, Mom?” my mom remarked.

“Indeed, she reminds me of you on your way to your first dance. Remember?”

Mom shook her head laughing, “That was a long time ago. You have a good memory.”

I looked around for Harry. He was looking over and smiling at me from the corner. He looked awesome.

“Looking good, Shrimp. Kellan’s a lucky guy.”

“So is Maria, but ‘girl’ of course! You look great.”

I grinned self consciously, and then turned around to Kellan again. He was dressed in a beautifully cut tuxedo, he looked amazing. I took his hand as he put his arm around my waist.

“I guess we’re ready to go?”

“Yes, let’s go. Kellan, you look amazing.”

“Not so fast, young lady,” complained Grandma, “I need some more pictures of you, and the boys of course… and Ella.”

I laughed and relented. After several dozen more photographs we were finally allowed to go. Grandma had certainly learned how to use her digital camera! We climbed into the limo and headed off to pick up Ariele and Maria. There was another photo shoot in progress as we arrived at Maria’s house. She looked beautiful in a short, lilac, cocktail dress with a diamante halter. Ariele looked gorgeous too, in a cobalt blue flowery, chiffon gown. In her hair, she wore a tiara like mine.

We made our way to the ball as soon as the picture onslaught was over, only to exit straight into another one as soon as we arrived. Once the official pictures were taken we headed right to the refreshments. I was parched. Kellan got hold of my waist with his hands as I rushed toward the stand, and turned me around to face him.

“Wait a minute, Shrimp.”

I looked up at him waiting. He gently brushed his finger against my lips and kissed me.

“You took my breath away when I saw you on the steps this evening. You’re like an angel, so beautiful.” And then he brought his lips down on mine again and kissed me gently. He pulled away and looked at me again. “Now you can run off to get some grub!”

“I just need a drink, then I’m all yours again,” I replied as I pulled him back and kissed him. We grabbed some Cokes and headed in to the ballroom to find the others. I stopped short as we walked through the entrance, and stared at the wondrous sight before me. I hadn’t expected all this! I wasn’t sure what I had expected really – I didn’t even know where we were. I turned around and looked up at Kellan’s amused face.

“I didn’t want to spoil your surprise by telling you that the ball always takes place at the Planetarium.”

The planetarium? Yes, of course, it looked magical, the planets and stars all lit up. Images of blackholes and cosmic collisions brightened up the dome. It was a breathtaking sight.

“May I have the pleasure of this first dance?” he asked, as he chivalrously bowed in front of me reaching for my hand. I smiled as I placed mine in his and he led me to the dance floor.

Who knew? I could dance! I was glad to have Arizona Darley living inside me at times. Living inside me I mused at my thought as Kellan held me close. Could she somehow be living inside me? Could that be possible? Had I killed a part of her, myself? My thoughts were distracted by Kellan’s warm breath against my ear. He brushed his cheek against mine and I pulled myself closer to him and rested my head against his shoulder.

“I have another treat in store for you, Shrimp,” he whispered against the nape of my neck.

I looked up and whispered, “What?”

He took my hand and led me outdoors. We weren’t alone. Dozens of students where outside, sitting or laying in the grass looking up at the sky.

“What are they all looking at, Kellan?” I whispered as I spotted Harry and Maria and waved at them. Kellan took my hand and we headed over to them.

“Where’s Ariele?” I asked, as Kellan and I joined the others on the grass.

Maria chuckled, “She was descended upon as soon as it was realized that she was here without a date. Her dance card is filled.”

“Dance card?” I queried.

Maria held up a silver bound booklet, “Yes, one of these…. Kellan?”

Kellan brought one out from his pocket and gave it to me. I took it and looked through it. Kellan’s name was filled in all the spaces. I looked over at him incredulously.

“I’ll let Harry have one dance, but that’s all I’m relenting to,” he said firmly.

I lay back in his arms and looked to the sky and whispered, “What am I looking for? Shooting stars?”

“The Orionid meter showers…” he started saying as I squeezed to let him know that I understood. I lay in Kellan’s arms silently as we shared the awesome display and was only brought back to earth when I felt someone tap my tiara. I looked up to see David.

“May I have your dance card, poppet?” he asked gallantly while nodding courteously at Kellan who I could feel suppress a snicker. I handed David my card booklet and watched him go through it looking frustrated. He looked over at Kellan and said, “You’re kidding right? Just one dance?”

Kellan sighed and nodded, “One….. Just add your name next to one of mine, but not the last one.”

David looked over at me and bowed saying, “I’ll come and find you for my dance,” and left.

“Kellan, this is such a cute idea,” I said pointing to the dance card, “Who came up with it?”

Kellan shrugged, “It’s been a tradition for this dance ever since it started. It’s very handy!”

I started to turn my face back to the sky to enjoy the show but Kellan stood and pulled me up, “I believe I have this dance, he said as he led me back indoors to the dance floor.”

Harry found me in his arms some dances later and claimed me. It was awkward dancing with Harry, I was not sure where to put my hands, but he seemed to know what he was doing so I followed him lamely, keeping a polite distance between us.

“So, what’s up between you and Kellan? How did you get so close so suddenly. What brought that on?”

I shrugged and he laughed, “I guess I should have seen it coming, the two of you spend enough time with each other. I’m just a bit surprised. I thought David was about to make a move. He talked to me about it a few weeks ago. You turned him down?”

“David’s really nice and I do like him, just not like that.” Thankfully the music stopped and Kellan rescued me from further interrogation.

“Later, Shrimp,” said Harry as he kissed my forehead and left to look for Maria.

I spotted Ali and Ariele on the dance floor with their partners and waved. I had not seen Ali at all this evening until now. She looked amazing, easily the most attractive girl here. Kellan and I continued dancing until we were interrupted by another shoulder tap, David. The boys did their bows and Kellan left.

David took me by my waist and pulled me up close, very close. It didn’t feel uncomfortable like it had with Harry. Being this close to David felt comfortable and warm. He cupped my head from the back and moved my face to look at him. He was incredibly attractive especially now with his lips turned up at the sides into a mischievous smile.

“Poppet, how could you turn your prince down?” he whispered as he drew me in closer. I looked at him with no understanding of what had gone past and simply shrugged and said, “I’m with Kellan now.”

He looked hurt, but tightened his grip as he led me around the floor until the music stopped and he brushed his lips against mine.

“I’m not done fighting for you.”

He let go of me as Kellan promptly arrived by my side. I took Kellan’s hand and pulled him toward the refreshments. The gang was there.

“You look gorgeous,” exclaimed Ali as I walked up to kiss her. I smiled, “Thank you, you look amazing.”

“The next one is the last dance,” said Harry. “Let’s meet up by the limo after.”

Kellan nodded as we all walked together to the dance floor for one last magical dance.

Olivia surveyed the Orionid night sky as she lay comfortably in Rupert’s arms. They had brought a bottle of Cuvee out to the backyard where they plonked them selves down on a mountain of cushions. She felt the chill of the October air and pulled herself closer to Rupert’s warm body. He tightened his grip around her and caressed the softness of her hair with his cheek.

“What are you thinking about?” she whispered softly trying not to destroy the magic of the moment.

“Ollie, did we do the right thing?”

She didn’t reply right away but pondered the question. Right thing. What exactly did that mean? This was definitely the right thing for Rupert and her. They were meant to be, that had always been profoundly clear. This was even right for Dillard. He had found himself a more suitable companion with whom he had been happy longer than he had ever been with Olivia. It ended sadly for Dillard and his wife but that was inevitable. Dillard was unable to sustain love and sooner or later that would drain any relationship he had.

The question of right or wrong was really only applicable to the kids. Her kids. Neither Arizona nor Ella had been happy living in the dysfunctional family situation that she and Dillard had manufactured for them. The biggest issue had been that Dillard was totally unwilling and perhaps unable to try to make the situation tolerable. She was sure that she had done the right thing for Ella. However, this new situation made her question her decision about Arizona.

“This new issue with Arizona does raise a lot of new worries for me. I thought I had it all covered, it’s been perfect for so long. No matter what happens now, I would never not have had this time. So, yes I’m sure we did the right thing,” she mused.

“I have no explanation of how this happened. If I did I might be able to think of a solution. At the moment though, I’m going to have to work this out with Arizona without the benefit of any idea as to what’s going on. All I know is that this change happened when we brought Gertrude back… how this could affect Arizona? I don’t understand, not yet anyway. Larry did mention that he thinks someone’s tampered with the portal. It’s too early to tell whether that’s got anything to do with this though.”

“Ollie, what if she wants to go back?”

“I’ve been thinking about that, Rupert. I’m not sure how I would handle it. What do you think?”

Rupert sighed and turned Olivia so she was facing him, “Honey, it would destroy you.”

She felt herself tearing up at the thought of losing her daughter, but she wouldn’t be able to keep her a prisoner either, she wouldn’t want to.

“Rupert, I’ll have to let her go if that’s what she wants. I’m going to try to make her see that it’s best if she lets things be, for now anyway. With more time Larry and I could maybe figure out what caused this and we may even be able to reverse it. But there is no time. The portal has to close tomorrow due to the new complications. She has to go through now if she wants to reconnect with Dillard. It’s only been a matter of days, things won’t have changed at the other end.”

Rupert hesitatingly added, “Have you thought about the possibility of the reverse happening. What if she goes through the portal and in time switches back to Arizona Darley, what then? Our daughter suddenly finds herself lost in the future, in another dimension.”

Olivia shook at the vision. There was really only one way to deal with this at the moment and that was to be as honest as possible with Arizona. Especially about the possibility that her recollections may disappear and she may find herself stuck where she wouldn’t want to be.

“Rupert, if she decides to go back we do need to be able to protect her. I’ll have Kevin keep an eye on her progress and let us know if we need to bring her back again. Larry trusts Kevin implicitly, he was hand picked by Larry to control the portal at the other end. We’ll also need to convince her to keep the information about the portal and our lives here to herself. That’s going to be an overwhelming secret for her to keep.”

Rupert offered, “She may decide to stay here and locate Dillard in Leeds. Are you are going to tell her?”

“Yes, I guess so. It will at least buy me some time,” she sighed and closed her eyes.

“Imagine it though, Rup. What if she decides to go and find him? He doesn’t even know that she exists. It will be disastrous.”

“We’ll work it out, Ollie.”

Rupert sat up with Olivia still in his arms and poured champagne into a glass and brought the rim to her lips. The sparkles felt good against her lips and she took in the aroma as she sipped on it. She turned around and looked into the loving eyes of her fairytale and kissed him. She needed to make this ok. But could she?

Thankfully it was a late opening at school this morning. Last night had been magical, but I arose desperately tired when wakened by the alarm. I felt the weight of a long, difficult day ahead. The first game of the season, just a “friendly” but this was going to be monumental for me. I had to hold my own and perform at my very best. Then, there was the small matter of the talk, which was finally upon us. It was scheduled for this evening after the game, apparently. I suddenly felt queasy. I decided to head down and get some breakfast and then take Gertrude for a walk to clear my mind.

I needed to do more that just clear my mind though; I needed some kind of plan on how to deal with my mother. I had to be in control or she would take over and blind side me. Everyone else was already gone when I sauntered into the kitchen so I had the house to myself. Gertrude wagged her tail at me lazily from the corner where she’d made herself comfortable on her cushion. She looked like she was tired out from a long walk so I went over and cuddled her while my coffee brewed. Her eyes closed as I stroked the top of her soft little head. I quietly took my coffee upstairs to my bedroom and turned on the computer. I decided to sort out my “talk” issue first so I could then fully concentrate on kicking butt at the game. I needed to organize my thoughts, best done on paper. I found a pen.

First, what actual proof did I have that I’d been abducted from another life? Not much, unfortunately. I hadn’t found my birth certificate. I really should have looked harder. So what did I have?

1. Photographs

Lots from Ariele. She had given me a bunch to keep in case her mother took them away from her. The photographs were undeniable. There were dozens and dozens of me as Arizona Stevens; pictures of me with Dad, Dad being Dillard. There were photographs of me at Princeton playing hockey. In fact, there were numerous photographs of us all, together, taken in New Jersey. I really shouldn’t need any additional proof. They clearly showed that I was Arizona Stevens. There was no way my mother could explain those away.

2. My hockey ability

There was no way I could have conjured that up from nothing and make the varsity team.

3. ??

I couldn’t think of anything else. Not an impressive list. I should have done some more snooping but there was no time left.

So, moving on, what questions did I need answered? The most important ones should go at the top of my list in case the discussion disintegrated into complete mayhem and we didn’t get anywhere. There would be a high probability of that! So the list…

1. Where’s Dad?

He was clearly not in Princeton, so where was he? Had he left when I disappeared? How come there was no sign of him at all? No work number or cell number. His office was a hairdresser’s salon!

2. Why am I suddenly Arizona Darley, not Stevens?

Was I both? Everyone around here (and I still needed to define that) seemed to know me as Darley and I could feel the Darley me. How?

3. Why have we gone back in time?

I was clearly in June 2009 a few weeks ago and now suddenly I’m back in October 2008. I didn’t want to even contemplate this possibility, but time travel? Even that didn’t make sense. My dad was in New Jersey eight months ago; he would still have been there.

4. Where did Rupert and Harry come from?

5. Why did everyone think Gertrude was new?

6. How come Grandma was alive?

I could go on, there were so many questions. However, I decided that if I got answers to the first four key questions, it would be a good start.

Finally, what was I aiming for? What did I really want? This was much harder than throwing out the questions and would in small part perhaps depend on the answers. One thing was clear – I had to reconnect with my dad. Did I want to wake up tomorrow back in my old life, at Princeton High? Without Kellan? I really wasn’t sure…. I was sure I needed Kellan in my life.

I looked at the clock, it was clearly time to head to school. Showering and dressing quickly, I made my way to the Jeep. I looked at it wistfully, yet another thing I would lose if I left this set up. I threw my kit on top of Harry’s and set off. I wondered where Harry had disappeared off to so early this morning, and then remembered him mentioning an early meeting with Coach Stanislaw to get ready for this afternoon.

I spent the entire time at school psyching myself up for the game and rushed over to the small gym as soon as final bell sounded. We were taking the team bus. Harry and Kellan were already in the gym chatting with the coaches. They nodded at me as I entered closely followed by the rest of the team including David. He came over and stood next to me.

“Bagsy to sit next to you on the bus, Poppet,” he whispered.

I felt irritated; I didn’t need this right now. Kellan was going to be annoyed. We gathered around the coaches waiting for them to speak, but it was Harry who started.

“Excited, team?” he asked enthusiastically.

We nodded lamely.

Harry laughed and continued, “I guess you’re all wiped out from last night. Well, wake up! We’re taking the team bus as you know, and usual rules apply. This is a friendly but I want a win. I’ll announce the starting line up at the rink. Any questions?” he asked as he surveyed the room. No one made a sound so he led us through the doors to the bus. There was the usual scramble to get in after we threw our kits into the hold. I got on and looked for Kellan as a hand grasped mine from below and pulled me down on a seat… David. Oh, this was going to be awkward. I noticed Kellan getting on, waving at me as he walked over. His expression changed to irritation as he noticed David on the seat beside me.

“Come on, Shrimp, there are more seats at the back,” he said as he grabbed my hand to pull me up.

David laughed, “Oh be a good sport, Kellan. I bagsied her!”

Kellan looked at me rolling his eyes, “That right?”

I shrugged and nodded smiling at him as he bent over and kissed my forehead.

“She is officially ‘bagsied’ for the rest of the games, David. She’ll be sitting next to me,” he said before continuing down the aisle to sit with Harry.

“Kellan, eh,” said David thoughtfully, staring at me inquiringly.

“How, when? I had no idea! Why?”

I looked at him mischievously, “Just sort of hit me,” I winked. It wasn’t far from the truth. In fact, it was the truth. It had just hit me!

“Can’t say I’m not disappointed. I am. I guess I’ll have to hope that you’ll change your mind. I’m pretty awesome,” he winked.

“You are,” I said sincerely, “But I feel totally connected to Kellan. Can we still be friends?

“Always, poppet.” He looked at me and took my hand, “Poppet, what’s the hockey all about? You’re pretty good, but I never saw this coming either.”

“I’m full of surprises! So, what’s the team we are playing against like?” I asked quickly changing the subject. It worked. David spent the rest of the journey describing all the previous games against them and the players to watch out for. As soon as the bus stopped at the rink Kellan was by my side and remained there while we walked inside.

“So, what was David saying?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing much. He went through all the previous games against this team and the players I should watch out for.”

“Oh, good, that saves me from having to do it now. Locker room four has been assigned for you to use, the rest of us will be in five. Get changed and wait outside five until I come and get you for the team talk, ok?

“Ok!’ I said and saluted as I closed the door to room four.

I got changed and put the new black helmet Harry had got for me on my head and went to join the others for the team talk. I noticed Ella, Mom and Rupert as soon as I got on the ice. They were waving frantically at Harry and me trying to get our attention. I waved back to make them stop. It worked. They sat back down and I went to work sizing up my competition. I marked the players that David had pointed out.

It was game time. I was not starting so I skated over to the box and watched Harry win the first stab at the puck. I had not watched him play before, he was beyond incredible. I was astounded by his agility, focus and speed. I could barely take my eyes of him. He scored and the crowd erupted in cheers. I could see Maria proudly jumping up from her seat and shouting. Mom and Rupert were up shouting and cheering, too. It was sort of reassuring to see Ella sitting down, oblivious, playing her DS. Some things never changed.

It was my turn to go on. Kellan and David were on the ice with me and Harry came off. I took my position and waited. I loved playing defense, all I had to do was wait and block the other team. Our team was clearly better. David and Kellan had the puck up at their end with only one break away, which I easily stopped by jamming their player into the board. The game was one sided, we won easily and I only spent one session in the penalty box.

I sat by Kellan on the way back, satisfied with my performance. I had totally held my own and everyone, except Justin, had noticed and acknowledged it.

Harry found me before we got back on the bus and told me that Rupert had asked me to meet him at Ames when I was ready. So, it was finally going to happen. I thought about the points I had written down earlier this morning, glad that I had done so. My mind was whirling around on a high from the game and worry about what was to come. I was relieved to have something organized to look at. I absentmindedly took Kellan’s hand and lay my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes to help myself gather my thoughts.

“Are you worried about heading in to Ames?” he asked.

He knew? I guess Harry had told him. “A bit, well actually a lot,” I said opening my eyes and looking at him.

“Shrimp, I’m going to be there, too. So is Ariele. Your mom asked us.”

“That’s great, but why would she ask you to be there?” I said taken a back.

I could hear him taking a deep breath, and then sitting back and closing his eyes.

“Well?” I prodded him sharply with my elbow.

He opened his eyes again and looked at me thoughtfully. “Your mom and dad asked me what I knew. They’d figured something was up with you.”

I stiffened. I was dismayed and I closed my eyes, unable to say any more. Kellan put his arms around me and we sat still for the rest of the journey, not talking. I needed to know what had been discussed, but this was not the place, in a bus with a winning, excited team.

Once we arrived back at school, I walked right to my Jeep to drive home, Kellan followed me.

“Wait up, Shrimp, we should talk?”

I turned around and nodded. “Can you pick me up? We can talk before we head over. What does Harry know?”

“Nothing, as far as I know.”

I shook my head in despair, got in my car and drove off home. Ella was home playing with Jonas and Sally. Maria was watching them. Rupert and Mom had already left which was partly annoying, but I was sort of relieved. I changed quickly and ran down to meet Kellan who was waiting outside on his bike.

“We have a while, so let’s take Gertrude for a walk and talk,” I suggested.

He nodded and I ran back to fetch Gertrude while he waited. I heard Harry and Maria laughing in the family room as I ran back out and wondered how Harry would handle all this. He would have to know eventually. Kellan and I walked hand in hand toward the woods, pausing while Gertrude investigated all the smells on the way.

“Kellan, just tell me. We don’t have a lot of time. We need to head over to Ames soon.”

He pulled me down on the grass and faced me, “Your mom and dad had a talk with me last week. I was not sure how to tell you so I never mentioned it. We met at Ariele’s house, but she didn’t want to be involved which is why she’s not talking to me. She is angry because I went behind your back.”

I nodded, “Go on, I expect you felt you had to?”

He nodded, “My dad insisted and I sort of felt it would help you.”

“Your dad? He’s involved?”

“I think so but I don’t know how. Anyway, I did tell your mother everything I knew. Hopefully she’ll give you some answers tonight.”

“You told her about me knowing that I was not a Darley but Stevens… and about Dillard?”

“Yes.”

“About our trip to Princeton?”

“I did, Shrimp.”

So, Mom was forewarned, which could be good or bad. I had already told her that I knew that I was Arizona Stevens, so that was nothing new. I wonder what else she knew. I guessed we would find out soon enough. We walked back to the house and got on Kellan’s bike to head over to Ames.

As we approached the Ames complex, I felt a sense of familiarity. I recognized the building itself and the grounds. I had been here before, I just couldn’t place it. Every thing about the place was recognizable as I followed Kellan inside toward his father’s office. I instinctively knew it was Larry’s office even before we entered and I knew how to get to my mother’s office from here.

“Hi there, Arizona and Kellan,” Larry acknowledged as soon as we walked into his office.

“Arizona, your mother and Rupert are downstairs so let’s head over there.”

I nodded as I checked my pocket for my list and felt for the safety of the photographs, which Ariele had given to me.

“Is Ariele down there too?” I asked hopefully.

“Arizona, no. She didn’t want to come,” replied Larry as he gathered a bunch of papers from his desk. “She did give me this note for you, though,” he said as he handed me a folded piece of paper.

I was disappointed. It would have been invaluable to have had her support. I looked at the note. It was brief… it just said stay strong.

We took the elevator down to the basement and went through a set of heavy metal doors that slid open after Larry keyed a code into the control pad. We arrived at another door, labeled OP: Restricted Entry. Larry pointed his eyes towards the pad on the door, it buzzed and clicked green once the buzzing stopped. Could this be an iris scanner? I had read about these, very high tech, must be super secret. I felt like I was in a James Bond movie. The metal door slid open and we went through to an enormous space full of noisy equipment. It was like an airplane hanger. The space was filled with laboratory equipment hooked into computers. It seemed like a strange place for a talk. I wondered what they had cooked up.

I spotted Mom and Rupert sitting on metal chairs at the far corner. We walked over to them and sat down. It felt very daunting. Maybe that was the aim? We could easily have had this talk at home, no need for this noisy, intimidating atmosphere. I sat down on one of the chairs and stared at Mom for answers. Mom looked right back at me. She looked sad and worried, but her voice was unfailing, as she looked me steadfastly in the eyes.

“Arizona, I have been told that Simla was responsible for what happened to you in the girl’s restroom. Is that true?”

I was surprised by her choice of direction and decided to ignore it. I slowly brought out my sheet with my list of questions and looked at it studiously. Then I looked at her just as she had at me.

“Mom, where is Dad?”

She looked genuinely surprised. It couldn’t be at my question, though, she must have seen that one coming. It was probably because I ignored her question to pose my own. I saw her eyes narrow and her mouth form into a frown. Rupert shifted uneasily in his chair. Larry spoke up.

“Arizona, what do you mean?”

“Just what I asked. Where’s Dillard, my dad?”

“It’s ok, Larry. Let me deal with this question. Arizona, Dillard lives in Leeds,” said Mom.

“Leeds? Where’s Leeds?” I asked astounded.

Mom continued, “Leeds is in England.”

I was confused; “I know that, but why? England? When did he move back to England?”

“He’s always lived in England, Arizona. He’s never moved away from England. He moved from London to Leeds after we got divorced.”

“When did you get divorced?” I couldn’t help but digress, I knew that they had been separated for years, but I was unaware that they had made it official.

“Since before Harry was born, so almost twenty years.”

I was annoyed. She was clearly lying.

“Mom, that’s not possible.” I couldn’t believe that she was going to take to bare-faced lying! I decided to remain calm and plowed on with my questions.

“What’s Dad doing in Leeds?”

“I’m not sure exactly,” said Mom. “I understand he’s still working there. He is separated from his wife….”

I interrupted her, “His wife? You?

“No, Arizona, his third wife. I believe her name is Sarah.”

I closed my eyes and tried to absorb this information. No one spoke; I could feel their eyes staring into me.

I turned to Kellan, “Did you know this about my dad?”

He shook his head and I felt a sense of relief that at least he’d not been playing me in New Jersey. This didn’t make any sense whatsoever. I decided to leave this issue and try another approach.

I felt in my pocket for the photographs and brought them out. I looked through the pack slowly and selected a Christmas card picture of me, Dad, Mom, Ella and Gertrude and passed it to Mom. I couldn’t wait for her to see this.

“Explain this then,” I challenged.

She took a sharp intake of breath as she studied the picture and passed it on to Rupert. I could see that she was struggling to find a way to explain this to me. Larry looked at her fondly and patted her back. I felt like I was going to explode. Why was he being nice to her?

“Ollie, let me take over and try to explain this to Arizona. I can see that this is just confusing her more. Maybe we should tell her about the portal. It may help clarify things a bit.”

“The portal?” I shuddered in despair, once again hoping that I was in some nightmare.

Larry turned his chair to face Kellan and me.

“We’ve been involved in a really complicated project which I don’t want to get into too much. Suffice to say that behind those metal doors,” he pointed to what looked like a metal wall rather than door. “Behind those doors is a portal.”

“A portal? What’s a portal?” I asked baffled.

Larry continued, “Arizona, it’s like a wormhole, which allows transport between dimensions.”

“This is ridi….” I started to protest.

Mom cut me off saying, “Let Larry go on, Arizona. He’s trying to answer your question.”

“Like I said, Arizona. This man-made portal is like a mini wormhole. It allows us transport between time and dimensions. Your mother brought you through the portal to enable you to be together. At the moment, that portal is set so that your dad is on the other end. In fact, if you go through it right now, your life, as you think it should be, will be back to normal, but without your mom, Ella or Gertrude.”

I was horrified by what he was saying, “You mean she not only abducted us, but abducted us to a totally different life? Through a worm hole!” I was beyond bewildered. Why would she do that?

She looked sad as she said, “I guess you could call it that, but I did feel it was in your best interest.”

I tried to think back to my other questions, but my mind drew a blank. This was all totally crazy. I clearly had to head back. What about Ella, would I ever see her again or Kellan? Harry? Gertrude? Grandma?

“I have to go back, I can’t let you get away with this. It’s beyond unacceptable! And what about Dad?”

My mom looked at me carefully. “Arizona, that’s up to you. You’ve been living here with us as Arizona Darley for the past eight years. I didn’t bring you back here now; I brought you back eight years ago. And for these eight years we’ve been happy. I have no explanations as to why you are having this switch in your memory from your previous life. I can’t explain how you can recall Arizona Stevens from now. It doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m concerned that it could reverse at any time. You could find yourself back with Dillard, but with the reverse happening. You may wake up as Arizona Darley wondering where your life went.”

That totally blew my mind. She was basically telling me that my mind could switch back to being another person? What was the trigger?

I looked and asked her just that, “What triggered this switch?”

“I’m not sure, Arizona. I retrieved Gertrude a couple of weeks ago and I believe that’s when the switch occurred. So I am assuming that perhaps Gertrude was the trigger but I have no explanation of how that happened. We do know someone has been tampering with the portal, but we have not yet found out who or why.”

“Mom, I don’t know what to believe!”

“I can understand that, but believe me this is just as confusing for us.”

I exploded, “No, it’s not!” I shouted angrily. “You are responsible for this! If it wasn’t for you messing about we would all still be in Princeton!”

“That is somewhat true, maybe for you anyway. I wouldn’t still be there and neither would Ella,” said Mom.

I got up and stomped about angrily picking up a chair and throwing it against the wall. Kellan came over and grabbed me. He held me tightly until I calmed down slightly. Was there any point continuing with my questions? Did I really need answers when they were obviously ludicrous? Or did I just need to cut to the chase and demand that this be put right and I be transported back to Dad?

Just then, something hit me – didn’t Mom say that Dad lived in Leeds? Couldn’t this mean that I could still stay here with Kellan and also contact my dad in Leeds, and not have to go through the portal? The portal, I shivered at the thought. Was it even safe, reliable? What if I ended up with the dinosaurs!

I sat down and thought about this. This would still mean giving up on my school, my friends, my whole life. However, if I went back I would never see Ella or Kellan again. I also loved having Harry as my older brother. That was something else I needed to clarify. Harry was another mystery that needed explaining. I needed time to think.

“I’m exhausted and I need time to think. Can we continue with this conversation another time?” I asked.

Larry looked at me and shrugged, “Well, unfortunately, we have another complicating issue.”

I felt my stomach churn and I felt faint. Kellan moved his chair closer to mine and grabbed my hand.

“Another issue?” I asked fearfully.

Larry looked concerned but continued: “The portal is time sensitive, it’s normally open for a limited period during October. It was set to close on Halloween. However, someone has tampered with it resulting in energy levels that are too low to keep it open. We can’t keep it open any longer, it’s not reliable, it will close tonight.”

I closed my eyes, was he really telling me that I had to make a decision now? That was so beyond unfair, intolerable. I looked over at Mom.

“You can’t be serious, you can’t expect me to make a decision now?”

Mom replied quietly, “You don’t have to make a decision now. In fact, you shouldn’t. I have no control over the portal closing but it will open again next October. We can program it to open up so you won’t have lost any time with Dillard. But you’ll have to stay here for a year if you decide not to go through right now. Think about it Arizona, what do you have to lose? Stay and think about this situation for a year and then decide.”

No way, I thought! A whole year in this situation, I shook my head.

“No, if I’m being forced to make a decision now, then I am going through. But, how? Tell me what to do,” I shouted defiantly with tears streaming down my face. My body shook, I felt so agitated that I was struggling to maintain even a little control.

I could feel Kellan’s grip around my hand tighten to a vice.

“Shrimp, I’ll never see you again….”

“Kellan, I need to go back.”

“You don’t, stay.” He let go of my hand when Larry got up and beckoned me to follow him.

“You’re sure?” asked Mom falteringly. I nodded as I followed Larry towards the metal doors. Larry stopped by the computer and entered a code, which opened the doors just wide enough for us to enter. Larry went through first and waited for me on the other side.

Mom, Rupert and Kellan followed closely behind. Mom grabbed hold of me and turned me around. “Are you sure Arizona, think about it. Don’t do this just because you’re angry with me.”

I could see Kellan sitting with his head in his hands.

“I have to, Mom.”

“You don’t. You don’t lose anything by staying here a year.”

“What if you can’t reset the portal in a year? You said someone had tampered with it?”

Mom looked at me thoughtfully, “More reason for you not to go through right now. Let Larry and me work on this and figure out what’s going on. I promise you that you won’t lose any time. I know you are angry, but try to think about this logically.”

My mind was exploding. I couldn’t stay here another year, could I? It would be intolerable.

“Don’t go, Arizona,” I heard Kellan whisper.

I looked over Mom’s shoulder at Kellan. He looked beat. I had never seen him look so despondent. His eyes were blood shot. My heart felt a sharp pain cut through it.

He was my life – how could I leave him? I ran over and launched myself at him. I pushed my face so hard into his chest trying to climb into his heart and hide there. I clung on to him; I knew I had to find a way to do both. I wanted to go through but I needed Kellan with me. He couldn’t give up his life here though, it would be asking too much. My head felt dizzy from all these thoughts. I needed time to think. Time to figure out a way to do both. Yes… time….

I could not allow myself to make a rash decision just because I was angry. There was too much at stake. Mom had assured me that I had nothing to lose, but could she be trusted, even a little bit? The sensible thing to do would be to…. Kellan interrupted my thoughts.

“Shrimp, stay with me.”

I looked up at him, into his eyes and nodded.

EPILOGUE

Dr. Sen pursed his lips into an angry line and eyed his wife furiously. Erica Sen tried to ignore him. She closed her eyes hoping to void her mind in order to regain the calm that she needed in order to function. She couldn’t shake off his negative vibes. He was becoming a pest, she was not equipped to deal with this turmoil. She would have to let the Elders deal with him. They were not going to be happy. They had, after all, warned her that his basic human instincts could be a problem.

The Elders had afforded him the gift of transdimensional travel, but he was not a true wanderer. All she wanted to do was what all other wanderers did, travel and learn. Her core nature was that of calm. She wasn’t cut out for scheming and hair-brained plots. She hadn’t thought her husband interested in those either when she had fallen in love with him, but she had been wrong. He was proving himself more and more ambitious every day. Ambition and wanderer spirit couldn’t be reconciled. His angst was killing her spirit.

“Erica, are you listening to me?” Raj Sen demanded in anger.

“These people, the Darley family need to be taken down. As does that arrogant Larry Fox. You can run the portal! You can show me how. We could be famous and rich!”

Erica looked at her pathetic excuse for a husband in despair.

“Raj, we don’t need a portal. I have enabled both you and Simla to be able to wander. It was a gift from the Elders.”

He looked at her with exasperation. “Maybe, but it’s a sorry gift! I have no control. I can’t travel on my own. I need you to transport me. And you refuse to take me where I want to go.”

“Raj, I’m here only to learn. You know that I have been assigned to Olivia. We move with her until I’m reassigned. Then we get to go on another adventure, Isn’t it exciting? We get to experience so many incredible wonders,” Erica pleaded hopefully.

“Neither Simla nor I want to travel again. We are happy here. This is where we have decided to settle and make our future. One more thing Erica, we don’t really need you in our corner. Simla and I used your computer at Ames to access the October Project. I am fairly sure I can control it.”

Erica froze. He had involved her daughter? She had no qualms about asking the Elders to deal with him, but her daughter, that was different. Erica closed her eyes again trying to regain equilibrium.

Imogen Rose’s new Portal Chronicles continues with…..

available summer 2010

Imogen Rose was born in a small town in Sweden and moved to London in her twenties. After obtaining a PhD in immunology from Imperial College, she moved with her family to New Jersey, where she has been based for the past ten years. Storytelling is her real passion and she is excited to be publishing her first work of fiction.

Please visit imogenrose.com for more information.

An excerpt from

Hush Money

A Talent Chronicles Novel

Susan Bischoff

www.susan-bischoff.com

Chapter 1

Joss

I already knew it had happened again.

Not like I’m psychic, not really, but you don’t have to have any special mental Talent to see the signs…if you’re paying attention.

Stacy Scarpelli had had her hand in the air for, like, five minutes. Eventually she was doing that thing where you lean one elbow on the desk, and your other elbow in your hand, like you’re going to collapse from the exhaustion of trying to get the teacher’s attention. But the teacher was paying attention. She was paying a lot of attention to checking off names on the role; or supposedly taking role but totally not looking at that whole side of the room where Stacy was flinging her hand limply about on her wrist.

And leave it to Stacy to be so wrapped up in Stacy that she didn’t notice how quiet it was this morning in first period English, and how everyone just kind of sat there. The whispering would start later, as the shock wore off. Later, people would be saying how long they’d suspected and how much they’d never really liked Krista anyway. But just then we were all looking around at each other and wondering who else was keeping secrets and who would be the next one to disappear.

Ms. Carter looked up and set her pencil down very carefully on her desk, lining it up precisely next to her planner, and finally raised her eyes to Stacy.

“Yes, Stacy?”

“You assigned me Krista to be my partner for the project. And it’s not like I wanted to leave it to the last minute, but she was always later later later, you know? And finally I said we gotta get together this weekend, and we were supposed to meet on Saturday morning before my tennis lesson? So I waited and waited for her, but she didn’t show up, and I had to get to my lesson, right? And then I called her house after, but no one answered. No one answered all weekend, and now she’s not even here today, and I don’t know if she did any work at all on it. I did some, but I was kind of waiting to find out what she had, you know, compare notes, because there was no point in us doing the same thing, right? But I couldn’t cause she wouldn’t answer her phone and then I didn’t know what to do, and I was going nuts all weekend trying to get ahold of her—”

“Ok, Stacy. See me after class and we’ll work something out.”

“I mean, I don’t think I should be penalized because she was too busy to work on the project. Which she probably didn’t anyway, which is probably why she didn’t show up Saturday and dodged my calls all weekend, and she’s probably ditching school today so—“

“She’s not ditching; she’s just gone.”

All eyes slid toward Dylan. He sat sideways in his chair, the back of his leather jacket against the chalkboard along the side wall, long legs stretched out in front of him, his expression unreadable.

In the seat behind him, Marco tipped back in his chair. “NIAC hauled her off.” His voice was laced with the kind of satisfaction over other people’s tragedies that made me think about his chair tipping too far and his skull bouncing off the linoleum.

Ms. Carter glanced nervously around the room. I felt bad for her. How’s a teacher supposed to handle this subject? Encourage open discussion? Answer questions? Should we all share our feelings about the fact that we were never going to see Krista Pace again? It just seemed to me that the faculty probably knew about it earlier. Hell, the National Institutes for Ability Control probably sent out some kind of official letter to the school, wouldn’t you think? Our regular teacher should have been there for support and guidance instead of leaving the poor student-teacher to the wolves. But then, what would Mr. Krause have done differently?

“[cough]Freak![cough]”

“Shut up, Marco.” Dylan continued to bounce his pencil’s eraser on the desk and examine his boot-tops.

“Why, did you and freak-girl have something goin’ on? Need a new date for Homecoming now that NIAC’s locked her up?”

Enquiring minds want to know. My mind was particularly interested, unfortunately.

“Thanks, but you’re not my type,” Dylan sneered back at his friend.

“Ok, people, that’s enough,” Ms. Carter finally gathered the courage to enter the conversation. “The topic of Krista Pace is off-limits in this class. If you have questions regarding her disap— If you have questions, you may take them to Assistant Principal Sims—on your own time. Meanwhile, I believe we have some oral presentations to hear today. Stacy, you can see me after class about your project. Who wants to go first?”

Personally, I think the school system is pretty messed up. I mean, if Krista had been hit by a bus or if she’d died of some terminal disease she’d been bravely fighting in secret for years, there’d be announcements, a moment of silence over the PA, maybe a memorial assembly. And we’d probably have some kind of shrine where people would leave pictures of Krista with flowers and little teddy bears and stuff like that. Out front somewhere where the TV news cameras could see it clearly, and give it lots of attention, and call it a “makeshift memorial” fifteen times a freakin’ day. Like you’ve got to spend $5000 on a friggin’ stone pillar or fountain with an engraved placard on it because anything else is just “makeshift”.

But I digress.

Maybe we’d have grief counseling to talk about how she was just ripped from our lives, and we would never be able to say goodbye. We’d talk about how we felt that she’d never told us about this horrible disease she had, and if we’d known we would have been nicer to her, and now we’d never have the chance.

Because really, Krista was never coming back. And what she had was a lot like a disease. Something she was born with, something that couldn’t be cured, something very, very bad.

What Krista Pace had was a Talent.

* * *

Joss

God save us from guidance counselors…

I swiped my sweaty palm down the front of the vintage army field jacket I always wore before grabbing the doorknob and letting myself into the guidance department office. I handed my hall pass to the woman at the desk inside the door whose name I’d never bothered to learn.

I absolutely hated it here.

“Jocelyn. Yes, Mr. Dobbs is waiting for you. Go on in.”

I turned away and moved to the door, thinking belatedly that I should have said thank you. Eye contact, a smile, thank you. But I never was any good at that politeness stuff. I was a lot better at the being quiet and melting into the background stuff. Having someone call up my Math teacher, being singled out and told to report to the guidance office while the rest of the class waited to get on with the being bored—er, educated? It really messed with my whole don’t notice me program.

I was already on edge from that morning—because of the whole Krista thing—and this just made me twitchy. It didn’t help that I knew exactly why Dobbs had called me in here.

I did not want to talk about it.

“Joss.” He shuffled some papers into a folder, closed it. “Come on in. Have a seat.”

I took the seat across from the desk without speaking, keeping my messenger bag on my shoulder and my notebook to my chest. I kept my expression blank, rather than overtly sullen, but Dobbs prided himself on the whole reading the body language thing and my message should be clear.

He took off his glasses and drew the side of his hand along the bridge of his nose as he set them down on the desk. In a moment he would pick them back up and put them on again, because he needed them to see. But his ritual of taking them off, setting them down… that was his way of saying he was serious, yet caring, concerned, and open-minded.

See, I could do body language too.

“So….how’s it going?” he asked, dragging out the question.

“Ok.”

He picked up his glasses and put them back on. “You’ve heard about Krista.”

I didn’t say anything. It wasn’t a question, and what was I supposed to say anyway? It wasn’t like the school had any kind of official stance on this stuff. They must cooperate in whatever investigations went on, but they never made, like, statements to the press or anything. There was nothing for me to quote or agree with.

“I thought you might have some feelings you’d like to talk about.”

You thought that? Really? Are you new here? “No, not really.”

“Joss, I know this must bring up some issues for you, feelings I don’t think you’ve ever really dealt with. About Emily.”

The name was like an execute command, automatically flashing a series of images across my brain that started out like a real estate or life insurance commercial. Little girls playing, laughing, holding hands, dancing in sprinklers, birthday parties, sharing secrets, fire, screaming, end of reel.

I jammed the playback to a stop before it could loop, forced my eyes from the stupid cartoon character on Dobbs’s tie, and actually met his eyes. I shoved the discomfort at the personal contact aside with the rest of my feelings and made myself cold. “Emily moved away. Lots of kids have childhood friends who move away. It’s sad at the time, but it’s not, like, traumatic or anything.”

Dobbs waited for me to say more. I figured it was safer to let him steer the conversation rather than take the lead and risk saying the wrong thing. These counselor types could be so tricksy. It wasn’t my first time in his office and I knew he liked to try to read into things people said.

“But Emily didn’t just move away. A child’s parent might get a job in another town, they break the news, and there’s weeks, maybe months, of house-hunting, packing—a period to adjust before the actual move. It wasn’t like that with Emily. One day the two of you were joined at the hip, running up and down the block, picking the dandelions from everyone’s yards…Then all of a sudden she was just…gone.”

I continued to hold the eye contact, because to drop it now would be a show of weakness, like I had something to hide. I did a mental check and loosened my fingers on my notebook a little before he noticed my white-knuckled grip.

Dobbs had lived a few houses down and across the street for as long as I could remember. He was the kind of neighbor who waved if he saw you but didn’t walk over to chat. He didn’t mind if you went through his gate after a lost ball or a Frisbee, but he never invited you to swim in his pool. In all the years of casual neighboring, he’d never once tried to talk to me about Emily. But since my first day in high school he’d used any excuse to drag me into his office to try to discuss my feelings on the subject.

Why was I suddenly of interest? Was it just because talking to me became part of his job? Or was there something in that folder he didn’t know from just living in the same neighborhood? Had someone told him to ask questions?

Get a grip.

“And then there was the fire…” he continued.

“I told you I don’t remember any fire.”

“The last time we spoke I suggested you discuss it with your parents.”

“I did. I asked my mom about it. She didn’t know what I was talking about.” This was a planned answer. If Dobbs went to my mom, she would explain that she and dad felt it was best that I wasn’t reminded about the incident.

His eyes narrowed as he mulled over that response. I could see the wheels turning behind his pale eyes, realizing that my parents would probably not be open to the idea of him helping their daughter achieve any kind of emotional breakthrough.

Point scored for Team Marshall.

“Hmmm, well…. If you’re sure there’s nothing you’d like to discuss…”

“Nothing I can think of.”

“Don’t forget to have Ms. Clark give you a hall pass.”

During class the girls’ bathrooms were usually deserted, but not the one closest to the guidance offices. That one was too close to the gym and chances were it would be occupied by those whose decision to skip gym was more whim than plan, and hadn’t come up with any better option. So I’d had to shuffle along two hallways and up a flight of stairs before finding a quiet stall where I could take a few shuddering breaths and try to pull myself back together.

God, I hated Dobbs, the supercilious bastard. And then there was the fire… I mocked him in my head using my best idiot voice. Yeah, now that you mention it, I do suddenly want to talk about it. And, you know, I feel so close to you now that I feel like I can share my secret.

As if. Asshat.

Thing was, I could be pissed all I wanted to, but that didn’t seem to be stopping the movie in my head, the feelings of dread as I watched it play out, knowing I couldn’t stop the little girls from their stupid plan. It didn’t stop me from reliving the terror as things spun out of control, or the equally worse fear in the aftermath as we waited to see what would happen. As the unthinkable happened. As everything changed.

I felt wetness on my face and muttered a curse, leaning down for some toilet paper. But of course it was empty. I banged the back of my head on the door as I rummaged in my bag with one hand. I had to get a grip on myself. No better way to get noticed in school than to walk around looking like I’ve been cry—

Still clutching the oversized notebook in my arms, I fumbled the bunch of stuff I pulled out of my bag to sort through for a tissue. I instinctively reached out with my mind and caught everything. The objects hovered in the air above the bowl: a pen, a scrunchie, a few crumpled bills, and the tissue.

I held them there a moment, feeling in my head those fragile, invisible strings between each object and my mind. It would hardly take any effort at all to open up my bag, tug at those imaginary strings, and float everything right back in. But in my mind I could hear my dad’s voice saying, “The best way to seem normal is to be normal.”

I put out my hand, grasped the crumpled piece of Kleenex, and let the other things go. The scrunchie bounced off the seat landed in floor, the pen and the money hit the water. I put my boot to the handle and flushed.

Be normal, I thought. It’s just that easy.

Chapter 2

Dylan

“Dylan, bum a smoke.”

“No, man, I quit.”

“What, again?” Marco half whined, like I’d made the decision just to inconvenience him.

“Hey, Marco, I gotcha.” Jeff took a last drag and passed his cigarette to Marco before reaching into his jacket for another.

“God damn, when is this rain ever going to stop?” I turned up my collar when a drop rolled off the slight overhang and snaked its way down my neck. I pressed my back against the wall with the other guys and kept my eyes open for Assistant Principle Sims.

“When it snows. So what is it now? It’s a little late to start a college fund.” There was something about Marco. Everything needed an explanation with him, even something as simple as me giving up cigarettes for the umpteenth time.

I’m starting a getaway fund in case they come for me next. “I’m savin’ up for an ark.”

“Oh, well that’ll work for you. The world covered in water and it’s just you and a boatload of sheep,” Jeff snarked.

“Jealous much?”

Marco snorted, ready to let it go, and Eric said, to no one in particular, “Bet Krista wishes she’d prepared for a rainy day.”

Eric was often the quiet one, and maybe it was all that observation he did that made him seem too damned perceptive sometimes.

“That freak bitch. I knew there was something off about her.”

Yeah, Marco, you knew it from the first time she told you no. “Would you give it a rest?”

“What’s with you?” Marco snapped.
“What’s with you?” I shot back. “I’m just tired of your bullshit, that’s all.”

“You’re always like this when they take someone,” Jeff complained.

I looked across Marco to where Jeff was avoiding eye contact with me. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. All, like, morose and shit. Get over it.”

“Aw, leave him alone,” Marco said, clapping a hand on my shoulder and giving it a shake. It looked like a friendly gesture from the outside, but it was only the extraordinary strength of Marco’s grip on my shoulder that kept me from falling over. Fortunately, I had learned to tuck my chin to my chest to avoid having the back of my head crack against the wall behind me. “You know he’s been trying that sensitivity thing. How’s that workin’ for you?”

“Obviously he has to beat the chicks back with a stick,” Jeff snarked.

“The bell’s gonna ring.” And save me from you idiots I call my friends, I thought as I pushed away from the wall and headed for the fire door we’d propped open.

“Yo, wait up,” Marco said, catching my arm and propelling me ahead and away from the other guys. “I’ve got an idea about this weekend. We’ll talk about it later.”

My stomach clenched. This was exactly the conversation I wanted to avoid and really couldn’t put off much longer. Marco and his expectations were going to land me in jail. Or worse. “This weekend? You really think that’s a good idea? I mean what with Krista and all?”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Damn, I could use the cash. That’s ok, though, because I’ve got something else coming up. Something big.” He clapped me on the shoulder again and this time there was no show of strength, just the connection. “What would I do without you, buddy? You’re always thinkin’. Always got my back.”

Yeah. You bet.

* * *

Joss

How bad does it have to get before I can call it the worst day ever?

First Krista, then freakin’ Dobbs, and then Mr. Hanson. He cornered me after Chem to talk to me about my lousy performance on the latest test. My dad was going to have a fit about that. Bad grades, like outstanding grades, draw attention. A solid B average is the thing to aim for. Anyway, the impromptu summary of the covalent-whatever deal—which I still didn’t get—had delayed me in my usual pre-lunch routine, and gotten me nabbed by a hall monitor. Do Not Pass Go, do not sneak up to your usual hideout, go directly to the Fifth Circle of Hell, otherwise known as the cafeteria.

It’s not like I’d never been to the cafeteria before. I used to have to eat there when I was a freshman, for a few very long months, anyway, before I figured out how to avoid it. I remembered now that the best caf’ strategy was to take your lunch with you to the class before so you could race down there, as inconspicuously as possible, and claim an empty table. It was ok for later arrivals to sit at your table, which they might do, crowding together on the opposite side like you have a disease, but whatever. As long as you got there first, you didn’t have to ask to sit at anyone else’s table—and risk being told no, because what’s more humiliating than that? Sometimes people would just take all the chairs from your table and carry them off to other tables, and that’s sort of embarrassing too, but not as bad if you don’t let it get to you and remind yourself that lunching alone is a valid lifestyle choice. On the whole, though, the cafeteria is a bad scene and to be avoided whenever possible.

So there I was, standing in the doorway, taking a quick scan of the room and scoping things out. I still had a notebook and textbook for Chem, so I moved them to carry them under my arm. Because you can’t be holding books in front of you like a shield. It’s way girly and makes people think you’re scared. Posturing is very important in the wild; watch a few documentaries, you’ll see.

I couldn’t spend too much time hovering, because that was only going to draw attention, so I just plunged in and hoped for the best. The caf’ was friggin’ chaos as usual. I think I have a low tolerance for chaos. I kept scanning, knowing that I wasn’t going to find an empty table, but hoped maybe I’d see an empty space near someone I was at least on speaking terms with, and could come up with some burning question I had to ask. It’s hard to look around for such a specific situation while still trying to avoid eye contact, let me tell you.

And then I saw it. There were two chairs just standing there in the corner against the wall. One was pushed all the way into the corner and facing out into the room, the other facing the corner. I could sit with my back to the room, put my boots up on the one in the corner, prop my textbook up on my knees, and pretend like I just had to absorb some chemistry knowledge. Perfect.

Except for the fact that I had to pass Marco’s table, and I was so excited about the chairs that I didn’t even notice it until my books flew out from under my arm and hit the floor. I think I knew what happened before I even saw him. Some kind of prey recognizes predator right before it gets eaten kind of thing.

“Oops,” he said, in that obnoxious, I so meant to do that way.

I had to squat down to pick up the books, because of course papers went flying out of my notebook when it landed. Thankfully they didn’t go far and I didn’t actually have to go crawling under tables for them.

“Sorry about that, Joss.”

“Sure.”

“Surprised to see you here.”

I didn’t answer. I had some answers in my head; it just seemed better to keep my mouth shut and move on.

“You never come here for lunch. Are you meeting your girlfriend? Why don’t you bring her over? Jeff, get a couple chairs for Joss and her new girlfriend.”

See, this is a thing between Marco and me, and it’s really unpleasant. When we were freshmen, I guess he had this thing for me because he asked me to the Homecoming dance. And he kept bugging me to go out with him for like a week or something until I finally had to get nasty with him so he’d leave me alone. Not like insulting his masculinity nasty, just, you know, the I don’t like you truth of it. I don’t know why we have to think that telling the truth is being mean, but sometimes I’m powerless against my socialization, what can I tell you? Anyway, ever since then he’s been on this You must be a lesbian thing, because I guess that’s the only way it makes sense for him that I wouldn’t just fall at his feet. Mostly I just avoid him.

Which is what I tried to do at that point by standing up with my books and taking a step away from the table, except that he caught my arm.

“Let me go, Marco.”

“Or what, you’ll get your girlfriend over here to kick my ass?”

Jeff chuckled at that, and I knew that would only make Marco feel like he had an audience so he’d be more into hassling me. I couldn’t help but glance over at Dylan. Because I’m an idiot. He was at the other end of the table with Eric. They had their noses stuck in a car magazine and didn’t seem to notice what was going on.

I think Marco noticed because his eyes narrowed at me, and my stomach rolled. Marco can be really mean, and what’s more, he’s not that typical big, stupid bully as seen on TV. He’s smart enough to come up with the kind of stuff that really hurts. Stuff that sticks forever.

“Joss, where have you been? Come on. Lunch is half over.”

What the…? I turned my head—Marco still had my arm—and Kat was standing there. I wouldn’t even say I had a speaking relationship with Kat. She’d said “hi” to me last month, and one time in the locker room she asked to borrow lotion from me which of course I didn’t have. She was new to Fairview High this year, and I had to wonder what she was doing, and if she realized how stupid it was to get on Marco’s bad side.

“Kat? You and Kat?”

“She and Kat need to study for Chem,” Kat said in her sassy way, with a quick glance at my books. “Because I just don’t get it. So…if you’d just turn her loose, I’d sure appreciate it.”

Kat is pretty. There’s just no other way to see it. She’s got this gorgeous café au lait skin, light green eyes, and lots of dark brown curls. When she turned that pretty smile on Marco, I felt his grip go slack.

Then I, being an idiot as I might have mentioned, glanced at Dylan again, to see if he’d noticed Kat’s smile. Which he did, and was now paying attention to the drama. I wondered how many more people were, now that Kat was there.

“Chemistry. I’ll bet there’s some chemistry goin’ on there. I’d like to see some of that action. Maybe the three of us—“

“Marco, honey, I’m gonna have to wreck your fantasy and tell you that not only are Joss and I not involved with each other, and not only are we both straight—which you’d think any straight guy would realize—but I would do her and half the guys at this table before I would even let you watch me change my shoes.”

Eric opened his mouth to say something but Kat immediately cut him off, “No, Eric. You’re in the other half.” But I have to say that the smile she threw him made me think maybe that wasn’t true.

While they all sat there digesting that, Kat gave me a tug that almost spilled my books again. Before I knew what was happening, I found myself pushed into a chair at Kat’s table which was full of girls whose names and faces I’d known for years. But I’d never spoken more than a few words to any of them. They were all looking from me to Kat and back again.

“You guys all know Joss, right?”

There were another few awkward moments as the girls muttered and nodded. Then they sort of shrugged and turned back to each other and whatever they’d been talking about before. Backs on either end of the circle turned away from Kat and me, leaving us relatively alone.

“You know that was stupid, right?” I said in a low voice. “Trust me, you do not want to get on Marco’s bad side.”

“Well hey, you’re welcome.”

“Yeah, thanks. I’m sure Marco will totally lay off now that you diffused that situation so brilliantly.”

“Wow. I’ve been wondering if you’re really the ice bitch everyone says you are.”

“Yeah, well, now you know.” I started to get up, but Kat put a hand on my arm.

“I’m not sure I do...”

Two of the girls switched seats and Heather pulled her chair up alongside Kat’s. Heather was petite and adorable, and just needed a few feathers and fringes to make her look like a Native American princess figurine in a gift shop. I wondered again why I was still there.

“So what was that about? Marco being Marco?”

“Yeah, he seems especially fond of Joss, here.”

Heather made a sound in the back of her throat. “I hate that guy.”

She looked across at me, an intense look that made me feel like she was seeing too much. I dropped my eyes. “Yeah, me too.”

Kat’s next remark about Marco’s attitude, anatomy, and possible parentage made Heather laugh out loud and even I had to smile.

On possibly the worst day ever, Jocelyn Marshall was sitting in the cafeteria talking to two other girls.

Smiling.

And violations of the Laws of the Universe were just getting started.

…Thank you for reading this excerpt of Hush Money by Susan Bischoff, available at Amazon.com in August 2010. For more information about the author and the Talent Chronicles series, please visit http://www.susan-bischoff.com.