I wasn’t really sure why I was leaving on a plane to live with a parent I didn’t really like all that much to begin with. I much preferred to live with my mom. We had a lot more in common than my dad. But Mom had just gotten married to her latest boy toy, Bob, and there was no way in hell I was going to listen to them go at it for hours on end. At least with my dad, who was pretty much the picture of the pathetic bachelor, I could have some sense of privacy since he was never there.

“Are you sure you this is what you want to do, Miska?” my mom, Chloe, asked me for literally the 23rd time. I know because I had been counting since we left the house.

“Yes, Mom,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Anyway, I feel bad for Dad. You have Bob--”

“Actually that was two boyfriends ago,” she said, her eyes never leaving the road as she drove to Miami International Airport. “Don’t you remember? Your stepfather’s name is Ben.”

“Oh.” I shrugged. “Ben...Bob...close enough. As I was saying, you have Ben, but Dad is all alone. It’s only fair.”

My mom looked at me like I was crazy--which, of course, I already knew I was, so her look didn’t bother me in the least. “So you’re willing to leave all the people you’ve become acquainted with, leave the sunny city that you love, and abandon the only parent that you actually feel comfortable living with just because ‘it’s only fair?’”

“Pretty much.”

“Sometimes I have to wonder if you really are my daughter,” she muttered under her breath.

Before I knew it we were at the airport. I got my bags out from the back seat, making sure my plane ticket was in my pocket, and turned to my mom.

“This is it for now, huh?” I asked, a bit of sadness and regret seeping into my voice. Why the hell was I doing this again?

Mom hugged me tightly. “Be careful, okay?” she whispered into my ear. “I hear there are vampires up there in Washington! I’d hate to find out that you threw your life away just because you fell irrevocably in love with an abusive, sparkly seventeen year old who is in actuality a hundred plus year old vampire who hasn’t even done the deed yet.”

I rolled my eyes as she let go of me. “Oh come on, Mom! Those are just myths. After all, what are the chances of me running into vampires--let alone sparkly ones--and then falling in irrevocably in love with them?”

“You have a point,” she agreed with a slight nod. “This is you we’re talking about--”

“Yeah. Thanks, Mom.”

“Heck! There are times when I have to wonder if you play for the other team--”

“Mom...”

“Or if you even have any hormones at all!”

“Mom!” I exclaimed.

She looked at me, confused at my outburst. “Huh? What is it, Miska dear?”

“Never mind,” I said with a sigh, the palm of my hand slapping against my forehead. “Bye, Mom.”

The flight was long, much longer than I had expected it to be. I fell asleep thirty minutes into the flight. It wasn’t until we had touched down in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport that I woke up, and that was only because the guy next to me had nearly crushed me trying to get off the airplane. When I got out of the terminal, I was greeted by my dad, Will.

“Hey, Miska,” he said, giving me a giant bear hug that I swear gave me the back pop that I sorely needed. He took my bags, and we started walking to his truck. “How was the flight?”

“It was a flight,” I said monotonously. “I don’t really know. I fell asleep.”

He chuckled in response. “Some things never change, it seems. You used to do that when you were a kid, too. Remember when we drove to Disneyworld? You slept the whole way there and the whole way back.”

“Yeah, I remember that,” I said, smiling. “Mom said she nearly killed you for taking that ‘shortcut’ that ended up adding an hour to our travel time.”

“Anyway, I got you a car,” he said. Apparently he thought that a change in topic was in order. He tossed my bags carelessly into the back of the truck--I sure hoped nothing in there broke--and opened my door for me. As he got into the driver’s seat, he added, “It’s a Volkswagen bug. Red with black dots. Cute, huh?”

“Like a ladybug. Yeah, I suppose it’s cute.”

The drive to his house was relatively quite. Neither of us were really big on the whole “conversing” thing, so the silence was welcoming. When I got to his house, I--you know what? Does anyone really care about all this exposition crap? All I did was got settled into what would now be my new home, got ready for tomorrow, and fell asleep. Lah-dee-dah! Let’s just cut to the next day, shall we?

When I woke up, I knew that it wasn’t going to be a good day. Maybe it was because the rain that was coming in sideways, perhaps it was because I nearly broke my neck because I was still much too sleepy when I came down the stairs--either way, I just knew this would not be my day.

After getting dressed in my usual “first day of school outfit”--black shirt and khaki pants with simple white sneakers--I had a quick breakfast of an apple and some milk and then rushed outside to my car. It was even cuter than my dad had given it credit.

It took me a while to find the school, even with the map that Dad had given me. It didn’t help, of course, that I was directionally challenged. But thankfully I made it to school with enough time to get my schedule from the school secretary.

“Name?” the heavy-set, bespectacled woman asked.

“Miska.”

The stapler that had been in her hands dropped with a loud clunk. She looked up at me, her eyes shining and her hands clutched together at her chest. “Miska, you say? Yes, yes, of course! We’ve heard so much about you from your father!”

“My Dad? The fireman?”

“Yes,” she said, holding me a folder with my class schedule and a map of the school. “Here. If there’s anything we can do for you, like worship the ground you walk on--”

“Not necessary. Thank you anyway. Um, what did you say your name was?”

“Oh, it’s not important,” she said with a wave of her hand. “I’ll only be in one more scene after this, so there’s no reason to learn the name of a nobody like me!”

I blinked once. The people here sure were weird--and not in the good way. “If that’s really alright with you...”

“Yes, yes, now go! Or else you’re going to miss meeting out on the love of your life in approximately three-and-a-half hours!” The woman whose name I never got to learn nearly shoved me out of the office and slammed the door behind me.

“How weird,” I said softly, looking back at the door. I took out the map and, after a quick glance at my schedule, saw that I needed to be in room 223 in the next five minutes or I was going to be late.

“You looked lost. Do you need help?” a nerdy looking boy with glasses asked.

“Actually, I do,” I said, smiling sheepishly. “Would you happen to know where room 223 is?”

“I sure can!” he said eagerly. “That’s where I’m headed next. I can walk you there, if you want.”

“Really? That’s nice of you!” I was surprised how kind he was, especially since I was the new girl here. I didn’t think people would go out of their way to help me. “Thank you so much, er...”

“You can call me Little Nerdy Boy.”

“Isn’t that a bit impersonal?”

“Not if it’s you. You’re the reason I exist!” he said with a dreamy sigh. “What about you? What’s your name?”

“Miska.”

“Miska,” the Little Nerdy Boy repeated. “The name of an angel.”

We got to class on time, and I had to--God, how much more of this can people possibly want to know? Let me just hit the highlights by saying that I had to stand in front of the class, say who I was, and met another suspiciously nice guy that I had absolutely no interest in dating, the Cute Blonde Guy Who I Will Constantly Reject. Seriously, that’s what he told me to call him. I also had class with a very nice girl who, like the other people here, insisted that I call her Girl That I Will Never Remember the Name of Because She Will Never Be as Pretty as Me.

Man, these people must have had really cruel parents to call them that. It was like I had slipped into the Twilight Zone or something.

It was lunch time much faster than I would have expected. I hadn’t really eaten anything substantial for breakfast, so I was starving. I piled my plate full of food--knowing that I would probably regret it later but not really caring--and sat with the Girl That I Will Never Remember the Name of Because She Will Never Be as Pretty as Me, the Little Nerdy Boy, the Cute Blonde Guy Who I Will Constantly Reject, and some of their friends. I wished they would just tell me their names, but they all just kept giving me these weird descriptor titles instead, like the Nice Girl Who Will Never Betray Me.

Needless to say, I was this close to getting up from the table and finding normal people--you know, those who actually told me their names.

Then, just as that thought had flashed through my mind, that’s when I saw him and his little group of friends. I didn’t know who they were, since they weren’t in any of my classes, but they were all extremely attractive in their own ways. The five of them sat at the table across the room from mine, all staring at each other but not eating anything at all--well, except for the one with stark white hair.

But he wasn’t the one I was interested in. No, the one one that had caught my attention was the one in the gray suit that was much too nice to wear to school with the dark red tie wrapped around his neck. His silky black strands framed his face and hung near his cinnamon-brown eyes. His olive skin contrasted exquisitely against the white of the button down shirt he was wearing beneath his suit.

All-in-all, he was simply the kind of guy for me.

Turning to the Girl That I Will Never Remember the Name of Because She Will Never Be as Pretty as Me, I asked, “Who are they?”

She followed my gaze to the other side of the room. “Oh, you’re talking about the Granz family. Yeah, they’re new here just like you. Go figure. They’re from Alaska or some territory like that.”

“You realize Alaska is a state, right?”

“It is?” she asked, bewildered. “No way!”

I resisted the urge to groan. It would be best just to drop the issue.

“Why, is there one of them that has caught your eyes?”

“Maybe,” I said, blushing under her imposing gaze.

“Who? Who?”

I didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally, I replied, “The one in the gray suit.”

The Girl That I Will Never Remember the Name of Because She Will Never Be as Pretty as Me--who from now on will be called Abby, since its getting annoying to refer to her by that ridiculously long title--snorted at my answer, much to my confusion. Her laughter continued for a minute or so, gaining the attention of the other people sitting at the table.

When her laughter subsided, she said, “Oh Miska, that’s TREO.”

“TREO?” I repeated.

“Yes,” she said, giggling. “But unless you’re playing for the other team, I don’t see why you would be interested. Even if you did play for the other team, she doesn’t swing that way.”

My eyes widened. “Wait, you mean to tell me that TREO”--I shot him--her-- a quick glance before looking back at Abby--“is a girl?”

“I thought everyone knew that,” the Little Nerdy Boy--who I will now call Tristan--stated.

“Oh.” Well, I certainly felt like an idiot. It figured the one guy I was actually interested turned out not to be a guy at all.

“You don’t find TREA attractive? I’m surprised! He’s the sexiest of the bunch,” Abby said.

“TREA?” I asked, scanning the table in front of us. “Who’s TREA?”

“The guy with the white hair,” she said, pointing to the one who was now taking a large bite of his carrot cake. “Couldn’t you just eat him up?”

His white hair was a little longer than TREO’s. When he turned his face, I could see his profile. His unnaturally ice-blue eyes shone brightly, excitedly, although for the life of me I had no idea why. His skin wasn’t nearly as dark as TREO’s, but it still had a bronzy undertone to it. He wore all white, except for the collars of his shirt and the end of his sleeves, which were a striking black.

Then he turned around and looked straight into my hazel eyes. He looked almost surprised to see me, but a moment later the look was replaced with a seductive smile.

“Oh my God, no fair!” Abby said with a pout, noticing the way he stared at me. “You lucky girl, you! I’ve never seen TREA smile like that before.”

“Yay for me,” I said without much enthusiasm, getting up from my seat. Lunch was almost over, and I needed to be heading to my next class--Biology.

The Cute Blonde Guy Who I Will Constantly Reject, aka Jonathan, walked with me to my class. He asked me to marry him for the second time that day in the process. It seemed no matter how many times I said no, the guy--though nice as he was--just couldn’t take the hint that I wasn’t interested.

When I got to Biology, the teacher handed me a book and sent me to the only lab table that was empty, the one with TREA. Of course. Life had a cruel sense of humor that way.

“Good afternoon, my dear,” TREA said in a smooth voice. I groaned as I sat as far away as possible. “And what is your name?”

“Miska,” I said, not bothering to hide the bored tone in my voice.

“Miska,” he repeated. “Lovely. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He took his hand into mine and brought it to his lips, placing the lightest of kisses onto the back of it. I could feel myself blush at the action and pulled my hand away. Class seemed to drag on, but surprisingly he did nothing else other than glance at me out the corner of his eye a couple of times. As soon as the school bell rang to signal the end of school, I jumped to my seat and ran to the school secretary’s office.

“I want to change my schedule,” I announced, slamming my palm against the desk. “Tell me there’s some other class I can take besides Biology. Chemistry? Astrology? Heck, I’ll take Astrophysics at this point! Just get me out of that class!”

“I’m afraid all the other classes are full--even Astrophysics,” the school secretary said. “Why, is there something wrong with the teacher?”

“No! There’s something wrong with the students. Technically, a student.”

“I’m sure you can’t be talking about TREA. He’s a dreamboat!” the woman said in a far-off tone of voice, her eyes glazed over. “Oh, the things that I would do to him--”

“Okay, well, thank you anyway,” I said quickly. Whatever it was she wanted to do to him--I resisted the urge to shudder at the thought--I didn’t want to know about it.

As I left her office, the door swung open and, lo and behold, guess who was there? That’s right. It was TREA.

“Well, hello my dear,” he said, bowing as I passed him. “Fancy meeting you he--”

I slammed the door in his face before he was able to finish his sentence. Sure, it was rude, but I just couldn’t help be react that way whenever I was around him. I wasn’t sure what it was, but he just made me very defensive to the extreme.

Needless to say, I was glad when the day was over, and I was back home.