Update! Claire The bell rings. Finally! I stand up and grab my bag, then begin heading towards the door. Just as I am exiting the class, I feel a small hand on my forearm. "Claire?" Miss Parkinson. Of course. "Yes, Miss?" I turn and face her, my expression blank. "How are you coping?" She knows. I was just beginning to forget about him. Well, I lashed out at my only friends and now me and my Grandmother had to move because I couldn't cope and now my leg is burning more than ever and I miss my friends so much but I can't go back to them because they carry the painful memories of my only love. Does that answer your question? "Fine," I lie, and stare at my shoes. She sighs. "You may go," And I leave. I don't want to be in there any longer. Danny I lean on a tree and chuckle. Ha! I beat her again! Well, wasn't it inevitable? After all, I am a Rapid. I know, I shouldn't be using my Flipside-Charm unnecessarily, don't nag. Yeah, I'm upset we split up. I still see Shannon quite often. I think she follows me. I hear footsteps, it's her. And heavy breathing. I pretend to be tired, and lay on the floor. "Oi!" She shouts. I pretend to gasp for breath. She doesn't know. And she never will. I don't know how I summoned the Flipside without feeling threatened. It just sort of... happened. "That was..." I heave myself up onto my feet. "...tiring!" She punches my arms playfully. "How? How do you..." "No questions! Just be quiet." I say, and wrap my arms round her. She smiles and leans her head on my chest. I look down at her. Beautiful. Amazing. "Sammi..." I whisper under my breath. Liam Just me and Aishling. The invisible twins, that's what they call us. One minute we're there, the next, we're not. "Now you see me," I say. "Now you don't!" And I'm gone, causing terror about the house. I knock things off shelves. It's a game we play - Aishling and I. She has to find me. "Hint!" I hear her scream in the other room. "Is me making noise not enough?" I yell back, and I hear her groan. Lately, things have been weird. Aishling and I could summon our Flipsides without the emotion anyway, but it's been a lot easier the past few weeks. Aishling's tried contacting the others, but they're not where they used to be. Claire's place now belongs to a thirty-five-year-old drug addict. Shannon was homeless anyway, and Danny travels frequently, you can never find him. I guess that's it. Sis won't give up on the clan. But it's over. Completely. Shannon I don't know what it is, but something is dragging me back to that forest. Where we met Claire, where we made all the plans, where we trained. And it's all for nothing. Soon, Onyx's men will arrive, and kill her for failing the challenge. Soon. I used to wish her dead. Now it brings me to tears to imagine that sweet girl lying lifeless on the floor, the red in her hair fading, the Flipside being drained from her body before she dies a most painful death. No. I can't bear it! I saw Danny the other day, for the first time since the challenge. He said he'd been seeing me recently, which I think is odd, considering I haven't seen him. We caught up a bit. My life, his. Mine's same old, same old. Convince strangers to give me money using my power, spend it on food, sleep in the forest. Only, I don't sleep in a tent with my friends, I sleep alone in a tree. I know, not the most glamourous of bedrooms, but it'll have to do for now. I imagine once Claire has been either captured or murdered, we'd all come back together. Either in her memory, or because we need each other. Like a balloon needs air. I picture Claire dead again. I shiver.
Update! (See last update if this confuses you) Danny No, Danny, I think, You mustn't think about your old life. With Shannon and Aishling and Liam... No! Just concentrate on Elizabeth. "Who?" She asks, looking up at me. What do I say? Oh, don't worry, just a girl from a place called Lanwa in Russia who works for an evil guy. She's just looking for my old red-head friend who escaped the evil guy's castle and he now wants to kill her. But, all's good. No. I stare into the trees. Two bright green eyes... They unmistakably belong to her. "Sammi..." I say again. "Who?!" She repeats, growing louder. I shove Elizabeth to the side and sprint towards the trees. I hear twigs snap beneath my feet as I run, and run. The wind is nothing to me. I grow faster and faster and faster. Eventually, I am running so fast, it feels almost effortless. I come to a standstill at the trees. The bright green eyes: they are gone. My breaths are heavy, so I bend down and rest my hands on my knees. "We know..." Says a strangely familiar voice. "Know what?" I reply. I stand up straight now, ready to face what is coming to me. "Where she is, of course!" The voice replies. It's female. It's her. It's Sammi. "You won't touch her! You don't know what she's like! She'll burn you alive if you even lay a finger on her!" I scream, infuriated by the voice. "We have a much powerful weapon..." "Like what?" She is standing behind me now. I can feel it. Her chin is rested lightly on my shoulder, she breathes slowly. Her head tilts, so her lips are near my ear. "Love!" She whispers. I don't know what she means. But I don't care. I won't let her anywhere near Claire. I bend my leg backwards and kick her in the stomach. I then hook my foot around her ankle and pull it forwards, tripping her up. Gasping for breath, I pull her up and study her beautiful features. Wavy blond hair that falls down her back glamorously, framing a pale-white face, with blood-red lips and icy blue eyes. "Sammi," I say. And that's all I can say, before my mouth is covered and I am dragged further into the trees. Claire English. Ugh. I hate it! I mean, I love reading, but I hate the fact that we have to stop and find the 'deeper meaning' of every single sentence! And having Mrs. Austin makes it a whole lot worse! So, all I do is stare out the window. In History, the sky was a beautiful blue. Now, however, it's turning grey, and the school is covered by cloud. I shrug my shoulders and look at the board. Shakespeare. Not bad. "Who can tell me what Shakespeare meant by these words?" Says Mrs. Austin. I look at the quotation on the board. "How could I compare thee to a summer's day?" I look left, then I look right. Nothing. Nobody has their hand raised. Most eyes are on the blackening sky outside. Then the kid who stared at me in History earlier, the creep, raises his hand. "Yes, Rhyan?" Asks Mrs. Austin. "In my opinion, what William Shakespeare is trying to say in this famous quotation is... 'you're hot.'" Says Rhyan. He chuckles, and so do his mates. I roll my eyes, and so does Mrs. Austin. "Thank you, Rhyan, for the use of both formal and colloquial language in your answer. Now, we shall move on to..." Mrs. Austin loses her trail when she sees the sky. It's now completely grey, and leaves are blowing everywhere. The sound of screaming fills the air and the whole class starts to panic. That's when the first one walks in. Wearing a black cloak, it looks around the classroom, and it's eyes fall on me.