The Soda Fountain was the trendy ice cream parlour most teenagers hung out in. It was designed like a typical American diner, had all kinds of music going on all the time. You could ask for pretty much any flavour you could think of, from quiet, safe chocolate to bubble gum, marshmallow or even peanuts.

"And what can I get you, me lovelies?" Siobhan, the Irish waitress asked as they sat down.

"Don't give us that, you know our order!" Jessica grinned.

"You're forgetting Isabelle," Andie pointed out teasingly. "And I say guests first. Isabelle?"

"Uh... I'll go for Vanilla and Raspberry, please."

"Okay, me darlin'. And what about you girls?"

"Chocolate, nougat and cookie dough," Jessica said. 'Please," she added after a nudge from Andie.

Andie hated rudeness.

"Passion and Pear for me, please." she said.

"And I'll have blueberry and mint, please." Emily put in.

"All righty, comin' right up."

She walked away. Jessica looked to Isabelle who was sitting diagonally from her next to Andie.

"You wait until you try it, this place has the best ice cream in the world!"

Andie giggled.

"Sure, when they don't give you indigestion," she said. "Remember the time we came here to celebrate our final exams last year? You wanted an ice cream to match the occasion, and you did the worst combination ever!"

"Oh, my God, yes!" Jessica said, laughing too. "I had ordered... coffee, marshmallow, peanut and... Oh, yes, kiwi!"

Isabelle laughed but couldn't help a slight grimace.

"Didn't that make you sick?"

"Oh, yes, so sick! I couldn't get out of bed the entire weekend after that!" Jessica laughed.

"We told you not to order all that," Emily reminded with a smile.

"We'd finished our finals, I wanted to celebrate!" Jessica said.

"Yeah, and you ended up sicker than the entire St Peters Hospital put together!" Emily teased.

They laughed. Siobhan came back at that moment with their order.

"Thanks, Siobhan," Andie smiled.

"Ah, you're welcome, darlin's." she said.

"Go on, try it!" Jessica urged Isabelle.

"Relax, Jess, she'll get there," Andie smiled.

They all watched her as she took her spoon, scooped up some vanilla ice cream and popped into her mouth curiously. She closed her eyes in contentment.

"Hm, it's fabulous."

"I told you, didn't I?" Jessica said.

"Okay, we get it, Jess. The oh-so-insightful Jessica Leighton saves the day again!" Emily said, rolling her eyes with a grin.

"I know, right?"

Andie laughed, not sure if Jessica was serious or not.

When they'd finished, they agreed it was getting late and they needed to get home to look after their siblings and do their homework. As they left, Jessica insisted they form a "friendship circle", as she liked to call them. She firmly believed they strengthened the bonds between people. She described it as "cosmic energy that needs occasional physical contact to keep its strength. Like blowing on fire so it doesn't go out. You don't need to do it all the time, just often enough to keep it going."

"Jess, we did it last week at the start of term," Andie smiled. "I think the cosmic energies are still strong."

"Yes, but we didn't include Isabelle!"

They looked at her.

"But we just met..."

"Yeah, we'd just met too once, right? You're one of us, now!"

Andie smiled. She had to admit she'd been a little worried Jessica might have difficulty letting someone new into their circle.

"Okay, then." She said. "Hands in, guys."

So they held out their hands in.

"Okay, now we are officially and irrevocably connected," Jessica grinned.

"And you're officially attached to this crazy number!" Emily grinned at Isabelle, tickling Jessica.

Soon, they were all laughing, unaware of was was going on above them.

"How do you know they're the ones?" said a young male voice.

"I know that energy anywhere," said a deeper, older voice. "Trust me, I'm sure."

"They're so young..."

"As are you." pointed out the older voice.

"I know... but... I mean, look at them. Happy, carefree... are we really doing the right thing by pulling them into this?"

"I know how you feel, but the same could be said for you."

"It's different for me. I was born into this. I have been preparing since I could walk. I know what I'm getting into. Clearly, that has a meaning."

"Yes. It does have a meaning. You are there to help them. You are their guardian, their protector. In any case, as unfair as it may be, we have no choice. You know that."

"Yes... I do... I guess we'll just have to hope for the best."

The next day began as usual. Andie got her sister ready while her parents prepared for important trials that morning.

"Don't forget to pick up my suit at the dry cleaner's, for the conference, would you, Andie?"

"Don't worry, Dad, I'll take care of it." Andie smiled. "Go, you'll be late. Good luck. Hannah, you be good, okay?"

"Yes, Daddy!" Hannah called from the kitchen.

Hank kissed his daughter's forehead and headed out. Lauren followed, kissed Andie's cheek and disappeared out the door too. Andie smiled as she watched them go. Then, she turned to go back to the kitchen.

"Hannah, hurry up, we'll be late."

Soon enough, they were done and Andie made sure she got her bus safely before making her way to school. She met up with the others on campus as usual about fifteen minutes before the bell was to ring. As she headed towards them, Andie sighed in contentment. It was a nice day. The sun was out, and the weather was warm.

"Hey guys," Andie smiled when she reached her friends.

"Hey," they smiled back.

Isabelle moved to give her room. Andie smiled gratefully and sat down. The girls were discussing their latest homework – with Jessica groaning about how it had taken her hours to get through, like she always did –, when Andie noticed a boy looking their way. But somehow, it felt he was looking at them. He had tousled dark hair and blue eyes. Tall but not too much, dark hair that had just enough length to compliment his face, and from what she could tell, blue eyes. He wore a black jacket with a white shirt and ordinary blue jeans. He was leaning against a wall a dozen feet away, looking ahead, wearing earphones, his foot tapping the ground in time with the song he was listening to. They looked at each other, she offered him a polite smile, and to her surprise, he smiled back. She wondered if they'd met before, but couldn't think where.

"What are you looking at?"

Andie started and looked round.

"Huh?"

Jessica was looking in the direction Andie had been.

"Hm. Don't think I've seen him around," she said. "You know him?"

"Who?" Andie asked.

"That guy leaning against the wall." Jessica said.

"No, never seen him." Andie said.

"How about you, Em?" Jessica asked.

Emily glanced too. The boy was now looking away.

"No, he doesn't look like anyone I've seen before around here." she answered. "But then, Olympia is kind of big." she added thoughtfully.

Jessica was still watching him.

"Well, he's kind of handsome," she commented.

Andie looked again. Now that she took the time to think about it, she had to admit that he was indeed good-looking. Just then, the bell rang.

"Come on, let's go or we'll be late," Emily said.

So the girls gathered their bags and headed in.

As Andie sat down at her desk in Spanish, something, she wasn't sure what, made her look up. And to her surprise, the strange boy from before was there. She didn't really try and remember who she took classes with, since they was rarely the same people from one to the next, but she couldn't help but wonder about this boy. She didn't think she'd seen him in her class before... maybe because she'd been paying even less attention than she'd thought. Or maybe he was just so silent no one took much notice of him. She couldn't tell for sure. In any case, she'd noticed him now.

"Entonces, hoy vamos hablar de personas famosas españolas. ¿Alguien tiene ideas?" Asked Mr. Suarez, the Spanish teacher almost all the girls had a crush on.

Andie noticed the idea of discussing painters had peaked the stranger's interest. She wondered if he liked drawing or something like that.

"Eva Longoria," called a girl, and she and her neighbor giggled.

Mr. Suarez chuckled.

"Ella es de origen mexicana, no es española. ¿Los otros?"

Andie, who knew Eva Longoria was Mexican, raised her hand.

"Pablo Picasso."

"Si, muy bien. Alguien otro?"

"Frida Kahlo!"

"No, you dumbo, she was Mexican!" said someone else.

"Exacto, tiene razón, era Mexicana" said Mr Suarez. "Esta bien, ¿que mas?"

"Antonia Mohedano," said a girl from the Art club.

"Si, exacto."

"Juan Martinez Montanez!"

"Bien, bien."

"Angelo Nardi," said someone else.

"Gregorio Fernandez!" said another. "He was a sculptor!

"Si, muy bien. Entre todas esas personas, ¿que podemos avisar?"

Before Andie could raise her hand to say that it showed there were a lot of Spanish artists over the centuries, she was interrupted.

"That they had really dorky names," said someone in the back, making several others chortle.

"No," Mr Suarez said, in English this time, eying them coolly. "That's not what I meant."

Just then, the strange boy raised his hand.

"Que habia muchos pintores y otros artistes españoles." he said.

Mr Suarez's face brightened.

"Exactamente, y los que han citados representan solamente una pequeña parte de todo lo que hay."

Andie glanced at the boy. He was intriguing, that was for sure. He seemed to sense her watching him, because he looked up. And to Andie's amazement, he almost looked apologetic when he saw her. That was ridiculous! Apologizing when he'd had the right answer? Or was it something else...?

Before she could ponder it any further however, the bell rang. She bent down to put her things in her bag and got to her feet. But when she looked where the boy had been, the seat was empty.

*******************************

Enter the enigmatic Bane! What's your first impression? Friend or Foe? Comment the answer and show him some support with the stars!

What is with the apologetic look on his face? What does he know that Andie and the girls don't? Find out in the next chapter!