It was lunch break. Max had eaten his lunch and was sitting there alone, lost in his own thoughts. He was still thinking about the dream he had the previous night. Dreams are usually forgotten soon after waking up, but this one was stuck in his head. The thing that disturbed him the most was that he might actually be related to it. His uncle, Jonathan, had told him that his parents died in a car accident, but never mentioned that he was in the car too.

'Was that child really me? And what the heck were they running from?' Max thought as his brows knit.

Racking his brains over something he might never actually find out was giving him a terrible headache. He decided not to think about it anymore, as he started digging his bag for the diary he and Kevin had taken from Shane's library, yesterday.

He had just taken it out when he heard someone approaching him. He quickly kept the book back into his bag as he was not ready to enter into a whole new awkward situation.

"Hey what were you reading kid?" asked William. He was a huge, chubby guy with orange curly hair. His extremely fair face was covered with pimples all over his cheeks. Even the T-shirt could not completely cover his protruding tummy.

"First thing, I have a name which you know and second thing, I don't feel the necessity of telling you what I am doing," Max muttered without even looking at him.

"So now you have grown up kiddo. Then why don't you come and join us?" asked William with a grin on his face, pointing towards his group sitting at the last bench. There were four guys sitting back there. Alex was there too. He had a scar on his right eyebrow, and his eyes were cold.

Max never felt that Alex was bad at all, he was just different, like Max was. He too didn't seem to have any friends. The difference was only that Max was a gentle, sweet-looking guy who was easily picked on while on the other hand, Alex was tough. He had a scar on his right eyebrow, which kinda enhanced his cold look. Rather than messing with him, the bullies made sure he stayed in on their side.

"Nah, I am just fine here."

"Oh come on! You just said you are not a kid anymore."

Max stood up to leave since it was useless to argue. William rushed to the door and blocked the path.

"This is getting ridiculous. Let me go!" said Max tightening his fist.

"Or else what? " he pushed Max.

It was not like he couldn't fight, he just didn't want, or at least that's what he thought.

William's face turned red with anger. A boy from his group who was sitting back there and watching it all stood up and came towards them. His intention was not to cool down the heated matter but to support his mate in bullying Max.

"If you really want to go then you have to hand over that book to us," said Jacob.

"What? Are you kidding me? Why should I let him go for that stupid book?" said William turning towards Jacob.

"I mean, it all started from that book then why not end this by tearing it apart?" he said, as a grin came on his face.

"No you won't," Max said as he dashed towards his bag.

William lunged at him and held him tightly from behind. Jacob upturned his bag while Max was struggling in William's clutches to free himself. It wasn't much difficult for him to find the book because of its dusty cover.

Suddenly they heard a voice from behind.

"Leave him alone!"

Max recognized the familiar voice. On hearing the voice, William's hold loosened and Max utilized this opportunity to set himself free.

Just as he thought, Julie was standing right there with her arms resting on her waist.

She was amongst the prettiest girls in their class. She had long, straight blonde hair tied by a purple rubber band, clear blue eyes, and a very attractive countenance.

She always stood by Max's side since the day Max entered Lakeside High, even though Max didn't want that. He never wanted to drag anyone into what he was going through.

The color of William's face changed. He was blushing! No need to mention that it was because of Julie. With the anger in her eyes, she looked even prettier.

She rushed towards Max. The anger on her face changed into worry for him and a part of it was because of something which Max couldn't see.

"Are you okay?" asked Julie without making any eye contact but checking his body for any signs of injury.

"I am fine but you ..." Max said but Julie didn't wait for him to complete and turned towards Jacob, returning back to her pissed-off look.

"Return whatever you took. I don't want any fighting," said Julie as she looked straight into Jacob's eyes.

"If you are so afraid of us then you should just stay away from it."

"Who said I am afraid of you?"

"Just get lost, we don't fight pretty, little girls like you," Jacob smirked.

"Great because I don't have such standards for boys like you," said Julie and punched the freak right on his face.

"OUCH! That hurts," screamed Jacob holding his nose.

"Sure it does," said Julie with a giggle.

"You'll pay for it someday. And you moron, beware because this isn't over yet," said Jacob.

"We'll be waiting for you but for that, you have to get your nasty asses away for now," said Julie, returning to her calm.

Jacob wanted to leap at them right away, but William was holding him back. He didn't say a word, but gave him a look which said 'Not today Jacob, not today'. The bullies had to retreat, thanks to the wonder woman!

"I was saying that...." said Max but was stopped in between by Julie.

"You don't have to thank me for that. Someone had to teach them a lesson," Julie winked at him.

"I didn't need your help!"

"Yeah, like always. But how can you expect me not to interfere when those guys were troubling my best friend!" argued Julie.

"Best friends? We are not even friends. Why do you keep forgetting that?" Max scowled at her as he stormed away. Julie's face turned down like a wet weekend.

Max's remaining time at school was passed by staring out of the window, regretting what he said to Julie. He shouldn't have been that rude to her. She did nothing wrong.

He at times turned back to check on her, and when by chance their eyes met, Max quickly looked away.

As the bell rang, he rushed out of the school to the parking lot. He didn't use the bus facility, someone from the family always came to pick him up. It was generally Kevin. He was not his real brother but he loved him more than that.

Max was walking in the parking lot looking for Kevin's car. He felt as if someone was following him. He turned around to check but no one was around. He still felt that someone was staring at him. It was getting frightening.

With a hurried air, he dashed across the parking lot. He was turning back at some intervals to make sure William and his friends were not after him.

He bumped into a woman and fell on the ground. She was wearing a tight black gown, and her face was almost as white as milk. Her hair was straight and shiny. It appeared as if they were wet. She had an abnormal charm that was pulling Max towards her.

Their collision had thrown Max on the ground but she stood there as if nothing had happened.

"You should be more careful while walking," her voice had a weird musical effect in it. It sounded as if she was singing to him, a lullaby.

She offered her hand to him. Max couldn't resist the offer. He felt as if his mind was made vulnerable by her voice.

He took her help to get back on his feet. The touch of her hand sent chills through his body. It was as cold as ice! It felt as if she just came out of a refrigerator.

"Are you all right?" she spoke, still having that melodious tone.

"Yeah...... Who are you? I mean, I haven't seen you here before," it felt as if Max had to drain a lot of his stamina in questioning her back. He felt dizzy.

She stared at him for a second as if Max's question was shocking to her.

"Impressive! You are better than I thought!" The musical effect in her voice had gone.

"Huh?"

"You need not worry about where I came from, as you are about to be there very soon,"

A wide grin covered her face.

"What?"

"You will understand everything when the time comes. By the way, this is not the last time we are meeting. We will be seeing each other soon, Max," her smile grew wider.

"Wait, how do you know my......" Max said but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Max. What are you doing out there?"

Max turned around and saw Kevin waving from a distance.

He turned back to the lady to ask her how she knew his name but she was not there anymore. It was as if she had disappeared into thin air.

"Why are you standing here? I have been waiting for you for so long," said Kevin as he approached Max.

He was dressed in formals. Kevin had completed his graduation two years ago and was now working as an intern at Mark Enterprises.

"I was, um, leave it, let's go home," he said, still looking around.

"Is everything okay?" asked Kevin.

Max was too confused to talk about it to Kevin.

"Yeah....just take me home."