"Mom, where's the milk?" Hailey, my fourteen-year-old sister, whined as she shuffled through the fridge's cluttered shelves.

Mom sent me a glare as she took a sip of her coffee. "I don't know. Ask your brother."

I returned her look before turning towards Hailey. "You don't need milk for cereal Hailey."

"But I like milk and cereal," she complained pushing up her glasses and stomping her foot. "It makes cereal chewable."

"Hard cereal makes strong teeth," I countered then shoved a spoonful of my own plain batch and took a crunch. "See?"

"Ew gross!" She laughed, ducking to dodge the cereal crumbs I purposely spat at her.

"You two..." Mom sighed as she left the room. Hailey and I shared a grin. Hailey and I weren't super close by any means, but we got along decently as siblings. Hailey, as I liked to call it, 'stayed-in-her-own-lane' meaning that she kept to herself, either reading or writing alone in her room, didn't get too into my business and didn't hog the TV or bathroom. Everything I could hope for in a sister and more.

"But seriously," she said as she sobered up and slid into the seat next to me, "I thought you went to get milk last night."

I scarfed down another spoonful. I hadn't exactly gotten around to telling my family what happened last night. Scratch that, I'd never tell my family what happened last night. I was still in trouble for getting detention last week. If Mom heard even one rumor about me and a street fight, I swear she'd bury me alive just so I could never leave the house again. And as much as I didn't hate Hailey, she couldn't keep a secret to save her life—or more importantly, my life.

"Got distracted," I mumbled into my bowl. She raised her eyebrows and I stood up nudging her. "Hurry up. We need to leave soon." I left the room and started upstairs towards my room.

"Oddly eager or evasive?" She yelled after me.

It didn't take long to throw on some jeans and a T-shirt and grab my untouched backpack.

"Don't thud down the stairs!" Mom yelled as soon as I came down.

"Yeah, yeah," I said joining her in the kitchen. She was busy cleaning up dishes. My youngest sister—and final sibling—Gabby sat the table. She was two years old and held out her hands for me to pick her up. I did, spinning her around a few times till she giggled, then set her back down to eat her breakfast.

"Hailey ready yet?" I asked grabbing an apple and taking a bite out of it.

"You just ate," Mom commented.

I took another bite. "I'm a growing boy. I need food every five minutes at least."

"And I'm the fat one," she mumbled.

Hailey bounded in, saving me from my response that would only land me with a head smack.

"Can you help me pin this?" she asked Mom with a bobby pin in her mouth and her hands holding her hair back.

"I cringe just thinking about all that effort," I shivered as I watched Mom help secure it.

"It wouldn't kill you to run a comb through your hair," Mom retorted, eyeing my tangled mess of red hair. It was the one thing that always made me stand out as different from Mom and Hailey, you know, besides the Y chromosome. Hailey, Mom, hell even Gabby's wisps of hair were the same ash-brown. Even dad's hair was a shade of brown. Mine was like a flaming beacon of differentness.

"It might," I defended, "That has yet to be seen."

"There." Mom gave a final pat and Hailey and I started out the door.

"Remember the drill, Kyle. Drop Hailey off then go to school. Don't be late either," Mom warned.

"Aye Aye captain!" I gave her a mock salute before the door slammed shut.

"I bet she's counting the days until you graduate," Hailey said as we walked down the driveway. "I know I am."

"Oh how you wound me," I said dryly giving her a playful shove. "Meet you here right after school and we'll tell mom I picked you up."

"Like always." With that we split ways.

I wasn't perfect, wasn't the epitome of a son or brother, wasn't exactly an all-around fantastic person, but context made me seem less awful. See, Hailey's middle school wasn't even on the same side of town as my high school. It was wholly impossible for me to walk her to it and then reach my school before the first bell, something I had tried to rationally explain to my Mom when she came up with the plan. But, no, Mom saw my reasonable evaluation of the situation as an attempt to "undermined her authority" and "trying to parent her when she's the parent" and that argument just ended up with me as Hailey's personal walking bodyguard and me with three weeks no X-Box. So this plan hatched instead. Besides, Hailey had a friend down the street she meets up with to walk the rest of the way so it wasn't as if I was leaving her to completely fend for herself. Just for about a block.

From the end of my driveway it to the school's door, it was a thirty-minute walk. I was probably the only high schooler that far away who still walked to school. But walking was my only option. I had gotten in a disagreement on the bus my freshman year that resulted in eternal banishment. And our family only had one car which, as you know, was currently out of commission. Again, great going Dad.

Truthfully, I didn't mind the walk. There was no one to bug me about things I didn't want to be bugged about and I got to see the bustle of the city, which always excited me.

Except for today. Today, I couldn't stop the tingle carving into my spine as I tried to melt into the crowd. It was like someone was watching me, but when I glanced over my shoulder all I saw were the faces of indifferent pedestrians. Nothing out of place.

But I couldn't shake that creepy feeling. Cross-walk after cross-walk my anxiety grew. But the sixth one, I couldn't take the feeling anymore. I pushed, I shoved, I jabbed my way through the cluster of people, heart hammering faster and faster. I was so close to the school I just had to—

"Uff!" I tripped and fell down.

"Dude, what are you doing?"

I looked up to see my best friend, Jace, staring down at me confused. I glanced around again only to see people hustling by. The feeling was gone.

"Kyle, man, seriously, are you okay?"

"No, yeah I'm fine," I assured getting to my feet. "Just couldn't wait to get to school."

***

The feeling didn't return for the rest of the day. I didn't know whether to be grateful for that or even more confused. By lunch, I managed to calm down and by the end of the day it was all but forgotten as Jace and I left.

"Did you see him?" A girl walking next to us squealed to her friend.

"No, not yet, but I've heard he's been standing out there all day."

"He is so gorgeous! Oh my god, I've never seen anyone as hot as him. I wonder if he's single. Oh, I bet he's waiting for his girlfriend."

I covered my ear with my hand when they let out a head-splitting screech and raced ahead.

"What do you think that was about?" Jace asked.

"Not a clue. But I bet we'll find out," I said nodding towards a crowd of girls that where surrounding the front gate.

As we got closer I finally managed to catch a glimpse of who they were standing around and froze mid-step. Impossible. The man from last night—that blonde, impassive mute—was standing right there dressed in all white. He had on a pair of sunglass, but I knew what I would see behind them: red. He didn't say anything to anyone and no one spoke to him. It was like there was this force field around him that screamed stay away and no one was brave enough to try to break it.

It was probably a coincidence. Hell, he probably had a sibling who went to my school and he was just coming to pick them up. Or maybe even a girlfriend, like that girl had suggested. Yeah, it was just a complete and utter—

The thought died when I saw him glance in my direction and straighten up expectantly. But it couldn't be me. There was no way he'd know where to find me unless he had been following me or something—then it clicked. That strange feeling I had earlier, as if I was being followed, wasn't because I was going crazy. It was him. It was all him. That bastard's been stalking me.

"Kyle, man, don't—" Jace said as I fumed towards the crowd. As if they felt me coming, felt my fury, they parted creating a path towards him. He didn't say anything, didn't move, only looked at me behind his rims.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I hissed, not bothering to keep my voice down or my tone civil.

He cocked his head but didn't say anything. With his sunglasses on, I couldn't read him an ounce and that just pissed me off. God, I wanted to punch him in his stupid, perfect face.

"Look, I don't know what happened last night and to be honest I don't really care. My helping you was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of ordeal. I'm not going to do it again so you can just scram and leave me the hell alone."

"Mr. Harris, what is going on here?" I grimaced at the sound of that voice. My teacher, Mrs. Tyler, was waddling her way towards us, her lips pursed into a tight line. Never a good sign.

She caught sight of the man next to me and her determined steps faltered as her cheeks burned red. I almost had a heart attack. My dinosaur of a math teacher was swooning over a man at least half her age. There goes my dinner.

"Do you know this man or is he bothering you? Should I call campus security?" Was it just me or did her voice go up two octaves as if she was trying to be seductive? Nope, we'll just steer clear of those thoughts.

"Um no, I don't kn—I mean yes! Yes, this is my...friend...Paul...from Germany. He's, um, visiting me and doesn't speak English well." I might not care for the guy and he might be stalking me, but I wasn't cruel enough to turn him into the police when he hadn't done anything yet. "We were just leaving!"

I gave a pleasant smile, to which Mrs. Tyler almost busted a vein at, and grabbed the guys hand to pull him away. I didn't stop walking until we reached the city park, a safe distance four blocks from my school. When I was sure we were alone, I let go and turned to look at him, seething. His smile, small but unguarded, caught me by surprise as he stared at his palm.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

He removed his sunglass and looked up at me. His eyes, that smile, made my chest tighten oddly. I scowled.

"You said," he muttered softly and almost like he was humored, "you would not assist me again and yet you did."

"With Mrs. Tyler? I don't need some cranky old lady to take care of my problems for me." I could handle that all by myself.

"I supposed you don't," he agreed eyes still trained unnervingly on me. Didn't he ever blink?

"Look," I sighed collapsing onto one of the park benches, "I don't know what last night was about or whatever mess you are in, but you can't just show up at my school when I don't even know you. It's weird. It's creepy. People get committed for things like that."

"Eskil," he muttered taking me by surprise. "My name is...Eskil."

"Eskil," I muttered under my breath, just to taste the odd name. It felt strange. I shook that away. "Just because I know your name now doesn't make it okay for you to come to my school like we're friends or something."

"I would like to be friends," he mused, staring at me indiscernibly.

I gaped at him. Was he serious or was something just seriously wrong with his head?

"I said something wrong," he said his brow frowning.

"Er, well, not gonna lie, yeah. A little bit. You usually don't stalk someone and ask to be friends. Friends just become friends naturally by hanging out and getting along. It's not really something that's decided in conversation."

"Then I will do that. We will 'hang out'." He seemed confident and determined in that conviction as he looked at me waiting for approval.

God, I really needed to gain some intelligence soon and fast. "Okay. What the hell. Let's do it."

He smiled again and I lost all my doubts.