Roxanne sat in her purple room, stunned. She was still in shock about her friend's death, and why she had killed herself right after saying Roxie from drowning. Nothing made sense about the whole situation. It's Theo's fault, Roxie thought, angrily. Realizing he knew more than he said he knew, Roxie became determined to get more information from him. She called up Derek and told him to meet her in front of the Greys' house.

"Could this really not wait?" he asked, as he approached Roxie, sulking.

"You want to figure why Ally died, right?" Roxie asked, annoyed by his behavior. "Why she supposedly...killed herself."

He raised his head and finally nodded. "Strange, right?" he said.

"Yes, it is strange," Roxie answered, unaware that Derek meant Strange as in Theo Strange.

"Knew it," he mumbled.

"Wait what?" she asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean we're going to Theo Strange's house to talk to him, right?" Derek asked, his sapphire blue eyes looking puzzled.

"Oh! Right," she nodded, almost laughing. But both of them were too depressed to laugh or smile. Ally was Roxie's best friend. And Derek's girlfriend. He really had cared for her, and now he felt as if his life had become much harder...and much less worth living. Although Ally wouldn't want him to think that, he knew. She and him rarely talked about philosophic matters like Roxie, but the few times they did, Ally had always said something so wise, it stuck with Derek forever. Life IS worth living, he remembered her words. No matter what. Why do you think that? Derek had asked. Because, she had said. All you have to do is look at what's around you to realize how beautiful life is.

So Derek did just that every second he thought of ally. Which was every second. So as Roxy and he walked to Theo's house, he gazed at the world around him. The sky was completely grey. Ally's last name. The birds were not singing their beautiful songs. Just like how Derek would never hear Ally's singing voice again. None of the friendly neighbors were in their yards to smile and wave at Derek. And Ally was not in her yard to run and hug Derek, happy to see him. Derek became even more melancholy, so much that he looked as if he was going to tear out all his beautiful brown hair in frustration.

"Plus," he said out loud, his voice shaking. "If Ally said life was so beautiful no matter what...Why did she kill herself?! Why did she reject life, when she believed it was a fragile gift to be treasured always?!" He was now yelling.

Roxie just stared at him, her dark chocolate brown eyes now black as ever.

The two finally reached Theo's front door and they both pounded on it, furious. In a few seconds, the door swung open and there stood the strange teenager, his black hair shiny from his shower. The creep showers??  Roxie and Derek both thought.

"Yes?" Theo asked, curiously.

"How did you know someone was going to die?" Roxie blurted out. "How the heck did you know that? Did you know it would be Ally? Well?" She had stepped into his house and was right in his face.

Theo said nothing. Only put on a disappointed face. "Roxie," he said. "I knew someone at that house was going to die. I didn't know who it would be."

"How did you know that, though?" Derek asked, gritting his teeth.

Theo stared at the two of them intently. Then he motioned them to follow him. So they did. They followed him into his kitchen, then through the living room. It was quite a normal-looking house, actually. At least, that's what Roxie and Derek thought until they reached the basement.

Down in the darkness, Theo opened a door and walked in, Roxie following him. Her eyes flew open when she saw the room. The wallpaper was...outer space. Planets, comets, stars and the milky way. Only...it looked real. As if they were surrounded by the universe. As if they were actually floating through outer space. But there were tables, chairs, chests and a bed that all didn't seem to float around. They did look like they were hovering in space, but they stayed put in one place. Theo sat down at a table with a glowing orb on it and he folded his hands, thinking hard. The orb looked like one of those prophecy, future-telling orbs, only much more realistic.

"Sit down, please," he told the two gaping teenagers.

They both sat, astonished. Had Theo been telling the truth the whole time? No, Roxie thought, shaking her head.

"Please watch," Theo said, his silver eyes turning arctic blue as the light from the crystal ball shone on them.

Both Derek and Roxie sat on the edge of their seats, staring intently into the ball.

"Come. Tell me what I want to know," Theo murmured.

White-silvery fog formed in the orb. Then Derek and Roxie heard a voice. A whispering voice of a man, whose voice seemed serene and smooth.

"Theo Strange," it whispered.

"Yes. It is I," Theo said calmly, still folding his hands.

"What do you seek?" The voice asked him.

"A glimpse of the future."

The fog in the in the crystal ball swirled around faster and faster. Suddenly, the three saw a red-haired girl sitting in a classroom. It was Roxie. There was no doubt about it! Her curly, apple red hair and black and violet outfit. The scene was blurry, but it had to be her!

Roxie gasped, seeing herself in the orb. Derek stared, looking almost terrified.

In the scene, Roxie seemed to be scribbling in a lime green notebook at her desk. She didn't look too happy. Suddenly, a boy approached her. The picture became so blurry, no one could tell who the boy was or what he looked like. Roxie seemed to smile as she got up from her desk and started kissing the boy. The present Roxie blushed, embarrassed that Derek was seeing this. Then the scene was engulfed by the fog in the ball and disappeared.

Silence entered the strange bedroom like a ghost. Roxie gazed at the galaxy wallpaper around her. She couldn't believe what she had just seen. Was that really the future?

"So that's actually...gonna happen?" Derek asked Theo, hesitantly.

"According to the crystal ball," Theo answered, looking serious. "And it hasn't been wrong, ever! How do you think I knew someone was going to die?" he asked.

Derek clenched his fists. Theo cautiously inched away from him.

"Why didn't you do anything to stop it?" Derek growled at him.

"There was nothing I could do! If the crystal ball says that's what's going to happen, that's what's going to happen! There's not stopping it!" Theo explained.

"So we just have to do what it says, no matter what?" Roxie asked, annoyed. "It takes away our free will, practically?"

"Well, not necessarily," Theo answered, calmly. "You'll still choose to do what you'll do. And there's no stopping you."

"That's ridiculous!" Roxie yelled, standing up. "We'll just see about that, Strange!"

She stormed out of the room, Derek following her. But not before glaring back at Theo and murmuring, "I don't what your game is, but you'd better keep all your magic and sorcery away from us!"

They both hurried out of the Strange's house, leaving Theo in his bedroom.

Smirking.

* * * * *

Roxie strolled into school the next day, with one thing on her mind: Prove the crystal orb wrong. No. Kissing. Anyone.

Not even the mysterious boy she had met that one night that she loved more than any boy. The truth was, Roxie had only kissed a boy once in her life and it was that boy. He attended her school and she loved talking to him whenever they had a class together. Usually those classes were the ones Roxie didn't have with Ally, so she was able to keep her secret from her and Derek. Although now that Ally was gone, Roxie would have an easier time talking to her boyfriend. She still missed Ally, though. Terribly.

As Roxie made her way to her locker, she saw Beatrice Oscar, at the other end of the hall. She was known to be quite nice, Ally had told Roxanne. Coincidentally, Miss Oscar had long red hair just like Roxie's. When Beatrice saw Roxie, she gave her a smile, which Roxie returned.

Then Roxanne turned to see a tall boy with gingerbread brown hair, smirking at her. Jonathon. Ugh, thought Roxanne. He was so annoyingly flirty. And arrogant and dumb and stupid. Suddenly, he winked at her and mouthed the words "Love you" before walking away with his hand in his pocket.

Rolling her eyes, Roxie entered the history classroom and sat in her favorite seat in the back corner of the room. She was confused to find a green notebook there. No one ever sat here. She opened the notebook and saw something written on the first page.

Just go out with me, Roxie. -Johnny <3

Furious, Roxie took out her permanent black marker and started scribbling all over the note. She tried to remain calm, even though she was so bothered by the pompous basketball player. She started ranting to herself, He thinks he's so popular but he's really just selfish and boastful and spoiled and foolish and-

Something stopped her thoughts. Her boyfriend walked into the classroom and his stone grey eyes met hers. Without thinking, Roxie smiled her daisy white teeth, got up to greet her boyfriend, and hugged him. Then they both started kissing each other.

The she realized what she had done. She had fulfilled the prophecy she wanted to prove wrong.

Immediately, she shoved Anthony away from her. That was her boyfriend. The creepy, quiet one who loved Roxanne and was loved by her. He became worried when he saw his girlfriend run out of the room, through the halls, and right out of the school. She sprinted all the way to Theo's house, knowing he wasn't home, but rather at school. The school she and Derek attended.

Bursting through his front door, she dashed down to the dark basement and without flicking on the lights, entered his bedroom. The walls no longer depicted outer space. But instead a mystical forest with huge, strange trees that had magic flowers and fairies resting on their branches. Even though the wallpaper wasn't moving of course, the scene seemed so real. The blue stream on the grassy ground seemed to be flowing. The sun that peeked through the vines cast warmth onto Roxie.

She eyed the crystal ball on the small table and tried to pick it up. It was stuck to the table. Sweating, she sat down and said clearly what Theo had said:

"Come. Tell me what I want to know."

And although she waited for hours for the voice to respond, nothing happened.

Nothing.

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Thanks for reading! Be sure check out my other stories! And also, follow my friend elisekoeli who's a great writer! Read her stories "Reckless" and "Resonance."