Tonight Will Change Our Lives

The next day seemed almost translucent, brighter than the one before it. The birds seemed to sing in a higher key. The grass was a little greener than usual. Even the morning coffee aroma was far more inviting than it had been before. It was a good hour before school would start and Rachel was up and running. Breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs, pancakes, and toast, hit that perfect spot in her stomach and the teenage girl was roaring to go. Her outfit was primmed and pressed, ready for the challenges of the oncoming day. Everything was in order.

Rachel sat on her plaid sofa chair with her feet bouncing as the elongated seconds ticked by. Every moment was excruciatingly stretched. Rachel felt as if she was spending an eternity waiting for when Cadence would arrive and they would walk to school together. A sly smile crept onto her face again as she recalled the incident that had taken place last night. It had been mind blowing and she was sure Cadence felt it as well.

Finally, the doorbell rang.

The teenage girl flew to it like it was no one's business. Her hair floated behind her and her eyes brightened before the door was even opened completely. Anticipation ate away at her insides. The old door creaked as it was pulled slowly to reveal Cadence with his back to the door. His hair was as in the same manner as it had been since school started and his clothes were the same black frame fitting shirt and jeans.

"Hey," Rachel said breathlessly, closing the door behind her. Before that moment, Rachel had felt that today would be a good day. That something great was going to happen and Rachel deserved it. But when Cadence didn't respond to her greeting, Rachel's good feelings began to dissipate slowly, one by one.

Rachel walked to stand by Cadence side to see him with his signature aviators and cold expression. Rachel's mood plummeted. Without a word, Cadence began to walk down her porch and towards school. The girl stared blankly after him for a few moments then caught up quickly.

"Cadence, what's going on?" Rachel asked worriedly. If he clammed up again, it would be like all her probing was for nothing. That last night meant nothing.

"Nothing. Nothing's going on Rachel," he answered, not looking at her.

The thick forest reached up into the sky, obscuring the beautiful mountain range and shadowing the couple. It gave an eerie feeling to the atmosphere, as if everything was a dark secret. As if within the depths of the enormous forest was a dark secret. This forest was home to Cadence and he couldn't let anyone in on his dark secret.

Cadence gave a quiet sigh so that the girl would not hear him. He recalled the conversation he and Aiden had when Cadence had returned home.

"What'd you do to her?!" Aiden demanded as he stormed into Cadence's room.

Cadence looked up from his spot on the bed to find his brother angrily staring at him. Caden knew he would have to tell but he didn't want to. He didn't want his brother to view him as a failure.

"I-I... I kissed her..." Cadence said quietly.

"You what?" Aiden asked more astonished than angered.

"We were fighting and she said, 'I've never once seen you do a dangerous thing' so I kissed her," Cadence said bluntly without emotion.

Aiden gave a tired sigh, "As much as I think the irony is funny, this situation is getting out of control. It can't be allowed to progress any further or soon it'll be out of our hands. I'm sure you know what follows after that."

Cadence looked at the ceiling, trying to ignore the truth behind his brother's words, "I know. I'm going to fix it tomorrow morning."

Aiden moved to sit in Cadence's desk's chair, "You know what she's trying to do, don't you? She's trying to break you down and have you spill your guts to her. You know she's intrigued by us. She wants to know why we're different and we can't let her."

"But maybe if we tr-"

"No, Caden. If we do, two things could happen. One, we'll get close to her and getting close to a human is the last thing we need. Say that she takes the news alright? Then what? We befriend her and she lives out her days and she dies? We'll just suffer from the memories we have of her. It's not fair. Or TWO, we kill her and move on."

Cadence gave a sigh. He knew all of this already but hearing it from Aiden only made it more real. Cadence was so tired of this. He was tired of living this way.

"She's only a girl," Aiden reminded him, "Don't surrender yourself to somethings that's nothing. This isn't a time to give up what's already been started for us. You know there's no going back."

"Yeah. A new day is coming, Aiden. I promise... A new me."

"Seriously, Cadence, you can talk to me. I'm not like other retards at school," Rachel said cautiously, trying to get Cadence to open up again.

He didn't even give her a glance, "Can't you just get off my back?"

Rachel felt something in her sting at his words. She hadn't done any wrong to him, "Excuse me?"

Cadence finally looked at her with his thoroughly irritated eyes. To Rachel, the whole world froze in that moment. The temperature had even dropped below zero. His eyes said so much that Rachel felt something pull from the bottom of her spine. What had she done?

"Seriously, it's better that we just sever whatever relationship/friendship that's developing here because it just isn't going to work out," Cadence turned to face forward with a calm and collected expression. His feet slapped against the asphalt, thudding loudly and rhythmically as they walked on.

"Wow, that's the fastest relationship that's come to an end for me. It ended before it even started. Faster than lightening and without warning too. Great job Cadence, you've officially made my shit list," Rachel said harshly. The words came out of her mouth and would not stop. She hated Cadence for being this way and she hated how she had expected that he would somehow be different than what everyone put him off to be.

Rachel's pulse raced with anger as the words spilled out horrifically, "You know... I don't know any other person who can do the things you do. I don't know anyone who can just toy with a girl and act all strange. It's like you have two personalities. Or maybe you don't have any. Maybe you just do whatever you're brother tells you to do because you're scared of what you really are."

"Rachel, calm down please," Cadence gritted through agony.

"Calm down?" Rachel screamed louder than before, "I don't think so. I think that I'm right. The only reason why you push so many people away is because you're scared of yourself and how you'll act around them. What's so wrong with other people? Don't you want to find people that'll accept you for who you are? Why are you so scared of them? Huh?! What? Do we all have a disease that you're scared to catch? What is Cadence?!"

Cadence could feel himself growing out of control. He had begun to notice how his feet were carrying him closer to her. Oh how he wished for some sort of intervention. Rachel was hitting every soft spot on him. She was speaking the truth and she didn't even know it. One by one, it was starting to sink in and second by second Cadence's self control was diminishing.

"For your safety, I think you shoul-"

"You can kiss my ass before I listen to another word from you. Good bye Cadence Winter."

Cadence looked up from the ground that he had been staring at for a while to watch the angry girl stalk off into the school's main building. They had arrived at school without him even noticing it. The black haired boy gave a sigh of relief. With Rachel gone, Cadence could finally breathe. He had no idea how he would survive for the rest of the week.