Welcome to Woodbury, we hope you enjoy your stay!

That damn sign was mocking me. As if I could enjoy a stay in the middle of nowhere Virginia! What was the point of this anyway? One second I'm having the time of my life being a normal teenager with best friends and the perfect boyfriend. The next thing I know my father is shipping me from California to Virginia to live with a mother I didn't even know was still alive! I kicked the dirt and watched as a puff of it flew into the hot moist air. I felt sticky with sweat. Disgusting. I never thought I'd despise summer so much. The bus had dropped me off at the sign in front of town. If you could call this a town…houses we're separated from each other by a few miles, and were on top of mountains. I saw only a couple of stores here and there. But it mostly just had a never ending flat gravel road and dead greenish brown grass on the sides.

Where did I go now? I could always go to one of the shops and ask for directions…but the place looked dead. I didn't see not one other living soul walking around. I stared at the piece of paper where I had scribbled down the address on; perhaps if I just wandered around I'd eventually find it.

Alright then, might as well get a move on now. I'm about to take a step when I see a girl suddenly staring at me, eyes wide open with wonderment. Where the hell had she come from? She wasn't there a moment ago. I look behind me, just to make sure she's not staring at something else, before returning my gaze back to her. "Can I help you with something?" I ask.

The girl just stared. How old was she, anyways? She was pretty short, perhaps 5'1 with a cute baby face. Her hair was black, in two ponytails with two cute black bows on each side. Her outfit was adorable on her. A red shirt, black plaid skirt, high black knee socks, and a pair of red shoes to finish it. I loved her olive tan skin tone. But what really caught my attention were her big round innocent violet eyes. They were such a deep purple…she had to be wearing contacts.

I suddenly had the urge to pull her into a hug. How odd, seeing as I don't like to show affection towards many people. "Are you lost?" I question. I wanted to laugh, seeing as how I was the new person in town and had no idea where I was and was in need of some assistance.

The girl broke into a smile, "Please tell me your name."

What was wrong with me? Her voice…was so innocent and pure…I felt my hand twitch as I resisted giving her a hug. And that smile, was so adorable I wanted to pinch her cheeks. "Azrael Saya." I say to her.

Her eyes widen even more, if that's even possible. She throws her hand out for me to shake and shouts, "My name is Remi Adler."

Her hand is so small…she's so small. I mean, I'm barely 5'3, yet I don't seem as tiny as her.

"It's nice to meet you Remi." I say, still not sure who the hell or where the hell this girl came from.

Remi jumps up and down, grabbing onto my arm, "Oh Ella will be so excited to see you! She's been waiting for days!" she screams with joy, yanking on my arm in the direction of one of the houses.

The mention of her name was like cold water being thrown all over me. I pull my hand away from Remi and take a couple of steps back. Remi stares at me, confused. "How do you know Ella?" I ask.

Remi looked at me as if I had lost my mind, or if I was just the stupidest person she had ever met. Well, who knows, perhaps I was. After all, I had just met the girl a couple minutes ago. "This is a small town, we all know each other. Another thing you should know…when it comes right down to it, we stand together." Her eyes wandered down the road I had just come from. What had she meant about that last part? Remi seemed to snap out of whatever haze she was in and grabbed my arm, "Come on! Ella is dying to see you!"

This time I let her haul me away. What I found weird though, was that after I had picked up my luggage and started to follow her, it had seemed like the town had come back to life. I saw children running around and parents laughing with one another. Store owners having a good conversation with their customers. School girls walking home and giggling with one another. What the hell was wrong with my vision?

Now that I was in half way through the town, the houses were not only a bit higher up the mountains than I had thought, but wasn't connected with the town. As in, you'd have to walk through town, and once you reached the end of it about a mile away you'd start reaching the first few houses. After Remi had explained this to me, I began regretting wearing my cute new black flats instead of the sneakers inside my bag.

Remi, seeming to guess this stopped walking. She looked around until she spotted someone and started wailing her arms around shouting, "Naoki! Naoki!"

I followed her gaze over to a group of school guys walking towards a grocery store. They were all pretty cute. But then one of them walked away from the group and made his way over to us. I sure as hell hoped I wasn't drooling, but hey it wasn't my fault, the guy was pretty cute.

He had to be at the most, 5'11 with pitch black hair and deep blue eyes. He had perfect round lips that were at the moment showing off the cutest boy smile ever. He wasn't the buffest guy I've seen, but he was nicely built. "Hey there Remi." He said, giving her a friendly smile.

Remi gave him a quick hug before saying, "Naoki I want you to meet my new friend, Azrael. Azrael this is Naoki, also known as the sweetest guy in town you'll ever meet."

I put my hand out and Naoki shook it. "Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you." I say.

Naoki's smile widens, "Pleasures all mine. Welcome to Woodbury by the way. You're going to love your stay here." He said.

I liked Naoki already. If there was one thing I knew, it was that if you were stuck in a place where you knew no one, make friends quickly. Remi and Naoki, they seemed like two people I could trust. "Thanks. I sure hope so, since I'll be here for a while." I said, putting on the fake smile I learned so well to use. Dad didn't give me a specific time as to how long I'd have to stay with my mom. It could be days, weeks, months, maybe even a year.

Remi pointed to my bag, "We're heading over to Ella's house and I was wondering if you don't mind carrying Azrael's luggage."

Great. Remi's asking a guy who doesn't even know me to carry my bags. Now I wish I had packed lighter. "Oh no Remi its fine! Really, though I appreciate it."

Naoki reached for both my bags before I could pick them up myself, "Don't be ridicules. I'd love to carry your bags. I haven't stopped by to see Ella in a while anyways."

My mother sure was popular around here. The three of us began walking towards the mountains, Remi explaining my mother's house was on top of the farthest mountain from town, five miles down the road. From where we walked, you could see how the houses were on the mountains on each side of the road. But if you looked straight down, at the end, you'd see my mother's house. For some reason, I couldn't shake the thought of how it looked as if it was the heart of this place. Or…as if it held the person who was the heart of this place. Exactly how important was my mom? And why was I so suddenly needed to come down here? So many questions to ask…

"So how come you two are heading over to Ella's house first? Shouldn't you drop your stuff off to your house?" Naoki asked, breaking my train of thought.

I sighed; obviously my mother hadn't bothered to tell anyone that I was coming over. "I'm going to be living with Ella. She's my mother." I explained.

Naoki's eyes widened and he gasped. He dropped my bags and grabbed me by the shoulders so that I was facing him. "So you must be the new-"

"Naoki." A sharp deep voice cut in.

The three of us turned to look at the new comer. He was tall that was for sure. Taller than Naoki. 6 ft. with gorgeous yet serious dark black eyes, a muscular body, and where else Naoki dressed as any other guy with a normal t-shirt and blue jeans, this new guy wore a formal white shirt and dress pants. But what caught my attention was his silvery-white hair. It didn't look bad at the slightest. Not like some old guy's hair, but like if he had been touched with a blanket of snow.

Naoki frowns and turns his back on the guy, picking up my bags. Even Remi doesn't dare look at him. How odd. "Did you need something, Landon?" Naoki asks, still staring straight ahead.

Landon looked me from head to toe. This caused me to blush. The guy didn't even bother hiding the fact that he was checking me out! What the hell! Landon began to say something, but then shook his head. "Such a disappointment." He whispered.

Was he talking about me? Or was this Naoki-related? Before any of us could respond, Landon turned on his heels and walked away.

Remi turned only to grab my hand, "Come on, your mother's waiting." She said, her tone now serious.

My mother was waiting. Why…why now? None of this made sense, but I hoped to get some answers soon, the moment I step through the doors.

Let me start off with, thank you to all of you who stopped and read my chapter. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on it good or bad I won't be offended. So if you could please leave me a review I'd really appreciate it :D