A/N: This takes place the summer after TLO, just so you know. And I know they are in school, but its late May (around the 21st) so they'd be getting out anyway.

Chapter One

I opened my eyes to my ceiling. Another great day at school awaited me.

I rolled out of bed and dragged a brush through my blonde hair. I had it streaked with bright colors. It was my way of rebelling against my father. He was on okay person, but he was miffed about having to keep me. He would rather I stay with my mum, wherever she was.

"Stryker!" he yelled from downstairs.

"What?" I yelled back, and heard my sister groan in the room next to me.

"Get down here, you need to get to school!" my father shouted.

"Will you two shut up?" my sister yelled.

In case you were wondering, my family is very vocal.

My sister Abby was home for the week. She was in college. Lazy bum, if you ask me.

"Stryker!" I heard my dad call again.

I yanked on my school uniform, blue and green plaid skirt and a navy sweater with my school's symbol on it, a lion. I didn't even bother to look in the mirror before running down the stairs, making as much noise as possible.

Abby wasn't far behind me since she had to drive me to school. She glanced at me and rolled her eyes. Her own perfect blonde hair was complemented by her falsely orange tan.

"At least try to look cute," Abby said, rolling her eyes. She fished in her purse and handed me a tube of black eyeliner. I rolled my eyes as she tossed me a mirror. I smeared a bit of the liner on and threw it back at her. It hit her in the head and she cursed at me.

I glanced back in the mirror and looked at my eyes. They were an odd blue purple color today. They shifted colors and sometimes even turned an odd shade of pinkish purple. My eyes were my favorite feature.

Abby shoved me in her tiny car and we drove in silence to St. Peter's Catholic School. I lived in the suburbs of New York City and let me tell you, suburbia is not my thing.

Abby glared at me as I got out of the car. "Later, brat," she said.

I stuck my tongue out at her and slammed the car door as hard as I could.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and whirled around.

"Stryker, you act like I'm going to kill you," my friend said. Dakota Neve stood in front of me and she pushed her white hair out of her face. Dakota was easily the most beautiful girl in the seventh grade here. Her hair was so blonde, it was white. She had unusually pale skin and icy blue eyes.

Dakota was beautiful, but she didn't have many friends. She was cold to you unless you knew her well. When she gets mad, it feels like ice is poking at your heart.

I smiled at her and she lifted a strand of blue hair. "You really ought to not do this to your hair," Dakota said and she picked up a pink strand.

"If my dad hates it, then I love it," I said as we walked to our lockers.

One of the nuns stopped us. "Stryker, pull your skirt down," she said before running along to do saintly things.

I rolled my eyes and kept walking. I noticed that half the boys in this school were losers. I mean, sure, some of them were gorgeous, but those were the mean ones. The only truely nice boy at this place was Parker.

Parker had befriended Dakota and me back in sixth grade. He had an odd muscular disorder that caused him to walk with a limp. But he seemed pretty happy, and though most people ignored him, Dakota and I thought he was the best thing since sliced bread.

Parker limped up to us and gave us his lopsided smile. "Hey, ladies. How are we today?" he asked.

Dakota gave him her brilliant smile. "I'm doing wonderful. Stryker over here has been rebelling again. She seems to have added blue to the many colors that grace her hair."

Parker shook his head. "You know, rebellion is like a cry for help," he said as he took a bite of his apple.

I smoothed my hair with my hands. "Shut up, you're worse than my sister."

We walked to our first class together in silence. We took our usual seats in the back of the room and while Dakota sat up perfectly straight (ten years of classical ballet does things to you), I sat slumped back in my seat.

The nun swept in and glared in our general direction. "Stryker Mensi, sit up straight!" she commanded. The nuns really didn't like me. I sighed and scooted farther down in my seat.

The class passed painfully slow. About half-way through the day, it was time for mass. Just so you know, all this God stuff doesn't make sense to me. I honestly don't believe in God. My dad doesn't either, so I guess that's why.

Mass was extra boring today. The priest had a voice like nails on a chalk board. He sounded like the priest from The Princess Bride.

"God is the weason we awe heaw. Heaven is the dweam we stwive fow!" the priest said. Parker and I rolled our eyes at the same time.

Parker had a tendency to mumble to himself during mass. I thought it was hilarious. Dakota slept through most of it.

When mass was finally over we walked to lunch. Parker and Dakota were chatting but my mind was elsewhere. I was in my own little world. I tended to do that, being ADHD and all.

Suddenly Dakota snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Earth to Stryker?"

"Huh?" I said, my eyes snapping open.

"I said, do you wanna spend the night at my house tonight?" Dakota asked.

"Oh, yeah, definately. We haven't hung out in forever," I said and flashed a smile.

The rest of the day passed slowly, but I guess that's because it was a Friday.

Dakota and I piled into my sister's car. Abby smiled fakely at Dakota and rolled her eyes at me. Her brown eyes were rimmed by thick eyeliner.

"Dad says you're grades are slipping," Abby said with her thick British accent.

I had a slight accent, but I was born in America. My dad and Abby moved to America when Abby was young, so I picked my accent up from them. While living in New York City, my dad met a woman. He told me stories about her. She was beautiful and had my eyes, my strange eyes. He said she had golden hair and tan skin. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, though when he said that Abby always pouted. Abby and I didn't share a mum.

I glared at Abby. "So? It's not like school matters anyway."

Abby laughed and rolled her eyes. "You think you're just the coolest thing ever don't you? Well being a little rebel isn't cool. Why can't you just be normal?" Abby swerved down our street and parked in front of our tiny house.

"Maybe because I'm not some pageant queen!" I yelled. Abby competed in beauty pageants and won. She was really pretty, but she tanned too much and she bleached her honey blonde hair a ghastly platinum.

"You don't even need to be in pageants to be normal! Just stop being so weird! You dye your hair these dreadful colors and when you do wear makeup it's just black eyeliner! You're trying to rebel and it's stupid!" Abby and I were nose to nose now and I felt tears sting my eyes. I blinked them back and got out of the car.

I slammed the door and grabbed Dakota. She followed me to my room and I slammed the door. "Can you believe her?" I asked.

Dakota smiled at me. "She's just jealous that your hair is cooler. Now come on and get your stuff and we can head over to my place."

I managed a laugh and brushed tears back. I shoved some clothes and my toothbrush in a bag. Dakota and I walked into my backyard. I yelled to my father that I was going and he grunted in response.

We hopped the fence and landed in Dakota's backyard. Her father was in the kitchen baking a something. "Hello, Stryker! Dakota how's it hanging. I'm baking a cake for you and Stryker's birthday." Dakota's dad was possibly the coolest man alive.

Dakota and I shared a birthday, May twenty-first. That's partially how we bonded, besides the fact that both of us had absent mothers. We met in fourth grade in our "special" class. Neither of us were stupid, by any means, but we were both severely dyslexic and ADHD.

Dakota and I smiled brightly. Her dad owned a bakery in town and he was great. I did most of my eating at Dakota's house.

Our birthday was tomorrow and we were turning thirteen. Dakota and I tromped up to her room and I shivered. Dakota kept her room at a bracing fifty degrees. She tossed me a blanket and I wrapped up. Dakota pulled out a box of Gushers and smiled wickedly.

"My secret stash," she confessed. I was always hungry, and the fact that my sister required that we eat only vegan food didn't help.

The rest of the night was spent giggling and talking. We stayed up quite late and finally I fell asleep with her cat in my lap.

The next morning her dad woke us up with a yell. We rubbed the sleep out of our eyes and Mr. Neve flashed us a smile.

"Happy birthday, girls!" he shouted and I managed a tired smile.

We had birthday cake for breakfast and Parker came over. We were in Dakota's backyard, dipping our feet in her pool. We had all eaten our weight in birthday cake and Parker had eaten the plastic fork.

We were laughing and smiling and having a great time when Parker squeaked. I gave him my did-you-just-squeak-like-a-girl look but he ignored me. He staring into my backyard and was sniffing.

"Parker, you squeaked like a little girl," I said laughing.

"Guys," Parker said, "get inside. Now!"

Dakota and I started to argue but her father rushed out and said, "Inside!"

Dakota and I hurried into the house, and when I looked behind me, I saw a flash of gold from my backyard.

We stood in her kitchen looking back into her yard while her father and Parker tried to pull us away. Another flash of gold and some huge animal jumped into Dakota's backyard.

"What in the world is that?" I asked and Dakota's eyes widened.

"It looks like a lion!" she gasped.

Parker grimaced and looked like he was about to cry. "That's the Nemean Lion," he said slowly.

The lion opened its mouth and roared at Dakota and me. It slashed its paw through the glass like butter, shattering it all over Dakota and me.

A/N: Hmmm... This was going to be a sequel to my other story, From the Foam of the Sea, but I decided I loved it more on its own.

So, Stryker obviously is an odd name. Care to know why I picked it? Well one day I was typing on my iPod, and I mispelled something and Stryker popped up. I decided I liked it and got this idea. So yep.

Care to guess who her parent is? How about Dakota's parent? Stryker's might not be too hard, but Dakota's parent is some obscure person you probably haven't heard of. But please, try to guess(:

Anyway, review please.

Please? Please? I love reviews. Hate it? Tell me why and how I can make it better. Love it? Tell me why.

Thanks, darlings.

ψcamille elisabethψ