Mourning Sun Read Free

entire lives. Sure, it was a hokey dream, but so what?
"A few," I said. Fourteen, I thought.
     
"Uh huh."
     
"What about you? How many?"
     
"Excuse me, ladies," a silky smooth, yet somehow incredibly rough voice broke into our conversation. "Can you tell me where Mr. Stevens' classroom is?"
    I looked up and found myself drowning in two pitch black pools of molten heat. My heart stopped. Recognition slammed into me, stealing my breath and my good sense. The vision in designer clothes waiting patiently for me to stop acting like a guppy on land and answer him was the boy from my dream. Fear and desire twisted in my belly and I finally raised my hand to point across the hall.
"Thank you," he said before turning away.
     
"You're welcome," Cecelia quipped. She waited until my dream had disappeared from view before smacking me in the forehead. "What's wrong with you?"
     
"Who was that?" I asked, still reeling from literally meeting the man of my dreams.
     
"How should I know, nitwit? You just blew your chance to ask him, though."
    I groaned. "What the heck is wrong with me?" Cecelia shrugged. "I'm sure he'll be around. Next time, promise me you'll use that enormous brain of yours for something other than a paper weight."
    I nodded and followed Cecelia into our homeroom when the bell rang. Cecelia knew about my dreams, but we didn't talk about that stuff often. I knew she was my friend no matter what, but the premonitions made her nervous. I think she worried that one day I would have a dream about her future, or lack of it. What would she say if I told her I'd dreamed of that gorgeous boy last night. Not only did I dream of him, but I dreamed he was a vampire who killed the woman he loved. Cecelia would be supportive, but freaked out. I wasn't willing to do that to her on the first day of school. We were under enough pressure without the metaphysical baggage. We took our usual seats at the back of the room and I tried to sort out what had happened in the hall.
    He was gorgeous, sure, but there were other good-looking guys in our school. I let my homeroom teacher drone on while I reconstructed his face in my mind. Deep, dark eyes. Hair like a raven's wing, but with just a touch of curl. Tall, he'd towered over me. I shook my head. What did it matter? He'd find the popular gang soon enough and never think of me again. At least that's what I thought.
***
     
"We're going to start this year with The Crucible," Mr. Stevens said. The class groaned in unison.
     
I was settling back, feeling pretty smug because I'd read the play over the summer when the boy from my dreams arrived a few minutes late.
    His gaze swept the room as though searching for something, only pausing when he found me at the back of the classroom. The blood rushed to my cheeks and I tried to find anywhere else to look other than those deep black eyes that never left mine as Mr. Stevens explained we were short on books and there would surely be someone willing to share with him. The teacher gestured around the room to the empty seats and I noticed Stephanie Bartlet pat the desk next to her, inviting the new boy to sit with her. I knew if that happened, I was lost. Stephanie would suck this beautiful boy into the Golden Ones and I would never get the chance to know more about him than what the rumor mill would release. To my immense surprise, however, the boy from my dreams ignored Stephanie's invitation and walked surely to the empty seat behind me. He slipped into the desk and I heard Cecelia whisper, "That's going to cost him."
    She was right, of course. As queen bee, Stephanie Bartlet was the arbiter of all things cool and popular at Highland Home. If the new guy knew what was good for him, he'd beg her forgiveness and let her accept him into the Golden Ones.
"Class, please welcome Mathias Auer. He'll be joining us this year" Mr. Stevens said.
    His name shot a bolt of disbelief through my whole body. It simply wasn't possible for me to have dreamed about the