What did I do? He thought to himself. Technically him and Naoki wouldn't be able to come up with a plan that would work anytime soon. He decided to call Naoki's phone, and tell her he'd pick her up at the end of the day.

Ring,ring,ring,ring..."Hello Mr. Argos. What can I do for ya?" Naoki practicly shouted into the phone. "Oh, hello Naoki. Would you like me to pick you up after school?" He was almost hoping she'd tell him the bad news now. "Oh, umm..no. I'm Orlando's friend and he invited me to his house after school. Can I?" Naoki's phone was crackling like crazy. "Yes you can...but, could you take the bus here when you come? I just don't think it would be a good idea if I picked you up or they dropped you off. Ok?" Argos felt stupid making the girl take the bus all the way here, with a bad excuse too.

"Ok, see you then,umm, boss." She hung up. Great, she's going to his house. Hopefully she'll find lot's of things out there.

When they got to class in the afternoon, Naoki had to follow Lee and Orlando around, because she obviously didn't know her way around their school yet. "Oh yeah. Orlando, I don't need to go to the store after school. I can come straight to your house." Naoki looked around nervously, as though someone was after her. Orlando looked around to make sure Lee wasn't paying attention. She wasn't, she appeared to be threatening to punch some jerk in the face. "Yeah, ok. That would be...great."

Orlando had a habit of staring at the clock, waiting for the three o-clock bell to ring. This time, it was about thirty seconds away from ringing. He finished his french test and handed it to the teacher just as the bell rang.

"Hey Orlando, you walkin' me home?" Lee said between mouthfuls of pepsi. She had obviously found their schools new pop machine. "Nope, sorry. Naoki's coming to my house. You can still walk with Kai, right?" Orlando gave Lee a hug. "Yeah...ok. Whatever, see you later." Lee walked away.

"Naoki, can I use your phone?" Oops, he should have asked if she had one first.

"Hello?" His mom's voice asked on the other end. "Hi mom. It's Orlando. Can my friend come over?" Naoki crossed her fingers, like as if that would help. "Who, Lee or Kai?" His mom obviously didn't know Lee and Kai were both busy tonight, well that's what they had said to him. "No not them, a new student. Her name's Naoki." Naoki was getting impatient now and started pacing. "Are you sure she's not your girlfriend Orlando?" His sister sneered. "No Naomi! Get off the phone!" Now Orlando was impatient too, would his mom just hurry up and say yes? "Mom, can she come or not, answer me already!" "Ok, she can stay for supper too if she wants." His mom sounded stressed and she hung up. "Yeah, your allowed. You wanna stay for dinner too?" Naoki paused for a moment, then replied,"If I'm allowed to, with my...dad, that is."

While they walked to his house, they didn't talk much. Orlando had to stop this habit of what he thought was being able to read minds, because he had the strangest feeling Naoki liked him. Like Orlando had noticed before, Naoki was a little odd. She had long black hair, which was streaked with light brown. It couldn't be natural, he thought. But the strangest, and freakiest thing about her was her eyes. They looked black, dark, dark black. Even though black wasn't a colour for eyes, and they had a tint of red in them too. She looked like something evil from a video game.

He opened the door of his little suburban house. Not like it was a shack or anything, in fact Orlando would prefer his house now over some of the new big houses they were building nowadays. They're big and all, but unlike in his house the rooms were all tiny. Naoki walked in ahead of him and looked around. "Orlando, is that you?" His mom called down the hall. "Yep, mom we're here. Come meet Naoki!" "Oh, hello Naoki! My name is Roshell Dakole! Nice to meet you!" She took Naoki's bag, hung it on a hook and walked away. "So...you wanna go on the computer?" Orlando knew the answer but felt it was polite to ask anyways. Naoki nodded her head. "Yeah sure. Is it in your room?" Orlando wondered how on earth she knew that, but kept it to himself.

Naoki thought to herself, I'm starting to like him, more than a friend. Well, he is pretty hot. He seemed to be waiting for an answer, staring at her like that, but she didn't remember him asking a question. Accidentally ruining the moment, she asked,"Sorry, did you say something?"

"Uh, nope. Just-just...noticing you have nice eyes." This time Orlando blushed, he didn't really like her but that was the only excuse he could think of. Naoki flashed a slight smile, then quickly looked away, obviously embarrassed. "Thanks, I guess. This is kind of awkward." Yeah, whatever she thought. Orlando felt it was awkward, only because she liked him but he didn't like her back.

All of a sudden, all the lights in his house went out. Great, a blackout. Just what I need. He tried to feel around for Naoki, then noticed somehow they were holding hands. "Orlando? Are you okay?" Naoki sounded really quiet, as if they were hiding from someone. The only light they had was the lightning outside. Thunder was shaking the house, and icy wind blew his window open. Rain and cold wind blasted in through the open window, throwing around papers and things. Naoki was trembling beside him, not from terror, he realized, but from cold. Wait a minute, where was an icy, cold, rainy, freak storm coming from at the end of May? "Great! Naoki, we have to find a flashlight and get out of here before we blow away!" He could hardly hear his own sarcasm over the storm. Could she hear him? Just then, a huge tree branch flew in through the window and almost knocked them out, if Orlando hadn't thrown himself and Naoki onto the floor. Naoki threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Okay, let's get out!" Okay , she had heard him. "Right, come on!" They crawled across the floor dodging a broken bottle which had once been on his desk and the tree branch. When they reached the doorway, Orlando looked back at his already trashed room, and wondered what it would look like later.

"Oww!" Something had just hit him very, very hard in the back of the head, knocking him out for a second. He picked it up. It was a cellphone. A friggin' cellphone! Then he noticed there was a message on it. "Lemme see that!" Shouted Naoki rather rudely. She snatched the cellphone from his hand, noticing it looked exactly like Argos' phone.

The storm stopped, or more correctly, all the lights went back on. "Oh my god! Orlando you're bleeding!" Naoki pointed at his head. He put his hand to his head, and sure enough there was blood drizzling down it. "Well, duh. That phone just hit me!" He nodded at the phone. Naoki ignored his rude remark and pulled her shirt sleeve down and wiped the blood off his head, well some of it. "By the way, what did it say on the phone?" Orlando felt stupid for yelling at her a second ago.

"Oh...I couldn't read it. It was like...in a different language. It doesn't say anything anymore." Naoki was lying, but she had to. "Well, I gotta go now. I'll see you tommorrow." Naoki leaned over and kissed him, on the cheek. "B-bye, Naoki." He was too surprised to say anything else. Not like that was his first kiss, no it definetly wasn't, but hadn't they just met? Orlando collapsed onto the floor. Thinking would have to wait until later, he had passed out.

Argos had a pounding headache which was getting worse by the minute, waiting for Naoki to come to the car.

He had changed his mind about her taking the bus, considering the strange weather conditions. When he saw a weak window blown open in Orlando's house, he typed a message on his phone and whipped it through the open window.

Naoki flew down the steps of the house and almost ran right into the car door if she hadn't slowed herself down first. "What happened in there Naoki?!" Argos asked, half wanting to know, half not. "That phone you threw it Orlando in the head! He was...nevermind." Naoki knew she wasn't supposed to be on Orlando's side, but she liked him.

"Sorry. I guess we're not supposed to kill him, eh?" Argos really didn't mean to hit the kid in the head, but the message was urgent. Naoki flashed him a 'not funny' look and turned to look out the window. Argos ignored her and quickly drove the car away.

When they reached his condo, the phone rang. It must have been the last ring, because his answering machine automatically went on. "You have reached 905-555-0535. If it's important, leave a message after the tone. If it's not, bloody piss off. Beeep..." Click. Argos guessed they had hung up, he guessed wrong. "I know what you're thinking 'Captain' heh heh heh Argos. Watch yourself now, don't mess with things that are none of your buisness. As a british would say, you're barking up the wrong tree, so you bloody piss off! Heh heh heh." The voice sounded cold and evil, Argos recognized it but couldn't quite put his finger on the name.

"A-argos? Who-who was that?" Naoki's eyes were wide and she seemed terrified by the person on the answering machine.

"Nevermind them Naoki. Now tell me, what was your bad news?" Argos knew Naoki was tough, that's why he had hired her. But could she handle what might lay ahead for them?

"Oh...that. Well you see, the orphanage is only letting me stay with you for a few days. And I don't think that's enough time."

Orlando awoke in his bed, surprised it had survived the storm. He wondered why he was so cold, then noticed there was an ice pack on his head. He looked at his alarm clock and it read 8:45. "Mom! Why didn't you wake me up?! I'm gonna be late!" Roshell Dakole rushed into the room. "Orlando, it's Saturday. What are you going to be late for, breakfast?" She laughed. "You passed out last night, must've got some brain damage, huh?" She giggled again, at what Orlando found the least bit amusing. "Oh, I thought it was friday. Did Naoki call?" Orlando didn't even know what he was saying, that phone must've hit him pretty hard. "Uh, nope. Do you want breakfast now, or should I make it at lunch?" She seemed to be amusing herself alot lately. "I think I'll sleep 'till lunch. My head still hurts. See you then." Orlando's head did still hurt, but he needed to think. "Ok, I'll wake you up. Love you." She planted a kiss on his cheek and walked away.

Orlando looked around his room. It looked like a tornado just went through it, well, one kind of did. He noticed the cellphone on the floor at the far end of his bed. He wanted to get up and look at it, but had no strength left in his body to even lift a leg. Picturing himself trying to stand was funny. He remembered Naoki last night saying, "Oh...it was...in a different language. I couldn't read it. It's gone now." She sounded as though she was making it up as she said it, and that was exactly what made Orlando want to see the phone even more.

Now he was even too weak to think. Orlando fell into his pillow, taken again by a deep sleep. It seemed like he had only been asleep one minute when his mom came into the room. "Orlando! It's lunch, well, breakfast time! Wake up honey!" She was annoyingly shaking him and pulling his sheets away. "Uggh...I'm up, I'm up. I'll be there in a minute." Wow, he actually stood up without collapsing. He walked over to his mirror. Whoa, that must be what mom was constantly laughing at. Me. He had forgotten to take the spiking gel out of his hair last night, and half of it was sticking up in places, and half just lying there. There was dried blood in a line down his face, and other than that, he looked dead. He went to the bathroom and wet a face cloth to wipe the blood off his face. He quickly tried to fix his hair, then gave up. The 'just got out of bed look' would have to do. He was wearing boxers and a t-shirt, wondering how the hell he wasn't still wearing his clothes from last night, then remembered, Oh yeah, I have parents. Orlando walked out of his room and down the hall to the kitchen. Sitting at the round kitchen table by the huge window on the wall, were his mom, his dad, Naomi, and...Lee?

"Wha...? What are you doing here Lee?" He suddenly remembered how he looked and blushed.

"Oh, Orlando. Lee's parents dropped her off last night after you passed out, saying something about having to travel somewhere for a few days. I hope you don't mind, she'll be staying a while." Roshell Dakole stood up and gave Orlando a hug. Lee burst out laughing as if she'd been holding in the laugh for quite some time now. "Orlando! You look like a friggin' clown!" Orlando flashed her a weak grin. "Excellent observation, einstein. That's what happens when phone hits you in the head, makes you bleed, pass out, and forget to take the gel out of your hair!" Roshell Dakole, or his mom, looked shocked. "What?! How did a phone hit you in the head?!" Orlando just now noticed his mom was in the room. Oops, said too much. "Uh, did I say phone? I meant tree branch..."

"Well no wonder you don't no what you're talking about, you did pass out last night honey." His mom walked over to the stove and got some pancakes. "Here, have some pancakes."

"Uggh. Thanks. What's up Lee?" He noticed Lee in a different way for once. Right now she seemed...more like a girl. She was wearing a nightgown, or rather a short silk dress with bikini straps, and had her hair down. Normally she wore baggy pants and had here hair tied up. "Nothin' really. I'll tel you more later though." She whispered, nodding her head towards his parents. A while later he wondered what she was going to tell him, then realized they were both done eating and gestured for her to come to his room.

"So...what did you wanna tell me, Lee?" He plopped down on his bed, and she sat down beside him.

"Well, I've been thinking. I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I acted about that girl, Naoki. I was just in a bad mood that day, that's all." She looked around as if to make sure no one was spying on them. Orlando sat up and put an arm around her shoulders. "Hey, that's ok, with me. But you'll probably have to apolagize to her. That's it? You couldn't say that in front of my parents?" She looked at him and shook her head. "No that's not all I wanted to tell you. I've been wanting to tell you...well, I like you Orlando." She turned as red as a tomato for a second. Orlando didn't know what to say. Now two girls liked him, what was he supposed to do? He struggled to find the right words, but they seemed to be slipping right off his tongue. "Oh...umm, I don't really...really know what to say to that." Was all he could manage.

"Oh...I see. You probably think I'm weird now, huh? Ok whatever." She moved awkwardly away from him, uncomfortable to be right next to him. "No. I didn't mean it like that, I just couldn't really say anything. Lee, you're my best friend. If I thought you were weird, I'd tell you. Plus, we're all weird, in good ways that is. That probably sounded really friggin' corny, but heck, it's true." Orlando hadn't meant to offend Lee in any way. She looked like she was about to cry, but she bit her lip and said, "Oh, ok. Thanks. This is kinda awkward but..." She trailed off. Orlando was confused. "But what?-" He started but she fell onto his lap and looked up at him. "Orlando, really weird things have been happening lately. Some unknown person's been sending me messages in a different language. And the only parts I could understanmd were threats. Threats to kill me, and people I love. Usually I wouldn't be scared, but now I'm really friggin' scared. My parents are away now, and who knows what could happen to them. They're people I love, my friends are people I love, Orlando. What if something happens?" Orlando had been silent the entire time she was talking, and now he really couldn't think of anything to say. She was looking up at him with glossy eyes, and she looked on the verge of crying. All he could do was hug her tightly, and hope she didn't burst into tears. He was a twelve year old guy, what did he know about calming a crying twelve year old girl? But then, Lee was the toughest girl he knew. She wouldn't cry over something like this, only if someone really did get hurt.

"Well, what do you want to do today Lee?" He already knew the answer would be 'I dunno', but he thought it was neccessary to ask anyways. She had her head buried in his t-shirt, but looked up. "Hmm...we could...see a movie?" Wow, her answer wasn't 'I dunno'. At first Orlando thought she was asking him on a date, but then again, her liking hjimshouldn't change what they normally did. "Oh, sure. I guess we should get dressed then. Can't go anywhere like this now can we?" She laughed. At least Orlando had cheered her up a little bit. "Is it ok if I use the shower?" She got up and looked in the mirror. "I need to wash my hair." Orlando was reminded of the mess he called his hair and decided to have a shower too. "Yeah, sure. There's two bathrooms in my house, two showers. I'm gonna have one too." He stood up and walked to the bathroom attached to his room. "You can use the one down the hall, near the living room, ok?" Lee walked away. It was a known fact that guys showered quicker than girls, so he could probably be showered and getting ready by the time she finished her shower.

Lee felt really embarrassed after telling her best friend she was in love with him. But maybe a shower could wash away the embarrassed feelings. At least he had taken it well, she thought.

After her shower , wrapped in a small towel, Lee went to Orlando's room to get her bag, holding up her towel with her hand.

Orlando was in front of the mirror in his room, from which he couldn't see the door to his room. He was spiking his hair, but having some difficulty. After sucessfully doing his hair, he walked across to his bed. He turned around and saw Lee.

She was so shocked to see him there, she must've forgot she was wearing a towel and it dropped to the floor. Orlando shielded his eyes with his hands, but only seconds too late. Lee shrieked as she noticed her towel had dropped. She quickly picked up her towel and wrapped it around her, before running out of the room.

"Oh my god. And to think, I've never seen my best friend naked before now. Great, what if she thinks it's my fault? Crap!" Orlando's mind was racing, he was a guy, but at age 12 you shouldn't be seeing girls naked. What the hell was he going to do? What the hell was happening to him? First Naoki, the extremely weirded out girl coming to his house acting like she was his girlfriend, then that freak storm, the message on the cellphone, him passing out, Lee's threat problem, and now this! What the heck, was this all a big coincidence? Was someone stalking him? There were so many possiblities, he felt like his head would burst. He sat down on his bed to think, but a headache was throbbing in his head, so thinking would be difficult.

Lee ran into the living room where Orlando's mom was. "M-m-ms. Dakole?" She walked up to the woman. "Yes Lee? What's wrong?" Orlando's mom turned to face Lee. "Umm...can we sit down and talk? Please?" Lee didn't wait for her answer and sat down on the couch, towel clutched for dear life in her hands. "Yeah, sure. Now what's wrong Lee?" Orlando's mom wasn't smiling anymore. "Well, umm...I kinda walked into Orlando's room to get my bag after my shower, and I didn't know he was in there. Then, umm...he walked around the corner and I...I dropped my towel by accident. A-and I don't know what to do." His mom put on her 'Oh my goodness' face. "Oh...dear. Well, I'm not a physchiatrist or anything, but I think you should go talk to him." She gestured towards Orlando's room.

"But, how am I ever going to face him again? I mean, he saw me naked. It wouldn't be that bad if he was a girl, but you know, he's a guy." Lee knew that Orlando's mom knew her own son was a guy, but she needed to explain. "Well, he is your best friend. In fact, you two have been best friends since you were very little! Just because of what happened doesn't mean you guys can't be best friends anymore. Go talk to him. After you get dressed. Orlando's mom got up and walked to Orlando's room. Lee waited for her as she brought Lee her bag. She put on a white tank top, and army design capris. She tied her shoulder length hair in two loose ponytails. She had to talk to Orlando, hopefully he'd be able to face her again.

She walked to his room and knocked on the door. "Uh, Orlando? Can I come in?" She heard him walk over to the door. "Lee? Are you dressed...?" He must've sounded funny saying that, but come on, he had to be sure. "Yeah...can you open the door now?" Lee was really desperate to talk to him now. The door swung open and they both stared at each other for a moment, before walking in. Lee realized she didn't know what to say, but whatever. He wasn't her teacher, and it wasn't like she was presenting a project in front of the class, it wasn't like she needed to plan what to say to her own best friend. He started the conversation by saying, "So, you ready to go to the movies?" Lee was surprised at first. She had completely forgotten they were planning on going to the movies in the first place. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot. Ok, you know what? We're both acting too friggin' serious, just 'cause you saw me naked doesn't mean anything should happen between us. We're best friends for gods sake! Ok, now I'm ready." All of that came out of no where, surprising not only Orlando, but Lee too. Normally her stomach would be aching from the two of them laughing so much together. But now, like she said, they were both too serious to get any laughing done. Orlando had been staring at the floor, but Lee's lecture made him look up. "Ok...but I can't think of anything funny to say." Orlando smiled. Oh, what the heck. He wrapped his arms around the girl and would have kissed her, if his mom hadn't burst into the room at that moment. Uh oh, it was his mom. "Orlando, clean up the mess in the front hall, immediately!!" She sounded extremely mad with him. Why though, Orlando was strangely clean for a 12 year old. "What mess, I didn't make any-" His mom cut him off, "ORLANDO!! Clean it up now!!" Orlando hoped the mess wasn't too big, whoever or whatever had made it. He gave Lee a 'I'll be right back' look and headed towards the front hall. It was sparkling clean. "What?? Ok this is just weird. Mom! I'm finished!" He called to his 'extremely-dangerous-at-the-moment-mom'. His mom walked over to him. "Hmm...that was quick for such a big mess. Well, what are you and Lee doing today?" Orlando was so confused by all this, he felt dizzy. "We're going to the movies. And no we don't need a ride." He answered his mom's question before she even asked it, another thing he needed to stop doing. His mom seemed so mad at him, but he didn't do anything, did he?

"Oh well. I guess I'll see you later. Bye honey." She hugged him and left. What was up with her? Why was everything so strange all of a sudden? Orlando shook away the questions. If he thought about this anymore, his head might explode. He went to walk to his room, then noticed Lee already waiting for him in the living room. She looked bored out of her mind. "What was that all about? Can we leave now?" Orlando felt like he was going to pass out. "I have a headache, but yeah, let's go." He put a hand to his head, and a hand on the couch to steady himself. "Be careful, I might just pass out." Lee laughed and put an arm around his shoulders. "Here, I'll help you walk. What's up with you lately, you're acting weird." She nodded toward the door and they started walking. Orlando was thankful for her being here, or else his mom probably wouldn't of let him leave. "I dunno. Everything's weird lately. Think we should take the bus, it's raining." Lee put on a surprised face. "Oh, yeah. I didn't know it was raining. This will be difficult, trying to run, attached to you!" They both laughed. When they got outside, it was pouring. They almost tripped down the stairs, then ran awkwardly towards the bus stop. By the time they got there, the bus had already left. They slumped themselves down on the soggy bench, getting soaked more by the minute. When they thought a bush had finally come, it was going to the wrong place. After what seemed like hours, their bus finally came. They were so drenched from the rain they made a puddle all they down the bus, including on their seats. The bus was practically empty, except for them and about three other people. So they took up as much room as possible, lying down on the seats back to back. It was a really dull, gloomy day. Maybe some sugar would cheer them up, oh yeah, then they'd be hyper. They were always quite entertaining when they were hyper and together. They liked to make a scene, particularily because they didn't care what people thought of them. Orlando was drifting off into sleep when the bus suddenly jerked to a sickening stop. Orlando really didn't want to open his eyes, but Lee was shaking him. "Orlando! Dude, it's our stop! Get up! Come on, we're really gonna catch it from the bus driver if we don't hurry up!!" Orlando sat up. "Uggh...ok, ok. Let's go.You might need to help me walk again." He flashed Lee a grin. She smiled meakly. "Haha. Very funny. You have legs you know!" They walked towards the entrance of the movie theater. It was only about a metre away in reality, but Orlando's eyes were playing tricks on him and it looked farther away every time they got closer. He didn't know what was wrong with him, was it some kind of new disease? Probably not. Orlando noticed a suspicous looking car with tinted windows driving slowly behind them. He ignored it and contiued walking. Only when the car pulled up beside them and rolled down a window did he pay any mind. A peculiar hooded figure looked out and raised something, pointing it towards them. Orlando squinted to see what it was. A gun! "Lee! Look!" He warned. Lee whipped her head around to look. "Holy crap...we better move!" Orlando grabbed her arm and they ran and crouched behind a big garbage bin. Bang! They heard a shot fired. Someone cried out in pain. The world and the sounds were all spinning in front of his eyes, everything was mixing together and making him dizzy and lost. People were screaming. "Oh my god! What's happening out there Orlando??" Lee sounded terrified, and proved it by burying herself in Orlando's arms. When Orlando dared to look, the car and hooded figure were gone. "Hey...I think we can go out now..." They walked out and looked around to see if anyone got shot. They pushed their way through the crowd, and saw someone lying on the ground moaning in pain. Lee's jaw dropped to the floor. "Oh...oh my...god...oh my god...oh my god..." She stuttered. "What? Say it already Lee." Orlando was confused, again.