I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by tall, lush, green grass. I shook my head, and then pricked my ears, checking for any sounds of danger. I straightened out my long, cream colored front legs first, and then pushed myself the rest of the way up with my strong back legs. I stretched my long legs for a moment and then I threw my head back and took off running. The grass shuddered as I raced through it, running faster and faster still. My hooves pounded against the ground, and the wind whipped through my mane.

Then I saw a large white snow leopard racing towards me as it took a mightly leap in the air, flying towards me, claws unsheathed. I braced myself for the attack, closing my eyes tightly shut. I heard an earsplitting scream and then my eyes fluttered open and I realized that I was awake. I sat up in my bed, my heart pounding out of my chest and I gasped for air.

It was the dream again. I had been having it for weeks now. Everything was always so vivid, the smell of the green grass, the pounding of my hooves against the ground, the wind in my mane. And although it always happened everytime the white leopard came out of the grass, it never failed to scare me. Every night the dream got even more vivid and even scarier.

I folded back the soft velvet blanket, and crawled silently out of my bed. I walked by my dresser, stopping for only a second to admire the picture sitting there. It was of me and one of my very good friends Derek. He had moved away nearly a month before and I missed him very much. Me and him had always gave off the wrong impression that we were dating and most of the time when asked we would look over at each other, grin and say 'yep we are!" without even asking the other about it first. Then later we would have a nice long laugh about it.

Derek was a great guy. His longer blond hair that was just long enough to get in the way of his amazing green eyes, they could peirce your heart from a mile off. His cute curved nose, his thin lips, his crooked smile, his chisled jawline. Sigh. He was a really amazing guy. Really caring to all of those around him. He could make you laugh at the saddest time, and I didn't that that there was a person in the world that didn't like him.

I wished his dad hadn't made him move to North Carolina. Miles away from me. I hadn't even talked to him since then. I carried on, slowly shuffling towards my bathroom, where I could take a quick shower and get today over with. It wasn't the fact that it was Monday, but tomorrow was my birthday and I was anxious to finally turn 16. That meant driving, and more trust from my father.

My mother had died when me and my brother Tanner were only two years old. Neither one of us new her very well although our dad constantly reminded both of us how much we were like her. I didn't see how me and him were both like her when we were almost the complete opposites of each other. I was short, 120 pounds. Five six, long blond hair, with natural brown streaks, pale blue eyes, and a very creamy complection, also I was very stylish. Tanner on the other hand was tall, 130 pounds, Six five, short brown hair with natural blond streaks, and icy blue eyes that could turn your heart into ice if he tried hard enough to do so, and he had a very dark complection, he tanned very easily. And he just threw on the first thing he found in the morning, whether it matched or not.

The only thing the same about me and him would be that we were both extremely popular at our school, known as some of the hottest people there. We both had that bubbly personality that made people love to hang out with us. We both excelled in track, which was our extreme sport. We ran cross country, and so far our school hadn't yet lost. We were very competitive when it came to playing against each other, whether it was track, baseball, or basketball. Don't get me wrong though, we were very close, and we had that twin telephathy going for us. Sometimes it was cool and other times it was kind of annoying. His pain was my pain, and I could always tell when he was upset, but I could also tell a little to clearly when he was happy, and when he was attracted to a certain girl and in what way.

I shuddered as the cold water ran over my tense body. I ran my hands through my drenched hair and sighed relief as the last of the dreams got washed away in the shower. I stepped out, wrapping the towel around my body before walking back into my room. I pulled on some black leggings and the most adorable blue jean skirt, and then I tucked the leggings into my pink converse, next pulling a preppy pink shirt on, putting the studded belt just above my hips. I wasn't punk, goth, emo, or whatever you called it, nor preppy, I just liked to dress kind of in between. Almost as soon as I got dressed I heard a rapid tapping at my door. "Tanner, just come in!" I called out to him as I put half of my hair into a messy bun, and left the rest down.

He bust through my door, wearing our school cross country shirt and some faded black jeans. He was actually matching. His short brown hair was everywhere atop his head and his icy blue eyes locked onto my eyes. "Savannah" he said a wave of emotion radiating off of his dark skin and settling in around my brain.

It seemed like some sort of excitement but I wasn't sure. This is where the annoying part comes in. "Spit it out Tanner, what do you want?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I turned to observe myself in the mirror. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Dad says that he has something really important that he needs to tell us" he said another wave of emmotion swarming over me. Why was this so exciting?

Our dad always had something exciting to tell us and it usually always ended with him saying "My darahs. My darahs are growing up." What the heck darah meant I wasn't so sure. I think that my dad lived in his own land half of the time, and in that land he talked some other language.

"It's about our birthday!" Tanner said rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

Suddenly I caught onto his excitement. "Do you think we are getting new cars?" I asked.

Tanner shrugged and then he raced off down the stairs. I took off after him, catching up at the bottom of the stairs. Together me and him walked into the living room where our dad was sitting on the couch, holding a picture of our mother and smiling. When he saw us approach he sat it back down on the TV tray and looked at us. "Sit down, sit down" he said waving towards the couch, as if we were just visitors.

Me and Tanner exchanged a confused look but then we both sat down on the couch. "So what's up?" Tanner asked.

"So ya'lls 16th birthday is tomorrow!" our father said looking very excited. His own blue eyes, not as pale as mine, but not as icy as Tanners, glowed.

"Yeah" me and Tanner said together, each leaning closer to our father.

He opened his mouth as if to say something but then he closed it again. He repeated this a few more times and then he gave us a quizzical look, before turning towards the clock. "Look at the time!" he said jumping up.

Me and Tanner both looked at the clock to see that it was twenty minutes before school started.

"Get going, i'll tell you after school!" he said shooing us towards the door. Luckily we only lived ten minutes away from the school and since me and Tanner could both run a long amount of time without getting tired we always ran to school.

Together me and Tanner walked out of the door and I could faintly hear my father at the door. "My Darah's. They are all grown up. Sixteen years old tomorrow!"

We were nearly to school when I felt a wave of confusion settle down in my brain, much more than the confusion I was already feeling. I turned to Tanner. "You don't know what's going on either?" I asked him.

He looked over at me and shook his head. He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Dad has always confused the hell outta me" he said.

I nodded in agreement.

"I mean what the hell is a darah? And remember the first time I brought my girlfriend home from school and he glared at her and called her a Putaca, I couldn't even defend her because I didn't know what it was!" he said throwing his hands up in defeat.

I snickered lightly. I remembered that day very well. We were 13 years old and Tanner had just now started going out with Gloria Stinweil and he had invited her over. When she got to the house my father had looked over at her, narrowed his eyes and said "You are going out with a Putaca?" Gloria had taken it offensivly, not knowing what that was and thinking that he was calling her a whore in another language. Tanner hadn't taken up for her because he hadn't known what it meant either. Him and Gloria broke up later that day.

"Yeah and he called Derek a parah, and Derek was like ok" I said reminding him.

"I really wish that I knew how dads mind worked" Tanner said as we walked across the soft green grass of the school yard.

"Me to brother" I sat patting him on the back.

"Oh yeah we have to talk in speech today, did you already think up your speech?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "It will come to me once I get up there though" I said.

That was another thing about us, we were completly at ease infront of a lot of other people. We were A+ students, and because of our academic level me and him were both in pratically every class together. All except for atheletics. Sometimes our telepathy got us in trouble. Our minds thinking alike and causing us to write about nearly the exact same thing, good thing that the teachers understood. The more I thought about it the more I noticed how much alike me and Tanner really are.

***
I pranced into the cafeteria later that day at lunch and saw many welcoming faces. I could sit anywhere I choose and feel perfectly at ease. I danced over to the track girls and sat down in an empty chair and they all quickly greeted me. "Hello girls" I said back to them.

"O.M.G Vannah I love your converse, are they new?" Fifi, a short, but fast, redheaded girl said from across the table.

"Well yeah sorta, I got them on Ebay!" I said and we both started squealing excitedly.

Then I heard someone let out a loud sigh and I turned to look at Beatrice, a very pretty punk rock chick, with super long black hair and beautiful brown eyes. "What's wrong Bea?" I asked her.

She looked over at me and her cheeks flushed. She wasn't easily embarrased so this made me wonder. I cocked my head to the side. "Your brother is so fine" she admitted.

I laughed and then I turned my head around to see Tanner and one of his friends Jared locked in an arm wrestling contest. Tanner didn't look like he was trying very hard, but Jared's face was turning red and I could see his arm shaking from the distance. Both of the guys muscles were also very noticable. Show offs. "Why don't you go and tell him that Bea?" I asked her. I knew that she wasn't shy. She would go up to any guy and tell him flat out that he had a cute butt, or that his fly was undone. Something that not even I was able to do without feeling very cautious.

"He doesn't like punk girls" she said picking at her black fingernails.

"You don't know that, plus he is all into track girls, which you happen to be" I said. I loved getting people together, it was so much fun to see a couple and be able to say that I am the one that made them so happy in the first place.

Just then Cindy, a few high strung girl, also known as the gossip girl of Patriot High came running over to the table. "Did you hear!?" she asked, her voice coming out squeaky.

I answered for all of the confused track girls. "Did we hear what?" I asked.

She threw down a teen scene magazine and slid it over to me. "Read this outloud!" she said taking a seat and looking at me with wide eyes.

I looked down at the magazine and saw the heart throb of the year, the guy that every girl in the United States had fallen head over heels for, Ryan Handolph on the cover. I flipped open to the folded page and cleared my throat to read aloud "Ryan Handolph heart throb of the year, disappeared five days before his 16th birthday, Investigators have been out searching for him but nobody seems to know where he is. We met up with his mother and father to find that they were just as worried as everyone else. Investigators fear the worse, that he has been kidnapped and will be held hostage for some amount of money. This is all we are allowed to give out at the moment, more news in next weeks Teen Scene Magazine."

"What! No Ryan Handolph!" Fifi yelped, covering her mouth with her hands.

I gave the magazine back to Cindy who jumped up and rushed off to go and show everyone else. "I wonder what happened. Five days before his own birthday" I said. Me like every other sane girl in the world was a hardcore Ryan Handolph fan. He had amazing brown eyes that you could just stare into forever, a perfect set of teeth(his smile could light up any room) his sandy brown hair was always gelled to perfection and his nice, lean abs could make any girl squeal. At his concerts I heard that he would take off his shirt and allow all the screaming fans to touch his abs. I hadn't ever gotten that close to him before at his concerts(which totally sucks!)

To bad because me and him would make an awesome couple.