Premonition (Chapter 4) *the missing chapter*

Eternally the busiest mouth in the entire academy, and also the most popular, was Jacintha Rogue. At the very beginning of the school year, Arista always had a kick out of it when she heard the teachers call her Miss Rogue. Besides living up to her family name, it was rumored that she had dirt on each and every one of the inhabitants of Lilian Academy, including the teachers. Blackmail was but second nature to her, and her ego was definitely larger than the amount of clothes she wore when she wasn't altering her own uniform. Her second in command was Veronica Stonewall. Similar in some aspects such as being dumb and skinny as a twig, she was the poor lass that was often sacrificed when Jacintha wanted to save her own skin. The other 3 dogs that blindly followed every single word that was barked at them were Penelope Berklyn, Sheila Arin and Dahlia Leon. Those 3 practically treated Jacintha as if she were some goddess that could grant the holy grail of popularity as long as they pleased her.

For years now, Rogue had tormented her about the same thing over and over and over again about nobody, not even her own family wanting her around and well, yea, it hurt but it didn't anymore ever since the weird dreams started. Even then, she still couldn't be sure if that could even be counted, after all, it was just all in her head. After soaking for a mere 8 minutes, Arista got up and got ready to leave. The more she stayed, not only the nosier it seemed to get but also the more painful the flashbacks that came pouring through her head. While slipping into her black baby doll, she clutched at her heart. It was as if she could feel her heart break for real.

By the time she got back to her dorm, the moon and starts were already there to greet her. Exhausted both mentally and emotionally, she grabbed her book and proceeded to the window seat. Using moonlight as natural lighting, she leaned against the stone cold wall, gazed outside and let her mind wander. With wounded heart in hand, she glazed over her last few sentences to see where she last stopped in spinning her tales of despair. -'Betrayed and grieving beyond one could endure; she stood over the body of her late lover. He promised he wasn't going to hurt him...but that was a lie, along with everything else that came out of his mouth.'-

Truth be told, she had absolutely no intention of continuing tonight but she didn't exactly want to descend into her lover's realm just yet. Arista snapped her book shut in defeat. Her hair cascaded down her face as she drew her legs closer to her chest. Her delicate frame trembled as she cried silently into the night. She lifted her head after awhile, tears running down her cheeks, making her vision blurry and distorted. She stopped sobbing as she noticed something quite peculiar.

The moonlight fell in such a way that it only highlighted the edge of whatever it touched, and in front of her, like in that of her dreams, was the silhouette of the man whom had held her for the past several months now. She felt a tingle run up her spine. She didn't recall ever going to sleep so early, being the owl that she was. Did she doze off? Whatever it was, for the moment, Arista didn't want to know. She just wanted to believe that there was indeed somebody there to catch her. Sensing her stillness, from behind the shadows, he stretched out his hand, gently beckoning to her.

Manifestation of not, that gesture alone was enough for her to recognize him for the person she knew and trusted with her life. Her arms were wrapped around him in an instant. Her little cries were muffled as she buried her face into his chest. He, in turn ran his hand through her raven tresses as the other held her tight in his embrace. it was hard to believe that a few nights ago, they were locked in such a steamy moment that it still left her short of breath whenever she thought of it, but tonight proved that there WAS something else besides lust and desire between them; regardless how he suddenly materialized at the right moment. Unlike all the other times where she tried desperately to record every little action she took or planned something to finally make him reveal his identity, she just let him hold her tight, absorbing all her bottled pain.

She turned her head ever so slightly to hear his heartbeat better. Some people listen to the waves of the ocean or the roar of a waterfall to calm themselves. To her, his heartbeat was her ocean; beautiful, mysterious and ever over-flowing. At the same time, she could feel every little movement he made. Even with her eyes still closed, she felt it. A kiss no more gentle than the moonlight sweeping across a sleeping rose. Though her vision was still temporarily blurred, she could make out the corners of his mouth. Neither end turned up nor down. She raised her hand to caress his face, his hand cupped over hers in return. Eventually, her lips found their way to his and it was only then that she realized that her body was pressing against his bare skin as her other hand ran down his back. She nervously broke away from their kiss to catch her breath. She could feel the blood pulsing furiously through her veins, making her face mimic a glowing sunset. Her downcast eyes flicked up only to find herself in complete darkness for the moon had hid itself behind the clouds. He however, wasted no time in guiding her back to his lips.

The next morning, Arista awoke in her own bed, buried under a series of fluffy quilts, which she did not remember bringing out of the drawers at all. She looked to her left, her books lay askew on the floor along with a couple of pages all crumpled as if they have been mercilessly trodden on. Her pen, though, remained intact on the window sear. She looked closer and saw that quite a few things had actually been thrown around. On her right, a pile of blankets were breathing rather heavily with only as much as a halo of dark hair, peeping from under the covers. Arista, yawned herself and retreated back under the quilt. It was freezing and it was also the beginning of the weekend. According to her bedside clock, it was still too early to be bothered about a messy room. Especially when she could only remember less than half of the events that occurred last night. Normally, her dreams would take place, anywhere BUT the places that she knew of, making last night, stranger than strange.

Arista couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she was sure she saw him beckoning to her just as he did the night before. The places where he laid his hands on her still seemed to burn with his touch. Curled up under the sheets and while still lost in thought, she thought she heard her roommate get up. By the sound of it, she guessed that he probably had a bad hangover of some sort. Grunting occasionally and bumping into what seemed like...the dresser, the bed post and...the bathroom door. With a tired sigh, she heard him slam the door behind him. Looks like someone didn't get enough sleep last night, not used to his surroundings, Arista thought.

Since it was the weekend, classes only lasted for half the time but in her opinion, that was more than enough to kill the early Saturday morning mood. She decided to play hooky and banked right at the cross-section on the way to class. That was when she crashed right into one of Lucianna's many roommates...