Author: volvovolkova

Disclaimer: Nope... Lena and Yulia, sadly, do not belong to me... However! The characters they portray DO! All other characters in this fic also belong to me.

Feedback: YES!!! I need to know what you think! Send all comments, good AND/OR bad, to volvovolkova@yahoo.com - Thanks, so much!

She sat there in front of the school on the same steps every day, before and after school. It was a sort of routine, one might say. Some days she would read or write in her journal, others she would simply observe. It was what she did best. She had started sitting on the steps when her parents divorced. Her dad received full custody, and her mother had moved away, claiming she had found her true love. This hurt her father, but she knew this way he would never leave her.

They lived in an apartment about ten miles from the school. Her dad went to work rather early, and she always had to take city transportation, meaning a city bus from a stop near their apartment to the metro, then the metro to the stop two blocks from the school. It would arrive approximately 45 minutes before school started. So... She decided to begin sitting on the steps to pass the time. It was almost like a part of her bolonged there. It would always be peaceful and quiet.

She wasn't your typical student... Honor roll, sort of a bookworm, into the finer arts, loved classical music... Her father was a big museum curator and a known classical pianist. She had taken lessons from him every three days for the past 15 years and was impressively good.

She was 17 now and had a minimal amount of friends. Most of them were older, seeing as how she wasn't into what most of the other students were. She never liked parties. She didn't go to the movies. She hardly ever went out on the weekends.

School had been in session for 2 months, and like every other year... she wasn't greeted by groups of people or close-knit friends. No... She was alone, again... It was her last year in this school. She was quite proud of her achievements. She was sencond in her class and had won every academic award possible, but she was becoming more and more lonely...

Today she was reading. It was now 7:15, and school didn't start until 7:40. The sun shone brightly, as daylight savings time had occured the previous week. It was Monday, the start of a fresh new week.

She turned the page of her book and read the last page. It was no suprise. She had read the book countless times. It was one of her favorites. She noticed as she closed the book, someone... Someone was there... A few steps up on the other side of the case. There were at least 15 feet between them. She pretended not to notice... but she had to look up...

TBC...