The first time I met Soul was an accident. He moved here during my freshman year. You know how it goes. The rumor that there's a new kid begins to circulate around the school as the hottest gossip. The guys want to know if he's good at any sports, so he can join a team and help lead the Meisters to victory. The girls want to know if he's cute, or rich, or single, already preparing to flaunt themselves in the most ridiculous ways. I didn't have time to worry about the new guy. I was too busy with my studies to fawn over someone I didn't even know.

The bell rang and I ran down the corridors, zig-zagging between students who decided that it was a good idea to stand in the middle of the hallway and tell their life story to whoever would listen. My next class was on the fourth floor while my last had been on the first. Now that I had to stop at the office on the second to deliver an envelope that had been given to me by my last teacher, my time to reach the top floor had been crunched in half. "Watch it?" someone yelled as I elbowed them turning a corner. I would've apologized if I hadn't almost run into another three people. I reached the office in less time than I had anticipated.

'Oh, good,' I thought. 'Maybe I should try out for track.' I reached for the doorknob, only to have it turn before I touched it. The door opened revealing the strangest boy I had ever seen. Hair as white as the clouds but with a face around my age. His skin was a light almost pale color. His eyes were an unnerving red, as if someone had replaced his irises with rubies.

"Umm, excuse me?" he said.

I blinked a few times when I realized I had been staring.

"Oh, uh," I stammered.

I moved to the right at the same time he did. Then we moved to the left in sync. He rolled his eyes and said,

"Pick a side."

His tone did not sound at all amused, if anything he was just annoyed. I moved back to the right and he brushed past me.

"Finally," he muttered as his backpack scratched against my shoulder.

I watched him walk down the hall. I was fitting in perfectly with the rest of the student body. Everyone was looking at him as if he were an entirely different species. He might as well have been with those exotic looks of his. He must be the new guy everyone had been preparing themselves for. He had to be, it would be impossible to forget someone like him. I promised myself I would be allowed to learn about him later at lunch with my friends when I wasn't on a strict time limit. At least one of my friends I knew would know something about him. I turned back to the office and promptly ran into the door before realizing that he had closed the door behind him. I grimaced. Maybe I didn't want to learn anything about him after all.

At lunch Tsubaki, Patty, and Liz listened to my retelling of my brief encounter with the school's newest pupil.

"I hope he can make friends here. You made him sound like an enigma," Tsubaki said.

This was one of the reasons that Tsubaki was my best friend. She didn't know him, but already she was wishing the new guy well. She had this sort of 'older sister' complex.

"His name's Soul Evans. I heard he was hanging with Kid, you know, that one loner guy with the OCD," Liz said opening a pudding cup.

Liz was the guru on gossip. It's hard to tell her anything about anyone that she doesn't already know. I don't know how she does is.

"Yah? That's so cool, he's so lucky," Patty exclaimed putting her head in her hands and staring whimsically at nothing. "I think that Kid is so awesome."

"Umm, ew. Why?" Liz questioned.

"Because he's so different. I mean, have you not seen what he's done with his hair? He's got these three, horizontal, white, stripes on one side of his hair. Isn't that weird considering he hates anything that's not perfectly symmetrical?"

"Uh, I guess," Liz said losing interest in her sister's description.

"He and the new guy make a good team. They're both so mysterious."

Patty was Liz's little sister only by a year, but she was much spunkier.

"What about you Maka?" Tsubaki asked me.

"Huh? About what?" I asked.

"About the new guy."

"Uh, nothing I guess. I mean he doesn't seem like someone I would ever talk to, so I don't really care about him," I said shrugging and reaching for my milk carton.

"Dude, that's cold," Liz said crushing her now empty pudding cup.

I shrugged again and said, "What? It's not like we're ever going to become friends or anything."

My predictions rang true. I never spoke to Soul again. He had remained an enigma to me, one that I never planned to understand. The years went by and people got over Soul. Everyone knew that Soul was incredible in his gym classes but refused to join any sports teams, no matter how many coaches begged him to try out. Everyone knew that Soul was a chick magnet but never went out with anyone, no matter how many girls, and guys, asked him out. Everyone knew he was a nice enough guy if you talked to him but he didn't have any friends besides Kid, no matter how many people approached him.

He was a serious loner with an almost bad boy kind of aura and no one knew much about him. Needless to say, we never crossed paths. I had no classes with him, he never came to any games although I hardly did either, I forgot most of the time that he even existed. I had nothing to do with Soul, that is, until the last week of our senior year.

"Maka! Maka! Maka!" Patty ran up to me after school while I was at my locker and started excitedly bouncing like a rubber ball.

"What's up?" I asked grabbing my jacket and closing my locker door.

As I spun my combination Patty said all in one breath,

"There's going to be this huge graduation part at Blaire's place this weekend after the graduation and get this, Soul and Kid are going to be there which means we have to be there because this is literally so huge, I think I'll need Liz's help to find something to wear, what about you?"

"What about me?" I repeated.

"What are you going to wear to the party?"

"I'm not going," I said.

"Oh, yes you are," Liz said appearing beside me and throwing her arm around my shoulders. "You hardly ever do anything fun. Honestly, you're almost as bad as Soul."

This was not true. I did fun things. It's just that no one else thought they were fun. Getting an A on an exam is good, and getting deep into the plot of a new novel was always exciting.

"I've gone to games and stuff with you guys before."

"And end up leaving early because you're bored, or you're reading under the bleachers with a flashlight," Liz said arching her eyebrow at me.

"Besides, we all really want to go but it'd be lame if you weren't there. Right Tsubaki?!" she called down the hall at the approaching Tsubaki.

"Right what?"

"Right Maka has to come to Blaire's party?" Patty said.

Tsubaki gave me a questioning look.

"You're not going? But it's the last party of our high school lives. Don't you want a taste of that before we leave?"

Parties. Not exactly my preferred venue for fun. I couldn't use my 'I need to study' excuse anymore. I'd have to use a different tactic.

"Umm, I got to cook for my dad and stuff. You know how he can't do anything for himself," I tried.

"I call bullshit," Liz said flicking her hair over her shoulder."You're leaving for that big, fancy, nerd college in the fall. He's going to have to learn how to fend for himself out in the big, scary, world sooner or later."

Tsubaki placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on Maka. You're mom knew how to live life."

I automatically touched my heart shaped necklace that my mom had left me. My mom had been the type of mom that went by that ridiculous YOLO motto, yet somehow had that craveable balance between business and pleasure. I had wanted to be like her, to find that stable middle ground. It's obvious I never did.

I reached up and undid the clasp then brought it around in front of me. The plain silver heart dangled in front of us four. My mom had been amazing, so why my dad cheated on her I'll never know. Why my mom left me with him, I'll never know either.

"Hey, necklace. Explode if I should go to the party. Stay the same if I shouldn't," I said in a mocking tone.

The necklace stayed in its original form.

"Well, you have the verdict ladies. Guess I won't be going," I said putting the necklace back on and clasping it.

All three of them stared at me with a face that said, 'seriously?'. I had pulled this trick on them before.

"Whatever, I know you'll change your mind," Liz said with finality. "Come on Patty. We got to get home."

"Ok," Patty said following Liz down the hall, around a corner and out of sight.

I leaned against the lockers.

"Tsubaki, are you really wanting to go to that thing?"

She clasped her hands in front of her and nodded with a smile.

"I've never really been to a big party before. And wouldn't it be fun? To have a last days of high school celebration with our entire year. I want to be able to tell my kids stories someday. That I got wild at a party. That I puked in someone's lawn. That I snuck out to meet a guy I really liked," Tsubaki said going on and on about all these ridiculous things she wanted to do but I knew she never would.

Her next statement caught my attention.

"I want to be looked at by somebody and not have them think, 'there's the quiet, boring girl'."

"Tsubaki, you're not boring," I said soothingly.

"But I am, and this is the last chance I have to prove to people that I don't have to be. That the last thing they remember of me was something exciting."

She looked at me with a small hopeful smile.

"And that's why I want you to go. So, I'm not alone."

Guilt washed over me as heavily as if I were standing under a waterfall.

"I'll think about it," I said finally.

"Really? You will?" she said excitedly.

"Uh, yeah. That's not a yes," I added quickly. "It's a maybe."

"Oh my gosh! I'm so excited. I'm so ready to take on the whole world right now!"

For the first time I was witnessing Tsubaki psyched and getting a little rowdy in the halls. I had to admit, she looked really happy.

"Well, that's not 'til this weekend and if I don't get home soon my dad will ground me and I won't be able to go even if I decided to. Graduated or not," I said tugging her towards the main entrance.

Tsubaki gave me a ride home almost every day. I would drive to school myself if my dad let me take the car. It doesn't even make sense. He works from home over his computer, so shouldn't I be allowed to use the car for school? Tsubaki's car is the type that blends in. A small, black, compact car. The distinguishing thing about it are all stars. The matching seat and steering wheel covers with silver stars on it and the black star air freshener that was supposed to make the car smell like space but really just made it smell like mint. For some reason she's always loved stars.

I got in the passenger seat and closed the door. While Tsubaki looked through her CD collection for a track for our ride home I thought about the party. I felt like a selfish friend. Just one party was all she wanted. I reached for my necklace again thinking that maybe some sort of wisdom from my mom would pass through it into me. I touched my throat. My eyes widened as my fingers stayed splayed across my skin. I felt around already beginning to feel the first warning signs of a heart attack. My necklace was gone.

"Umm, Tsubaki?" I said trying not to let panic creep into my voice.

"Yah?" she said finally selecting an album and sliding it in the player.

"Umm, I left something in my locker," I said unlocking the door and stepping out. "I'll be right back," I promised as I shut the door behind me not giving her a chance to respond.

If I had told her that I had lost my necklace she would pull out a metal detector and comb over every inch of the school, and I really didn't want to make a scene. I dashed towards the doors of the school and threw them open. Now that a small portion of the student body had gone home for the day it wasn't as difficult to run around the people milling about. 'Ok, where could it be? You took it off by your locker, so it stands to reason that it would still be there. As long as no one's picked it up,' I thought to myself.

I turned another corner and skidded to a stop in front of my locker. I immediately fell to all fours and began touching the floor looking for all the world like someone trying to find their lost contact lens half-blind. I might as well have been with my eyes tearing up and blurring my vision so badly I felt like I was in a house of mirrors. Oh, god. I seriously couldn't lose that necklace. It was all I had from my mom.

"Hey."

I froze. I saw a pair of black and yellow shoes in front of me. I slowly looked up meeting a face haloed by white hair. Two blood red eyes stared at me as Soul sat crouched in front of me.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Umm, I uhh," I wiped my eyes quickly probably smearing my make up in the process. "I'm just looking for…"

"This?" he interjected.

He pulled something out of his jacket pocket and dangled it in front of my eyes. It was my necklace and it was still perfectly intact.

"Oh, my gosh! Thank you!" I exclaimed reaching for it.

I was so relieved I felt as light as a feather. You probably could've blown me over with a whisper. Just as my fingertips reached it he pulled it away.

"Oh, hold on. You don't get this back yet,' he said smiling slyly.

"What? Why not? It's mine," I asked extremely puzzled.

"Look Maka. I think we can help each other out," he said twirling my necklace around his finger.

For a moment I was shocked that he knew my name. Then I chastised myself. Well, I knew his, he might as well know mine. Still, I was wary.

"How?"

"Look, you need your necklace and I have that, correct?"

I nodded.

"And I need a date to the party this weekend." He looked up at me through his bangs still smiling. "That's where you come in."

I blinked.

"What?"

Soul rolled his vibrant eyes.

"Really Maka. I thought you were smarter than this. Be my date for the party and I'll give you your necklace back."

He reached for one of my pigtails, twirling the blonde strands between his fingers. I blushed but said,

"No way. Just give me what's mine."

"Oh, so that's a no? Oh, well."

And with that he put my necklace back in his pocket, stood up, and started walking away. I scrambled up and caught up to him.

"Soul, wait! Give me my necklace!"

"But, you're not going to be my date so why should I?" he asked not looking at me.

He picked up his pace; I had to jog to keep up.

"Because it doesn't belong to you," I said exasperated.

"True," Soul said pausing so suddenly that I ran into his back. "So, be my date then."

"I said no!"

I felt like I was seconds from blowing smoke out of my ears like a cartoon character. That little outburst had caused everyone in the hall to begin watching us. Soul and unnecessary interaction? Unheard of, and involving a girl no less. So much for not causing a scene. He turned around and faced me.

"Maka, be my date to the party. You do or you don't get your precious necklace back."

Was he seriously threatening me? He turned and continued walking. I knew nothing about him. I had no idea if he was serious. But I couldn't afford it if he was and not take his offer.

"Soul!" I called out to him grimacing.

He stopped but didn't turn around. I took a few more steps and stepped around him so that we were face to face. Or in this case, face to chest.

"I'll be your date. But, you have to swear that I'll get my necklace back."

"Have I ever lied to you?" he asked tilting his head to the side.

"Mostly because you've never talked to me," I muttered under my breath.

However, Soul still heard it and smirked. He leaned in close, a mischievous spark dancing in his eyes.

"See you there."

He stepped around me and left. Everyone that had been watching, now began whispering to each other and texting at a furious pace. Oh, no. What had I gotten myself into?