Emily taking a deep breath.

So I was sitting in my window seat, shades cracked, lights off, binoculars in hand…”

Binoculars? Really, you honestly were using binoculars?” Xena interrupted. Well, you said you wanted details, so I was giving you details, Emily defended.

Oooh, did you have music playing in the background? Because that would have been spytastic, Aria said enthusiastically.

“Actually,” Emily said distractedly, I was thinking more James Bondish.

I was sitting there for about an hour and then a white limo pulled up in front of the Conrads’ house.

A limo? Which foreign exchange student shows up in a limo? Aria asked.

Exactly, right? That’s what I thought Emily stated. I assure you the limo was of no consequence once the person inside stepped out.

Ladies, I saw the most gorgeous guy to ever grace my sight. When you say gorgeous, Aria started, are we talking Wesley Smith boyish good looks, or Denzel Washington ?

No, they are both learning work Emily answered. But, aside from him being dropped off in a limo and aside from the fact that he was a walking Calvin Klein ad, something strange happened , boys and girls,” Emily said in a spooky voice.

“Like it wasn’t strange already?” Xena asked. “Well…okay, strange-er. Just as he was about to walk up the path, he suddenly turned and looked straight at me, as if he could sense I was watching him.

Like, he looked straight into my soul. I literally couldn’t move. It was like I was spell bound by him or something. And then we entered the world of ‘what the hell.’

As he was staring at me, I heard a voice in my head and it said ‘at last, my Emily’

Then, as he turned to go into the house, I heard the voice again. It said, ‘soon’. Emily stared expectantly at her two best friends, waiting for them to tell her she’d finally jumped off the deep end.

But they just sat there, staring back at her.

Hello, Emily asked.

Finally, Aria stirred. Taking a deep breath in, she looked down at her empty hot chocolate mug and said, We’re gonna need more hot chocolate.

“Agreed,”

Xena and Emily replied at the same time. Once Aria had returned with three fresh mugs of hot chocolate and some cookies, she said, So, let me see if I’m catching what you’re throwing.

Hottie exchange student drives up in a limo, steps out, rocks your world, looks into your eyes, and speaks to you in your head?

Am I getting the hang of it here? Emily nodded her head, sheepishly looking at the floor.

I mean, I guess it was his voice in my head. It could’ve been a long lost dead relative who decided to speak to me the moment that hottie looked into my eyes.

Aria and Xena both gave Emily their “get a larger spoon if you're going to shovel it in that big” look.

What? Emily asked. I’m just saying,

she said, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.

Flopping back onto the floor, she groaned loudly and covered her eyes with the back of her hand.

Am I going crazy?

No, sweetie. You’ve been gone a long time now, we just didn’t want you to know that we knew, Xena said with humor.

Seriously, I know it sounds crazy. But I promise I heard a beautiful, deep, masculine voice in my head, and it knew my name.

That is crazy,totally insane. Emily looked at them both with fear in her eyes.

She truly did wonder if she had finally cracked.

There were, after all, people in her family of questionable sanity, her mother being one of them.

Emily loved her mom and they had a good relationship, but she wasn’t always in touch with reality.

Emily ’s father wasn’t in the picture and never had been. He had bailed as soon as he found out her mom was pregnant.

Thankfully, she had two best friends who kept her feet firmly on the ground, which was why she was so fervently seeking their thoughts on this matter. Xena finally spoke up.

I don’t think you’re crazy, Emily. Really, you’re not. There has to be some sort of explanation. We’ll figure it out, we always do.

“Yeah,” Aria added. “It’s two weeks ‘til school starts. From now until then we are on scout detail.”

Xena nodded her agreement. The three were quiet for a few minutes, each pondering ways to “run into” the new exchange student without seeming too obvious.

Aria was lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling fan when she said, “We need to find a way to introduce ourselves to him so that we can each get a good look and see if Xena or I hear a voice in our head.”

My mom was planning on taking over a good old Southern meal for him since he isn’t from here.

We could ask if we could go over with her. Or would that be too lame? Emily asked.

No, I think that’s perfect, Aria stated. By midnight they had come up with a somewhat weak game plan, the whole of it revolving around going with Emily ’s mom to give the new exchange student some fried chicken, sweet tea, and corn on the cob.

Seriously, how lame can l get?

A few hours ago I was just another seventeen year old getting ready to start her senior year.

I was so normal, Emily thought. She had three homecoming mums hanging on the wall next to her bed, and on the other side was the window seat she had occupied tonight, where her peaceful life had changed in a way she wasn’t sure of yet. Emily lay back down on her back and watched her ceiling fan go around in a circle, the motor lulling her to sleep. Her last thought as she drifted off was of the crystal eyes in the full moon.