The short version: I'm not who I think I am. Or, that's what Jesse is telling me. And who wouldn't believe the hottest guy I've ever met who never seems to sleep and knows a lot more than he's letting on? Me. I don't believe him. I want to. But I can't. What he's saying is too unbelievable. I'm embarrassed to tell people I have an imaginary friend still, who doesn't seem so imaginary, but what Jesse tells me is so unbelievable. He says we're The Chosen ones; the ones who are to make it through The Change. But at the same time, everything he's saying is so tempting, and it makes sense. I don't know what to believe.

Chosen

I pressed the heal of my hand against my head, trying to ease the throbbing migraine that never seemed to go away.

"So, Kit, are you coming with us today?" Sara asked.

Sara was my best friend, but she didn't understand me and my latest 'illness'. Migraines had gotten the best of me the past year, and they weren't getting any better. The constant snoozing I did pissed Sara off. It messed with our social life, she said. I didn't much care for being overly social.

"Naw dude; my head…" I mumbled, shielding my eyes against the glaring sun.

"You're such a vampire!" she whined.

Vampire was her new nickname for me. It wasn't a nickname I much appreciated though. She used it in reference to my inability to deal with sunlight most days. That bothered me. There was nothing I could do about the pain. I just put my sunglasses in place.

"Whatever." I shrugged. I wasn't looking for a conflict.

I headed towards my house, waving at Sara as walked further down the street. She didn't even glance back. I sighed. I still had quite a ways to go before I made it home.

The summer sun was glaring at my back but that much light was enough to make me feel like I was suffering from combusting brain cells. Someone fell into step almost silently beside me. I could nearly guess who it was. He'd been meeting with me every now and then when I walked this road. I glanced up to be sure.

"Hey Jess."

"Headache again?" He inquired without preamble.

I nodded, and that hurt too. I stifled a groan.

"So," He started, staring at me steadily. "I've got a proposal for you. And it's going to seem rather… strange to you."

I raised an eyebrow at him. He knew a few things that I'd been through, so I wondered what he expected me to find strange. "Alright, shoot."

I lead him into my empty house and we sat across from each other at the kitchen counter. "I need you to come somewhere with me." He started. He was watching me closely, and I fidgeted a little.

"Like where?" I prompted.

"It's kind of far away. To see my family." He replied. He'd mentioned before that the rest of his family lived far away in some remote area, but never mentioned where exactly.

"Um, ok…" I thought about it for a moment. Where was this going? "Why?"

"It's a terribly long trip and I need someone to keep me awake…" He shifted his eyes away from me to look out the window. "If you don't mind, I mean. I usually bring someone with me, but you're the only one I can think of…"

"Sure." I shrugged. No big deal right. No big deal, yet, at least. "When do we leave?"

"Tonight." He seemed relieved.

"Well that's rather sudden but alright. I'll just let mom know."

He nodded. "Just pack whatever you can't live without. I'm not entirely sure my old truck can make it there and back. So just in case we get stuck an extra day or so."

He was leaving a lot of his sentences unfinished, I noticed offhandedly. I nodded in reply. "Well since you're here now, help me pack."

We went into my room and I packed the essential clothing and makeup. I looked around my room, realizing for the first time how very bare it was. I never really personalized it. I was one of those kids who always felt out of place, and I was never really sure what I wanted, or what I was supposed to do. I preferred to fade into the background.

I nodded, giving the room another once-over before grabbing my favorite blanket. "That's all, really." I said. It was rather depressing how I could leave so easily.

Suddenly he had his hands on my arms and he was close. Very close, and I couldn't breathe.

"Thank you, Kitty." He whispered. "I really appreciate this." His pale green eyes stared into my eyes.

Looking at his eyes made me think of my own, and how utterly annoying I thought they were sometimes. I'd often been asked what color my eyes were, and I never really could give a straight answer. Sometimes they were blue-ish, but sometimes they were green-ish, and sometimes they turned a grey or silvery color too. I never really knew what to call them. When I stared at Jesse's I knew he never had that problem. He's eyes were a beautiful, soft green that made me want to melt into him. My stomach was doing flips and I unconsciously bit the inside of my lip.

"Kitty?" He brushed a strand of blonde hair away from my eyes and my skin tingled where he'd touched me. Another thing, I seemed to be hypersensitive to any kind of touch. As some guys said, I was 'easy' once you got a hold on me. "Did you hear me? Kitty?"

"Sorry" I stuttered. "I zoned for a minute there. What were you saying?"

He smiled an easy smile and refused to remove his eyes from mine. "Why don't we go to my place and pick up a few things, and then we'll get going."

I nodded blankly. I had to last a whole trip with this guy. Normally, I didn't have an issue with this sort of thing. By 'this sort of thing' I mean totally hot guys spending lots of time with me and giving me looks I couldn't ignore. But those guys always had flaws. They were obnoxious, immature, and annoying most times. But Jesse was so different. So far, I couldn't find anything wrong with him. He hadn't even made a move on me, until now… if you call that making a move. I sighed out loud over my mental tirade as we walked to his house.

He glanced at me. "Something wrong?"

I shook my head and waved him off. No, nothing was wrong except that I never really had a friend to talk to about my boy issues. Sara was no help if I was ever serious. I turned towards the window so Jesse wouldn't notice as I closed my eyes. It was time to go to my imaginary friend for comfort.

I called him imaginary, but he wasn't really. He was more than that to me. His name was Damon, we were the same age but so very, very different from each other. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as his face drifted into my mind. I smiled to myself, imagining him wrapping his arms around me and resting his chin on top of my head. This is how he comforted me. I felt more comfort in this little mind world than I ever did with Sara or anyone else I'd met so far. Except maybe Jesse, he was beginning to be much of a comfort. The moment Jesse's face entered my mind along with Damon's I felt Damon lash out in anger.

Okay, I know that's impossible. An imaginary friend cannot lash out in any type of emotion unless you imagine it yourself, right? Then what could that have been? I gasped and jumped.

"What's wrong?" Jesse was immediately looking to me with concern in his eyes.

I shook my head. He'd think I was nuts, if I wasn't already. Was I schizophrenic or something? "Nothing. Nothing I–" I stuttered. "I thought I saw a rat or something."

He didn't look totally convinced, but he accepted the excuse. We walked into his driveway and he invited me in.

"Isn't anyone here?" I asked, glancing around the clearly empty house.

"Mom's still at work." He answered. He had his back to me, stuffing a few essentials into a travel bag.

I nodded, glancing around the house. It was fairly average, but very clean and very bare. I noticed offhandedly that there didn't seem to be any family photos hanging around. There were a few pieces of artwork hanging and even a quilt or two on the sofa, but that was about as homey as this place seemed. They hadn't had long to really make this place homey, I rationalized. They hadn't really lived here too long, and he said his mom worked a lot.

He ushered me out of the house and back into the truck as soon as he was finished packing. Everything was stuffed in the back and started backing out of his driveway when I asked, "Don't you have anything you're bringing that you can't live without?"

He glanced at me for a moment before answering. "Well I've got you. And I'm not sure I could live without you keeping me awake this long drive."

I noticed the way he paused after saying 'I've got you.' And there was suddenly no mistaking that he was making a pass at me. It was a sweet, hidden pass, but he was definitely making a pass. I wondered for a moment what this trip may really be about. He was way too sweet to be the kind of guy to take me out on a trip to try and get laid. Wasn't he?