Astrid looked up at him. "Its a place called..." She paused, could it translate into english? "Golthiria." She finally settled on, it was about as close as she could get it. "And your drawing i have is fine. It' beautiful." She smiled thinking about it. "Maybe one day you can come visit me." She smiled at him. "I don't really have friends back home either, my dads a bit over protective...." She shrugged. "Anyways, I kind of wanted to do something fun since it's my last night here. But i have no idea what there is to do here... Do you know of anything?" She asked hopeful. Maybe he would want to hang out with her, get to know her better, then maybe she'd have a real friend to tell her parents about.

"I guess that depends on what you like to do," Alexander replied. His mind immediately jumped to the mall. Girls liked shopping, right? The amusement parks were closed, since it was the wrong time of the year, but there were plenty of stores open. If all else failed, he was sure there were good movies in the theaters... "I'm sorry you have to leave."

Astrid nodded. "Me too." She called the waitress over and paid for his meal and hers. "Why don't we get out of here." She got to her feet and, with out thinking about it, grabbed his hand to pull him to his feet. Her face flushed when she noted the contact and then she let him go. "I mean, did you want to hang out with me tonight? I probably shouldn't have just assumed that you didn't have something better to do..." Her voice trailed off as she got flustered. She had never seen him with another girl, but he was too nice to be single. "I'm sure your girlfriend wouldn't want you hanging out with me anyway." She added quietly, knowing it was a likely truth.

"Girlfriend?" Alexander asked. He was momentarily comfused. Then it occurred to him that she assumed he was taken. He shook his head and let her drag him to his feet. "I don't have a girlfriend. And really, I had nothing planned for tonight." Which was true. He usually just sat around his apartment reading or watching TV. He didn't even have any papers to write, so he'd just been looking forward to a quiet, boring night.

Astrid's face was still a bright red. "Oh, well, in that case, did you want to go do something?" She asked with a small smile as she played nervously with her hair. It was a relief to know that she wouldn't be messing things up for him. It was also nice to know that he was still willing to hang out with her. "Honestly, besides school, i haven't done a single thing around here... I don't have a clue as to what to do."

"Well..." Alexander trailed off, trying to think of what there was to do. "I mean, if nothing else, we can go to the mall... The science center isn't too far away, that's usually pretty interesting... Maybe the museum..." He was trying to think of things that wouldn't bore a girl to tears, but he had no idea what Astrid would find interesting. He shrugged. "What do you like to do?"

Astrid thought a moment. "What do i like... swimming and the sea." She was mumbling. Then she shook her head. "But i love your art. You said you paint? Could i see more of your work?" She asked with a smile. It might not have been exciting to others, but his art still fascinated her. His accuracy and his detail with out knowing what exactly he knew. She wanted to see just how much he had found out about her people...that and she just wanted to hang out with him. And what better way to get someone to talk than by catering to their interests?

Alexander blinked.

"You really want to see my work?" he asked. People generally didn't want to see his work... It tended to conflict with the more popular styles. After a moment, though, he shrugged. "Sure. I turned half of my apartment into a studio, so my stuff is mostly there." If she wanted to see it, he wouldn't argue. He actually wanted to show her some of his pictures... At least, the more finished ones.

The grin on her face grew. "Great! Lead the way." She smiled as she walked next to him. The walk was a pleasant one, it wasn't too cold and it was just starting to get dark. It was a nice time of year. Astrid was glad she was finally spending time with the boy she had had a crush on her whole time here.

Then Astrid stopped walking, something didn't feel right. The temperature was rising to fast. She looked over at Alexander. "Does something feel off to you?" Then her eyes got wide as she saw a shimmering light forming and growing on the ground by his foot. "No! Not now!" Panic took hold of her face as she grabbed for his hand to pull him away. But it was too late. The bright light blinded them and swallowed them whole.

Alexander walked with her, enjoying the nice night as well. It was his favorite time of year... not too hot, but not bitterly cold, either. He didn't notice anything was wrong until Astrid started to freak out and pull him along. He didn't get the chance to gather his wits before the bright light pulled them in and he blacked out.

He wasn't sure how long he was out, but he woke up a while later.

"That was a trip," he muttered, trying to get his head to stop throbbing. He opened his eyes and looked around. He had no idea where he was.

When Astrid woke up she looked around. She hated portals. They always left you feeling like you need to vomit. A smile crossed her face as she saw her home land. But when her eyes landed on Alexander the smile was gone instantly. "Oh no... " Her eyes got wide as she looked at him. What was she going to do? How was she going to explain a human to her father? "A-Alexander... Are you okay?" She wasn't sure how the portal would effect a human. She put a hand on his cheek to look him in the eyes. "You aren't supposed to be here." Her voice was soft and quiet.

They were sitting in a grassy clearing next to a sparkling waterfall. Glorious mountains and forests stretched before them. It was more beautiful than any landscape a human would have ever seen.

Alexander's head was still throbbing when he heard Astrid's voice. When he finally got himself to really look around, though, he wasn't paying attention to the headache anymore. The place was more beautiful than anything he'd ever seen before. Everything was vibrant and alive, and it was everything that Earth should have been and wasn't.

"Where are we?" he managed to ask. "How did we get here?"

Astrid looked at him nervously. "well Uh... This is Golthiria." she let of a small laugh. "welcome to my home?" the her head jerked to the right. She could hear sounds. Jumping to her feet, Astrid grabbed Alexanders hand and pulled him up with her. "I need to get you somewhere safe." she started dragging him Into the forest. "I'm sorry Alexander, but I haven't been entirely truthful with you." she said softly after a while. They were still holding hands as she drug him along after her.

Alexander stumbled along behind her as she dragged him into the forest. He had absolutely no idea what was going on. Last thing he knew, they were walking back to his apartment, and now they were... here. And he didn't even know where 'here' was.

"Wh-what's going on?" he asked as she continued to pull him along. Someone please enlighten the poor confused artist! She was pulling him along so quickly that he didn't even have enough time to take in their surroundings.

Astrid paused and looked at him. She was capable of running for hours, she knew humans couldn't. "I-I'm sorry Alexander." She started. "you were not supposed to come here." she was scared for him. He was her closest friend and she didn't want anything happening to him. She finally broke down. "humans aren't safe here. You are not safe here." her blue eyes locked with his. Did he understand? Did he know what she was hinting at?

She looked at him. "think about it Alexander. I know you are smart enough. Don't make me have to show you..." her voice trailed off as her eyes looked around. They still weren't safe so she kept her hand in his and started walking, this time at a more reasonable pace.

"Astrid, what is going on?" Alexander asked when she slowed down a bit. He was glad she'd slowed down... He hadn't realized she was so fast. His mind kept going back to the word 'human'. Something told him that she was only referring to him, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why. It just felt like he was missing something huge, something that was practically being dangled in front of him.

Astrid looked at him and sighed. "Alexander, I am not who you think I am. This is my home." she ran a hand through her blue hair. "I am not like you. You are the only human in Golthiria." she said quietly. How else could she say it? She was scared she would terrify him. What would he do if he saw her true form.

One last hint. "that picture you gave me, i liked it so much because it was a picture of me." her face showed her worry and fear of him running away.

The picture? Alexander thought back to which picture it was that he gave her. It was a drawing from a few weeks back, probably from the middle of trigonometry. It had been a picture of a... dragon.

Wait.

What?

That... actually, it almost made sense. All those little things about her that he'd found odd... If he equated those with a dragon, they almost made sense. Still, though... it didn't explain how they'd gotten there, and why she'd dragged him along with her.

"Do you get it?" Astrid asked him quietly. "You were never supposed to come here, the portal wasn't supposed to open until tomorrow." she pulled at her hair. If he realized what she was then he hadn't shown a reaction yet. Astrid was terrified he'd try to run away but he couldn't get back without her help. She didn't want to loose the one friend she had.

"I was in hiding. I wasn't supposed to asimilate... But I thought my parents were gone so I tried to start a new life. But then they contacted me..." she didn't know how to explain all this. " I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth, but it's not like you would have believed me."

"Wait wait wait," Alexander said. He needed to think for a moment. "So, you're telling me... that you're a dragon?" It just seemed so out-there that he almost didn't want to believe it. She was a dragon? So, what, did she just want to see his sketches to laugh at them? He thought back to when she was watching him draw in class, when she gave him the tips. This was going to take some getting used-to.

"out ofanyone, I thought you would understand. Your drawings, they are so accurate... At first I thought that you were one too." she sighed and looked away wrappin her arms around herself. She felt terrible for lying and then dragging him into this whole mess. "I'm sorry." She was on the verge of tears, beatin herself up over the whole situation. She was starting to regret ever going to the school... But then she never would have met Alexander.

Even if he did leave and never speak to her again, it was worth it she at least had a fried for a while.

Whoa, back up. What had he said to make her cry? Awkwardly, he rested a hand on her shoulder. Gah, he was no good with girls...

"I just need to wrap my brain around everything," he said. "Kind of a lot at once, that's all." Though even he thought that he was taking things surprisingly well. Then again, he'd never exactly been the normal one in school. This was just one of those things that he assumed that, while highly improbable, was still possible.

Okay well he was taking it a lot better than she thought he would, but she still felt bad about the whole situation. "I'm still sorry. But I promise i won't let my brother eat you." there was no joking tone in her voice. She hung her he's a bit. "well we should probably tell my dad that you are here. He's not going to be happy about this..."

Astrid looked up at him, biting her lip. "are you mad at me now?" she asked tentatively. She had always been the runt of her family, screwing things up and making a mess of everything. She was just hoping she hadn't screwed up this new friendship.

She wouldn't let her brother eat him? Oh, that was a whole other can of worms, and he wasn't even going to touch it.

'For I am crunchy and probably taste good with ketchup,' Alexander thought. He shook his head when Astrid spoke.

"I'm not mad at you," he said. "Wigged out of my mind, but not mad." And it would probably take a whole lot of adjusting to not be freaked out of his mind, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice at the moment.

"okay," she said softly, like she didn't really believe him. Astrid looked around and listened. She really needed to get Alexander somewhere safe, her father would be furious, but at least he could issue an order of protection. "come on, we aren't exactly in my fathers territory yet." she was about to grab his hand but decided not to.

"when you finally meet my father, try to not act scared. Look him in the eye, speak you mind. Even if you disagree he will respect you." she was babbling trying to prepare him for meeting her dad. "if my brother speaks, just ignore him. He likes to pretend he is all high and mighty, but he's not."