This is a story based on a series of dreams that I had almost a year ago. Then again, most of my stories are based on my dreams.

But this story is seperated into parts, or books, then further divided into chapters. Just to let you all know this ahead of time.

Anyways, enjoy!

~new chapters posted frequently~
~Rated P-13 for violence, medical gore, and language~

~Part One: Challenger~

xOnex

And you'll live and you'll die;
You'll be honest and you'll lie
Put your trust where the truth is;
And your treasure where your heart is.
~Matt Maher, "Welcome to Life"

xxx

"Kyla!"
Kyla turned to face Cody, her boyfriend of a little over two years. She beamed at him as he waved at her.
"I need to get my things!" she hollered back, turning back around as an amber light began to flash and a loud siren drew everyone's attention to the conveyor belt.
Cody pushed thru the crowd to stand beside Kyla as she waited for her luggage.
"What did you pack?" Cody asked, wondering how much shopping they would have to do.
"Just enough clothes to last me a couple weeks without washing any of it," Kyla replied, pausing to lift a medium sized black suitcase (with the lost city of Atlantis painted on the front in glittery fabric paint) off the belt.
"Anything else?" Cody asked, grabbing a gym bag that was clearly Kyla's.
"My DVD's, my CD's, books, a couple of knick knacks, and my music."
"Nice," chuckled Cody as Kyla nabbed her other suitcase.
"Okay, that's everything," she said, moving away from the belt, her purse and laptop bag over either shoulder. Cody followed behind her, dragging the two suitcases, the gym bag slung over his shoulder, 'Kyla loves Cody' clearly visible in neon blue fabric paint.

xxxxxx

"So when do you want to do the furniture shopping?" Cody's father, Michael, asked that evening over pizza.
"I wish I could stay here," admitted Kyla, avoiding the question. Cody chuckled.
"Rules are rules, though," Cody's mother, Anna, pointed out.
"What about weekends?" Kyla begged. "Can't I camp out here?"
"It's too far, Kyla," Cody said.
"What about holidays?"
"Aren't you going to want to spend time with your folks?" Anna asked.
A shadow fleetingly crossed Kyla's face at this. But only Cody noticed this.
"I wasn't planning to, since plane tickets are getting so expensive nowadays."
Before Cody's mom could respond to this, Cody asked, "What's for dessert, Mom?"
"I don't know, Cody, since Miss House here insisted on making dessert herself."
"I made cheesecake," Kyla said.
"Your recipe?" Cody asked. Kyla grinned and nodded.
"There'll be no leftovers," Cody declared.
Kyla giggled as his parents both rolled their eyes.

xxxxxx

"So? What do you think of this Kyla?" Michael asked.
"She really cares about Cody," Anna replied.
"What makes you think that?"
"The two of them were inseparable," Anna observed.
"Even so, they might not stay together," Michael said gloomily.
"What makes you say that?" Anna demanded, shocked that he would say such a thing.
"That girl is a heart breaker for sure," Michael explained.

xxxxxx

"I don't think your dad liked me much," Kyla said.
"But my mom was the one interrogating you," Cody pointed out.
"You didn't see the way your dad was looking at me, did you?" Kyla asked.
"Obviously not," Cody remarked.
"What makes you think say that?"
"That girl is a heart breaker for sure."
Cody stared at Kyla. Kyla stared back.
"Thin walls?" Kyla asked, breaking the silence.
Cody snorted.
"What?" Kyla asked, an expression of mock innocence on her face.
"Oh, nothing."

xxxxxx

xTwox

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives us hope when the whole day's done.
~the Police, "Invisible Sun"

xxx

Cody helped Kyla move into her dorm the next day.
"Who's your roommate?" Cody asked.
"Don't know. Haven't met her yet," Kyla replied.
Cody laughed.

xxxxxx

"Hi, my name is Kyla House."
"I'm Gwendolyn Jones," replied Kyla's roommate.
"And I'm Cody," Cody added, introducing himself. He had a bad feeling about Ms. Gwendolyn Jones.
"Are you available?" Gwendolyn immediately asked.
Yep. Cody did not like her one iota. There was no way Gwendolyn could have missed the intimacy between him and Kyla.
"No," snapped Kyla, hackles prickling at the blunt invasion into her territory.
"I was asking Cody," replied Gwendolyn, "although you are attractive, if I swung that way."
Before Kyla could rip Gwendolyn apart, Cody said with exaggerated patience, "I'm not available for anything you may have in mind."
"Oh. How come?" asked Gwendolyn.
"Because he loves me." Kyla had found her voice again.
"You? What do you have that I don't?" Gwendolyn demanded.
"A brain," retorted Kyla.
Gwendolyn spluttered with rage.
"Ladies, please," Cody begged. Kyla instantly settled down. Gwendolyn took a couple more seconds to calm down, but she did eventually.
"Okay, now, Gwendolyn, apologize to Kyla," directed Cody.
"Why should I? She's the one who was insulting me!" yelled Gwendolyn.
"Do it."
"Sorry, Kyla," Gwendolyn said.
"Now it's your turn, Kyla," Cody said.
"Do I have to?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Sorry, Gwendolyn."

xxxxxx

"Why the heck were you fighting with your roommate like that?" Cody demanded later in his own dorm.
"She was hitting on you," explained Kyla.
"So you wanted to make sure that she knew I was yours?" Cody asked.
"Pretty much."
"Well, you are mine."

xxxxxx

xThreex

Set me as a seal on your heart, set me as a seal on your soul.
For strong as death is love, unyielding as the grave.
Nothing will quench its flame, nothing will quench its flame.
~Matt Maher, "Set me as a seal"

xxx

"Don't look, there's that girl again."
"Is she going to sit at our table?"
"She'd better not."
Kyla glared at the gossipy group of blondes as she walked past their table with her lunch.
"Kyla! Over here!" Cody called, waving so she'd be able to see where he was sitting.
Kyla sat down in the empty seat beside him. Cody's roommate, David, sat across from Cody.
"Kyla, this is my roommate, David. David, this is my girlfriend, Kyla," Cody said.
"Lebanese?" David asked Kyla.
"Mother's side, several generations back," admitted Kyla, "but how did you know?"
"Lucky guess," David admitted.
"If you're trying to steal my girlfriend, David, don't," Cody said in mock seriousness.
"My roommate's available, David, if you want someone who is easily duped," Kyla remarked.
"What did you do this time?" Cody asked.
"TP'd her laptop."
"That's...original," admitted Cody.
"I've convinced her that our dorm is haunted by a poltergeist who doesn't like fake brunettes."
"Fake brunettes?" David asked.
"She dyes her hair brown," Kyla explained.
"What's her natural color?" Cody asked.
"Blonde."

xxxxxx

"Can anyone recite all twenty-seven amendments to the United States Constitution?" Professor Yeoman asked his Introduction to Political Science class.
A single, solitary hand shot up into the air.
"Miss House?"
Kyla stood up. She took a deep breath before she began to recite all twenty-seven amendments in the correct order.
Once she was finished, Professor Yeoman praised Kyla, clearly impressed.
"Very good, Miss House."
"Thank you, sir," Kyla replied, "but the real credit goes to my government teacher in high school. He insisted that all his Government students memorize all of the amendments."
"A teacher after my own heart," remarked the professor, "Everyone must be able to recite all twenty-seven amendments. I will call on everyone here without warning. This will be a test grade."

xxxxxx

"So you're in the clear?" Cody asked.
"No, he could still call on me," Kyla replied.
"Doesn't that bother you?"
"Why would it?"
"Because you have already done it."
Sometimes talking to Kyla was like conversing with a two-year-old. Not that it really bothered Cody much. Kyla pulled acting like a two-year-old off quite well.
"It wouldn't be fair to the rest of the class. I just happened to already have the amendments memorised."

xxxxxx

RING! RING! RING!
Cody groggily woke to his cell phone ringing. A glance at his alarm clock told him it was 1:36 A.M.
Who calls this early in the morning? he wondered.
"Hello?"
"May I please speak to Cody Grakowski?"
"Speaking."
"This is Homicide Detective Lauren Marigold."
"What's wrong, Detective?"
"I have a Gwendolyn Jones in custody."
"How come?"
"Assault and attempted murder."
Cody's blood froze.
"And the victim?" he asked, though he had a sinking feeling as to who Gwendolyn had attacked.
"Kyla House. She requested that I call you."
"H-how is she?"
"Alive, barely."
"Where has she been taken?"
"Saginaw General. Do you know where that is?"
"Yes, I do. Thanks for calling, Detective."
"No problem."
"Detective?"
"Yes?"
"Gwendolyn and Kyla have a history of fighting."
"I figured as much. Most college roommates do, in my line of work."
"Most are dead in your line of work."
"Touchè."

xxxxxx

xFourx

They say love brings hurt
I say love brings healing
Understanding first
It's a love of another kind
~Amy Grant, "Love of another Kind"

xxx

Cody walked into Kyla's hospital room.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Like my head's going to explode," Kyla replied, wincing at his too loud voice and at her own barely heard voice.
"On observation, eh?"
"Yeah."
"Need any help help staying awake?" Cody asked.
Kyla snorted, then winced as her head was jarred. Cody winced in sympathy, but he made no move to soothe her~he knew her too well. Kyla depressed the button that would give her an extra dose of pain medicine, hiding it with her body. But Cody still saw what she was doing.
He said, "Make room for me, Ky, I'm going to lye beside you."
"You just don't want me to be alone in bed too long," Kyla groused as Cody helped her to move over some in the narrow hospital bed enough for him to lie down beside her. Kyla carefully rested her head on his chest, snuggling close to him. Cody wrapped an arm around her, holding her close. He ran his hand lightly down her arm.
"Mmmmmmmm," murmured Kyla in response.
Cody grinned.
"There are nurses in this hospital," Kyla mumbled.
"Yes, there are," agreed Cody, not sure what Kyla was trying to say.
"Nurses with porn collections," clarified Kyla, her mind clearly foggy with pain medication and a concusion.
Cody laughed. Kyla would recover, he was certain.

xxxxxx

xFivex

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And you know each by name
~Chris Tomlin, "Indescribable"

xxx

"Can you identify your attacker from a line-up?" Detective Marigold asked Kyla.
"Probably, although my memory's still a bit sketchy," replied Kyla. She sat in a wheelchair, having been unable to maintain her balance enough to stand, let alone walk. Cody stood behind her, his hands on the handlebars of the wheelchair.
Marigold indicated that they should follow her.

xxxxxx

"You're certain that none of those blondes was your attacker?" Cody asked as he drove her back home~to her dorm.
"No, of course not. I made sure Detective Marigold was aware of that," Kyla replied.
"You know who the prime suspect is, right?" Cody asked.
"You don't have blonde hair," Kyla immediately pointed out.
Cody rolled his eyes. Sometimes Kyla was pain.
"I meant your roommate, Gwendolyn Jones. They found strands of blonde hair on your clothes, after all."
"But she's my roommate," Kyla objected.
"It's happened before," Cody reminded her.
"What do they think her motive was?" Kyla wondered aloud.
"Jealousy."
"Why would Miss Have-it-all be jealous of little orphan me?" Kyla asked.
"Because Gwendolyn doesn't have it all. She wants someone you care about. She wants me," Cody answered.
"Well, she can't have you," Kyla declared.

~end of part one~

~Part Two: Declarations of War~

xonex

Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air you'll never find me
I will turn your face to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master,
And you'll be wrapped around my finger...
~The Police, "Wrapped Around my finger"

xxx

Detective Marigold eventually arrested Professor's Fynger's TA, Juliet Belote, for assault and attempted murder. Ms. Belote was also charged with tampering with the evidence, specifically replacing her own hair with some of Gwendolyn Jones' locks.
Detective Marigold was currently pursuing a lead on the identity of the TA's accomplice.
Meanwhile, Kyla and Cody's lives remained as hectic as they always had been. Gwendolyn remained jealous of Kyla's relationship with Cody, doing nothing to act on that jealousy.
But she soon reached the boiling point. Consumed with jealousy, she decieded to steal Cody from Kyla, figuring that if she couldn't have him, Kyla couldn't have him either.
But Kyla was a true Capricorn. If she wanted something (or someone) bad enough, she'd work herself to the bone just to have it (or him). And she usually did. And when she had it (or him), she didn't let go that easily.
But Gwendolyn Jones was a Capricorn too.
Same sign, same endurance. And they both wanted the same Virgo...

xxxxxx

xtwox

If only I don;t bend and break
I'll meet you on the other side
I'll meet you in the light
If only I don't suffocate
I'll meet you in the morning when you wake.
~Keane, "Bend and Break"

xxx

"Miss House, English Literature is NOT nap time," growled Professor Milner.
Kyla yawned and stretched.
"Sorry, sir. It's just that I wasn't able to sleep last night."
"I believe getting enough sleep is more important than having sex," piped up Krystall Martins, a know-it-all brunette with a penchant for gossip.
If looks could kill, Krystall would have been hung, guillotined, drowned, poisoned, strangled, suffocated, shot, stabbed, beheaded, choked, crucified, and throttled, Kyla's glared was so deadly.
"I wouldn't be so immoral, Krystall," Kyla spat angrily.
"Hypocrite. I heard from a very reliable source that you're doing a sophomore," Krystall retorted.
"I'd look for a new 'reliable' source, Krystall, 'Cause I'm not," retorted Kyla.
"More reliable than your roommate?"
"She doesn't even understand what she's talking about. Cody and I don't need sex to express our love to each other."
"So you are in a relationship with a sophomore!?"
"Yep. And he is mine. Make sure that you tell your mistress that, bitch!"

xxxxxx

"What's this about you calling Professor Martins' daughter a 'bitch'?" Cody asked.
"So you've heard then," Kyla remarked.
"Yeah," Cody replied.
"I fell asleep in the middle of English Lit," explained Kyla.
Cody cocked an eyebrow.
"Professor Milner woke me up. Krystall then put her nose where it didn't belong," Kyla finished.
"What did she say?"
"That getting enough sleep is more important than doing you."
"What did you say to that?"
"That I wasn't so immoral as to do that."
Cody chuckled softly before he asked, "And then?"
"She called me a hypocrite, saying that she'd heard that I was 'doing a sophomore' from a 'very reliable source'."
"Nice."
"I told her that she needed to find a new 'reliable' source since I wasn't 'doing' a sophomore."
"Ouch."
"She identified her source."
"Who?"
"Gwendolyn Jones."
"What did you say?"
"That she didn't understand what we have, that we don't need sex to express our love to each other."
"I know the rest of the story."
"Good, 'cause I wasn't sure how to tell you it."
Cody laughed.

xxxxxx

"She says that Cody is hers," Krystall informed Gwendolyn.
"The woman is territorial," grumbled Gwendolyn.
"She sure is," agreed Krystall.
"You're the expert at wrecking reputations. What's next?"
"Spread rumors that she's cheating on Cody," replied Krystall.
"That wouldn't be hard. Most of Kyla's friends are male," mused Gwendolyn.
"Give me a name then."
"David Busby," Gwendolyn said.

xxxxxx