As an exchange student from Scotland, a whole new world opens up to Darren Green when he moves to the United States. He'll live with a host family, start at a new school, and he'll have to make new friends. However, what won't be a part of this new...
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FOR A LATE EVENING IN January, it was surprisingly warm. Of course, Darren had gotten used to the snowy winter in Scotland in the few weeks he'd spent across the pond, and yet he'd underestimated the difference in weather between Florida and Scotland. He thought to himself that, if it wasn't for pictures, the Jacksonville people wouldn't know what snow looked like.
He'd driven through the dimly lit streets of Jacksonville, and his heart beat a little faster when he recognized some of the places. The McDonald's where he and Dakota had stopped on that first night they'd met each other, the school where they regularly saw each other – not daily, because he knew now that Dakota couldn't be tied to a schedule, but often enough – and Juice, the bar where Dakota worked and that was just as colorful as her personality.
As he searched for a parking spot to leave the McCosta's car, the navigation system told him he'd arrived at his destination. He'd pulled up to a little flower shop, cramped between other small stores that populated the street. None of them looked particularly nice or like a store Darren would be happy to go shopping to, but now that he stood here on a late evening and the moon was starting to show itself against the otherwise clear, dark blue sky, the street had its charm.
Dominic had written to Darren that next to the flower shop was a little alleyway, and if he entered that alleyway, the right address was the first door on his right. Why do you want to know? Dominic had asked then, but Darren hadn't replied. If all went well tonight, he figured, Dominic would find out soon enough.
He rang the doorbell as a cool breeze swept through the alleyway. He kept his eyes on the entry of the alleyway where he'd come from. The other side was a dead end, and although he trusted Dominic to have given him the right address, he didn't trust the strangers that hung out in neighborhoods like this. He had the nasty feeling that at any moment someone would come up from behind him.
That didn't happen, however; disappointingly few happened in the seconds that he waited for someone to answer the door. No footsteps on the other side of the door, no Dakota coming out and yelling at him what he was doing at this time on her doorstep. So, he rang again.
And when that didn't help, he rang again.
His heart began speeding up. Would it really happen to him that after all these days, waiting for this moment, planning what would happen and what he would say to her, no one would be home? He threw his head back and stared up at the sky, whose color had a mysterious feel to it and took him back to a certain Friday night that had changed so much.
"Dakota," he cried out, convinced no one would hear his desperation. He looked around him. This wasn't a place he'd think someone would actually live, and he really started to doubt whether Dominic had given him the right address. According to Dakota, he was an honest guy, but what if he'd gotten suspicious and didn't want to give his address to an almost-stranger, so he'd given a random address instead?
"Dakota!"
He was silent. One, two, three seconds. Even the birds quieted down, as if they wanted to give him the opportunity to hear every little thing that happened around him. It brought his attention to a soft click coming from above.
