A/N: Hey guys!! This is my new fic, Eye Of The Storm. I hope you enjoy it.

Summary: My name is Willow Tate, otherwise known as Cass. But when I arrived I earned the title American rebel chick. Not bad, considering I had only just arrived. Well, me and my sister, Holly. And my older brother Max. But now two years have past since we've arrived and our happy typical teenage lifestyles are about be hit by the biggest storm yet. One that will pull us all apart. One that would create a feud that would rock the little town of Taniana. And one that would nearly kill me.

Eye Of The Storm

Chapter One: How It Began...

'Holly! HOLLY!'

That's me yelling. I spend half my life yelling, mostly because its my nature to stand out, be unique. Hell, I spent half my life yelling cos I'm a complete "wildcat" as Max calls me.

Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Willow Cassandra Tate, and my twin sister is Holly Lavender Tate, who is absolutely nothing like me. We act different, we look different. I'm the rebellious rock chic; she's the studious straight-As babe. Okay, I admit, without sounding self-centred, we're both probably the best looking girls in the school. Holly has dark brown shoulder length hair, amazingly large brown eyes and an air of complete innocence that nobody else fifteen years old could pull off. Me...I have messy raven black hair that reaches the small of my back, deep forest green eyes and slim figure. And as Holly tells me I look like someone who doesn't take any crap. Maybe it has something to do with the clothes I wear.

'Damnit Holly, what the fuck do I have to do to get your fuckin' attention!?' I shrieked at my sister, who was bending over her desk trying to complete her assessment as soon as possible. We were new to the small town of Taniana, having only just moved here two weeks ago, and school has only just started. As in started yesterday. And we already have homework. How shitty is that?

'Piss off Will.' She mumbled, scribbling something out.

I gasped in mock shock. 'You swore! Oh my god, she swore! Max! Mom! Dad! It's amazing! Holly the saint just SWORE at me!' I shrieked at the top of my voice. I received a "shut up" from Mom, a shake of the head from Dad and Max just burst out laughing from his desk. Max is sixteen years old, and is constantly looking out for us. Well, Holly, anyway. He's already told me I don't need looking after.

Holly ignored me, trying to hide the blush that had crept up her neck. I spared her from more teasing on my part (she's my twin, what d'you want me to do??) and sat at my desk, in between Holly and Max. We were in the study, where me, Holly and Max work and study and do homework, while listening to the radio. I don't think Max is doing homework, probably just playing games on his laptop. His happy-go-lucky attitude means play first, work later. I think he has the right idea. So I doodled while I waited for Holly to finish her homework, so that we could go out and walk Ruby (my massive German Shepard) and Cassie (Holly's border collie) and check out the area.

'Done!' Holly chirped, finishing the sentence in a neat flourish.

'Finally!' I sighed, jumping up and dragging Holly out of her seat. 'You are not going out in your school uniform!' I added, dragging her upstairs to our bedroom and throwing her a pair of blue jeans, a white tank top and her favourite black denim jacket. She pouted at me, and began to get changed. I stared at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a pair of baggy black combats, a red sleeveless top and my favourite leather jacket. My hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. I pouted at my reflection and applied more black eyeliner and clear lip gloss.

'C'mon then Holly!' I chirped, as Holly pulled her brown hair into a half ponytail and clipped it into place. She jumped up, whistled loudly, and smiled brightly at me. Sometimes I can't help but be really fond of this girl.

Ruby and Cassie hurtled into the room, Ruby jumping up at me and knocking me clean off my feet. Rubes nuzzled my neck affectionately. I grinned, ruffled the fur on her head, and picked myself up. Holly was scratching Cassie behind the ear.

'C'mon Rubes.' I told the overexcited German Shepard, who had obviously realised that we were taking her on a walk. She was thumping her tail against the floor. It sounded like a brick kept falling on it. Unlike Cassie, Ruby is a well-trained police dog, so she doesn't need a lead. Cassie, however, might just be tempted to chase squirrels.

We had been walking and chatting for fifteen minutes when a bunch of boys on skateboards came into view down the quite empty street. I recognised them as guys from our and Max's classes. I glanced at Ruby and Cassie, then down to the skateboard in my hand, then back to the boys. I'm a sucker for skateboarding. Holly prefers street roller blading, which is a second favourite. But how would those boys act around us? They're not gonna ignore us, I know that much.

Ruby tensed up beside me, her careless strolling now turned into a watchful prowl. She didn't trust these guys.

We reached the boys. Holly kept sending me uncertain looks. The boys stopped in front of us, refusing to let us pass.

'What?' I asked in an irritated voice. Holly's large brown eyes were pleading with me now.

'Aw, c'mon babe, don't be like that!' a boy with bright red hair and ice blue eyes smirked, looking me up and down with an appreciative gaze.

Holly made a point of staying behind Ruby. Ruby, in turn, plonked herself in front of Holly, and growled angrily.

'Rubes, chill.' I said to the enormous dog, before turning to the boys. 'Boy, you wanna watch yourself, you might end up with scars on that pretty face of yours.' I drawled, staring unblinkingly through forest green eyes. The others hooted and laughed.

'Oh, yeah, watcha gonna do?' he sneered back.

'Not me, sweetheart. Ruby here. She likes her meat...tender.' Again the boys laughed. Man, I'm good! Uh huh, uh huh...

'Leave her alone.' Came a voice from behind me. Holly jumped, and I looked over my shoulder. Max strolled towards us, his friends Tyson and Ray at his heels.

'Max,' I whined, 'I'm not a kid! What you doing here anyway??'

Max shrugged. 'Got bored.'

'So you decided to check on your little sisters?' I complained, ignoring the boys on purpose. I know they hate it when they're being ignored. Besides, Rubes has it covered.

'Sis, you don't need looking after. Maybe Holly...'

'HEY!' Holly yelled indignantly. Max ignored her.

'...but not you. Especially while you're with Ruby.' he finished.

I smirked at him, knowing he was perfectly correct.

'I don't need looking after!' Holly whined.

'Are you kidding me?' Max snorted, now turning to her. 'You are a good-looking girl against violence. You are prone to dangerous boys, girl.' He turned to the boys. 'Tala, if I ever see you hassling my sisters again you are dead, got that?' he said menacingly. Max can sure be scary sometimes, but it's always me doing the beating up when someone hurts Holly. We don't seem that close, but truth is, I wouldn't be anywhere without my twin. I'd just...lose it.

'Chill Tate. Didn't know these girls were your sisters. Sorry.' He said sincerely. He turned to me. 'The name's Tala Volkov.' He said, extending a hand. I peered at his eyes suspiciously but he did seem genuinely sorry. A smile cracked on my face and I replied, while shaking his hand:

'Willow Tate. This is Holly, my twin. We are nothing like each other, but it doesn't stop her from being my sister.' There was a hidden meaning under those words and I knew he caught it: Mess with her, and you'll regret the day you were born.

'Cool.' He replied. He gestured to the others. ' This is Bryan, Lee and Kai Hiwatari.'

I smiled at each one, who all nodded back, but I froze when I reached Kai. His auburn eyes burned into mine, as if he was seeing through me. The two-toned hair fluttered gently in the early autumn breeze. I gave him a smile, and he acknowledged it with a slight nod of his head. I looked away.

And so began the whirlwind that began and ended with Kai Hiwatari.

'Move it girl!' Holly bellowed up the stairs, strapping her roller blades onto her feet. Her hair pulled back in two bunches, a helmet placed firmly on her head. I skidded into the landing, jumped down the stairs every three steps and landed cat-like on the floor, snatched up my rucksack and hefted a red cap onto my head. Holly couldn't help but give me a disapproving look that clearly said one day you are sooooo gonna crack your head open without any protective gear! Oh well, I thought as I grabbed my skateboard from the corner. It didn't really help (in Holly's eyes anyway) that my tie was so loose that it could fall apart any second, my white shirt was untucked and my skirt didn't reach anywhere near my knees.

'Oh my God. No one said that KAI lives right next to us!' I hissed at my sister when we rolled outside. There was Kai, walking towards his black Porsche Boxer S convertible. I realised I was staring and that Holly was poking me so me I jumped onto Viper, my board's nickname, and rolled casually past Kai, Holly skidding along beside me.

'Hey Kai. Nice car.' I said as we passed, causing him to look up and give me a small smile. Jeez, that's the first time I've actually seen him smile. What's wrong with the guy?

'Thanks. Nice board.'

'Now that just being patronizing!' I yelled over my shoulder as we skidded down the quite steep hill. I heard Kai chuckle before I lost sight of him.

We arrived at school ten minutes later, and despite Holly's worrying, we managed to arrive five minutes early. Kai was already there, standing with a group of boys that included Max and Tala.

'Hey Max!' I yelled as I skidded down the railings of the stairs leading to the playground. Holly was already disappearing inside. 'How d'you get here? You can't've walked and got here before us!' I said cheerily, stopping right in the centre of the boys and flipping up my board.

'Michael gave me a lift.' He replied in his normal cheerful voice.

'Lucky sod. Hey Tala, sup?' I grinned, turning to the redhead, giving him a playful punch in the shoulder. Socialising with boys was just a thing I've always done. Who needs girlfriends when boys know how to have some real fun??

'Yo, Willow! All right kid?' he said.

'Hey, cut the "kid" crap, k? You gonna give me a nickname, then use Cass.' I told, wagging a finger at him.

'Cass? Why Cass?' piped up another redheaded guy.

'Coz my middle name is Cassandra. People call me Cass all the time. What's your name, then?' I replied.

'Johnny McGregor.'

That's when I met the guy who would always be my closest and best friend. And hell, where would I be without him? Holly, Kai, Tala and Johnny. Those are the people I would need to pull me away from the thing that would consume and nearly kill me sometime in the future.

Back then I was innocent. The new chick. American chick to be precise. But that changed. It changed two years later, when I had reached the lovely age of seventeen. That's when the storm hit...

hey, so what d'you people think? Good? Not good? Don't leave me hanging here! Review...please!! Just one press of the purple button...that's all it takes...

Thanx!

Ciao people!

Chiya