I look over at Tess. I can hear her breath. In and out. In and out, her breath grazing the air between us. I can feel it moving through the space in the car, sliding up my arm, and wrapping itself around my neck. She's all the way on the other side of the back seat, but I still feel like she's suffocating me just by breathing. Teasing my neck, opening me to new experience, leaving me breathless. Thank God the window is open.

Tess is doing that thing where she pretends to be asleep when she needs to think. Her arms are crossed over her chest, almost defiantly. Instead of tucking her hands in, they're extended. I never noticed that before. She always has them in that position. It's almost as if she's trying to reach out to someone. Now that I think about it, maybe she's waiting for someone to grab onto her, let her know they need her.

I start to reach out, but her arms slowly fall to her sides. She's sleeping now. As dad makes a sharp turn, her body wavers and suddenly her head is on my leg. I don't know what to do. My heartbeat quickens rapidly and I wonder if someone with my heart rate should still be alive. Should I be like the boy that screamed wolf and yell incest?

"Sorry about that turn. You guys alright back there?" dad asks.

"Yeah," I reply. Oh yeah, just fine. Nothing wrong with this scene.

I start to reach for her head to lift her back into a seating position, but I can't move. Her shampoo is wafting into the air. It smells like citrus. Oranges or lemons. It tastes bitter going down my throat, but when it slides across my lips it's like sugar. I want it all right then. I want to kiss her. Gawd, what am I thinking? She's family and family is steering the car in the driver's seat. I inhale, part of her becoming me. I can barely breathe. She's suffocating me in the best possible way. I wonder if she knows what she's doing to me.

The last time I ever road in a car this silently was when I was coming to Roswell with Nasedo. He rarely spoke to me. It was like living with a mime. The only words I ever heard come out of his mouth were "home," "destiny," and "king." No wonder I turned out like this. No wonder no one liked me when I first came to Roswell. I was brainwashed.

We were riding in the car and I couldn't stop thinking how these words were going to affect me now that I was going to be in the same town as people like me with the same destiny. I was wrong. They weren't like me. They didn't have the same destiny. They believed in creating their own destiny with humans. They weren't brainwashed.

"Are they expecting me?" I had asked Nasedo as we drove past the desert. We were close. The palm trees of Los Angeles were long gone. The horses of Texas slowly disappeared. You knew you were near New Mexico when all you could see was barren land. When I looked at it, I never felt so lonely. I suddenly didn't want to live here, in this barren and dry place without a person in sight.

"I don't know," Nasedo answered. I'd forgotten I'd even asked him a question. "Probably not. They may not know anything at all about themselves or us."

"No, I mean, are they expecting me? Will…will I be welcome?" I asked nervously.

"I don't know, Theresa," he answered, slightly annoyed. I cringed when he used that name. I felt like I was being reprimanded whenever he said it. Stupid girl, can't do anything right. Just follow the damn destiny. Not that hard, right?

The rest of the ride was silent. It was easier to pretend to be asleep rather than being called Theresa or receiving another lecture about my purpose here. I tucked my hands away and just thought about where I was going. Never did I imagine I'd go to the place I am now. In the Valenti car, being driven home in silence after being reprimanded. And I have never enjoyed it more.

There's an awful pain in my neck. I start to twist my neck, trying to get the kink out, and then I realize something isn't right. The ruff denim of jeans rubs against my cheek as a hand places itself on my neck and begins a back and forth massaging motion. Within a minute the hand, excuse me, the miracle hand gets the kink out.

"Better?" a voice asks. Shit, I fell asleep on Kyle's lap.

"Much," I barely choke out. "Um, thanks." I sit up and scoot back to my original spot on the far, far left side of the seat by the window.

"Can you open your window, please?" he asks. I give him a peculiar look. It's almost dawn and the cold is starting to set in. He just looks at me pleadingly, practically grasping for air, so I slide my window open a little.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Asthma," he says, pointing to his throat.

"Oh." Quite a basketball player for someone with asthma, but if he says so… "Sorry, I didn't know. You never mentioned it before."

"It just developed." Uh huh. What an awful lair he is. What's up with him anyway?

"We're here," Valenti says, putting the car into park in the driveway. He turns around and stares at us for a moment. "I hope you guys know you're in very big trouble."

Kyle and I both nod. If Nasedo had just said that, I'd feel like a little child being told how awful and disappointing I am. But Valenti has this look in his eyes that makes me believe he means it in the best way possible as if being in trouble could ever be good.

"You will be punished," he continues. "I haven't decided how yet, but be assured ditching school for anything other than ensuring the survival of a planet is wrong and punishable. Okay, get inside."

Kyle opens the door and slides out and I follow. Once I'm out of the car, I turn back around to the car where Valenti is still sitting.

"Sheriff Valenti --," I begin.

"-- Mr. Valenti," he corrects me.

"Mr. Valenti --," I begin again.

"-- Jim," he says smiling.

"Jim," I reply softly, "thank you."

"For what?" he asks confused.

"For getting mad and making me leave and for punishing me." No further words are needed because I can tell by the look on his face he understands.