IMPORTANT: THIS IS A SEQUEL TO MY OTHER FORBIDDEN GAME FIC, "THE PLAYGROUND CHRONICLES;" READ THAT BEFORE YOU READ THIS!

Now that that's out of the way, let me just apologize for how long I made you guys wait. Really, I've just been lazy. If I ever take more than two weeks between updates, please feel free to yell at me until I either post a chapter or give a viable excuse.

I'll be happy to answer any questions/comments you have about the direction of this story, so long as I don't have to give anything away ;)

With that, please enjoy "Demon in My View"

OoO

Middle school, Jenny realized, changes everything. She was already a seventh grader, two years in, and she was just starting to get used to it. When Julian and Jenny started elementary school all those years ago, they were almost always in the same class. Teachers tried to keep them apart because they were constantly talking, laughing, and playing made-up games, even during lessons. Those teachers soon learned that Julian's usual mischief became markedly more malicious when Jenny wasn't around to balance him out. As a rule, Julian got Jenny into trouble, and Jenny kept Julian out of it.

During lunch, Jenny would sit with Dee, Michael, Zach, and, as of fourth grade, Summer. Jenny told Julian very firmly that if he didn't have anything nice to say, he couldn't say anything at all, so he would sit in complete silence at the table, making sardonic faces or playing with Jenny's hair to occupy himself. Often, Jenny and Julian would hold hands in the halls, and Julian continued to sneak through Jenny's window each night.

Middle school was different. Classes took place in different rooms with different teachers, and Jenny and Julian weren't always together. Julian had a harder time getting Jenny on board with his misbehaviour, and Jenny found it much more difficult to talk Julian out of it. Boys and girls were whispered about if they held hands in the hallways, and the certainly didn't sleep in the same room—much less the same bed—at night. Oh, and the biggest difference? Jenny had a boyfriend.

Jenny had met Thomas Locke on the first day of fifth grade, and they kissed during recess a week later. Now, Tom sat with Jenny and her friends at lunch, while Julian stopped showing up at their table altogether. Jenny felt bad, and she missed her best friend, but she hand to admit it was for the best; Julian had never gotten along with Dee, and he made Michael and Summer nervous. Given half the chance, he and Tom would fight like cats and dogs. It was just easier this way.

All the same, Jenny and Julian walked home together every day and spent hours in each others' rooms, "doing homework" (read: goofing off and doing anything but.) Julian was his usual whimsical, devious, impossible self, and Jenny was glad for it. Every once and a while, she would glimpse a darker, almost dangerous side to her friend, but she was never subject to it. It was just another part of who Julian was.

So yes, things were different, but Jenny was happy; she liked her life and loved the people in it. Jenny just hoped that from now on, there wouldn't be any more changes.