Chapter 1
"Bye Mom! Bye Ben!" I shouted as I grabbed my backpack and ran for the door. My recently curled ringlets bounced against my neck as I sprinted across the street to Audrey's house, today was the first day of school, and we were already late. I pressed the doorbell, then pressed it again.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," came Audrey's muffled voice from behind the door. "Okay, I'm here, what's the rush?" she said, opening the door to reveal her body clad in striped pyjamas and slippers.
"Why aren't you dressed? We're going to miss the bus!" I said, a little too loudly to achieve the sound I was trying for; stern, but forgiving.
"Sorry mom, what are you doing here this early? We don't have to leave for an hour, my alarm just went off, like 30 minutes ago." She sounded annoyed now, she hated being disturbed while she was getting ready, or 'beautifying herself' to quote Audrey.
I sighed, "Did you actually change the time for your alarm to go off yesterday?" it was so like Audrey to forget something as simple as that.
"Umm... how mad would you be if I said no?"
"Whatever, I guess something like this would have happened anyway, I'll come in, go beautify yourself or whatever." I stepped through the door, and immediately recognized the clutter that was native to the house of Smith. I put my bag down on a chair stacked with ancient magazines and a pizza box, and followed Audrey upstairs.
"So what do you think, should I go with the simple classic look, a jean and a tee, or should I go bold, a pink tank and khaki miniskirt?" Audrey asked me as soon as she heard the giveaway creak of her door's hinge. She was holding an outfit in each hand.
"Why are you asking me? Our styles are completely different, but I'd go with the jeans and tee." I shuddered to think of the last time I'd given her advice, and it had been great advice. She had asked me if she should wear a short red dress, or a flowing blue gown to our grade eight grad. I told her that Bridget, the head cheerleader, was wearing that dress, and that she should wear the red one. So, being Audrey, she chose the blue gown, and ended up attending grad in her gym clothes.
"Bold it is then, you can leave now." She pushed me out the door and slammed it.
"You're welcome Audrey," I said to the piece of wood. Great, I thought, now I'm talking to inanimate objects, soon I'll be seeing dead bodies and serial killers everywhere.I let my thoughts drift to my family. My dad was currently living somewhere unknown to me, apparently, he thought that I was a spy for my mother. Ben was continuing his part-time job of annoying me, along with his full-time job as the editor of our local newspaper. The wonderful woman who I regarded as my mother-or as I liked to call her, even though it was forbidden, Dayna- was too busy cross-questioning me to take up any other occupation.
"Okay, Steph, what do you think?" Audrey asked, opening her door.
"Wow, umm, it's very nice," I said, and it was. The tank top fitted perfectly across her well-muscled abdomen, the result of a summer spent working at her grandparents' farm. Her skirt ended in a fringe at the end of her fingertips.
"Yeah right," she said, rolling her eyes, "I'll go change, a compliment from you, I must look horrible." She began to close the door, but I stuck my foot in the space. "Just let me change, you're wasting our time."
"No, really Audrey, I mean it. You look really good, amazing as it is. Can we go now, or do I have to wait for you to admire yourself?" I asked, eyeing the large mirror she kept beside her closet wearily.
She sighed, "I guess we don't have time for that, do we? Fine, we should go anyway, though we probably missed the bus, why didn't you come earlier Steph?" Sure, I thought, blame it all on me Audrey.
"Come on! We're already late!" I called to Audrey, who was jogging behind me.
"Then what's the point in rushing, if we're already late, getting there now, instead of getting there in thirty minutes won't make a difference. I think we should take our time, besides, we can find some way to escape the lecture that the VP probably has waiting for us. Please, Steph, is there any way to convince you?" Audrey replied, stopping at my side.
"Ugh, I hate it when you find a way to do this," I told her, grimacing.
"Do what?" she asked, her face full of mock innocence.
"Find ways to make me worship ideas that I don't even want to hear."
"Yes! Thank you Steph! I promise that you won't regret it," she said, jumping up and down.
"Of course I will, I always do," I muttered, turning my head away from her display of happiness.
"And if you ladies are ever late for school again, it's detentions for a month, we don't accept tardiness around here. Now off to class, both of you." Mr. Whitcross said. Audrey's seemingly brilliant plan to sneak into our class without meeting the VP had backfired. Bob the janitor better watch out, Audrey was famous for holding grudges.
"What's wrong with him?" Audrey whispered as soon as we heard the door click shut behind us. "It's healthy to ditch school, too much of it will make your head explode, not that you'd know anything about ditching, you're such a goody-goody."
"Shut up," I said, giving her a shove, "I am not a kiss-up, that job's taken by Danny."
"You're right," she replied with a laugh, "and I'm proud to say that you're nowhere near to being as big of a teacher's pet as him, 'Mrs. Hatchet, I brought you some flowers, they're almost as pretty you,'I hope we don't have to put up with another year of that."
"Yeah, I've been stuck with him for ten years already; another and I might kill him." I groaned, we had just reached the class, and Danny was sitting right beside the teacher's desk, his blonde hair gelled into cones on either side of his head. "Wow, what happened to his hair?" I whispered to Audrey, "It's like a style from Attack of the Hair Destroying Aliens."
"That's not the best you can come up with, is it? Seriously, that's one of the worst jokes I've ever heard." She said, stopping me mid-giggle.
I tapped on the door, and found myself facing one of the sternest looking women I had ever seen. Her hair was done up in a tight bun, and her eyes were magnified by circular glasses. Her nose was longer than average, and ended in a point.
"Well? What do you want?" she asked.
"We're-umm-we're in this class, I'm Audrey Smith, and this is Stephanie Watson."
"Fine. Take your seats; I'll expect you not to interrupt the class." She turned and walked haughtily away from us. My eyes drifted around the room, and landed on Seth, my boyfriend since grade nine. His bronze hair was in its regular style, and he had bent over his paper until his nose was almost touching it to stifle a laugh. I smiled at Audrey and slid into the empty seat beside Seth. I took out a piece of paper and scribbled
Hey, how were your last few weeks of summer?
He took one look at my note, than bent back over his paper.
"Seth?" I whispered, something wasn't right, why was he ignoring me. He shot me a meaningful look, and I felt a piece of paper brush against my leg. I reached down and grabbed it. Underneath my question was an answer in Seth's unmistakably perfect handwriting
Do you really have to ask? They were boring without you there; I ended up listening to Sean practice his speeches, I've never been happier to see your beautiful face. Can we do something tonight to celebrate your homecoming? What about a party?
I shook my head, Ben had already planned to take me out for dinner that night, he, unlike my mother, wanted a full recap of my month in Japan. Seth gave a shrug, and I knew he force me into some type of celebration sooner or later.
I looked down at the textbook on my desk, ugh biology, and began the worksheet that Mrs. Black had handed me.
"Hey Steph!" Charlotte called from across the cafeteria, waving her free hand in the air. I let go of Seth's hand, he was busy sweet-talking the lunch-lady into giving him a discount, and fought the crowd on my way to my friend's side. "How was Japan, did you have a good time? Were there any cute guys? What about Seth? How's he?" she shot questions at me, my mother could probably take lessons from her.
"Relax Charlotte. Japan was great, I can't answer you're third question without getting a guilty conscience, Seth's fine, and I know what you're going to ask next- umm- yes we are still going out." I said, the blood rushing to my face as I purposely lied about what she would ask.
"But-" she started, about to make my mistake known.
"I know you weren't going to ask about me and Seth, you're not an idiot, you saw us holding hands, but I would rather not talk about that right now."
"But I want all of the terrible details!" she whined.
"And you'll get them, in Gym okay? It's the first day, we'll be playing dodgeball, you and I can talk about when we're both sitting on the bench." I said. We were both terrible at dodgeball, we couldn't dodge, throw and talk at the same time for some reason.
She groaned, "Fine, but because you're making me wait, you have to answer every question I have, every one."
Now it was my turn to groan, Charlotte had the power to turn even the most innocent conversations painful with her questioning. "You're going to make me answer them all anyway, I may as well get to pick the time and place."
"Yes! Thank you, thank you Steph," she raised her right hand, "I swear to keep your confidence," she paused, "this time at least!"
"You better. Are you done? I need to go, lunch is already half over."
"Oh, I forgot, you have a boyfriend, lucky. Are you sure you can't hook me up with a Japanese guy or something?" she said, a spark of hope appearing in her eye.
"I thought you didn't believe in long-distance relationships?" I said, reminding her of the oath she had taken last year.
"That was last year, my interests and beliefs have changed." She replied with a haughty air.
"Of course," I muttered, "no Charlotte, I can't let you inflict yourself upon a poor Japanese boy."
"Humph! Don't you have a boyfriend to go eat with?" she turned and stalked away. She may be upset now, I thought, but by Gym she'll, unfortunately, be over it.
I spun around, ready to jump up and down to find Seth, but instead found myself face-to-face with someone. This someone, I realized, was unfamiliar to me. He had auburn hair that was tussled, as though someone had run their fingers through it. His olive complexion gave him the look of a Greek, his sharp cheekbones were carved in a way that some would make fun of. I avoided his eyes-it was always uncomfortable for me to lock eyes with a stranger-until his posture made it clear that he had no plans of moving to let me squeeze past. I moved my eyes slowly upwards. They were like nothing I had seen before, eerie, almost. There was a small band of brown around the edges of his irises, farther in there was a ring of emerald green, than of navy and periwinkle. But the part of them that drew my eyes was the centre, ghostlike pale silver haunted their depths, and suddenly, I remembered the stories my mother had told me when I was a child. Of the celestial beings in particular, whose eyes told whether they bore a spirit of good, or of evil.
"You're in my way," I said, surprising myself with the amount of coldness I was able to put into those words.
"Sorry," he sounded reproachful, "I'm Nick, and you're Stephanie, right?"
"Yeah, how do you know that, and why do you care?" It wasn't just unusual; it was amazing for anyone who didn't know me to even acknowledge my presence. Seth was cute, and this boy just might be up to his standards.
"Why, did I bother you? I'm sorry, I'll leave."
"No no, you weren't bothering me; it's just strange for anyone that's not a close friend to even talk to me." I said, unable to take my eyes off his, the width of each ring seemed to change constantly.
"Okay, well, I'm new, and I was wondering if you could show me around?" he asked, the blue band growing larger as he spoke.
"Umm, yeah, I guess. You can come sit with me; I'll introduce you to some people." I told him, finally able to tear my eyes away, and looking around for Seth. I saw him sitting by one of the windows with our usual group. He waved, and motioned for me to come over.
"Is that your boyfriend?" I looked up. Nick was pointing in the direction of Seth.
"Yeah, why?" I asked, did I detect a hint of jealousy? Could this stranger actually like me?
"Just a vibe, and the fact that he saved a seat beside him." He smiled, "It must be nice." He murmured. I pretended that I didn't hear the last part.
I lead the way through the crowd, you never got used to a cafeteria meant for 600 in a school of 1500.
"Hey Steph, I thought we'd lost you. Who's this, please tell me you haven't found someone else." The last comment was said with a smile as he reached his hand out to Nick.
"This is Nick, he's new. I told him I'd show him around the school, while he needs me anyway, this place is so small, he'll probably have learned his way around by fourth period." Nick was staring with doubt at Seth's hand, what was wrong with him? I shifted my weight onto my left foot, which was conveniently located on top of Nick's.
"Oww! Oh, sorry, I drifted off for a moment," he said, taking Seth's hand and shaking it with minimal contact, like Seth had a contagious disease. I sat down, there was only another ten minutes left for me to eat, and I was starving.
"Why don't you sit down Nick?" Seth said gesturing to the seat opposite Audrey.
"Oh, no I'm not really that hungry." He shrugged indifferently.
"Nod humgdry?" I asked, covering my face with a napkin when I realized that my mouth was full of the food I had stuffed into it a few seconds before. I quickly swallowed, then repeated, "not hungry! How can you not be hungry?!" Uh oh. Now I'd done it. In their rush to get to the door, everyone had turned around to see the cause of the shout. I threw my hands across my face. "Tell me when it's over!" I moaned. It was so like me to attract the unwanted attention of almost every kid in the school by starting scene.
"Steph, you can get up now," Seth's quiet voiced soothed my embarrassment.
"Just leave me here, spare yourself the shouts of 'Hey spatz!'" I groaned. It would be better if the floor would open up and drag me down.
"So you're going to abandon me in an unknown school. Wow, I guess you really can't believe everything you hear about a person." Nick's voice echoed in my head. Was I really that selfish? No, I would have to face the crowd sooner or later. And as much as I wanted to choose later, I couldn't. I had promised Nick that I would help him, I couldn't refuse to do it now.
"Fine. Um, Seth, can you help me up, I think something happened to my neck when I slammed my head down." I said, reaching a hand out for Seth to grab. "Nick," I said when I had finally made it to my feet, "what have you heard about me?"
"Not much. People seem... afraid, I guess to part with information about their friends." He looked confused.
"Well can you blame them? You're eyes are more than just a little freaky." I informed, almost whispering, enchanted by the misty silver.
"What are you talking about Steph?" Seth asked, also looking into Nick's eyes, "They look like perfectly normal eyes to me, they're green, almost the same colour as yours."
"Well yeah, they're green. But can't you see the other colours?" I asked, genuinely curious now.
"Did you hit your head a little too hard, maybe we should take you to the emergency room-" Seth looked down at me, the worry plain in his face.
"I'm fine Seth! Can't you see the colours in your eyes?" I directed the question at Nick, who seemed more confused than Seth was worried.
"N-no, Steph. My eyes are green." He stammered, obviously undecided about what he should do.
"You...can't...see...them?!" I demanded, glaring into Nick's eyes, trying to prove to myself that I was not hallucinating.
"You just hit your head Steph, don't worry, we'll take you to the hospital." Seth said, doing his best to cover up his worry.
"I did not hit my head Seth! And I don't want to go to ER! Just let me go to class." I strained against Seth's arms, which had formed a barrier around me.
"Okay, but if you act strange at all, I'm taking you straight out of this place, do you understand?" He put on his serious face, and bore his eyes into mine.
"Yes," I agreed weakly. Acting strange in Gym? No, not at all. Just the occasional injury that sent me to the nurse's office. Of course, that was during our normal curriculum. Dodgeball, ugh. It usually ended up looking like the site of a massacre in the gym by the time I was done stumbling around blindly searching for a ball to throw. I silently thanked God for not putting me in the same P.E class as Seth.
"I'm in your class for the rest of the classes Steph, I'll act as Seth's eyes and ears." Nick informed me, seeing the relieved look that was plastered onto my face. Seth smiled gratefully at him, the traitor. Now I would end up in the emergency room anyway, though I wouldn't be surprised of Seth skipped that step completely, and took me straight to a psychiatrist.
I stalked away from the two partners, now that I would be constantly under watch, I may as well be watched with as much dignity as I could muster.
"Steph, wait up!" I heard the sound of Nick's feet hitting the floor as he ran to catch up with me, and Seth's chuckle in the background. At least he wasn't jealous, Seth seemed to really like Nick. I spun around to face Nick.
"Well," I said, sounding ruder than I intended to.
"You promised, remember?" he told me.
"Remind me to never promise you anything ever again." I muttered, leading the way to the gym. At our school, P.E was only mandatory for one year, but I'd foolishly allowed Seth to talk me into taking it again this year, as if my average wasn't already low enough.
"So," he paused, looking for some insignificant question that would distract my anger. "What's your favourite class?"
"Small talk won't help you Nick, ask Seth, I can hold a grudge for years, especially when it comes to traitors." I threatened him.
"It's probably better this way," he murmured, looking down.
"Excuse me?" I said, curiosity filling my voice.
"It's better if you and I don't become friends." He explained simply, "it would just make it harder for you when I leave."
"Don't leave then." It was so obvious, how could he miss that answer?
"It is more complex then that Steph, I don't have a choice. I'm not even sure when I'm leaving. But don't worry about that, it's my problem."
"Fine, don't tell me. I have no idea why you would bring it up if you weren't going to tell me the whole story." I was irritated. Nothing bothered me more than unfinished stories.
"That's not fair Steph, and you know it. Haven't you ever had a secret that you couldn't tell anyone? Wait, don't answer that. I know you have, I can see it in your eyes."
"Well all I can see in your eyes is a variety of different colours, and don't tell me that I hit my head. I know that you can see it too." I looked sternly at him, there was no good excuse for what he'd done to me. "Don't worry though, you've made it clear that you don't want anyone else to know, so they won't." I assured him, seeing a worried frown cross his brow.
"See you in class Steph," he said, we had come to the change rooms.
"Yeah, sure. Bye.
"Where does it hurt sweetie?" Miss Rawheart, the nurse asked me. I'd taken a ball to the head in Gym, and my nose had just stopped bleeding.
"Oh dear, it looks like it's broken. I can put in a splint, but you'll have to go to the hospital to have it set." Great, now Seth would be happy. My stomach did a back flip, I really hated the emergency room, but unless I wanted a crooked nose for the rest of my life, I would have to put up with it.
"How are you?" Seth whispered in my ear. He had seen me passing his classroom with my hand covered in blood, and had faked a stomach ache to be with me.
"I've been better, but I've also been worse. Like this one time in Japan-" I started to launch into a detailed description of my...accident during the summer, but Seth stopped me.
"Really, it's okay, I don't need to hear this." Of course, to Seth every scrape was life-threatening. He would probably end up fainting if I made him listen to my adventures.
"Whatever. Do you think I can leave?" I asked him. Miss Rawheart had left the room, and plans of escape were running through my head.
"Not a chance Steph, you're staying right here, even if I have to use force." He said, his arms folding around me.
"You're no fun," I complained, putting on my best sad face, "I bet Audrey would let me go."
"Audrey also persuaded you to ditch school this morning, she'd let you stand in the middle of a highway if she thought it would be fun."
"Don't say that, Audrey would never do something that put us in danger, skipping school didn't hurt us at all." Despite my statement, an image of the vice principal's face purple with rage popped out of my memory. Seth gave me his 'tell the truth' look. "She wouldn't!" I persisted.
Thankfully, the nurse returned before Seth could say anything else.
"Ok dear, you're ready to go. I'll tell the office that you've left." She turned to Seth, "Will you need to be excused too, Mr. Turnstall?"
"Yes please, I'll drive her to the hospital." He placed his hand on my waist and half-lead, half-carried me out of the room.
"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked again as he put me down in the passenger seat of his 1993 Corolla.
"Yes!" I said, exasperated now.
"Okay," he put the car in reverse, and pulled out of the parking lot.
The pain was sharp and short-lived.
"Oww!" Seth rubbed my arm quickly. As if that would make me feel better about having a splint attached to my face.
"What about Nick?" I murmured, looking up into Seth's face.
"I left him with Audrey." He answered, looking indifferent.
"You didn't!" I gasped, "weren't you the one who was trying to convince me how dangerous Audrey was!?"
"Yes, but unless you would rather have Charlotte with him..." he trailed off, realizing that I wasn't listening. I thought about Audrey's past ideas. Would she be able to talk Nick into doing one of them?
"Miss Watson, Miss Watson. Miss Watson!" I looked up and saw the doctor standing over me. How long had he been there, waiting for me to resurface?
"You can go now," Thank God. Now all I had to do was face whoever was waiting in the lobby, and convince them that I was all right.
Seth grabbed me around my waist again, and led me off to face a very angry Dayna.