We all have our fantasies. We dream of things that we think would never happen to us. How wrong we are! When they had invited me to eat with them, I was pleased but clueless. What if I discovered a book of fairytales with paintings just like them, and one that looked like my real mother? What would happen than? I'll tell you what happened.. But I got to fill you in on my life before...
My name is Clara Ember Lila Phoebe Nix, but you can call me Clara. I've never been sure about my past. The only memory I have is vague...
I had been an infant. It was dark in the room. The nurse created a spark. The spark caught my eye, I watched it with interest. My nurse walked up to my crib, my eyes followed the flame. Suddenly the nurse gasped, one of her fingers black. And dropped the match into the crib. I can't stop myself from touching the bright light. My real parents gained this shocked look and took the match away from me immediately. From that time on, I never got to touch a match or any type of fire producing thing, for that matter. Even my foster parents won't let me touch any fire.
That was why I was sitting in the school office, my foster mom arguing about one of my classes, chemistry. Personally I was glad that I might not have to take chemistry, because it was mostly math, and math has never been my strong subject. But I knew why my mom didn't want me to take chemistry.
One four letter word. F-I-R-E, fire, my strange ability with fire, whatever it is, worried my parents to death. No candles in the house, no incense, no fireworks. No fire. But I wish I could have fire.
The muffled voices reach my ear. I could see the shadows of my mom, pacing.
"You don't understand! Clara goes crazy around fire. She can't control herself around it. I don't want my little girl to be blamed because of a fire happening. She loves fire." The principals voice was more calm then that of my mother. I considered my foster mother to be a good enough motherly figure, so I called her mom.
"Now Mrs. Burra, Chemistry is a required course in this high school. I'm sorry I can't take away her Chemistry class. She will be able to control herself around fire. Your daughter is a very obedient girl." My mom slams her hand down on the table. Her voice low and dangerous, challenging.
"Fine! We'll see what happens, I tried to warn you!" My mother walked out of the office in a huff. When she saw me she calmed down, acting as if nothing special had happened.
"Now that I have that tooken care of, I will go home now." She bent down to hug me. I groaned loudly.
"Mom.. Its embarrasing! I thought we had an agreement on this. No hugging, pinching cheeks, or kissing in public. Are we agreed?" My mom laughed,
"I can never remember it. I love you so much, Clara. See you at home." My mother walked out of the office, smiling triumphantly. The secretary gives me a small smile then returns to her work. I look at the time and sigh. Lunch. None of my friends had the same lunch as me. This was going to be a long day.
I walk down the halls, towards the purple cafeteria doors. I sit at a lonely table on the wall. Watching the activities of everyone in the lunch. My eyes fall on the popular table. All of the girls at the table were totally different from one another.
The leader Cindy, was tall, her hair a dirty blond, her eyes the most incredible blue. The girl sitting next to her; Elizabeth or Liz had ebony hair with silver eyes. The next girl; Melody, had rosy lips and golden hair, eyes that changed color depending on the light. The next girl; Sabrina had short cropped dyed hair, with emerald eyes. The next girl; Leah looked foreign with cat-like eyes of a violet color.
No one had brown eyes there. All of them were popular, just because of their looks, and their charms. I thought.. Last year Leah had been a nobody like me, but they had tooken her into their group and now she was one of the most popular girl in school. Fantasy's filled my mind as I watched them.
Sabrina looked my way, then she turned back to the others. I feel all of their eyes on me. Were they talking about me? I watch their table. Sabrina shook her head and gets up. She was heading straight for me! Suddenly I was all a jitters, was I daydreaming?
She takes the empty seat next to me. She smiles at me, and begins to eat her lunch as if nothing special had happened. I can't help but start to blush. She shifts position uncomfortably and turns to me.
"Hey..um... Clara, isn't it? Would you like to eat with us?" I can't help but feel honored. A bubble of excitement floats like butterflies in my stomach.
"Yeah, sure! I was getting kind of lonely, anyways." She grins at me.
"Cool!"She gets up and walks back to her friends. I stay back in my seat, reviewing what had just happened to me. Sabrina turns around in her seat and motions for me to come on over. I get up, feeling the countless eyes on me. I never had this much attention before.
I can't help but notice how Leah's eyes narrow. She doesn't seem too happy that I've joined the table. I wonder why she doesn't like me? The other faces give me a fake smile. Their eyes revealing their secret. They didn't really like me. Only Sabrina seemed to be sincere. She turns to me, smiling brightly.
"Hey Clara, you probably know my friends. So what classes do you have this semester?" I reach into my pocket and pull out the lilac colored paper.
"Um.. I have Chemistry with Mr. Elm, then I have Web Designing with Mr. Botroe. In the morning I have English with Mrs. Quim, Algebra 2 with Mr. Rommel, World Civics with Ms. Flit, and Photography with Ms.Besstar. Do you have any of those?" Sabrina bites her lip,
"We have chemistry together, and Web Designing too. Two classes, wow! Leah says she has you in most of her classes. Isn't that true Leah?" Leah rolled her eyes,
"For the time being, but its not going to stay that way. All advanced program students are having their schedules scrambled." Cindy looked down at her food rolling around an orange. Liz gave me a bright smile, she had softened towards me. Sabrina nudges Cindy. Cindy gave her a questioning look, which in response Sabrina motions towards me. Cindy rolls her eyes,
"Um... Clara, we have something to give to you. We'll have it for you tomorrow." The bell rings and Sabrina and I walk together to Chemistry. I can't help but notice how many times Sabrina pauses to talk to other people. I feel like I was a snail, slowly inching towards the finish. No wonder why Sabrina was known, she takes the time to converse with others. I'm just too quiet. She catches up to me.
"So.. do you ride the bus home?" I nod my head. She bites her lip.
"We could give you a ride home, that is if you would like?" Yes! I don't have to ride that stupid bus for an hour!
"Yes, I would like that. Bus rides are sooo slow!" She grins, as we entered the door. Mr. Elm was one of the teachers that let you choose where to sit. My friend Kate motions towards a seat next to her. I take a seat willingly. Kate leans over towards me, and I can see the excitement in her eyes.
"Where you just talking to Sabrina Longe?" I nod my head. She shakes her head,
"I can't believe it! Quiet little Clara, with the popular girls! How did it happen?" I hesitated. Kate had always wanted to be part of the popular group.
"I'm not sure... there I was just eating my lunch, and Sabrina Longue sits at my table and invites me to sit with her and her friends." Kate smiles,
"Wow, you are sooo lucky. I wish that would happen to me!" The bell rings and the door closes. Mr. Elm gets up in front of the class.
"Today, we are going into the lab. We will learn how to safely light a bunsen burner." I feel the bubbles in my stomach popping and rising. I get to play with fire! No wonder mom wanted me off Chemistry so bad. First day, fire. Sabrina looks over at me. Then the class starts to scramble. Instantly, Sabrina sits down beside me.
"Want to work together?" Kates mouth drops open. I nod my head. Sabrina grins,
"Cool!"We leave the classroom and go to the lab across the hall. The lab was brightly lit, with items stacked neatly on the shelves. Sabrina and I take one of the open spots. I pull out the object with the label, rubber tubing and bunsen burner. She connects the tubing to the gas faucet. I feel stupid because I don't know what's going on. I turn to Sabrina, my face a little red.
"What did Mr. Elm say back in the class?" Sabrina gives me a suprised look.
"Didn't you listen at all?"
"Ummm.. I kind of lost track after he said fire." She gives me a suspicious look. Then she pulls out a match and lights it. My eyes fall on it instantly. She hands the match to me.
"Here you light it." My hand willingly holds the match up to the bunsen burner. Immediately a wild fire appears around the bunsen burner. Sabrina gasps and tries to pull my hand out of the fire. But my hand stays in place. Everyone is staring at my hand. Sabrina turns down the level of gas and my hand is no longer enveloped in fire. My class mates loose interest. Except for one of my male classmates. I don't remember his name but he keeps staring at me. Sabrina takes a deep breath.
"Are you hurt, I'm so sorry about that. It wasn't supposed to happen!" Something about the way she's looking at me, surprises me. Respect, like she admires me. I turn to watch my classmates, my eyes fall upon the unknown male. He had the looks of someone from California, skin tan from being in the sun, hair of a light blond, and pale blue eyes. He coughs uncomfortably, and turns back to his partner. I catch the the words that Unknown says.
"Did you see that? How did she do that?!" His partner Zack, responds in a distracted voice.
"What? What happened?" Unknown snorts,
"Come on, you can't tell me that you didn't see it! Everyone saw it happen." Zach turned to him,
"Honestly, what happened?" Unknown's mouth drops open,
"She put her hand in the fire! Nothing happened to her skin, its still the same." Zack shakes his head,
"Your just imagining things. Now help me with this. The match won't light! Should we get a striker?" I watch Unknown pull out some items.
"Whose he?" Sabrina turns to me, and looks over where I'm pointing at. She smiles.
"Oh, thats Chris. Nice isn't he?" She waves at Chris, he smiles back at her. She turns back to her work but not before I hear her murmur,
"Special too, it doesn't work on him. He's immune to it." Mr. Elm walks up to our bunsen burner with a clip board, my hand wavers close to the fire. He studies the fire and nods.
"Just right. Good job girls. Careful! Ms. Nix you'll burn your hand! Bunsen burner fire is not anything to play with!" He marks something on his paper and moves on to the next pair. My hand goes into the fire. Sabrina pulls it out of the fire.
"Don't do that! I can't cover up for your foolishness all the time!" I can't help but notice Chris's eyes still watching me. Sabrina turns off the gas and I feel like I had lost something special. My shyness returns to me, and my face heats up.
(Chris POV)
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That girl that Sabrina was sitting by, who was she? I'd never seen her before. Her hair was a strange color, one you didn't see often, copper. I try to seem uninterested. Zack noticed everything, how come he didn't know about the fire hand incident. I do admit sometimes I could freeze things with the touch of my hands, but the way this girls hand didn't change kind of scares me.
I knew Sabrina was strange the way she looked at the class right after her partners hand went into the fire seemed magical. Even the way that girls hand didn't burn was magical. Like something from a dream. I watched the girls hand. The way her hand inched towards the fire, reminded me of how my hands acted around ice. They inched towards it. If I was to touch the fire, it would freeze. Watching her made me want to touch the fire. My finger reached out and went into the fire, the fire turned to ice. A perfect crystal. Zach looks at the fire, he shakes his head murmuring,
"Must be seeing things." And looks back down at his book. I continue watching Sabrina's partner. As if she had heard her name, she turns towards me. Her chocolate butterscotch eyes stare into my eyes. I am so busy thinking of other things, I do not notice Sabrina approach.
"..Chris...Chris!" I blink and look up at Sabrina. She leans towards me, I hear a whisper.
"Your secret is safe with me." I blink again not really hearing, then slowly my scrambled brain organizes itself. Suddenly I feel uncomfortable. She knows my secret! But how? No ones ever noticed before! I thought of some excuse.
"What are you talking about?" I pretend not to know, what Sabrina said. Sabrina grinned. I try to act casual.
"So, whose your partner?" She looks over at her table. Turns to me with a bigger grin.
"Oh that's Clara." Clara, that seemed like a nice name. It had a certain ring to it. I watch Clara a little more. Sabrina follows my eyes. She smiles knowingly. I feel a clip on my arm.
"Oww! What did you do that for?!" She ignores my question.
"Nice isn't she?" I feign stupidity.
"Who?" Sabrina winks at me,
"Clara! Don't try to lie to me Chris, I know you too well!" Sabrina walks back to Clara. Zack closes his book. He looks around the class. He turns back to me,
"I'm bored, aren't you?" I shake my head,
"No, I'm not bored." He mumbles something, and starts tapping his pencil against the counter. He stops tapping, something catching his attention. He emphasizes the word.
"Nice." By the tone in his voice I already knew who he was talking about. I pretend ignorance again.
"Who?" I look around the room playing up to my role.
"Clara Nix. I never thought she could look that hot! I mean she was never ugly but, she was never very pretty either. I wonder what changed her..." He knew her! I try to seem uninterested.
"You know her?" I ask in a casual tone. He gives me a thin smile.
"Sorta, she's always nice to everyone. But she's never been real talkative. You can't read her until you really know her. But I never knew she could look like that! She's practically equal to Sabrina and her friends." The bell rang just then and he hurried out of the lab. I walked slower than usual, my brain filled to the brim. I turn the corner, not watching the people that are walking by. Someone walks right into me, and we both fall onto the floor. I hear a voice and turn towards it.
"So sorry, I should have been watching where I was going. It's my fault." It was Clara, her long copper hair covering her face. She was picking up her books. I smile trying to be charming.
"No, it's my fault." She looks up at the sound of my voice, and freezes. Then she looks back down at the floor picking up her belongings. I retrieve my items and offer my hand to help her. She puts her hand in mine, and a thought runs through my mind. Perfect fit. I helped her up onto her feet.
"Hi, I'm Chris." I said casually, she tucks a loose strand of copper behind her ear.
"I'm Clara. Nice to meet you, Chris." She shifts her position uneasily as if she was trying to get somewhere in a hurry. I look up into her eyes, mesmerized by the colors that swirled in them. She looked down at her wristwatch. She looks up at me. Her mouth opens, revealing pearly white teeth.
"Well, I got to go, my rides waiting. See you later." She stepped around me, and proceeded on her way very quickly. The meaning of the last three words she had said, overwhelmed me. She didn't find my company unpleasant! Maybe we could be friends, or more than that. I hit my forehead, punishing myself, for thinking about her in that way. I didn't know her very well, but yet her name stuck in mind like I had known her for many, many years.
(So what do you think? Am I good at first person point of view. You know it took me so long to stop using she and him in this story? I've never written a story like this. I've never written a modern story is what I'm saying. So I hope you enjoyed this. I enjoyed making it. Clara is a little like me in her personality. Oh and if you have been reading The Doni's Child, I have a tradition for each chapter I post. It's going to be the same way as before...
YOU ROCK SOCKS!
Thanks for caring. This story is only at the beginning, I barely just started on it, so I am willing to go with suggestions. Just pleeeeaaaassseee review. Help me fix my very many problems. Review to criticize and advize I don't need flowery reviews...OK? I'm not offended by any that will insult my writing...OK? Well..forward march!
-Lightzing