Chapter 1:Arrival
As the plane landed I could not wait to get off. I was shoved in between my two older brother, Erick and Fernando. Fernando was my brother sitting to my left. He was 27 and an olive tone, like me. He was a giant at 6'4" with short dark hair and was a little chunky. He always had a grin on his face and it was hard to not catch his contagious laughter. He had the power of manipulation and could make people do things that they didn't want to do. Fernando always told me that it was a curse, because everyone should have free will and I understood. I myself was happy that his powers did not work on me, though his powers did work on my other brother Erick. Erick was 28 years old. He was 6'2" with a thin frame, blue eyes and floppy black hair. He had muscles, but they were invisible to the naked eye. He was crazy strong, but that was his power after all. Being sandwiched between these two big men for 6 hours was not my idea of fun and the proximity of being free was the only thing keeping me from going stir crazy. When the ding of the seat belt light going off broke me from my trance, I turned and looked out the window. It was dark and dreary just the way that I liked it. I got up to stretch my legs but I ended up just keeping one knee on the seat and tilting my head at a weird angle to even be able to stand in the airplane.
"You excited" Fernando asked, looking up at me with a wide grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. He knew how much I hated chicago. I hated getting on the bus going to school everyday, I hated the hustle and crime.
"You have no idea, I mean look at this weather. Makes me want a cup of soup and a book. So relaxing" I said with a closed mouth smile. I was short at 5'4" and basically so used to craning my neck to talk with any male that it was nice he was still seated. We walked onto the tarmac and saw our taxi. We all piled in and I was the middle of the sandwich yet again for another hour to Forks. Moving from Chicago to Forks Washington was not ideal for my brothers, they really loved where we lived, but because they were the ones supporting the household with no more than a high school degree it really wasn't an option to stay. They found a job at the steel mill in Forks and off we went. They would be making triple the pay that they did in Chicago but rent for our house was half of our small 2 bedroom apartment back home.
The rain caused the taxi driver to take longer than expected and stepping out of the stale taxi was literally a breath of fresh air. Eric had come a few weeks earlier to view the house and bring our raggedy furniture from Chicago but walking into the house really made it seem empty with our scanty furniture. We set our bags down and gave each other wide eyed looks. We all knew this was going to take some getting used to, but we were up for the challenge, or at least I was.
"You guys hungry?" I asked "Pizza?"
The idea of pizza brought a huge smile to Fernando's face but the sudden thought occurred to me that pizza could be a very different thing out here. Eric gave me a questioning look, probably thinking the same thing.
"Or maybe…. Wings?" I offered another solution. " I will go search places to eat around here. Hopefully they deliver"
I walked upstairs quickly with my carry on bag still attached to my back and my rolling suitcase making thuds up every stair as I walked. I wasn't really sure which room was mine, but all the doors were open and I could see the dark green walls and smiled. I knew that Eric had painted the room that color; my favorite color. My steps got a little quicker as I got closer to the last room in the hallway. When I walked in I saw all my old furniture, with a brand new desk in the corner of the room, facing out at the woods. I placed all the bags on the ground, took a seat in the chair that accompanied my desk. I knew at this moment, that this was going to be my favorite spot in the house. Everything was so calm. I looked out the window and saw brown and green everywhere I looked. I could hear birds chirping, muted only by the window.
"Did you find anything?" Fernando called impatiently.
"Hold on, almost done!" I lied as I tried to grab my laptop out of my backpack.
It was really quick to find a restaurant in Forks, as there was only a total of 7 and only one restaurant had an option for boneless wings. I placed an order using my debit card. I knew that eventually I would have to look for a part time job. I was 16 years old and had been working since I was 14. I liked to have my own money, so I wouldn't have to bother my brothers for anything; it always made me feel guilty, even though they always offered and hated when I refused. The rest of the night went by quickly, We ate our food around the tv at our coffee table in the living room, as was our nightly ritual in Chicago. Today was Saturday, and the stress of my first day of school was slowly creeping in, but I tried to shake it out my mind. I stared in the mirror after brushing my teeth. My dark brown eyes stared back at me. My dark wavy hair came down to just above my shoulders, but was not the pretty wavy, rather waves that went in a billion directions. I had nice olive toned skin and nicely tweezed eyebrows. I looked at my plain face and looked away quickly. I really didn't think I was ugly, just nothing special. My brothers were good looking and had their powers. My mom called us witches, but no one really knew where the powers had come from. I did not have those powers… at least not yet. My brothers both got their powers at 14, and here I was at 16 with none. I felt utterly normal. With that thought I sulked back in to my room and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I woke up to the sound of an engine revving loudly. I quickly looked under my pillow and checked my phone. I slept so late! It was already 10:30. Going to sleep tonight was going to be rough. The revving engine kept going, and it was getting rather annoying. I hopped out of bed and scurried down the stairs, folding my arms over my chest. When I opened the front door there was a small Toyota corolla outside. My brother Eric was in the front seat with a wide Cheshire grin on his face. I smiled back, knowing that Eric smiling this wide was a rarity. My eyes moved to the passenger side and I saw Fernando laughing so hard that the car was shaking slightly. They both rolled down their windows at around the same time, and the laughing that I heard sounded so much louder than expected. I was so happy to hear it. Eric and Fernando both worked so hard, and it was nice to see them enjoy themselves.
"What do you think Yvette?" Fernando yelled out the passenger side window, "We got a steal on this car and me and Eric can fix anything wrong with it"
"YOU BOUGHT A CAR!?" I asked in surprise, not connecting the dots when I saw them driving it. "That is amazing you guys! Take me for a ride?" I asked.
"Maybe you should put on a bra… and brush your teeth first" Eric yelled out in a voice that gave away his happy mood.
"Give me 5 minutes" I yelled behind me as I headed back up the stairs to the only bathroom in the house.
After driving through the city of Forks for 40 minutes, which meant circling the town 20x we finally decided to stop at the local hardware store and pick up some things to sand down and fix my desk in my room. The boys decided to stay in the car and meticulously decide which radio stations would be saved to the stereo.
When I walked into the store, the strong smell of fresh wood was in the air. I literally had no idea what I was looking for either. A boy around my age did a double take in my direction, probably seeing the lost look my face was expressing.
"Do you need any help?" he asked with a friendly smile. Now that the boy was closer, I could clearly see the bright orange vest he wore. He had shaggy blonde hair and pretty blue eyes.
"That obvious huh?" I laughed.
"Just a little" he lied looking a little amused.
I explained my plan with the desk and he showed me through the aisles, throwing things I would need into a small basket he picked up on the way.
"So are you from out of town?" he asked, curious.
"I actually just moved to forks yesterday. I start at the high school tomorrow." I said, thankful that I might actually know someone on the first day.
"Really? How old are you? I can wait tomorrow before school to show you to your first class." he said rather quickly, like he really wanted to put the offer out.
"I'm 16, I'm a Junior and that would be amazing. I am actually really nervous."
He smiled and it put me at ease.
"I'm a junior too! I'll wait for you by the main office. Then we can take it from there?" He offered as he led me to the cash register.
"Sounds like a plan…" I looked down at his name tag, "Mike." I smiled as I said his name. He kept staring at me a little dazed, and I had a flash of thought that maybe something was in my teeth so I abruptly stopped smiling.
"I am so sorry, I didn't even ask you your name!" he said, red coloring his cheeks.
"My name is Yvette, and it really is ok. No worries." I reassured him as I slid my credit card.
We exchanged 'see you tomorrows' and I headed back to the car. My brothers were arguing about which old hip hop station they wanted on the button 3. They continued their conversation as we drove to the grocery store. By the time that we had bought groceries, laundry detergent, and cleaning supplies it was starting to get darker outside. We headed home finally. Eric grabbed all the bags he could carry out of the trunk. I always laughed at him when he did this. He had super strength so it was never a matter of weight, but always a matter of how much would fit in his hands and the frustration was always evident on his face,
"Eric, I can grab the rest of the bags." I giggled as I bumped him with my hip and grabbed the remaining 3 bags. He grumbled, but let me grab them.
As soon as I walked in the house, I took out a big pot from one of the boxes on the kitchen counter and filled it up with water. Tonight would be a very simple pasta dinner with the ground beef we picked up at the store. Fernando put the groceries away, while Eric started taking out the rest of the stuff I needed for pasta. The only good thing about being a witch was that me and my siblings were always a really good team. In a way, we always completed each other. Fernando was the fun loving goofy one, Eric was the protector, and I was the responsible care taker. I always made sure that they came home to a clean house and dinner. My powers never came in, and I felt useless most of the time. Fernando, ever since I turned 14, would tell me that of course I had a power. He called me a shield, since his powers never worked on me. I knew that was just to make me feel better, but it still felt nice to feel like I had an extra edge in a house of witches.
"So me and Fernando got our schedules today…" Eric started. I felt a pit in my stomach. This did not sound good. "We are going to both work afternoons. So one of us will drop you off at school, but getting home is going to be a challenge." he stated.
"I have a few thousand saved up. Maybe I can buy a car." I offered.
"That was exactly what I was thinking… this guy named billy is bringing over his pick up truck. Saw an ad online and messaged him. I am really hoping it works out."
My heart started fluttering. I always wanted my own car. Even the thought of all that freedom felt exileharting. My mind started to wonder about all the things I would do with my new found freedom when the doorbell rang.
I got up and ran towards the door. When I yanked the door open I was surprised by the boy standing outside. He was a few inches taller than me, with russet brown skin and long black hair. His smile was wide and reminded me of Fernando's smile; radiating happiness. I smiled back in confusion, "billy?" I questioned.
He laughed, finding my confusion amusing, "no, my dad is billy. He is in a wheelchair, so I am his chauffeur. You want to come out and take a look at the truck?" he asked, looking over my shoulder for someone else.
"Eric! Fernando! Come on!" I yelled as I stepped out of the door, next to the boy.
I giggled as his eyes widened when my brothers came into view. They were part of the reason why I never had any boys interested in me. They could be really intimidating. I found out the boys name was Jacob. The truck was old, but Jacob said that the engine was totally rebuilt and if I needed any work done I could always take it back to him. He gave my brother Fernando his number in case we had any questions.
Eric pulled out a wad of money and gave it to billy. Billy smiled and handed the key over to me,
"Be careful young lady" he said, eyeing my young face.
"Of course" I responded, trying to keep the excitement in my eyes hidden, though I am sure I was not very successful. Jacob put his dad in a car, with a different russet colored man behind the wheel. He waved at me with the grin still wide. I waved back, showing my full excitement to only him, because I thought he would understand.
"Well thank god that worked out, I did not want to wake up early to take you to school." Fernando said, pushing me to the side so he could walk into the house first. Eric helped me catch my balance and let me walk in. I looked at my phone and realized that it was already 10pm. I did not want to go to school tomorrow. Now I would have to worry about finding parking tomorrow on top of it all. I turned around to get one last glance at my truck. It was an old pick up. Rounded body and all, but it just had so much character to it. Honestly I could be driving a freaking motorbike in the rain and I didn't care. I was driving a car that was mine. I yelled goodnight to the boys as I walked up the steps. My stomach was already in knots with the anxiety for tomorrow. I put my headphones on and played Pandora until I fell into a restless sleep.