She sat within the comforts of the library walls, deciding whether or not to tell Caleb and the rest of her suspicions. She had wanted to confide in someone for a long time now. If only she would be taken seriously. Constantly, scenes of them laughing at her would play in her mind. After all, what she would be telling them something that would sound utterly crazy.
Caleb would just say that what she was seeing were only due to the side effects of being run over by a hummer. Reid would just crack a joke about her "being one sandwich short of a picnic" and "needing a visit to the nut house". But deep inside she knew her flashes of memory were real. She could feel the familiarity in them, like they really had happened to her.
"Hey, something wrong?" it was Sarah who had spoken, snapping her out of her deep thought. The both of them had met during the night of Kate's birthday. All of them had gone to Nicky's as planned. Sophie had caught up later, along with Tyler, after having almost drowned earlier that day.
"It's nothing." She replied, shaking her head.
"Yeah? It's just that, you seemed kind of out of it." Sarah set down her books on the table and sat across her.
"Yeah, I get like that sometimes when I'm thinking."
"Well it must be pretty huge if you had your face all scrunched up like that." Silence followed afterwards, with both of them getting back to their homework and research. After a while though, Sophie had spoken up once more.
"Hey Sarah?"
"Mmmhm?"
"Who are the 'Sons of Ipswich?'" she asked, thinking back on what Madison had said to her. Sarah immediately stopped writing and looked up at her.
"Are they -"
"A boy band? Nope." And both of them laughed.
"I was thinking more of a secret society or something like that but yeah, I guess that could be and option." Sarah chuckled but then became more serious.
"Actually, no." she began. "The 'Sons of Ipswich' are none other than Caleb, Pouge, Reid and Tyler." She paused, as if considering telling her more but Sophie coaxed her on. "They say that the boys are the descendants of the original five families that came to Ipswich some time back in the 1600s."
"So like, 2 of them are cousins or something?" Sophie asked, slightly confused.
"What? No! What gave you that idea?"
"Well you said five families. I was just thinking that along the way, two of the original five had gotten married or something and merged families."
"Hardly the reason. Kate told me that the fifth one was killed, actually hanged according to my research, during the Salem witch trials."
"So you actually read up on them?"
"Yeah, it seemed interesting at the time."
"And you think it isn't now?" she asked her with a scoff. "You were doing a background check on Caleb Danvers."
"I still do! But eventually it gets old. What, you think I would start screaming 'conspiracy' or 'witch!' when Caleb's my boyfriend?"
"Well, no…"
"Look, I was just as curious as you are now when I landed here. Hitting the books cleared a bit up though, if you really wanna know. But I'm telling you, it's just a bunch of history. You can even ask the guys about it, they'll tell you the same." She stood up to leave, gathering her things and placing them back in her bag. She bid Sophie goodbye and headed out the door.
Just then, Tyler had strolled in with a bright smile on his face. "Hey, great! You're here!"
"Hey Tyler, whatsup?" she asked him, returning a smile.
"Actually I wanted to see you."
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yup. I was going to ask you something." He became more serious and leaned in closer, signaling her to do the same, shyly. "Erm… ah… Reid just wanted me to ask you if you wanted to go out on a date with him." He burst out.
She leaned back in complete shock, "What?! No way! Tell him to grow some balls and ask me himself."
"Yyyyeahhh, I would, but genius over here ruined the whole thing by telling you." came another voice from behind her. It was Reid and he was wearing his signature smirk. She looked curiously at him, wondering how he had managed to get behind her without her noticing. It's like he had just come out of thin air. "Actually, the little runt was just going to check if you had any plans for this week and let me handle the real work."
He turned to Tyler and eyed him threateningly. "See, this is why you can't get any real dates. You just suck at it."
"Shut up!" he retorted.
"Well what if told you that I didn't want to go out with you? What if I wanted to go out with Tyler, instead?" The words had come out before she had even managed to process it entirely.
"Yeah! What if she – wait, what?"
"Yeah, what?" Reid repeated.
She looked back and forth between the two dumb-stricken boys. They looked at her questioningly. She was just as shocked as they were. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to find the words that would come out of her mouth.
"You heard me!" she said, finally regaining her composure. They looked at one another for a brief moment. Reid stared at Sophie. Sophie stared at Tyler. Tyler looked at Sophie with an equally surprised stare and closed his mouth as soon as he realized that it had been hanging open.
"So… That's a… no…?" Reid finally asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. He arched an eyebrow and leaned on his knuckles.
"Yes, that's a NO."
"So, no coffee then?"
"No. No coffee, Reid. Now would the both of you go? I have a Latin test coming up and I don't want to flunk." She lied. There was no test and she wasn't flunking Latin. She was just trying to find an excuse to get rid of both of them before things got really ugly.
Reid rolled his eyes and walked lamely out of the library, but not before grabbing Tyler by the shoulder and dragging him out with him. "Bye, Soph." Tyler said quietly. He walked backwards all the way. His face still showing signs of shock but this time, it held a hint of amusement.
-
Sophie needed a job, badly. She was never going to be able to repay Caleb and Tyler if she didn't get one soon. So, Saturday morning, she got up bright and early and quietly snuck out of the dorms. It took her some time before she was able to find her way into town for the streets had been unfamiliar to her. Luckily, she had gotten breakfast at the nearby café Tyler had taken her to a few days ago before starting on her job hunt.
She walked around town for what seemed like an hour before finally coming across a small Chinese restaurant displaying a 'Waitress Wanted' sign on the glass window. She really had no idea if she had ever worked a day in her life or not, but she was desperate and was more than willing to give it a try.
The restaurant was small, with fading red wallpaper plastered all over the walls and red carpeting covering the floor. After a short interview with the owner – an old balding Asian man who wore thick glasses - she was asked to go around the restaurant and take orders from the customers. The man instructed her to say a small greeting in Chinese before handing them the menu and taking their orders. After a brief lesson in Chinese, Sophie was sent on her way.
It didn't take long before she found herself being screamed at by the old man. She had offended a Chinese couple by screwing up the greeting and accidentally insulting calling the girl 'butt ugly' instead. The owner looked extremely angry with her. His face had gone completely crimson and was yelling at her in Chinese. Even though she couldn't understand, she knew what he was saying was something bad. She was pretty sure she was now fired, even though she hadn't really gotten the job yet.
After being chased out of the restaurant, she walked over to a diner not far from the restaurant for lunch. She bit down hard on the chili dog she had ordered from the counter. She was really hungry. She managed to scarf down half of her chili dog when she caught sight of a shop across the street also looking for help. She chomped away at the remaining half of her meal and wiped away the chili that had been dribbling down the corner of her mouth before hurriedly stepping out of the diner and making her way towards the shop.
The building had looked aged and worn. Modern-looking windows that amounted to half her height were set three in a row for every level of the building. She peeked through the storefront window.
The sign, which stood atop of the entrance, looked as old as the building and read 'nouveau'.
Inside, the shop looked very different. The walls were coated with a warm peach color, with quaint-looking lamps attached to it. The light from the lamps made the room look even cozier. Antique bookshelves filled the empty space along the walls. Comfortable leather chairs were also set up in different areas of the room. Sophie walked towards the counter and inspected the items displayed. She found an assortment of delicious looking pastries; from cookies to muffins and brownies and cake. "Hey! Can I help you with something?" came a friendly voice from behind the cash register. Sophie looked up at her shyly. "Uh, yeah, I was hoping to get a job here?" She grabbed the plastic sign hanging on a hook on situated on the counter top and held it up in front of the girl. "Oh, perfect!" said the girl, clasping her hands together in a perky manner. Sophie silently prayed that she wouldn't screw this one up.
"Follow me! Come on, sit down!" said the girl, her long, wavy, dark-brown hair bouncing off her shoulders. "I'm Sandra, by the way. I'm the owner and as you can see, I'm a little short-handed right now." Sandra led Sophie towards an area that had a fireplace and sat down.
"So, have you had any experience with waitressing before?"
She considered her answer for a moment. She did manage to get a little experience waiting tables at that Chinese restaurant earlier this morning. That is, until she insulted someone and got fired.
"Yeah, I have."
"Good. Good. Ever worked with espresso machines before?"
"Not that I can say."
"What about books? Do you like to read?"
"Oh yes! I love to read." She answered. The interview went on like that for some time, with Sandra asking small questions and Sophie answering them. "Well, looks like everything's in order. You're hired!" Sandra told her after the interview.
"Great! When can I start?"
"Monday night maybe? From six to ten?"
Sophie agreed and bid Sandra goodbye. She took one last look around the café before making her way out the door and figuring her way back to the dorms.
Well, there you go! I hope this chapter didn't suck too much. I've been out of it lately. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get my skills back.
I hope you all review!!! God knows I need help and advice.
Also, I hope you check out my new Covenant fiction entitled: The Keeper and The Key. Don't let the first chapter fool you. It gets better, I promise.
Lastly, "Coming for You" by ourobsession needs a little love too! I co-wrote it with my friend.
--DeaSelene
