I. Kismet
What a strange thought it is that one's destiny was inscribed into existence before the
time of their birth- before they were even a thought or a dream. Yet somehow, defying all that the average individual may find to be logical and true, that destiny will find its way, regardless of a mere individual's want or plan. What a strange concept that we may pass by our destiny each and every day for nearly seventeen years without sparing a single thought towards it. And who's to blame when that destiny pays no regard to the feelings of others or the relationships that may teeter on a cliff's edge as a result?
"And we were all doing the worksheets, I finished mine first, and the bell was about to ring. So I'm packing up, and I notice Jared was asleep, so obviously-" the girl across from her nodded with exasperation and motioned with her hands "- I tap his arm to wake him up. He opens his eyes, and he grins at me, and the bell rings." Kim completed her story, her wide smile even broader with the force of her excitement. She stared across the table, her impatience only matched by elation, her hands clasped together in front of herself.
"Kim," the girl began, full lips pursing as she pondered her next words.
Kim frowned.
"If you already know what I'm going to say, then why are we," she gestured with her hands once more, "why are we doing this?"
"Nina," Kim rolled her eyes, laying her hands flat against the table, "come on, I think this was big!"
Nina inhaled deeply, sucking on the insides of her cheeks as her eyes wandered the cafeteria. They paused for a moment on the topic of conversation- Jared Cameron- before coming back to her best friend.
"You've said that a lot of times," she quirked her head slightly to the side.
Kim sighed and her eyes fell to the sandwich in front of herself. She begrudgingly picked it up and took a bite, chewing with unnecessary force.
Nina groaned, sliding forwards on her forearms and waiting for Kim's attention. She forced a half-hearted smile. "You know what? Maybe you're right." She sat up straight once more and shrugged, briefly eyeing her own sandwich with distaste before focussing back on Kim. "Maybe one of these days, he'll just realize that he's been missing out on the loveliest person I've ever known."
The smile returned to Kim's plain face, placated, and she blushed. "You don't mean that."
"Yes, I absolutely do."
They stared at one another, Nina's eyes squinting slightly as a smirk danced across her lips. After a moment under the intensity of Nina's stare, Kim cracked, blushing, and looked away. She timidly bit back into her sandwich.
"Hm," she began, placing the sandwich back onto her tray and holding up a finger as she finished chewing, "are you still coming over tonight? I'm only asking because Dad was gonna pick up dinner on the way through Forks."
Nina narrowed her eyes playfully, "of course I'm coming over tonight," she said, "and tomorrow night, and probably even Sunday if I think I can swing it past," she paused, pursing her lips to the side in thought, "her." Her eyebrows jutted upwards for a moment at the mention of her, and Kim nodded knowingly, grinning, nonetheless.
"I figured," Kim shrugged a shoulder, "taco salad from The In Place?"
Nina nodded, "you know me so well."
True to tradition, the two girls made a mad-dash to Nina's house following the conclusion of the school day, racing against the clock to pack a duffel bag of Nina's clothes before the front door clicked open.
They landed with a plop in the front seat of Kim's car, giggling as they did so. Kim shifted into drive while Nina tossed the bag over her shoulder, giggling with defiance, as she did each Friday afternoon- sometimes even the occasional Thursday.
"I am soo excited to eat something that isn't garbage," Nina laughed, a slight groan in her voice, "it's like a detox every weekend."
Kim cast her a smile as she drove.
As if the sky was in cahoots with Nina's elation, the clouds broke for a mere second as Kim pulled into her driveway, the well-kept mobile home coming into view before them. She subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief at the sight.
With her bag slung over her shoulder, she followed Kim gleefully up the aluminum steps and crossed the threshold of the home, the smell of Kim's mother's baking filling her soul with a warmth only they could provide.
Something pumpkin, perhaps a bread? Certainly not a pie- maybe a cookie, even.
"There's my girls," Annie called, her smile lines illuminated by the glow of the open even as she pulled two pans from it- pumpkin bread.
The smile that lit up Nina's face was one reserved specifically for Kim and her parents.
Annie placed a kiss on each girl's temple as they passed by, taking a moment to hold onto Nina and gesture towards the bread cooling on the stove- "your favorite," she murmured kindly. Nina's smile broadened- white teeth, all lined up evenly as they should be- and her shoulders even rose slightly with excitement.
The girls had settled themselves in at the kitchen table to do homework when Kai, Kim's father, got home. He affectionately touched each girl's head before reaching Annie and chastely kissing each cheek, balancing the takeout bags in his arms as he did so.
The four of them ate their dinner, chattering comfortably with one another as they did so, and all the previous dinner's from that week slipped from Nina's mind as she prepared herself for the weekend routine. As she had mentioned to Kim earlier, it was like a detox that began each Friday- the stress of her mother's presence morphing into a distant shadow; good, homemade food settling into her stomach; peaceful nights, tucked into a cozy bed, on the horizon.
That night, Nina laid out her clothes for the following day as Kim jotted down notes along the margins of her textbook.
"Hiking, yes? I snagged my boots on the way out."
"Hiking, no?" Kim giggled, crinkling her nose.
Nina turned to her with a raised eyebrow, tilting her head slightly, "Hiking… yes. You'll be fine," she rolled her eyes playfully and turned back to the leggings and flannel shirt she had folded neatly on the edge of the dresser. "It's not even like we're going to a real mountain," she continued, shrugging, "it's just up to the cliffs."
Kim began an argument for only a moment more before defeat became inevitable and she agreed, sighing and tucking away her schoolwork for the night.
The following morning, after Annie's Saturday breakfast, the girls set off towards the beach, Kim's nervous utterings filling the trek there.
"I'm not interested in your excuses," Nina chuckled, leading the way as they broke through the treeline, "I told you that I want pictures from up here," she shrugged, "it's got to be the best view on the reservation."
"I could think of plenty of better views," Kim mumbled.
"Jared Cameron doesn't count," Nina snorted. She didn't need to turn to know that Kim's russet cheeks were burning scarlett. She remained relatively quiet for the remainder of their trip, answering Nina as she chattered about the scenery around them.
When they emerged from the brush, cheeks pink from the chill of autumn, the sound of roaring waves muffled the strain of their breath from the rough terrain. Nina sucked in as much air as possible, lifting her face to meet the wind with zest.
"Isn't it incredible?" She breathed, continuing forward and eyeing the edge.
"Careful! Please," Kim squealed, a hand reaching out at Nina's back as she went. The smaller girl waved a dismissive hand in her direction and pulled her camera from her bag.
"You know, when Mrs. Darah called me into her office to talk about career paths, she mentioned 'travel blogger' to me, and I just can't get it out of my head," she raised her voice slightly for Kim to hear her above the waves, "it's, like, a newer thing, but she says people have ended up in magazines with their stories and pictures, just from their MySpace accounts. I think that sounds right up my alley."
She was vaguely aware of Kim wearily coming up behind her, eyeing the cliff from over her shoulder. She peeked through the lens of her camera and began making adjustments, clicking shots as she did so. After a minute, she dropped the camera to her side and allowed her eyes to shut, inhaling the crisp, salty air. In that moment, she envisioned herself far, far away from the reservation she had grown up on, even farther from her, snapping photos of the world as it passed by around her.
By the time she opened her eyes once more, Kim had crept backwards to the treeline and was eyeing her carefully.
Nina smiled lightheartedly, "Take one of me, please?"
With pursed lips, Kim nodded and took a shaky step towards her to take the camera.
She faced the cliff's edge once more, casting a smile over her shoulder at Kim and raising her arms to the sky.
Kim's nerves visibly disappeared as they descended from the cliffs, and she began to chatter about the coming week and the tests it entailed. Nina listened halfheartedly as her mind wandered back to the prospect of a traveling blog. Their senior year had just dawned, yet she was already a million miles away; yet even in the farthest of her travels, she came back to see Kim and her family each time.
They were nearing a break in the trees when the air around them grew chaotic, brush tearing and feet tumbling through it, a crashing sound like a ginormous body toppling through the forest, threatening to bring the whole thing down in its warpath.
The girls shared a fearsome glance.
"Move," Nina curtly spoke, grabbing at Kim's hand and taking off in a sprint. The girls tore through the remaining trail, tripping over roots as they went, but Nina's sure-footedness carried them along and back out into the open, though they didn't stop running until they had reached Kim's car and were safely locked inside. Their breathing was ragged and ponytails dangling off their heads.
"What, what," Kim breathed, hands gripping the steering wheel, "what was that?"
"I don't know," Nina shook her head, "just drive."
Despite still shaken by the incident in the woods, something they had decided not to share with Kim's parents, the rest of their weekend carried on as they had for all the years of their friendship. Nina created a blog on Kim's family computer and uploaded her photos from the cliffs, grinning with pleasure at her completed work.
"Nina…" Kim muttered, leaning against the locker beside hers as she dug through her books. Nina raised an eyebrow at her, emerging from her locker.
"I don't think Jared's here today," she shook her head, discouraged, "he wasn't in history."
They began walking to lunch.
"Maybe he's sick or something," Nina shrugged. She watched from the side of her eye as Kim bit her lip.
"Well will you let me know if he's in English class later?"
Nina inhaled deeply, though Kim's worried stare humbled her, and she nodded nonetheless. Kim's face softened at the reply as they entered the cafeteria.
For the remainder of the week, all Kim could talk about was Jared's absence.
It was Friday morning when Jared returned.
Kim came careening down the hallway at Nina, wide smile lit up with delight.
"He's back!" After the stares from those passing by them, she lowered her voice bashfully and drew her face in towards Nina's, attempting to steady her breathing. "He's back, Nina, but he's…" her eyes flickered around as she searched for a word, "he's really different." Her eyes widened as she faced her again, and Nina raised an eyebrow.
"Different? How?"
Kim shook her head, smile never faltering, as they began towards their calculus class.
"He's big," Kim whispered, Nina's questioningly stare never leaving her face, "all muscle-y and stuff, and he's taller! Like he wasn't gorgeous enough before," she murmured, cheeks glowing red.
Nina smirked and rolled her eyes playfully, "I'm sure he's not that different, Kimmy."
It wasn't until she entered her English class that Kim's words began to ring true. He was sitting in a spot beside the window- she supposed that was his regular seat, though she had never paid any mind to it before. But as she moved towards her own seat in the back of the room, she couldn't help but notice the way that he no longer fit in his chair just right or the way that his hair had been shaved down on the sides.
She was somehow transfixed by his change in appearance, and she suddenly found herself walking into the edge of a desk along the way, the rust shrieking against the tiled floor.
She grimaced at the sound, her head cocking slightly with displeasure, and her hands flew out to steady the desk. When her face rose, her eyes were soon met with a stare from Jared Cameron, and it was as the world around them held its breath.
