"Okay, last bag!" Ana shouted from the bed of her father's pickup truck, hopping off the tailgate and slamming it shut securely after.
Allowing a deep sigh to flow past her lips, she threw the bag in question over her shoulder just as that autumn chill in the air she was no longer accustomed to caused a shutter to rake through her frame.
A laugh surged up her throat at seeing her dad ogle at the student housing, the tremendous building standing the test of time and looking more like it belonged to a college than a high school. It was gorgeous, four floors of craftsmanship lacking an elevator that she felt was most certainly haunted. Just a hunch. Jogging up to him, she caught his attention, examining the few remaining bags residing on the tile floor and the single memory box in his hands.
"I sincerely love you, but you have to go! You're gonna be late, alright. I'll manage." She slapped his hand playfully, hoping he'd loosen his grip. "Now let go!"
Taking the box from her father's hands, she set it gently to the floor before rising to her tip toes, wrapping him in a hug.
"Be careful, sweetie." Kissing her cheek lightly, he spoke the words he gave her every year. "Be smart, do your homework and don't let boys be mean to you, baby."
"Always." She whispered, tightening her grip ever so slightly before pulling back.
Ana watched him hurriedly walk to his truck, waving goodbye as he faded from view, then shifted her view back toward her belongings on the ground. Adding to the bag over her shoulder, she grabbed another duffel and made the reach for her memory box before it could somehow get stepped on. She idly thought over how many trips she would take to get things where they needed to be when a girl approached from nowhere, one she didn't recognize at that.
"Hey, you don't happen to know where the Dells is, do you?" The fellow blonde asked, her expression rather hopeful.
"Afraid not." Ana smiled, shrugging that she couldn't be more helpful. The girl's eyes lit up however, a smile stretching her features instead of looking disappointed.
"Oh, did you just move here too?"
"Just moved back, actually. I wasn't old enough to party there when I lived here." She informed.
Her family had previously moved on two separate occasions growing up and she'd been the new girl knowing absolutely nobody every time.
It was an indescribable feeling to return home this time around, seeing the all too familiar scenery and knowing that practically nothing had changed in the small town. Except for the ones who lived in it, of course. She hadn't seen the people she'd grown up with since they were all turning thirteen years old. Five years doesn't exactly seem like a long time but scanning the other suspects surrounding her, it might as well have been an eternity. Everyone was so different now, herself included.
It was strange. The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same.
"Well my roommate told me about a party there tonight and it sounds like everyone's gonna be there." She paused, trying to take her expression as a road map. "You should come!"
Ana thought it over for a moment. Did she really want to see everybody tonight? Already?
"I don't know-"
"What better way to show that you're back, right? Plus, I mean, I'd love to have another person there that I already know..." Trailing off, she quickly glanced at her with sad eyes.
Dammit.
"Yeah, okay, I'll go." Ana sputtered in defeat, throwing her unoccupied hand at her side with a quiet smack.
"Perfect!" Clapping happily, she grabbed the duffel bag from her possession along with the last still sitting on the ground and set off ahead.
Ana stood for a moment staring after the girl, readjusting her grip on the box, her now empty left hand clutching onto the strap of the bag hanging over her right shoulder and catching up to her quickly.
"I'm Sarah, by the way. What room are you in?"
"Ana and room, uh..." She trailed off, reaching into her back pocket for the folded paper she'd received from the front office and looking it over. "234."
"Thank you." She spoke when they reached her door, fishing the key from her box where she'd previously had it for safe keeping and shoving it into the lock before the box could lose its balance.
"No problem. Now, find something in these bags to wear tonight, hm?" Sarah beamed her a smile, setting both duffel's on the vacant mattress.
Upon stepping onto the grounds, party in full swing, Ana almost immediately questioned her last minute decision to come. The overwhelming stench of various cheap beers and liquor violated her senses, the damp sand and smoke from the bonfire being the only comforting aspects. They smelled like home. Green eyes scanning over the spread out crowds of people, she found most to be drinking and simply talking or others dancing so sloppily that it was honestly humorous to her. She allowed herself a quiet laugh, never usually being one to attend these sorts of things and easily feeling out of her element. However, she wanted to see everyone - if they even remembered her.
As the wind picked up slightly, it carried with it pieces of conversations and whipped the blonde strands closest to her face directly into her line of sight, absentmindedly swiping them away while dodging a few unfriendly glances and drunken idiots tripping over themselves. Swearing she'd distantly heard her name being called, she swiftly turned on the heels of her feet in the direction of the voice to see Kate waving her over.
She almost couldn't believe it. Almost.
Relief flooded her veins, the face matured, yet still all the more familiar emerging past the mob of people being all she needed to calm the bundle of nervousness that had tried to settle into the pit of her stomach at feeling so lost. Ana beamed her a smile as she approached rapidly, both girls laughing giddily before latching onto one another in a bone crushing hug, the force being so strong that their hair had been thrown back by the wind they'd initially created.
"I should have figured you'd know my roommate." Sarah smiled, watching the two.
"I've known this girl right here since we were in diapers." Kate began to explain, nudging Ana's shoulder cheerfully. "You finally moved back!"
"What can I say, you never truly leave." She shrugged, lips curling into another megawatt smile.
Getting caught up on the events of those past five years of her absence through hushed giggles with her childhood best friend felt like travelling back in time. She had obviously realized that she'd missed her throughout that time, but never exactly just how much until that moment. Sarah fit right in, her reactions being equally as shocked and humored by Kate's revelations as Ana's, none of the three missing a single beat of the conversation. It was easy to recognize why she'd never truly felt like she belonged anywhere else after her family had moved; these were her people.
"So, give me the scoop; who's here?"
Kate leaned in close to the pair, voice lowering slightly. "Okay, the first thing you have to know is that Aaron Abbot is a prick; treats girls like dirt." Making sure to point in his direction, Ana was able to see the still curly-headed boy she remembered, yet now his facial features were altered with a cocky grin that essentially seemed permanent. It was a shame, considering that he used to be so nice.
"Who's that?" Sarah questioned, turning their attentions to a taller boy wandering through the horde by himself, Ana instantly noting that she didn't recognize him.
"New guy." Kate confirmed, surely trying to wrack her brain as to how she hadn't already seen him. "Ooh, he's looking over here." Sarah added, a small giggle escaping her throat.
"Don't know much about him," She smiled, eyes following his every movement. "But I intend to find out."
Rolling her eyes playfully at the two, she attempted to get a good look at him now that he was passing through a less populated area. From where she stood, she thought she could see blue eyes and high cheekbones, a jaw that could cut glass; he was attractive. The biggest question on her mind was why he was there alone. It didn't quite sit right. "He's cute." Sarah noted, herself and Kate both gently nodding in agreement.
"They're here," Kate breathed out, any previous preoccupation nowhere to be found as her smile returned even bigger than the last.
"Who are they?" Sarah inquired, the statement peeking both of their interests.
It was increasingly difficult to manage to see anything much more than the silhouettes of what seemed to be four boyish figures approaching through the dense fog, but Kate seemed confident in who they were, at least.
"The Sons of Ipswich."
As their view began to clear, she was in awe. The goofy boys she once knew were all grown up, no longer awkward whatsoever as they had all been once upon a time, absolutely flourishing into their looks. Dumbstruck, she stood off to the side, allowing her eyes to fully appreciate all four, though nothing made her happier quite like seeing that they were all still friends. They were still best friends.
"Hey, Kate." Caleb greeted, polite as always.
"Caleb," Kate returns, soon after gliding toward Pogue and wrapping him in an embrace. "Hi!" She fluttered, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips. "You're late."
Slightly taken aback but not at all surprised that they had become a couple in her previous vacancy, she hardly even hears the following exchanges that occur; not when his gaze landing on her stirs the familiarity of that baby blue sight staring her down, creeping into a blush on her cheeks. The corners of his full, pink lips rise into a knowing smirk, casting her eyes downward in the hope of calming the warmth that had settled onto her face. Running a hand through the front of her blonde locks as a nervous habit, she takes a breath, coming back to reality.
"Ana?" Caleb asks, the first voice to break through the haze, her face clearly registering in his memory after a moment. Looking up, she meets his eyes to find they're alight in childlike wonder and she's soaring. They remember her.
"Miss me?" She questioned lightly, expecting a verbal reply.
Instead, his large arms enveloped her thin frame in an instant, wrapping her own arms around his neck without a second thought.
"What, you thought you could move back and not say anything?" Tyler teased, taking his turn to squeeze her tightly.
"Trust me, I contemplated it but-"
"But you figured surprising us would be better?" Pogue then chimed in, another firm hug from strong arms coming her way.
Then her eyes met Reid's again and she could feel her heart beat just a little harder.
"Looking good, A." He claimed, scooping her up with a smile and without issue as she felt her feet leave the ground. Throwing her head back with the laughter falling from her lips, she caught a glimpse of the smoke blurred stars and she swore that everything was perfect in that moment. She felt infinite.
But a head of mousy brown curls came bounding toward them when she was back on the ground, the over-confidence in her stance very clearly attempting to mask the heaps of insecurity she felt at all times, knowing in an instant who it had to be.
"Hey, Caleb." She purred, that false smile she wore ever prominent.
"Kira." He'd stated, almost as if he were confirming Ana's previous thought.
"How was your summer?"
The closer she approached prompted her to bat her eyelashes in his direction and he had just begun to respond when she cut him off after realizing he was looking directly behind her. Turning around to face Sarah, she introduced herself rather nicely at first, only to prove within the next second that she didn't posses a kind bone in her body.
"Oh, right, from the Boston public." She spits, voice sickly sweet. "Tell me, how does one go about getting into Spenser from a public?"
Stepping out past Sarah with a long stride, she almost had the thought to step back and not get involved. But she wasn't thirteen anymore and she sure had developed a problem with holding her tongue over the years.
"The same way I always had: without mommy and daddy's money." Ana snapped. Kira's face held confusion for a moment, clearly wondering who would actually challenge her before her eyes narrowed into slits in an instant.
"If it isn't Analeigh Moore," She sneered, "My, we sure have grown into our britches, haven't we?"
Ana mustered a smile. "You don't know just how comforting it is that you literally haven't changed a bit."
"Why don't you give it a rest, Kira?" Caleb sighed.
"Why don't you give it a rest?" Aaron interrupted, coming out of nowhere to undoubtedly cause an issue.
"I don't want any trouble Aaron."
"I'm sure you don't." He threatens, as if he and his jock friends could really take on the four of them.
"You posers make me wanna puke." A teammate speaks from behind him, rousing Reid.
"Is that right, boy?" He seethes, stepping forward just enough to warrant Caleb putting an arm out to hold him back from getting into any trouble. It looks like a practiced maneuver and one that has had to used on multiple occasions in recent years.
"I think you owe Kira an apology." Aaron has the audacity to insist.
Caleb smiles, looking away for a moment before meeting his stare again. "Actually, I think Kira owes Sarah and Ana the apology."
Aaron becomes silent then, looking back at the girls with an unhumored smile that disappears sooner than it even came. He turns back, shoving Caleb directly in the chest and causing him to take a single step back to regain his composure. Her eyes go wide, having no idea of how he'll react considering that Aaron just won't stop until he gets the reaction he's looking for: a fight. She expects one to break out at any moment but it doesn't, the new boy that all three of the girls were looking at earlier stepping in between them to diffuse the situation.
"You were being kind of bitchy." He states calmly, looking directly at Kira and Ana can't help the small cackle-like sound that escapes her.
Her smile fades quickly though when Aaron's friend doubles over, successfully covering the back of his Letterman jacket in a disgusting combination of cheap beer and stomach acid. She jumps back immediately, distantly hearing Reid laugh and Kira yelling at the boy, just trying to make the effort not to get any of his bile on herself.
The DJ grabbed his microphone then, "Guys, uh, guys! Dylan just called, he said he saw three cop cars headed this way on Old Dell Road!"
No one needed to be told twice as everyone started the scramble for their cars parked in the wooded area, each one disappearing until there were no voices left but their own. The rest of the group was used to this rush through foggy woods and Ana was keeping up as best she could when she felt her foot catch on a dew covered rock, falling forward and fully prepared to meet ground when a hand grasped her arm, pulling her back against a muscular torso.
"Careful, it's slick out here." Reid informed, slowly loosening his hold on her upper arm but never straying his eyes from hers. "You good?"
She cleared her throat after a beat, finding her voice. "Yeah- yeah I'm fine. Thanks."
He nodded, giving her a trademark smirk and she swallowed hard.
What the hell had she gotten herself into.
So, first Covenant story! I've loved this movie since it came out (granted I was like 9, but still) and it's been on my mind lately that I wanted to write a story for it. Not completely sure why, but I hope you'll like it! Please be sure to follow and favorite if you enjoyed reading and leave me a review down below. I'd love to know what you think!
{P.S.} The following chapters won't resemble the movie this closely, I just really felt that I could incorporate her into the first scene of the movie quite well, which I hope I did.