Chapter 18

Opal pushed the hanging clothes in her parent's closet aside, dropping down on her shoulder she peered into the dim closure. Her father had said the box was here, but she couldn't make out much with such poor lighting. Sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth she reached her hand in to feel around, blind of any other sense. Her fingertips caught the edge of a box and she worked it into her palm with slow manipulating fingers. Freeing it from the depths of the wardrobe she rose to her feet, clutching the box in firm hands, nervous of breaking the antique with a drop. She pushed away the jewelry littering the top of her mother's dresser to set it down. She flicked open the old, tarnished latch and turned over the lid, the hinges screeching in protest.

Tucked in the corner of the velvet lined box was a gold pendent. Opal lifted it up by the chain, letting it hang off of her fingers. It was a circle with an odd dial on the front, and the back had an engraved O. There was something about it that seemed familiar, but she was sure she had never seen it before. She let out a defeated hum and placed her mother's heirloom back inside. With gentle accuracy she nestled the old book full of music inside the box and returned it to its dingy home in the closet.

It wasn't until the next morning that she thought about the pendent again. She was organizing her books at the bottom of her locker in a sleepy daze when someone came up behind her and shoved her in the shoulder. Sucking in a deep breath and clutching a hand to her heart she looked up. She recognized the redhead, she knew she was one of Herry's friends, but she didn't know her name. With hands clasped behind her back the woman sent down a bright smile. Opal got to her feet slowly, sending the girl a curious gaze.

"Hi I'm Theresa, and this is Neil," she stuck out her hand for Opal to hesitantly shake, "We're friends with Herry."

"Yeah, I know," she said, voice coming out on a quiet wisp. She glanced at the blonde, her hand still clasped in Theresa's, and he flashed her a perfect smile. Neil was the only name she had known before she met Herry, he was a model and had a following of fangirls at the school.

"He was talking about you the other day, I just wanted to introduce myself," Theresa said.

"Okay, cool," Opal nodded, flicking her locker closed as she swung her bag over her shoulder, "Nice to meet you." She was mortified to find them following her as she started off for her homeroom. With a nervous swipe she knocked her hair from behind her ear to shield her face.

"You know we were just talking and we got on this topic," Theresa said as she strolled along beside the shorter girl, waving her hands through the air as she spoke, "You wouldn't happen to like him would you?"

"What?" she froze dead in her tracks. Both Theresa and Neil had to back pedal a step as they passed her. The sudden pressure that appeared around Opal's chest made her breath come in shallow wisps. Staring wide eyed she tried to focus her mind, collect all the pieces that had suddenly been splattered all over the inside of her skull.

"Oh, she does," Neil said with a smirk, elbowing Theresa. It was hard to gather any other conclusion from the girl's reaction to the question.

"This is great," the redhead clapped her hands together as she did a little bounce.

"I never said that," Opal said, stammering it out, the words couldn't fall over one another fast enough.

"Didn't need to," she tapped her head with her finger and winked.

"Ah, Theresa, Neil, it's been… interesting meeting you, but I have to get to class," she tried to slip away, but Theresa caught her by the arm.

Leaning into her face the redhead said, "He can be a stubborn fool sometimes, but he's a great guy. You're going to need to be the one to ask him out."

"Uhh," she leaned away, shrugging her shoulders close to her neck. Theresa was watching her with critical eyes, waiting for a response.

"He likes you, he'll say yes," Neil leaned in to prompt.

"I don't know," she shook her head back and forth in jerky motions. As she was reaching out a hand to pry the girl's fingers off of her upper arm the gold chain around Theresa's neck slipped and the top edge of a pendent gleamed from under her shirt. She narrowed her eyes at it for a moment and then darted her eyes back to Theresa's face.

"Come on," she said, whining as she kicked the toes of one foot into the tiles, "Please, you got to do it."

"But it's the boy's job to ask the girl out," she said, voice still a mouse of a whisper.

"Ugh," Theresa let her arm go and stepped back to cross her arms over her chest in frustration, shifting her weight to one leg to bounce her foot with quick successive taps on the ground. Picking at her jeans Opal watched the girl, wondering if she could just slip away from the hovering awkwardness and take off down the hall.

Theresa sent an irritated gaze over to her and Opal jumped back a step, her breath catching in her lungs. Stepping in front of Theresa Neil said with a gentle co, "Honey, there are no rules that say the girl can't ask the guy out, it's the twenty first century, woman don't have to wait around for the man anymore."

"I'll think about it," Opal said, but didn't mean it, she just wanted Herry's extremely pushy friends to leave her alone. How did he manage to put up with them?

Neil nodded in acceptance and Opal latched onto that as a cue to turn on her heel and hightail it to her class.

Archie stood in the middle of the football field completely dumbfounded as Atlanta glared at him with fists on her hips. What had he done now? They were having such a good time, tossing a baseball back and forth while they should have been in their biology lab.

"Why does every time we hang out turn into some kind of date to you lately?" she asked in exasperation, tossing out her arms.

"Atlanta, I just," he sighed and shook his head, how many times had he said it, "I just want you to know, in case something happens."

"I know alright," she snapped and turned on her head to storm away. He groaned and ran his fingers through his hair as he watched her go. Screaming he spun on his heel and launched the baseball through the air. It whizzed over the school's fence and into someone's backyard garden. Huffing he turned back to the school intending to head back inside, but instead he found himself facing a girl with looping blonde curls. An involuntary squeak escaped his lips as he stumbled back a step.

"Quiet aren't yeah," he said as he laughed off his startle.

She shrugged and flashed a playful smile, her brown eyes flecking gold in the sunlight. With an alluring tone she asked, "Trouble with your girlfriend?"

"Oh, she's not my girlfriend," Archie said.

"No?" a sideways smile pulled on her plump lips glittering pink. She held out a hand and said, "I'm Emma."

"Archie," he sent back a smile of his own.

"Well since you're not tied down to anyone you're free Friday night for dinner right?" she asked with confidence. Archie chewed on his lip for a moment as he contemplated the invitation, he wasn't getting anywhere with Atlanta and this just might make her jealous.

"Why not," he said and reached into his pocket for his phone, "What's your number?"

"Give me a second," she reached into one of the many pockets on her baggy cargo pants, shrugging her shoulder with a smile, "I don't have it memorized yet."

"That's cool," he shrugged, his attention drawn to her attire. It was a little odd for a girl, clunky boots on her feet to match the pants. She didn't dress to accentuate any of her womanly features under her waists, only the black tang top revealed her magnificent curves, but she was beautiful. Maybe he was being too narrow sighted. Perhaps it was time to start giving other girls a chance. It seemed to be easier and easier to think that with this stunning woman flashing him sunshine smiles.