"Blue rivers, coursing under plains of tan dirt. This is your inheritance."
I struggle to look away, just to turn my head, but I can't.
"Beside you, it breathes again, lives again. It's spirit rises with you, and you know it...look inside yourself, deus tenebris.
Its cold blood in warm veins. Its blue blood, its tan skin. Colors she was born in. What I was given.
"You are stronger now, you grow with every meal. Feed."
...
My knuckles bend white around my steering wheel while I replay the words in my head. I'm trying hard to keep the images out of it, focus on the road instead. I've always had nightmares, a result of the excessive amount of horror movies I watch. Usually I wake up, laugh, and just enjoy the free flick. Maybe even jot down some of the more exciting parts.
But this shit scares me. I even tried to talk to my dad about it, but he just blamed it on the move before slinking back to his office, mumbling that he still had stuff to unpack. I guess that's what moms are for. I doubt he was actually busy though, hes never the same room as me for more than necessary.
But I still can't convince myself they're just nonsense. They feel so important. When they voice speaks, I have to listen. It makes so much sense when I'm asleep, but then I wake up and the meaning of the words it gone. All I'm left with is this sense that I'm supposed to know something. I just keep forgetting.
I reach the school and contemplate just driving by the parking lot entrance. I like my car, I like having options. The best part about having a dad who can't look at you, is that he'll do pretty much anything to get you out of his face. A cars a nice consolation. I sigh and make the turn. I have things to look forward to.
Well, one thing.
...
I pick my tray up off the slider and scan the caf for the table she pointed out. I smile when I see it. It's almost full, but she outshines her companions. She's so vibrant, so full of life, so...fucking pretty. She talks animatedly, laughs so loud, smiles so wide. I smile dopily and walk towards her in a welcome trance, my eyes never leaving her.
She's sitting on the opposite side of the table I approach, and she directs a beaming smile towards me then rounds it. She grabs my hand and I scramble to steady my tray while being yanked back to her side and planted in the seat next to her.
"Guys, this is Jade!" She says excitedly, her hand lingering on my waist for a moment. It slides off and I almost frown before I think better of it. First impressions. "What's up." I nod, my eyes sweeping the table, landing on each of her friends for a moment. The little red head and the boy with the dreads look cool enough, kinda hot actually. And the crow rejects not that bad either. Add the freak with the puppet and her friends looks like one of those games.
🎵 One of these is not like the othersI snicker to myself while they start introducing themselves. Cat, Andre, Beck, got it. Once again, the weird boy stands out, stuttering his name and trying to shake my hand. Gross.I stare at it with contempt until he puts it away. Tori frowns at me and I lean close and whisper innocently "It's been up a puppets ass all day." That makes her laugh and I lean back and watch her proudly. She shoves me lightly and I snake an arm around her waist, securing our proximity lest it happen again.
"So, what's your talent?" Beck interrupts the moment, and my opinion of him wanes. I narrow my eyes slightly, as if he accused me of not having one. "Piano." I answer. "You play piano?" Toris light voice draws my attention back to her. "Yes." I respond, voice just as light, nothing like when I answered Chris angel.
She smiles up at me awfully and doesn't speak. If I wasn't me I'd blush. "Finally! Another musician in the gang." Andre bellows. "Hey! I can play guitar!" Tori responds indignantly. Beck addresses her calmly "Yes. The four chords mandatory for your musical instrument requirement."
They all just laugh with him, including Tori, but my arm tightens around her waist protectively while I actively try not to growl. If I lose my cool I'm likely to do something I'll regret, so I push the 'mine, mine, mean to mine' impulses away and try to focus on the story the Cat launched into when the group stopped laughing.
And woah. I thought my family was fucked up. We carry on like that, just talking and trading stories. I try to keep my more biting comments to myself, and the funnier ones to Tori. I'm damn near polite for these people. Well, for her obviously.
She starts telling a story about walking in on her improv teacher doing something weird and she gets so excited. She leans in to whisper when the story gets juicy and her shirt rides up an inch.
I bite my lip and try to appear nonchalant while I my fingers on her hip splay against the warm skin now pressed to my palm. She keeps talking but I'm close enough to see the lightest pink touch her cheeks. I grip her hip boldly and stretch them over the flat plain of her stomach and back again.
Her cheeks turn a shade darker, and I press my lips to one without thinking. She laughs and tries to play it off by finishing her story but all her friends are biting their cheeks and looking between us smugly and suddenly her lap is very interesting. I chuckle and gesture for her to continue with her story "And?"
She looks up to me briefly before continuing shyly. Soon enough though, she's into it again. Her embarrassments no match for her enthusiasm. She settles back into my side, and shes so warm. The whole thing feels really domestic. Natural. Familiar?
In the middle of her story a girl wearing way too much jewelry plops down at the table and interrupts her. "What're you guys doing this weekend?" She asks. Rude. Mine. Rude to mine. They all look at each other, sharing a look I don't recognize and I whisper to Tori "Who's the overdressed bobble head?" She snorts and quickly covers her mouth while everyone at the table turns and looks at her. Robbie starts to speak, drawing their focus away again. "Well I was gonna take Rex to see the new-"
"Great, cause I wanted to go to the beach to work on my tan, but I can't possibly go alone, so I'm enlisting the help of my best buds." She says cheerily. Once again, they all look at each other. "She's your friend?" I whisper. Tori starts laughing again and shakes her head vehemently. When she finally calms down she puts a hand on my shoulder and catches her breath. "That's Trina, my sister." I look at Tori, and then the girl she claims has the same genes as her. "If you say so..."
Trinas eyes settle on us and take on a mischievous glint. "Tori..." she drawls "I'm sure you wanna come." Her eyes tilt up as she ponders. "Hot sun...Cold water...Volleyball..." Her eyes flick back to Tori "Bikinis." Toris eyes fill with fire, and so do her cheeks. "Trina!" She squeaks. And again, they all laugh except for me. And Tori.
As much as I agree with her, Tori's had enough of this. And I cant do anything about it. Are all her friends this nice to her? I sigh and do the only nice thing that comes to mind. I rest my chin on her shoulder and my free arm joins the other.
"I like the beach." She faces me and the anger in her eyes marginally simmers. "You do?" She says dazedly. I nod and she faces her sister again. "I guess we're in. What about you guys?" She looks to her friends and my arm tightens out of fondness this time. We're. Cool.
...