Walking in the Shadows - SAMPLE

Chapter Two

"You're acting strange Vera. What's wrong?" my boss Kirsten asked. I had priced a shirt with an unusual amount of force with the gun.

"Mhmm...What?" I mumbled back.

"You're acting strange?"

"I had a bad day at school. I'm sorry Kirsten... you understand -- I don't exactly fit in," I fumbled with the words. I was fine with not fitting in; it was everything else about the day that was wrong.

"You grew up fast—they're still growing up. It's not necessarily a bad thing...you have your head on straight."

"I'm not so sure about that," I replied as I picked up the shirt and admired it.

"You like it?" Kirsten asked as she watched me smooth the shirt with particular care.

"Yeah, it's pretty." I was glad the subject changed.

"It's yours and these," she said as she dug through a pile of shoes, "will look great along with your skinny jeans."

"Kirsten, I can't take this from you. . ."

"I can spoil you as much as I want. Your parents would want me to because they can't," she replied, and I took them, knowing there was no fighting her on the subject. She leaned in and whispered, "So . . . it was Tad's first day at his new job, right? Have you talked to him yet?"

"Not really, "I answered, trying hard to sound unemotional so that I wouldn't have to explain what I had done.

"Did you see him today?"

I looked up, sure my eyes said it all.

"I came straight from school to here," I finally replied, watching the brows knit in confusion over her warm chocolate eyes.

"You saw him at school? He's too old to be a student though..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at me. I was rigid; frozen, really. "No! He's not your teacher is he?"

I ran a hand through my long wavy brown hair and nodded.

"He didn't know you were a student there?" Kirsten hissed, pulling me to sit next to her behind the register. We both smiled as one of the gossip girls that haunted the place walked by.

"I told him I went to Amherst. I think he just assumed I meant the college."

"Then today you deserve to be spoiled. That's no way to start your senior year at a brand new school, especially after what you've been through."

"I should have told him my age, and now I've ruined everything."

"I doubt it," Kirsten squeezed my shoulder.

"How is it not ruined?" I asked, my stomach squeezing up my rib cage in angst.

"You wouldn't have been together if you had told him, well...if he had understood you meant high school."

"I guess it's better to be ruined than to never have existed at all?" I quipped, but the feeling in my stomach only worsened. "I tried to transfer out of his class, but my guidance counselor said she wanted to talk to him about it first."

"What do you think he'll say?" Kirsten asked, kind eyes moving from side to side as she took in my face.

"I have no clue...I would imagine he never wants to see me again...so I'm sure he'll be more than happy to sign off on it."

"I doubt that Vera. This is someone who lo—" Kirsten began.

I cut her off. "Don't say it! That will only make it worse."

Kirsten pursed her lips before speaking. "You know it's true."

"It doesn't matter now, does it?" I snapped, but there was no strength to the conviction.