The forgotten queen

Chapter 1

         Jay woke an hour early, which was strange because normally she wasn't a morning pperson, but this day was special, it was the first day of winter, the tenth anniversary of her mother's leaving. The window was almost frozen shut, but she managed to push it open, a gust of cold air blew ino the room as Jay stared at the snowflakes, she reached out her hand to touch one and for a few moments it was beautiful, the small bit of winter magic in her hands before it melted and a small trickle of water fell from her fingers. She stared into the snowy plain, then sighed before shutting the window again. 

          She redid her black hair into a neat single braid and ran into the shower to wash up. Barbara had warmed the water for her, she smiled, old barbs always thought of her. by the time she was done, her alarm clock began to ring, its shrill cry replacing the silence of the room. Jay was never one to take a long time dressing, today was no exception, with a quick swipe of her fingers, her black hair was in a neat braid. She grabbed the nearest thing her hands could reach it was a blue sweater with a picture of olaf, her favorite character in the disney movie 'frozen'. In incredibly neat stitching it said 'some people are worth melting for' it was cheesy but it carried a bit of home with it, it smelt of vanilla and honeysuckle, just like Barbara.

            She hurriedly pulled on jeans before swinging her book bag across her back. She raced down the stairs to the kitchen, a delicious aroma meeting her nostrils."pancakes!" she exclaimed reaching out for a waffle from the stack in front of her. Barbara shook her head and lightly hit Jay with the unsticky side of her mixing spoon. "good morning to you too!" said Barbara while flipping two pancakes as only she could."good morning Barbs" said Jay her mouth full of pancakes. "your manners!' tutted barbara as she poured the last pancake batter into the pan. Jay grabbed a platic bowl and  put some pancakes into it. she put the bowl in her bag and started to make hot cocoa. "to winter!" she said. raising her mug and Barbara laughed, tapping her own mug against Jay's. as the kettle whisteled, Jay poured her hot cocoa into her flask and put that in the pocket of her bag. 

             "I'm going to the cafe today anything you want?" said Jay "some bread and some cream puffs" replied Barbara, "for our winter party! "every first day of winter they sat together and watched a movie while eating pastries, Jay loved it, she loved Barbara, in a sudden display of affection, she hugged her and Barbara hugged back, for a comfortable minute they stayed there till Jay pulled away. "Stay Safe Barbs!" said Jay running outside. "ten cuidado!" yelled Barbara, letting her spanish tongue slip out as she sometimes did, "el hielo en el suelo!" but Jay was too far to hear. She rushed across the small town of Havannah Casa, commonly called casa.

              It looked magical in the winter, like a white blanket had been spread over everything. She wished her mother could see it, back when she was little she remembered her mother loving winter.whitether could see it, back when she was little she remembered her mother's love of winter. " so beautiful" she would say, holding Jay's hands "just like you" A tiny bit of sadness washed over her, if only her mother had not left.

slowing to take in everything remembering for once, she wasn't late. The winter seemed unusually warm she folded her sweater into her bag, getting strange looks from passerby's. A particular old woman saind to her in the concerned tone, only a mother could have, "wear your sweater before you get peumonia!" after about five minutes, J ay was at lakerise, Casa's number one highschool. The school compound was clustered with little groups of people each talking about something different. 

          Suddenly, a girl rushed out of nowhere, lakerise's number one it girl, Susan. Even in the winter, she wore a dress. It was a sweater dress with fuzzy white boots to match. Her blonde hair cascaded in golden towers to her hips. Jay remembered in kindergaten when she used to pull her hair and call her rapunzel. Susan was Jay's oldest friend, the only one that knew about her mother.Despite how popular Susan had become in middle school and high school, she never abandonned Jay. Jay often wondered about how a life without Susan would be.

             "Guess what?" said Susan excitedly, many of her sentences began in that manner.Her texan origins were always present in the way she spoke. "The new teacher, Glynn is totally like a model" Jay could tell people were eavesdropping, people always wanted to know what Susan would have to say. "we have her for first period, History" she said, oblivious to the people around her, listening, as usual, a few males were staring at her some even whistling to themselves.The school bell rang and before Jay could say anything, Susan grabbed her hand and yanked her into the school building.

                At their lockers, Daniel; Susan's boyfriend and second best friend kissed Susan on the cheek. Susan playfully nudged him and called, "see you after school dan dear" she said still in a hurry. "bye sugar susan," he said, and as an afterthought, "see you later Jay". For once she was the first one to class, she turned to start unpacking her books and for a moment of utter shock she noticed Susan had not been exagerating, their history teacher was gorgeous. But Jay couldn't shake off something, she had seen this woman before, it was like looking at a blurry lens, a picture of a distant aunt and uncle you remembered, but didn't. For a second the woman's eyes locked with hers before turning to smile at the both of them. 

                      "Miss Glyn, pleased to make your accquintance" she said. Her voice had a mysterious edge to it, it didn't sound like any voice she had heard before. It sounded foreign, different. She had short black hair and diamond shaped piercing deep blue eyes that looked like they were staring into your soul. Her figure was thin and sleek. Amazingly, even with the cold, she wore a dress with short silky sleeves. The other students filled into the class, all surprised by their new teacher. "Good mrning students" she said,  looking directly at Jay "I am Miss Glyn and today we would be studying Myths and Legends"

                      For once Jay enjoyed school, there was next to no copying, no difficult quizzes and miss Glyn told several stories, that made the class actively discuss. When the bell rang the students groaned collectively, Miss Glyn smiled as the students trooped out Miss Glynn called Jay. "Jay please help me with these books please" as soon as all the students were gone she said; "the real reason I called you here is I have something very important to tell you" she said. "I know your questions, I have answers". Jay was just starting to think her new teacher might be crazy when the teacher spoke again "after school, library, I know where your mom is". As Jay looked at her teacher, she felt her world crash, could it be true? could this strange woman have answers? only one way to find out she thought. She nodded, "I'd be there"

                   "Oh and Jay?" She said, "Keep this confidential."