Legacy

Chapter One

Illinois, our last port of call, wouldn't let me have a driver's  licence until I turned eighteen, which was ridiculous when I'd been able to drive since I was twelve and could safely (and successfully) challenge a NASCAR driver by fourteen. Reason enough to move in my opinion. The Washington limit was seventeen, which placed it in the Goldilocks Zone for my age, too, give or take the seven months I'd finally convinced Diana to add to my latest I.D.. We'd barely unpacked a box before I'd applied for my new permit and taken the test.

Sometimes I fantasized about heading for the nearest Highway and driving until I hit a city I could explore. I'd picture every minute detail in my head, the sights, the sounds and the scents. All the places I'd see and people I would meet. I'd imagine what it was like to be just another kid, playing hooky and having fun. Pretend if my identity was discovered I wouldn't end up in a secret lab being dissected like a rat or dead.

I was picturing that fictional utopia as I swapped books at my locker, where Megan found me.

"Big news!"

"Someone on the water polo team drowned?"

"No. And bite your tongue. You know I only drag you to those things for the abs. The abs are sacred." She propped a shoulder on the locker next to mine, and donned an 'ask me' expression.

As the only friend I'd allowed myself to make since I arrived at Gig Harbor High, she got a lot of leeway. I needed her to help me blend in. So, I humored her. "Go on, then."

"New students. We're getting a bunch of them. Three seniors, two juniors and a freshman."

Since she was practically bouncing out of her skin with excitement, I presumed at least some of them were boys. Locker closed, satchel returned to my shoulder, I turned in the direction of homeroom and waited for her to fall into step beside me.

No-one gave us a second glance along the way. We were the invisible students. The ones who didn't speak up in class, didn't fit into a clique, and were neither pretty or weird enough to garner any interest. I'd targeted Meg for that exact reason my first day there.

"I heard Jess Lucas telling Morena Garcia she saw some of them in town over the holidays," she continued conspiratorially. "There are three boys. All of them hot according to Jess. And you know how she can be. She already has one of them picked out."

"What happened to Corey or Corbin or whatever his name is?"

"Calvin." Meg made a scoffing noise, "Last weeks news. He didn't get her the gift she'd been hinting for weeks she wanted for Christmas. She broke up with him January 1st."

"At two minutes after midnight?"

"Pretty much."

"Good start to the year for him."

"Right?"

When we reached the homeroom door, she grasped hold of my arm and pulled me back a step. "Are they in there?"

I peeked inside, "No."

She released my arm to smooth her hands over her stomach and tug on the bottom edge of her hoodie. "How do I look?"

"You look fine."

My second attempt at entering homeroom was stalled by another, slightly firmer arm grasp.

"Do you think I should take the hoodie off?"

"It's nine degrees outside and the heating in here has only been on for an hour. Your call." When she looked a little forlorn, I sighed, "Any guy would be lucky to have you, Meg."

She wasn't all that bad. Few extra pounds of puppy fat, maybe. But otherwise... choppily cut, shoulder length fair hair, bright blue eyes, good skin. Apart from her obsession with boys, she was pretty good company. She could be funny at times, was smarter than she thought she was, and could navigate the internet like an FBI investigator when she was searching for celebrity gossip or debunking the latest crazy conspiracy theories. What wasn't to like?