Pitter-patter. Drip-drip-drop.
Oh Lord, it's rainin'. Gotta wake up and go get an education.
"Kat, you awake?" I whisper.
"Mornin' to ya too, sis," she smiles at me across the half-lit room. We both get up and start gettin' ready.
"Mornin' darlins," Gina Mae says as she sets our bowls on the table. Gina Mae, our momma's best friend, is takin' care of us until our 16th birthday. Which is a whole lotta complicated. Ya see, we're Casters. Yep, that's right: me and my twin sister are great and mighty pre-Casters. We're gettin' Claimed in a couple a months. More like 5. And Gina Mae has been quite the second momma.
As we finish our grits, I take a look at the clock on the kitchen wall.
"Shoot, we gotta go or we're gonna be late." Kat and I grab our bags and run out the door. We hurry to our station wagon in the pourin' rain.
"Don't look like it's gonna stop anytime soon, huh, Roxi?" Kat asks.
"Nope," I say. Rain in Ninas, Alabama, happens as often as a rooster crows at dawn. So much for September sunny days before the icky October/November sleet...
We arrive at school with the usual congestion of drop-offs and parkers. I find a good spot and park.
"See ya for History, sis," Katy says as we head our separate ways. I head over to the Biology lab and take my usual seat. My aura reading early Caster power starts to sense an unknown presence, in the form of the most eye-poppin' boy I've ever laid eyes on.
He's walkin' in the room as Mrs. Shmelter says, "Mornin' my lil' biologists, I'd likta introduce y'all to our new student from Louisiana, E.J. Merlin."
"Please, y'all call me Erik." he says with a strong Loiusiana accent. His short black hair just barely covershis eyes, and the voice that comes outta his mouth is like butter on a hot ear a' corn.
He sits down two rows ahead of me, in the first seat available. All throughout class, I keep sensin' his dark blue aura. Whenever I look at him. I get a spine-tinglin' chill. It's kinda amazin, but kinda creepy. By the end of class, I've looked at the back of his head 'bout fifteen times. I hurry outta class and rush to History. I sit and wait for Kat to show up. She walks in right in front of the one and only Erik. My eyes widen as she sits next to me and notices him talkin' to the teacher.
"Oi, who's the fresh meat?" she asks.
"Uhh, his name's Erik, he's in my Bio class."
"Get a readin' on 'im?' she raises a brow.
"Dark blue,kind cloudy,"I whisper.
"Ooo,so not a cheerleader-yeller type-a slice o' handsome?'
"Sure hope not,it'd be a total waste..." I roll my eyes. She and I turn out attention to Mr.Wellington beginnin' his lecture on our rights as citizens.
"Camelot, uhm...Roxi, right, both of y'all are in here. What percent of Americans take advantage of thier right ta vote yearly?" he asks.
"Just about sixty-three percent, sir," I answer.
"Very good. Now," he writes my answer on the board, "what percentange of those people are women?"
Erik raises his hand. "Around twenty percent, like eighteen or so."
"Right, right, right you are! So how many of you, by a show of hands, has thought about who'd you'd vote for if ya could right now?" About half the class raises a hand. Most of whom includes the prep-types: sports players, cheerleaders, chess nerds, etc. To my surprise, Erik also raises his hand. Kat and I look at each other, stunned.
