The Watchers Wake

Chapter 5 - Shopping List

CHAPTER 5 - Shopping List

I hid in the library for the last few moments before I would have to endure sports day again.  I tried not to think about what the afternoon would bring.  Instead I thought about what Jari had said. 

If I had to find an Irin I would find someone who I wanted to be with.  I would find someone who satisfied my criteria, not his.  It was not fates decision it was mine, no one other than me.  After all no one was going to dictate to me who would be my lifelong partner.  I mean even that was a ridiculous concept.  I was seventeen!  There was no way I wanted or needed a soul mate at seventeen!

That brought up the question.  Was this a joke?  If it was it was an elaborate one. 

I didn’t have time to debate the possibilities so I decided to play it safe.  If this was a joke it wasn’t at the punch line yet so I would look for the indicators.  But if he was for real I would make a shopping list.  I knew what I wanted in a man.  Of course no one at this school fulfilled my criteria but I would make a best fit list and work from there

Possible Irin Candidates -

Geoff Princeton – Best friend – Chess Club Captain

Tod Davis – Top in his classes.  Bright future.

Josh Andrews – Wins all the Science Competitions

Frank Wright – debating team captain

Matthew Brothers – Editor school magazine

David Arthurs – tall and cute, with good grades.

Frank Matthews – tallish and OK looking, volunteers at community events.

Joel Clayton – cute, might get taller.

George Lytton – really sweet guy.

OK so my ideal guy was something of a myth – smart, caring, kind, ambitious, tall, cute and not arrogant.  Yeah well, that pretty much explained why I didn’t date.  No one really ticked all the boxes. Some of these guys barely had one box ticked. And honestly I sort of added in a couple at the bottom on the basis of fairly flimsy and superficial reasoning.  I also put Geoff at the top of the list and crossed him off immediately.  This was just in case he ever happened across this list.  He was also my best friend, having at the top of the list was the right thing to do.

The bell rang and I headed to the locker rooms with a clear objective.  I had a plan.  If this Irin thing was real, not just some practical joke being played on me, then I would deal with it logically not trusting blind luck.  

I changed into my sports uniform in silence as the heightened anticipation flew around me.  I kept my head down, my eyes down, and my lunch down.

Hell, my stomach was doing somersaults. 

Why was I so nervous about this? 

I joined my team next to the newly chalked sprint lanes and dropped to the grass again.  I would have continued my search for a four leaf clover but there were far more interesting things to be watching.

True to his word Jari was being overly attentive to Laura, which had her giggling and gushy, much to the fury of both Dean and Kirsty.  It was highly amusing to watch, he was obviously well skilled in this, as even with his heavy accent he managed to come across as one minute the seducer, the next the innocent party depending on the audience.  A couple of times he even flashed me a cheeky grin, his eyes playful, before returning to the task at hand.

It wasn’t long before Dean very publically told Laura that they were over and she should get Kirsty to drive her home.  Kirsty, of course, scoffed a ‘as if’ at this while revoking her BFF status.   And while this was all going on Jari had sidled up to Ashley and was now making eyes at her with the desired result.