Hunters

sixteen

“Hey Willow.”

I turned and Jorden pressed into me, pinning me to the wall while he bent to kiss me. I pushed him back after a few seconds, grinning up at him.

“Hey yourself.”

“Thank god it’s summer. I can’t stand that high school any longer. It’s so dull.”

I laughed and took Jorden’s offered hand, letting him lead me over to the pavilion at Dean Park and we sat down opposite Evelyn and Nick at a picnic table. Obviously, Nick had been angry at first that I’d so easily fallen for Jorden and replaced him. He got over it when I pointed out that the same applied to him and Evelyn, as they were now a happy couple. At long last, there was peace amongst the four of us and I hoped that it’d stay that way.

“So what have you been doing this summer?” I asked my sister.

Despite the fact that she lived with me, I’d rarely seen her as of late and missed her. Her days had been spent hanging out with her soul mate, either walking around Dean Park, going to the cinema or the mall. She grinned and leaned towards me so she could say in a stage whisper, “Nick.”

“Evelyn!”

I laughed as Nick blushed and she waggled her brows suggestively before looking up at her boyfriend and batting her eyelashes innocently. He rolled his eyes, but pulled her in for a kiss anyways, then buried his face in her neck and hair.

“I’m taking a guess and saying that you two have been... entertaining each other, too?”

“Actually, I can control myself, as can Jorden. Unlike some people.” I folded my arms over my chest and glanced pointedly at Nick’s hand that lay possessively on her inner thigh and kept inching upward.

“Oh, pooh. Where’s the fun in that?”

I shook my head at my sister and caught Jorden grinning at me. His arm was wound around my waist and his hand was slipping lower until his fingers slid under the waistband of my pants. At that time I gave him a look and he chuckled, taking his hand and his arm off me. My sister gave me a knowing look and I stuck my tongue out at her which then got her laughing.

"Okay, I can control myself."

"In public."

I elbowed Jorden in the stomach and heard his breath leave him for a few seconds before he inhaled deeply. Leaning down, his mouth brushed my ear as he promised to get me back later. My face heated up as his hands encircled my wrists to give me a good idea of what he meant. I shook him off and turned my attention back to the conversation that had gone momentarily quiet.

“It’s been three months. What about the baby in the vision? Neither of you are pregnant, and Evelyn said that baby looked to be at least three months old.”

Nick’s voice rang in the silence and I froze, glancing at Jorden, who was staring at Nick in horror, all traces of his earlier playfullness gone. I silently thought back, wondering if I’d missed a period and then my spine straightened. I’d missed two periods. Shooting my eyes over to Evelyn, I noticed that she was doing her own math and, judging by her face, didn’t come to the same conclusion as me. She sighed in relief and turned to look at me, her own face twisting in sympathy. I was pale and Jorden wrapped his arms around me, pulling me up against his body, one hand raking gently through my hair, to try and comfort me.

“I can’t raise a baby. I can’t even have a baby! I’m only sixteen! The vision also says that we’re going to die in less than a year! What’s the point in having a baby only to die a few months later? What’s the point in all of this?”