Spirit (Monsters Series #3)

Chapter 3: Visions and Tears

The next day, I was in the office of my new school. When the secretary saw Father, she looked at him like he had given birth to a healthy baby elephant. It confused me. Hasn't she ever seen a Guardian with his daughter before?

"Can I help you?" she asked with false sweetness.

"I'm here to pick up my schedule, sugar." I said impatiently, "I'd rather not be late on my first day."

"And your name is?"

"Juliette." I answered, "Juliette Ford."

"Lyle's kid?"

"Yep. Why do you ask?"

"Well, everyone said that he was dead, but I was absolutely sure he was alive."

"Yeah, he's alive." I reassured her, "Grandma and Grandpa just pretended he was dead so they wouldn't have to deal with the embarrassment that typically comes with having a son that married a man."

The secretary stared at me with a bewildered expression, holding my schedule out to me with shaking hands. It was priceless. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Thanks, miss..." I began.

"Rayfield. Miss Rayfield." she introduced.

"Thanks, Miss Rayfield." I finished.

I shook her hand, and I felt a strange chill in the air. I could practically see my own breath. It was as if something about her made her a threat to everything I hold dear. I guess it was just nerves. Right?

I looked at my schedule to my first class. It was English. I smiled to myself. Father would have been so excited that English was first. He named me Juliette after all.

Suddenly, as my face was stuck in the confusing map of the school, I bumped right into someone. Great.

"I'm so so-sorry, really sor-sorry." the most beautiful, stuttering male voice in the world mumbled.

"I wasn't paying attention." I responded.

I started picking up all the books and stray papers when my pale hand came into contact with a slender, tan one. The moment that hand touched mine, I felt a warmth course through me. I looked up to see a pair of blue-grey-green eyes, very familiar blue-grey-green eyes, which glowed against his skin. This boy was exactly like the boy in my dream, smile and all.

"Um..." I began, snapping myself out of it, "Do you know where sophomore English is?"

The boy smiled like he did in my dream, and let out a breathy chuckle.

"I-It's in the d-direction you were j-just c-coming from." he informed me.

"Stupid map!" I grunted through my teeth as I recollected my things.

"You're t-telling me." he responded, "Wh-When I-I moved here from New York last year, I-I was lost for th-the first week, b-but you event-eventually g-g-g-get the hang of it."

He must really hate the letter G.

"Thanks...um..."

"Dion." he introduced.

"Juliette." I responded proudly, "Juliette Ford."

He lifted his eyebrows at my first name.

"Father's a Shakespeare nut." I chuckled, "My other father, Emerson, I mean."

Dion was taken aback, literally. He took a few steps away from me.

"Lyle F-Ford...he mar-married a man?" Dion questioned.

"Yeah. Why is everyone so surprised at that?"

"Well, it is rather surprising, con-considering his pa-parents, and he also d-doesn't really...um..."

"Fit the stereotype?"

"No, it-it's just th-that he was very...well...never mind. J-Just forget it-it."

I nodded in agreement. If my father didn't tell me, then I may not need to know. Besides, he wouldn't keep any big, important secrets from me. Right?

Suddenly, as I brushed up against a locker, an image bombarded me. It was of my dad, Lyle, in a black and gold letter jacket as he pushed an angelic young man up against the lockers.

He had the same eyes as Dion.

"Are you ok-okay?" Dion asked me as I got back to reality.

"I'm fine!" I snapped as I pulled my arm out of his grip and let myself up.

From the corner of my eye, I could have sworn, pun intended, I saw a glistening tear roll down his cheek. Normally, someone crying over something I did would give me the greatest satisfaction, but with Dion, the sight of that tear twisted my stomach and broke my heart in half. I scolded myself in my head for acting like such a baby as I walked into sophomore English.

"Late on the first day, I see." Mrs. Harlow greeted me.

"I got a little lost." I responded, "It's a pretty big building, after all."

"Well, I suggest you not be late again, miss..."

"Juliette." I introduced, earning snickers from everyone else in the class.

Dion gave them a scolding glare. Most of the class was silenced, apart from a group of people wearing letter jackets that Dad wore in my vision. The thought of my father being at all like them gave me hives.

"Now that our new addition to this school has finally arrived, we can discuss the rules of Russell Bay High."

Then came the longest hour and a half of my life. All those rules basically said respect others and their property, respect yourself, and value your education. All those excess rules are unnecessary.

The bell finally rang the end of the hour and the beginning of lunch, I started to burst out the door when the teacher yelled out my name.

"Juliette," she requested, "I need to speak to you a moment."

I walked up to her desk obediently.

"Yes, Mrs. Harlow?" I asked as sweetly as I could muster.

"The nurse would like to see you in the office before you head to lunch."

"Why?"

"It's about your...episode in the hall before."

"I'm fine, Mrs. Harlow, really."

"Tell it to the nurse, Miss Ford."

I sighed as I stomped out the door. It took a while to find my way to the nurse's office, giving up on the map. Turns out, it's in the back of the office where I picked up my schedule. Therefore, I walked around the entire school for nothing. Fantastic.

"Hello." the nurse greeted sweetly, "You must be Juliette."

"Yeah, that's me."

"Have a good first day so far?"

"Apart from getting lost twice, it was pretty good."

"So, about the seizures you had..."

"What seizures?"

She looked at me like I just asked her if the world was flat.

"The seizures you had at the beginning of the day." she reminded me, "Dion reported it as soon as class was done."

"Why?" I asked.

"He seemed worried about you. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was quite taken with you."

"Really?"

"Yes."

I paused for a few moments, thinking over what I just heard. Could it be true? Was I not the only one out of the two of us who felt that warmth between us?

"Could I use the bathroom for a moment?" I asked the nurse.

"Sure, dear." she answered.

After I went in and shut the door, I silently screamed my head off out of pure bliss.