Out of the Dark

Chapter Ten

A week had passed since I told Cat about my relationship with Justin. A whole week of Justin bragging to everyone about being with me. A week of holding hands, kissing in crowded halls, and sitting together at the lunch table. A week of Mrs. Tweedie giving me valuable relationship advice and helping me to.overcome my fear of reaching out to my father. A week of getting to know Eddison better and welcome him into the group. A week of feeding orphaned kittens, and spending time with my friends. Most importantly, it was a week without a single nightmare. Not about Eddie, or Brandon, or even what happened underneath the school.
Sunlight poured through the window in Justin's dorm, and into my eyes. I gasped and sat straight up in his bed. My eyes darted around the room to confirm where I was.
"Oh no." I whined quietly. If anyone inportant found out that I'd slept in a boy's room, I could get into serious trouble with the school. I didn't know what happened to the students on campus that broke the rules; but I didn't want to find out for myself.
"What's wrong?" Justin asked through a loud yawn. I put my hand tightly over his mouth to muffle the sound.
Justin's roomate, Adam, was fast asleep in his own bed. He never said much, and so it would be easy to assume that he wouldn't rat me out; but Adam also wanted to someday teach at the Academy. Because of that, there was a chance that he wouldn't be willing to risk his future for a slip up on my part. I checked the time on my phone before responding to Justin quietly.
"I fell asleep here last night," I whispered. "I have to go."
The poor boy was hardly awake, but nodded and kissed me goodbye anyway.
"Don't forget to meet us in front of the school at seven so we can all go to this party together." I reminded him for the millionth time in a week.
Justin nodded sleepily, and rolled over to slip back into his coma-like state.
I slipped out of his bed and put on my shoes. I left as quietly as I could, and snuck out of the boy's dormitory. It was barely ten o' clock, and the sun was already baking the parking lot and side walk.
I hadn't realized how cold I'd been indoors until the warmth of the sun seeped into my skin. The songs of many birds filled the morning air, and everythig around me smelled of freshly cut grass.
When I finally reached my room, I was surprised to find that Caitlyn was already awake. She had straightened her freshly cut hair and laid out several outfits out on both of our beds.
"Did I miss something?" I asked, stopping at the door.
"Oh good, you're finally home after a long night of fornication." Cat greeted me. When she neared me, I caught the scent of her sweet, Dior perfume. She only wore that brand for dates and birthdays. I wondered what the occasion was, but knowing Cat, I also knew that the answers I wanted would come soon enough.
I rolled my eyes and began filtering through the clothes in my closet.
"I don't fornicate." I grumbled.
"It's only a matter of time with that idiot." Cat sighed, waving a dismissive hand in my direction. "Anyway, which outfit do you think I should wear to the party?"
She transitioned so gracefully from topic to topic, that it almost felt like a dance we'd rehearsed before.
As terrified as I was to move forward to sex, I was sure that Cat was right. Justin and I had become significantly more serious in the short time that we'd been 'out with our relationship'. I shook the thought away and looked over the outfits in the beds.
"You couldn't narrow it down?" I groaned.
"I did!" Cat insisted defensively.
Caitlyn was the most indecisive person I had ever met. She had always been that way. Even when we were little kids, she'd rather take whatever flavor of ice cream was left at the end of birthday parties. She said that trying to choose was too much pressure. As we grew, it was apparent that some things never changed.
"From what? Your entire closet?!" I joked.
Cat rolled her eyes and waited for my opinion. She had so many clothes, that looking at all of them made my head spin. I wondered how she possibly organized them all. She had laid out several different looks, in many different combinations of color and size.
Finally, I picked out a black tank top with a bright floral print; complete with matching black shorts.
"You think so?" She asked, holding the top against her chest. I nodded.
"It compliments your skin tone. Plus you have a lot of makeup that would match it." I always had to justify my decisions to her, or else she would ignore me and emotionally implode. She shrugged and started changing.
"You know the party isn't until tonight, right? Why are you getting all done up already?" I wondered, going back to my closet.
"Justin and I scheduled a visit with our parents last week, remember?" Cat responded, looking over herself in our full body mirror between our desks. I had completely forgotten. I wondered why Justin hadn't mentioned it more than the one time, I knew he missed his parents terribly.
"Right..." I nodded slowly. "Hopefully that'll pull Justin out of his funk."
I finally decided on a gray hoodie that I'd stolen from Justin and a pair of black leggings.
"He has been distant, right?" Cat agreed. "They're bringing Charlie, I think. Charlie always puts Justin in a good mood."
"Well tell them I said hey, and that I'll catch them next time. I'm going to shower and try to get to Mrs. Tweedie's office before I need to get ready." I sighed, grabbing my shower caddy.
There were two large bathrooms in the girl's dormitory; both of which were big enough to fit six toilets and eight shower stalls. The white tile on the walls and floor was old and cracked, though exceptionally clean. There was only one other person in the bathroom when I entered.
I quickly snuck into the stall in the far corner and stripped out of my outfit from the day before. I turned on the water and cringed at the cold. I hated standing under the water while it adjusted. I turned the knob all the way over to 'hot' and waited for the temperature to change accordingly.
As I washed my hair, I thought about what I might say to my dad when he visited- if he even decided to come and visit me.
"I miss you." I thought to myself. It wasn't a lie; back home he was the final thread I had, tethering me to any sense of normality.
"I need you around." Who was I kidding with that one? Every teenager needs parents. Parents that provided advice, protection, and understanding. On the other hand, I had survived so much without him- even before all of this magic got involved.
My scalp began to burn before I realized how long I'd been scrubbing. I rinsed out the soap and continued to think. What in the world could I possibly say to him about the engagement?
I let out a shakey breath before turning off the water and wrapping up with my towel. Who was I kidding? I hadn't even called him in over a year. I had no right to tell him he should be alone. I had to let him bring it up; and I had to take it easy on him when he did.
"Good choice." A voice came from the only other occupied shower.
Great. I thought. A mind reader.
"Were you listening the whole time?" I asked in a small voice.
The other shower turned off, and the girl giggled.
"I'm sorry, I kind of can't shut it off." She explained shyly. As I dried myself off, I heard her wet feet pad softly against the cool tile until they stopped on the other side of my shower curtain.
"Your thoughts are a lot louder than the others... like a shout." She added.
I got dressed quickly and prayed for a quick and easy escape. I grabbed my things and rushed out of the shower stall. I was horrified to find that the girl standing before me, was completely naked. I squeezed my eyes shut and gasped, like a scared child.
"Real mature," she scoffed. "It's nothing you haven't seen before on yourself."
I shook my head and forced myself to look at her face. She was beautiful, but then, it seemed everyone at this school was. She had dark hair, or at least I assumed it was dark because it was wet against her porcelain skin. She had full lips the kind of bone structure that I would die for. Her eyes were a bright, piercing blue, and in them, was more knowledge than what anyone else our age should have.
"And you think about a lot of things at once, do you know that? How do you ever sleep?" She continued on.
"Excuse me, Naked Nancy; I really don't think what goes on in my head is any of your concern. Thanks for your commentary and all, but It's not wanted." I snapped.
She rolled her eyes, but backed off.
"I'm just saying..." she mumbled, almost to herself, as she got dressed.
Does no one believe in boundaries here?
Even if she couldn't help hearing my thoughts, she could've kept it to herself. It was nobody's business but my own. I had to calm down. Being angry wouldn't help anything. I took a deep breath and stared at the floor as I made my way to Mrs. Tweedie's office. We spoke for a long time about my plan to speak with my father, and what my plans were for my relationship with Justin. She loved lists, and had me write at least one every time we had a session together.
"I will call your father today, and see what we can do as far as visitation. I want you to hold on to these lists, and study them until you get back here next week." Mrs. Tweedie instructed. I nodded in agreement. I always needed her to feel that I was listening because without her, I surely would have lost it by now.
I clenched tightly to the lists on my way back to my dorm, thinking over and over, of their contents.
Caitlyn had already cleaned up and left; leaving me me alone with my thousands of swirling thoughts. I had to sort through my mind if it was jumbled enough for a complete stranger to tune in on. I took several deep breaths and tried to remember everything Mrs. Tweedie taught me about meditation. I tried to clear my mind, and I succeeded... eventually.
I spent hours meditation, and when I finally felt I had gotten myself together enough to never be approached by a stranger in the bathroom again; it was time for me to get ready to go out. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my hair. Luckily, I'd had an outfit planned all week, to avoid Cat's daily struggle.
I dressed myself in a shirt sleeved, black dress that stopped at my knees. The dress was covered with bright yellow sunflowers. I considered a pair of black heels for a long time, but in the end, went with a pair of yellow flats. After doing my makeup, I didn't have enough time to do anything to my hair other than rush through a French braid.
I'd spent all week stressing to everyone about being on time, and I'd just blown all of my time meditating. I hurried out of my dorm and to the front of the school.
"It's about time you got here!" Zack groaned as I approached my friends.
"Seriously, we were going to leave you." Rose added.
Justin rolled his eyes and pulled me into his arms.
"No we weren't." He chuckled.
"You look cute though." Cat commented, touching the skirt of my dress softly to feel the fabric.
"Thank you." I responded with a wide smile.
A green minivan pulled up and stopped in front of us. Daniel was in the passenger seat, and Eddison was leaning across him to shout at us from the window.
"Get in!"
Daniel was obviously annoyed with his older brother, but didn't protest. Everyone piled into the empty seats, climbing over each other and getting stepped on.
"So, Eddie, when were you going to tell us that you're a single mother of four?" Zack laughed.
Eddison responded cool, and without looking away from the road.
"I think it's a lot cooler than what you drive."
Everyone burst into laughter. Zack had his temps, but no legal license. He was in no position to be judging anyone's ride.
Justin held my hand tightly, which made my palm begin to sweat.
"How was your visit?" I asked when I was sure that everyone was distracted with side conversations.
Justin smiled and looked out the window.
"It was great... but it really made me miss home, you know?" He mumbled.
I nodded. I didn't understand exactly, I wasn't sure if anything could make me miss living with Jesibelle and my father.
Justin gave my hand a light squeeze and that was the last time we spoke during the ride to the party. Something was wrong with my boyfriend, but this was the worst possible time to try to get him to open up about his problems. It would have to wait.
I kissed his cheek and dropped it. Maybe a night out was just what we both needed to get back to normal.
I don't know what I was expecting when we pulled up to the party, but I was immediately unsure of my decision as soon as I saw how many people were in the front yard.
"This is it." Eddie announced, even though it wasn't necessary. He'd spent over twenty minutes trying to parallel park in between two, much smaller cars. When he finally managed to trap his van against the curb, he parked and unlocked the doors.
Everyone spilled out if the side door on the van and headed inside. Eddison hung back and studied me cautiously.
"You okay?" He asked.
I cleared my throat and nodded. I needed to meet new people and make new memories. I just wanted to be normal.
"Yeah, I'm okay." I sighed.
"If you want to go, just let me know and I'll take you back. It might get a little overwhelming in there." He offered.
I nodded, and we entered the enormous house.