Winter Winds

Chapter 1

"Hey! I didn't catch your name!" He yells after me.

"It's Jade!"

.......

Health class is always a bore. The teacher I got has already expressed her hatred for children... oh, why didn't I get this credit done freshman year like everyone else? The lights are dim and the room itself is like a cave. On top of it all, we work from the book in silence. Anyone say prison?

Yeah... I will be glad for this semester to finally be up.

"Hey! Jade!" Yolanda whisper yells, tossing me a note. Dang it, guys... you know this teacher is strict as heck... ' Did you see that new hunk today?' Oh my gosh. Yo-Yo yeah I crash landed into him, why???? But I would never tell her that. Jake pokes me from behind and shrugs at me as if he would like to know what her new gossip queen news is. I quickly write on it and hand it back, hoping she won't continue this nonsense.

She puts the note away and the "rescue" bell rings as she's about to go back to her work. Everyone heaves an audible sigh of relief as we bolt into the hallway.

I jump as I feel someone poking my sides. "Hey, what was that all about?" Jake asks as he starts to match stride with me.

"Okay, A, I have told you not to poke me, remember?" I say slightly pushing him into oncoming traffic. "And Yo-Yo? She's just looking for some gossip on the new guy."

"Oh? So, he decided to finally come after all?" Jake laughs and I stop.

"Wait. You KNOW the new guy?" I ask as I resume stride, ignoring the glares that followed my dramatic pause.

"Oh, Yeah. We go way back. I guess it also helps that our brothers are best friends. His name is Zayne, by the way. Not 'new guy'." Jake smiles as he races off in the direction of his class. I spot my friend Meg slipping through the tide of students like a snake in the grass. If she's not careful I think one of the poor "fishies" will mistake her for a ghost. At this thought, I laugh and make my way into our creative writing classroom. Walking into the sun-filled room that smelled of old books, I smile. Mr. Tennyson welcomed in one student after another as I sat down next to Meg. She's already writing furiously about whatever topic our teacher has thrown at us to play with today.

As I am taking out my notebook and pencil, Zayne walks through the door. I falter for a moment as he smiles and sits behind me to talk to some of the guys sitting behind Meg. I put my head in my hands, staring at my notebook. "Oh my Gosh!" I mouth to myself. I can't linger on this, though. Maybe he didn't notice me? As I am thinking this, I feel someone poke my arm with the eraser of their pencil. I look up to see a worried expression on Meg's face.

"Are you okay?" Meg mouths. I nod and open my notebook. Setting my pencil to the paper I write the date at the top right corner and glance up at the board. Today's assignment is to write about the picture of a forest that was projected onto the board.

Everyone is silent and writing as the bell rings and Mr. Tennyson goes to sit at his desk while we finish our warm-up. The picture lends itself to multiple genres. I let my brain dance around the various roads I could take before I start. Soon enough it's spilling out of me like water fountaining into a river.

I finish as Mr. Tennyson stands. "Okay guys. Who still needs a bit more time?" He waits for a beat for any response and moves on. "Okay. everyone pair off into groups of four to share your work."

I immediately look to Meg and we pair off. But we need two more people in our group and that's when I hear my name.

"Hey, Jade. Can Ryan and I join your group?" Zayne asked, pulling his desk up next to mine as though I had already said yes. Although, looking around... I might as well. Everyone is already paired off.

"Okay. Well, who's going to start us off then?" I say, putting my pencil away and taking out a red pen to write down any of their criticisms with.

"I guess I will." Ryan offers and we listen to his story about an old circus manager building a carnival near the woods of his old home. It was sweet and quite detailed for a short story. I never knew that Ryan wrote like that. I share this with him during our criticism and he smiles. After jotting our notes down, He puts his notebook away and we move on to Meggan's.

Her's was a thrilling tale of runaway lovers. Fighting against the world they once knew, a vampire and an assassin. I found it just a bit tacky but it's not anytime soon that I'd tell her that. My personal tastes aside, it is very good.

Zayne spoke up after we had finished our criticism of Meg's work. "Okay, my turn. ..

--------

Soft rain fell in silence as they drove up the mountain. It was cold and she was sleeping just a few inches away, curled up in a blanket. He didn't want to admit that this would be the last time they traversed this way, though. Keeping the silence, they pulled up to the cabin.

"Wake up. Kayle. It's time to go." he says, shaking her shoulder. She rose, rubbing at her eyes and got out of the truck.

"I'm so glad that we get to come out here." Kayle said, stretching her arms out wide. She smiles but he inadvertently sighs and she gives him a puzzled expression. Not answering, he grabs their bags goes inside. He plops down on the sofa, his head in his hands. "Okay... Daniel, what's wrong?" shes asks, sitting beside him.

"Kayle." He starts.

"Is it because we can no longer rent this place?" She asks. He looks up to see her smiling still.

"How long have you known?" He asks, thinking that she's known long enough to find peace with it. After years of being together, he wouldn't doubt it. But this was their place. This is where they first met as kids at their parents' friend's party. They had kept coming here time and time again after that for vacations and get-togethers. This was were he had planned to have their wedding one day. Since they were kids, he knew that this had to be the place for them.

She laughed. She had the audacity to laugh in such a situation as this. But, suddenly, her hand was rummaging through her bag. "My crazy Dad thought it would be a nice wedding gift. I found it was him the moment I called the 'New Owner' to see if we could keep coming here. So, Dada told me to just go ahead and surprise you with it instead of waiting for the wedding." 

Overcome with elation, He hugged her tightly. "I'm so glad. I'm sorry I let myself become so stressed over it." 

"It's fine. I know we can conquer anything, together." She said with a bright smile, reminding me why I chose her to begin with.  "

-------

I was amazed that he would write something so sweet. Although still having doubts in regards to his possible plagiarizing. We took our time critiquing him and soon it fell upon me to tell mine.

"Darkness pounding at the edges of my vision, I gasp for breath. Caught between consciousness and dreams, I try to find my way through. Feathers. Black, white and Grey are floating down from the heavens. All is fire. All is lost. As I'm running for the woods, something strikes my back and I'm flown through the air only to hit a large tree. I see red. I hear a soothing voice as it carries me to safety but only for me to plunge headfirst into complete darkness. "

Mine was shorter, only part of the dream I had had the prior night. But, when I receive some odd glances from both meggan and Zayne, I begin to wonder what I said wrong.