Chapter 1
Rivers slouched back in her desk stifling a yawn. Desks were sitting in neat, orderly lines and each one was filled. She was in Mr. Brown’s World History class, which was usually a little interesting, but today she could barely stay awake. Her least favorite thing was Modern History and that just happened to be what Mr. brown was introducing. Mr. Brown was her least favorite teacher. He was young and nice but he was also notorious for hating inattentive students and today Rivers’ mind was solely focused on staying awake.
Rivers, if you don’t look up and pay attention your going to have detention for a month, she thought to herself, forcing her sleepy eyes to the board. Mr. brown continued to talk about Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. Rivers had been having nightmares, well she don’t know if you could really call them nightmares. They weren’t scary, just extremely realistic and disorienting. When she had these dreams she felt like that was her reality. When she awoke she was tired and winded but could never remember what they were about, only that her dreams made her feel more alive then she ever did awake.
“ . . . Rivers . . . Rivers, are you going to answer my question or not”. She woke up from her slight daze to see Mr. Brown’s grey eyes peering down at her.
“Sorry, Brown, I wasn’t paying attention,” She replied smartly. She hated when he looked at her like that. Like she was a child or something.
“That’s Mr. Brown to you. I asked you if you knew an important event of the 2000’s”, he said. He flowed way too much for a man in his twenties.
“I don’t know. Do you know any important events of the 2000’s?” she said with heavy sarcasm.
“Keep this up and your going to have detention for the rest of your . . . “
“I know one Mr. Brown”, Nicole said her hand waving softly to get his attention.
“See that, that girl is eager to learn, unlike you. This is your junior year. I’m being easy on you this time but don’t push your luck. You should try being more like Nicole: now that is a good student.” He turned his handsome, stuck-up smiling face towards Nicole, the embodiment of the perfect student. Rivers considered her not only her opposite but also her nemesis. Nicole got perfect grades and with her petite frame, blonde hair and blue eyes, they couldn’t be more different. Rivers was curvy and taller than average at 5’9 with thick brown hair, and her skin was a rich caramel. Plus she wasn’t the most polite girl in school but what she lacked in people skills she made up with wit.
Rivers’ best friend Charlotte leaned across the aisle to whisper in her ear. “Man, you’re so lucky, I wish Mr. Brown would take the time to talk with me. He’s just too hot.”
“That kill-joy is not hot. I wish he was yelling at you instead of bothering me. He just trashed my Friday.” The whole scene had knocked the sleepiness right out of her. At least she could thank him for that. “He doesn’t make me angry, he’s just really annoying.”
“Well I still think he’s cute.”
“Rivers, if you say one more word you are going to have detention for a month.” Mr. Brown had interrupted his lesson again to yell across the room. She had chosen this desk in the back because she thought she would be less noticeable, but now she was yelled at even more.
“Whatever, sir.” Right then the bell rang dismissing them from class. Rivers couldn’t help but sigh in relief. She gathered up her books and ran down the hall before anyone could stop her. She stopped by her locker to get her things and was out the building before Mr. brown could show up and point out another flaw. Charlotte caught up with her on her way out of the school building because they both had to wait for their rides to pick them up.
“Wow, you ran out of there fast; I barely caught up with you. You know, I don’t think that he hates you. He just doesn’t know how to handle you. Plus, I think he is just having a bad day,” Charlotte said, while curling a finger around a thick blonde curl. Charlotte had average height with mousy brown eyes.
“I sorry, but I would much rather avoid him. I will never understand why you have such a huge crush on him. He’s cute, I’ll admit it, but his personality is as annoying as it gets. Plus he’s like 7 years older than you and thinks that he’s God’s gift to women.”
“He’s only 6 years older than me thank you, He can be really nice you just . . .”
“It’s fine OK. I’m allowed to dislike someone. He’s just not my favorite person,” Rivers interrupted. She looked up to see her brother, Derrick, coming around to pick her up in the busy parking lot. Sometimes Rivers wondered if her and her family were even truly related. Her mother, father and older brother all had green eyes, light brown hair, and pale skin. They were calm and respectful while Rivers was haughty and sarcastic. They were rule-oriented and straight laced while Rivers broke rules just to see the looks on other people’s faces. Oftentimes she would wonder if she was adopted, but her parents had her baby pictures sitting proudly on a shelf at home.
Now, James was pulling up to the curb with a pleasant smile on his face. Rivers said bye to Charlotte and waded through the shifting crowd of teens. James sat back in his semi-new ford truck and unlocked the doors so she could slide in while giving her one of his winning smiles. Her brother wasn’t handsome but was cute in a light cheery sort of way. He ruffed her hair as he drove out of the parking lot.
“Hey, how was your day”, he said, while looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
“Boring, you?” She stifled a yawn as she spoke.
“I had a great day, but we need to go to the grocery store. Mom’s making spaghetti and she forgot the sauce.” He turned down the street, heading towards our local Publix. “Will you run in and get it for me.” He pulled in and parked the car.
“Sure, but next time your going in,” Rivers hoped out of the car grabbing the money out of James' hand. She crossed the sidewalk whistling and went in.
It took her a while but she finally found the right aisle. Usually someone else did the grocery shopping. She turned over labels, trying to decide which one would taste best and finally decided on the one with the happy chef gracing its cover. With two glass jars of spaghetti clasped in her hands she ran right into someone who had been walking quickly down the aisle. She landed on her butt; one jar flying from her hand and breaking on the white floor and all over her white graphic tee. She looked up to see the one responsible, already thinking of something brilliant to say, but she was completely taken off guard by who she saw. She saw a guy with brown short-cropped hair and knew no matter what she said this wasn’t going to be a pleasant encounter. A shocked look was plastered his face. That’s when he recognized her. His name was Brandon. He was the guy that she had a huge crush on in tenth grade; he had not only snubbed her but had gone on facebook and told the entire student body that she was desperate. The next day, after she had seen the post, she found him in a school hallway and punched him in the eye. After that fiasco no one dared had asked her out for months for fear that they would get a black eye too.
Right then he was having a good time laughing at the sloppy mess he had made. “Red looks good on you, darling.” He didn’t even bother to help her up. She stood up as gracefully as she could, staring him dead in the eye.
“Black and blue looks good on you, honey,” she said in a sickly sweet voice. The smirk dropped right off his face. We stared each other down for a minute while we were trying to decide what to say next. He was still has handsome as ever although his face was spoiled by a heavy scowl. He was now wide receiver on the football team, and although the season was he was still as fit as ever. A publix employee ran up to them and saw the huge mess. “We are so sorry. He bumped into me. I don’t think he was looking were he was going. I’m so sorry,” Rivers said dialing up the sweetness.
“It’s fine, we’ll just clean this up. You can go.” The employee scratched his head as he walked off to find help.
“Thank you”, She grabbed another can of sauce and rushed out of the aisle leaving a trail of red footprints, which hadn’t even noticed until she had bought the sauce and had jogged half-way to her car. She had been solely focused on getting away from Brandon. It was safe to say that she disliked him more than Mr. Brown and that’s saying something.
The odds are against me today, she thought as she slowed to a walk as she neared the truck.
She slowed down so much she wasn’t walking anymore. It wasn’t voluntary; it was like she couldn’t control her limbs. Her thoughts were swimming in her head and her feet felt like lead. She heard heavy footsteps coming up behind her. She saw James was looking at her with a puzzled but wary glance. Her vision started to swim then finally she blacked out and hit the ground. The last thing she heard was her name ringing in her ears.
~~~~~
James rushed to the side of his fallen sibling. A boy that looked to be around 18 years old was already crouched next her, cradling her head. When James saw her hit the ground he was barely able to get out of the car fast enough. As he got nearer he felt like the guy was vaguely familiar, but he didn’t think much about it, he was too worried. He knelt by his sister, checking her pulse and lifting her into his arms. Her dark brown hair drape over his arm as he shifted her so he could reach his keys.
“Is she alright?” the guy beside them asked, “She fell hard.”
“She’s fine, I’m her brother, I’ll take her home,” he started walking briskly to the car with a cheery smile on his face. He hoped that the guy would stop following him, but he didn’t. He couldn’t blame him, the whole scene looked really weird, but he couldn't help but be happy that her metamorphosis had begun.
“We should call a hospital and get an ambulance to come out.” He ran a nervous hand through his short-cropped hair. He was about 6’1 with broad shoulders and looked like an athlete.
“She’s fine. We don’t need an ambulance.” He sat her in the passenger seat and buckled her up. James already knew that a doctor couldn’t fix what was wrong with Rivers.
“Seriously man, she could have a concussion or something.” James just got in his car and locked the doors. “Hey . . . “ James just drove off heading for home, the tomato sauce forgotten in the parking lot.
~~~~~~
Brandon looked at the jars of tomato saws as the truck sped off. He was kind of confused by the whole incident. At first he had been following Rivers so that he could give her a piece of his mind, but when he saw her fall he just rushed over. He had cradled her head hoping the she wasn’t hurt; he had not even thought about what he was doing. What really troubled him was her brother reaction to the whole thing. He had seen worry, happiness and then finally annoyance, for him, cross his face. Why did he seem happy that his sister had fainted in a parking lot? It made absolutely no sense.
He picked up the can of sauce trying to determine what to do. I could go to her house, he thought, and then I can find out what the heck is going on at least. He decided to use the tomato sauce as a reason to poke around.
He briskly turned around, unlocking his cherry red mustang and throwing the grocery bag onto the passenger's seat. He took out his phone, quickly dialing Charlotte’s number while driving out of the parking lot. He called several times but all he got was her voicemail. He left her a quick message and decided that he was just being paranoid. I’ll just check on her tomorrow, No, and then she will think that I was worried. Uh, man, I’ll just leave it alone. It’s none of my business anyway. When he parked his car in the garage he decided that he would give her the sauce if he happened to see her.