KARYN had never known a week like the previous one. In one week, four new students had barged into and upended her life. They'd shoved her into a sea of unfamiliar thoughts and sensations and left her with the one thing she detested. Disruption.
She'd spent the rest of her weekend scouring through her memories for anything that hinted Elowen had ever kept anything from her, and by Monday, she had got nothing. Every smile and every laughter appeared genuine, even in the hazy glow of her memories.
She'd combined her search with the endless questions raised from the event at Fast Foods. Could she have some sort of powers and could she be the person they were searching for? And if she was—
The sight of a familiar set of cool green eyes paired with a mess of dark blond waves caused her questions to melt into oblivion. Her brain still recalled how her heart fluttered when they were nothing but inches apart at Larry's. Her lips could still feel the warmth of his breath graze over them.
With all the thinking she had been doing, she hadn't even addressed the fact that they almost kissed and what it could mean. They'd only known each other for a week. Was that enough time to develop feelings?
She parted her lips to suck in a small breath before she let it out. She ignored the light fluttering in her chest as she made her way to meet him at the double-door entrance of Emerfield High.
"What are you thinking about so much?" he asked as they walked in together.
"Shouldn't you have a conclusion for that already?" she asked with a smile.
"You make reading you both simple and difficult at the same time."
She turned to find his eyes on her, and there was that little flutter in her heart again. But he broke the bubble he created when he trained his eyes forward. Before she could ask him to elaborate further, a familiar voice rang through the crowd.
Most people in Emerfield High had blonde hair, but Karyn could never mistake Elowen's hair for someone else. Her eyes met her best friend, waving wildly with a smile, and she redirected her steps. But then the meeting at Travellers hit her like a ton of bricks, and her smile faltered.
"Hey El, how'd your weekend go?" she asked, opening her locker to hide her half-smile from Elowen.
"Nothing exciting, but I can't say the same for you, right?" Elowen teased, and she froze while removing a book from her locker. Did Elowen know of the meeting?
She peeked behind her locker door, intending to gauge Elowen's facial reaction, but she had turned in time to see Zack walk past. There was a determination in his stride and she couldn't tell why until he crashed into someone. She watched him stutter an apology, and the person turned. Lindy.
Something about the collision seemed planned, but before she could go further in her train of thought, Elowen interjected herself into her mental process by blocking her from witnessing whatever interaction Zack was about to have with Lindy.
"What happened during the weekend that makes it impossible for you to take your eyes off Zack? I mean, I get that he's a hunk of gorgeousness, but—"
She cut Elowen off with a groan and turned back to her locker.
"Can you blame me for that conclusion after seeing you two walk in like lovers?"
She rolled her eyes at her best friend's choice of words. "We walked in as friends, that's all."
"So, nothing happened over the weekend?" Elowen paused. "'Cause Mom saw you on a motorcycle heading out of town with a guy."
"Oh, well—"
"I'm surprised you're here today. I assumed you realized that fate made you two for each other and had eloped together."
"El, I've only known him for a week. We're not eloping anywhere. But, yes, we went out."
From her peripheral vision, she could see Elowen's eyes lit up with excitement like they always did when they talked about romantic movies.
"How was it? Where did you guys go? What did you wear and why didn't you tell me?"
She couldn't say she met with Gema and the others to discuss if Elowen was some long-lost hero.
"He wanted to go around town and asked if I was free, so I agreed," she said, careful to prevent her voice going a pitch higher.
With every word that came out of her mouth, her heart squeezed tighter and she couldn't deny how much she wanted to take the words back. Not only because she was lying but also because this was likely to be the first of many lies she would tell her best friend. And where was their friendship going from here if there were going to be more lies?
"Like a date, huh?" Elowen's question stopped her mind from wondering.
"There was no date. We just went around town and, well... we almost kissed."
Elowen's shriek pierced through the chatter of students, caused a lull in various conversations, and attracted the stares of nearby students.
"Don't be dramatic!" She chastised with a whisper that barely cut through the rising chatter.
"How can I not be when you almost had your very first kiss?" Elowen whispered aggressively.
She pressed her lips together as she shut her locker with the echo adding to the noise around. Her first kiss. She thought she would have it with Luke and had come up with various scenarios of how the moment would flourish in her mind.
When she turned and saw Luke striding across the hallway, she could hear his sneakers squeaking against the polished floor, not because the surrounding discussions weren't loud enough, but because she knew he wore his blue squeaky sneakers every Monday.
Her eyes followed his movements as her ears tuned out of Elowen's rants about kisses and dates. He walked on, oblivious to the hold he had over her mind and heart and the fuzzy lightness his mere presence provoked in her stomach. As he disappeared down a corner, she realized her almost kiss with Zack changed little to nothing regarding her feelings for Luke.
♛ ♛ ♛
"YOU are artists!" Mr. Will barked with vigor. "You are creative with wildly imaginative minds! Young, vibrant, and enigmatic blood flows through your veins and arteries! You cannot let overgrown bullies smother your passion for art. An artist is an activist of Art who stands up for their passion in the face of adversity. If you love it, you must fight for it." His wide eyes had gone from student to student with every word he exclaimed.
Those were the parting words Mr. Will gave them.
"Is he always like that?" Zack asked once they were out of the class.
She chuckled. "When I say Mr. Will can be intense, that's a bit of what I mean."
In the next moment, Zack took her hand in his to stop her from walking, but she responded on impulse and yanked her hand away. Before the confusion, a flicker of hurt crossed his face.
"I don't want a repeat of Fast Foods," she explained.
"Oh." The crease in his brow smoothened before his lips relaxed from the tight line he had drawn them into. "I'm pretty sure it can happen only when you touch someone."
Her brows slanted inward in a slight frown. "How are you sure?"
"I've touched you before, and I'm sure Elowen and many others have as well. Speaking of Elowen, do you have a way of approaching her yet?"
She ran her hands across her face before they fell limp to her sides and she cast her gaze down.
"I don't know what I'm doing. She's my best friend, and it just feels like I'm betraying her trust by lying to her."
"Hey," he said as his hands found their way to her shoulders despite her earlier concern. "If you want out, just say it and we'll end this. I'm not going ahead when you're so worried. I guess it's what you were thinking about earlier," he surmised.
She took in a deep breath. At that moment, she wished more than anything to feel Elowen's arms wrap around her so she could sink into her best friend's embrace. But if she asked Elowen for a hug now, she knew her best friend would ask if something was wrong, which would only lead to more lies from her.
"No, I'll manage. I also want to know if El is this person. But do you think they'll leave with the person when they find them? I know Jamie said they don't know what they'll do but..."
"I don't trust that guy one bit," Zack said, and she agreed with the sentiment. She remembered Jamie being at her house and, according to her sister, vanishing into thin air with her aunt. That alone was enough reason for her to doubt him.
"But for now," Zack continued. "We can go along with them and see where it leads."
An invisible weight descended upon her shoulders the moment he removed his hands and the comfort they brought. They parted ways, but as she crossed a quiet hallway, she picked up two voices coming from the hallway on her right. Her eyebrows creased and her steps faltered when she recognized one to be Elowen.
Karyn could only make out the words, "...Fine, after school," before Jamie stepped out and headed further down the hallway.
She stood frozen as she watched him walk away before Elowen stepped out moments after and locked eyes with Karyn. There was a moment where they just watched each other, but it lasted for seconds as Elowen smiled and dashed towards her.
"Are you ready for class?" Elowen said as they linked arms, pulling her away from the hallway and further straight. The question sounded forced, which caused Karyn's brows to crease.
"Was that Jamie? What were you guys talking about?" she questioned, looking back and then at her best friend.
Elowen sucked in a sharp breath through her nostrils and looked ahead, "Oh, it's nothing we're um, partners in a project."
As they walked away, her frown remained. She couldn't shake off the feeling that something more was at play.
♛ ♛ ♛
ELOWEN and Jamie's chat was more than just project talk, and Karyn was certain of it. Her best friend's change in demeanor may not have been obvious to others, but to her, it was.
After shutting down Karyn's budding questions with abrupt nonchalance, Elowen had zoned out and Karyn could tell something was different. Her best friend didn't give witty remarks or laugh at her jokes. Something was wrong and Jamie had his name written all over it.
So, during English class, she had an idea and sought permission to go to the restroom.
Once out, she dashed to the library and made it in a few minutes. Barely acknowledging the librarian, she made a beeline for the romance section and there, unsurprisingly, she found Kara sitting cross-legged on the floor, completely engrossed in a book.
"Kara," she whispered, and her sister shot up.
"What are you doing here? Don't you have a class now?" Kara squeaked. Karyn veered around and feigned interest in the books on the shelf so she wouldn't appear suspicious if she simply stood there.
"Yes, I do, but—Why do you seem flustered?" she asked after a double-take on Kara.
Kara smirked. "I may or may not have been reading some R-rated content here."
Karyn blinked before she frowned. "But I couldn't tell."
"That, my dear, is a skill only readers can harness. Romance readers in particular. What do you need help with? I'm at your service," Kara said, before tucking the book under her arm and pulling her free hand up to a salute.
"I can't give the full story, but I want you to spy on Jamie," she whispered with her eyes darting from left to right.
"The guy who vanished with your aunt?"
"Yeah. I have a feeling he's up to something."
"Of course he is. He vanished with your aunt. That has to mean something."
"But this has to do with Elowen."
"Elowen? Then say no more."
She hurried back to class, but on her way back she heard some voices and, unlike earlier, she couldn't recognize any of them. She would have continued walking, but the words she heard compelled her to a halt just before the bend into the hallway where the strangers stood.
"Who would have thought they'd come here?" one of them said.
"They don't realize it's her and our job is to prevent them from realizing. They move around a lot and would leave before we know it."
"We're just gonna let them leave?" the first guy asked.
When the second guy answered, Karyn could hear the smugness in his tone. "That's what the clan head said. While they search the world for their Silverein, we have her right here, and once everything is ready, she will have no choice but to give Wyrione what is rightly ours."
"What about her interaction with them?" the first guy asked.
"All we need to do is tell Jack and his wife that they need to amplify their restrictions," the second guy said.
"His wife, who hasn't been to a single meeting in years," the second guy said, and she heard footsteps as their voices started fading away.
She stepped out and saw two male students moving farther down the hall. Time didn't let her ponder as she dashed back to her class. She entered and met with a stern look from Mrs. Jones.
She muttered an apology for her delay before heading back to her seat where her hand went up to the necklace beneath her shirt as her mind drifted back to the conversation she just overheard. It seemed like they were talking about the same person whom Gema and the others were searching for.
Were they members of a clan, and if so, were they the bad guys Jamie was referring to? If there was a cult in Emerfield, how long had it been there and how had she not noticed anything? They also mentioned Wyrione. Could that be their clan name?
Her pulse raced as a notion crossed her mind. Could this cult have had a hand in the fire that took her parents' lives? No. That was thinking too far ahead.
"She will have no choice but to give Wyrione what is rightly ours."
"We need the princess to do good, but if these people get to her, they can turn her against her kingdom and use her for their evil purposes before we can get to her."
One guy said the first, and Gema said the second. Karyn couldn't help but wonder if one of them had a hidden agenda, or if someone was outright lying. With the questions she had concerning Jamie, she couldn't help but second-guess her decision to join their team.
The sound of the bell and shuffling of chairs jolted her out of her thoughts, and she heard Mrs. Jones instructing everyone to submit an assignment by Friday.
She didn't hear the details and turned to ask Elowen what it was, but the question died on her tongue when she found Elowen's seat empty. She looked up in time to see her best friend rush out.
Why did she take off so soon? Elowen was having World History next and Mrs. Martha was not the teacher whose class you wanted to be late for, but a brief goodbye would have sufficed. Or had she been so deep in thought that she couldn't hear Elowen bid her goodbye?
Her mind raced for an explanation on the way to her next lesson that she didn't notice the person who stopped in front of her until she collided with them. She apologized and rushed to pick up their books.
"I'm sorry again," she repeated as she handed the boy his books.
"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stopped abruptly," he added, and she blinked.
That voice. It was so recent that she could still recall the voice she heard discussing in the hallway. When he walked by her, she whirled around and called back at him.
"I've not seen you around before. What's your name?" she asked as the guy turned to her.
"Dan," he said simply.
"I'm Karyn," she introduced.
"Yeah, I know."
She had never seen him before, but his piercing gaze made her feel like he knew her inside out.
How did he know her name?
"You're the SAC Vice President, right?" he asked, answering the question in her head.
"Oh," she exhaled. "I didn't realize I was that popular."
"You're more popular than you imagine," he said with a smile before he walked away.
The smile did nothing to ease her mind and Karyn found something about it to be unnatural, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. She couldn't help but think there was an underlying notion to his words.
Geez! What was wrong with her? It was just a smile, and he was probably being nice.
She spent the whole of the next class running around in her head, from Elowen's chat with Jamie to the strange conversation she heard in the hallway. Her mind was holding her hostage and her body had no outlet to vent.
She groaned in fatigue as she trudged towards the cafeteria later. She was young and in high school and should live the best of her life as much as she could. Exams and college applications would be due soon, or in her case, scholarship applications. She couldn't see her uncle and aunt paying her college tuition alongside Brian, who was already in college, and Mia, who would finish high school around the same time she did.
Great! Another thing to worry about.
When she got to the cafeteria, their table was bustling with chatter, and it came easy for her to join in. Yet, her mind wasn't as interested as she should have been, as it kept wandering every time she heard Jamie laugh at a funny part of Jordan's tale. The fact he was smiling while Elowen was unbalanced enraged her, but she kept her clenched hands underneath the table and forced her smile.
She managed to pull Elowen aside before they parted again after lunch. Elowen had drawn her back last week to address the sudden flurry of questions she had for the trio of new students. What a difference a few days can make.
"What's up?" Elowen asked. Her voice sounded calm, but Karyn knew better and could identify the undertone of unease in it. She caught sight of Elowen's thumb scratching the pad of her index finger. The familiar but rare act was small but enough for Karyn to know something was amiss.
"What were you and Jamie talking about before English class? And don't tell me it was just project talks 'cause something changed after that."
She watched her best friend sink into her thoughts as Elowen's blue eyes trained on the table beside them. Karyn stared in anticipation, hoping Elowen would come clean. The wait made her question whether her best friend was planning to lie to her. And then she wondered if Elowen was hiding something as well.
Elowen released a breath before she spoke. "Fine, but I can't tell you much about it right now."
Karyn waited for Elowen's eyes to glance to the side like they always did when her best friend was keeping the truth. But they didn't.
Sure, Elowen didn't quite answer the question, but it felt genuine enough. At the very least, she wasn't spinning tales about 'project discussion'.
"Okay, but can we talk about it after school today?" she asked.
"Uh, I have some things to take care of, so tomorrow?" Elowen offered.
Karyn recalled the words Elowen said in the classroom and she wondered if the things Elowen had to take care of involved Jamie.
She smiled, regardless of her worries. "Sure."
As they walked on with the chatter of students around them, Karyn itched to go home and hear what Kara could have discovered about Jamie.
♛
ITNC: For Karyn, the day starts off with a cryptic dream and progresses downhill to a dreadful conclusion.
♛
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The Sparkling Authoress,
Mis. A
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