***Author's Note: Ah, I want to thank EVERYONE for their continuous support. Seriously, without you guys, I think I would have lost hope a long time ago (sounds super cheesey but it is sooo true). Anyways, again, I want to remind you that I am entering in the Watty Awards so...
<-- Press the vote button? Press all four buttons? Please :3 At least do it once your done with this chapter ^-^ Thanks and enjoy this chapter~~
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As I go through all kinds of feelings and experiences in my journey through life -- delight, surprise, chagrin, dismay -- I hold this question as a guiding light: "What do I really need right now to be happy?" What I come to over and over again is that only qualities as vast and deep as love, connection and kindness will really make me happy in any sort of enduring way. ~Sharon Salzberg
“Oh my gosh,” I stared wildly at Ethan, “what the heck do you think you are doing?”
He smiled a murderous smile at me, his teeth glistening white in the pitch darkness of the cave we were currently in. That is, a cave with no exits. In his hand was a wand, a well defined wand at that point. “Don’t move a muscle,” he demanded, glaring down at me.
“Or what?” I shot back, eyeing his wand warily, “and what are you doing with that?”
Ethan whispered a word and suddenly the wand shot out a bright green light that illuminated the entire cave and left dots in my vision. Impossible. I stared at him for several long moments, incomprehension visible in my face.
“I’m a wizard,” Ethan declared openly.
I gawked at him.
“And I’m a vampire,” a deep voice came from behind me. I swiveled around to come face to face with a very vicious look Aiden. Was it just me, or were his teeth slightly elongated and much more canine-like. “And we are going to kill you.”
Talk about directness. With shock, I reeled away from him, my arms flailing as I lost my footing, “What?”
“You heard me.” He reached out to grab me. I jerked away violently, but the momentum sent me tumbling into Ethan’s arms. He smirked maliciously at me, raising his wand with an evil tinge in his eyes. I automatically felt the air grow colder, soon to the point where there were ice crystals forming along the walls. I shivered at the sudden temperature drop, wondering what could have possibly caused it.
My gaze drifted to Ethan who was still smiling a horribly creepy smile at me. I tried taking a step back, but his tight grip on my arm refused to loosen up.
He pointed his wand in a threatening way at me. “You see the thing is--”
I woke with a start, sweat drenching my brows, my eyes flitting nervously around my room taking in how dark it was both outside and in. Taking several deep breaths to calm myself down, I turned to the alarm clock next to me and realized that I had another three hours to sleep until it was officially time to get up. Suppressing a groan, I plopped back onto my mattress, my mind reeling from the nightmare I just had. Aiden’s vampire thing is really getting to me, I contemplated, laughing silently a little hesitantly at my crazy dream, but that wizard thing was completely different. And what was the thing Ethan was talking about? At that thought, I sank deeper into the material. I need to stop dreaming up crazy stuff like that.
Before I knew it, a loud, annoying beeping sound dug it’s way into my thoughts. See what I mean by being able to lie in bed for several hours doing nothing? Feeling slightly put off, I slammed my hand on the off button and stretched out my arms luxuriously, opening my mouth wide to let go a huge yawn. Then, after several long minutes of just sitting there, I stumbled to my bathroom and sat on the toilet, relieving myself.
After doing all the necessities and rubbing myself somewhat awake so that my mind was at least doing the normal functions, I walked downstairs into the kitchen to see my mom already up and bustling around. How she manages to get up so early and do everything that a mother should do is still a mystery to me.
“Morning,” I greeted, walking into the pantry and grabbing out a box of Froot Loops. After the first day of school, I refused to let my mom make me breakfast, or let me rephrase that, make me a feast.
“Morning,” she greeted back, “did you sleep well?”
My mind flashed to the dream I had, and mentally, I debated on whether to tell her about it. Finally, deciding against it (for it would bring up a lot of questions and questions are best avoided), I muttered a somewhat decent ‘yes’.
“Well, that’s good,” she smiled buying my white lie.
Today was my first day back to school after a long week of only sleeping in and mulling around the house. Luckily, I managed to avoid anyone from school, although that may be due partly to the fact I stayed home nearly the entire day, unless my mom kicked me out of the house to ‘get some exercise’. In that case, I walked in the opposite direction of the park, taking all possible measures to avoid anyone I may know, including Dustin and Ever.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the group, but I just needed a break. A very long, well-deserved, relaxing break that involved no drama whatsoever.
“Ready for the first day of school?”
I quickly swallowed the bite I was eating. “Yup,” I said confidently. I was kind of excited as well. Call me crazy, but after not seeing Chez, and more specifically Ethan, for nearly a week, I felt sort of empty on the inside. It wasn’t exactly an painful feeling, but it was more of a throbbing, uncomfortable feeling.
My mind drifted out the window as I took in the beautiful sunshine that was kissing the grounds of Villa Park. Most of the flowers were already in full bloom, brightening up the day with an array of colors. A few fluffy white clouds dotted the light blue sky, lazily drifting off in an ambiguous direction. As if struck by some sort of inspiration, I felt a sudden burst of euphoria. Unable to fight a wide grin off my face, I watched as a flock of birds flew into the air in a ‘V’ formation, reminding me that Ethan and Chez had already flew back from their vacation in Europe.
I wonder how England was for both of them? I thought, digging another large spoonful of Froot Loops, feeling nearly certain that today was going to be a wonderful day.
******
“England was amazing,” Chez stressed for the infinite time, her eyes bright and excited looking with a visible glow that was slightly blinding. Currently, Ethan, Aiden, Chez, and I were sitting at our lunch table, listening to Ethan and Chez tell their separate stories about England. Basically, the guys and girls of England.
“Let me guess, hot guys?” I asked teasingly, ignoring Ethan’s scathing look. Despite the long break, I fully admit that I missed being back at school. It was amazing to be back with my friends again. Friends, something I thought I wouldn’t have at Villa Park. I smiled a bit wryly at my naivety back then; little did I know that I would have a group of friends right from the start. I guess I can count myself lucky for getting lost on the first day.
“Yup,” she nodded, winking at me.
“Hey!” Aiden cried in offense.
“There were lots of hot girls too,” Ethan threw in, tossing a wink towards Aiden.
“I thought you would be too busy looking at the guys to notice,” I shot back. Ethan rolled his eyes at me in disgust, and I smirked at him. Ever since Tanner, I realized hehad an extremely sensitive spot when people referred to him as ‘gay’.
“Oh, that reminds me,” Chez exclaimed sounding enthusiastic, “guess what’s happening during the summer?”
“The most horrible thing ever,” Ethan grumbled.
“It must be the best thing ever!” I deducted, judging from Ethan’s slightly downcast expression. Slightly downcast would be under exaggerating, he looked absolutely miserable, his mouth set in a constant frown. I wondered what could possibly make him this upset but nothing came to my mind. For a moment, I nearly was tempted to feel sorry for him, but soon enough, I bit back that thought.
“Close enough,” Chez winked at me.
“What’s going on?” Aiden demanded.
“Well…” she dragged on, taking too much pleasure in both mine and Aiden’s eager yet impatient expressions, “the thing is…”
“Well?” I probed impatiently, glaring daggers at her that should indicate that I wanted her to hurry up with the news.
“You know how our cousin lives in England right?”
Aiden and I nodded.
“Well, he’s coming over during the summer to stay here. Basically, he’s going to be going to school here. Sort of like a foreign exchange student kind of thing.” Chez exclaimed happily, obvious to Ethan’s dull look. Looking at Ethan, I grinned amusedly, someone looks jealous.
In fact, it was safe to say that Ethan’s and Chez’s expressions were completely different. While Chez had an vivacious look and her eyes were gleaming with the prospect of having their cousin over, Ethan’s expression seemed more depressed and dull.
“Yippee,” he said sarcastically, throwing his hands up in the air, pretending to be completely excited.
“Oh, does he have a British accent?” I asked eagerly, turning a blind eye to Ethan’s obvious sarcasm.
“Yup.”
“Aw,” I cooed, ignoring the scornful look that Ethan was shooting me, “what’s his name?”
“Blake.”
“Aw,” I cooed again, “that’s the most adorable name I’ve ever heard. In fact, I‘ve never known anyone named Blake. It sounds so much better than Ethan.” Ethan gave me a grumpy look in which I returned with an absolutely effervescent one. “Oh, gosh Ethan, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything. It’s just that Blake sounds so…” I drifted off, racking my brain to come up with a good enough word, “posh.”
“Posh?”
“Yes,” I nodded vigorously, “unlike Ethan which sounds like something you would barbeque. Imagine,” I smirked at his irritated glare, “Ethan’s hotdogs.”
Confession: I enjoy making fun of Ethan.
It was refreshing for him to be on the receiving end, and I admit, he was cute when he was jealous. Besides, it was nice having the upper hand for once instead of vice versa.
“That sounds stupid,” he moaned.
“No,” I countered, “it sounds professional. Like something you would see on a street vender. Ethan’s Hotdogs for $1.99.”
“Stupid.”
“Brilliant,” I grinned.
“You know, Kylie’s right,” Chez piped in, “it does have a nice ring to it.”
I threw a winning smile at Ethan, “Told you so.”
“I don’t think I can handle this with Blake joining you guys as well,” Ethan grinded his teeth in exasperation.
“What‘s up with you and Blake?” I asked curiously.
“Let’s just say that Blake and Ethan don’t get along. At all,” Chez silently laughed and I felt a smile tug at the edge of my mouth, this should be an interesting summer.
“He’s a complete… idiot,” Ethan fumed angrily, taking a large bite out of his sandwich violently as if he could kill it. “Complete idiot,” he empathized this by waving his hands around. Like someone I know, I refrained from pointing this out.
“I bet he’s super nice,” I countered which earned me an angry glare.
“You don’t even know him!”
“Yea, but he’s British.” I grinned at my deductive reasoning.
“So?”
“I’m right.”
He rolled his eyes, “Girls are just…”
“Yes?” I pushed.
“Confusing,” he concluded.
I scoffed, “Confusing?”
He mumbled a ‘mhmm’ turning to his lunch and pretending to be completely disinterested in what was going on.
“It’s okay, you’ll get the hang of it later. Just watch me,” Aiden winked, throwing an arm around Ethan’s shoulder. “Lesson one: Approach girls with dignity,” he demonstrated this by approaching Chez with his nose stuck straight up in the air and his arms stiffly by his side.
“Good afternoon, ma’am,” he bowed to Chez, who stared at him as if he were crazy.
“I don’t know him.” Chez denied to a passerby that was looking at Aiden as if he were a bug. “He’s just an acquaintance we found in the corner of the lunchroom the other day.”
“Great lesson,” Ethan snorted in sarcasm.
“It was worth a shot,” Aiden shrugged a little sheepishly.
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Ahh, one of my favorite characters is about to come in ^-^ So, what do you guys think?
COMMENT/VOTE~~~ I love love love love love hearing your comments and I love getting your votes; I really do! Please drop one-- it only takes like 5 seconds. Tell me what you like/ disliked/ hated. Tell me your opinions on the characters. I'm begggggggingggggg you! *makes puppy dog face* comment and tell me and vote!
Cause then I know what to improve on and what your mindset is about each character.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed that ^-^. Sorry, I haven't been uploading. I've been working on two of my short stories~~ Go check them out! One is called: Enchanted. The other is: When You're Gone. Check them out for meeeeeeeeeee :3 and Chez and Ethan and Kylie and Aiden and whatnot ^-^ DO IT TO ANNOY JESSICA! :D
~Laura(XxIcyxX)