Luna: The Moon Goddess
Chapter 10
Being in public school was exactly how I thought it would be; everyone hanging around in the hallways before and after classes. I noticed the different cliques as well.
There were the populars, the jocks, nerds, emos, the drama students, the singers, dancers, and many more. I decided on not including myself in anything that was clique related. I'm not here to fit in.
Once lunch came around, I finally saw a form of familiarity. The cafeteria here kind of like the one at the Institute, except for the posters showing school spirit. After I grab anything from the buffet table -I'm not really that hungry- I found an empty, rectangle table and sat down.
Only a few minutes passed until my comfortable loneliness was interrupted. A guy, whom I don't know, sat down beside me. He had a buzz haircut, and his forest green eyes gazed at me with wonder. He looked about eighteen, maybe seventeen. "Hi, I'm Kyle," he introduced himself while holding out his hand for me to shake.
I looked down at it, and that's all. He retrieved his hand but kept a slight smile on his face, obviously not offended by my lack of friendliness. I looked down at my tray. I just noticed I had grabbed a burger that was wrapped in fake aluminum paper, fries, an orange, and a milk carton. I picked up the orange and began to peel it.
"You must be new here," the boy, Kyle, stated. I nodded my head in response. I saw him nod his head out the corner of my eyes. He looked as if he was thinking of something to else to ask me. "So, what's your name?" he asked.
I sighed. I guess he doesn't get that my silence is his cue to leave. Seriously, I'm not here to make friends. There's no point in becoming friends with the students here, just to get them tangled up in my already complicated life.
And plus, this is the only day I'm going to be here, since I'm leaving tonight after the full moon rises and I get my full powers.
I looked to him, to see him waiting patiently for my answer. I couldn't help but see the attractiveness his face held. His chin had a little stubble from facial hair growing in.
I looked back towards my orange and finished peeling it. Kyle chuckled lightly. "Well, I see you're not much of a talker," he stated pragmatically. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Yeah, she was taught not to speak to strangers," I hear a new voice say with noticeable humor. I didn't have to look up to know that it was Travis who spoke. He put his tray on the table and sat across from me.
I then noticed a few others sit down as well. I groan mentally. Ugh, really? Do I have a sign on my forehead saying come sit and talk to me, or something? I broke apart my orange began eating it.
"You know her?" Kyle asked Travis, obviously surprised. I looked to Travis an awaited his response. He looked back at me as he spoke.
"Yeah, her name is Layla," he answered, a small smirk on his face; almost in a proud manner, probably proud that he remembered to use my fake name.
"I thought her name was Luna?" the girl sitting next to Travis, whom I now recognize as Hannah, asked. Hmm, I guess their back together? If so, their break up didn't last long. I don't doubt if she was the one who wanted to get back together, either. She seems like the type of girl who likes arguing, as a way of keeping the relationship heated, or maybe because of what happens when they make up. Either or, I can read her like a book.
Like right now, I can tell that her curiosity is a fraud for her wanting to know why Travis is lying about my name. I know this, because she's looking at him as if she wants to slap him; frame stiff from anger.
Being able to read people, and figure out their motives only by watching them is a skill that we -my dad's soldiers- had to learn during training. Some of us are better than others.
Travis, on the other hand, isn't paying too much attention to Hannah. He looks as if he's trying to figure out what to say next.
"Only my close friends call me Luna," I answer vaguely.
Kyle, whom began eating his food, looked to me. "So she has a voice," he says jokingly with a smile.
"That's interesting, so you and Travis are close friends, then?" Hannah asked, a hint of jealousy appearing in her voice. I give her a blank look. Is she seriously trying to start trouble with me? I'm a new student here, and she's already trying to pick on me. Clearly someone should warn her of what I can do to her, or more specifically, to her neck.
"Yes, we're like, totally besties," I taunted with a flip of my hair, causing a chuckle from the others. Hannah glared at me in return, to which I raised a challenging eyebrow. Come on Hannah, I got a comeback for anything you say.
I return my gaze back down to my tray and continue eating my orange in silence. "How do you two know each other? I mean, seeing that you're new here," Kyle asked me, clearly wanting to keep up a conversation with me. I looked up to him. Well, why not keep a conversation?
"I'm a family friend," I informed him, being sure not to give information as to why I'm staying with Travis.
For the rest of the lunch, Kyle continued trying to ask me questions about myself, Travis continued interrupting with some sarcastic remark, and Hannah continued to glare at me, probably mad because I was getting all the attention from the boys at the table.
As of right now, I am sitting in the last class of the day. French. I picked a seat next to the windows, so I could have something to entertain myself with incase I get bored. Who knew public school would be such a bore. Just as the last bell signaled, Travis walked into the room, with a few of his friends behind him. Really? He's in this class too?
I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. This should be interesting. He took a sit on the other side of the classroom, far away from me. I don't even know if he knows I'm in here or not. Soon after Travis walked in, a man walked in also. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, olive skinned and brown curls on his head.
"Bon après-midi chacun. Good afternoon, everyone," the man says with a pleasant smile on his face, his accent was strong. The students all replied with their own greetings. "Was there any complications with the homework last night?" the teacher asked everyone.
Everyone answered at once, some said yes while others said no. "Okay, okay. Everyone pull out your homework, let's go over it," the teacher instructed. I sat silently and watched as everyone did as told, although they started small conversations along with doing it.
"Alright, someone translate the question for number one," the teacher instructed.
There was a silence before a girl at the front of the class spoke, her voice soft, "What is the opposite of goodbye?"
"De quoi est-il l'opposé au revoir?" the teacher repeated her question in French.
"Bonjour," everyone said in unison.
The teacher nodded his head in approval. "Very good. What problems did everyone come across?" he asked the class. Everyone, again, began talking at once, all saying something different.
"Mr. Pullet, number twelve was difficult for me," a guy admitted, his voice heard through the crowd of everyone else's voice. The teacher, Mr. Pullet, then told everyone to look at number twelve. Seeing that I don't have a worksheet, I busied myself with birds and squirrels that are outside. I noticed one squirrel chasing another up and down trees.
No matter where the first squirrel went, the chaser was right behind. I soon found myself thinking of Sarah. I wonder how she's doing. I haven't seen her since the beginning of school, and she hasn't texted me or anything, so hopefully her first day is going well.
I feel bad for involving her into my mess. Well actually, my father brought her into this mess. He used my friendship with her to get to me. I shake my head at the thought of how low he'd scoop to get to me. I thought he was better than this.
"Est-ce que personne ne sait ce que je dis en ce moment?" Mr. Pullet's voice breaks me from my thoughts. I look around the class and notice everyone looking at their neighbors, wondering what the teacher is saying. "Celui qui peut deviner que ce que je dis ne devra pas faire le travail du ce soir," he spoke again.
I looked toward Travis, he didn't seem to know what the teacher was saying either. Am I the only one who knows that the Mr. Pullet just said that whoever knows what he just said, won't have to do tonight's homework? I wait patiently for one of the other students to speak up, but no one did.
"Vous avez dit que celui qui sait que ce que vous dites n'aura pas le travail ce soir," I spoke for the first time since the bell rung. I told him that he said that whoever knows what he's saying, will not have homework tonight. All eyes found me as the room grew quiet. I saw Travis' eyes grow big in surprise. So I was right, he hadn't noticed me in here.
"You must be Layla Holt, our new student," Mr. Pullet said to me with an appreciative smile on his face. I nodded in response. "Are you fluent in French?" he asked me, almost fascinated by my knowledge of the language. I nodded my head again. "Wonderful," he finished.
I looked at the clock hanging above the dry erase board. "Ainsi, aucun travail pour moi?" I asked to verify he'll stand by his word.
Mr. Pullet chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes, no homework for you tonight," he informed me, and everyone else.
"Great," I spoke as I pick my backpack up from the ground, stood from my seat, and began walking towards the door. Others in the class began to question what exactly the teacher and I just discussed that caused me to have no homework. Mr. Pullet called to me, wondering why I was leaving class, but got cut off by the final bell just as I stepped out of the classroom.
I walked through the halls -that was filling up with students with every passing second- until I made it outside. I stood against the wall next to the doors and waited for Sarah. A few minutes later, she was submerging through the doors. I called her name and got her attention. She said goodbye to a couple of people she was walking with before waiting for me to meet her.
"How was your first day?" I asked as we began to head towards Travis' truck. She had a smile on her face as she waved to some more people.
"It was awesome! I made some friends and everything!" she informed me with excitement. She continued to tell me what an 'awesome' time she had while we made it to Travis' truck and waited for him to come. I placed my backpack on its hood and leaned against the front while Sarah stood next to me, still chatting.
I partially heard what she was going on about when Travis, a few of his friends, and Hannah came walking toward us, well, toward the truck. Travis had his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and his head bent, looking towards the ground as he listened to Hannah talking.
As they grew closer, I heard his friends, two I didn't know, talking about me. They kept glancing my way and whispering. I wonder what's got them so interested in conversing about me. When they finally were close, Travis looked up, directly at me, and stopped walking. He blinked, as if coming out of a daydream. "Talk about déjà vu," he muttered, gaining a questionable look from Hannah.
He must've been referring when I first came to his school. I stood in the very spot and waited for him to get out of school.
He waved his two male friends goodbye and pressed the auto unlock button on his key chain. Sarah walked over to the passenger side, opened the door, and got in. I noticed Hannah give a confused look towards her.
"Wait, they rode with you?" she asked the obvious question. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my backpack off the hood before walking over to the opened door.
"Yes, they did. What's the problem?" Travis asked her, although he seemed to already know the answer. Hannah, surprising, didn't say anything. She must've seen the annoyed look on Travis' face. All she did was shake her head and walk away, but not before giving me a rude look.
Travis and I then joined Sarah in the truck. "She doesn't like me," I spoke nonchalantly while looking out the window, seeing that I could care less if Hannah liked me or not. I noticed students standing around or leaning against their cars as we rode pass.
"She doesn't, not like you. She just doesn't like the fact that you'll be living with me for the time being," he clarified as we drove out of the parking lot and into the street. I looked up towards the sun, dreading that it was still up. My anxiety was beginning to show as the day went on. Just a few more hours, and the full moon will rise.
"What's so wrong with that?" Sarah asked him.
"Because she thinks I'll start liking Luna," Travis answered, speaking as if it's the most bizarre reason in the world. So there it is; Hannah's hatred towards me is boiling from her jealousy of me staying in the same house as Travis.
"That's ridiculous," I replied. It's true; Travis and I are complete opposites of each other. My life is full of fighting and killing, while his is full of sports and parties.
Our lives are two polar opposite to unit properly. Hannah shouldn't even be concerned. Besides, I'm going to be leaving tonight anyway. I still haven't decided on what's going to happen with Sarah. I'd come to the terms that she'll be better off not following me on my next mission; the mission to bring down my father's corporation.
She'll be much safer staying with Martha. She could stay here and live the life she wants to. She could go to school and live a normal teenage life. She could hang out at the mall, or join the cheerleading team. A normal life; everyone deserves a chance at a normal life.
"...going to tutor me," I heard Travis finish whatever he was talking about. Tutoring? What's he going on about?
"Who's tutoring you?" I asked him, wondering where the conversation went.
"You are. In French," he fills me in. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion as I glanced his way. He continued looking out the windshield as he drove. Okay, when was this agreed upon?
I shook my head before looking back out the window. "I didn't agree to that," I acknowledged calmly. A thought suddenly came into my head. I wonder if there are any parks around here? Somewhere that will be remotely isolated come full moon.
"Yes you did, when you started speaking it like you were from France. How the hell do you know how to speak French so well?" he asked.
"There's a lot you don't know about me Travis. Like the fact that I'm fluent in French, Spanish, German, and a bunch of other languages you probably haven't even heard of," I say back, gaining a chuckle from Sarah. She was looking from me to Travis as our conversation continued.
He looked toward me, a look of surprise and admiration on his face. "Wow, I don't even know why I'm surprised. I mean, if you're capable of killing people for a living, then of course you're capable of learning every freaking language known to man. Do you speak Oompa Loompa too?" he teased with a smirk on his face.
I couldn't help it. I smiled at that. I tried to fight it, giving that fact that he was making fun of me, but damnit, I couldn't help but laugh. Seriously? Oompa Loompa?
I suddenly heard a gasp come from Travis. "What?! Is that a smile I see on your face?" he joked with pure honesty as he did a double take to look at me.
I shook my head and turned my head so he couldn't see the small smile that was still on my face; due to him acting as if my face was incapable of smiling.
"You should do that more often," he mumbled, not loud enough to start a conversation, but not low enough to not be heard. His statement caused me to look towards him. Hmm, I wonder why he said that? I looked to Sarah, who for some reason had a gigantic smile on her face as she look from Travis and me.
I wonder what's got her smiling so broadly. The rest of the car ride was silent as we finally made it to Travis' house. When his car was pulled entirely into the garage, the door lowered until it was fully closed. I opened the truck door and got out, followed by Sarah. We waited for Travis to unlock the door, and when he did, he allowed us to go inside first.
Feeling like a gentleman I see. A smell of delicious food shot through my nostrils as I entered the house. I followed it to the kitchen and saw Martha in the kitchen, by the stove. "Hey Grandma!" Travis greets as he walks over to her. He pulls her into a sideways huge and plants a kiss on her cheek.
I watch this interaction carefully. Ever since my mom died, I hadn't received that sort of affection. The only sign of affection he showed me was a pat on the back, telling me well done for doing the best on a mission or training exercise.
Although he told me he loved me daily, he never actually showed it via hugs or any other way a parent would show love to their kid. Yes, he supplied food and a roof over my head, and some would say that's him showing it, but sometimes kids need more than that.
I sighed at my thoughts. Oh well, I've never felt sorry for myself about that, so I'm not going to start now. Just then, I see Travis trying to grab a piece of turkey that was sitting on a plate next to the stove, but Martha smacked his hand away. "Food is not ready yet," she says to him in a 'don't you dare' tone.
Sarah laughed at what just happened before going upstairs. I stayed and casually leaned against the doorframe. "Martha," I call out. She didn't turn around, but she made a noise to let me know she was listening. "Tonight's the full moon," I inform her.
"Yes, I'm aware," she retorts back. Travis looked between his grandmother and I silently, he had moved and was now leaning against the refrigerator.
"So you know that I have no intentions on staying after today," I stated my question, guessing that she already knows this. I see Travis' eyebrows crinkle together, a look of confusion on his face as he slightly tilted his head. He still remained silent.
"I suspected so," Martha said simply, still not turning around. I shifted on my other leg as I watched her continue on with her back to me. Why won't she turn around and face me?
"So...that's that," I say, still confused as to why she's not putting up a fight. Usually she would be trying to persuade me to stay, but now, it's as if she doesn't care. That's...interesting. I sighed again. Oh well, it was...fun while it lasted, I guess. I turned and began up the stays.
"Are you seriously just going to let her leave?" I heard Travis ask Martha, shock completely in my voice.
"There's nothing I can say or do to get her to stay. She's just like her mother, when her mind is made up, there's no stopping her. Yes, just like her mother...stubborn as ever," Martha answered, laughing towards the end as if remembering something.
Stubborn? Stubborn like my mother? Was my mother in a predicament like this as well? A predicament where she had the choice of staying or leaving?
I stopped on the steps and continued to listen. "But isn't it dangerous out there for her right now? Seeing that there men out to kill her!" Travis whispered-shouted the last part, not wanted me to hear. Haha, it's not a secret that my father has men out to kill me.
Martha sighed, and I could hear pots being shuffled around. "You've seen what Luna is capable of. She can handle herself, I'm sure of it," his grandmother finished, finalizing the conversation.
"Grandma, aren't you a bit worried that something bad might happen to her?" Travis questioned Martha, almost sounding accusing.
"Travis, when you get to be my age, you've seen and been through just about everything, good and bad. Worries are the least of your problems. Yes, I would rather her stay here, where she is safe. But at the same time, I cannot force her to do anything she doesn't want to do. Like I said...stubborn," Martha informed her grandson.
There was a silence, and I took this as my cue to continue up the stairs. When I made it to the bedroom I was a resident in, I didn't see Sarah, but I did hear the shower running. I sat on the bed and took my jacket off. Just a couple more hours...
[AN: here it is...hope you readers like it]