Chapter One: Claddagh
Sky River, North Dakota - Present Day
"Class, this is Rileigh Mason, she's new to Sky River. I expect you to treat her with respect and show her around." Mr. Andrews introduced me to his English class, fifteen sets of eyes stared up at me. But I wasn't about to let them intimidate me, I wouldn't be that new "awkward" student. I kept my chin high and looked every one of them in the eye—not shying away from the glares I got from the girls, or the guys who were undressing me with their eyes. "Rileigh you can take the empty seat behind Stacy." Mr. Andrews gestured to a seat behind a petite red headed girl—and when I say red I mean apple red.
I ignored the silent whispers as I made my way to my seat. When I was situated with my books out, the teacher started the lesson of the day, something about Shakespeare or...something - I zoned out before I caught any of it.
Looking around the classroom at all the unfamiliar faces made me long for Seattle, where I used to live up until one week ago when my mother decided to drag me from the city to the Middle-of-Nowhere, North Dakota—she figured it would be good for us, 'A nice change' she would say.
I pulled out my cell phone and held it in my hand under my desk keeping it out of sight, then punched the keys, Em, in my first class now, one word, lame. I hit send, sending the text message to my best friend Emily in Seattle.
My phone vibrated, and I read her message, OMG Rise, wish you were here, you'll never guess who's dating!. I replied with a quick I'll call you after school and closed my phone.
When I looked back up to the front of the class Mr. Andrews was staring directly at me with his arms crossed. He looked pretty young for an English teacher; best guess would put him at around twenty four. Usually when I hear "English teacher", an image of a grey haired man with glasses and a pot belly pops in my head. That was the complete opposite of this man.
Mr. Andrews had short neatly cut light blonde hair with bright blue eyes, and he was dressed casual with a light pair of pants and a navy blue pull over sweater. I would be lying if I said he wasn't hot because now that I was taking the time to really look at him...he was definitely easy on the eyes.
"Miss Mason."
"Yeah teach?" I replied with a smile.
Obviously trying to catch me off guard he asked, "Do you mind telling me when Shakespeare was born?" Tilting his head slightly to the side, he waited to see what I would say.
"That's a trick question." I said, "you see the actual birthday of Mr. William Shakespeare is unknown, however, it is known he was baptized on April twenty sixth in fifteen, sixty four and died on April twenty third sixteen, sixteen, and his birthday is celebrated on the date of his death." I ran a hand through my long coffee coloured hair brushing it back and smiled smugly.
"Very...good." He eyed me incredulously, "very good indeed..."
I heard a couple of my classmates snickering behind me. Mr. Andrews turned back to the black board to continue his lesson.
The rest of the class dragged by as I listened to Mr. Andrews map out Shakespeare's life, nothing I didn't already know. When the bell rang, I couldn't get out of there sooner, and lucky for me it was lunch already—since I had a free period in the morning, my classes didn't start until second period.
"Miss Mason, a minute of your time please." So much for my fast break-away.
I turned around, "Yeah Teach?" I walked over and plopped myself on top of the desk directly in front of his—which he was standing behind.
He waited for the class to empty before he continued, "I'm aware you attended Kelman's Academy in Seattle...very prestigious." He started digging through some folders on his desk.
"Okay...point?"
"My point Miss Mason is you will receive different assignments from the rest of the class. They will still revolve around the subject at hand but will be...well more complex."
"You're giving me extra homework because I'm smart?" I asked sarcastically.
"No I'm giving you more 'complex' work because you're smart, you are well ahead of the rest of the class, and since we do not offer advanced classes here, we will have to make do."
"We did Shakespeare in my Junior year."
He handed me some papers, "Okay well I know you know your Shakespeare, now I would like to know how your writing is, please pick someone from the list on the first page and do an essay on them—no less then three thousand words."
"You're kidding." I said in disbelief.
"Not in the least Miss Mason."
"Is this punishment for being a smart ass to you in class?" I asked
"Hardly, I'm just aware of your potential, and don't worry, you will also get extra marks for doing the work."
I shook my head and walked towards the door, "Have a nice day Miss Mason." He called after me.
"Whatever." I waved him off.
The lunch room was packed when I got there. I made my way through the lunch line and grabbed a piece of pizza, a fruit salad and a coke. I looked around at the crowded tables, this school didn't have as many cliques as Kelman, but it still had its fair share. There were your obvious ones, the jocks, who all seemed to be enjoying themselves. All the guys wore blue and white letterman's jackets—how original.
Then there was the nerd—or as I like to call them, the smart people—table. You can always point them out even during lunch beacause they had piles of books and open lap tops in front of them, yet they didn't seem annoyed by the work load. They seemed...content...happy. I didn't like to call them nerds just because they were smart and liked to study, in my eyes that didn't mean they were geeks, just smart and my guess is they already know what they want to do when they get out of this place. Unlike the majority of the high school population.
The rest of the cafeteria seemed to be grouped together by grades. Everyone mingled with everyone. It was actually a nice change from Seattle.
I was still debating on where to put down my tray when I heard a high pitched girl's voice come from behind me, "Hey Rileigh!" I turned to see the small red head I sat behind in English heading my way.
"I'm Stacy," she held out her hand while balancing a tray full of food with the other, "come sit with me, I'll introduce you to some people." She beamed.
A little shocked at the warm welcome I managed to stammer out, "Um, yeah sure, thanks."
We came up to a table in the middle of the lunch room the colors blue and white dominated almost everybody's clothing choice. Jock table. "Hey guys! This is Rileigh!" She gestured to me, her enthusiasm was almost irritating but she seemed nice enough. "Shove down." She nudged the blonde girl sitting at the end of the table, and the blonde moved obediently, leaving enough room for Stacy and me to take a seat.
She started making introductions - half the names I knew I wouldn't remember. There had to be at least fifteen people sitting at this table, some I recognized from my English class and others I didn't. Everyone continued their conversations, while I silently picked at my pizza. From the sounds of things, the petite red head—Stacy—was the head cheerleader here at Sky River High, which would explain her over enthusiasm—only a cheerleader could be that peppy.
Back in Seattle I didn't belong to one group, I was the social butterfly, who got bored easily. My mother was always busy with work, so I busied myself with classes, martial arts, gymnastics, swimming, I even took a photography course at one point. I was on every committee Kelman's offered. I bet this town didn't even have a gym.
"Something wrong with the pizza?" A voice from across the table interrupted my thoughts.
I looked up to see the guy who was sitting across from me—Tate was his name—staring at me with a slightly crooked smile. A smile which I assumed earned him plenty of points with the girls in this school. I myself could stare at him for the remainder of the day. He was in fact very pretty—in a masculine way of course. He had short light brownish blonde hair and brown eyes, tanned skin and a strong jaw line. His lettermen's jacket and the bulkiness of his upper body told me he was a football player.
"What? Oh no, just lost in thought I suppose." I replied with a flirtatious smile.
Stacy stepped in before Tate had a chance to say anything else. "So Rileigh, Seattle huh? That's pretty awesome, what made you move here?"
"My mother. She thought it would be a nice 'change of pace'". The words leaking sarcasm, "Plus her mother...my grandmother passed away last year and left us the house."
"Sorry to hear about your grandmother." Tate said sincerely.
"Yeah, me too." Replied Stacy.
"Yeah, it was hard on my mom for a while. But she's okay now, I never really knew her. Mom was always so busy with work that I only really met her a couple times." I took a sip of my coke, and then continued. "I think that's why it was so hard on her, she felt so guilty that she never visited more often."
"Your mom, she's the new Sheriff right?" Tate asked. I nodded. "What did she do in Seattle?"
"She was a...detective...one of the best actually." I left it at that, no need to get into the complicated work life of Janice Mason.
"Wow when you said change of pace you really meant change of pace, huh?" He replied.
"Ha, yeah, big time." I laughed.
For the rest of the lunch hour the three of us talked and joked around, while the others at the table seemed oblivious. There had to be at least four different conversations going on around us. Stacy asked about Seattle, about the shopping there and my friends. Tate listened and asked his own questions. Gotta love being the new girl in town.
It wasn't long before lunch hour was over. And I had to find my next class, "Hey either of you two have History with Mrs. Neil?" I asked.
"I do." Tate responded while standing up, "Walk you to class?"
"Sure, I have no idea where it is."
"I have Biology...fun, fun." Replied Stacy as she grabbed her bag. "Hey, Rileigh I'll catch you at the end of the day?"
"Yeah, for sure."
"Shall we m'lady?" Tate asked while taking a mock bow and extending his hand. I couldn't help but laugh at the gesture.
"We shall."
The hallways of the school were crowded with students rushing off to their classrooms, it was a lot different here then my last school—more chaotic. People were yelling and running down the halls, I couldn't even keep track of the number of people that bumped into me. "You'll get used to it." Tate leaned in and said. I nodded back in response.
Red lockers lined the walls, most of them covered in stickers of some sort. The walls that didn't have lockers had posters of up-coming events, and sign up sheets for clubs. I made a mental note to check those out later.
"So there's a party tomorrow evening down at Olsen Bay, you should come. It's sort of the "it" place to be on a Friday night." Tate said while maneuvering us through the crowded hall.
"That would be great actually; I'm in need of a good party."
"Perfect," he replied as he paused at a classroom door, "I can pick you up...if you want?"
"Seeing as I have no idea where Olsen Bay is...I think that would be a great idea. Do you need my address?"
"Nah, you said you are living in your grandmother's house—small town." He winked.
The second bell rung as we made our way into the classroom. Unlike my first class this teacher didn't bother to introduce me, heck, she barely even acknowledged me. History was another easy subject, everything was memorizing dates, something I was very good at. I took down a couple notes and wrote out the assignment.
The rest of the day blurred by, after History I had calculus, neither Tate nor Stacy were in that class. When the final bell rung I grabbed my bag and headed for the doors, once outside I started digging through my bag for my keys. "Hey Rileigh!" I heard Stacy call out to me - I could recognize her voice anywhere now. It was so girlish.
"Oh hey" I looked up to see her walking over to me.
"You have a car right?" she asked.
"I do..." I said, dragging it out to make it sound more like a question.
"Ok, um, I really hate to ask but my car is still in the shop. It was supposed to be done by now and Lisa was supposed to give me a ride but she bailed after lunch..."
"Would you like a ride Stacy?" I asked with a smirk.
"You would really be a life saver!" she beamed.
"Sure thing. Where to?"
She sighed, "Work."
I led her over to my yellow convertible Mustang in the parking lot, which I got for my seventeenth birthday. With mom always working when we were in Seattle, we never spent anytime together, and her way of showing affection was buying me pretty much anything and everything I wanted.
"Wow nice ride!" she exclaimed while opening the passenger door. "Ha, and license plate." She motioned towards my plate which said "Yee-Ha"
"Thanks, I thought it was fit for a Mustang." I laughed.
Stacy directed me to a small antique shop on Main Street, turns out her grandmother owned it and she helped out after school. She told me it's been in the family for as long as she could remember. She invited me to come take a look around, and being a sucker for shopping...any kind of shopping I accepted.
The bell above the door jingled as we walked in, and the scent of dust and old books filled my nostrils. The place was packed but surprisingly organized for an antique shop, signs that read 'You Break It, You Buy It' hung in various places.
Stacy disappeared into the back saying she would be right back, so I took the time to look around. When I came up to a jewelry stand one necklace in particular really caught my eye. I picked it up and flipped it around in my palm, it was silver and had a pendent on it that I recognized as a Claddagh - a heart clasped by two hands with a crown on top - it was an Irish symbol for Love, Friendship and Loyalty. I turned the necklace over a couple times in my hand admiring it, in the center of the heart was an emerald looking gem that gleamed in the light.
"That's one of our latest, just got it in last week." Stacy said from behind me.
"It's beautiful." I replied, still admiring the necklace in my hand.
"Yeah, someone passing through town brought it in, said it was from the 17th century or something. I don't know if the were telling the truth though, it's in too good of shape to be that old."
A feeling of warmth washed through me and I knew I had to have it, "I'll take it. How much?"
"Grandma is asking two hundred, but I'll give you a deal. Fifty percent off."
"I couldn't..."
"Nonsense, consider it a Welcome to Sky River present." She smiled.
After she rang through the necklace she placed it in a black velvet necklace box. I thanked her and told her I would see her at school tomorrow and made my way to my car.
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A/N - Okay so I know I said I was going to wait to upload the first chapter... but I changed my mind.. mainly because I already re-wrote it like 4 or 5 times. lol. this way. it will help me push forward :)
Please Comment comment comment :) hehe I would like to know what you think! :)