Earth (2 page)

"Oh."

Dude he looks like he just watched you
kick a puppy.
Jodi’s teasing voice came
in my mind.

Shut up
, I
hissed at her
.

"Listen, I'll think about it." I tried to
smile in a way I hoped was encouraging. He was a nice enough boy,
but totally not my type. I had never had the chance to reject a guy
before. It was a little awkward.

"Ok, cool, here take it anyway just in case
you decide to." He pressed the jersey in my hands before I could
wave him off and leaned down to press a kiss to my cheek. "Besides,
even if you don’t, it’s not like there's anyone else I’d want to
wear it," he whispered to me, hoping to exclude Jodi from that
moment. As her fingers lingered on my back, hidden by my bag
hanging on one shoulder, she could hear everything as clearly as I
did. He gave me an impish smile before turning and leaving. I fell
back against the lockers with a heavy sigh, closing my eyes again;
they burned from lack of sleep.

"Well?" Jodi had shifted away from me and had
all her weight on her left leg, cocking her hip to the side and
crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?" I slammed my locker shut, shifted the
weight of my bag on my shoulder and started to storm away.

"What do you mean, ‘what?’ Why don’t I know
about last night? When did you cave? I thought you didn’t like
him?" Her speech increased like machine gun fire as she hurried to
keep up with me.

"You didn’t know about last night because
there's nothing to know. He called; I was bored so I said yes to
coffee. And it’s not that I don’t like him, I just... I don’t know.
He’s vanilla, yanno?" I wasn’t looking at her as we waded through
the throng of students all pushing in different directions for
classes until I found the right hallway and led our way to
class.

"Vanilla? What're you talking about, there
are plenty of girls who would love to sample his flavor," she
grinned as we walked into the class, freeing us of the mass of
students.

"Gross, dude," I rolled my eyes as I nearly
threw my bag down on the table we shared. This was a good class to
have a private conversation in. The teacher always placed ten
problems on the board that we were to copy down and solve while he
read his newspaper at his desk across the room. He was only two
years away from retirement.

"So are you dating then?"

"Do I sound like a girl with a new
boyfriend?"

"Well no... But wait, I thought you said you
were working on the spell
last
night? What the hell?" She said the words with her yellow
voice.

"Couldn’t sleep." I took a deep breath as I
started in on the first problem.

“Again?” Jodi asked, easing her tone now and
I shrugged in response.

"I had just finished the last lines to dispel
the circle at the end and he called, I knew I wasn’t going to sleep
anytime soon, and I figured why not? I mean I can’t keep rejecting
him if I don’t know him. We went to Starbucks, had a really boring
conversation for about an hour. I told him I was tired so he took
me home and then I finished the spell. End of story. Juicy
huh?"

"How was the conversation boring?"

"Dude... he's a football player and that's
it. That’s all he's got, there ain't nothing else in there,” I said
with an edge to my voice. “I was hoping maybe he was misunderstood
or something, or you know, didn’t feel like he could be himself
around the fellas and he'd magically be substantial when you gave
him a chance."

"And? X equals negative three not positive."
Jodi corrected me. I suck at math.

"And, nothing,” I said as I added the
negative sign. “He hates to read, doesn’t know how I do it. Hates
school, doesn’t know why we have so many honors classes. Loves to
play ball and loves to watch it on the weekends.” I made a face
like I had just sucked on a lemon.

"Ah... disappointing,” Jodi said as she
nodded her understanding, "Vanilla."

"Right," I said and Jodi let the subject lie
for the rest of class. After class we split up; she left for band
and I for Chem. It was my least favorite class and today was going
to be worse. When the tardy bell sounded over the speaker and
Steven hadn’t joined me I knew he wasn’t coming to class, leaving
me with no distraction at all to get through the hour. I
concentrated on each little task to keep myself from constantly
checking the clock, which only ever made classes go slower.

Lunch was a blessed break from the monotonous
day. We found Steven lying out on a patch of grass where we usually
spent lunch on decent days. Now that the chill in the air had let
up being outside wasn’t so bad. And with the extra heat Steven let
off, we didn’t have anything to complain about. I let my bag fall
to the ground with relief. Jodi sat to lean against the tree; her
legs stretched out in front of her and crossed at the ankles as she
pulled out an apple from her bag. I sat Indian style forming a
triangle out of the three of us. I closed my eyes and set my hands
on the ground on either side of me with my fingers splayed. I took
a deep, satisfying breath of autumn air that tasted more of winter
even though it was so early in the season. I ground and centered
myself, pulling energy up into me to help get through the last few
hours. I knew I was going to need a nap tonight before we went out
if I was going to be any kind of company.

I could see Jodi's yellow energy to my left
and Steven's fading red to orange to my right, but I was only
vaguely aware of them in my blissful oblivion. My fingers melted
into the soft earth, my hands disappeared into the grass up to my
wrists. I could feel the water that nourished the earth snake up my
arms and swirl through my veins as my small pulse found the deep
rhythm of the Earth’s. All too soon, a breeze stirred in the air
that shouldn’t be there and it lifted the ends of my auburn hair
and tickled my face. Jodi was trying to get my attention.

"What?" I asked quietly as I slowly,
reluctantly came back to myself, blinking as I opened my eyes.

"Ten minutes."

"Huh?" I began extracting my hands from the
ground, the grass tickling my wrists as it retreated down my
skin.

"You've been out for ten minutes.
That’s the limit at school, remember?" Jodi had already
finished her apple and was half way through a turkey sandwich.

"Damn... it goes by so fast here." I pulled
my bag over to me and retrieved a soda that was still cold and
savored the sparkly sugar as it coursed quickly through my
system.

"Hey, what did Mike want?" Steven propped
himself up on his elbows to look at us.

"Oh, to ask if I'd wear his jersey to the
game tonight."

"When is that boy gonna give up?" Steven
snickered as he stole my soda and took a long drink.

"Maybe when Shay actually turns him down for
late night coffee," Jodi said with a sly smile. That caused the
rest of lunch to be spent dragging me through a boring
interrogation and the two of them discussing Mike in full detail,
from freckles to football.

The warning bell came all too early and the
three of us gathered our things to trek across campus for
fifth hour electives and then found each other again
in English class which went by in a blur. The first twenty
minutes were devoted to elective reading and the rest we broke up
into groups to finish our work on next week’s presentations. I
pulled my desk away, making Jodi and Steven follow me. I had to put
some distance been me and Tracy; her stomach hurt, which meant so
did mine. It wasn’t a big difference but it helped me get through
class.

"So are you going to the game tonight?" Jodi
asked as we walked out to my mom's minivan two hours later when
history was finally over. I was more than a little drained due to
my close proximity to Tracy during History. If she wasn’t wincing
from the pain when she reached for something, then her depression
and stress were biting at my skin.

"Of course,” I said.

“I wasn’t sure after your conversation with
Mike.”

“That was just to get away from him,” I said,
waving a hand in the air. “We wouldn’t make you endure it alone.
Just make sure you’re at the top of the cheer section this time."
Jodi had no choice about going to the games since she was
unforgivably in the band and was forced to play at all the
games.

I dropped them both off at Jodi's house.
Steven only lived one block over but he always helped Jodi with her
parade make-up before a game.

"Hey, call me at six and make sure I'm awake
ok, Flamer?" I called to Steven through the passenger door
window.

"Bitch!" He called back over his
shoulder but I could hear the smile in the word as they made
their way up Jodi's front walk.

I made it home, pulled the van into the
driveway, and practically crawled my way to my room. I could feel
all the life drain out of me, knowing my bed wasn’t far away. I
think I was asleep before I even hit the pillow, shoes and jacket
still on.

I was immediately engulfed in a swirl of
green and faded yellow as I sped through the forest. There was a
cold sweat on my forehead and my shirt clung to my back even though
it was an unseasonably cold night. I lost my footing momentarily
and slid on some loose dirt and rocks, coming down on my left knee.
My fingers clawed at the ground as I struggled to regain my footing
and make up for the precious few seconds I had just lost myself. I
felt it behind me gaining speed at the sound of my fumble.

I swore to myself as I finally thrusted from
the ground and pushed past the cramps tearing the muscle from my
abdomen. I knew what I was looking for was close but in the dimmed
moonlight I felt the pressure of the forest walls cutting off my
peripheral vision. The root of one of the infrequent trees rose up
just three inches from the earth and hooked my toe. My body went
rigid with momentum and I fell face down into the fallen leaves, my
arms outstretched trying in vain to catch anything to save
me.

All the breath I had left in me was pushed
out as I hit the ground hard. Dazed, I was aware of the taste of
moist dirt in my mouth and twigs poking me through my shirt. My
foot throbbed in pain and I shook my head to try to get my
bearings. A cold gust of air blew over me and I knew it was near
and closing the distance between us with every wasted second. I
struggled to free my foot, feeling the root twist and take hold of
my ankle, pulling me into a tangle and refusing to let go. I looked
up at the tree it belonged to with a plea on my lips but before I
could do or say anything I felt a cold tendril wrap around my
shoulder, claws digging into my skin and I began to scream.

"Shay! Shay! Wake up!" My mother shook me
aggressively. I woke with a start, realizing that I really was
screaming, and apparently crying. I felt the cold wetness on my
cheeks and took in deep gratifying breaths. "Honey, are you
ok?"

"What?"

"Honey, are you ok?” My mom repeated, her
brown eyes wide with worry. I was shaking and couldn’t think of
anything to say. “Sweetie it was just a nightmare, you're ok.” She
knelt on the bed, brushing my hair away from my face.

“Mom?” I managed, my voice harsh.

“Yes, baby, you’re ok. Just breathe.” I took
a moment to concentrate on my breathing like she said, slowing the
rate of my heart. “That’s better. Do you want to tell me about
it?”

“No, I mean, I don’t really remember it.”

“Are you ok now?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, sorry I scared you.”

“It’s ok, honey. Here, Steven's on the phone,
he said you wouldn’t answer your cell." She handed me the house
phone with a worried look still creasing her brow.

"Oh, thanks," I took the phone with an
amazingly steady hand.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah mom, just a nightmare." I waved her out
of my room and pressed the phone to my ear. "Hey Steven."

"Babe, you ok? I could hear you screaming
through the phone." He sounded genuinely worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's up?"

"Babe, its six, remember?"

"No..." I looked at my clock and saw the red
numbers glaring back at me.

"The game?" He asked slowly.

"Oh right. Yeah, I'll be there in like
forty-five." I hung up and turned to look at the mirror. Angry red
tear streaks marked my face. Any color I had was gone and my eyes
were swollen and bloodshot. I took one more breath and pushed off
of my bed and winced. "What the hell?" I pulled at the collar of my
shirt and saw four ragged angry welts on my shoulder.

Chapter 2

I took the full forty-five minutes to scrub
the red streaks from my face and make something close to acceptable
of my hair. After quickly changing out of the sweat drenched
clothing I had fallen asleep in I dashed out the door to pick up a
very impatient Steven who was waiting outside his house, foot in
full tap motion. He climbed in, ready to give me a verbal thrashing
but stopped short at seeing the circles under my eyes.

"Whoa Shay, babe, you look awful."

"Thanks," I said flatly as we pulled away
from the curb and I tried to hurry as fast as the van would allow,
knowing any hope of a decent parking space was all but lost at this
point. At least leaving would be easy. There’s always a silver
lining.

"No, Shay, what is
wrong
?" He was
trying to search my face in the flashing lights of the street
lights as we passed under them.

"Just tired," I said, waving his concern
away. I didn’t know why I wasn’t telling him and Jodi about the
dream. Probably because I was determined to think of it as that,
just a dream. Just thinking of explaining it out loud gave me an
ominous, sinking feeling in my stomach. Until tonight I hadn’t put
much stock into it

"Well, we have to do something about your
face before we get there."