Scion

by Kelly Oram

  But the fact that he was charming and I was mildly attracted to him only made us a hopeless case. We couldn’t have a relationship, and I couldn’t have him asking why that was, so I didn’t see how any kind of friendship was going to work.

  Ryan didn’t speak to me the rest of the week. We made eye contact quite a bit, but I’m not sure if I caught him looking at me, or if maybe it was the other way around this time. Either way, I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to show up at my house, and I was surprised that I felt almost as much disappointment about that as I did relief. I think that’s why, come the day of homecoming, I decided to go to my first school sporting event since I moved here.

  I didn’t actually go to the game. I watched from a hilltop just about a mile away, but that may as well be a seat on the sidelines for me. I don’t have eyesight quite like Superman because I can’t see through things, but it’s definitely more than your average twenty-twenty vision. I think of it as having built-in binoculars with super zoom control. Even at a mile away I could see the cute little excited smile Ryan got on his face every time he threw a good pass.

  Our team won the game, and even though I was happy for Ryan, it proved to be just as unexciting for me as I thought it would be. Pretty much the only good thing I got from going was hearing an interesting conversation between Becky, Ryan, and Mike. I was about to go home when Becky asked Ryan about the dance, and I couldn’t help but listen.

  “Are you riding in the limo with us tonight?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure yet,” Ryan replied.

  “Who are you going with, anyway?”

  “I’m actually dateless tonight.”

  “You’re going stag? Why?”

  “Well, I knew how much Mike wanted to go with you, so I took one for the team.”

  The flirty little “Aw” he got from Becky made me want to puke, but it was worth it to see the look on her face when Mike said, “Plus, he wanted to take Jamie, but she turned him down.”

  I couldn’t tell if Becky looked disgusted or insulted, but she didn’t try to hide her horror as she gasped, “You asked Jamie Baker to homecoming?”

  I waited for Ryan to deny it or defend himself with some BS excuse about feeling bad for me or something, but he didn’t. He just smiled as he slumped his shoulders in a guilty shrug and said, “Twice actually. But don’t worry, she told me to get lost.”

  “Yeah, rejected him like he was a fat guy in a Speedo,” Mike added, laughing hysterically as he elbowed Ryan.

  Becky was far too concerned for her friend to share Mike’s laughter. “You’re not seriously trying to hook up with that girl, are you?”

  “I don’t know, maybe. I think I’m still trying to decide if she would be worth the hassle.”

  I answered “No” every bit as forcefully as Becky did, and, sadly, our depictions of me weren’t that different. Basically, she said I was a freak with issues, but in not such nice words. She was right, though, and Mike seemed to agree, but Ryan defended me. Well, sort of. “I’m sure there’s a decent human being buried under all that hostility somewhere,” he said.

  “Are you kidding?” Becky asked.

  “Nope,” he replied cheerfully. “I think she may have a bit of a soft spot for me too. Why else would she have kissed me like that? I bet I could break her down eventually.”

  That cocky little…

  I thought about smacking him upside the head for that—I’m fast enough that he’d never know what hit him. But on second thought, the boy did get me to kiss him, invite him home, and go to my first football game in more than a year, without even breaking a sweat.

  Apparently I had quite the little crush, and as I stood there asking myself what was with me and quarterbacks, Becky went all soap opera with a big cheesy sigh. “Oh, Ryan,” she said, shaking her head as if she were so much older and wiser than him. “You want my advice? Stay far, far away. Not only would she kill your reputation, but you could do so much better.”

  “I don’t know, man,” Mike disagreed. “I say go for it. Jamie Baker’s hot and basically impossible to crack. If you could get with her, you’d be a legend around this place.”

  That was the point in the conversation where I started to get mad. It wasn’t the fact that Mike was telling Ryan he should nail me for bragging rights, but Ryan laughed with him about it, which meant he either liked the idea of nailing me, or the idea of being revered as some sort of high school god for it. Knowing him? Both.

  Whatever the reason, I’d learned my lesson. Ryan Miller might be charming, but he certainly would not be “breaking me down” anytime soon.

  I didn’t stick around to hear the rest of that conversation. I was angry, so I went somewhere I could think in peace. There are a lot of spots in the country that work well for that, and this time I went with the Grand Canyon. I like it there because even though it gets a lot of foot traffic, it’s big enough that I can still find a spot far enough off the beaten path that I don’t have to hear tourists the whole time. Plus, the beauty of the Grand Canyon at sunset makes it hard for me to stay in a bad mood, and I was especially grumpy now.

  I don’t know what made me think Ryan was different. I should have known by the sheer fact that he was charming enough to break me. He was just like any other hormonal high school boy on the planet, only he was better at playing the game, which made him dangerous.

  I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up in the first place. It’s not like I could ever tell him the truth about myself, and I can’t exactly be his girlfriend when I have to constantly lie to him about myself. Apparently, I can’t even kiss him, so it’s not like he would stick around long even if I could be honest.

  I sat there thinking for a long time, long after the sun went down. When I finally decided to go home, I told myself there would be no more wasting any energy on Ryan Miller. Of course, it took me almost as long to tell myself I wouldn’t think about him anymore as it did to get home, and the stupid boy was at my house when I got there, so I kept my promise to myself for only like half a second.

  I heard his laugh from down the street and stopped dead in my tracks. It was just after nine thirty now, so theoretically he could have been there for half an hour already, and judging from the conversation he was having with my parents, he probably had been. The picture he was laughing at was the last one taken of me before my accident, and knowing my mother, she started with the baby pictures.

  “She’s a beauty queen too?” Ryan asked, full of surprise, and then giggled as he read the title. “Miss Sweet Corn?”

  “You laugh, young man,” I heard my mother say, “but that’s a big deal in Illinois. People come from all over the Midwest to go to that festival, and Jamie worked very hard to win that crown.”

  “And she looked every bit as beautiful as her mother did when she won the crown in high school,” my father added. I didn’t need supersight to see the proud look on his face; he was always looking at my mom that way.

  It got quiet for a second, and I thought about interrupting the party, but then Ryan said something that made me stop. “She looked so happy,” he said in this really pensive voice. “What happened to her? How come she’s not like this anymore?”

  I wanted to run inside and put a stop to this invasion of privacy, but my mom answered his question before I could make myself open the door. “Jamie was in a car accident.”

  Car accident isn’t exactly the right term for what happened, but it still cut through my heart. Painful memories flooded my mind as my mom continued her very watered-down explanation. “Her boyfriend was killed,” she said hesitantly.

  If Ryan reacted to the news at all, he didn’t do it vocally. He didn’t make a single sound. I wish I could have seen the look on his face or known what assumptions he was making as he tried to justify the way I act, but I could hardly breathe, much less keep myself composed.

  “Jamie won’t talk about it much,” my father said. “The accident changed her, and she’s had a really hard time dealing with it.
She blames herself.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They may as well have told him I was now a superpowered freak. How could they be so cavalier about it? What if he started asking questions they didn’t have answers for?

  “We moved here, hoping that a fresh start might help,” my mom explained, breaking the awful silence that was now in the house. “But she’s just not the same girl anymore. She won’t get close to anyone. In fact, I’m really surprised she invited you over. You must be pretty special.”

  As angry as I was, I was kind of relieved to hear the hint of a laugh in Ryan’s response. “Not special, just stubborn,” he said. “I think she only caved because she thought I wouldn’t come. Tonight’s the homecoming dance.”

  I cringed when I heard my mother gasp. I knew the former prom queen was not going to like that. I finally pulled myself together and pushed open the door. I tried my hardest not to glare at my parents too much because for all Ryan knew I had no clue what they were talking about. My parents knew I’d heard them, though, and when I walked into the room they both jumped to their feet, looking every bit as guilty as I knew they felt.

  My father started the conversation with, “Where have you been? You’ve kept this poor boy waiting for nearly forty minutes.”

  “I wasn’t really expecting him.”

  “And you made him miss the homecoming dance?” my mother whined. “Jamielynn Baker, how could you?”

  “I didn’t make him do anything.”

  “It’s all right, Mrs. Baker.” Ryan laughed as he shot me that same carefree smile that either makes me melt or boil—tonight the answer was boil. “I’m pretty sure Mike is going to be king anyway, and I can always take Jamie to the prom.”

  I gave Ryan an annoyed glance as my mother’s eyes bulged from her head. “You’re nominated to be the homecoming king?” she gasped, and then immediately gave me a desperate look. “For heaven’s sake, Jamie, go put on a dress and take this poor boy to the dance.”

  When Ryan spouted nonsense about what an excellent idea that was, I couldn’t take it anymore and ushered my parents into the kitchen. “What are you doing?” I hissed as soon as the door was safely shut behind us.

  I was surprised when my father spoke up first and said exactly what I thought I was going to hear from my mother. “He seems like a nice kid.”

  “Cute too,” my mother added excitedly.

  I felt my head starting to hurt and barely tried to control my temper. “Yeah, Mom, he’s really cute. He’s also charming and sweet and funny. But that’s what they say about the devil, and you don’t want me hanging out with him.”

  My parents were both frowning their disapproval now, but I didn’t care. “He’s practically a stranger. How could you tell him about the accident? About Derek!”

  “What were we supposed to say to him, honey?”

  “Nothing! It’s none of his business!”

  When tears dropped from my eyes, I realized how worked up I was and stopped yelling. My mother started crying too, and when my dad held out his arms I practically collapsed into them. I know how much my parents worry about me, and when my father squeeze me, I couldn’t stay mad.

  “We didn’t tell him anything the people in Illinois don’t know,” he whispered. “We had to tell him something, though. He’s writing a paper. If we didn’t answer any of his questions he would only get suspicious.”

  Sometimes I forget that my parents are struggling with this just as much as I am. They don’t always know what to do either, but this time my dad was right. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

  “I know, honey.”

  My mom pulled me from my father’s arms for a hug of her own. She motioned with her eyes toward the door that separated us from Ryan. “I know this is hard for you, Jamie, but you didn’t die that night and you can’t keep living like you did. I think Ryan could be good for you. I’m not saying I think he should replace Derek, but—”

  “There will never be another Derek! Ever!”

  The lights in the house flickered, instantly putting me in check. I didn’t mean to lose control, but I still have a hard time keeping my emotions in line when it comes to the late quarterback of Mendota High School. Derek is by far my most sensitive subject.

  I watched my mom gulp and then force a smile through her fear. “I know you’re scared,” she said, and then in a whisper added, “we all are.”

  Seeing your parents afraid of you is probably the worst feeling a human is capable of experiencing, but at least it makes me feel a little better about being scared of myself. And I’m grateful that they try to be strong, even if they can’t always manage it.

  “You need to go out there and talk to that boy,” my mother continued. “And if I were you, I would try to be nice. You could use a good friend, Jamie.”

  My mom said that in her I-love-you-but-I-mean-business voice, so I knew the discussion was over. Without saying anything else, I went back into the living room, secretly hoping Ryan had decided to go to the dance after all, but I had no such luck. He was still looking through our family photo album, but he stood up when I entered the room. He smiled at me, but it wasn’t that classic innocent Ryan smile—it was much more serious. “She’s right, you know,” he said. “You should really think about letting me be your friend because I’d really like that, and I don’t think there’s anyone else at school brave enough for the job.”

  I swear, Ryan is the most confident person on the planet, and it is so annoying. I stood there glaring at him, so angry that he’d overheard us, and he just smiled back completely relaxed. Knowing him, he was probably waiting for me to tell him he was right, and give in to his request for friendship. Well, I wasn’t going to give in anymore, remember? No more giving in to Ryan Miller!

  I took the photo album from the coffee table, glancing at the picture of me winning the pageant as I put the book back in its place on the shelf. “You’ve got more than enough to write a full biography on the life of Jamie Baker already, so I guess the interview’s over. You can go now.”

  “Oh, no!” Ryan said. “You’re parents are pretty cool, but I didn’t miss my homecoming for a chance to look at pictures all night. I came to see the real thing, and you had me under the impression that you would be here if I showed up, so I think it’s only fair that you give me a little Jamie time before you kick me out.”

  I grunted because I was so frustrated just then. Ryan’s serious smile had turned back into his cocky little you’re-about-to-give-me-exactly-what-I-want smile, and it is just so hard to stay angry when he’s looking at me like that. So much for not giving in to Ryan Miller. “Ugh, fine, but I don’t promise to be nice!”

  Being Jamie Baker is available now on Amazon.

  Table of Contents

  TITLE

  ALSO BY KELLY ORAM

  KELLY ORAM NEWSLETTER

  COPYRIGHT

  DEDICATION

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  BOOK 4: PRIESTESS

  AUTHOR'S NOTE

  ABOUT KELLY ORAM

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  SNEAK PEEK

 

 

  Kelly Oram, Scion