Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series

by Vaiya Books

  Feeling outnumbered and excluded, Ian turned hastily to leave, when Hazel tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Hey, Ian. Wanna hang out with us this evening?”

  He hesitated, as astonished disbelief flooded into his mind. Hanging out with Hazel and her friends? What was going on? It couldn’t be a date, as her friends would be there too, but that did little to console him. His premonition on Monday night was right; something was definitely going on. She’d rarely even said two words to him before Monday, and now she’d asked him to hang out with her? This was getting crazy.

  Gazing at her with grief, he turned his eyes to the floor. Though a part of him was glad to turn her down, as the situation sounded unbearably awkward, half of him sorely regretted disappointing her. Thus, it was with much reluctance that he finally murmured, “Sorry, Hazel, but I can’t.” His countenance nearly matched her now darkened face. “I already told Eddy and Jimmy I’d eat out with them at Shadowcrest Manor.”

  She appeared at a crossroads, her eyes displaying both disappointment and deep consideration. This, however, only lasted for a couple seconds before her face showed obvious signs of relief, a smile even reappearing on it. “I know … this can still work. How about Tianna, Amanda, and I eat out with you three? It’ll be fun, just the six of us; three guys and three girls.”

  Ian frowned inwardly. Was setting up such an unpleasant event her way of having fun? If it were just Eddy and him, it’d be bad enough, but considering how bashful Jimmy was around girls it’d be ten times worse. Still, he couldn’t turn her down without a good reason, despite how much he wanted to. It was never one of his strong points. Besides, he sort of did like her. “Yeah, sure. Sounds great. I’m sure my friends will love it.” He smiled reassuringly, his acting skills once again playing in his favor. At least he was honest about one thing; Eddy sure would love it.

  “Awesome! So when are we meeting?”

  “Around five twenty at Shadowcrest.”

  “Great. This is going to be a lot of fun.” Hazel’s face lit up with joy as she brushed a few strands of her long blonde hair from her forehead, tucking them behind her ear as she had a habit of doing. “I can’t wait.”

  “Me neither,” he said, fidgeting his fingers.

  She winked at him and her two friends gave him campfire smiles. “Catch ya later.”

  “You too.” He blushed, shaking his head around lightly. What had he gotten himself into? If he kept on hanging out with Hazel like this, it would only be a matter of time before she asked him out on a date, and he just wasn’t ready for that yet. Knowing that he couldn’t turn her down if she asked him out, Ian simply hoped that it’d never come to that, or at least, not until he was ready for it.

  As she skipped away from him towards her locker, a pleased expression on her face, her friends following behind her, Ian caught a cold glare from Kenn, who’d been chatting with Jeff and a few of his other friends, but had now decided to focus on him. It made Ian sick. Turning away from Kenn’s persistent scowl, he ran over to his locker, where he yanked out his chemistry book in frustration. This was going to be another rough day.

  Book in hand, he bypassed Spencer Gordon, the young man who’d taken Skyler’s place in the cross country state championship, and opened the door to chemistry class, glancing back once at Spencer, noticing how unusually pale he looked. Perhaps it was just the lighting, but it appeared to him that Spencer was letting the approaching race get to him.

  Whatever the case, it wasn’t any of his concern, and he hurried into class and sat down between Eddy and Darien, turning towards the former:

  “So, Eddy,” he whispered, “how’s Skyler?”

  His question caught Eddy off guard, and his face crinkled with displeasure. “Skyler? He’s doing better; he still hates me though.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  Eyes downcast, Eddy stared at his torn chemistry book and kicked his desk hard. “Yeah, I do; he sent me a text this morning saying how I ruined his life and how he’d never forgive me. Does that sound friendly to you?”

  Catching a breath, noticing Darien’s dull face and inattentiveness, Ian tried putting a positive spin on the message. “Well, at least he’s texting you now. That’s a step forward, isn’t it?”

  Eddy just shook his head and mumbled inaudibly, right as the professor, Dustin Edwards, bashed the quietness with his nasally voice:

  “Today class, we will be finishing the projects we started on Monday. Break into your groups and get to work. You have one hour.”

  Slipping off his desk, book in hand, Ian headed over to Jimmy and William. Sliding into a desk beside Jimmy, he asked, “So, when are you picking me up?”

  “Five, remember?”

  Ian rubbed his eyebrow in irritation. “Duh, I should’ve known that.”

  Jimmy turned to him, concern, like a wisp of smoke, outlining his face. “So, is Eddy coming?”

  “Yeah.” Scooting out of his desk, having an urge to inform Eddy that the girls were coming along, he approached Eddy and poked him on the back. “Hey, man,” he whispered. “Guess what? Hazel, Tianna, and Amanda are meeting us at Shadowcrest’s.”

  “You’ve gotta be joking!” he interjected in an excited voice, though fortunately not loud enough for Jimmy, Tianna, or Hazel to hear. “When? Why? How?” His excitement was contagious, but not to Darien, who had already turned his book to the appropriate page and seemed to be actually reading it.

  Ian, however, still laughed at Eddy’s frenetic manner, glad that at least now he wouldn’t have to know Eddy’s feelings about eating out with just him and Jimmy. “Calm down. I’ll tell you later. I’ve gotta get back to my group.”

  Grinning, Eddy shook his head in disbelief. “This is awesome! I can’t believe our luck.” Then a mischievous smirk lit up his face. “Jimmy doesn’t know, does he?”

  “No.” He held out the word, pain in his voice.

  The smirk strengthened. “Great--it’ll be his surprise.” Seeing Ian’s distressed look, and Darien’s equally unhappy face, the first sign of life he’d shown today, Eddy tried to justify himself. “The kid’s gotta learn how to talk to girls sooner or later; we’re simply doin’ him a favor by speedin’ up the process.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” Guilt-ridden, knowing how much Jimmy would hate him for this, he added sheepishly, “See ya later.”

  “You too, man.”

  A thin frown on his face, Ian shuttled back over to his desk, receiving a nasty glare from Professor Edwards, though it didn’t bother him much; after being ambushed by the Elayan, interrogated by an elven herbalist who hated every fiber of his being, accused of being a spy for Tazik, and reprimanded by a powerful king, this was nothing in comparison.

  As Ian and his group members finished the project with five minutes to spare, he handed in the pages to the professor who meticulously scanned them over, as he did every so often to projects he assumed would fail his expectations and have to be redone. The whole class started watching them, waiting in anticipation for the predicted bad verdict.

  After perusing it for over a minute though, he, showing none of the telltale warning signs that meant they’d bombed the assignment, eventually spoke, his voice both slow and skeptical. “You didn’t cheat, did you, boys?” Quizzical uncertainty crossed his face, as he adjusted his large round glasses and scratched his long nose with his short, stubby fingers, likely wondering if this teenager in front of him were the same guy who’d given him so much grief every day.

  “No, it’s all fair, Professor Edwards.”

  The professor latched onto his words, his doubtful expressions vanishing. “Well, I’ll be my mother’s uncle.” He laughed in such a good-natured way that Ian couldn’t resist smiling, and his nasally voiced words further spiced up the humor. “A+ for all of you!” Pausing, as the rest of the class looked on in disbelief, he smiled admiringly as a father would look at his son who’d just won the national spelling bee. “In all my twelve years of teaching, I’ve never seen more
sophisticated diagrams for this project, nor more lucid, coherent, and invigorating descriptions.”

  Though not familiar with half of his words, Ian got the gist of the compliment, and it wasn’t hard to see from the bothered faces around the room that his classmates understood the teacher’s words all too well. “Thanks, Professor. I’m glad you like it.”

  “Like it?” he asked rhetorically, annoyed by the understatement. “I love it! Keep up the fabulous work, young men.”

  “We will, sir,” said William, involuntarily saluting him as if the professor were a captain and he were a private in the army, causing Dustin Edward’s happiness to deflate like a leaky tire. Actually, it began to look like full-fledged disgust, but they never discovered the entire effect of that salute, because they’d all left the classroom before they could find out.

  Heading towards their lockers, they put their chemistry books in the locker and took out their books for the next class--Ian took out his Spanish II book and William and Jimmy took out their macroeconomics books. All three exchanged joyful glances.

  “Did you hear him!” broke in Jimmy. “Our project was the best he’d seen in twelve years.”

  “Yeah, fantastic job, Ian.” William shook his head in wonder. “Without your diagramming skills there’s no way we’d have done so well.”

  “Thanks, Will. Better watch those military references, though. You know he doesn’t like them.”

  “Yeah, sorry--I kinda forgot. Still, with that grade, who cares?” William left, smiling proudly.

  Putting his hand to his chin in amusement, glad to see his grades improving, even if not in government class yet, Ian grinned, feeling good about himself, and threw his chemistry book back in his locker. Chemistry was more than tolerable now--he actually enjoyed it. Now he felt he could actually help his brother with his chem homework tonight.

  As Ian’s thoughts switched from school to Shadowcrest Manor, Jimmy slammed his locker shut, still gazing at him with admiration. “I really enjoy working with you, Ian. I hope we keep this same group all year.”

  “Same here. Just hope the professor doesn’t pull a fast one on us.” As Jimmy left for his next class, Ian pulled out his red bandana and black sunglasses from his locker, which Teresa Valdez, his Spanish teacher, actually liked, slipped on the bandana, quickly tying it around his forehead like a headband, threw on his sunglasses, and sauntered over to Spanish class.

  “Hey, Ian.” Eddy strode over to his friend and caught him before he slipped into the classroom. “You wouldn’t believe what I got on my assignment.”

  Eddy wasn’t the smartest; even his team members couldn’t always compensate. Not knowing what he could’ve gotten, Ian simply guessed. “B+?”

  “A+.” He smiled. “And it’s all thanks to my good friend Alan and zany ole Jasmine.”

  Ian nodded pleasantly. “I’m glad to see you three finally getting along.”

  Here Eddy threw his hands up in the air. “You wish.” An evil smirk. “I made them do all the work.”

  Reality settled. He didn’t even want to know what had happened. “That’s not very nice.”

  “It doesn’t have to be. The losers seemed happy that I included them at all.”

  “Eddy.” He sighed angrily, then dismissed his thoughts as suddenly as they’d come upon him. What Eddy did was beyond his control. He just had to accept it. Besides, he’d promised to be nicer to Eddy so that meant no more jabs, no more punches, no more yelling at him, at least not until he really deserved them.

  Despite his nonviolent way of addressing the issue though, Eddy didn’t seem too thrilled about it. His face showed obvious signs of irritation. “Ah come on, Ian. It’s not as bad as you think.” He shrugged. “I watched them draw the diagrams and write the descriptions. I even helped proofread the final document.”

  Ian raised an eyebrow, half-smiling. “Well, I’m glad you at least did something,” he said, trying to keep the sarcasm from his voice as he patted Eddy on the back, letting go of his frustration. “But next time split the work evenly. You plan on going to college, don’t you?”

  Eddy only grinned.

  Bewildered, about to ask him what he was trying to imply, Ian heard somebody say his last name and instinctively turned around, gazing into the hostile eyes of Kenn Ashton, his friend Jeff Burnes trailing only a few steps behind like a dark shadow.

  Uneasy, Ian tried to make small talk.“Yeah, hey, Kenn. What’s new?”

  But Kenn disregarded the question, as if below his dignity, resentfully brushing his long black hair to the side, a stiff cold tone in his voice. “Making new friends I see, Hansen.”

  “Yeah, I am,” he said, tensing at the bitter tone, wondering where he was going with this.

  A faint sneer crossed his face. Then he scoffed. “Bet you love surfing the wave of popularity. Life must be a real treat, Hansen.”

  Ian’s eyes widened, startled by his words and even more disturbed that he kept calling him by his last name. “Well, it’s not bad, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Nodding his head ever so slightly, Kenn lowered his eyes into slits and glared unflinchingly at Ian, his tone cutting into Ian like razors: “The sea’s fun now, Hansen, but the big waves are comin’. Get out of the water before you get hurt.”

  As if he’d uttered some profound wisdom meant to help Ian, he smirked, an arrogant look taking over his face as if Ian should tell him “thank you”. Then his eyes darkened, as he looked over at Jeff Burnes and whispered something to him. Giving Ian another dirty look, Kenn, further malice left unspoken, walked towards his algebra II class with Jeff, strutting like a rich kid who’d won a popularity contest.

  Eddy just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “What’s his problem, man?”

  “I wish I knew,” he murmured, wondering where all these water references were coming from. Kenn used to be on the swim team, but somehow he didn’t think that that had anything to do with it.

  Wiping the irritation from his face, as Eddy muttered something about Kenn being a spoiled brat, he then walked into Spanish class with Eddy, deeply unsettled. The only good thing about this encounter was that at least Eddy could see for himself how repulsive Kenn was. However, besides that, the conversation had all been negative and Ian wished it had never happened; it left him with a premonition that he’d only seen the tip of the iceberg of Kenn’s mysterious resentment, and a deep sinking feeling in his stomach told him that something bad were about to happen.

  Chapter 15

  “We’re here.” Jimmy pulled into Shadowcrest Manor and parked his truck. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” He unbuckled, opened the door, and stepped outside into the scorching heat.

  Ian copied his movements, trying to find the opportune moment to tell Jimmy that girls would be eating with them. “Yeah.” As Eddy, who’d been texting Skyler, a sign of their improving relationship, finally stepped out of the truck, Ian stared at the large building: short gray stone walls encircled it, except for an opened gate and a red brick pathway where people could enter the restaurant. Lush gardens surrounded the outside of the walls, and turrets arose from the thick stone building in the center. So far, this place was definitely exceeding his expectations. If it were just the three of them, this place would definitely be enjoyable.

  Thinking that maybe some small talk would make the awful revelation easier for Jimmy, he asked, “So, Jimmy, why’s it called Shadowcrest Manor? It looks more like a castle to me.”

  “Because this was how manors in the Middle Ages looked,” he replied astutely, plucking a mere drop from his vast depth of medieval knowledge. “A castle would have much higher walls than this and would likely not have the lush gardens around it as a castle is built primarily for defense.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense.” Ian hesitated, hating to ruin the moment for Jimmy but knowing that if he delayed too long it would only make things worse. After a brief pause, he eventually looked Jimmy in the eye. “Anyway, man, just so you know, Hazel and her friends are g
oing to be eating out with us.”

  “What?” Jimmy’s jaw dropped suddenly, his face reddening, his palms instantly growing sweaty. “You waited until last minute to tell me this?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t think you’d care.” An obvious lie. Why couldn’t he just tell the truth one of these times?

  “Didn’t think I’d care? I can’t believe this!” He ranted, as he gazed at himself in the car mirror and straightened his curly black hair, his cheeks already pale. “I can’t talk to girls--you know I can’t.”

  “Calm down, man; I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Eddy stood outside in the hot muggy air, feeling it a good time to add in his two cents. “Just relax. They don’t bite you know.” He smiled menacingly. “At least not very often.”

  Irritation lit up his face like a torch inflames a pile of wood. His rant was far from over. “This is unbelievable! Why didn’t you guys warn--”

  “Hey, guys,” Hazel greeted them cheerfully and walked up to them, ignoring Jimmy’s outburst, and completely silencing him.

  “Hey, Hazel,” replied Ian and Eddy at nearly the same time, Ian’s tone sounding startled at seeing her.

  But Hazel didn’t seem to notice. Facing Ian, keenly observing him, she remarked on his outfit. “You look sharp today, Ian.”

  “Thanks,” he replied, while subconsciously looking down at his yellow-collared shirt, plain white undershirt, faded blue jeans, and new white tennis shoes, noting what type of clothes to wear in the future. “So, you ready for this?”

  “Yeah, definitely.” Hazel nodded with excitement as her two friends came alongside her. “I can’t wait to try Shadowcrest’s famous barbeque chicken and lemon mousse dessert. I’m so hungry--I haven’t eaten since school.”

  “Me neither,” he said with enthusiasm, his mouth beginning to water. “You ready to head in then?”

  “Of course! It’s like 90 out here.”