by Paige Watson
I tried going back to sleep, but I had too many questions buzzing around in my head. Finally, I decided to take a hot shower and start getting ready for school. Sure enough, Caroline’s call came just as I was stepping out of the shower.
“Hey!”
“Hey.”
“So, what did Conrad talk to you about at the diner? You were really quiet last night, so I thought it better not to ask you about it.”
“Oh, you could have asked; I was just a little surprised by everything. He was really nice, but I felt as if I’d met him before. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, that happens to me sometimes too,” she replied. “Well, I don’t think he’s interested in Claire anymore.”
“How can you say that? We just talked for a few minutes.”
“Yeah, but you obviously didn’t see the way he was looking at you.”
“How did he look at me?”
“He looked at you like you were something he wanted.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling a little confused.
“It’s not a bad thing! There was a lot of desire and passion behind those eyes.”
“Shut up. Stop making fun of me!”
“I’m being serious Evey, I think he likes you,” she said.
“Probably not, but I guess I should dress nice just in case, right?”
“Absolutely,” she said, laughing.
After I said goodbye to Caroline I finished getting ready for school. I fixed my hair back into the soft curls and applied a thin layer of red lipstick to my lips. I pulled a dark green sweater over my head and a cream colored skirt. A pair of gold glitter flats completed the rest of my outfit. I could feel my skirt flowing behind me as I ran down the hall to meet my parents for breakfast.
“Hi mom, hi dad,” I called out cheerfully.
“Oh, you look beautiful today sweetie,” my mom said.
“Thanks,” I answered, sitting at the table beside my dad. He was already working on a stack of blueberry pancakes, and my mom set an identical stack in front of me. The room smelled of hot syrup and bacon grease. I downed the pancakes with a glass of milk in no time.
“How late will you be tonight?” my dad asked me.
“I should be home around nine. It’s Caroline’s night to work late.”
“Oh ok, do you need us to pick you up from the diner?”
“Yeah, I’ll call you first though, in case the time changes,” I said, answering him.
“Sounds like a plan,” my dad smiled. Just then I heard Caroline’s honk from the driveway.
“Well, I’m off to school. Have a good day at work!” I gave my dad a swift kiss on the cheek and my mom pulled me into a tight hug, before sending me out the door.
“Love you,” my parents called out in unison.
“Love you too!”
I raced to Caroline’s car and jumped in the front seat.
“Hey, you look good today,” she grinned.
“Shut up,” I said. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks.
She started laughing. “I’m being serious. Does it have anything to do with a certain someone in our history class?”
“Maybe, he probably won’t even notice me.”
“I don’t think that will be the case, trust me.”
I watched the clock with anticipation during my first two classes of the day. I was excited to see Conrad again, and I had a couple of questions I wanted him to answer. I sighed with relief as the bell rang, calling for us to report to our third period classes.
Caroline and I walked in and took our seats in the back corner of the room. Conrad walked in right before the late bell rang. I watched as he took his seat beside Claire. He leaned over toward her and whispered something in her ear. Sensing that I was watching him, he glanced in my direction. I quickly looked away, and watched as Mr. Rieder began scribbling notes on the board. Caroline leaned back in her seat and cupped her hand around my ear.
“He’s staring at you,” she whispered.
I fought against my better judgment and stole a look at him. His eyes met mine and he mouthed a silent, “Hi” at me. I mouthed “Hi” back at him and felt a smile spread across my face. I glanced back at my paper and began taking notes on the lecture, but as I was writing down the composition of the tribunals during the Spanish Inquisition, a small paper airplane landed on top of my notebook. I unfolded it quietly and read the message that was scrawled along the inside: You aren’t wearing the necklace. I looked up at Conrad. He had a slight frown on his face. I scribbled a note back to him: It’s a really beautiful necklace, but I can’t accept it. It’s very valuable and expensive. Why would you give it to me? He wrote a short note back and slid it across the table to me: Meet me in the hall after class. I looked back at him and nodded my head.
Mr. Rieder went on about the tribunals, but it was hard for me to focus. I was counting down the minutes until class was over and it seemed like I waited an eternity before the bell rang out. I couldn’t decide if I was more excited or nervous at the thought of talking to Conrad again.
“You go on to Physics, and I’ll meet you in there,” I said to Caroline.
“Ok,” she answered.
I got up and followed Conrad to the door. Once we were in the hall, he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the janitor’s closet located opposite Mr. Rieder’s classroom. He shut the door behind us and turned to face me. The closet was small and his face was only inches from mine.
“Did you not like the necklace?”
“I did. I just don’t understand why you would give it to me.”
“I thought you would like it.”
“But you don’t even know me,” I said, sounding confused.
“Says you.” He leaned forward, closing the distance between us. His lips brushed my skin and my body tingled all over. “Did you bring it with you?”
“It’s in my bag.” He reached into my bag and pulled out the velvet box. He took the necklace out and unclasped it. Then leaning toward me, he circled his arms around my head, sliding his hands underneath my hair. I placed my hands on either side of his waist, as he clasped the chain at the base of my neck. His hands rested on either side of my neck, the heat from his touch transferring from his skin to mine. My head came up just past his shoulders and I had to lean back to look up at him. His lips parted slightly, and I found myself wondering what they felt like. Suddenly, the bell rang out, pulling me away from his eyes.
“I guess we better go,” he said, opening up the door for me. We headed from the closet in different directions, and I watched him turn the corner, heading for the English Wing, as I took off in a run toward my Physics class. I walked in the room a little late and sat beside Caroline. She raised her eyebrows at me and looked down to the necklace.
“Don’t ask,” I laughed, rolling my eyes.
“Oh my God! Is that real?!” I shot her a sharp look and held my finger over my lips, urging her to be quiet. Mr. Liner looked at us from the front of the classroom.
“Ms. Brewer, is there something you would like to say to Ms. Rhodes?” he asked, staring at her through his thick coke bottle glasses. He always reminded me of the old cartoons of Mr. Magoo; especially with the way he always squinted through the lenses.
“Well, yes actually.” I shook my head at her. Great. I just knew he was going to give both of us detention. However, instead of being furious, her answer seemed to surprise him.
“Well, just continue your conversation after class is over,” he answered, turning back to his overhead projector.
I looked over at Caroline, who was grinning. “I’m going to kill you,” I mouthed at her. The necklace knocked against my chest as I bent over my notes. I grasped my hand around it to keep it steady. As I grabbed it, flashes from my dream replayed in my mind. I was in the same grand hall, kneeling in front of the king on his throne. Again, I felt the tears pour across my cheeks and I saw the necklace, as I hunched over on the floor. “I’m begging you to spare his life,” I heard myself call out.
I looked over to my left, and this time the man’s face wasn’t masked by the blade of the axe. My heart felt like it stopped, as I saw Conrad’s face come into view. His eyes locked onto mine, and the expression in them was full of regret. To my horror, the axe came down, extinguishing the light in his eyes.
I shook my head from the glimpses of my daydream and slammed my hands down on the table, causing Caroline to jump. She pretended to drop her pencil on the floor, and bent down close to me to retrieve it.
“Are you ok?” Her voice was so soft I could barely hear it.
“Yeah, I just have a bad headache.” I rested my forehead in the palm of my hand and was suddenly hit with an epiphany. I knew where I had seen the necklace before. Not caring to be quiet, I reached down for my bag and pulled out my history book. I flipped through the pages, not worrying when I ripped a few, and landed on page 256. I flipped it over and saw Isabella I of Castile staring up at me. I focused on the necklace she was wearing. My eyes widened with shock as I saw it was exactly like the one that was hanging from my neck.
“So, he just gave you that necklace?” Caroline asked incredulously. “But why?”
“He didn’t tell me really,” I answered, as we changed into our work uniforms.
“Well, are you going to ask him?” Caroline looked into the bathroom mirror as she applied a fresh layer of lip gloss.
“Yes. He acts like it belongs to me, but I’ve never seen it or him before yesterday.” I didn’t tell her about the connection between the necklace in the painting and the one hanging around my neck just yet. I wanted to get some answers from Conrad before I even started attempting to explain it to Caroline.
“I definitely think you should keep it. It’s beautiful and it looks great on you.”
“You would say that,” I grinned at her.
“All I’m saying is that if a man gives you jewelry, you don’t give it back.”
We walked out to the parking lot, making our way to her car. Across the way I could see Conrad sitting on top of his. I threw my bag in the back seat and closed the door.
“Hey, wait for me a minute. I’ll be right back,” I called to Caroline as I ran toward Conrad.
He slid off the hood as I approached him. “I need to talk to you,” I said.
“About what?” He was trying to be coy, and it was starting to irritate me.
“I think you know what.”
“Personally, I think the necklace looks like it was made for you.”
“I had a dream about you.”
“Well I must say, it does seem a little early for you to be having dreams about me,” he replied with a suggestive wink. “But if you would like to compare your dreams with reality; I’d be happy to assist you.” He took a step to me and I could feel a knot rise in my throat.
“I didn’t mean dreams like that!” I didn’t need to look in a mirror to know the color of my face matched my hair. “The dream I had felt real. You were killed in it and I had on this necklace,” I said, grabbing onto the pendant.
“I see. That does seem to put a damper on things.”
“I have to go to work, but can you come to the diner around nine? I want to finish this conversation.”
“I’ll see you later tonight,” he said.
I turned on my heel and headed back to Caroline’s white car. I slid into my seat, slamming the door shut. “Is he still staring at me?”
“Oh yeah,” Caroline answered, sounding breathless.
We rode in silence all the way to the diner, and I set to braiding my hair into its usual pigtails for work. The diner was already full of people when we got there, and we were quickly taking orders and serving hot plates of food. When things started to slow down around eight, Kit eyed the necklace as I cleaned out the milkshake blender.
“Pretty necklace,” she said, sliding the clasp on the chain back behind my neck.
“I don’t know why he gave it to me,” I answered, pulling on my braid.
“Well personally, I like a man that gives nice jewelry.”
“You sound just like Caroline,” I laughed.
“So this boy is a little mysterious. Is that such a bad thing?”
“I guess not. It just seems weird he would give me such a nice gift, I mean, I barely know him.”
“Perhaps he gave you the necklace to show you that he wants to get to know you. What could a date with him hurt?”
“He hasn’t asked me on a date yet.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” she said, grinning at me.
She was still smiling as I went back to the kitchen to help out Mickey.
“You look like you have a lot on your mind,” he said, looking at me as he scraped off excess grease with a wire brush.
“I was just thinking about the lesson we were going over in history today.”
“What might that be?”
“The Spanish Inquisition,” I answered. I started chopping up an onion, so Mickey could fry up some onion rings. The vapors from it stung my eyes, making them water.
“Ah. The persecution of Muslims and Jews by the Spanish monarchy.”
I looked at him with a surprised expression on my face. “How did you know?”
He let out a deep belly laugh and turned to look at me. “I went to school too, it wasn’t all that long ago.”
“Sorry,” I replied, putting on my most innocent look. “It’s just hard to picture you as a high school student.”
“It’s ok,” he laughed. “Actually, it was such a long time ago I hardly remember it. So have you given any thought as to what you want to do for your birthday next month?”
“Did my parents get you to ask me about this?”
“Maybe. I’m really not allowed to say one way or another.”
“I just want to have a small party here again like last year. That is if it’s ok with you and Kit.”
“You are one of my girls; of course it’s ok with us,” he beamed at me. “Just name the date, and Kit and I will decorate the whole diner.”
I walked over, put my arms around him, and he gave me a tight squeeze back. The bell on the door jingled. Mickey and I peered through the window to see who was coming in. Conrad walked into the diner wearing a brown leather jacket that looked perfectly worn in and a pair of jeans. I could just make out the lines of his muscles under his white t-shirt. I took a quick glance at the clock, realizing it was already nine.
“So that’s the boy the necklace came from,” Mickey winked at me.
“Oh not you too,” I groaned.
“Well go on, get out of here,” he said, breaking into a soft smile.
“Ok,” I said, returning his smile. I gave him another quick hug and he returned it with a swift kiss on top of my head. I took off my apron, hung it on the set of hooks in the break room and grabbed my bag. I combed my fingers through the ends of my pigtails, and dashed out to the eating room to meet Conrad. As I approached, I saw that he was talking to Caroline and Kit at the counter.
“Hi, I’m Conrad Bourdet, I’m here to pick up Evey,” he said, holding out his hand to Kit.
“Hi, she should be out in just a minute. We’ve certainly heard good things about you,” she replied, taking his hand. “I’m Kit, and that’s my father Mickey back in the kitchen. We own the diner.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” He nodded slightly to Mickey. Despite his air of cockiness, no one could say Conrad didn’t have perfect manners and posture. Now that I was watching him, I noticed that he stood up straight, like a soldier at attention, just waiting to be given the order to relax.
“Hi,” I said, walking up to Conrad.
“Hi,” he said, turning to face me. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Here, let me.” He reached forward, taking my bag from my hands and slung it over his shoulder.
“Bye guys,” I called to everyone. “I’ll call you later Caroline.”
“Oh I can’t wait,” she snickered. I shot a teasing glare at her over my shoulder a
nd saw they were all waving goodbye to me.
Conrad followed me to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for me.
“What was that look for?”
“I don’t know. I just wasn’t expecting you to be so chivalrous.”
“Well, despite what you might think about me, I was brought up to be a perfect gentleman.”
“Honestly I don’t know what to think of you, that’s the problem,” I said, sitting in the passenger seat. He jogged around to his side of the car and slid behind the wheel. He set my bag in the back seat and pulled out of the diner parking lot.
“Where do you want to go to talk?”
“How about the park?” I pointed for him to turn right and continued talking. “It’s just a half mile down that way, on the left.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
A few minutes later we pulled up to the basketball court adjacent to the playground. I got out and walked over to the swings. He came up behind where I was sitting and placed his hand on the chains above mine. A cool wind blew through park and I shuddered slightly.
“Cold?”
“Just a little.” I turned to look at him.
“Take my jacket,” he said, pulling it off. He waited for me to hold out my arms, then slid it on me.
“Won’t you get cold?”
“Nah, I’ll be fine.” He returned his hands to the metal chains, sliding them down closer to mine. I turned around, setting one knee in the swing and met his stare.
“The dream I was telling you about earlier, I must have had it a thousand times, but until I met you two things were always missing from it.” I wanted to get right down to business, and it was time for him to start talking.
“And what are the two things?”
“I think you already know the answer to that.”
“How am I supposed to know what you dream about?”
I shot him an exasperated look. “Your face and the necklace. Neither of them were a part of my dream until yesterday, and I recognized the necklace from history class. It’s the same one Isabella I of Castile is wearing in a painting. How did you come to have a necklace that is nearly 600 years old?”