Defiant Destiny

by Madison Cumbee

  He looked straight at me. I swear my heart stopped. All of those beautiful attributes I had noticed before couldn’t compare with his eyes. They were enchanting. The color was a shade of blue that I had never seen before, mixed with green and gray. Our exchanged glance only lasted a moment, but it was all I could think about after he and the rest of the new students sat down.

  The boy who made my heart stop was sitting at the other end of the room. I couldn’t see him from where I was, and I couldn’t strain too hard to try and get another look at him because my classmates would notice. I don’t usually care if people know what I’m thinking or feeling, but they couldn’t know that I was attracted to someone whose name I didn’t even know. I mean, all of my friends had commented at least once on how picky I was in my taste of guys. I had never met a single man who I felt any strong interest toward. The rest of the girls in the room didn’t seem to feel the same as me. They were making it blatantly obvious that they thought the new guys were attractive. The teacher had to clear her throat several times to regain their attention.

  I was determined to not join in on the gawking. So I waited. I truly did try to pay attention to the teacher. She talked the whole class about what the objective of the year was going to be and how we were in an advanced placement class and should expect to be treated as such. Blah, blah, blah. Practically all the teachers believed that their subject was the only one that mattered, and the thought never crossed their mind that the other seven classes we had to take had their own responsibilities and workload. So I didn’t have to really be listening to her lecture, but it was the first day; she hadn’t quite earned my apathy, yet.

  Once the hour and a half was finally over and I was at my locker putting up my books, I started hearing exactly how everyone felt about our new classmates.

  “Did you see the blond ones?” Mary Chandler asked as she was putting up her books beside me.

  “The blond ones and the tall guy. Even the shorter one was nice-looking,” Carty replied as she waited for Mary Chandler to finish.

  On my other side, another conversation was being started. “Dude, that new girl is hot,” Jared said. I never liked him. Like so many other guys in my grade, his maturity level was at least four years younger than his actual age.

  “Yeah. I’m thinking of how I’m going to welcome her to town,” Dylan told Jared. I figured that since he gave Jared a little nudge with his elbow and they both started to laugh that Dylan meant more than he said.

  Disgusting boys. I closed my locker door loudly and went over to where Alicia was standing.

  “Hey Alicia, what do you have next?” I asked in an attempt to get my mind off what was disturbing the monotonous routine that my school and I had gone through year after year.

  “Hey. Um, I have European History next. Did you see those new guys in English?” Alicia and I had become good friends the year before when we discovered that we shared a love of the same kind of books. She was blond, short, country, and outspoken. I loved her, but this was not what I wanted to hear at the moment.

  “Yeah, I saw them,” I said, trying to sound uninterested. “I have to go to my next class. Have fun in Euro.” I walked away not wanting to talk about them. Anatomy and Physiology Honors was my next scheduled class. Science was not my forte, but I had been looking forward to this particular subject since I had to suffer through Chemistry my sophomore year. The body’s organs and systems seemed infinitely more interesting than how to convert something into moles. I took Honors Chemistry for a year and still didn’t feel like I’d really learned anything that I would ever use outside of the classroom. It was pointless torture.

  I moved through the hallway toward the door to the stairs. I was busy making an effort to not think; too busy, apparently, to notice who was in front of me. When I got to the door of the stairs, the person held it open so I could go in first. When I looked up and said my thank you, I saw that it was “the tall guy.” He had to be at the very least six feet seven inches tall, so of course, this was the obvious description he would be known as behind his back until people learned his name and got past his enormousness. But when I said, “Thank you,” I looked up into his face. Instantly, I forgot that this guy was over a foot taller than me, and instead, I was left wondering how anyone could possibly look any kinder. He emanated sweetness. While smiling at me, he said in a deep voice, “You’re welcome.” And we started down the stairs together.

  Once we got to the bottom, he opened that door for me as well, and we exchanged our previous words. I walked into the Anatomy lab and found the seat that had been assigned to me. After hanging my backpack on the hook under the table, I was joined by the same gentle giant from the stairwell. “Hi. My name’s Zev,” he introduced with another pleasant smile, “but I go by Ralph.”

  Okaaaaay, I thought. I cannot imagine how someone would get Ralph out of Zev, but I’ll go along with it. Maybe it’s his middle name or something. “I’m Keira,” I smiled back. And I go by Keira. Now that I took the time to properly look at him, I saw that he had chestnut brown hair that was full and thick. It was kind of messy like he’d just gotten out of bed or had driven with the top down to school that morning. He had facial hair, which I don’t usually care for, but it suited his face. His eyes were a brown that made me think of coffee, and his skin was tan with just the smallest bit of glow too. “Are you related to any of the other new students you walked in with in English class?” I asked before thinking. I couldn’t believe that was the first real thing I had chosen to say to him. Of course I wouldn’t ask “where did you move from?” or “how do you like the school so far?” like any other sane person would ask a new student.

  Even though I asked the odd question, he answered without any sign of negativity. “Yes. Oliver’s my brother and Luca’s our cousin. Luca is the taller one with the kinda curly blond hair, and Oliver is the abnormally short one. He prefers vertically challenged, but he knows he’s just really short.” That made me laugh. This Ralph guy might actually be worth talking to after all. “The other blond guy is Eron, and the girl’s Bridget. They’re just friends that moved with us.” Once the names were given, I went back over them in my mind. Luca, that was his name. Before I could daydream any more, the bell rang, and class began.

  After the syllabi were handed out and gone over, we dove right in to taking notes. Anatomy is the study of structures. Physiology is the study of functions…. My hand and brain were working like machines. If I had thought about it, I would have been happy that I couldn’t think during the class or else I would have been dying to grill Ralph for more information on Luca. Halfway through the class, our lunch bell rang. I had second lunch period both days this year. Halfway through this class and halfway through Pre-Calculus Honors, I got to stop and go to lunch. Breaks would be gratefully welcomed during both of them.

  When I got into the small and dull lunch room, I saw Meredith sitting at a table with a few empty seats beside her. I turned around to see if Ralph wanted to sit with us, but he had already started toward his two blond friends, Eron and Bridget. So I went and sat beside Meredith, who was also blond. She’s perfect; she’s a great athlete, a great student, and an all-around great person. She is also unaffectedly pretty with long blond hair, green eyes, and a naturally thin figure.

  “Hey. How’s anatomy?” she asked me.

  “I can’t feel my hand, and it’s only half-way through.”

  “That many notes, huh?” she knowingly replied. Then looking toward Ralph, she said, “I saw you walk in with him. Have you seen the other four people he came to school with?”

  “His name’s Ralph, and yes, they’re all in my English class.” She had a strange look in her eye. “Meredith, what are you thinking?”

  “They’re all really attractive,” she said lowering her voice a bit. Like me, Meredith didn’t find every single male thing that walked as something to drool over.

  “Yes they are,” I agreed. She gave me a look. “I may be picky, but I’m not blind.” She
nodded and started eating her food. We spent the rest of lunch talking about what we had done over summer break. Neither of us felt like having boy talk right then.

  ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀

  “I’ll see you later then,” Ralph said after anatomy was over.

  “Yeah, see you later,” I said. After I packed up my books, I headed over to the building where my Spanish III Honors class was being taught. So many honors classes. Homework’s going to be a blast. Josh caught up to me as I walked across the parking lot. We walked into the building, climbed the stairs, and found the classroom. Yet again, there were assigned seats. It’s my junior year; you’d think we would get to decide for ourselves where we would sit. Luckily, my seat was beside Meredith.

  Just before the late bell rang, the guy from that morning walked into the room, but he didn’t look up this time. Instead, he found his seat beside Josh and focused on the desk in front of him. Pretty soon, the teacher started talking, and I found myself, once again, struggling to pay attention. He just had such a presence from the moment he walked in. Luca. I always felt that there was power in a name, but Luca didn’t seem quite right for him. It was a nice enough name, very unique, but eh, not perfect.

  “Hhmmmm… Keira,” Señora Ortiz said.

  I looked at the teacher. She was talking to me. I felt like a deer in headlights; I probably appeared like one too. When I was about to give up and ask the Señora to repeat her question, Meredith turned her face away from the woman and rapidly whispered to me, “Sí, sí; the answer’s sí. Yo comprendo.”

  “Sí, yo comprendo,” I told the teacher.

  She seemed to know that I hadn’t been listening but didn’t say anything about it. After she continued with the lesson, I looked at Meredith. “She asked if we understood that this is Spanish III and should be speaking and reading basic Spanish easily. You were just sitting there, looking at nothing, and she called on you to answer. What are you daydreaming about?”

  “Oh, nothing,” I replied.

  For the rest of the class period, I tried to at least appear interested in the Señora’s lesson, but I couldn’t help myself and glanced at Luca at least a couple more times before we were dismissed. He and Josh seemed to have hit it off and were talking throughout most of the class. Luca was out of the door quickly after the bell rang, and I hurried to stuff all of my books in my bag. Once I said goodbye to Meredith, I went over to Josh, and we walked out together.

  “Did you fall asleep in class?” he jokingly asked me.

  “No, I just got distracted; that’s all,” I told him. “It’s not like you were attentive the whole time. I saw you talking with the new guy.” I was trying not to seem too obvious.

  “Oh, yeah. His name’s Luca. He’s pretty cool.” Josh must have been all talked out with Luca from the previous hour and a half because he wasn’t giving me much to work with.

  “What did you two talk about?” I pressed.

  “I told him ‘bout our school and the people here. He said he had never attended a private school before and that he was very interested to see how things went. He seemed friendly enough. I’m going to have band with him tomorrow.”

  “Really?” Well that was a little something at least. “Do you know what instrument he plays?”

  “Trumpet. I didn’t know the band needed another trumpet, but I guess it did. I gotta get to work, so I’ll see you tomorrow, k?” he said while turning toward his car.

  “Okay,” I said as I watched him go. All I had gotten was trumpet… Well, that’s better than nothing, I guess. I walked to my car and got in. As I sat there changing the radio stations, looking for a song I liked, I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw Luca, Ralph, and the others getting into a black Cadillac Escalade. Nice car, I thought. It still has to be a tight fit for Ralph/Zev though. Luca was driving. I hit the skip button one more time and heard “Something’s Gotta Give” by Sammy Davis Jr. starting to play. This classic reminded me that I liked the trumpet. Luca plays the trumpet… and then after the song ended, a reality check reminded me that he hadn’t said a word to me or even smiled at me. There was no point in thinking about a guy who I’d never even spent any time with. Maybe something’s gotta give, I mused and then drove home.

  My Unusual Interest

  Chapter 4

  Uriel

  After we got home from school, Azra called the mission’s first meeting. We all gathered around the table on the back patio to go over what we had found out during our first day at the new school. Azra spoke first, “I have a rough idea of who the extremely apt students are and am proving myself knowledgeable in the classrooms without difficulty.” In other words, Azra was assessing the brainy students, and he had to let them know that he was brilliant too and could relate to them. This was how our guild operated. Whenever we enrolled at a new school, we would pick a clique. Then we would gain the trust of and join that clique and try to help the people in it in any way we could.

  Odeda had two groups this time. “I had art class today, and while the teacher was babbling on and on about how she expected everyone’s best, I doodled a little picture on my paper, and everyone at the table practically “oohed” and “ahed” at it. The program must not be very good at this school. Also, some of the girls invited me to a party this Saturday. They said that I shouldn’t spread the word around because everyone wasn’t included, and they didn’t want a ton of people they didn’t like to come to the thing. How vile,” Odeda said and then looked at Azra. “You have to come with me, or I’ll go insane. Why did I have to get the popular clique this time? You know I can’t stand the mindless monologues that these people somehow constantly keep going at their parties. I need you there to keep me from going brain-dead from boredom.”

  “Of course I’ll go with you, Odeda,” he told her. “Uriel,” Azra turned to look at me, “how did you do?”

  “I don’t have music until tomorrow, but I did make connections with a member of the band. I think Josh Jones will be very helpful in giving me information about the rest of the students; he has so far. He likes to talk, and he gave me pretty much a verbal tour of the school during Spanish class. He seems likable and helpful.” I had the musical type.

  Dagan, who had been fidgeting ever since we got in the car, spoke up, “I am already in with the gamers,” he said with an almost cocky grin. “In fact, I’m supposed to be going over to a guy’s house to play Halo with a few people. So it would be great if we could wrap this up.” He was looking toward the garage like at any moment he was going to make a run for it and speed off. Dagan loves those video games more than a lot of more important things that he should be interested in.

  “Since I missed the soccer tryouts for this year, it is going to be harder to connect with those players, but I heard about some basketball workouts that are being held now and then on weekends and after school,” Zev explained.

  “Good,” Azra said. “But remember that you have both male and female athletes this time.”

  “I know. I found out who a few of the girls were on the ladies’ varsity basketball team. In fact,” Zev said with a little laugh, “I sat beside one in my Anatomy class and didn’t even realize it until one of the guys told me later today. Her name’s Keira and she has to play starting point guard this year because the senior guard got hurt a couple of weeks ago.”

  My head snapped up when he said that name. All of my family looked at me, not understanding my instant reaction. “Do you know something about her?” Zev asked me.

  “N-no, not much,” I uncharacteristically stammered. “Josh told me a little bit about her this afternoon, and they walked to and from class together.” They kept staring at me. “I’m just curious; that’s all.”

  “But, you’re never curious about human girls.” Zev was confused.

  Dagan suddenly burst out of his chair. He had been ticking the whole time and finally exploded. “Look, guys, I really have to go. I have to keep up appearances and all, you know.” And he sprinted around the house and into the
garage. A moment later, we heard the tires squealing. Zev and Odeda burst out laughing at Dagan’s intensity when it came to his games. We got up to go inside. It appeared that my brothers and sister had forgotten my unusual behavior. Good. Odeda and Zev walked inside, but as I got to the door, Azra called me back.

  “Yes,” I said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

  He just looked at me for the longest minute. Then he spoke, looking somber and intrigued. “Tell me.”

  I considered playing stupid and asking, “Tell you what?” but I knew better. Azra was the Pure One; he knew things. And he was my brother; I knew I could tell him anything. So I told him everything.

  “This morning,” I began, “when all of us walked into that English class, I felt something odd. It was kind of like a pull, like I was being drawn by some force. When I looked up toward what I thought was the source, I saw her. I saw Keira, the girl that Zev was talking about. She was just sitting there looking back at me. When our eyes met… it felt like time stopped. I’ve never felt anything like it before. During that class and throughout the rest of the day, I found it hard to think about the mission and what I was supposed to be doing. I kept seeing her face in my mind. She’s in my Spanish class, the one that I had last and the one that I spoke with Josh for the majority of the time in. I did ask him about the school and the people who attend and work there, but I also asked him specifically about Keira. They’re friends, you know. So he told me some things…I- I don’t understand it. I’ve never had any interest in the human girls that we have encountered on our missions before, just like Zev said… Tell me, what do you make of all of this?” I pleaded with him. I was struggling to get my thoughts in some kind of order so that I could think straight and rationalize things, but it was hard. I knew Azra would be able to help.