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Love Storm

Page 23

by Ruth Houston


  Suddenly Anthony slid in. "Hey everyone," he said. "Hi Winter. You're in my seat again."

  "I know," I said, "Sorry. It's just such a wonderful spot though, I couldn't resist." I winked at him. It was an ongoing joke we had, because every time I came over to Eva's house, I sat in his regular seat at the dining table.

  "Hey!" Anthony cried. "Is that the box of Chips Ahoy? I've been searching for those! They've been missing for five days now. I thought Matty and Emily had finished all of them. I want some." He sat down next to me and took two. I was almost done with my first cookie and was close to going for a second, but I got interrupted.

  "Winter!"

  I whipped around and smiled.

  "Hey Emmy-baby," I cooed, giving Emily a gentle hug as she dashed into the kitchen, into my arms. "How are you?" I petted her soft, fine hair.

  "Good. Hey, cookies! Now I'm better than good. Matthew! We've got cookies!" she called back to the living room, where Matty was. Tristan chuckled – Emily had recently been calling Matty by his full name, which usually got him pretty cross, but at the mention of a sweet snack, he didn't seem to mind all that much. He pattered into the kitchen shortly after, eyes lighting up when he saw the blue wrapping of Chips Ahoy.

  "Hey!" Eva said, a little desperately. "I knew I hid these for a reason," she wailed as Matty sat down next to her and grabbed a cookie. "Now they're going to be all eaten." She slumped back in her seat, chomping moodily. "My plan's been ruined."

  I shot her a glance and she nodded just slightly. I knew she also meant that our little plan to interrogate Tristan had officially been terminated – for now. It would be impossible to safely bring up the topic again with all of their siblings here.

  Samantha had wandered into the kitchen also, the book Ella Enchanted dangling from one hand. "Hey, are those the cookies we bought last Sunday?" she inquired, settling into her chair next to Anthony. "I've been looking for those. What happened? They just disappeared into thin air."

  xxxxx

  Later that night after dinner I sat down at my desk with Zack's tape playing in the background, holding the piece of paper that had his new address on the back. I fingered it, wondering if he happened to be thinking about me as much as I was about him. God, it couldn't be healthy to be this obsessed over one guy.

  What was I supposed to write to him about? It was not exactly easy to write to someone like him, especially under the circumstances that we were in. I rubbed my forehead absentmindedly, staring at the blank piece of binder paper in front of me. I decided, what the hell, picked up my pen, and just started writing. Just because I was writing it didn't mean I had to send it.

  Dear Zack,

  You wanted me to write to you, so here's your letter. Just to let you know, I'm furious with you right now, but here's your letter anyway. I figured, with your people skills, you'll probably need all the letters you can get. I hope you arrived in Milan with minimal trouble, and that your flight wasn't too bad. I listened to the tape today – the whole thing. I'm listening to it right now for the second time. It's beautiful, every single song, and even though I can't really bring myself to say it, I can't thank you enough for it. I can't even begin to imagine how much time you must have spent on it. I love "Forest Murmurs"; it's probably my favorite out of all the pieces on the tape. You should think about being a concert pianist someday – I'm not kidding. You are talented. Consider it.

  I couldn't think of what else to write about, so I carried on to explain my day to him, especially the part about going to Payne's with Eva. Hey, he was a couple thousand miles away, so I didn't have to worry about him accidentally saying something to Tristan. It was harmless. I tried to keep the text as polite as possible, but there were times where I couldn't help myself, and just had to stick in the odd nasty comment. Call it a character flaw, but sometimes I can't control myself when it comes to these things.

  By the time I finished it, it was three pieces of binder paper front and back in my messy scrawl. Eva always told me that I should try to improve my handwriting because she seemed to be the only one who could read it. She also said that it wasn't untidy in the male way. Supposedly (according to her, anyway), it actually looked decidedly feminine; it was just messy and hard to read. I always shrugged and told her I probably had better things to do than to worry about a trifle like my handwriting, but now I worried because I didn't know if Zack would be able to decipher what I was trying to say. I pictured him sitting at a desk in his dormitory, scratching his head and puzzling over whether Tristan's potential girlfriend's name was spelled "Katherine" or "Katharine" or "Katheryn", and grinned a little.

  I closed the letter by saying:

  I know my handwriting's not the best in the world, so if you can't read it, don't hesitate to tell me. I'll try to write it neater, or I can type it up on the computer so it's easier for you. Anyway, I hope you're alright over there in Italy. Hold up your side of the promise and write back, yeah?

  I wasn't exactly sure how to close it off. "Sincerely"? "Yours truly"? "Love"? I scoffed at the last one. Yeah, right. I finally settled on just signing my first name at the bottom. On second thought, I added a postscript:

  What's the Romantic period?

  I added my initials after that, sealed everything up, put two stamps on, just in case, and ran outside into the drizzle and clipped it to the outside of my mailbox, which, luckily, was situated at the side of my garage under a small overhang, so the letter wouldn't be sopping wet by the time the mailman picked it up tomorrow afternoon. I hurried back inside, speculating over whether it had been a good idea to actually post it. I half wanted to go back outside and snatch it back, but I figured, hey, if Zack wanted a letter, he could have that one. I'd just spent forty-five minutes writing it for him. He'd better be happy with it.

  I sighed and walked up to my room slowly, gathering my pajamas and fresh underclothes to go take a shower. There were too many 'what if's in my life.

  -Zack-

  My eyes snapped open and were greeted by an unfamiliar room, shrouded in the shadows of night. I sat up quickly, panic overtaking me for a brief, heart-stopping moment, until I realized where I was and relaxed. It was my first night staying at the academy.

  I forced my body to let go of some of its tension and stretched, yawning a little. I looked to my left and saw Leo's peaceful, sleeping form under his covers. At least someone was getting his full eight hours.

  I didn't know why I had woken up so suddenly, but I had. I realized I had been dreaming about something, but couldn't quite remember what it was about… it had been a rather disturbing dream, but still by no means a nightmare. Something bad had been happening to me, I didn't know what, but in the midst of it, something wonderful had occurred as well. I frowned. How weird. I tried desperately to recall something, anything from the dream, but it was gone by now. It was hazy, but I knew I had driven somewhere… It had been late at night. I had had a purpose, somewhere to go, though the details of that escaped me also. I scratched my shoulder and got out of bed. I'd had enough encounters with insomnia to know by now that I would not fall asleep for the rest of the night.

  Squinting a little and glancing at the digital alarm clock on Leo's bedside stand, I saw that I had been asleep for four hours, at the most. It was only four-thirty right now. Still, this had been the most consecutive hours of sleep I'd had in a long time.

  I shivered. It was chilly in our room, and it was a habit of mine to sleep only in boxers, and a t-shirt if it was cold enough. I pulled one over my head now, plus a hoodie, and sat down in my desk chair.

  Without even meaning to, my mind drifted to Winter. Before, I had realized that I had gone to her house to give her the cassette tape that I had been working on for so long. How I had given it to her and what she had said was still a mystery, especially since I had woken up in her bed (fortunately fully clothed). I thought grimly that in all probability she was spitting mad at me right now, probably cursing me into next week. I guess it was deserved. With a start, I remembe
red something I had done yesterday morning while I had been at her house. I sprang up from my chair and searched the pockets of the jeans I had been wearing the day before, and found my wallet. I flipped it open, and sure enough, there it was, at the front.

  I had a picture of Winter, and now I stared at it, recalling how, after I had placed her gently back in her bed, I had taken a quick look around her room and seen the picture on her desk. I had taken it and placed it in my wallet. At the time, I hadn't really been thinking about what I was doing, just knew that I had to have that picture of her.

  I sat back down heavily in my chair and turned on the desk light. I took out the picture, which was folded in half, and examined it. I both hated and loved how, even when Winter wasn't around, she still had this outrageous effect on me. I stared at the picture, something new and foreign squeezing my heart and wringing it dry.

  It was dated on the back as August 15th, from last summer. Whoever had taken the shot had caught Winter unawares – she was at a beach, sitting on the sand with her legs stretched out in front of her and bare ankles crossed, leaning back on her elbows. Something off in the distance had caught her eye, and she was glancing at it, away from the camera. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, a pair of sunglasses was perched atop her head, she was barefoot, and she was wearing a navy blue tank top with a white knee length skirt. The sun illuminated her tan skin and long legs. She looked completely at peace, and the small, secret smile that I adored was gracing her lips. She was absolutely gorgeous.

  Much to my horror, my eyes began to sting with tears, and my mouth had turned to dust. I swallowed hard, blinking a few times and shaking my head. It was crazy how much this one girl held my universe in her hand. She had tilted my safe world on its axis and made me feel a whirlwind of emotions. I couldn't even really put into words what I felt for Winter, it was too complex. I wasn't supposed to feel these things. They were wonderful, and scary, and too hard to control. That was what frightened me the most.

  I don't know how long I sat there, just looking at her picture.

  "Zack?"

  It was Leo.

  "Hey," I said, licking my dry lips. My voice sounded like sandpaper. I cleared my throat.

  "What are you doing up?" he asked, his voice scratchy from sleep. "It's like… five o'clock in the fricking morning, man. Whoa, who's that?" Leo was staring at the picture.

  "No one," I said quickly, and tried to shove it in my pocket, but found out that, as a rule of thumb that I had temporarily forgotten, boxers did not have pockets.

  "Hey," Leo said, wide awake now. He grabbed the photo and gave a low whistle. "She is fi-ine. Dude, she is hot. Wanna introduce her to me sometime?" He wiggled his eyebrows, grinning. Apparently the early hours slowed down his brain, as he hadn't used a swear word as part of an adjective to describe just how hot she was.

  "No," I said stonily, snatching the picture back and sticking it in my wallet where it belonged with fumbling hands.

  "Oh, sorry, she your girlfriend or something?" Leo said interestedly, sitting down on the end of my bed, stifling a yawn.

  I rubbed my eyes tiredly. "Something like that. Actually, I take that back. I don't know what we are. I really don't." I knew Leo meant well, and that he was only curious, but I couldn't help feeling a little pissed at him. I hadn't wanted to share that picture with anyone. Not even my roommate.

  Leo studied me closely, then asked softly, "What's her name?"

  I blew out a breath and leaned back in my chair, my eyes drifting up to look at the ceiling.

  "It's alright if you –"

  "Winter."

  "– don't want to ––What?"

  I got up from my chair and started looking for clean clothes. "Winter. Her name's Winter."

  "That's a pretty name," Leo said quietly.

  "Let me guess," I said with a tired smile, having found fresh boxers and a beater. "It's still not as pretty as Belinda-Caterina."

  Leo chuckled. "Hole in one. You catch on fast." He got up and went back to his side of the room.

  "I'm going to go take a shower," I announced.

  "Fine," he replied. "I'm going back to sleep. Dunno how you get up so early," he muttered, crawling back into his bed and yawning again. "Maybe it's just the jet lag… or something… or maybe you just get up early every morning… don't know… how you… do…it……"

  Leo had talked himself back to sleep. I shook my head again, smiling a little despite my previous hard feelings toward him, and started for the bathroom.

  Chapter 26: Word of the Wise

  -Winter-

  The first day of the new semester, Wednesday, was the worst day I have ever had the misfortune to experience.

  Branner High School does not have the most intelligent of administrative staff. I can tell you that right now, because today was my first encounter with the blockheads. Somehow they managed to completely screw up my schedule so that I spent my whole morning waiting in a line to talk to my counselor. They had put me in French 1-2, AP Calculus, AP Biology, Orchestra, Athletics with the softball coach, CP English and Contemporary World Studies (both of which were classes for freshmen – read it again – freshmen). How they managed to flip my schedule around that much was beyond me. None of those classes were even remotely related to any of the classes I should have been in. Actually, I was really quite insulted. Did I look stupid enough to be in CP English?

  So I waited in line all morning, as patiently as I could, to see Mr. Bower, my counselor. The line in front of me was huge – I had to stand through two periods out in the hall before I even made it inside the office. Apparently I wasn't the only one who had had my schedule screwed up. At passing time between first and second period, my friend from tennis, Rebecca, passed me by on her way to English.

  "Winter? What's going on?" she asked me, stopping and frowning at the line I was standing in.

  "Administration messed up again," I sighed restlessly. "I've been standing here for forty five minutes already."

  "Sucks," Rebecca said sympathetically, a little amazed at the massive wait. "I'll see you at Spanish then?"

  "If I make it by then, yeah, see you Becks," I said gloomily. "Hey, wait! Are you in for track this year?"

  "Yeah, you?" she said, walking backwards away from me. She nearly made this skater dude trip over his own shoelaces.

  I nodded. "400 meter relay sprints again, the two of us?" I called to her.

  "Definitely," she yelled back, "See you later Win!" She was gone, and I was short one more person to chat with.

  Finally, half-way through third period, I was able to go in and get my schedule fixed by Mr. Bower – nothing in my schedule was supposed to have changed except that I was now with a different coach for seventh period athletics. At lunch time though, I found out from Rebecca that we had had a huge English project assigned, and it was one of the classes I had missed.

  I groaned. "Are you kidding me, Becks?"

  "I kid you not, dear Winter," Rebecca said gravely, hiding a smile as we sat down in the cafeteria and took out our lunches.

  "Hey," I said suddenly, taking a sip from my water bottle, "Did that guy ever ask you out? What was his name…Nathan or something?"

  Rebecca blushed a deep crimson and mumbled something incoherently. I grinned. "Come again, dear Becks?" I mimicked her endearment.

  "We're going out," she said a little louder, promptly taking a bite of her sandwich.

  I chuckled. "Good for you. He's the hot one, right?"

  Rebecca blushed even redder and nodded. "Really, really hot," she confided in me, finally smiling a little.

  "Do you usually sit with him?" I asked, but my question was answered as a tall guy approached our table from behind Rebecca, motioning at me to be quiet. He covered her eyes and murmured "Guess who?" in her ear. Oh, god. If this was Nathan, Rebecca had not been kidding – he was hot. What a lucky girl. He had dark emerald eyes, ruffled chestnut hair, and an absolutely devastating smile. Yes, he was hot.

  'Not as hot
as Zack,' a little voice popped up in my head, and I frowned.

  'Shut up,' I said to the little voice.

  I could see it shrugging in my mind's eye. 'Hey, just telling the truth.'

  I was brought back to reality when my friend spoke. "Oh, gee, I don't know," Rebecca played along, though a huge smile was on her face. "Hmm, it couldn't be Andrew, could it? Oh, I know we're lab partners Andrew, but we just can't go on another romp through the woods again like last time, because you see, I have this boyfriend now, his name's Nathan, and I've got to commit."

  Nathan gasped and removed his hands, clutching his chest as he sat down next to her. "You wound me, Becca," he said, "Way to punch a guy's ego in the face. Who's Andrew?"

  She laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "No one," she said, "I made him up." Then she whispered something in his ear. A grin spread on Nathan's face and he replied softly, both of them laughing a little over some private joke. Suddenly I couldn't bear to sit with them anymore, feeling like a third wheel, and quickly packed up my lunch.

  "Hey Win, where ya going?" Rebecca asked me curiously as I stood up, her eyes flicking to Nathan for half a second when he slid his arm around her waist. "Have you two met? Winter, this is Nathan; Nathan, Winter."

  He nodded at me, and said, "Hey," but his attention was all on his girlfriend.

  "Actually Becks, I realized I have to go ask the track coach about something," I lied smoothly. "I'll see you seventh period at the track bleachers, yeah?"

  "See you," Rebecca said as I turned away, making a bee-line for the cafeteria exit. Once I was outside, I leaned against the wall, my chest constricting with a dull ache that I didn't know had started up. Seeing Rebecca and Nathan so happy like that… I shook my head and left for Miss Cooper's room. She was my English teacher, and she let anyone eat lunch in there if they wanted to. I figured I could eat in there and ask her about that project.

  I pushed open her door, and surprisingly, the room was empty. Miss Cooper was a very popular teacher, and students tended to enjoy spending the odd lunch period in here. She was attractive, young, maybe in her late twenties, and was getting married this summer. When word had gotten around, that had certainly crushed a few male hearts. Miss Cooper looked up from her desk as I slid into the room, greeting me with, "Hello Winter. Tough time with the administration, huh?" she said sympathetically.

 

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