We stayed there for a moment before we both rose and his height made it awkward to maintain my arms around his neck. I regained my breathing and my body stopped shaking, but the cold despair still lingered.
I looked up into his concerned face and brokered my best smile. “I’m okay.”
He wiped away the one escaping tear that had made its way out of the prison of my eye and ran down my cheek. “You must have really liked that lipstick.”
I barked a laugh as he took my hand. “Let’s go eat.”
He nodded while hazarding one more glance back at the dead dumpster and shivered.
Dad pulled my hand to help me along and before I retreat back inside the walls of his protective arms, the sun reflected off something high on one of the buildings. I noticed a new set of gashes in the alley wall across from the dumpster. New goosebumps sprang alive, because these gashes looked like they had been made by a dinosaur.
Disquiet at the Apollo
Lunch began quietly. My mind couldn’t shake the vision from the alley and sensing my anxiety, Dad chatted on about this and that. He talked mostly about the stellar new graphics he was putting together for the video game he was currently working on, but most of it was lost to my inner thoughts. I was just happy to listen to the reassuring sound of his voice. So, I nodded when I needed too, asked questions in the right spots, and tried to safely remember what had just happened in the alley, without having a complete meltdown in front of him. The creepiness of the whole thing still bothered me, and every time I went to those memories of the red eyes or the black tiger thing, my vision would suddenly blur. Then I’d have to shake my head and focus on his voice to bring me back. After a few times of almost slipping back, I stopped all together and really concentrated on my Dad.
“Thanks for coming back!” he took a bite of his burger.
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “What? I’ve been listening.”
He nodded sarcastically as he chewed. “Yeah.”
“I have!”
“Maybe some of the time, but where were you when your eyes suddenly glazed over in thought?” He asked.
I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks.
“I know I might not be the greatest father in the world, but, are you doing drugs?” He laid his burger down and stared at me.
His tone told me this wasn’t one of his normal joking around times. His eyes were too intense and the concern on his face was genuine. The funny thing about my Dad was, he really had a hands off approach a lot of the time. I appreciated that most of the time, and hated it some of the times, but he would never fail to ask the hard question or inquire when he thought it was in my best interest. Sometimes it would cause me to yell at him, hate him, and even despise him, but in his defense he never got mad or used it against me. Something I couldn’t do, and in the end he just expected me to make the right decision. Sometimes it worked out and other times it didn’t, but he was always there to mop things up or congratulate me. I wasn’t the best child either, therefore, I looked him strait in the eyes, “No.”
He stared at me for a moment and nodded. “Okay. Care to tell me about what happened last night?”
I didn’t want to answer, not because I didn’t want to tell him, but because I didn’t know how to tell him. So I stayed quiet.
“Fine.” His voice was neutral.
I could tell he was upset, but not disappointed. He rarely got disappointed at me, but when he did it always crushed me.
He smiled. “When you are ready, you know where to find me.” He laughed at his joke.
He is such a dork. Then I laughed with him.
We finished lunch and I talked him into walking around. The sun was brilliantly bright in the sky, and the air was crisp. One of those quirky days in Colorado where if you stayed in the shade, you froze and if you were in the sun you were on fire. So, as I dragged him window shopping, we meandered in and out of the sun and shade. We stopped in front of a clothing store that had a gorgeous strapless dress in the window. The dress was silky red, had a long flowing hem that elegantly touched the mannequin’s golden tan feet, and a pair of mid-high heel shoes the color of the dress. The reflection in the window said my Dad liked it too.
“Got a date?”
“What?”
“Not a hard question. Do you have a date for the back to school dance?”
Even in the reflection of the window, the mischievousness in his eyes was running rampant. I needed to be careful not to step on any verbal landmines that would blow up in my face.
“You doubt my attractiveness?” I offhandedly remarked.
“No, I doubt young boys’ assertiveness.”
Stepped over one landmine.
“Then you greatly underestimate the boys at the school. They don’t lack in confidence.”
“Difference in confidence and ignorance…maybe you shouldn’t be so mean?”
Another landmine. “What?” I acted all hurt. “I’m not mean. I’m the nicest person on the planet.”
His eyes grew even more mischievous. “Mean doesn’t always mean cruel, maybe you act aloof? Guys think you’re unattainable.”
I turned around to him. “Really? You are going to insinuate that I’m a snob?” Folding my arms across my chest, I waited. His face wavered between concern that maybe he had overstepped our game, and whether I had placed my own landmine out there, which I had.
He narrowed his eyes. “Just saying, if you act uninterested, then you appear to be better than everyone else.”
Got him. “When I’m interested in the right guy, that guy will understand that I’m unique. Not that I’m somehow better than everyone else, but special for him, and he’ll see that life has just gotten more amazing because of the emotional connection we share.”
His face deflated. “When did you get good at this?”
Walking by him, I tapped his shoulder. “I had a very good teacher.” We finished our day with smoothies and headed home.
All the way home, I pondered how I was going to get Gabe to ask me to the dance. Normally, I would have asked Brooke for help. He wouldn’t have stood a chance then, because when we get together and decided to do something, nothing gets in our way. But this was different. Since she was his cousin, and my gut kinda told me that she wouldn’t really approve, especially after the weird incident before New Year’s Eve, I could ask Brooke. Therefore, I needed to get him to ask me in such a way that Brooke would believe he did it of his own volition. Hence the problem at hand. As I gazed out the window, since I made Dad drive home, the solution began to mold itself into an idea. By the time we drove into the driveway and parked the car, I knew the plan needed an expert in manipulation and who better than a thespian.
Kelli Searle was a master manipulator, but in a good way. Filled with a ridiculous amount of confidence for a teenage girl, she had a knack of getting into conversations and maneuvering them in the direction she wanted them to go. I’ve seen her turn a conversation about a girl a guy didn’t like, into making it seem it was his fault for not liking her. And if he didn’t ask her out it would be the biggest mistake of his life. So, I knew she would be the one to ask for help. We met the next day at the Cyber Dragon Café for lunch. I got there early, ordered my usual tea, sat at our table and waited. Kelli was always late, no matter what the occasion. Luckily Kaylene was working and it wasn’t too busy, so she popped over now and then and kept me company. I also got online and tried to find any information about that tiger creature or people with glowing red eyes. The search engine didn’t really come up with much. I tried: black tigers, black tigers with tentacles, black tentacles, fantasy cats with tentacles, but nothing really came up. Then as I was scrolling down to the last pages of the search, an entry for a black feline cat that had tentacles called a Coeurl appeared. I scrolled further along and discovered that this was a fantasy creature created by fictional author A. E. van Vogt in the short story Black Destroyer. The blurb described a large cat that had longer front legs then back ones, and tenta
cles that ended in suction cups. I leaned back. I wondered if Mr. Van Vogt might have had a similar encounter with such a creature, but the description though similar was very different too. As I read, the article said that he had passed away in January of 2000. Frustrated, nothing more came up about the creature except for the interpretations of other authors and gamers that evolved the creature to fit their worlds. As for the glowing red eye people, there was plenty of stuff on that. Anything from red eyes from a photo flash to shapeshifters and demons. Not being one to believe in such things it must have been the light from the streetlamp when I entered the alley. But that does bring up the thing I saw at school before break. Anyway, when Kelly shouted her hello from the door, and approached, my fingers pressed the off switch. I certainly had more important things to discuss than strange creatures and weird eyes.
Tuesday of the new semester hadn’t come fast enough. Not only was it the last semester of high school, but I was anxious to see Brooke and Gabe again. Brooke called late Monday night before school to let me know she was back and that she would pick me up at our regular time. I woke up very early, certainly earlier than normal, took my shower, got dressed, and waited down stairs. Dad was already up, had his run, and was hard at work on his video project. Cooper kept me company until Brooke honked. My heart immediately dropped and my mood darkened to see only her in the car. Stomping to the car, I climbed in, exchanged hugs and drove to school. We talked about what each of us did over break, though Brooke was very vague about her time in Japan, just as she always was when she got back from vacation. We approached the entrance to the school on the west side. Two juniors sat in the West Bunker that guarded the entrance. All juniors were required to spend time in the bunkers as sentries for added security during school hours. We waved to them and drove in. Parking in the student lot, many of our friends were arriving also. We greeted them and headed off to class.
I only had one and half classes with Brooke this semester; Dr. Marcus’s Econ class, after lunch and Dr. Daugherty’s class on every other Tuesday and Thursday. We shared quick hugs and walked off with the others classmates. I entered the foyer of the school and bowed to the statue of Apollo. It wasn’t required but customary for the seniors to do, since he was the patron god of education. Several other statues of gods or goddess also adorned the foyer all having to do with education in their respective religions. The sounds of students greeting their friends echoed down the hallway along with the ruckus of the lower grades changing classrooms. I found my locker up in Zeus Hall, threw my books in my backpack, grabbed my English binder and headed off to Dr. Daugherty’s class.
Dr. Daugherty sat at his desk busily writing in a binder and waved absently to the hello’s from the entering students. I found my usual desk, sat down, and looked bored at the clock. The bell rang.
Dr. Daugherty stood, turned on the smart board and addressed us.
“Hi everyone.”
“Hello, Dr. Daugherty.” We all responded in unison.
He blushed and looked askew at us. “Let’s not start that nonsense. This isn’t Dr. Kodis’s philosophy class. Civility is nice, not conformists. Got me?”
“Yes Dr. Daugherty.” We said in unison again.
He groaned and we laughed.
“Okay, fine. Please pass up your comparative essays I asked you to do over break.”
Our groans accompanied the sound of folders being opened and the ruffling of papers. The door squeaked open and close as Dr. Daugherty greeted someone. I found my paper and then looked up; my heart stopped, and jealousy ripped through my body as gasps escaped from the other girls in the class.
Gabriel stood talking to Dr. Daugherty and shaking his hand. I felt my face flush and quickly covered my mouth with my hand.
Dr. Daugherty turned to us. “Class, we have a new student. Let me introduce Gabriel Kikashi Kirohoshiabya.” He scrunched his nose. “Did I butcher that?”
Gabriel smiled and several girls behind me sighed, “No that was pretty good.”
“Japanese name, got it. Gabriel…”
“Just Gabe is fine.” He interrupted Dr. Daugherty.
“You mean, Babe.” Janis said behind and to my left.
The urge to turn and around and gift her with an evil eye stare was almost overpowering, but instead, my eyes stayed on Gabe. I drew in a deep breath, but the smell of caramel corn didn’t come around. Then several more deep breaths in rapid secession when…
“Are you hyperventilating Ms. Ritter?” Dr. Daugherty asked concern.
My eyes widened, and the embarrassment made my face flush even a deeper red. I quickly ducked my head as I shook it.
“Whew, I didn’t want to have Mr. Kirohoshiabya have to perform CPR on you!”
The class laughed, and my face felt even hotter as I fervently wished to fade into nothingness.
“My apologies, Ms. Ritter, I couldn’t resist. Take a seat Mr. Kirohoshiabya. Now who would like to go first?”
“Where is Brooke?” Carl asked.
“She’ll only be here every other week this semester. She is helping with another class.” He answered.
That’s where Brooke went before class instead of our locker. Mrs. Tomlinson’s third grade class needed an extra hand. Since it was a heavily girl populated class, she had asked for her specifically.
Gabe brush by me on his way to the back of the class. Several ‘sit here’ rang out as I tried to calm myself. I couldn’t understand why his distinct caramel corn odor, which had been so prominent New Year’s Eve, didn’t envelope me, which made me start to wonder if it wasn’t just my own imagination. Slowly, the heat of my embarrassment faded away and I hazarded a glance back to see where he was sitting and caught his eye. His hazel eyes brightened up as he looked at me and I flushed again and turned my head.
“No volunteers?” Dr. Daugherty announced, “Okay then Ms. Ritter, would you grace us with your unique insight, please.”
The groan that escaped my lips would have made a zombie jealous. I slid out of my desk and started the longest walk to the front and began the worst ten minutes of my life.
Lunch couldn’t have come quick enough that day. In fact, if a meteorite had plummeted down and destroyed downtown Denver, it wouldn’t have been as bad as the ten minutes I stood up in front of Dr. Daugherty’s class and made a fool of myself. I plopped down at the senior table and placed my head down. Kaylene, Somer, and Kennah continued to munch on their lunches as a resigned sigh of despair escaped my lips.
“That could only be a guy sigh.” Somer said.
“I agree.” Kennah laughed. “I’ve used it to many times to not recognize it.”
“You both are wrong,” Kaylene announced. “When was the last time you heard anything like that out of JJ? She’s in love.” They giggled and laughed.
“Ha, ha.” My head came off the table. “Love is for losers, and I’m not a loser.” I pulled my hair back and put it in a ponytail.
“First sign, denial.” Kaylene said between mouthfuls of her salad.
“No, there isn’t anyone here I could possibly find interesting.”
“That might have been true before,” Somer stated, “but news of Brooke’s cousin has spread fast. Fresh meat and all.”
“Yep. Heard he is a really hot guy.” Kennah said. “Not as good looking as my boyfriend, but I’ve heard he’s not bad.”
Kaylene’s eyes popped open. “Have you seen him!?”
“No.” Kennah said off handedly. “But he can’t be that good looking.”
Kaylene and Somer looked at each other knowingly. “He puts your boyfriend to shame, Kennah.”
Kennah eyes narrowed. “I don’t think so. Cheers don’t date ugly boys.”
I shook my head. “Can we stop talking about this, please.”
“Just wait till you see him.”
About this time Brooke came walking up to us with her lunch and sat down. She appeared a little out of sorts.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
Brooke thought
for a moment. “Something weird is going on.”
“Like what?”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. But have you guys noticed anything strange going on?”
The others shook their heads.
“No.” Kaylene said. “Nothing seems out of the ordinary, except we have fourteen weeks of school left!”
Cheers went up from the senior table.
Brooke smiled. “I guess.”
“Maybe it’s the commotion your cousin is causing? How come you didn’t tell us about him earlier?” Somer asked.
Brooke brushed aside the comment. “It’s not that important. He’s just my cousin.”
“Is Set going here as well?” I looked around the lunch room and didn’t notice anything out of sorts.
Brooke shook her head. “No, he’s over at Valor.”
“You have two?” Somer said. “Is he just as gorgeous as Gabriel?” She turned to Kennah. “Text your boyfriend and see if there is as much commotion there as there is here.”
“He isn’t gorgeous and there isn’t any commotion, girls.” Brooke answered annoyed.
“What…” Somer started but stopped. She was looking at something behind me and when I turned, Gabriel was entering the lunch room. Just like in those commercials where time slows to a crawl, the model’s hair is blowing in the wind, and everyone in the room turns to admire him, well, the lunchroom was quiet and everyone was looking at the new guy. For Gabriel’s part, he appeared not to notice what was going on around him and looked in our direction, and headed our way. Quickly turning back around, my face felt hot, my breathing shortened, and I frantically played with my hair. Even the buddy tables were all watching him. That’s when I noticed something strange.
The faces on the younger kids appeared to be in various degrees of being frightened depending on the age. The Kindergarten table was empty, but the 1st grade table was full and the kids’ faces appeared frightened. Not like all out scared, but more as if they were uncertain or not sure what they were looking at and that made them afraid. Their buddies appeared to not notice. The 3rd grade table appeared less frightened and more curious, as if they were looking at something only their imaginations had seen before. The 5th grade table didn’t appear to be frightened at all, but puzzled, like they were looking at something that didn’t quite make sense. The 7th grade table appeared to be unaffected like the rest of us except for the girls that were openly staring at him, much like the rest of the lunch room. The other side of the table stares told me when he was standing behind me and then next to me.
Dragon Amour (Dragon-Half Breed Book 1) Page 8