Dragon Amour (Dragon-Half Breed Book 1)

by Robin Ambrozic

  “Hi JJ.” Alexa said in her usual upbeat way.

  “Hey, Alexa. How are you?”

  Alexa cocked her head to the side, “Good. Find a date to the Welcome Back dance?”

  “Psh, haven’t wasted my time on that dance in four years, not planning on it now.” I turned away looking bored, though the plan that Kelli had come up with was a little beyond my comfort level of seduction skills.

  “Other words, no.” Brooke said. “She’s a loser.”

  “Speaking of which, do you have one? No? Guess you are a loser too.”

  Brooke smiled her disarming smile, the one that says ‘you are a bitch, so shut the hell up’. I smiled my own version back.

  “I’ll find one before you.” Brooke informed me.

  “That’s because I’m not looking and you desperately are.”

  Carly giggled. “I love when they argue.” The others agreed.

  “That’s what single people say, when they are alone. Especially…”

  “Ms. Brooke?” Catherine had come over during our friendly argument unaware.

  Brooke smiled at her.

  Catherine’s blue eyes had excitement dancing in them unchecked, but tempered with a deep single-minded purpose that only an eight year old could have.

  I looked around for Mrs. Shoen, since it was odd that one of the elementary buddies would come without their upper-classman buddy. Mrs. Shoen was talking to Christian, who seemed to be smoothing things out. With a wide smile, Mrs. Shoen patted his shoulder. She nodded her head while looking our way and with a knowing motherly smile, walked away. Christian waved away my questioning look and went and sat down at another table.

  “…I’m good, thank you for asking. How are you Catherine?”

  Catherine bobbed her head. “Really good, Ms. Brooke. How…” Catherine’s face scrunched up as if she was trying to remember something she was supposed to say. “…I really like your blue hair.”

  Brooke laughed, “Thank you.”

  “I asked my mom to let me make my hair blue, but she wouldn’t let me.” Her face fell.

  Brooke ruffled her black hair, “You have beautiful hair. This isn’t for everyone.”

  “God, isn’t that the truth.” Kaylene commented.

  Kaylene had tried to dye her hair blue, actually several girls had and all with disastrous results. No one seemed to get the illustrious blue shine that looked so natural on Brooke and of course she never told anyone about how she did it either. Considering ‘all’ of her hair was blue it almost made you believe that she was born with it blue.

  “I guess.” Catherine said. She fidgeted and looked passed Brooke’s shoulder. “Don’t look.” She said suddenly as Brooke had started to turn around.

  “I was just wondering where your buddy was.” Brooke answered.

  “He’s not doing anything. I wanted to talk to you, he didn’t send me over here or anything. Okay?”

  Brooke laughed. “Okay, but I don’t want you to get into trouble with Mrs. Shoen.”

  “No, Mr. Christian talked to her already…” She stopped and covered her mouth like she had said too much.

  “What are you doing?” Brooke grabbed her sides and began tickling her. Catherine began laughing, which made everyone look over at us. I glanced back over at where Christian had sat down. Three boys rose from the table and started to walk over towards us.

  The Henderson triplets were well known around the state for two reasons. First and foremost, they were an excellent singing trio. They have sung the national anthem at the Nuggets games, Bronco games and numerous other sporting events around the state. They’d won numerous singing awards and were going to be on America Get Your Sing On TV show next fall. They are truly amazing to listen to. The second thing, which is the most tragic, they were originally quadruplets but lost their sister to a drunk driver when they were nine years old. A sad tale, but a tale that had inspired them to become singers to honor their sister’s memory. Each of them had dark brown eyes, a medium build, kind faces and were as adorable as a kitten. If it wasn’t for their different styles of hair, you wouldn’t have been able to tell any of them apart. Garrett, the oldest by ten minutes had long, thick hair; Josh the second oldest, by seven minutes had cropped short hair like a drill sergeants; Gene the youngest, after their sister Emma, had the style right out of the teen magazines. Each was as different as they were the same and all of them were true gentlemen through and through.

  They stopped behind Brooke, who didn’t notice as she continued to tickle Catherine. I glanced back at the table where Christian had been sitting and he’d disappeared. Not thinking much about it, my attention returned to the brothers as Garrett pulled out a Pentatonic Tuning whistle and blew on it. The soft multi cord sound reverberated around us and they hummed in tune. The noise of the lunchroom began to quiet. Kaylene nudged me.

  “Music Man…Sincere.” She whispered.

  I shook my head. “How can you tell that?”

  Her face filled with disbelief. “You doubt me? Remember who you are talking to. I can name every musical there has ever been within a few notes of hearing it.” She sighed. “I should have been on ‘Can You Name That Tune.’ I’d have killed it.”

  I smiled. Only Kaylene would reference a 1970’s show. What a geek.

  The brothers finished their tuning, took a deep breath and began. As with all of their performances, their voices blended with a purity of a church choir, and many ‘ah’s’ escaped several of the surrounding girls, especially the middle school ones that were having an early lunch.

  Garret started, he was the bass, “Cinnamon.”

  Then Josh jumped in with his baritone, “Cinnamon.”

  And finally Gene’s tenor chimed in, “Cinnamon.”

  The magical blending of their voice entranced everyone especially Brooke, whose blue eyes stared wide eyed at them. They grew wider as a distant high lead voice filtered in as Christian slowly slid from behind them, “Cinnamon.”

  They drew out the ‘N’ for a few moments then stopped. The sound echoed around the lunchroom and finally faded out. Everyone was watching now.

  Tears were beginning to well up in Catherine’s eyes as she watched her buddy.

  “Tell me how do I convince you, Blue, how can I explain to you why?”

  “How….do….I…. try?” The others echoed.

  “You are the sun in sunshine, Blue, your smile is so kind it makes me cry.”

  “Ow tell me why?”

  “Will you go with me to the Valkyrie dance, let my heart jump with a yes…oh please.”

  Their voices stopped. The only sound was the quiet hum of the heaters in the back ground.

  “How can there be any….sin in Sincere.”

  Christian’s lone voice broke the silence and carried on the tune with the elegance of an angel singing from a mountain top. “Surely you can see I’m…”

  “Right”

  “Am I not right?”

  When they finished, sobbing erupted from several tables. Catherine was crying openly as she ran to Christian, who gathered her up in his arms and hugged her. Brooke had a mesmerized look on her face.

  “So much for your dinner seduction plan.” I mumbled to a captivated Brooke.

  Applause erupted and filled the lunchroom. Even Mr. Resler and Mrs. Shoen were applauding with smiles on their faces from the back. A sigh escaped my lips.

  Christian placed Catherine on the ground, she ran over to Brooke as Christian shook the brothers’ hands.

  “Remember, lunch on me tomorrow.” He told them.

  “Hope you have deep pockets,” Garrett told him. “We’re going to eat our fill.”

  Christian laughed. “I’ll make sure I bring my dad’s credit card.”

  The brothers slapped him on the back and walked back to their table as they were mobbed by their girlfriends and others when they sat down.

  Christian turned back to Brooke expectantly.

  I’ve seen Brooke express many emotions in our short
four years together, but the sheer astonishment and surprise were not ones that frequented her face often.

  Christian raised his eyebrows expectantly.

  An awkward silence ensued.

  “Brooke.” I whispered.

  Brooke just continued to stare at Christian dumbfounded.

  “Brooke.” I said again.

  “Please, Ms. Brooke.” Catherine pleaded. “He’d been practicing for a long time. You have to say yes.”

  Kaylene grabbed Catherine by the hand. “It’s not whether she will or not, Catherine, it has to do with whether her brain can come out of its daze and create a coherent sound to reply. Right now, the only thing she hears is the blood rushing in her ears because her heart is racing so fast that her brain isn’t able to keep up. It’s called ‘love’”

  “Shut up!” Brooke barked finally.

  “See, her brain is clearing.” Kaylene laughed.

  “Well?” Christian asked again.

  Brooke slowly nodded, her eyes glazed in awe, “Yes.”

  A collective exhale of breath escaped our table.

  “Jeez, took her long enough.” Someone groaned.

  “Thought she’d never say anything.” Another said.

  “I’d jumped him right now.” A girl sighed.

  Other comments floated our way as the table began clearing.

  “Okay…everyone get to class.” Mr. Resler’s voice boomed above the din.

  Christian knelt before Brooke. “Thank you. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Brooke nodded.

  “Let’s go Catherine. Mrs. Heart is going to be upset if I get you back to class late.”

  Catherine patted Brooke’s knee as she passed by and took Christian’s hand, “Naw, Mrs. Heart likes me.”

  They walked off together.

  Brooke turned to us and the excitement in her eyes was infectious.

  I was about to say something facetious when Gabe sat down next to me.

  “Well, that’s going to be tough to follow.” Gabe sighed.

  I nodded. “He just set the bar pretty high for sure. Wait, what?”

  “Nothing. I’ll see you after Brooke’s practice.” He touched my arm, which left a warm spot that began spreading to my face. I did everything I could to keep the blush that was coming from spreading to my face, though with the way the rest of the table was ogling him it didn’t take much.

  A heavy sigh escaped Brooke’s lips. “My life is complete.”

  “That was beautiful.” Kaylene uttered next to me. She placed her hands over her heart. “If only he were single.”

  Brooke’s ears perked up. “He’s dating someone?” Her eyes began to grow a brighter blue as they always did when she began to get angry.

  Kaylene put the back of her hand in a dramatic fashion to her forehead and sighed, “If only he could see me for who I am, oh Romeo, oh Romeo where for art thou Romeo…” she let her head fall slowly to the table and sighed again.

  “Uhg,” the guys at the table moaned.

  “O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art as glorious to this night, being o’er my head, as is a winged messenger of heaven.”

  Kaylene’s head jerked up as Gene walked over dramatically, knelt beside her, and took her hand, “My fair lady, I have watched you from afar with great admiration and apprehension. I would freely give my heart to you, if you would agree to take my hand offered and humbly accompany me to the dance.” His big brown eyes grew even larger like in a puppy commercial.

  Kaylene blushed, withdrew her hand, “Oh good sir, I am ever taken back by your kind offer. Surely there are others more worthy than an old maid such as myself.”

  Gene’s face saddened. “I dare say, my lady, there is no one more fair or kind as thy self. The sun is not nearly as bright as your smile, nor a rose petal as soft as your skin. Your beauty rivals the night sky full of sparkling stars. I am mesmerized.” He took her hand again. “Please say you will.” Then kissed it.

  The rest of the seniors at the table either awing or made gagging noises, all were lost on Kaylene.

  “But what of your other, sir. Will she not be jealous? I will not start a scandal, good sir!”

  A broad smile grew on his boyish face. “We have parted amicably nie three weeks ago…”

  “Three weeks!” Kaylene shouted. “We could have been dating…” Kaylene suddenly stopped herself and looked around. She quickly recovered herself and fell right back into her role, “Such news is unexpected.” She sniffed, “I…”

  “Is this who she is talking about?” Brooke suddenly interrupted. “Is she talking about Gene or Christian?”

  “I just wish the thespian geek would answer him!” A boy at the table said.

  “Shut up, jerk! You ‘BOYS’ could learn something from those two. Ass!” Several of the girls got up and left, followed by their boyfriends, who were trying to explain themselves.

  “Well,” Kaylene huffed. “I dare say, we have been interrupted, why don’t we discuss this further after class at the Edesia and discuss the arrangement for our meeting.”

  Kaylene got up, gathered her books, and daintily placed her hand on his offered arm and they strolled off.

  “So, she wasn’t talking about Christian.”

  “No, Sherlock.”

  The warm, lost look came back into Brooke’s eyes.

  “Really?” I rolled my eyes.

  “Don’t you ladies have class?” Mr. Resler’s voice boomed. He stood at the end of the table.

  “We’re going now.” I grabbed Brooke and hauled her off to class.

  The warmness of the Edesia was a welcome relief to the cold outside. After guiding Brooke through the halls like a wayward child we arrived at Dr. Marcus’s Econ class. Placing her in her seat, I sat down and lost myself in the movie that Dr. Marcus was showing about the development of beer and economics. Dr. Marcus’s econ class was always an interesting time, because every lecture appeared to be about how alcohol and economics were linked interchangeably with the growth of civilization. But as I sat in the warmth of the restaurant, with drafts of cold air coming in from the ice rinks, sipping on my hot chocolate, I couldn’t help but feel a little down about the events of today. After Christian’s song, and Gene’s melodramatic monolog, a flurry of creative and not so creative invitations to the dance took over the rest of the day. Students throughout the day were bursting into class and asking each other, or leaving messages on cars. One of the more creative stunts was performed by Luke, who got four of his buddies to paint their bodies with Susan’s name on their chest and then, somehow got the mini-trampoline out of the gym and were bouncing outside Susan’s class. Needless to say, Mr. Resler wasn’t pleased at the disruption of daily activities. But I heard that Luke didn’t get detention nor did Gretchen, who had somehow gotten Mrs. Law’s class to form the letters in the courtyard to ask her date.

  All in all it was a pretty sad day for those of us that didn’t get asked. Not to say I didn’t get asked, but all the invites were lame and none of the boys interested me. So, as warmth began to seep back into my toes and the hot chocolate soothed my belly, I watched Kaylene and Gene sitting in a booth discussing their plans as well as other couples doing the same. I only wanted to be asked by one boy and that hadn’t materialized. Therefore, I sat by myself, drinking.

  Suddenly the wafting smell of caramel corn caught my nose, making my heart jump into my throat. He sat down before I even saw him. His golden eyes were full of merriment. An infectious smile immediately caught onto my lips, and when he touched my hand, fire raced through my body like nobody’s business.

  “Guess what?” He asked.

  Trying to control my hormones, I pulled my hand away. “What?”

  “My dad invited your dad over for dinner tonight.”

  As my heart raced, I tried to sound not too excited. “What for?”

  He shook his head. “Not a clue, but make sure you follow Brooke to our house.” He stood.

  “You leaving?”

&
nbsp; His embarrassed blush made my heart melt. “Yes. I….I have something to attend to.” Then rushed off towards the door.

  My eyes bore holes into his back as he reached the door. “I’m not going.” He stopped, turned and the hurt expression on his face made me want to cry. Then he mouthed, ‘you have to come’ and left.

  Regaining the composure of my heart and filling the pit that had opened in my belly when he looked so sad, I pushed away my drink.

  “I never want him to look at me that way again.” My heart whispered.

  Numbly I sat in silence as time ticked by, waiting for Brooke’s practice to finish. The playoffs started next week and Coach Winckler was running extra practices to get them prepared. I was so deep in thought that I didn’t even know when Brooke arrived until she hit me in the head with a French fry.

  “Hello?”

  Blinking my eyes, I stared at her. “When did you get here?”

  She rubbed her shoulder. “Long enough to get fries and throw them at you.”

  I smiled. “Ah.” A quiet pause ensued.

  “Something wrong?” She asked me.

  I didn’t want to say anything about it, since it was stupid to think that my not going tonight would make him sad, though in my heart I hoped that it did.

  “Okay, well you ready to go?” she stood and grabbed her hockey bag.

  “I don’t think I’ll go.”

  She smiled. “I don’t think that is going to happen.”

  “I can do whatever the hell I want!”