Chapter 7
For the second day in a row, Arianna woke without an alarm clock. Certain it was a personal record she ought to relish in, she lay in bed for several minutes, enjoying the feel of her warm, down comforter. The sun had just begun its ascent over the horizon line and crept over the treetops behind brilliant hues of orange and pink as it slowly edged out the navy night sky. Her new bed with its new covering in her new cabin with its spectacular new view of a new day was nearly as inspiring as her experience the day before at her new school.
Her first day at Hallowed Hills High School had been her best ever, another record as far as she was concerned. To date, she’d never used the words best and school, or anything remotely related, in the same sentence. Yet, lying in her bed with another school day ahead of her, she could honestly say it had been her best first day ever. Moreover, she wasn’t dreading going back. She was hoping for another just like it.
Her first day had moved at warp speed and had been filled with fantastic teachers and friendly students. She’d surprised herself by taking Scott and Meg up on their lunch offer and had sat with them in the cafeteria. Never before had she been part of an “in” crowd; not even for a day, yet yesterday, she had eaten a meal with them, laughed at their jokes and even cracked a few of her own. Afterward, they’d hung around together in the gym on the bleachers, just talking and laughing. In all honesty, she hadn’t wanted her lunch period to end. She’d been having such a good time she’d managed to forget about smoking after she’d eaten. She’d gone the entire school day without smoking. It wasn’t until she had reached her car that her need for nicotine had become bothersome.
Arianna smiled as she recalled the day before. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and hurried to the bathroom, eager to get to school. She readied herself quickly and ate breakfast before leaving.
She’d been so busy thinking about her classes, teachers and, dare she dream, friends, that thoughts of her mother, Luke and Desmond only darted into her mind intermittently as opposed to remaining a constant presence in her brain. She knew those thoughts would invariably return, that once the novelty of her arrival wore off, she’d be alone again, alone with all the pain and loss, the embarrassment and confusion. But for now, she was determined to enjoy whatever happiness that came her way for as long as it lasted.
She pulled into the parking lot in front of the school and stubbed out the cigarette she’d been smoking while she drove. She glimpsed Jess getting out of a dented Honda Accord across from her and popped a piece of gum in her mouth before getting out and clearing her throat loudly.
“Oh hey Arianna!” Jess called to her.
Normally, Arianna wouldn’t have been so needy, or transparent for that matter. She would have ignored Jess altogether and waited for her to approach inside. But forging friendships had never been her forte. In the past, at times, she knew she had been standoffish. Life and experience had hardened her. She had never had time for the courtship and games associated with joining groups and making friends. Now, it seemed all she had was time, and the idea of experimenting with group-joining tactics did not seem beneath her any longer. Still, the prospect of putting herself out there, of making herself vulnerable, was as terrifying as it was foreign. She was treading in uncharted waters.
“Oh Jess,” she replied and feigned surprise. “You scared me. I didn’t see you there.”
“Sorry,” Jess apologized and her brows gathered as if she genuinely regretted startling her.
“Don’t be,” she said and worried she’d overacted a bit. She hadn’t wanted to make Jess feel bad; just make herself seem less pathetic. “How are you?” Arianna heard herself ask awkwardly.
“Good,” Jess replied and didn’t seem to notice. “How was your first day here?”
“I have to say it was pretty good,” she admitted. “Better than some of the others I’ve had.”
“Others?” Jess asked. “How many new schools have you started?”
“This is my third,” she said.
“This is your third new school,” Jess said with wide-eyed surprise. “Wow that sucks.”
“I know,” Arianna agreed and felt a pang of guilt for lying. Hallowed Hills was not the third school she’d transferred to. In truth, she did not know what number it was. She’d lost count.
“It must be hard to make friends moving from school to school.”
“No, it’s not too bad. I keep in touch with quite a few people,” she lied again.
She wasn’t sure why she’d felt compelled to lie, but felt ashamed of the fact that she had never made a real friend at any of the schools she’d been to, save for Lily. And Lily was gone. In reality, she had no one. Not one single person existed on the plant that she could call an acquaintance, much less a friend. Over the course of her school career, she’d switched schools on more than a dozen occasions and was a powerful witch who could incinerate anyone she so damn well chose. And she did not scare easily, least of all by a teenage girl. She wasn’t sure why the lies were just rolling off her tongue, why she felt the need to conceal who she was from Jess. She’d always been comfortable with who she was. Perhaps that had been her biggest problem. No one ever liked her for who she was. Now that she was the Sola and in a transitional place in her life, she wondered whether changing other parts of her would be beneficial as well.
“Well, your old friends are going to have to learn to share you,” Jess warned and draped an arm over Arianna’s shoulder. “‘Cause we like to get together a lot on the weekends and after school.”
“Do you?” she asked and felt a little flutter in her belly at the implication of an invite.
“Yep,” Jess began, but was distracted by a Jeep Cherokee backing in to a parking spot ahead. Her arm fell from Arianna’s shoulders and she said, “Oh look, there’s Scott and George. Let’s catch up with them.”
Jess sped her pace and Arianna struggled to keep up. Jess was like metal being drawn to a magnet, seemingly powerless to keep from going to him.
“Hey Scott!” Jess called out as Scott climbed out of his SUV.
“Hi Jess. Hi Arianna,” Scott said but his eyes remained on Arianna the entire time. “Glad to see you.”
Jess, buoyed by his words and oblivious of the fact he had not even so much as glanced her way, nearly lifted the hem of her skirt and twirled in a circle like a schoolgirl. Scott seemed to have that effect on many girls at Hallowed Hills High School. She’d heard as much when she’d listened in on several conversations a day earlier. Scott was cute, by high school boy standards. Tall and rakish with intentionally mussed short brown hair, brown eyes and wearing skinny jeans, he had a boy-band-singer look to him that was pleasant enough. While Arianna had generally made a point of avoiding guys who wore skinny jeans, she had made an exception with Scott. Somehow, he managed to make them look neither dorky nor effeminate.
“Did you have a good first day here, Arianna?” he asked.
“It was fine,” she answered.
“Can you believe this is the third school Arianna has transferred to?” Jess chimed in.
Arianna would have bristled at her comment in the past, despite the neutral tone she’d used. But this time, she just took it for what it was: nothing.
“Really,” Scott replied as he riffled through his backpack. “That kind of sucks doesn’t it?”
“Depends on who you ask,” Arianna replied tightly and shrugged. “Gotta make the best of every situation, right?”
Scott smiled and he pulled a pack of Camels from his backpack. “Absolutely,” he said and slid a cigarette from his pack to his lips. George pulled a lighter from his pocket and tossed it to Scott. Scott lit his cigarette and spoke with it dangling between his lips. “Hope you don’t mind if I smoke,” he said coolly.
“Nope, not at all,” Arianna said and smirked as she pulled her own pack from her purse and flashed them at him.
“See, I knew right
away there was something I liked about you,” he said and raised one corner of his mouth.
Arianna swore she saw a glint of amber gleam in Scott’s brown irises as he’d spoken to her. She wondered whether it was the sun in his eyes or whether her own eyes had deceived her. She guessed too much time spent in the company of paranormal beings could have that effect on a person. After all, she hadn’t experienced the slightest tremor of energy radiating from him.
“Need a light?” George interrupted her thoughts by asking in his odd monotone.
“Uh,” she patted her pockets for her own lighter and realized she’d left it in the car. “Sure. Thanks.”
He tossed the silvery rectangle to her. When she caught it between her hands, a small burst of light flashed and a shock nipped her palms.
“What the hell?” she muttered.
“Sorry,” George said. “Static electricity; got to watch out for it.”
“No big deal,” Arianna said and matched George’s lifeless tone.
He locked eyes with her briefly and she tried to focus her energy on him, to get a read on him, but came up empty. As far as she could tell, he was just a gangly kid unfortunate enough to have a striking resemblance to Herman Munster.
“Did you ask her yet?” Scott asked Jess and effectively ended her meager interest in George.
“Ask her what?” Jess asked as her face screwed up in confusion.
“About tonight,” Scott said.
Jess’s features were suddenly smoothed by recognition. “Oh yeah! No, I didn’t ask her yet.”
“Hmm,” he said and took a long drag from his cigarette. “I guess I’ll have the honor then.”
“Ask me what?” Arianna heard herself ask, her curiosity piqued.
“There’s a party tonight,” he began. “A bunch of us are getting together. I would like it if you could come.”
Arianna wasn’t sure what to say. Part of her wanted to say, “Holy fuckballs! You want me to come? Hell yeah! Count me in!” But she knew that reaction would certainly get her uninvited. She had never been invited to a party of any kind in all her school years, least of all a party including the “in” crowd. This was a first. She began to wonder whether her loneliness had been her own doing all along, whether the not-so-subtle fuck off expression she’d always worn like a badge of courage had kept people away. Perhaps the Sola prophecy was all bullshit. Maybe she didn’t have to be alone the rest of her life. She did not know for sure. She’d never seen any documentation of this mysterious, centuries-old prediction. Maybe it was even subject to change. She did not know.
Hope swirled in her belly dangerously.
“Well, what do you say? Do you want to come?” Scott asked and she swore she saw the amber glint again.
“Oh come on! You have to come!” Jess whined.
Arianna let the question linger in the air for a moment in an attempt to not come across like the over-eager loser she felt like.
“All right, I’ll come,” she said as if they’d somehow convinced her.
“Yay!” Jess said and clapped.
Scott glanced at his watch and said, “Shit, I gotta go. Don’t want to be late for first period.”
He dropped his cigarette to the pavement and stepped on it. “I’ll see you at lunch?” he stated more than asked.
“Maybe,” Arianna replied, though in her head she said, bet your sweet ass I’ll be there, certain she would join him and his friends.
“Cool,” he said and smiled amusedly. He looked at her in a way that made her feel as if he’d heard her thoughts. She knew he hadn’t, but felt heat creep up her neck and touch her cheeks anyway.
“See you later, Arianna,” he said.
Arianna watched as Scott left, with George in tow like an emaciated Frankenstein.
“Oh. My. God.” Jess enunciated each word with restraint so flimsily harnessed, it threatened to blow at any second. “Scott totally likes you!”
“No he doesn’t,” she lied again.
Scott made plain his interest in Arianna. She wasn’t about to tell Jess that, though. Girls did not like it when other girls were confident. If she’d blurted out, No shit! Really? she knew it would not be well received.
“Yes! He so does!” Jess gushed. “You’re so lucky.”
Hurt tinged Jess’s words. She wasn’t sure why, but Jess’s hurt bothered Arianna. She’d only met the girl yesterday and had no real reason to care about her feelings, but found herself hoping she wasn’t the one responsible for the hurt.
“Jess, do you like Scott?” she asked.
“No, well, I don’t know, sort of,” Jess replied and seemed tortured by the partial admission.
The last thing Arianna wanted was to get caught up in a love triangle. She liked Jess and thought she was sweet. And she had no intention of hooking up with Scott.
“Have you ever talked to him, you know, about how you feel?”
“No. We’ve always been friends. Nothing more.”
“It doesn’t have to stay that way, you know.”
“Yes it does,” Jess said and blinked back tears that threatened to fall. “He likes you, and so do I. Besides, I’ll be going away to college before you know it. So will Scott. What would be the point of creating drama for a relationship doomed to last only a few months?”
Arianna nearly fell over. Jess’s comment was lucid, intelligent and mature. She’d never known a teenage girl to be all those things. Hell, she hadn’t known any women to be all those things.
“Wow, I’m impressed. You’re really impressive,” Arianna heard herself say and wondered whether it were too much.
But Jess’s expression said it all. A broad smile spread across her face and pride touched her eyes.
“Thanks. That means a lot to me,” Jess said and touched Arianna’s forearm lightly. “I’m glad you’re here, I mean, I’m glad you moved here to Hallowed Hills.”
“Me, too,” Arianna admitted. “All right, enough with this tampon commercial sappy bullshit!” She said and smiled. “Let’s get to class before I get my ass tossed out on my second day for skipping.”
Jess laughed and shook her head. “You are a piece of work, Arianna. Anybody ever tell you that?”
“No never,” Arianna deadpanned.
Jess froze. Her face transformed into a mask of nervousness. “Oh. I was just kidding. I didn’t mean,” she began but Arianna cut her off.
“I’m just kidding!” Arianna laughed.
Jess breathed a sigh of relief then slapped her in the arm. “Bitch!” she said playfully.
Arianna had never been so happy to be called a bitch in her entire life. It was the playful profanity of a budding friendship.
Walking side by side, Arianna and Jess entered the front doors of Hallowed Hills High School. Arianna stopped at her locker just beyond the entrance.
“My locker is upstairs,” Jess said. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Okay,” Arianna said and stifled the excitement she was feeling.
Jess turned from her and dashed down the hallway. Arianna grabbed a notebook and shut her locker. As she did so, she glimpsed Beth making her way into the building. Dressed in all black, wearing heavy black makeup around her dark eyes and with dyed, blue-black hair, her skin looked abnormally pale.
“Hey Beth,” Arianna said and tipped her chin toward the pallid pint-sized girl.
Beth ignored Arianna’s greeting and breezed past her.
“What the fuck?” Arianna mumbled under her breath.
She wondered what exactly the little Goth girl’s problem with her was. It was only her second day, and she’d done everything in her power to be unlike she’d ever been before. She’d even said hello to her not once, but twice now, only to get humiliated then ignored. Luckily, Paul, Josh and Chris walked in shortly after, then Meg and Kit strolled in right behind them.
“Hey Arianna!” they called one by one.
“Did the first bell ring yet?” Chris asked and Arianna noticed that today, he looked much cuter than he had the day before.
“No, it hasn’t,” she replied.
“Whew! I didn’t want to get stuck sitting in detention for being late again today,” he said as he passed. “See you at lunch!”
“See you at lunch,” Meg and Kit smiled and went in different directions.
Josh and Paul hung back and walked with Arianna to her first class. She was not used to so much positive attention. Their friendliness and acceptance of her was nerve-racking.
“You have Dickinson first period, right?” Paul surprised her by remembering.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Arianna said and could not help but smile.
“Is he as awesome as everyone says he is?” Josh asked.
“Um, so far he seems pretty awesome. Yesterday he started class by saying school was too early and he hadn’t had his first cigarette of the day yet.”
“That sounds like Dickinson all right,” Paul laughed and shook his head. “I’ve had him before. He’s a pisser!”
“I’ve never had him. I had Mr. Jackson. Total douche! You guys are lucky,” Josh grumbled.
Arianna was so happy to be walking and chatting with her new friends, she nearly walked right passed her class.
“Oh shit, this is my class, Mr. Dickinson’s room.”
“Whoops! We almost took you with us!” Josh commented.
“Almost,” Arianna smiled and started to go inside.
“I’ll save you a seat in the cafeteria,” Paul said and smiled then disappeared down the hallway.
Arianna was left clutching her books over her chest with a warm feeling in her heart for the first time in what seemed like eternity. Though it was not long ago that she’d had a boyfriend, someone to hug and kiss and talk with, her relationship had been cut short, violently. Luke’s death, and her mother’s death, had left her feeling as though she’d never smile again, never be truly happy again. Desmond had been the only glimmer of hope on her otherwise bleak horizon, but even he had hurt her in a devastatingly monumental way. Yet, here she was, impossibly, enjoying the newness and excitement of a group of strangers that were fast becoming her friends. She smiled and turned to go inside.
Mr. Dickinson’s class, and all of her other classes, flew by. Lunch, in particular, had sped by so quickly that if someone had told her the hands on the clock had been manipulated forward, she would have believed them unquestioningly. The entire day had felt like that. Before she knew it, she found herself standing before her locker gathering her belongings and about to leave. She’d slung her backpack over one shoulder and was about to leave when she saw Beth approaching. Arianna stepped in front of her, so that there could be no confusion as to whether or not Beth had heard or seen her, and spoke.
“Hi Beth,” Arianna said flatly.
“Look, I was joking yesterday,” Beth snapped. “But now I’m beginning to think you’re into me.”
“What?” Arianna asked confusedly and stepped back. “No! It’s nothing like that!”
“I’m not interested, sweetheart,” Beth said and held up a hand.
Arianna was about to launch into one of her signature tirades when Beth slipped by her and out the front door.
“Damn it!” Arianna muttered.
She didn’t know what it was about Beth, why she felt compelled to make friends with her. She’d originally thought that perhaps Beth possessed powers. Now the notion made her cringe. How cliché would that have been, a witch who dressed from head to toe in black, wore black lipstick and black makeup? Beth might as well have worn a pointed hat and towed a broomstick behind her. All of it would have been too absurd to be possible. Arianna had felt the slightest tingling whisper through her when they’d first met and thought it would be worth a try getting to know her. But not now, not after Beth’s continued accusation that Arianna was interested in more than just friendship. She would not keep making an ass of herself with Beth. She’d been drawn to Hallowed Hills; that much she knew. Why or to whom she’d been drawn remained a mystery. One thing she was certain of: she would not be wasting any more time or energy on Beth.
Dark Reality 7-Book Boxed Set Page 58