Alix: You’re welcome.
She went back to her book not expecting to hear from him again, but to her surprise, she heard right back from him.
Ben: What are you doing?
Alix: Reading.
Ben: Reading what?
Alix: The latest book that’s part of a series about vampires and werewolves.
Ben: You like paranormal stuff?
Alix: In books, sure. I read almost everything except horror. I hate being scared.
Ben: I gathered that when u thought my house was going to be haunted ☺
Alix: That still isn’t funny.
Ben: Ya, it kinda is. I gotta go, my mom needs me for something. Text me later if you want.
Alix smiled. For some reason, it didn’t bother her as much when it was Ben that was teasing her. She went back to her book and got lost in the story until she heard her dad get home.
“Alix are you home?” her dad yelled from the front the door.
“Yeah dad, I’m in the living room.”
“Hey, honey.” He went over to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “How was school? Excited to be a senior?”
“It was ok dad. Mrs. Martel asked me to be Ben’s mentor for the first few days of school, you know to help him find his way around and stuff. So that made me late for a couple classes and more people were looking at me than I liked, but I survived.”
“That’s good honey. It’s good to do things sometimes that are out of your comfort zone, builds character.” He smiled at her and then the look on his face changed to one of concern. “So, about this Ben fellow, what is he like?”
“Well … he’s nice, funny, seems to get along with his parents. He’s had to move a bunch of times so doesn’t really have any friends. He likes to tease me and he’s new. I want to make sure he feels welcome, it must be scary moving to a new place.”
“Okay kiddo just be careful.”
“Yeah, sure dad. I’d better go check the lasagna.” Her dad turned on the TV and she went to the kitchen to see if dinner was done. She was kind of confused after the conversation with her dad. What did he mean; be careful? Ben wasn’t dangerous, maybe some things were a little strange but certainly not dangerous. The lasagna was ready, so she took it out of the oven to let it cool a bit and made a salad. She made up plates for her and her dad and took them into the living room. They always ate in the living room when her mom was at work.
Her dad was watching the news, but Alix didn’t pay attention to what was on, she had too many other things on her mind. They finished eating and Alix cleaned up the dishes and wrapped up a plate for her mom, not knowing what time she was going to be home.
When she finished in the kitchen she went back to the living room wanting to finish her book. She sat down with her eReader. A couple of times she thought about texting Ben but had no idea what to say so she just kept reading. She started yawning about three hours later and knew it was time for bed.
“Night dad.”
“Goodnight sweetheart have a good sleep.”
Alix went to her room to get ready for bed. Before she could go to sleep though she had to add one more thing to her list for the day.
- What did her dad mean by; be careful?
With so many thoughts swirling around her head she tossed and turned for a long time before she was able to fall asleep.
****
Alix was standing in a clearing; the sun was shining in the bright blue sky, and a light wind was blowing. White, yellow and purple wildflowers were all around her and the smell was wonderful. She looked around but didn’t recognize where she was, but it felt familiar. The clearing was surrounded by a beautiful forest and she could hear the sounds that she would expect to hear, birds chirping, insects buzzing and the wind blowing through the leaves, it was a very peaceful place. She saw a break in the trees and walked toward it. As she got closer it looked like a tunnel. She felt drawn to it and walked down the tunnel of trees. She felt very comfortable in the forest. She walked for a few minutes and came to the edge of the forest. As she stepped back into the sun she saw a building off in the distance and knew that was her destination. The building looked extremely far away but before she knew it she was standing in front of a small cabin. She knew something important was behind the door. She slowly pushed it open and went inside. It was warm and bright in the cabin. There was a small table with four chairs by a kitchen on one side of the room and a bed on the other side. She didn’t see anyone there though. She looked around the small room but didn’t see anything helpful. The most striking feature of the cabin was the stone fireplace and a wooden mantle on it. She went over to the fireplace to have a better look at the mantle, it was ornately carved. She gently ran her fingers over the wood, she stopped when she felt a small shock. She looked under her fingers and saw a beautiful flower carved in the wood. She had an overwhelming need to press her palm on to the flower. As she did a warm sensation went through her hand and down to her toes. She took her hand off the wood and looked at her hand. She was surprised to see an impression of the flower in a stunning tattoo in the middle of her right palm. It looked exactly like the wooden flower, but in beautiful vivid color. It had soft looking petals that were almost pointed at the ends. The petals of the flower were pink, blue, purple, green, and yellow. The center was a black circle. She thought it was very beautiful. As she was studying it, she heard a noise and turned around. Standing there was an elderly lady. “It’s almost time,” she said.
Alix woke with a start. Getting her bearings, she realized she was in her bedroom and it was the middle of the night. The dream had seemed so real. She even turned on her light to look at her hand, no tattoo. Of course not, she thought, it’s just a dream. As she tried to go back to sleep she couldn’t get the dream out her head, sleep was hard to come by the rest of the night.
Chapter 5
Her alarm went off and she struggled to get out of bed. Two nights with not enough sleep was going to take its toll today. Good thing tomorrow was Saturday, so she could sleep in. She knew it was going to be a long day. She got ready for school and made her coffee and toast. Before she headed out the door she grabbed her notebook and added the strange dream to the list. She decided she was going to fill Shay in on everything.
She arrived at Shay’s and this morning she was waiting for her on the step. “You look like crap, Alix.”
“Thanks a lot, Shay. I had a terrible sleep and a super strange dream that I have to tell you about.” Alix looked up and didn’t see Ben yet, so she gave Shay a quick overview of her dream. “I’ve never had a dream that felt so real before. I can still see it, it’s like a movie in my head.”
“Hmm, I’ll think on it for you. Here comes Ben.”
“Good morning,” Ben said, as he walked up.
“Morning, we should get going,” Shay said.
“Morning,” Alix said with a yawn as they started walking.
“Tired this morning Alix?” Ben asked her.
“Yeah, didn’t have a very good sleep. Glad I can sleep in tomorrow.”
The three of them talked all the way to school and they got to know a little more about Ben. Since he had lived in different places he had a lot of stories. Ben was funny, he had them in stitches by the time they got to school. They went to their lockers to get their books. They didn’t have a reading list for English yet, so Alix only had to get her Spanish book. The bell rang, and they made their way to their respective classes.
Alix and Ben were close to English, so they had lots of time once they took their seats. Alix was glad that Miss Fay was her teacher for this class. She normally wasn’t a fan of English and was so tired she was sure she could fall asleep in class, but not with Miss Fay. She knew class wouldn’t be boring with her. The second bell rang, and class started.
“Good morning everyone. I have a fun activity planned for us today. We are each going to write a story, but it’s going to be a group effort.” She handed out thin booklets to everyone. “Please put yo
ur name in the top right corner. Now let me explain how this is going to work. You can write about anything you like, but here’s the twist, each of you will only write for fifteen minutes then pass your papers to the person behind you. Those in the back will bring your paper up front. Each person will add to the story that has already been written and by the end of the class, the story should be finished. The story should be cohesive so read what has been written before you start writing. One more thing, make sure you put your name down on your part of each story. Please begin.”
Alix liked the idea of this activity. She thought for a minute and decided to use her unusual dream as her inspiration. She wrote about a girl who woke up in a place she didn’t know but wasn’t afraid of being there and how she started searching for any sign of other people or buildings. Before she knew it, Miss Fay told them to pass their papers back. She took her paper to the front desk in her row and quickly read what was passed to her. The girl in front of her wrote about friendly aliens coming to earth and wanting to stay. She added her part to the story. The second story she had to add to was about medieval knights battling dragons. The third one passed to her was about a high school romance. She wrote her part and finally, the last story was in front of her. This one was about a boy who had to solve the mystery of his missing sister. She wrote until Miss Fay said time was up.
“Good work class. Please pass your papers up to the front. I’m going to read them this weekend and give them back to you on Monday. Since you worked so hard today I’m going to end class a little early. Have good weekend kids.”
With that everyone packed up their stuff and left the room. Alix and Ben headed toward the gym.
“That was fun,” Alix said. “What did you think?”
“It was ok I guess. I had a hard time adding to a couple of the stories, did you?”
“No, not really, but I read so much that I could quickly get into the other stories. I like writing but don’t do it much anymore. We had to write every day in elementary school so that kind of took me back. I can’t wait to see how my story turned out. What did you write about?”
“A boy that moves to a new town in the middle of nowhere and has to start high school with a bunch of kids that have known each other forever.” He smiled at her. “Not very original but it’s what I know. I’ve never been much of a writer. What was your story about?”
“A girl who wakes up and doesn’t know where she is, she’s not afraid and starts looking for signs of civilization. I had a strange dream last night and I took part of that dream and used that.”
The bell rang just as they got to the gym.
“Maybe I won’t be late for Spanish today,” she smiled. “Meet you in the cafeteria?”
“Yep, I should be able to find my way. See you later.”
Alix made it to Spanish on time. Shay gave her a questioning look.
“Miss Fay let us out a few minutes early, so I had time to take Ben to the gym and still make it here on time today.” Before she could say more Mrs. Cozza started class and there was no more time for talking, well in English anyway. They were practicing some basic Spanish today.
The bell rang for lunchtime and Alix and Shay went to the cafeteria to wait for Ben. They were closer, and he had to change so they beat him there. Alix was still tired, but her teachers had kept her busy enough that she didn’t have time to notice. In fact, the morning had gone by far more quickly than she thought it would. She hoped the rest of day went by just as fast.
Ben got to the cafeteria a few minutes later and they got in line to get their lunch. The special on Friday was always pizza, Alix loved pizza, all kinds; she wasn’t picky.
“Hey Ben,” Alix turned to him, “It’s your lucky day, it’s pizza Friday! You said you liked pizza when we first met so you’ll be happy to know that every Friday the special is pizza. They’re pretty good too. I love pizza like Shay loves cookies.”
Ben just smiled remembering Shay and the cookies at his house. They got their lunch, pizza for all three of them. They found a table and dug into their lunch. Shay’s friends Madison and Julie came over part way through lunch and joined them at their table. They started talking to Ben and as usual, Alix retreated into herself. She had a hard time participating in group conversations. She got out her eReader and read until it was time to go to class.
Alix, Shay, and Ben walked to the stairs when Shay went to Social Studies and they went upstairs to Biology.
“You were kind of quiet at lunch, is everything okay?” Ben asked her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just not very good in groups. Other than Shay, you seem to be the only other person my age that I’m comfortable talking too.”
“Well, that seems to put me in an elite status. I think I like that,” he laughed, as he said it. “If it helps, I’m very comfortable around you too Alix.” he said bumping his arm into her shoulder.
Alix smiled at him as they took their seats at their station and got ready for class. “You might have to keep me awake, I have a feeling that today is going to be a boring class.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t fall asleep on my watch.”
Alix was partially right, what the teacher was talking about was boring, but Ben did indeed keep her awake. She discovered that he was quite a good artist as he kept sliding her small pieces of paper with pictures on them. By the end of class, he had drawn her a whole picture. She gathered up all the small drawings and put them in her bag, she knew she would definitely be keeping them.
As she walked Ben to Math she had to say something about his art. “That was great Ben, I don’t think I’ve ever had such an interesting Biology class. You’re a very good artist.”
“It was the least I could do after everything you’ve done for me; besides it was fun for me too. Drawing is my escape, just like I think reading is yours.”
“I’d like to see some of your art sometime,” Alix told him. “I think it’s amazing that anyone can draw anything, I have no talent for that. Well, here’s your class. I’d better get moving in order to make it to my class. See you later.”
Alix hurried to get to Culinary Arts. Since it was her favorite class she hated being late. As usual, the door was open, and she went straight to her station at the front. It appeared that Mr. Rollins waited to start class until she arrived. She gave him a small smile as she passed him. There were some benefits to a smaller school and having the same teachers for years.
Today they were actually cooking, baking in fact, her favorite. Mr. Rollins passed out the recipe for the day, she looked at it and smiled, cookies, Shay was going to be very happy. Alix loved making cookies and Ranger Cookies were one of her favorites. After all, how could you go wrong with coconut, crispy rice cereal, oatmeal, and sugar?
She got right to work. Being by herself, she was going to have to do more work than everyone else to get things done in the time given but she didn’t mind. She cooked and baked at home all the time. She found it relaxing. She got her butter and sugar going in her mixer and measured out the other ingredients. She was on autopilot, so she could let her thoughts drift. Of course, her thoughts went to Ben. She laughed to herself, just two days ago she wasn’t exactly looking forward to starting senior year, but with Ben here it was going much better than she had hoped for. He made her feel more normal. Before she knew it, her cookies were in the oven. While they were baking she took a few minutes to write down the small changes she made to the recipe. She always did that when she was baking. She cleaned up her kitchen and waited for the cookies to be done. A quick peek in the oven and they were perfect. She took them out and let them cool.
Mr. Rollins came around to each station to taste everyone’s cookies. She was last today. “These are great Alix, the best of the bunch. Good job,” he said to her.
“Thanks, Mr. Rollins. I made a couple of changes to the recipe, I wrote them down if you’d like to see.” She showed him her changes and he took note.
“Excellent work Alix. I can tell you’ve been baking
over the summer. You’re even better than last year,” he told her as class was finishing up. “Keep this up and you’ll end up with an A.”
If there was any class she was positive she could do well in it was cooking. She packed up her cookies and went to meet Shay and Ben at their lockers. Her last class of the day was the farthest away from their lockers, so Ben and Shay were already there waiting for her. Before she even had a chance to open her locker Shay was on her.
“Are those cookies I smell?” Shay said, sniffing the air and trying to snatch the bag out of her hand.
“Whoa there, Shay, you’ll know I’ll share. Back away from the bag,” Alix laughed at her. “Let’s head home and I’ll show you guys what I made in class today.”
Alix put some stuff in her locker and the three of them left the school. She didn’t open the bag, she wanted to see how long it would take for Shay to say something. She didn’t have to wait long. They were barely off school property before Shay cracked.
“Alix, I’m not waiting any longer, tell me what’s in the bag. I know it’s cookies, come on, hand them over.”
“Okay, okay, I said I’ll share but you don’t get to eat them all.” Alix opened the bag. “Ranger Cookies. Help yourself.” She held out the bag to both of them.
Shay was too busy munching away to talk.
“These are great Alix, you can bake for me any time.” Ben told her. “Tell you what, why don’t we make a deal, I’ll show you my art if you bake me something a few times?”
Alix pretended to think about it for a while. “Okay, you got yourself a deal,” she said with a smile. “Let’s shake on it.” As their hands touched she got that tingly feeling on her hand like she did last time when he touched her arm. She sucked in her breath at the feeling and looked up at him. It appeared as if he felt nothing, he still had the same smile on his face as before they shook hands. She did her best not to let anything show but she was sure Shay noticed, she was an observant girl, even while eating cookies.
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