The Crescent Stone

by E G McNally

  However, she wasn’t very surprised to hear her grandparents moving around in the kitchen downstairs. No doubt, they were preparing something for breakfast. They probably wanted Taylor to start her first day of school on a fully satisfied belly.

  Taylor had a quick shower and then dressed herself in some of the new clothes she had set out the night before. She hurried downstairs and joined her grandparents in the kitchen for breakfast.

  “I called ahead while you were getting ready. The principal will have someone waiting in the office to escort you around the school. They should have all your books and your class schedule ready. Hope you don’t mind.” Grandma smiled, handing Taylor a plate of scrambled eggs and Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes.

  Taylor wolfed down the pancakes and shoveled the eggs into her mouth. Satisfied with the tasty breakfast Taylor found her old back pack and hurried out to the car waiting patiently for Grandma to catch up.

  The drive was short, only about five minutes. She made sure to watch the road names so that later on she could walk to school alone. The school was tucked back, among some houses and a hill, on the far side of the river. Many students were gathered out front waiting for the first bell to ring.

  Taylor clung to her back pack and waved by to Grandma.

  “Wish me luck,” she called back to the car.

  “Don’t sass your teachers and good luck.” She responded with the window rolled down.

  Taylor collected her thoughts, held her head high and walked up to the main doors, strolling left, once inside the hallway until she entered into the office. An older lady at the front desk looked to her and asked, “May I help you?”

  Taylor leaned over the desk and responded, “I’m the new girl, Taylor Saskia. I’m supposed to meet a student here to show me to my classes.”

  “Oh yes, just one moment.” She said and backed out of the desk chair she was sitting in. She disappeared into a back room to file some paper work and then returned to the desk. When she sat back down she seemed to have forgotten what she was doing and began working on some files in front of her. She glanced up at Taylor, scrunched her forehead, and then nodded her head as if she had suddenly remembered.

  “Oh, um,” she fumbled with her words then signaled to a boy sitting on a bench in the office. “Derek, this is Taylor Saskia, you’ll be escorting her to all of her classes and showing her around.” Then she turned to Taylor and said. “Taylor, this is Derek Willem, he’s new as of last week, so I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about. He just took an editor position on the school newspaper and will be joining the football team this spring, so if you have any questions about what’s going on around here, I’m sure he’ll know.” She handed Taylor her class schedule and dismissed her, returning to the work on her desktop.

  Derek held open the door and allowed Taylor to walk out before he released it and then joined her in the hallway. Taylor handed him her class schedule and he browsed through it then handed it back to her.

  “I’ve got first, second, and sixth period with you, but I know people in those other classes so you shouldn’t be alone. I’ll meet you outside of class if you’d like, in case you need to figure out where to go next.” He winked at her, and then led Taylor on to the first class.

  When they walked into the room several of the kids stopped what they were doing and glared at Taylor.

  “Hey, you’re that girl on the T.V.” One kid pointed out, gathering the rest of the class’s attention.

  “That’s right, you are. What’d you do, sell your soul to the devil?” Another kid sneered at her and then several of them chimed in.

  Most of the kids stayed in their seats but a couple of kids grouped up and formed a half circle around Taylor.

  Completely acting innocent, as if he didn’t know what the kids were getting at, Derek turned to Taylor and said. “So you’re the girl all this fuss is about. I’d herd rumors around school and parents talking about it, but I didn’t realize it was you.”

  “Nice, now you’re part of this stupid crap also?” Taylor asked, glaring at him.

  “Is it true? Can you really heal with amazing speed?” He asked.

  “No, people are just stupid and will believe anything they see on T.V.” Taylor said a bit scared of what the kids were planning.

  “So that was all a fake, on the news?” One of the kids in the group had asked.

  “Yeah, you know, they were just trying to get some good reviews. You know how T.V. can be. Throw a little excitement here and there and they get their ratings back.” She stumbled over some of her words as she was making up a story. Derek made a sour face at her and then backed off. He didn’t really seem to care that much.

  “Sure, I don’t think I believe that. My dad works at that news station and he says you’re a freak.” One kid barely finished saying before another one got up into Taylor’s face so closely, that she tripped over the garbage can, and fell against the wall, making a complete fool out of herself. Most of the kids in the classroom laughed at her, before the teacher entered the room and interrupted the debacle. Derek was the only one not laughing, but he was sitting at the far back of the classroom peering at something else, acting as if he didn’t care.

  “Well I can see you’ve already acquainted yourself with the other classmates so please take a seat so I can begin English 200.” The teacher wrote the class name and his name on the chalk board in big sloppy letters, and began the lecture. “Most of you have finished A Tale of Two Cities I hope.” He looked at Taylor, “Just follow along if you haven’t.”

  Her face turned a beet red as she sank down into the already awkward seat in the front row of the classroom, and avoided looking at anyone, knowing that she hadn’t a clue about the story. It was actually kind of ironic because she was required to read that book back home for her old English class, but she managed to get out of it with the move, but now she wished she had read it. Everyone was going to know everything that was going on, in this class for the next few days and she hadn’t a clue.

  “Great,” she mumbled.

  “You have something to add, Taylor?” The teacher raised an eyebrow at her.

  “No,” she grumbled and slid down lower into her seat, waiting desperately for the bell.

  Finally it rang, and Derek, true to his word, waited outside the door until Taylor managed to unglue herself from the chair, and mosey on out of the classroom.

  “Next is math with Mr. Kriedberg. He’s a pretty nice guy and he just lectures us on the math subject for the day so the class goes by pretty quickly.” Derek told her.

  “Cool,” she replied, feeling confident, walking beside the tall, tanned, gently muscled boy, which was Derek.

  “Hey Derek, What’s up?” Some kid said passing in the hall.

  “Yo,” another kid jabbed him in the shoulder. “New chick?” The boy grinned at Taylor.

  “New to school, you know it.” Derek responded to the boy.

  Taylor couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculously cheesy response Derek just made. He turned to her with a teasing glare.

  “Hey, I’m just trying to fit in. Lay off.” He commented, “You could take some hints from me you know.”

  “What, I don’t think so, Mr. Greasy hair.” Taylor teased back, running her hand through his gelled T.V. reporter look.

  “Hey don’t touch the hair, it’s the Axe effect.” He responded, knocking away her hand.

  Taylor laughed at him again, rolling her eyes back. “The Axe effect – you’ve seen way too many commercials.”

  “Whatever, here’s math, just find a seat. I’m sure the teacher will introduce you.” Derek huffed and then sauntered into his seat near the back of the classroom again.

  Taylor watched as all the other kids found their seats and then a big grin crept across her face when she noticed the only empty seat was directly across from Derek.

  “Oops, looks like your Axe effect pulled me in.” She laughed again in Derek’s face.

  “Whatever,” he rep
lied and sat ego injured staring at the front of the classroom, ignoring Taylor.

  The teacher stood up from his desk when the bell rang and pointed out the name of the class and what section they were studying. Taylor was sure the teachers were doing that so that she could figure out where to pick up from.

  “We’ve got a new student joining us. I’m sure of coarse this being a little town that I’m the last to know. Taylor Saskia,” he pointed back at her as she slightly waved her arm avoiding too much notice. “I’m Mr. Kriedberg, and I’m sure your classmate Derek there, would love to show you where we will be starting in the textbook today.”

  Derek looked up from his desk, and over to Taylor, then back to Mr. Kriedberg, and finally scooted his desk over until he was just close enough to point out in the textbook where they were and mumble a few things about the lesson.

  “Thank you Derek, and please remember girls don’t have cooties.” Mr. Kriedberg commented, obviously noticing the hesitation Derek had to speak with Taylor. The whole class snickered at the comment and Derek groaned ever angrier with Taylor.

  “You suck,” he mumbled, just loud enough so that Taylor could tell what he meant.

  “Sorry,” she mouthed the words, and then finally turned her attention to the teacher’s lecture. She found that she had to pay attention or she had no clue what was going on.

  The rest of the day went pretty smooth. She found that she had to pay attention in most of the classes, otherwise she was completely lost. Art was fun, because she didn’t have to do any thinking, just playing around with pencils and paints.

  Sixth period was the best. She had P.E. with Derek, and by then he wasn’t mad at her anymore. Normally she wouldn’t like P.E. but for whatever reason this week they were doing a ton of running activities, and she was really fast.

  “Oh look, what a surprise. Little miss devil child can outrun everyone. Let me guess, one of the perks from the man below?” One of the jerks from first period caught up with Taylor on the track, and commented. A second, followed shortly behind, sneering little nasty comments between gasps of breath.

  “Seriously, why don’t you guys get a life?” Taylor brushed against the guy, pushing him aside.

  He looked back at the other guy, smirked, and then stuck out his foot tripping Taylor on the tracks.

  “How’s that feel . . . Satan’s child!” He sneered and then fell back on the tracks, acting innocent and curious just like everyone else catching up to Taylor.

  She tumbled over herself a couple of times down the track and stopped against the gravel just on the side of the track. Derek rushed over to her side, helped her up, and brushed away the dirt and marks on her back.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me, did you see that?” Taylor pointed at the jerk that tripped her. “He tripped me on purpose.” She wiped some blood off of her arms, they were both scratched up and hobbled over to the benches, where she found a spare shirt and rubbed her knee with it because it was bleeding pretty badly.

  The P.E. teacher stayed back toward the other end of the track, pretending like he didn’t see anything. Derek got his attention, but by the time he arrived, Taylor had already taken care of most of the scrapes.

  “Oh sorry, I didn’t notice you fell,” the teacher commented nonchalantly.

  Taylor glared at the teacher. “Can I go and clean up?” She attempted to sound calm.

  “Oh those are just scratches, toughen up and wait until the end of class like everyone else.” The teacher harked and then joined the rest of the class leading them in some stretches and stomach crunches.

  “What the heck is his problem?” Taylor asked Derek, who stayed behind with her, while the rest of the class finished the exercises.

  “Who knows? He’s the basketball coach, and very old school, also kind of a jerk to almost everyone. Don’t let it get to you.” Derek explained.

  “I won’t, it’s just weird, dealing with that attitude, from an adult.” Taylor finished wiping off the scratches, realizing that the scrapes had healed up, just like at the hospital, but no one else had noticed yet. Quickly, before drawing any attention, she rubbed some of the blood from the shirt and some dirt from the ground, back onto her arms and knees, hiding the clean uninjured skin.

  “Do you need some help with that?” Derek asked Taylor, pointing to her dirty knee, unaware that she had just covered her non-injury up.

  “No I’m fine. I’ll just clean it up in the locker room with soap and water. Let it clot for now, you know?” She shrugged.

  “Finally,” Derek helped Taylor up, while she faked a limp off the field, just after the final bell rang.

  “Hey there’s a basketball game tomorrow night and I could get you out of a couple of classes if you want to do some school reporting.” Derek commented.

  “Yeah, how can you get me out of class?”

  “Well, we usually leave when the team leaves, that way we can follow the warm up and the rest of the game, and tomorrow the team leaves before lunch. So, if you want out of class for a while you can come to the game and learn the ropes of reporting for the school newspaper.” He told her, nudging her shoulder. “It can be pretty fun, plus afterwards we always go out to eat.”

  “Okay, you’ve sold me. I’ll have to run it through my grandparent’s but I bet they won’t mind.” She replied, pulling the hair tie from her hair, allowing the long black strands to fall against her shoulders. “And at least I won’t have to do gym tomorrow.”

  “Cool, meet me in the newspaper office before lunch and we’ll get going.” He scribbled the room number down on her hand and took off toward the parking lot. “See ya tomorrow,” he shouted back.

  Taylor met her Grandma out front, tossed her full book bag into the back seat, and joined Grandma in the front seat.

  “How was your first day of school?” Grandma asked.

  “Not too bad, some people recognized me from the news, but otherwise, I met a cool guy who showed me around the school and invited me to a basketball game tomorrow night. He edits the school newspaper, and invited me to come along and maybe do some writing for the newspaper, what do you think?” Taylor asked.

  “Sounds like fun, I’ll run it through your Grandpa, but I bet he’ll be excited that you’re making friends.” She reassured her. “Well, help yourself to an after school snack. I’m sure you’ve got homework to catch up with. I’ll call you when dinner is done.”

  “Okay, thanks.” Taylor responded, reaching back for her backpack, before running into the house and stopping at the fridge for a fruit pie and milk. She gorged out, until she was filled up, and then ran upstairs to her room, rummaging through her backpack until she found A Tale of Two Cities, and began reading, propped up on her bed pillows.

  Dinner was no let down as usual. Grandma made some of the best old fashion meals imaginable. A homemade chicken pot pie, followed by an amazing custard for dessert, made the perfect end to a rough day. Taylor hit the sack and eagerly awaited the start of the next day, where she would get to hang out with Derek, away from school, and away from the jerks in her classes.

  First period wasn’t too bad. Having read halfway through the book last night, Taylor was able to participate in the class discussion and felt less like part of her chair and more like part of the class.

  Second period was strange. Derek had been present in the back of the classroom first period, but he was absent second period and she had no idea where he went. She could only assume that he had to get some stuff ready for the game, and she would see him later before they left.

  Once the ending bell for fourth period rang, Taylor hurried off to the room number that Derek scribbled on her hand the day before. She peeked into the room, but Derek was nowhere to be found. Thinking that maybe he was just hidden in a corner just out of sight, she walked into the room, and was greeted by and overzealous red head.

  She had very long hair, straight and lifeless with green eyes and freckles. She was probably four inches shorter than Taylor, but she was wear
ing fashionable boots with a two inch heal so the difference in height wasn’t much between the two of them. She had on tight fitting jeans and a black overcoat with a hot pink shirt underneath. When she reached out to shake Taylor’s hand she noticed some fancy black netted arm sleeves that attached at her thumb.

  “Hi, I’m Kim. Derek said you’d show up. He’s supposed to meet us at the game, something came up.” She said with a smirk and shook Taylor’s hand enthusiastically.

  “And I’m Taylor, which obviously you already know.” Taylor responded pulling her hand back. She was a little surprised to be greeted by someone other than Derek. She wasn’t used to outgoing personalities and was very uncomfortable with the confrontation.

  “This is the newsroom if you didn’t already guess. Derek got called home for something, so hopefully we’ll see him at the game later. I usually do the team write ups but I’m graduating this year so someone else needs to learn how to do it and Derek thinks you’ll do okay for now. Basically we just follow the team out to the game, watch it, take some little notes, and then write a small article about the game. The city likes that we do this and uses our articles for their newspaper as well; it lets the town know how the high school team is doing. We get more support this way. Well I think that’s about it. I’ll drive us, just meet me in front of the school in about forty minutes; I think that’s around when the team is leaving.” She said wrapping up her conversation with Taylor and scooting her out the door.

  Taylor stopped, turned back to her and almost started asking a question before she changed her mind and walked off. She needed to stop at her locker and pick up the rest of her school work before leaving.

  “She seems cool, a little eccentric maybe, but cool. And at least she didn’t ask me anything stupid.” She mumbled to herself, stuffing books into her backpack at her locker. Once she was finished gathering her school work she hurried out to the parking lot and waited for Kim. She wondered what had taken Derek away for the day and then put her thoughts aside hoping that she’d see him later, at the game.