“It’s just so unexpected,” Seth continued, the shock ringing in his voice. “The way you worship Tristan…. I just thought…. I mean I thought everyone loved him.”
“Everyone does love him!” I quickly defended Tristan. “Except…. Piper….” I admitted, trailing off. “Piper just doesn’t like to like anything that everyone else likes and that includes Tristan….. and I don’t worship him! We’re just…. best friends.”
“So I’ve heard, at least a thousand times since I met you,” Seth answered a little put off. “And I only met you a week ago!”
“Whatever,” I laughed Seth off and opened the glass door to the school office.
Three secretaries sat working busily at retro desks behind a light wood partition with a long gray peeling countertop. The entire office screamed late 70’s, even the secretaries in their polyester skirts and thick, tan nylons. I smiled at the three older ladies who had been working in this same school for as long as anyone could remember.
“Mrs. Sadler, this is Seth Smith, he’s a new student here and needs to check in with you,” I explained sweetly, approaching the long counter with a trailing Seth.
The three secretaries paused their work, fingers hovering over computer keyboards to gawk at the new student as blatantly as my classmates had. Mrs. Sadler, a woman in her late sixties recovered first, adjusting her thick framed cat-eyed glasses and pressing a hand to her graying French twist carefully. She stood quickly and walked to the counter with an unsure smile plastered to her overly made-up face.
“Seth Smith?” she questioned shyly.
“Mmm-hmmm,” I answered in awe that this secretary was as unnerved as everyone else seemed to be by Seth. Mrs. Sadler was notorious for her quick temper and lack of patience, especially when it came to the student body. I had worked very hard to stay under her radar, but I was positive Seth wouldn’t have to try nearly as hard as I did to get away with late arrivals and absences.
“Pleasure to meet you, Seth Smith,” Mrs. Sadler practically giggled.
“Thank you, you too,” Seth replied, giving her that big smile that seemed to work on every single female so far.
“Let me just see if I can’t find you your class schedule, alright?” Mrs. Sadler continued to coo and then walked back to her computer.
I turned my back on the voyeuring secretaries and leaned against the tall counter. “Most of your classes will be with me; this is a really small school. There are only thirty-two of us in the whole class.”
Seth nodded, his amber eyes piercing mine with gratitude. I wondered if he was anxious to get out of the awkwardness of the office and onto class, or if this whole experience was an unwanted nightmare. School was never something he had to think about before. Jupiter always tutored him, and with only a year and a half left before he could focus completely on Warrior-training, he probably hadn’t thought he would ever need to worry about it. But with the change of circumstances and his unwillingness to leave me by myself, high school and him would soon become old friends.
Mrs. Sadler stumbled through finding Seth’s papers and then walked him in circles explaining them to him so many times. By the time she finally released us for class she had to write us a pass because the bell rang several minutes ago.
“So this is high school?” Seth asked on our walk to Government. I had been right, we had most of our classes together, except during the period where I went to choir, Seth opted for weight lifting.
“This is it,” I agreed. “Super exciting, right?”
“So far,” Seth laughed.
“Actually, I really like it here,” I admitted, dropping my voice lest the rest of the student body hear my confession and believe I was delusional. “Everyone’s really nice and we all seem to get along. The community is really small, but we’ve all known each other since forever so we didn’t really have any other choice but to like each other.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Seth laughed again. I didn’t know what his preconceived notions of high school were, but a small farming town was nothing like what they aired on TV and I thought he would feel better knowing that.
I showed Seth to Government and introduced him to our middle-aged, frazzled teacher, Mrs. Trinker. Her short hair stuck up frizzy and unruly, and at least one side of her blouse was always untucked from her too-tight pencil skirt. Mrs. Trinker acknowledged the both of us kindly before letting us find our seats by Tristan and Piper, who despite not getting along always sat next to each other in an effort to share me. I ignored the hateful glances between them; just thankful Mrs. Trinker at least seemed immune to Seth’s charm.
The rest of the morning followed in the same pattern. I helped Seth move from class to class, introducing him to the monotonous tones of scheduled high school. Seth seemed to actually enjoy school, he really liked learning from different teachers and everyone was really nice to him, especially the girls.
That was a shocker….
By lunch, I decided Seth was adjusting well to school and the other students seemed to be adjusting to the phenomenon of having a new student grace the halls and the blinding attractiveness that wasn’t found in the average male. Or at least I hoped so. The sooner the student body moved on from ogling Seth, the sooner I could feel better about unleashing him on the human population.
“Does everyone at this school play basketball?” Seth asked, sitting down across from me with a heavy, full tray of food. Even in the dim lighting of the cramped cafeteria, I could see I failed Seth in explaining the do’s and don’ts of school lunch. I liked to eat too, but I could not understand three helpings of mystery loaf and instant mashed potatoes from the cafeteria buffet line.
Maybe I should have warned Seth about the menu.
“Pretty much,” Piper answered. “Everyone at this school plays every sport. There’s nothing else to do in this one-horse town.”
“You don’t even know what that phrase means,” I laughed tossing a French fry at Piper’s face. She swatted it away and then picked it up and reached across me to dip it in her ketchup/mayo mixture and pop it in her mouth.
“So I’m going to be the only one in the stands for your basketball game tomorrow night?” Seth asked, scooping up a bite of meatloaf with a healthy topping of mealy mashed potatoes and neon gravy.
“No, there’s some art geeks and band nerds that will be there too just because there’s nothing else to do,” Piper offered sarcastically.
Seth didn’t know any better so he relaxed while shoveling his fork in his mouth.
“Piper, if you weren’t so afraid of disappointing your parents you would be one of those art geeks!” I defended Piper’s social status insinuation.
“Not true!” Piper rebutted. “I just simply can’t deprive the world of my fantastic three-pointer!”
“Or your middle block,” I offered helpfully. “Besides, even the smiley faces you try to draw look evil.”
“Bleh!” Seth interrupted our giggling practically spitting out his last bite of food. “What is this?” he asked after forcing himself to swallow.
“That is mystery meat,” Tristan explained, sitting down across from me and squeezing my hand familiarly with his hand. “And Stella should have warned you not to even bother with that….” Tristan eyed Seth’s plate with the first form of sympathetic camaraderie I noticed from him and my heart swelled just a little with the hope of a future friendship between the two boys.
“I didn’t know he was going to take three helpings of it!” I defended myself, holding up my plate of French fries and offering them to Seth.
“The color of the gravy should have tipped me off,” Seth grumbled while Rigley and Lincoln joined us at the table next to Tristan. Our table had a very strict, unspoken rule and that was that boys sat on one side of the table and girls sat on the other. Seth was breaking the rule by sitting next to me, but being the rebel I was couldn’t make myself care. It was weird we still segregated ourselves….
“Do you have a thing for radioactive sauces?” R
igley asked, eyeing Seth’s plate with everyone else.
“Apparently,” Seth muttered. "Where are those chocolate chip pancakes when you need them?” He grabbed a fry off my plate, shooting me a grateful smile.
“Do not bring those up if you want me to share my fries,” I warned.
“Oh no,” Tristan gasped. “You didn’t eat her pancakes did you?”
“You ate her pancakes!” Piper chimed in, offering a horrified expression and a jingling hand over her heart.
“I didn’t know they were such a big deal!” Seth held up both hands in surrender, laughing.
“Which is why he was forgiven,” I conceded valiantly. “This time….”
“Careful Seth, once when I spent the night and Annabelle made them for us, I took one too many thinking it was perfectly fine to be, you know…. hungry,” Piper explained dramatically, “and Stella didn’t talk to me for a week. Not until I made my mom drive over to Annabelle’s and beg her to make a special batch for Stella just so she would stay my friend.” Piper waved her fork around while she told the story and her lips pursed together in an expression that promised she was serious.
“She’s lying to you Seth, don’t believe her,” I promised seriously and then added as a warning, “But seriously, don’t take my pancakes again.”
“Hello, Tristan,” a sickly sweet voice called from the other side of Piper. “Is this a new recruit for the basketball team?” Bree Henry asked innocently.
Ugh. Bree Henry. Not that I completely disliked her. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. My position on Earth required me to love all of humanity…. But if I had been allowed just one human to place outside of the love I had to unconditionally give to this planet, she would definitely be my first choice.
“Hey, Bree,” Tristan replied casually. “This is Seth. Seth this is Bree.” Tristan made an uninterested gesture between the two so they could be considered formally introduced and I swallowed my irritation.
“Hi Seth,” Bree cooed, flipping her highlighted hair over her shoulder. “So you are another one of Tristan’s recruits?”
Both Tristan and Seth laughed at that. “I’m not a recruit,” Seth explained shooting Tristan a sideways look. “I’m not even here to play basketball. I’m just a regular student.” He shot Bree his charming smile and I had to take a sip of my water to keep from making a face. If only we shared a telepathic communication…. I could have assured him, she wouldn’t take much effort to charm at all.
“I don’t think there’s anything regular about you,” she purred with that gross voice she was always talking to Tristan in.
Rigley snickered across the table and Piper and I held back our laughter. I wanted Seth to form his own opinions about Mead and make his own friends so that he didn’t always feel like he was tied to me, but I might have to warn him about the biggest flirt in school.
Like about not becoming her friend.
Seth shifted uncomfortably under Bree’s penetrating stare and gave me an uncertain glance. “So are you another one of Stella’s best friends?” he asked innocently.
Bree and I both let out a strangled laugh at the same time. She turned to stare at me for a second, malice thickening the air between us. I smoothed out my face and returned her glare with my sweetest smile, knowing I wasn’t taking the high road. She loathed when I was nice to her. She preferred outright honesty and the fact that she had made me her rival since the first day of kindergarten was not a secret. But, saving humanity and all, I was not really in a position to just come right out and say exactly how I felt about her.
“We’re, uh, friends,” I replied, shifting my gaze to Seth’s because I knew Bree’s reaction would be vile.
Tristan, Rigley and Lincoln burst into laughter at that and Piper, who had somehow not incited the same hatred in Bree as I did, shook her head like she knew better.
“If by friends you mean we go to the same school, happen to be in the same grade and unfortunately have to see each other daily….” Bree made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat and ripped open her lunch bag with extra force. “Then yeah, we’re friends.”
Yikes. So obviously not best friends.
“So who’s going to Lincoln’s after the game tomorrow night?” Rigley moved the conversation forward. Seth shot me an unsure glance and then went back to his radioactive lunch. Making high school enemies was so not on the list of acceptable Star-related activities….
“Oh I’ll be there,” Piper replied dryly, “with bells on.”
“Really?” Lincoln spoke up for the first time, his clear skin turning pink with the question.
“Yes, really,” Piper nodded enthusiastically, “with actual bells on.”
Lincoln looked back down at his sack lunch a little dejected, but didn’t offer a response to Piper’s sarcasm. I noticed the hint of disappointment in Lincoln’s demeanor and tried to salvage the situation.
“Are your parents out of town again, Lincoln?” I asked, investigating the reason behind a Friday night, after-game party. Weekend parties were not an uncommon affair in Mead, there wasn’t much else to do and most of the kids had older siblings more than willing to provide illegal-underage refreshments for a price. But a party in someone’s actual house was kind of uncommon. Usually, Friday night was spent with a circle of truck beds backed up around a bonfire. Those were easy to avoid. A house-party was a special occasion and not so easy to make excuses for.
“Yeah, Rigley refuses to waste an opportunity,” Lincoln replied, still staring at his lunch.
“So you girls going or what?” Rigley asked bluntly.
“I’m going!” Bree offered enthusiastically. “Liz and Kendall are too, as long as Kendall and Eli are still together…. Chances are they’ll break up before Friday night and then she won’t want to go. But there’s also a good chance they could break up and get back together before then too-“
“Anyway,” Piper cut her off before we could hear anymore scenarios that involved Kendall’s possible attendance. “Let’s just count them all in for the party until we hear differently, k?”
Bree rolled her eyes, but didn’t continue speculating anymore high school romances.
The table fell silent for a moment before Tristan added, “Not everyone is going to be drinking, and you can bring Seth.” Tristan nodded over to Seth who had somehow managed to eat most of the lunch on his plate. “It could be fun,” Tristan added softly to me.
“Maybe,” I conceded, wondering how Seth would react to a bunch of drunken teenagers pulling small town shenanigans like Tipsy-Cow-Tipping on a farm in the middle of nowhere.
“Depends on if we win or lose,” Piper decided.
“Which way?” Lincoln tried again and I had to hold back my smile at his obvious interest in Piper.
“That depends too, my friend,” Piper answered noncommittally and then got up to throw the remains of her lunch away.
Something moved across the ceiling…. something long, thin and black. A wisp of charcoal smoke moved with purpose; I saw the Shadow out of the corner of my eye, like a dark cloud in my peripheral. I whipped my head around to catch the demon in action, but it already disappeared before my eyes could find it. And then again, from the other side of the cafeteria, a puff of evil that slithered along the wall, a sadistic snake shape that slipped away to nothing before I could focus on my enemy.
“Are you Ok, Stel?” Tristan asked, as he watched me whip my head back and forth, my golden skin turning pale.
“Fine,” I turned to give him a reassuring smile and when I did the Shadow was back on the ceiling, paused and unmoving as if watching me.
I turned my head slower this time, sure I would miss the apparition, but there it stayed. The black tuft of smoke discolored the white tile and sent the faint smell of sulfur burning my nostrils. Goose bumps raised the hair on my forearms, and a sickening, nauseous feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. The Shadow didn’t move or flinch as I stared back, and although it did not have eyes per say, the head of the
demon seemed to watch me intently, as if egging me on…. daring me to react.
I watched the Shadow for a second before turning to Seth to get his attention. He had already seen it though, and stared intently at it. I felt his knee bounce up and down furiously as he tried to restrain his Warrior instinct and go after it, his entire body tensed with the effort not to go to battle. I wondered if there was a sword or dagger hidden in his casual outfit, a school sized one for school sized incidents.
Eventually the Shadow faded away, into the ceiling and the room returned to normal. The behavior was strange though, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the night when Seth appeared in my life, when Sidra died, if the nature of this war hadn’t changed in some way…. some terribly epic way that even Jupiter wouldn’t be able to prepare me for.
Shadows were supposed to influence evil from a distance. They were called Shadows for a reason; they were never seen, only glimpsed at. And they were never out rightly threatening, only influential manipulators.
My gaze fell back to Seth who was watching me closely as though my life were in immediate danger. His brilliant eyes glowed with his supernatural power and the warmth of his skin had picked up hues of gold. I smiled at him reassuringly, hoping to remind him he was in a room filled with humans, but it only softened his intensity a little.
Something was going on. And we needed to figure out what.
Preferably before my game tomorrow night.
Chapter Eight
“Hey, great game!” Tristan stopped me on my way to the locker room. The varsity boys’ team waited against the gym wall to start warm-ups while the varsity girls’ team cleaned up the rest of our discarded water cups and towels and cleared the gym floor.
“Thanks!” I gasped, still breathless. I wiped my still sweaty forehead with the back of my hand and placed both hands on my hips completely exhausted without the benefit of my supernatural powers. “They were good.”
“Not as good as you,” Tristan laughed. He moved a basketball back and forth casually in his hands and kept his intense gaze on me. His gaze was always intense lately, as if he had to watch me constantly or I would disappear into thin air. Sometimes his over protectiveness would get on my nerves, but this look, this new look wasn’t so much platonically possessive as it was…. I didn’t really know what it was. I felt my blood heat inside my veins and found the need to defuse the moment with humor.