“It’s us or her,” John said. “And there isn’t a question of who we would choose.”
Natasha nodded and looked at the floor, her eyes beginning to water.
“She’ll be fine,” John promised.
Katie made her way to the restaurant where she and Tyson had planned to meet. When she got there, she noticed that there were many students from her school there. She greeted a few and gave hugs to others.
“Katie!” she heard someone call her name. She turned around and saw Emily facing her. Her dark skin seemed to glow from within, bright and giving off an aura of happiness.
“Emily!” she held her in a tight embrace. “What are you doing here?” Katie asked, her mouth open in a pleasant smile.
“Was I not invited?” Emily asked, tilting her head.
“Of course you were!” Katie said. “I just thought you had to be with your family or something.”
Emily made a small noise of annoyance. “I did, but I managed to slip away for a few hours so I could have breakfast with you and Tyson.”
“Well, I’m glad you came,” Katie replied sincerely. “But speaking of Tyson, where is he?”
Katie felt his breath on the back of her neck before he spoke. “Oh, sorry, he couldn’t make it.”
Katie let out a playful scream. “Don’t be so weird!” she laughed. She turned around and hugged Tyson before he led her and Emily to the booth he had secured.
“Today is going to be a great day,” he said as they all sat down. Tyson sat on one side while Emily and Katie sat across from him. A waiter came by and silently handed menus to them before walking away.
“Tell me about it,” said Katie. “And a whole new future to look forward to.” Something inside Katie winced.
“You have no idea,” Emily said. Katie chuckled silently, thinking the same.
After they ordered Katie started to play with a sugar packet while Tyson and Emily talked about what teachers they hated and liked the most over the years.
“But I had Mr. Green back in middle school,” Tyson said. “Remember him, Katie?” he looked over her and kept speaking. “He was the one who made me eat chalk because I threw it at his head one day?” Katie didn’t respond. “Katie?”
Katie jumped slightly. “Huh?” she said, almost groggily.
Tyson scanned her curiously. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she breathed. “I-I’m, uh, I’m fine.”
Emily seemed to not notice but Tyson didn’t believe Katie.
“When there’s something on your mind you always space out,” Tyson said. “Actually, it’s probably the only time you space out, so please just tell me?”
“You’re right,” Katie replied. “I’ll tell you guys later. Let’s just talk about, us, right now.”
Tyson raised an eyebrow. “Us? Like you and me? Together?”
“What? No! I didn’t mean—”
Katie stopped talking suddenly. A waitress and her customer caught her attention. The waitress took the customer’s order and walked away. Katie immediately recognized the customer. The dark hair, lightly tanned skin…
Katie quickly stood up, knocking over the waters on the table. Tyson got up before the water spilled onto his pants.
Sabrina smiled, waved her hand and disappeared around a corner.
“Katie, what’s happening?” Tyson asked. He attempted to clean the water from the table using the napkins that their utensils had been wrapped in. They were all sodden and sat in a pile on the table. A busboy came by and took the pile and gave the table a wipe before moving on.
Emily didn’t seem to mind or notice Katie’s increasingly frantic behavior.
“Sorry, I thought I saw something,” Katie said. She felt slightly embarrassed as many of her schoolmates were peering over the counters, trying to get a good look at where the ruckus had come from. “Just a trick of the light.”
Just then their food arrived, and they all silently agreed to eat. After they finished, they talked a bit, but Tyson kept an alert eye on Katie.
“Here’s your checks,” a waitress said. It wasn’t the one they had before. Her hair was almost as blonde as Katie’s. She eyed Tyson before saying, “Your tip doesn’t only have to be in cash.”
Katie and Emily both mouthed “wow” to each other.
“So, it looks like you found a new girl,” Katie said. “I mean, she’s okay looking, if you like women twice your age.”
“Shut up,” Tyson said.
Katie and Emily laughed. Katie went through her purse to look for her wallet. “Oh no,” she said.
“What’s wrong?” Tyson asked, looking around as if there was a sign that would tell him.
“I forgot my wallet back home,” she said.
Tyson smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ve got it.”
“Thanks, I’ll pay you back.” She said.
“No,” Tyson said flatly. “You don’t have to, and I won’t accept it.”
Katie hated borrowing money from anyone, even her parents. She had a side job she did on some weekends which paid her decently. She always paid others back promptly because she knew it was the right thing to do. Plus, she hated the feeling of being in debt to someone.
“Thank you, but I—”
“Honestly, don’t,” Tyson said. “You would do the same for me.”
Emily finished paying and they all left. Emily gave Tyson a discreet look, making sure Katie didn’t see. The look was clear as a neon sign that read, “You and Katie should totally be a thing.”
After breakfast, Emily immediately rushed back to her family. For the rest of the day, Katie and Tyson hung out in the city, walking around, checking out stores and taking part in various activities.
The school’s graduation was to start at eight. Tyson and Katie arrived at the school at a quarter past seven, which was fifteen minutes late, according to one of their teachers. They met Emily by their lockers after they were reprimand by Mrs. Steinfalk. Emily’s locker was nearly empty.
“You guys are so late,” Emily laughed as Tyson and Katie hastily threw their locker’s contents into bags.
“We lost track of time,” Katie said, only glancing at Emily for a moment. When they finished, the three of them made their way towards the auditorium.
The hallways were decorated with the school’s colors; blue, green and purple. The high school graduates always wore blue gowns while the rest wore green ones.
“Finally!” Tyson said as a group of their fellow seniors walked past, dressed in royal blue gowns. “We get to wear nice gowns this year!”
“I sort of like the green,” Katie commented. “And I think green looks better on you.”
“How can you say that?” Tyson asked. “You haven’t even seen me in the blue ones yet!”
Emily folded her arms, smiled and nodded in agreement with Katie. “Tyson, we’re girls, we know how colors work.”
“Whatever,” Tyson said. “As long as I’m getting my diploma, I’m happy.”
“Well, that waitress at Stacey’s won’t mind what you wear,” Katie said. Emily laughed at Tyson’s look of annoyance.
“Actually, she’ll probably be disappointed that you’re wearing clothes at all.”
“Shut up,” said Tyson.
Before Emily finished laughing, her phone rang. She looked at her phone and the smile on her face died immediately as she answered it. There were a few groans of “Uh, huh,” before she hung up.
“I have to show my cousins around the school,” she told Tyson and Katie. “They’re all excited because this is their third time in the States.”
“Well, at least your family is here,” Katie said. “My parents aren’t coming at all.”
“That sucks,” Emily said. “But I’d rather be in your position.” And she walked away.
Tyson and Katie walked through the large auditorium doors. They were supposed to go backstage and get ready for graduation.
“Why can’t your parents come?” Tyson asked.
“I’ll
explain later,” Katie replied.
Katie went into deep thought about telling Tyson everything now but thought against it at the same time due to the number of people around.
“Katie, you alright?” Tyson asked. “You’ve been a bit out of it all day.”
That was true. Even while they were exploring the city, Katie’s mind went back to the conversation she had with her parents the previous night.
“I’m sorry, you’re right,” she told Tyson. “I have to tell you something. But not now. After graduation.”
“Alright, well,” Tyson said, sounding nervous. “I have something to tell you now.”
Katie stared at him, waiting for him to speak. When he opened his mouth, he was cut off by the PA system.
“All students shall make their way backstage now. We will be doing final rehearsals in five minutes.”
Katie and Tyson made their way backstage. Hundreds of students did too, bumping against each other and tripping on their way.
The back wall of the stage was draped with blue curtains. The left wall of the auditorium was draped in green and the right side was draped in purple. Along the high ceilings were several large wooden beams, all of them hidden by the professional lighting system that lay just beneath.
In the middle of the auditorium was a huge Papier-mâchè bird hanging from the wooden beams. It was a swift, the school’s mascot that symbolized speed and intelligence.
The “final rehearsals” meant that they were all to change into their proper gowns quickly and then line up according to the list they were given. Then they would wait for the valedictorian to give her speech before stepping on stage to receive their diplomas.
Katie went to the left where the temporary girl’s changing room was set up while Tyson walked right, towards the very back. It didn’t take long for Katie to change and she returned to the area behind the stage where the rest of the students were waiting.
“Two idiots are pretending to have ‘sword fights’ in the changing rooms,” Tyson said as he returned. He looked up at Katie and said “Whoa,” audibly before she could inquire about the sword fight.
“Thanks,” Katie said, easing Tyson’s nervousness. “You look pretty good too. What were you saying about a sword fight?”
Tyson laughed and explained to Katie what happened. Katie rolled her eyes and told Tyson to forget about it.
Just then Emily walked up, mumbling something under her breath.
“Family being annoying?” Tyson asked.
“Huh?” Emily asked, looking up. “Oh, yeah,” she laughed and then said that she should go get changed.
“We’ll be right here!” Katie called out to her as Emily walked away. Emily turned around briefly and smiled before disappearing into a changing room.
“I hope she’s okay,” Tyson said. “It seems like her family is getting to her a bit.”
“She’ll be fine,” Katie told Tyson. “Would you excuse me for a moment? I just have to use the bathroom all of a sudden.”
“Sure.”
Katie made her way to the closest bathroom, which was down the hall outside the auditorium, and found it empty. She went to a stall and quickly did her business. While she washed her hands, she stared at herself in the mirror. Katie felt like a different person now, she could see the change in herself, even though nothing physical was different about her. As she stood there contemplating someone entered the restroom.
Absent-mindedly, Katie greeted the person who walked into the bathroom. The girl replied and when the door closed Katie realized that the girl who walked in was Sabrina.
Katie gasped and looked back but no one was there.
“Where did you go?”
Another girl walked into the bathroom and she had apparently heard Katie’s question.
“Are you talking about the last four years of your life?” the girl asked. She had poorly kept, red curly hair that appeared impossible to tame, though the efforts to do so showed. “I’ve been asking myself the same question all day.”
Katie didn’t say anything but the girl went on.
“The school psychiatrist found me earlier today and told me he would see any former students if they were feeling stressed about life.”
“I’m fine,” Katie said. She didn’t know the girl well but recognized her as being on the school’s volleyball team.
“Yeah, I wasn’t going to see him either,” the girl replied. “There’s something about him that makes him super creepy.”
Katie heard the girl but didn’t respond. The girl made her way into one of the stalls and Katie quickly left the bathroom, scared of another encounter with Sabrina.
Katie walked back to the auditorium and was greeted by an overly enthusiastic Emily. “There you are!”
Graduation had already started. The valedictorian was talking to the audience. Katie walked in line beside Emily.
“What took so long?” Tyson asked under his breath.
“Nothing important, some weird girl in the bathroom,” said Katie.
“Guys,” Emily said. “We should get into our proper places. They will call the graduates on stage alphabetically by last name.”
They all shuffled into their respective places. Katie had just stepped back in line when the graduates’ names started being called out. The students stepped up on stage, received their diplomas, and stood in another line, facing the audience from the stage.
It wasn’t long before they called Katie onto the stage and Tyson was just a few people behind her. The list went on and soon enough Emily joined them on stage, as did the rest of the graduating class.
The audience was cheering and applauding, some parents had tears in their eyes. Katie even felt a touch emotional at her accomplishment.
Suddenly, the sound of explosions and crackling rang out through the auditorium and screams of terror filled the air. The railing above the backdrop of the stage had caught fire. Some of the audience pointed towards the stage. Katie turned back and saw flames eating away at the curtains. Several of the students had already scrambled across the stage towards safety.
The flames leaped around the metal poles at the sides of the stage and they fell, hitting a student. Another student dragged him across the auditorium floor and out of the fire. Katie saw Emily running and called out to her. Emily didn’t respond.
“Emily!” Katie called out again. Emily was running towards the exit.
The large bird had caught fire. As if it happened in slow motion, Katie watched as Emily ran under the bird as it crashed down on her. When it hit the floor, the fire spread everywhere.
Katie was coughing and her eyes stung, but she was determined to see that Emily was safe.
“Emily!” she cried out, this time in fear and sadness. She ran towards Emily to try to help her, but there was nothing to be done. Katie instinctively reached inside herself and tried to contact her powers. She pushed her hands out, hoping she could create water to douse the fire but nothing happened. She called out Emily’s name again.
Palatinii Cycle Page 5
