Other Side Of Forever (Other Side Of Forever Series Book 1)

by Shannon Eckrich

  “You two have already met?” Erica asked.

  “Yeah,” I mumbled, staring blankly at the sandwich on my tray.

  “Where?” Erica asked. “When?”

  “Who? What? Why?” Ben chuckled. “I thought I would just add that in.”

  Ethan laughed and said, “I walked into her store last night. She helped me find a book.” He shrugged. “Then I left.”

  Erica and Marie’s eyes were on me. I could feel their scorching glares burn my skin.

  I glanced up at them and attempted a smile as the boys began to talk. The attention faded away from me. They talked about cars, sports, video games—all of which were of no interest to me—so I slowly pulled apart my sandwich, piece by piece, waiting for lunch to end.

  Erica and Marie jumped into the conversation. I knew they were mad I hadn’t told them about Ethan. But how was I supposed to know he’d show up at our school?

  “So where are you from?” Ben asked, turning his attention to Ethan.

  “Savannah, Georgia,” Ethan replied flatly, like it was something he wasn’t interested in talking about.

  Ben caught on that Ethan had no interest in talking about his hometown, so the conversation drifted to movies.

  Sometime during the conversation, Aaron must have gotten bored. He placed his arms under the table and slid his hand across my thigh, causing Ethan’s warmth to fade as his own murky energy chilled my leg and worked its way through my body, slowly freezing my insides.

  “Ugh!” I reflexively moved away from Aaron and nearly landed in Ethan’s lap. A charged current of energy ricocheted through my veins. But that alone couldn’t extinguish the anger I had for Aaron. Or the humiliation I felt.

  I glanced up at Ethan to apologize, but as I did, his dark eyes captured mine. It was déjà vu from the store. I couldn’t look away.

  “Are you okay?” Ethan’s voice was low and sincere.

  The cafeteria faded away. All that remained were me and Ethan. We were the only source of light; everything else around us was pitch black. It was as if we were encased in our own little world. A world where flakes of snow drifted down, tickling our noses and blanketing the tops of our heads white. Then a hand landed on my shoulder and pulled me back to the surface.

  “Allie, come on,” Erica urged. “We’ll be late. The bell’s going to ring any minute now. Our next classes are halfway across the school.”

  I stood up and she grabbed my hand. She towed me through the cafeteria and out the doors. Her hand fell away from mine as we stepped into the hallway. “Why didn’t you tell me about him?” she asked while walking me to English.

  “Because I didn’t think it was important,” I said quickly. The tangle of emotions was too much for me to handle. All I wanted was a place to hide. I didn’t want to be confronted right now, but I knew Erica would refuse to back off.

  “A smokin’ hot guy walks into your store and you can’t even tell me?” She shook her head. “And then he shows up at our school?”

  “I’m sorry,” I sighed. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think I would see him again.”

  She turned her head and lifted her brows. “You didn’t think you would ever see him again? Yeah, right. Did you see the way he looked at you? And what about the way you looked at him?”

  “We didn’t look at each other in any specific kind of way,” I snapped.

  “Yeah, whatever. Tell me another one.” She rolled her eyes.

  “I’m not interested in him,” I enunciated. “Period.” Now all I had to do was convince myself of this.

  I turned into Mr. Brinkley’s class, leaving Erica to mumble under her breath as I walked to the back of the room toward my seat. I dropped my bag next to the desk and slid into my chair. Mr. Brinkley handed out copies of The Great Gatsby, which I had already read earlier in the year. But it didn’t matter. I was just happy Mr. Carson was gone and Mr. Brinkley was back.

  Mr. Brinkley didn’t care what we did in his class as long we were quiet and we finished our work. He was a short, balding man whose hairline receded with each day. He didn’t like to stand in front of the board and teach. His idea of teaching was to hand the students a book or papers while he sat behind his desk battling Pokémon on his Nintendo DS. I knew that because I caught him once when I approached his desk to ask him about an assignment he had given us. He keeps the volume down and conceals the console behind one of our English textbooks. As long as we pass the four major essays he gave us through the year, we’re okay.

  He placed my copy on the desk and glanced down at me. “Heard you had some trouble with Mr. Carson.”

  “Yeah,” I mumbled, tracing my finger over the cover of the book he’d handed me. “He said my paper on Shakespeare was sloppy and inconsistent.”

  “I know you’re busy with work and your mom, so if you can manage a D on the next paper, I’ll be sure to let the grade he gave you slide.”

  I looked up in surprise to see him rub his head and wink as he walked away. I flipped open the book to the first chapter, thinking that maybe there was a chance for my day to get better.

  Two paragraphs down, I realized I was too distracted by what happened in the cafeteria to read. I was relieved Ethan had kept our introduction to Erica and Marie short. He’d edited out all the stuff I didn’t want them to know. Erica would freak if she found out Becca and Cassie had come into the store. And if she confronted them, they would tell her what had happened. And that they thought I was a witch.

  “But why would he do that?” I mumbled under my breath. Was he attempting to hide what had happened? Did he know more about me than what he was letting on? I shook my head. That couldn’t be possible.

  I pushed the book aside, knowing I had to figure out a way to stop thinking about Ethan. I didn’t want anything to do with him, but he had this strange pull on me. And I had no idea what was causing it. All I knew was that I had to get away from him, because I had no idea how much longer I could resist that pull.

  * * *

  Erica and I walked through the parking lot. She had not spoken one word about our discussion in the hallway. I guess the last few hours of school had given her a chance to cool off, which was a relief. The last thing I felt like talking about right now was Ethan.

  We were almost to our cars when an expensive yellow sports car with a black rally stripe approached us. I had never seen the car before in the parking lot, but the guy sitting behind the wheel was becoming all too familiar. Ethan.

  As he passed by, his deep dark eyes once again snared me. I knew I had to look away, but I couldn’t fight it. Erica grabbed my arm and spun me around.

  “See,” she said. “You two can’t keep your eyes off each other.”

  “You’re wrong,” I argued. “How do you know he wasn’t looking at you?” I continued walking to my car as she trailed along behind me.

  “Because he never had a chance,” she laughed, rushing past me to unlock the door of her car.

  I shook my head. “See you tomorrow,” I said. “I have to get to work.”

  “See ya,” she sang. Then she shut her door and laughed some more.

  The drive only took a few minutes and my car behaved. As soon as I walked into work, Angie called me into the office. I couldn’t figure out what she needed to talk to me about. I thought I’d cleaned up the store pretty well last night.

  Nothing was out of place. I’d made sure of it. Could it be possible that I’d missed something? I walked in and sat across from her desk, still wondering why I was here.

  “Allie, I was doing inventory today,” she said. Her black bangs slipped down over her eyes. “Something is missing.” She pushed the renegade strands away with her hand and tucked them behind her ear. “It was here yesterday before I left.”

  My throat tightened and my body went all numb and tingly. “What is it?” I asked, barely able to speak.

  “My three hundred and thirty carat Rose De France amethyst.” She took a deep breath. I could tell this was as just as hard
on her as it was me. Except for me, my job was on the line. “Allie, that stone is worth twelve hundred dollars. Not to mention that it was the first haunted item to come into the shop.” Her green eyes studied mine. “What happened to it?”

  This wasn’t good. I had no choice but to tell her the truth.

  “A couple of girls came into the store last night and trashed it.” My eyes shifted to the floor. Then back up at her. “I cleaned up the shop and checked the inventory. I thought everything was here.”

  Angie’s eyes widened at the thought of being robbed. “Why didn’t you call the cops?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was stuck behind the counter while one of them went into the back room and the other one kept watch over me. I was scared.” It wasn’t a lie, but I couldn’t tell her everything that happened.

  “Did you know them, or get a good look at them?” she asked.

  I sighed and shook my head, denying the fact that I knew Becca and Cassie had trashed the store. That Cassie was the one who had probably taken off with the rock. I had to try to salvage my job without blowing my cover. If I told her the truth, not only would Cassie and Becca be in trouble with the cops, but they would also tell them what I could do. They knew. And I couldn’t risk anybody else finding out about me.

  “Allie, I’m afraid I have to let you go.”

  “What?” A feeling of dread washed through me. “Angie, I need this job. You don’t understand. I’ll find a way to replace the rock—work overtime or through the weekend. But this job is my life!” I had to keep this job even if I had to get down on my knees and beg.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s not just about the amethyst. With business being as slow as it is, I need to let someone go.” She pushed herself away from her desk and stood up. “I’ll call you if I need you.” Then she walked out of the room as her electric pencil sharpener came to life.

  I got up and walked quickly out of the store before I could set anything else off.

  Tiny drops of moisture fell from the sky as I got in my car and drove away. I couldn’t believe I had lost my job. Angie knew about my mom. She knew Mom was an irresponsible drunk. She knew I needed the money to pay the bills when Mom couldn’t go to work. How could she do this? My night couldn’t get any worse.

  By the time I got home, it was pouring. When I walked into the house, something was different. Not only was my seven-year-old golden retriever, Skippy, not lounging in his normal spot by the door, but his dishes were missing. They were normally scattered all over the linoleum floor. Also, the house was quiet. The house was never quiet. Mom left the volume up on the TV all the time, like being drunk had somehow impaired her hearing. I always had to turn it down when I walked through the door.

  “Mom,” I called out. There was no answer.

  I continued through the house, searching everywhere, even the closets and the floors. My mom would end up anywhere after she drank a bottle of vodka. Once, I’d found her in the cabinet under our sink. I still have no idea how she managed to squeeze herself in there. Or why.

  I opened up the back door and called for Skippy.

  He never came.

  I stepped back inside and slammed the door. “Skippy! Here, boy,” I called again, whistling afterward. Nothing.

  Where were they? I went back through the house. It wasn’t like my mom and my dog could get lost in a bungalow.

  I made my way back into the kitchen and dropped my bag on the table. Underneath a couple of bills, I noticed a note. I picked it up.

  Allie,

  I had to go away for a while. I took Skippy with me.

  Mom

  It took a minute to absorb the words. The note dropped from my hand and floated down to the floor, like the paper airplanes I used to make with Jeremy when I was little. Mine never flew very well. His were always perfect.

  “She left me!” The shock had worn off. Now I was pissed. I reached around, snatched my phone from my back pocket, and dialed her number. It was disconnected. I threw my phone across the kitchen and backed up against the wall. The pressure inside of me rose as I slid down the wall and huddled in the corner next to the fridge, hyperventilating into the palms of my hands. The storm had begun, and I could no longer fight the rain.

  She left me, she left me, she left me, she left me, she left me, she left me.

  Each word was another strike to my gut, a cataclysmic boom that shook up my insides. It didn’t take long for the lights above my head to start flashing off and on. The microwave, the blender—every appliance in the kitchen, plugged in or not—came to life. The TV switched on in the living room. It was too loud. I couldn’t take it. Not with everything else.

  I sprang up from the floor and ran outside. The wet pellets falling from the sky bounced off my skin. Ping. Ping. Ping. They spotted my black tee with wet circles the size of shotgun holes.

  My legs didn’t want to move fast enough through the mud, so I pushed them harder, until I was inside my car and speeding away from my house.

  By the time I made it to Augustine Beach, the rain had stopped. I pulled my car into the dim parking lot and stepped out onto the asphalt. This beach was where I’d spent most of my time after Dad left. There wasn’t much here. But the sand and the sound of the nearby river lapping against the rocks calmed me.

  I leaned up against the front of my car and stared into the dark night. I had no idea what was going to happen to me.

  “How can I survive without a job?” I whispered into the darkness. There was no way I could afford to stay in the house for long. I had less than six hundred dollars in my bank account. I couldn’t ask Erica or Marie or even Jeremy for help. I didn’t want to burden them. Besides, Erica and Marie were out anyway. They thought I had a good life. They knew nothing about my mother’s disease. And that my life revolved around taking care of her.

  Jeremy was the only one who knew the truth about me. About my mom, not my freaky powers, that is. He’d helped me cope, both after my father left and with Mom’s late night bar addiction. He’d even helped me pick out Skippy. And he protected me from everything. If he had been here, Becca and Cassie wouldn’t have even come into the store. Jeremy was the one person Becca feared. She knew he wouldn’t back down like everyone else. She never messed with me until Jeremy moved to Echo, Alabama. His parents got divorced and his mom wanted to be close to her family. His dad followed them out so he could be close to Jeremy. So, in the end, everything worked out for everyone.

  Everyone, except me.

  I shook my head. “Oh, Jeremy, why can’t you be here?”

  My eyes continued to look out toward the water until a pair of headlights lit up the darkness around me. It scared me because I couldn’t imagine who would be driving up here this late at night. I pushed off from the car and walked around to the driver’s side door. Before I could open my door, the car pulled up beside me.

  Ethan stepped out.

  “Hey,” he said, smiling. He reached into his back seat and pulled out a fleece blanket.

  You’ve got to be kidding me.

  “What are you doing here?” I snapped. I wasn’t expecting my voice to sound so mean. I wasn’t a mean person. But with the day I’d had, he was the last person I wanted to see.

  “Star gazing.” He tossed the blanket over his arm, ignored my hostility, and shut his car door. “And you?”

  I turned and glared into the darkness. “There isn’t a star in the sky.” Then I turned my head back around. “If you didn’t notice, it was raining earlier.” I shot him a quick glance, then looked away. I didn’t know what kind of scheme he was trying to pull, but I wasn’t going to fall for it.

  “You’re not very perceptive for someone who was just staring into the darkness, are you?” He smirked.

  I lifted my eyes to the sky. He was right. There was a gaping hole in the clouds, revealing a large cluster of stars. I inhaled deeply, knowing it was unfair of me to take my anger out on him. He didn’t deserve that. None o
f this was his fault.

  “Now that I answered your question, maybe you’ll answer mine.”

  “What question was that?” I asked.

  “Why are you here?” His playful expression had turned serious, like someone had flipped a switch.

  “No reason,” I answered casually.

  He walked around to the front of his car, then placed the blanket on the hood. The playfulness returned. “Well, if you’re doing nothing, maybe you would like to join me,” he said, hoisting himself up.

  I contemplated. The irresponsible part of me had no problem hopping up next to him on the hood of his car. But another part of me wanted to get as far away from him as possible. In the end, I knew which part would win. The pull was getting more and more difficult to resist. All I would need was a little more persuasion.

  “Come on.” He patted the vacant space beside him with his hand. “You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to…you don’t even have to look at me.” He laughed.

  “Fine.” I stalked over to the front of his car and climbed up next to him.

  He was still laughing.

  Chapter 3

  Ethan and I lay stretched out on the hood of his car. Our backs were pressed against the windshield. Neither of us spoke as we watched the night sky. The air was damp and cold enough that we could see the smoky wisps of our breaths when we breathed. But Ethan’s energy flooded me with warmth, pushing the coldness away. I didn’t know who I was trying to fool. I enjoyed being here with him. It wasn’t only his eyes that lured me in, it was all of him. If only my life was normal. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with the battle that raged inside me every time he was near.

  “Allie, why do you hate me so much?” he asked softly as he stared into the sky.

  His question took me by surprise. Did he really think that?

  “I…I don’t hate you, Ethan.” I stumbled over my words. “I barely know you.”

  “Then why do you try so hard to avoid me?”

  “I don’t,” I lied, knowing that I did, but not in a mean type of way. I closed my eyes and sighed, wishing he didn’t have to ask so many questions. Couldn’t he just go back to saying nothing at all?