The Prophecy of Arcadia

by M. H. Soars

  “I see that you're still friends with Julian. I hope Ethan isn't the jealous type.” Melanie, who had apparently resurfaced, piped in.

  “Ignore Melanie, Alexia. She's in one of her moods.” Sam looked hard in Melanie’s direction. Melanie, in turn, just rolled her eyes.

  We started to walk to my first period classroom, and I was glad I didn’t have to rely on the map provided by the school. To say this place was huge was an understatement. I would probably require a guide for a month before I could navigate the hallways on my own.

  I bristled when I saw Chloe standing right in front of my classroom. Ethan’s bitchy ex-girlfriend zeroed in on me with a laser-sharp stare. It had been an easy thing to antagonize her at cheer camp, when I knew I would never see her again and I’d had Julian backing me up. Not so much now that I would be attending the same school as her.

  “Well, well, if it isn’t the little dwarf and her pack of clowns.” I felt my face get red, and the conversation surrounding us stopped abruptly. Sam, Mia, and Melanie also tensed. I hoped that we weren’t about to start a cat fight before first period.

  “A pack of clowns?” Sean guffawed behind us. “Gee, Chloe. Are you daft or something? A group of clowns is known as a clown alley. Packs can only be formed by wolves.” He passed me, stopped right in front of one of Chloe’s minions and put his hands on his hips for emphasis. “Jessica, are you feeding her bananas again? What did I tell you? Do not feed Chloe bananas.” He touched Jessica’s nose with his index finger. “Naughty, naughty, girl.”

  He didn’t wait for a reply from either the minion or Chloe, just went inside the classroom and left a fuming Chloe shooting daggers at him and Jessica. Jessica looked like she was about to melt. Sean’s remark about bananas didn’t make much sense to me, but around us people were still laughing about it, Sam and Melanie included. Mia was trying really hard not to. I guess it didn’t really matter if it made sense or not. He’d achieved his goal of making fun of Chloe, and that was fine with me. I quickly said goodbye to my cousins and followed Sean into class.

  During lunch break I followed the girls to the cafeteria, which looked like an upscale restaurant. I was expecting the Greek theme to be present here too, but instead it resembled a chic Parisian bistro. The walls were covered with elegant wallpaper in beige and gold tones, and the bottom half was paneled with dark wood. The wooden tables were polished to perfection, and the light fixtures on the walls helped to make the atmosphere very cozy. It was probably the only place in the school that wasn’t oppressive. The menu was also much better than the one at my old school. We selected a big, round table that could accommodate our large group and waited for the guys to join us. I hadn’t seen Ethan at all until then, but he texted me saying that he had to meet with the football coach about his reintegration into the team. He was supposed to join me for lunch.

  “It’s only the first day and I’m already in need of a vacation,” Sean said dramatically as he sat down a few chairs from me, splashing the contents of his drink on the table in the process.

  “Watch it!” Melanie complained as she threw some napkins on the wet surface.

  “Someone is in a mood,” Sean said in a singsong voice. He took a huge bite of his burger.

  “You would be too if you'd lost the senior editor position to some spoiled nerd who can't even put a sentence together without asking his girlfriend for an opinion.” Melanie looked disgusted as she played with her food.

  “I thought you didn’t care for that kind of stuff, sis,” Matt said as he joined our group.

  The moment Matt arrived, Sam’s body language changed. It seemed like she was intimately aware of his presence. I also caught some shared glances between them. I’d had my suspicions regarding Matt’s feelings for Sam, and now it seemed that things had progressed somehow between those two. I was afraid that they had moved beyond a platonic relationship, and I didn’t want to think too much about it. The consequences would be too gruesome to contemplate, so I decided to take the coward’s way out and pretend that I was totally clueless.

  “I don’t, but I just think I would do a better job than him, especially with my newly acquired set of skills,” Melanie replied.

  “What new set of skills?” I asked. I thought it was strange when everyone at the table grimaced. “What?”

  “Nothing. Never mind,” Melanie grunted.

  “Hey, Matt, I haven’t seen Gillian, and you know she's hard to miss. Do you know what’s up with her?” Sean asked.

  “Her dad decided to send her to a boarding school in England. She was pissed, to say the least.”

  Melanie snorted. “Like sending her to England is going to turn her into a lady. She’s a hopeless case.”

  Matt narrowed his eyes at his sister. “You, of all people, shouldn’t judge a person by looks alone. I thought journalists had that idea instilled in their very souls.”

  “Whatever.” She shrugged. “Hey, Alexia, lover boy is here.” Melanie motioned with her head, pointing in Ethan’s direction.

  I turned toward the entrance of the cafeteria. There was Ethan, looking gorgeous in his school uniform jacket, searching the crowded cafeteria for me. I raised my arm to wave at him, but before he saw me he was intercepted by Chloe. She practically threw herself at him, and all eyes were on them. I tensed, and my knuckles went white from holding the edge of the table too hard.

  I couldn’t hear what she was telling him, because even though people were watching, nobody stopped talking. She touched his chest, and despite the fact that he pushed her away, I was consumed with jealousy. I knew he wasn’t remotely interested in her, but I still couldn’t control what I was feeling. Not wanting to witness Chloe rubbing against my boyfriend in an act of blatant foreplay, I got up from my chair and left the cafeteria through the side door.

  A minute later I heard footsteps behind me, then Sam’s voice asking me to wait up. By that point, I was so angry that I had started to hyperventilate.

  “Shit, Alexia. Are you okay? You look like you’re about to explode.”

  I leaned against the nearest locker and braced my hands on my knees.

  “I had to leave. Otherwise I would have broken every one of Chloe’s manicured fingers and gouged her eyes out.”

  “Love the visual, but if you had waited just a few more seconds you would have witnessed Ethan brushing her off and Chloe having a close encounter with a very nasty, greasy burger.”

  I looked at her, confused. “Huh?”

  Sam flipped her hair and pretended to be checking her hot pink-polished nails. “Some unfortunate sophomore tripped and dumped the contents of his tray all over Chloe’s pristine uniform. You won’t be seeing her anymore today.”

  My heart rate had almost returned to normal. “Good. It serves her right.”

  “What I don’t understand is, why did you suddenly leave? Ethan eventually made it to our table. It would have been wicked good if you were there to claim your stake on him. Chloe might be the obvious problem right now, but she won’t be the only girl vying for Ethan’s attention.”

  “Gee, Sam. You sure know how to cheer a girl up.” I started to walk back to the cafeteria with her. I knew I should have stayed, but I would have done something really bad to Chloe if I had. To my disappointment, Ethan was no longer there. I searched the cafeteria but couldn’t see him anywhere.

  “Lover boy is gone,” Melanie was happy to point out.

  “Where? I was just gone for a few minutes.” I sat down and looked at my tray. There was definitely less food there than before, but I had lost my appetite, anyway.

  “Who knows? He left with Sean and Julian. You can quiz Sean later,” Melanie replied, but her attention was diverted somewhere else. I followed her gaze. She was staring at a very good-looking boy sitting by himself all the way across the cafeteria. There was something about his gaze that was intimidating. It reminded me of the stranger I had seen talking to Gary at the house over the summer. It gave me the chills.

  “Who is he?”
I asked.

  Now Mia and Matt turned to look, as well.

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like the way he's been staring at us this whole time. I also saw him earlier. It seems that everywhere I go, he’s there, watching,” Melanie replied.

  “Maybe he has a crush on you,” I joked, but it felt somehow empty. The guy did have sort of a creepy vibe. He didn’t seem one bit bothered that we had caught him staring. He calmly got up from his table, got rid of his food tray, and left the cafeteria. Matt narrowed his eyes. His jaw tensed.

  “If he continues to stalk you, let me know, Mel.”

  “Please, Matt. I can take care of myself.” Melanie rolled her eyes before she got up from the table.

  “It’s not you I’m worried about,” Matt replied enigmatically. I wondered who the source of his worries was. Sam?

  We all left the cafeteria soon after Melanie’s stalker did. My next classes I shared with Mia and Matt, and the rest of the school day went by without any more drama. I went home without seeing Ethan at all. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. Ethan had football practice, but he had said he would try to come by the house later. The key word here was try and if I knew anything about boys and their commitment to sports, he probably wouldn't make it.

  Just before dinner I got a text from Julian, whom I had barely talked to during my first day of school. He asked me if I had given the necklace to Sam. I could have kicked myself. I had completely forgotten. Feeling really bad about it, I lied to him and said that I hadn’t had the opportunity yet, but I would do it soon. His next text said, Please, hurry up. Sheesh, what was the hurry? But knowing I would end up forgetting again, I figured right now was as good a time as any.

  I went to my dresser and opened the drawer where I had left the little velvet box containing the necklace, trying to think of what I would tell Sam. I found her in her bedroom, sitting cross-legged on her bed with a notebook on her lap, chewing the end of her pencil. She glanced up as I entered the room. “Hey, Alexia, what’s up?”

  “Not much. What are you up to?” I sat at the end of her bed, facing her, and folded my legs under me.

  “Just finishing up my algebra homework. How was your first day, aside from all the drama and stuff?”

  I shrugged. “It was okay, I guess. I wish I could have talked to Ethan.” There was no hiding the wistfulness in my voice.

  “You'll see him tomorrow, don’t worry. Are you planning to join Rachel’s group?”

  I frowned. “Who’s Rachel?”

  “You know, tall, pretty brunette who looks like royalty. She’s really hard to miss. She's the leader of the dance group, aka 'The Leopoldetes.'”

  I groaned. It was just my luck that the person I would need to impress had already met me and found me lacking. “I have to if I’m going to have a chance of getting into Juilliard.”

  Sam stopped writing and grinned at me. “You’ll get into Juilliard. Don’t worry. They would be crazy not to accept you. Besides, we’re conquering New York together, remember?”

  How could I forget? Since I’d told Sam that I was going to apply to Juilliard, we’d started making plans about living in New York City together. “Yeah, but what was that talk about veterinary school? I thought you were set to become the next Donna Karan?”

  Sam rolled her eyes. “I just did that to indulge Gary. He's been pestering me about fashion school, so to shut him up I pretended to be interested in his profession.”

  “That's a relief. I would feel sorry for all the poor animals that you decided needed a makeover.” My comment made Sam laugh, and I joined her. After a few minutes, I sobered up and thought about the dance group. “Seriously, though. I really need to add an extracurricular activity to my application, and my only option is the dance group. I hope they take me in." I brought my hand to my mouth to bite my nails. Sam stopped me mid action with a stern, but kind look.

  “Rachel would be absolutely crazy not to welcome you with open arms to her little posse. Besides, Rachel and Chloe are mortal enemies.”

  “Why?” I asked, intrigued.

  “Before Chloe became the head cheerleader, there was no dance group at Leopoldo James. Rachel and her girls were all cheerleaders. But then Rachel lost the leadership to Chloe and when Chloe decided to impose her sex abstinence rule, Rachel left and took the best dancers on the team with her.”

  “Wow, I’m surprised Chloe was left with any members at all.”

  “Trust me, a lot of the girls on the cheerleading team wanted to follow Rachel. However, according to school rules, Rachel could only take so many girls with her so she chose the best dancers.”

  Knowing that Rachel had the best dancers on her team didn’t help one bit with my anxiety. My distress must have shown on my face because Sam reached over and squeezed my hand.

  “Don’t worry. Even if you sucked, Rachel would take you in, if only to spite Chloe.”

  I didn’t tell Sam that Julian had also promised to help me get into the dance group. I looked at the velvet box I was holding and handed it over to Sam. “This is for you.”

  Sam took the box from me with curiosity. “For me? What's the occasion?” She didn’t wait for my reply before she opened the box and gasped. “Alexia! Where did you get this? It’s beautiful.” She took the necklace from the box and held it in front of her, admiring its intricate beauty.

  The lie was quick to come. “I got this for you, like, two years ago for Christmas. But then I lost it and had to get you something else. I just recently found it in one of my purses, so here it is.”

  “Wow, I’m glad you found it. I love it! Quick, help me put it on.” She scooted over and turned her back to me, pulling her hair up so I could do the clasp. Then she went to her vanity mirror to admire it. “The color of this stone is so different. Do you know what it is?”

  “No, I just saw it in an antique shop and thought you might like it. It didn’t even occur to me to ask the sales clerk.” I couldn’t believe how well I lied. It was scary how easy the lies rolled off my tongue. Sam had no idea. Julian would be happy to know that Sam loved his gift, though, even if she didn’t know it was from him.

  Samantha

  I could have killed someone when the alarm clock went off like a group of rock band banshees. Thanks to my rendezvous with Matthew last night, I had barely gotten two hours of sleep. We had sneaked out to the gardens as soon as everyone was asleep. Not that I was complaining about that. I thought about Matthew every second of the day, and if I had to lose a few hours of sleep to spend some quality time with him, so be it. It was hard enough to pretend we weren’t together. I had to watch girls throw themselves at him without being able to gouge their eyes out, as Alexia had so cleverly put it yesterday.

  I reluctantly got out of bed and looked at myself in the mirror. Ugh. I would definitely require great amounts of concealer and foundation to hide the dark circles under my eyes. Too bad I couldn’t use my powers to recharge myself. I had discovered recently that I could power electronics with my bare touch. I could probably start a car without a key, but I hadn’t put that theory to the test yet. It wasn’t like I was planning a career in grand theft auto.

  Forty-five minutes and three cups of coffee later, Mia was parking our Mini in the school parking lot. It was only me, Alexia, and Mia riding in the Cooper today. Melanie had decided to take the Jeep she shared with Matthew. I stifled a yawn as I got out of the car and realized that today wasn’t going to be a productive one.

  Alexia had walked on ahead of us. She was busy texting, so she didn’t notice when the creepy guy from the cafeteria approached her.

  “Hi, sorry to bother you.” Alexia stopped her texting and looked up. “My name is Lucas, Lucas Scott. I’m a new student, so I thought it would be nice to introduce myself to the only other new senior here.” He offered his hand to Alexia, and she reluctantly accepted it.

  “Uh, hi, nice to meet you.”

  I heard the uncertainty in her voice, so I decided to intervene.

/>   “Hi! I’m Samantha, Alexia’s cousin, and this is my sister, Mia.” I pointed at Mia as she approached. I kept my hands busy with the strap of my purse and my phone, and didn’t offer to shake his hand. It was rude, but I was trying to make a point. He could have introduced himself to Alexia yesterday when we were all sitting together at the cafeteria, but he had chosen to stare at us, instead.

  “Hi there.” He nodded to us. If he had noticed my rudeness, it didn’t show.

  “What do you want?” I heard Melanie almost shout behind me. I turned around, but she was already there next to me, glowering at Lucas.

  “Excuse me?” Lucas asked.

  “What do you want with us?” By now, some students in the parking lot had noticed something was going on and moved closer to listen. Vultures.

  Lucas looked from Melanie to the rest of us. “Okay, it’s clear that something is going on here that I’m not aware of. I didn’t realize that it was forbidden to introduce myself to your friends, but clearly it must be.”

  “Don’t play dumb with me. You followed us around the entire day yesterday.”

  “Followed you around?” Lucas erupted in laughter, and Melanie stiffened. “Don’t flatter yourself. Sorry to disappoint, honey, but you’re not my type.” He deliberately ignored that Melanie had referred to all of us, not only herself.

  “What’s going on here?” Great. Now Matthew had joined us, too. I just hoped this didn’t become a testosterone contest.

  Lucas calmed down a bit and looked at Matthew. “Nothing, man. I was just leaving. Good luck.” He turned on his heels and left like nothing had happened.

  Matthew directed his glare to Melanie. “What the heck were you doing?”

  “What? I was confronting a potential stalker,” Melanie replied indignantly as she crossed her arms.

  “No, what you were doing was drawing unnecessary attention to us. Besides, we don’t know if he was even stalking you.”

  “Fine. Whatever.” Melanie raised her arms in frustration and stormed out of the parking lot.