Defiant Destiny

by Madison Cumbee

  “What is it?” That curiosity was back in his voice and eyes. It was kind of fun knowing something he didn’t.

  “Like I said, it’s too much for words. You’d have to see and experience it yourself,” I said with pleasure and pride. I loved my bribe.

  Uriel ran a hand through his hair, making it turn gold as the light shone on it. “I’ll be patient then.”

  ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀

  During Spanish class, there was a lasting lull in the lesson, and after several minutes of doing nothing, Señora Ortiz assigned us a page in the workbook and gave us the rest of the class period to do it. Within five minutes, Meredith and I, along with the rest of the students, had finished. We were told we could talk but not move out of our seats, which was fine with me.

  “What’s been up with you lately?” I inquired.

  “Mmm, not much. Coach has been hard on us ever since we lost that first game. I’m so sore that I could barely get up this morning.”

  I laughed. “How do you get sore from volleyball?”

  “Hey, you don’t get to poke fun when you didn’t try out this year. The new coach is outrageous. She’s so hardcore. Whenever someone doesn’t go for a ball, she makes everyone dive five times. I never noticed how many times we didn’t go for the ball before. I’m using muscles I didn’t know I had.” There was a pause in our conversation as Meredith’s expression turned thoughtful.

  She started eyeing me, and when I began feeling uncomfortable, I asked her, “What?”

  “Well…” She paused again.

  “What?” I demanded.

  “I was just wondering how things were going between you and Luca.”

  Luca?... Oh. “What do you mean?”

  She looked disbelieving. “Oh, come on, Keira. The whole school knows something’s going on between you and the new student. You honestly haven’t noticed the evil eyes you’ve been getting from the other girls? Or the whispers that follow you down the hall?”

  “Do I ever take notice of whispers?” I countered. “This is such a small school; everyone is so starved for drama that they make stuff up when there’s not really anything there. I’m so ready for college.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Don’t try to change the subject.” Meredith and I had been friends for a long time. In fact, half of my class had been at that school with me since kindergarten. Meredith understood that something was different this year. “We don’t get as much time to talk as we used to. I’m fine with it of course. I mean, what kind of friend would I be if I was jealous of you for snatching up one of the very limited guys worth dating at this school?” I wasn’t used to my friend talking about boys. This was a new side of her I had seen very little of.

  “Me snatch a guy up… Are you feeling okay Meredith?”

  She saw right through that. “You and Luca walk to every class together and sit with each other whenever you can. Not to mention the way you look at him.”

  Insert a fake shocked expression here. “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t worry. He looks at you the same way.” Meredith caught my gaze and held it. “Talk to me, Keira. I’m very curious.” Apparently, curiosity was contagious and was spreading through junior class. I wasn’t accustomed to making so many people inquisitive. Everyone knew everything in my school. Meredith began impatiently strumming her fingers on the desk to get my attention back to her.

  “I like him,” I admitted, “a lot.”

  A triumphant smile spread across her face. “Go on.”

  I thought for a second. “I spent most of Saturday at his house, and I had the best time. I haven’t had that much fun in a long time, and everything was so comfortable from the very beginning, even though I’d been really nervous before I got there.” I hadn’t expected telling someone about how I felt to be so nice. It felt good to put my new happiness into words. And I knew I could trust Meredith to not go off and blab to the rest of the eager and lacking in entertainment student body.

  I had thought that with how she had been talking before, Meredith would be all smiles and start asking for more happy details, but she looked disapproving. Why? I wondered. “You were at his house?”

  “Yeeaaahh.”

  Her frown grew deeper. “Alone?”

  “No! Meredith. His family was there. Ugh!” The lines that had formed on her forehead disappeared and she practically sighed in relief. “You know me better than that. I’ve only known him for a week.”

  “I know. I had a temporary lapse of judgment.” My friend bounced back to her previous state and asked excitedly, “So you got to meet his parents?”

  “That’s what I thought before I went over. Actually, he lives with-” What do they go by? “Eron.. Bridget, Ralph, and……” Oh, crap. “…Oliver.”

  My friend’s usually gentle face was almost mocking as she told me, “You need to learn their names better.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “Wait, so all of them live together? Without Luca’s parents?” She naturally guessed. I had to explain that too. When I was finished clarifying, I told her how the day went and how perfect everything was. “Wow. So when’s your next date?”

  I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. It was Uriel. His head had just jerked up. Weird. “I dunno. We haven’t really had a first one yet.”

  ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀

  “What are you doing Friday night?” Uriel asked me after class ended as we walked down the stairs to the first floor of the building that Spanish was in.

  “Nothing, I think.”

  “Would you like for me to take you out on a date?”

  I stopped walking, and so Uriel did too. Would I like for him to? Is that even a real way of asking someone out? What kind of a weird-? “Is that a trick question?”

  “No,” he grinned.

  “Do you want to take me out on a date?”

  “Yes, I would. I was just checking to make sure that you wanted me to. You see,” he leaned in making his voice softer in a mock-confiding tone, “if I took you out and you didn’t want to go, it would probably be considered kidnapping.”

  “Oh, right.” Did he just call me a kid? “I’d love to.”

  “Great.” We started walking again. “Shall I pick you up at your house?”

  This Friday night… It’s perfect. “Sure.” I gave him the address, and six o’clock was when he would come over. Four days and counting.

  Later that night, after I came home from volleyball, I was lying in my bed trying to go to sleep and questions about Uriel kept popping into my mind. I reached over and grabbed my cell phone from my bedside table. I had to talk to someone who had been outside of the bubble that almost all of my friends grew up in along with me. I thought about Elly but reconsidered. She might need her rest to heal her leg faster.

  So I texted: Are you awake?

  Alicia replied: Yeah. What’s up?

  Alicia had come to High Point at the beginning of sophomore year. Before that, she’d gone to a normal sized public school. Lucky. She had told me about the boys she had been out with, and I felt like I needed some advice from someone who had dated before. Practically no one from school dated another from the school; everyone had grown up together. It would be like dating a sibling… I’m guessing.

  I sucked up my pride and asked: How soon is too soon to date someone you meet?

  Alicia: Random.

  Me: Not if you were in my mind.

  Alicia: All boys are gay. I could practically hear her snort. I never said that she still liked anyone she had gone out with.

  I urged her: Please!

  Alicia: Let’s see. U met Luca the first day of school, right?

  Me: Who says I’m thinking of Luca.

  Alicia: Keira. Don’t lie.

  Me: Ok. It’s Luca.

  Alicia: So that makes it a week or so…

  Me: That’s too soon, isn’t it?

  Alicia: Do u like him?

  Me: Yes. But a week isn’t very long.

  Alicia: S
ometimes, it doesn’t matter how long u know the guy. If u like him, u like him... Y r u worried?

  Me: What if I get my hopes up and it ends quickly? What if he’s perfect and I screw everything up?

  Alicia: What if he’s perfect and ur perfect? Then everything’s perfect.

  Me: I’ve never done this before, Alicia. I’ve never even liked a guy as more than a friend.

  Alicia: Seriously? U need to get out more.

  Me: Shut up.

  Alicia: Ha ha. Stop worrying. Relax and just have fun. He seems nice enough. U might have actually picked a good one. I always said u had good taste.

  Me: Thanks.

  Alicia: Np.

  Here In Your Arms

  Chapter 8

  Uriel

  Odeda was finally appeased once I informed her of Keira’s and my date. At long last, I was spared the endless lectures on how modern relationships were to be carried out. She started planning Friday evening the moment I told her. I didn’t see any point in ruining my sister’s fun, so I let her talk on and on about her “suggestions.” To tell the truth, I had been horribly nervous about asking Keira out. I had never done anything like it before. But when I heard her and Meredith’s conversation, I grew somewhat bold. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but sometimes I can’t help it. Thankfully, it sounded like Keira had wanted to see me again, and hadn’t simply been being generous when she said the other night that she enjoyed spending time with my family. I know from experience that we can all be a little overwhelming when we’re together. Nothing ever seems to faze Keira.

  I’ve digressed. Back to my first date ever. I told Odeda after school on Friday that I was the one going on a date and therefore would be the one to plan the night. In order to stay out of my sister’s tempestuous mood, I did, however, allow her to “help” choose my clothing. Since clothes are one thing she always gets right, I told her to pick a few outfits, and I would choose from those. At five fifty, I drove onto Keira’s street wearing crisp jeans which had been bought specifically for that night, a bluish-green short sleeved t-shirt with a strip of white going around the ends of the sleeves and the neck. Odeda called it a ringer, whatever that is, but I couldn’t recall ever seeing it in my closet before, and my favorite pair of walking shoes. A few years ago Odeda bought my brothers and me each a pair of timberlands; a gift that I actually use and enjoy.

  I didn’t want to be too early, but I refuse to be late to any place, ever. It isn’t proper to stroll in somewhere thirty minutes overdue making a person wait for you. So when I arrived at Keira’s house it had just turned five fifty-four. For the next five minutes, I sat in the car wondering if I had taken a wrong turn or was mistaken somehow. The house in front of me with the correct number on the mailbox- if you can call the sand-colored rock miniature tower a mailbox- wasn’t really a house at all; it was more like a mansion. I have been invited to palaces and castles before, but Keira was an only child. Was I really expected to believe that a grand total of three people lived in the same third-of-a-mile-long building?

  Once my astonishment subsided, I began actually seeing the house. It was daunting. I don’t scare easily, but as I got out of my car, I actually felt shorter. The dark blue and grey stone was beautiful and cold and harsh at the same time. I thought a gargoyle should have been present adorning the rooftop for an added ancient, gothic impression. I hadn’t seen such a sight for over two centuries. It possessed a regal quality I wasn’t accustomed to seeing in America. Of course, my family hadn’t ventured to the Biltmore yet…

  I made my way over to the front door. A small pathway made with united stepping stones commanded the course in which I took. Having envisioned a large, ominous looking door knocker, I was gratefully mistaken and instead found a humble doorbell. I heard shifting noises inside once the chime went off at my touch. Three distinct sets of separate movement. This is it, I thought. Meeting the parents- what was I thinking? I briefly contemplated running for it, but I noticed the footsteps that were on the other side of the door coming to open it were Keira’s. She has a distinctive walk. Fast. Determined. Deep breath, and…

  The door swung open. Keira’s face lit up in a smile that instantly made all escape plans the farthest thing from my mind.

  “Hi,” she welcomed me.

  “‘Our Time Now,’” I said. She gave me a questioning yet knowing look. I explained and confirmed, “Your chime for the doorbell. It’s the Plain White T’s singing ‘Our Time Now.’”

  “Yeah, it is,” she admitted.

  I laughed. “Why do you look embarrassed?”

  “When the cats are away, the mice will play.” She shrugged. It was my turn to give a look of needing clarification. “My parents are off on a trip, so Maria and Jerry changed the ring to something they like and my parents would greatly disapprove of.” When my quizzical expression remained, she explained further. “Maria and Jerry are the maid and cook, or the hired help, as Mother calls them.” I noticed the disdain in her voice as she spoke of her mother’s term.

  “The maid and cook?” I said caught off guard.

  “Yeah, did I forget to mention that my family’s filthy rich?” she acted.

  “Yes, I believe you did refrain from so much as hinting to the fact. Two weeks we’ve been talking about anything and everything, and you haven’t once said a single word about your family’s apparent fortune.”

  “Huh. How ’bout that?” My eyes narrowed accusingly. “I thought someone in school might have mentioned it,” she defended herself. “And I did give you a hint.”

  “I don’t think you did.” Liar.

  “I’m having the dreaded coming out ceremony, and in exchange I received a wondrous bribe.”

  “The ceremony could mean that you weren’t hurting financially; it by no means equals you living in a house the size of a football field,” I exaggerated.

  “Well, now you know.” Then she lit up with another brilliant smile. “Come on. I want you to see the reason I’m suffering under the iron fist of Mother.” She stepped outside and closed the door behind her. She took my wrist, and I allowed her to pull me back down some of the pathway I had just walked on, and then she took a turn adjacent to the stone walls of her home. I took this time to admire her. Keira’s rich brown hair was flowing smoothly around her shoulders. When the wind lightly blew her scent to me, I deeply breathed in its vanilla aroma. She was wearing dark kaki shorts that looked ideal for the evening I had planned, a red, fitted but casual shirt, and tennis shoes. I had told her the date would require walking a considerable amount, but that was all I’d tell her, no matter what persuasive look crossed her beautiful face.

  “So your parents are away?” I tried to sound offhand and not unveil the relief I was feeling.

  “Yep.” She kept walking.

  “I’m guessing you forgot to mention that as well.”

  “No, I purposefully didn’t tell you. Now you know how I felt at your doorstep last week,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “Ah. That was cruel, you know. Mine was accidental.” She didn’t answer. We walked on for a few moments in silence. “Where are you dragging me to?” I teasingly whined with a smile. No matter how physically fit she was or how athletic, she was still only a human girl, and I could effortlessly make her stop any time I wanted.

  “Just a bit further.” We were almost to the corner of her palace when I saw an outline of a door. It was cleverly camouflaged with the rest of the wall; an unobservant intending intruder wouldn’t have noticed. Keira pushed it open and led me inside a dark space before closing it back. Our footsteps echoed off of the walls. The room was obviously immense. “Close your eyes,” I heard Keira command in the dark.

  “Why? I can’t see anything anyway.”

  “Just do it,” she commanded. I sighed. “Are they closed?”

  “You’re so untrusting… Yes, my eyes are closed.”

  “Good.” I heard a switch flip and my vision turned red as the room’s lights shone through my closed lids. I could he
ar Keira close the gap between us and start to move around to stand behind me. My first instinct was to prepare myself for an attack, but I quickly remembered that I was alone with Keira and didn’t have anything to worry about. Her hands came up and covered my already closed eyes. I could picture her standing on her toes in order to reach more easily, and it made me smile. Her fingers were soft, warm, and gentle. My flesh instantly recognized hers, and I was reminded of the previous Saturday. I exited from my reverie as she steered me to shift left and then asked in barely contained anticipation and excitement, “Are you ready?”

  “I’m ready.”

  She removed her hands, and I opened my eyes. The room was exactly as large as I had predicted, but that wasn’t unusual- with Nephilim hearing, any one of my family could have known the size from the sound waves that had bounced around its space from our footsteps. The room had cement walls for three of its four; the one to the left of the wall with the secret access we had used was a garage door. I was standing in Keira’s garage. Off to the right, I recognized her Wrangler and further down were other cars, but I didn’t take much notice of them because there, directly in front of me, was an Aston Martin DBS V12, and what car in the garage could compare to that? “Wow,” I exhaled.

  “Isn’t it gorgeous!?!” she exclaimed, skipping over to hug the car. She pressed her cheek against the roof and her eyes closed as her lips spread in a contented smile. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

  I had to admit it was a pretty spectacular sight. There was nothing wrong with her Jeep Wrangler, but this car is the perfect one for her, I realized. It was beautiful with its silver coat that had so much shine it mirrored the most prominent color of its surroundings. Keira’s seemed to have a drop of purple in the paint, giving it a bolder look, but it still reflected the grey walls. I thought back to when I had been looking for my newest fun automobile not long ago and a clip from the Aston Martin website came to mind:The design of the DBS conveys the car's enormous potential, with a seductive flow that incorporates aggressive detailing and powerful stance. Like a well toned athlete in a figure-hugging suit…Three words are used to describe an Aston Martin DBS V12 and they fit Keira unerringly: power, beauty, and soul. “Perfect.” And then I remembered: She got this as a gift? “So when you don’t want to do something your mother wishes, she gives you an Aston?”