by Ruth Houston
"January 18th," she replied, eyes returning to roam over the bright constellations.
"Of course," I said softly to myself. "Stupid of me, really, seeing as your name is Winter. You won't be seeing be seeing Capricornus today, though."
I pointed my finger toward the uppermost left corner of the sky.
"See that?" I asked, pointing out four stars. "Equuleus, The Colt. Turn it upside down. Do you see the muzzle?"
"A baby horse," she whispered in delight.
I moved my hand down a little.
"Delphinus," I taught her. Five stars.
"Dolphin," she said.
"Good guess," I grinned. Her smile widened and it held a trace of a smirk. "Again, turn it upside down. The diamond is the head," I traced the stars with my fingertip, "And the other makes its body."
Slowly, we went through the rest of the constellations we could see that night. She liked Draco, because it was large and curved through a couple other constellations. We went on and on – Aquila, Sagitta, Cygnus, Ophiuchus, Lyra, Hercules, Lacerta, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Ursa minor, Corona borealis. I liked that she didn't ask how I knew all the constellations – she simply accepted it as a part of who I was.
It was perhaps an hour later when we were finished going through the stars, still sitting there next to each other on the hood of my car, and she gave a satisfied sigh.
"Do you want me to bring you home?" I asked.
"I don't want to go home yet," she said hesitantly, "But I suppose we had better go, anyway."
We were quiet for a moment.
"Where are you going to go… after you drop me off?" Winter inquired in a whisper. "Don't answer if you don't want to," she said quickly, dropping her eyes to her hands, which were resting in her lap, twisting the hem of my jacket nervously.
I sighed. That question certainly deserved an answer, especially after she had apologized for telling me to go home earlier. "To my house, I suppose," I said evasively.
She nodded, but didn't say anything else. I was grateful for her tact.
We drove to her house in relative silence. She gave me directions, and I noticed that the neighborhoods on this side of Branner City, where I rarely came to, were nice – very quiet and safe, a real family community. So different from where my own house was.
"Turn here," she said, pointing down a final street. I obliged, and saw that her street was a quiet little place – small houses, but comfy and secure, nestled into the ground with a reassuring permanence.
-Winter-
"Turn here," I said. He followed my directions, and we cruised to a stop in front my little house a few seconds later.
Zack killed the engine and turned his head to gaze at me.
"Thanks," I said. I didn't know if he could hear it in my voice or not, but I was truly grateful.
"You're welcome," he replied seriously. Somehow, I knew he meant it also.
"It's what I needed, I think," I said, looking down at my hands in my lap. "I mean… I don't know. Away from life for a while, I guess."
"I understand," he said softly. I marveled that he knew all along that I had needed what he had done for me tonight.
We sat quietly for a moment, before the feeling that I owed him an apology began gnawing at my insides.
"I'm sorry, Zack," I said. "I guess I… wasn't as nice to you as I should have been. It wasn't fair of me. You're all right." I looked back up at him.
He nodded. "You're quite all right too."
"So…" I started slowly. "Do you… like Eva? I mean, because if you do, I guess I could…" I trailed off. "I suppose I could ask her if she would be interested in a date with you. I'm sure she'd love to go out with you." Looking back on that moment, I know I must have been in a really good mood – Zack had gotten on my good side that night, otherwise I never would have offered him something he really wanted.
He looked at me, surprised. Then a slow smile spread over his handsome features. "That would be nice," he murmured. "Wait, though – before you process that thought completely, I just wanted to let you know that –"
Suddenly a thought occurred to me. "You didn't take me out there today just to get me to give in to you, did you?" I frowned, interrupting him.
He sighed. "Man, I am so telepathic," he said to the roof of his car. "I was just about to tell you that you shouldn't think that. I didn't bring you out there tonight because I wanted to get on your good side. Just… just consider it a treat, alright," he said, shrugging one shoulder helplessly. I could tell he wasn't quite sure the way he had worded it was the way he wanted it to come out.
"Alright," I agreed.
"Come on, I'll walk you to your door," he said.
We trudged up the pathway slowly. When we reached the door, I realized I was much more tired than I had originally thought.
I stifled a yawn as I fumbled with the key, finally sticking it in correctly and turning the lock. One hand on the doorknob, I turned to him. "Thank you, again," I said. "I really mean it."
"I know you do," Zack said, the corners of his lips curving upwards. "Thanks, Winter. You're one cool cat when you're not pissed off at me."
I smirked in the dark. "See you tomorrow, Zack."
He backed away, dark golden eyes locked on mine. "Yeah," he said, nodding. "See you."
I watched as he ambled in that casual, yet decidedly graceful, gait to his car, got in, and drove off.
It wasn't until after I had closed the front door behind me that I realized I was still wearing his jacket. I brought the collar up to my nose and inhaled the scent that was Zackary Crowne. Something very deep and spicy, a little mysterious and enigmatic… I laughed softly to myself. Eau de Crowne.
"Yes, Zack," I whispered to my living room. "You're one cool cat too, when you're not pissing me off."
My parents were definitely asleep by now. I crept up the stairs as stealthily as the animal Zack had named me, and when I reached the safety of my bedroom, I dropped his jacket on my desk chair.
I changed into my pajamas and slid into bed. A minute later, I was lost to the world, my sleeping mind processing thoughts of my best friend and a certain curly headed enigma together.
xxxxx
I moaned softly, turning over in my bed and snuggling into my covers.
Nooooo… too early…
"Damn alarm clock!" I hollered, slamming my fist down on the abominable object with a vengeance. I glared at it through squinted, tired eyes.
My head dropped back on the pillow, and I would have conked out again had it not been for my mother, who has oh-so-perfect timing, as most moms do.
"Winter?" my mom knocked on my door. "You're home?" She sounded surprised.
I groaned and hauled myself out of bed.
"Morning, Mom," I said, giving her a weak smile and cracking open the door wider. "What's up?"
My mom's make-up looked half done, and she had a lip liner in hand. "I thought you were spending the night at Eva's. How come you're home?" Her brows stitched together.
"Oh, I decided against it. Um…Tristan drove me home," I said hastily. No, it wasn't lying. Just… stretching the truth a bit.
"Oh, okay. Come downstairs for breakfast when you're ready." She trotted off to her room to finish her make-up, and I smiled after her fondly. Really, parents were so nice sometimes. Sometimes.
After changing and brushing my teeth (I preferred to take my showers at night, which usually occurred over at Eva's), I skipped downstairs. On second thought, I went back upstairs to my room, stuffed Zack's jacket in my backpack, and resumed my trek to breakfast.
"Morning Daddy," I said, hooking my backpack around the back of my chair.
"Hi, Winter," he said, taking a sip of his coffee.
I pulled a bowl out of the cabinet, the milk from the fridge, my Special K cereal from another cabinet, a spoon from the drawer.
As I sat down to my breakfast of cold cereal, my mom waltzed into the kitchen.
"I'm off," she said.
I glanced at her. S
he was wearing casual dress clothes, as usual. Ah, the joys of being an elementary school teacher.
"Hi Mom," I said. "I'll try to come home earlier today, okay? So we can go to Thursday night dinner?" Our family had this tradition of going out to dinner the last Thursday of every month. I wasn't about to miss out on September's Thursday night dinner on account of a few kids and a bad father who wasn't even my own. Besides, lately I hadn't spent as much time at home as I would have liked.
"Sounds great, Win," she said. "I appreciate that you're trying. How's the Westley household?"
"Busy as always," I sighed, talking around a mouthful of corn flakes. "I wish I could have a word with Mr. Westley, actually."
"So do I," my dad contributed to our conversation, looking up from behind the front page of the Chronicle. "I haven't seen Oliver in a very long time."
"Well, I'll see you two tonight," my mom said, beating a hasty retreat. "I'm going to be late. Not a good way to imprint yourself in the developing minds of fifth graders as a community role model." She grimaced, but winked at me. I knew she loved her job, despite all the grumbling and half-hearted complaints my dad and I got at home.
"Bye Mom."
"Bye Fiona."
A moment later we heard the unmistakable scratch of the front door closing, and the quiet start of an engine.
"Daddy, can you drop me off today? I don't feel like taking the bus." I downed the rest of the milk, lightly sweet from the cereal, and brought my now empty bowl to the sink.
"Sure thing, Winter," he said. My dad worked at home, so he had very flexible working hours.
I reveled in the normalcy of this morning conversation.
Twenty minutes later, I was waiting for Eva at our meeting place near the flagpole in front of Branner High. I pulled Zack's jacket out of my backpack and slipped it on over my t-shirt. It went with my outfit, I noted.
I waved when I saw Tristan's car pull into the seniors' parking lot.
"Winter!" Eva yelled, grinning as she got out of the car.
"Eva!" I shouted back, laughing.
"Hey, what about me?" Tristan asked woefully as he rummaged around in the backseat to grab his backpack.
"Heeey Tristan," I chuckled as brother and sister made their way quickly over to me.
"Hi Win," Tristan greeted me with an easy smile. "I have to hurry. I promised Mr. Algra I'd come in early today to talk to him about my essay." He made a small face. "Don't get me wrong, I like Mr. Algra and all, but that essay was not one of my best…" He waved goodbye to us.
"Good luck," I called to him as he hurried away.
"Where's Anthony?" I asked Eva.
She shrugged. "Bus," she explained. "He was tired this morning." She then smiled in greeting to me. "I'm glad to see you're alive and well," she teased.
I chuckled. "Zack didn't manhandle me, no worries," I said in a mock-gruff voice.
She laughed, and I grinned back, happiness expanding within me. Today was starting out wonderfully. It felt normal. I loved it.
Eva hadn't noticed Zack's jacket. Odd. She should have noticed that he had been wearing it yesterday and that I was now wearing it – Eva was usually observant like that. Oh well, I shrugged to myself. No questions meant no awkward answers.
"Hey, speaking of Zack," I said as we headed inside towards our lockers, "What do you think of him? And don't lie to me, your very favoritest person in the world; I would be absolutely devastated," I said dramatically, clutching my heart.
Eva giggled, said, "You are so silly," then thought for a moment. "Hmm, I think he's very cute," she smiled shyly, tucking a strand of dark blonde hair behind her ears.
"I knew it," I exclaimed, a grin breaking out on my face. "Say… What do you think about going on a date with him…?"
Chapter Seven: Just Swimmingly
Eva
I paused. What had my best friend just asked me?
"Say that again?" I smiled unsurely.
Winter looked at me pointedly. "I think you heard what I said," she said slowly.
"Uh… a date with Zack?" I asked, rather stupidly. Really, for a person who had pulled her grades back up to the flawless 4.3 GPA and was now back on first string, you would have thought I could have come up with something a little more intelligent to say.
Winter nodded. "He… seemed pretty keen on you," she cocked her head to the side. "I think he actually really likes you. What do you say?"
"Wait a minute," I said. "Rewind." We had now reached my locker and I bought time by twirling the combination, stuffing my backpack in, and taking out my books. I slammed the metal door shut. Winter waited patiently.
"Okay," I finally said. "Okay."
"Okay what?" Winter said, lifting one shoulder to ease the weight of her backpack.
"Let me straighten something out first."
I saw a faint smile on her lips. No doubt she was thinking that I was back to normal – always having to get the facts straight before making a decision.
"What… what is causing you to be so charitable to my so-called stalker? I thought you were really pissed off at him for the alleged stalking."
Winter grinned. "Hey, if it's in the name of love, why not?"
I stared at her. "Okay, you're starting to scare me. Does he really like me that much?"
She winked at me. "Am I not putting my head on the chopping block for the two of you?"
"That didn't make sense. What makes you so sure I like him, anyway?"
"You're still standing here and you haven't started screaming at me yet, right? And didn't you say he was cute?"
"Are you now making it a habit to answer all my questions with questions?"
"Don't you think we should start walking towards my locker now? Isn't the bell going to ring in a few minutes?"
"Since when have you started caring about getting to class on time or not?"
"Since when have you ever refused a date with a cute guy?"
"What if… Didn't… Isn't…" Damn. I was stuck. I said the first question that came to mind. "To be or not to be, Winter? Is that the question?"
She laughed. "Come on, Eva. You haven't had a taste of the 'dating scene' in a while. Let go," she encouraged me, using air ditto marks and winking at me again cheekily. "Your grades are back up. You're the captain of the basketball team again. Tristan and I can handle everything. Live a little. Besides, I live vicariously through you, remember? So get me some."
I had to laugh at that. Winter had never had a boyfriend before. That was fine with the both of us though – besides, I'm not sure I could ever get used to the idea of someone being good enough for her.
"Come on," Winter said. "I still have to go to my locker, even though I'm going to be late."
"You can still make it if you hurry," I pointed out as we walked at a languid pace to her locker, while the rest of the student population rushed by in a river of disorder. We were a solitary island, drifting along at our own pace, not tied down by any bells, late slips, excuses, or detentions. This was what I loved about Winter. Had I not met her, I probably would have worried about getting to class on time as well. But she always made me see that something like being late for class was so minute compared to everything else going on around us. Being a few minutes late to English once in a long while wouldn't stop the world in its tracks, nor would it go on some permanent record that would be filed away long after I was gone so that people two hundred years from now could take it out and say, "Hey, that Eva Westley was late for English class on Thursday, September 28th when she was in her sophomore year at Branner High in Branner City, California, USA. Yup, that's it. Off with her head!" I shook my head a little to clear my mind, smirking to myself privately.
"Since when have I started caring about getting to class on time or not?" Winter grinned, mimicking my earlier question. "Besides, anything that pisses off Mr. Marstead is good stuff. I think he's going senile with all the history he's been teaching."
I shook my head, grinning. We had reached her locker by now,
and the hall was emptying rapidly. She piled in her backpack and carefully extracted a few books and binders from the mess inside. It was all balancing so steadily I wondered if she didn't have some new law of physics going on just in locker number 372. The whining sound of the late bell echoed, bouncing off closed classroom doors.
I waved at her as she took down the hall in the opposite direction as me. The hall was now empty except for another late student.
When I cracked open the door to my English room, the lecture came to an abrupt halt and all heads turned in my direction. This was the first time this year I had been late for English. I smiled graciously at everyone and gracefully took the only available seat – in the front row on the left side, smack dab before Mr. Costa's desk.
"Miss Westley," Mr. Costa said, looking at me severely over the top of his miniscule reading glasses. "Would you care to explain to everyone why you are late this morning, without a late slip?"
I shrugged, still working the smile. "Not really," I said offhandedly, feeling so Winter-ish I almost threw my head back and laughed in pure ecstasy. What an influence my best friend was on me. I caught Zack's eye – he was in this class also, and he grinned at me.
"Can I ask you why you are late?"
"I don't know, can you?"
"May I ask you why you are late?"
"If you want to," I said, giving him an encouraging smile. Usually, I would have offered both of us the easier route out – an excuse, a long-winded apology, a promise to come in after school to help tidy up the room.
"Pray tell, Miss Westley, why are you late this morning?" He looked at me very irritably over his lecture notes.
I gave an answer that was pure Winter. "Well, I suppose I rather felt like it." I grinned at him, and opened up my notebook. "So, are we gonna get going on this lecture or what? I can't wait to learn about our Shakespeare unit."
xxxxx
"Hey Eva," Zack caught up with me after class. "That entrance was brilliant."
I smiled. "Did I remind you of anyone?"
He chuckled. "Sure did. By the way, I have her to thank for what I'm about to do."
He stopped, and I stopped with him. He really was so attractive, I thought with another smile. Curly dark hair, smiling golden eyes, light tan skin, the epitome of the male beauty – the mysterious, secretive, Devil may care, I-can-be-an-ass-to-you-if-you-make-me kind of male beauty. Did that make sense? I frowned to myself.
