I made it out of the forest in one piece. The others were waiting for me by the bus when I finally walked out of the jungle from hell. Sami laughed when she saw the state of my clothes and hair. I’m sure I looked like a hot mess. Evan walked towards his bus giving me one last look, which I could only guess to make sure I was safely at my bus. Sami was giving me the third degree about what Evan said to me. I just told her he helped me up and left it at that. I didn’t want to tell her he was so crude to me. Or about my almost fall to my death. By time we got back to the school it was time to go home, and I was glad. I needed some Tylenol and a hot bath. I started my car and made a beeline to my house.
Gran wasn’t home when I pulled in. She had been spending a lot of time at Marie’s lately. I had my suspicions something was going on, but I wasn’t sure. Marie hadn’t been over in awhile. I wasn’t sure if Gran would be back in time for dinner so I decide to just eat a snack before starting my homework. I grabbed a banana from the kitchen as I went up to my room. I opened up my Chemistry book and tried to concentrate on my assignment but I could only think about what happened today on the trails and how mean Evan was towards me. And about the strange visions I was seeing every time Evan touched me after saving my life.
Chapter 5
The next day during lunch I sat talking with Sami and Amy about the upcoming bon fire at the Reservation. “So if you guys want to come, you are more than welcome.” I said as Collin and Brady walked up and sat down at our table. “Hey guys, what’s going on?” Brady asked.
“Emma just invited us to the big bon fire at the Reservation This weekend. Are you in?” Sami asked.
“Sure. Yeah, sounds fun.” Collin said with a big smile on his face.
“I can’t, I am grounded over my Math test.” Brady said with a look of disappointment.
“Will there be any hot guys there?” Sami asked. I could see Amy was interested in the same question. Or she just wanted to gauge Brady’s reaction.
“I guess. Most everyone from the Reservation will be there.” I said just as The Blake’s walked into the lunchroom. Payton and Everett walked in first. And for the first time I noticed they were holding hands. “Are the two of them together?” I asked Sami in a whisper so no one else could hear. She looked over to see who I was talking about. When she noticed I was talking about Evans siblings she leaned in and said “Yeah, they are. I think it’s kind of creepy.”
“What’s creepy?” Amy said a little too loudly.
“Payton and Everett, and how they are dating when they live together in the same house.” Sami replied as Cameron and Evan walked into the lunchroom, they were playfully wrestling around with one another as they sat at their table with the others.
“I know. Talk about being freaks” Amy said as she made a funny face. I turned around to look in the direction of where they normally sat and I saw Evan looking my way. I looked away. After a few minutes I turned to look again, Evan was still looking at me, this time he waved at me. I gave a small wave back. Sami or Amy neither one noticed. And I was glad, I didn’t want to have to explain what happened at the beach, and I knew once I got talking I would tell all. My mother always said I gave away too much when I told a story. And I didn’t want anyone knowing how I kissed Evan Blake and made him run away. Again!
Sami was her usual perky self during lunch. Amy was the same, although today she was a little more critical than normal. Complaining about a girl in her gym class and how her shorts too short. I liked both of them, but if I had to pick between them, Sami would win. She was fun to be around. She was always laughing and joking around. Collin was also fun to be around. He was funny and took everything with stride. Brady was laid back. It seemed to go with the flow.
After lunch Collin walked with Sami and me to our next class, which was History. Sami and Collin’s were more towards the front, and mine was in the back row. After Sami took her seat, Collin followed me to mine. “Hey, I was wondering, would you like to be my date for the bon fire?” he asked as his face turned beet red. Oh no I thought to myself. I don’t like Collin in that way but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I didn’t know what to say to him. I seem to have gotten lucky because before I could answer Mrs. Young walked in. “I’ll talk to you in a bit.” He said as he went to his seat. Wow, I dodged that bullet. But I am sure not for long. He will ask again I am sure. Mrs. Young gave us pages 237 to 300 to read on while she sat at her desk grading our homework she collected. As I read, I felt like someone was watching me. Every time I looked up I would see Collin turning back around from where he was looking my way. It was getting hard to concentrate on reading when I knew he was looking at me and expecting me to give him an answer after class. When the bell rang to dismiss class I took my time gathering my books and putting them into my backpack. Hopefully he will get tired of waiting and leave. And he did, or so I thought. When I walked out of the room there he was waiting for me in the hallway. “So, what do you think? Would you like to be my date?” he asked.
“I” is all I got out when I heard a male voice say “I’m sorry, she already has a date.” I turned to see who just saved me from hurting Collin’s feelings, when I saw it was Evan. I turned back to look at Collin and I could see that he was embarrassed. I looked back and forth between the two for a moment. I didn’t know what to say. Finally Collin spoke up. “Oh. Okay, I didn’t know.” He said as he looked for me for confirmation. I just gave a small apologizing grin. “I guess I will talk to you later Emma.” He said as he walked off giving Evan a dirty look.
I turned towards Evan still not knowing what to say. “Glad I could help.” He said as he walked off. I stood there a second before I went after him.
“What is your problem?” I asked when I caught up with him.
“You didn’t want to be his date did you?”
“No, but that isn’t the point.” I said harshly “Like you are going to be my date?” I said in a jokingly tone.
“I would like to be.” He said.
“You want to be my date? Ha.” I said as I walked away from him.
“Emma! Come on, why not?” he said loudly standing in the middle of the hallway. I stopped and stood there a second before I turned back towards him. Walking back to him I didn’t give him a chance to ask any more questions before I said “Seven o’clock at the Chinook Reservation on Saturday. I will text you the address. Be there on time if you want to be my date.” I told him as I turned and walked away.
*****
Today was finally Friday. Tomorrow was the big bon fire. I was pretty nervous about my date with Evan, and since Gran didn’t like him I was nervous about what she may do or say when she sees him there. I questioned myself if I should warn her before hand, but then quickly decided that it would be a bad idea. Maybe if she got to know him first she would see he wasn’t trouble like she thought. Evan hadn’t talked to me much since he volunteered to be my date for the bon fire. Just gave the occasional hi in the hallway between classes. I decided I wasn’t going to push him or pressure him into anything. If he wanted to talk to me he would, I’ll see how things go at the bon fire and go from there.
Collin hadn’t really talked to me a lot since Evan told him he was my date for this weekend. I think he is more embarrassed of getting turned down than anything. Today at lunch he talked more to Brady, Sami and Amy than he did to me. So after lunch on our way to History I asked him casually if things between us were okay. He said yeah and not to worry about it, everything was cool. He put on a big smile, but something still told me it bothered him.
After school let out I went straight home, I promised Gran I would go grocery shopping with her so she could pick up some food for the bon fire this weekend.
Once we got to Mr. Foods in town Gran got a cart and we began our shopping. Gran let me get whatever I wanted, which was nice since I had been eating only what she had there when I arrived, which was not much of nothing that I liked. Everyone we passed Gran waved at and or stopped to talk to them for a few minutes. At home
when I went with my mother we were in and out quickly. Shopping with Gran took awhile. As we turned down isle 4 I noticed the beautiful blond haired lady putting canned goods in her cart. I knew right away who it was. It was Doctor Blake. It would notice her anywhere. Gran must have to because when she saw her she went to turn back around. “We don’t need anything down this isle.” Gran said as she turned back around. “Gran we need canned goods, it is on our list.” I said as I looked down at the list in my hand and then back up to Doctor Blake as she waved at me. I waved back and Gran tugged at my arm “Then we will come back down this isle before we leave.” She said as she rushed away from where Doctor Blake was standing. I followed in pursuit of Gran not understanding why Gran was acting like this, but I didn’t question her. The rest of our shopping trip went the same. If Gran saw Doctor Blake on any isle she would turn and walk away. It was really becoming annoying and not to mention embarrassing. At one point I mouthed the words “I’m sorry” to Doctor Blake. She smiled and nodded her head as if she accepted my apology. When we were ready to check out it was an adventure in its own. Gran and I headed towards the registers and Gran saw Doctor Blake in lane two. She was the only one in that line and was nearly done checking out, instead of going to stand behind her, Gran went to standing behind some heavy set lady who hadn’t even began to unload her two grocery carts that were over flowing full of groceries. Her two year old was screaming over some candy he wanted while he threw a tantrum on the floor. The cashier behind the counter tried to get Gran to go to the other lane but Gran pretended not to hear her. As Gran waiting patiently with a smile while the other line was open, I wanted to walk out of the store and go sit in the car. And tell Gran she was acting like an immature eighth grader who boyfriend was stolen from her or something. It was very embarrassing. I watched Gran watching Doctor Blake checking out in the next lane. The look in Grans eyes was a look of hate. Gran didn’t have a hateful bone in her body. But for some odd reason Gran hated The Blake family, and I didn’t know why.
I watched Doctor Blake unload her groceries into her Silver Hyundai Elantra Sedan through the front of the grocery store window, as she shut the trunk she looked up at me and waved and gave me a small smile. Her smile seemed warm and welcoming. Hoping that Gran didn’t see her I looked back over my shoulder at Gran checking out and then back outside to see Doctor Blake walk to the front of her car as she got in and then sped away.
Chapter 6
I barely slept all night. I toss and turned most of the night before I finally got up at eight. It was way too early to be up on a Saturday, but I was too excited for my date tonight with Evan. I stayed in my room for awhile before I went downstairs for breakfast. When I finally got downstairs I didn’t see Gran anywhere. She must still be sleeping I thought. I decided I would just eat a bowl of cereal. I wasn’t really hungry but I made myself eat since I probably wouldn’t eat again until tonight at the bon fire. After I finished my cereal I washed out my bowl and put it in the sink. I thought I would watch television for a bit before I got dressed. As I went into the living room I noticed a photo album on the end table. I walked over and picked it up and sat down and started looking through it. Some were of me as a baby by myself, some with Gran and then I found one of me and my mother together when I was around two. We were at the beach, from the looks of it, it looked like Cannon Beach. I could tell by the big rock we were standing by that it was the same rock I just sat on the night I met Evan there. Mom was kneeling beside me as I smiled a big smile pointing to my sand castle I had made. I remember mom telling me I always called them white castles. Mom said she thought I had confused sand castle for the fast food restaurant White Castle. She said when she tried to explain that white castle was the restaurant and what I made was a sand castle I argued with her so she just let me keep on calling them that, I smiles at the memory. I turned to the next page of album and there were more of my mother and me. There were a few of me with my father and some with me and Gran. But mainly it was mostly me and my mom. I really missed them both. And I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes so I shut the photo album up and put it back where it belonged. I wiped my tears away and decided to get my shower and dressed for the day.
Shortly after I finished dressing for the day I went to see what Gran was up to. I found her in the kitchen, as usual.
“Hey Gran, what are you doing?” I asked her as she was at the stove cooking.
“I’m making potato salad for the bon fire tonight.” She said as she drained the potatoes in the strainer that was in the sink. I sat down at the table and picked up the newspaper. The headlines read Missing Astoria teen Amber Jones found dead late Friday night. The article went on to say that she went missing a week before I moved here. She was only sixteen and the last time she was seen was leaving the school. No one had seen her since. Before I finished the article Gran noticed what I was reading. “Sad isn’t it? She had her whole life ahead of her.” Gran said as she shook her head.
“Yeah, it is sad. Do they know who done it?” I asked.
“No, they don’t have any suspects as of yet.” Gran said as she patted me on the back. “Here, why don’t you help me sweetie.” She asked as she handed me the bowl to hold while she put the potatoes she had just drained into it.
After helping Gran with the potato salad I cleaned up the kitchen and washed up the dishes. I couldn’t get the story out of my head about that poor girl. I wondered if she knew whoever it was that took her. And I could only imagine what horrible things happened to her before her death. Gran was resting at the table when someone knocked on the door. I went to see who was there, and saw Levi and Marie standing there. “Come on in.” I said as I waved them inside.
“Hi Emma, are you excited for the bon fire tonight?” Marie asked me as she took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack.
“I can’t wait.” I said as I tried to look excited. Levi must have noticed I still looked shaken over the newspaper article because when Marie went into the kitchen with Gran he looked at me and asked “Is everything okay?” he asked as we walked in the living room to sit down on the couch.
“Yeah, I just read about that girl that went missing from my high school, how they just found her body.” I said as a chill went down my spine as I heard myself say the words.
“Yeah it is sad. But don’t be afraid, the Reservation is very safe.” He claimed. My safety on the Reservation wasn’t what I was worried about. It was when I was away from the Reservation on my way back and forth to school that was what I was more concerned about. I didn’t want to think about it anymore so I changed the subject “What are you guys out doing?” I asked.
“Your Grandmother needed my Grandmothers help. So I decided to ride along so I could… visit you.” He said shyly as he looked down at his hands that he had knotted in a ball on his lap. I could tell he was nervous and I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable so I told him I was happy he was here. And I was, I just didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.
After a few minutes I handed him the television remote and told him he could watch what he wanted. He took it and started flipping through the channels until he found what he wanted to watch. It was a show about cars, of course. There were two guys competing to see who could restore their car the best. I wasn’t paying much attention to it, my mind was wondering about how my date with Evan was going to go. And how I hope Gran doesn’t freak out too much. Levi broke the silence “What time are you getting to the bon fire tonight?”
“Probably around six thirty as long as my friends are on time.” I told him.
“You invited people?” he asked.
“Um, yeah.” I said worriedly that it wasn’t okay with him since it was his Grandmother who was throwing the bon fire. “That was okay, wasn’t it? Gran said…”
“Oh yeah. Sure, it’s fine. I was just asking.” He said making gestures with his hands as if to say it was fine. “My Grandmother doesn’t mind, she always says the more the merrier.” I smiled at him in relief. “So w
hat is the occasion for this big bon fire?” the moment I asked his smiling face went to a look of sadness. He didn’t answer for several minutes before he finally answered.
“It’s- it’s just something my Grandmother throws once a year in honor of my parents.” I could see this upset him to say.
“I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t really know how his parents died. I just remembered the day my mother got the phone call to say that Michael and Sarah Taylor had died. It was two years ago, mom didn’t come back to Astoria for the funeral. Which surprised me because my mother and Levi’s mother was the best of friends growing up. When I asked if we was going to the funeral she only said that she couldn’t afford to take off work. I didn’t question it anymore. But I never did hear how they died. And since my parents didn’t really keep in touch with anyone from Astoria except my Grandmother I am not sure they knew their cause of death either.
Levi was quite the rest of the afternoon. He just sat and watched the rest of the show until Marie was ready to leave. “Levi, we better get going, we have a lot to do before tonight.” She said as she grabbed her coat off the rack and put it on.
“I’ll see you tonight.” Levi said as he waved goodbye to me as he walked out the door. I smiled and waved goodbye back to him. I felt horrible about his parents, if I would have known the bon fire was to honor his parents I wouldn’t have brought it up, or invited any of my friends from school. It was too late now to call them and cancel. Which reminded me, I needed to send Evan the address of where we were having it. I pulled out my phone and sent him a quick text with the address. Then I text Sami, Amy and Collin a text and told them they could meet me here at my house and they could ride with me. Sami text back saying Amy was sick and wasn’t going to make it. I never heard from her personally. Collin text back to say that was fine with him. By the time Sami and Collin knocked on the door I was already worried Evan wasn’t going to come since I hadn’t heard from him. “Hey guys come on in. I just need to go grab me a jacket and I will be ready to go.” I told them. They both said okay and waited for me by the front door. Gran had already left an hour ago so she could help Marie set all the food up.
Astoria: Secrets, Lies and Vampires Page 5
