by Abbi Glines
For me it hadn’t been a choice really but I didn’t want to explain the reason to Wyatt or anyone else. More students started entering the room, followed by our English Literature teacher, Mr. Brown.
“Wyatt, what’s up, Slim,” Justin Gregory called out as he made his way toward us. He plopped his bag onto the desk across from Wyatt. For now, Wyatt’s attention was off me thanks to Justin’s interruption. As I turned toward the front of the class, my eyes once again found the soul. Leaning against the wall directly diagonal to my desk, he stood watching me. I glared at him and he seemed to find my obvious dislike entertaining. His dimple appeared and I hated the fact I found it sexy. This wasn’t a human, well not anymore. It took extreme willpower to turn my gaze away from him and focus my attention on the board where Mr. Brown had written our assignment. I’d always ignored these pesky souls before and they’d gone away. I’d just have to get over the fact this one could talk to me. If I didn’t ignore him I’d be stuck with him stalking me.
* * *
“Hate it, I mean, like hate it in a big way,” Miranda grumbled as she dropped her lunch tray down on the table with a loud clank. “If I have to sit through Algebra and Chemistry all morning, you’d think that I at least could’ve a little eye candy in one of my classes. But noooooo! I get Gretchen with her relentless sniffles and Craig with his gas issues.”
I choked on my sandwich and grabbed my bottle of water to take a quick gulp in order to wash down my food. Once I felt sure I wasn’t going to choke to death, I glanced up at Miranda’s concerned face. “Do you have to say things like that when I’ve got a mouth full of food?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Sorry, I’m just sayin’ is all. I didn’t mean for you to forget to chew your food.” She reached over and squeezed my arm. “There goes his perfectness now. Do you think he’s going to hook back up with Kendra this year? I mean they really had a bad breakup last year with all the cheating and stuff. Surely he’s going to move on.”
I took another bite of my sandwich, not wanting to answer her question. I didn’t care who Leif Montgomery hooked up with but, yes, I felt most certain he would hook back up with Kendra. They happen to be the ‘golden couple’. Everyone knew this and expected it. Their type always lived up to their name.
“Pull your tongue back in your mouth, Miranda. You look like a dog in need of water.” Wyatt sat down across from us, chuckling at his own joke while Miranda scowled at him.
“I don’t have my tongue hanging out, thank you very much.”
Wyatt winked at me and shrugged. “Looked like it to me. What do you think, Pagan, was she drooling or what?”
I crammed another bite into my mouth. I wasn’t getting in the middle of this one. Wyatt started laughing as I pointed to my overstuffed mouth. Miranda elbowed me in the side. “Don’t go taking his side. He’s just mean.”
With a large gulp of water I washed down my food, and then stared pointedly at Miranda. “You two can hash this out all you want but I’m not getting into this. Ever since you decided to take friendship a step further last year and it came crashing down around you, all ya’ll want to do is take cheap shots at each other. Not my fight. Leave me alone.” I quickly took another bite so I wouldn’t be asked to say anything else. When the two of them realized that they drove each other nuts because they hadn’t gotten over one another, it would make my life easier. Then again, I’d be the one alone. My boyfriend, Jay Potts, had moved away months ago and I hadn’t spoken to him since before I’d left for my Aunt’s this summer.
“That’s not what this is about! I could care less that he couldn’t keep his tongue out of Katie’s throat when I wasn’t looking,” Miranda said angrily.
“I didn’t have my tongue down anyone’s throat but yours, Miranda, but you don’t believe me and I’m tired of defending myself.” Wyatt stood and yanked his tray of untouched food up before stalking away.
“Asshole,” she murmured, watching him relocate to the jock table.
I hated seeing them like this. The three of us had been friends since third grade. Back then, Wyatt had been all arms and legs. Now, he towered over everyone with his long, muscular body. Miranda hadn’t been immune to his sudden stud qualities last year. Now, she couldn’t stand him.
“Listen, Miranda, I was thinking, maybe if you two talked about what happened without you accusing him, things might work out.” I’d tried this before and she always ignored me.
Sure enough, she started shaking her head causing her brown curls to bounce back and forth. “I know what happened, Pagan. I don’t want to talk it out with him. He’s a big, cheating liar.” She took a violent chomp out of her Granny Smith apple and continued glaring in Wyatt’s direction. “Look at him acting like he fits in over at that table. I mean, really, who does he think he is?”
I followed her gaze. Wyatt sat leaning back in a chair, laughing at something another basketball player was saying. They all seemed pleased to have Wyatt in their presence. Normally he sat with us. This year things would be different. I sighed, wishing I didn’t have to be the one to point out the obvious to Miranda. “He is the only guy in this school who has college scouts coming to his basketball games to watch him play. That’s who he is. Leif may be the big Kahuna on the football field, but I don’t see any college scouts knocking on his door. You can be mad at Wyatt, but he belongs at that table more than anyone else.”
Miranda turned her glare on me and instantly it transformed into a frown. “Well, he can go to college on a basketball scholarship and cheat on all those cheerleaders, then. I should warn them all.” Her voice had taken on a defeated tone as she stood up and walked toward the garbage cans. I watched her, wishing I could find a way to fix this thing between the two of them.
Someone sat down beside me in the chair Miranda had just vacated. I turned in my seat, half expecting to see the soul. Imagine my surprise when it wasn’t the unwanted soul but the arrogant jock.
excerpt from
Predestined (Existence #2)
By Abbi Glines
Chapter One
Pagan
I’d just turned around to watch the pretty balloons. I liked the pink one best. It reminded me of bubblegum. I’d been trying to think of something I could promise Mommy I’d do if she’d buy me one. Maybe clean out from under my bed or maybe straighten the shoes in her closet. But it had only been a second that I’d stopped and thought about it. Now, my mommy was gone. Tears clouded my vision and I let out a panicked sob. She’d warned me I could get lost in the crowd if I didn’t keep up. Normally I held her hand when we were in crowds but today she was carrying an armload of her books. It had been my responsibility not to lose her. But I had. Where would I sleep? I glanced nervously around at the people covering the busy streets. The Arts and Entertainment Festival had brought people from all over to our small town. Reaching up to wipe my eyes so I could find a police officer to help me, I sniffled and for a second forgot my crisis when the smell of funnel cake reached me.
“Don’t cry, I’ll help you.”
Frowning, I studied the boy in front of me. His blond hair was cut short and his big friendly eyes looked concerned. I had never seen him before. He didn’t go to my school. Maybe he was a tourist. Whoever he was, I knew he couldn’t help me. He was just a kid too.
“I lost my mommy,” I muttered, feeling embarrassed that he’d caught me crying.
He nodded then held out his hand. “I know. I’m going to take you back to her. It’s okay, I promise.”
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I thought about his offer. Could he help me? Two sets of eyes looking for a police officer were better than one, I guess.“Um, if you could just help me look for a police officer so he could find her that would be nice.”
He smiled at me like he thought I was funny. I hadn’t been joking and nothing about this was cause to smile.
“I really know where she is. Trust me,” his hand was still outstretched toward me. Frowning, I thought about all the reasons this was proba
bly a bad idea. He couldn’t be much older than me. Maybe he was like seven at the most. But he seemed so sure of himself.
Besides, he wasn’t an adult stranger. He wouldn’t kidnap me. “Okay,” I finally replied, slipping my hand in his. His face appeared to relax. I sure hoped he didn’t get us both lost. “Where are your parents?” I asked, suddenly realizing maybe they could help.
“Around here somewhere,” he replied and a small frown touched his forehead. “Come with me,” his voice was gentle but firm. He kind of reminded me of an adult. I kept up with him as he wove a path through the bodies in our way. I tried to glance up at people as we hurried by to see if I recognized anyone but I wasn’t having any luck. “There she is,” the boy said as he stopped our pursuit and pointed a finger toward the sidewalk up ahead.
Sure enough, there was my mommy and she was really upset. A scared look was on her face as she grabbed the arms of people passing by and spoke frantically to them. I realized she was looking for me. Needing to reassure her I pulled my hand from the boy’s and took off running in her direction.
Her big, round, terrified eyes found me and she let out a sob then began to call my name, “Pagan, Pagan, Pagan!”
My eyes opened and the ceiling fan greeted me, the sun streamed in through my window and my frustrated mother banged on my door.
“You’re going to be late for school. Now get up right this minute”
“I’m awake. Calm down,” I called out in a voice hoarse from sleep and forced myself to sit up.
“Finally, I swear girl, you’re getting harder and harder to wake up. Now hurry up. I’ve made pancakes for breakfast.”
“Okay, okay,” I muttered and rubbed my sleepy eyes. I’d had another one of those dreams. Why was I dreaming about snippets from my childhood and why was I just now realizing that the same boy helped me out in each of my traumatic experiences? I had forgotten about that day at the festival, getting lost. But it had happened. I remembered it now. And that boy... he’d been there. Why was he so familiar?
My bedroom door opened softly and my concerns vanished at the sight of Dank stepping inside my room. He’d started using my door instead of just appearing out of nowhere and scaring the bejesus out of me. It was a small request that he always tried to honor.
“She’s making pancakes... do you think she’d let me have a few when I show up to pick you up for school?”
His voice was deep and hypnotic. Even now, I wanted to sigh and bask in the warmth it sent through me. I stood up and closed the short distance between us. Stopping right in front of him I placed both hands on his chest and smiled up into his startling blue eyes.
“Until Leif shows up you’re not exactly her favorite person. You know that.”
He frowned and I hated that my mother was being so difficult. I didn’t like making him frown. But unfortunately with my exboyfriend suddenly missing my mother was blaming it on me breaking up with him for another guy. It isn’t like I can tell her the truth. She’d think I was insane for real this time and I’d never be let out of the mental house.
“Hey,” Dank said reaching out a hand to cup my face, “stop it. This isn’t your fault. Besides we both know I don’t need food. Her pancakes just smell incredible.”
It can come in handy when he read my emotions. Then other times it annoys me
to no end.
“Well, maybe if you would explain to me what exactly you meant by ‘Leif isn’t human’ then I wouldn’t feel so guilty.”
Dank sighed and sank down on my bed pulling me onto his lap. His blue eyes still held a trace of the glow that ignited in them when he took a soul at the body’s time of death. I wrapped my arms around his neck trying very hard to keep the serious expression on my face. When he was this close it was hard to think coherently.
“I told you that I’m not completely positive what Leif is exactly. All I know is he has no soul. That’s the only thing I know for certain.”
I tucked a lock of his dark hair behind his ear and decided to give pouting a try. “Well, what do you think he is?” Dank raised his eyebrows and a sexy dimple producing grin appeared on his face.
“Pouting, Pagan? Really? I expected more from you than that. When did my girl go all underhanded on me...hmmm?”
I shoved his chest and stuck out my tongue, “That isn’t underhanded.”
His amused laugh sent shivers of pleasure down my spine. “Yes, Pagan it is. I don’t like for you to pout. You know that.”
“PAGAN, GET DOWN HERE AND EAT! YOU’RE GOING TO BE LATE,” my mother’s voice loudly carried up the stairs.
“Go eat. I’ll be outside in twenty minutes to pick you up,” he whispered in my ear before kissing my temple and standing me up. I put my hands on my hips to argue but he vanished before I could get a word out.
“Just because you’re Death doesn’t mean you can get away with being rude,” I hissed into the empty room just in case he was close enough to hear me.
With an annoyed humph, I headed to the bathroom to get ready.
“You’re not going to have time to sit down and eat breakfast if you intend on making it to first period before the bell,” my mother said frowning as I walked into the kitchen.
“I know, I’ll just take a pancake with me,” I reached for one of the pancakes she’d piled on the plate in the center of the table and felt instantly guilty for taking so long to get ready. She’d obviously went out of her way to make a nice hot meal for me to start my day and all I had time for was to grab a pancake and eat it on my way out to Dank’s Jeep.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I overslept. Thank you for this,” I said leaning in to kiss her cheek before picking up my book bag off the kitchen table.
“I need to get you an alarm clock,” she mumbled and pulled out a chair to sit
down.
“I promise tomorrow I’ll get up thirty minutes earlier. Put the left overs in the fridge and we’ll heat them up in the microwave in the morning and enjoy them together.”
She didn’t smile but instead frowned into her coffee cup. Dangit, she knew how to make me feel bad.
Pulling out a chair, I sat down knowing I’d be jumping right back up in less than three minutes but I wanted to make her happy and I wanted to ask her about my dream.
“Do you remember when I was a kid and got lost at the Arts and Entertainment Fair?”
She set her cup down and her forehead wrinkled in thought. I hoped my forehead didn’t wrinkle like that when I got older. Other than the forehead thing though, I wouldn’t mind looking like my mother at her age. The short pageboy haircut made her dark hair look shiny and her legs were hot for an old woman.
“Um...I think so. OH! Yes, the time I had my hands full of books and you were supposed to be holding onto my skirt. God, that was terrifying. I remember the moment I realized your grip was gone and then I turned around and you weren’t there. My heart stopped. You probably shaved five years of my life off that day.”
So it had been real. Mom’s dark brown eyes peeped over the rim of her coffee cup as she took a sip. I wanted to ask more but the frown on her face stopped me. Her attention was fixed over my shoulder at the window. Dank was here. I hated her thinking my relationship with him had something to do with Leif disappearing. The fact was I’d never got a chance to break up with Leif. He’d vanished before I could. But telling her that would make things even worse. If I didn’t know that Leif wasn’t human then I’d be worried too but I knew the truth.
“I gotta go Mom. Love ya,” I called out heading for the door. I didn’t want to listen to her lecture me on being more concerned about the fact Leif had run away.
“It’s almost time”
I stopped and stood frozen on the front steps of the house. My hand reached out and gripped the cold iron railing. I knew that voice.
