Dark One: One for Sorrow... (The Khiara Banning Series Book 1) (11 page)

“Not funny,” says Mom, but she laughs.

As soon as one of the spa-workers sees my nails, she titters and says, “You shouldn’t bite such nice nails!” and starts vigorously filing them down to make them even. Apparently Mom’s nails are perfect though, because they praise hers as if they’re gold. They work on our hands first, filing them down, and then treating our cuticles. Afterwards, they let them soak in some type of liquid, and then they paint them with colours of our choice. Of course I chose black, making mom roll her eyes at me, but she keeps her mouth shut which I appreciate.

When they’re done with our hands, they work on our feet, going through the same type of process with the nails, but taking all of the dead skin off of the bottoms of the soles. It tickles a little bit, but mostly, I enjoy the experience, and leave with a couple of bottles of nail polish that Mom insisted she get for me.

As we’re walking through the mall, browsing, Mom decides to do a little Q and A session with me about school.

“So,” she asks, “I hear you’re passing French?” She asks all jokey, because she knows that it’s one of my best subjects.

I nod. “Yeah, and all of my other classes too. Okay, well maybe not Gym, but there’s still time to make it up.”

“Is there anybody you
like
?” She asks, eyeing me with that you’d-better-tell-me-young-lady look that all mothers give.
What is it with moms?

“No,” I say a little too quickly, because she asks, “Who is it?”

I keep trying to avoid her gaze until finally she says, “It’s Damien isn’t it? He’s a nice boy I like him. But he should be in school instead of running around in the middle of the road.”

I shake my head, “No, it’s not. It’s,” how do I explain this, “somebody who doesn’t go to my school. His name is Cael, and-” of course, as I’m saying this, Cael walks around the corner and bumps right into me.

“Khiara!” He says, as he helps me up. “I thought you had school today?”

Mom’s eyes get that wicked twinkle they get when she’s excited about something, “She needed some time off,” she reaches out her hand to shake his.

“Cael,” he says as they shake, and she looks over at me with that
stupid
eye-twinkle and introduces herself. “I’m Khiara’s adoptive mother, Miranda.”

“The only mother I’ve ever known and the best one in the world at that,” I nudge her with a smile. I don’t want things to be different between us, and I want her to know that.

If he’s surprised, he doesn’t show it. Cael becomes the perfect gentleman. “It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Banning. It’s going to be great having Khiara as an employee at the café.”
Crap, I forgot to tell her about that…

Mom thwacks me on my arm playfully. “
Oh!
Khiara didn’t mention that she’d gotten a job! How wonderful! And especially since she’s going to be working for such a nice boy such as you, Cael. And, please, call me Miranda, Mrs. Banning is so formal!”

Oh God, Mom.

“Well, we’d better get going, right Mom?” I pipe up, feeling intensely awkward. I need to get out of here right now.

Mom waves my away with her hand, “Nonsense, Khiara. I’d like to get to know your boss more.”

“But we have that thing to go to.” Again with the lame excuse! I need to get better at lying. “We don’t want to be late.”

Mom looks a little disappointed, and Cael’s trying to hold back laughter. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Mrs-I mean, Miranda. See you around, Khiara. Maybe, are you free later on today? We could have a proper
interview
, since we had to cut our last one so short.” Mom giggles at the way he says interview, and I resist the embarrassing urge to happy dance in front of them both.

“She’s free.” Says Mom, just as I’m about to answer, and as he walks off waving, she says, “You’ve got a boyfriend!”

“I’ll call you later today! Oh, and by the way, I got your message last night. I’m glad you think my cake is fabulously-fantastic, Khiara.” Cael says as he disappears around the corner. Oh man, so that’s what I said. I silently thank the powers that be for the fact that I didn’t say anything worse.

“He’s not really my boyfriend…we’ve only met like, three times counting today.” I mumble, my face turning red as she dances all around me. I didn’t know my mother could be so…squeaky.

She says, “Well he should be, he’s so nice! And handsome too,” I shove my palm into my face, “and that Irish accent! So
lovely
!” I have to say, everything she’s saying is true, but I’m too embarrassed to admit it to her, so instead, I just lead the way to the car.

Nine

Of course, when we get home, Mom helps (forces) me get ready for my date before she leaves for work. I refuse to think of it as such until my phone rings, displaying Cael’s number.

“Cael?” I answer, at the same time he says, “Khiara?” We both go silent, and then laugh a little awkwardly.

It’s Cael who talks first. “So,” pause, “are you still up for that,” long pause, “uhh…”

Oh my God, it is a date!
Calm down calm down…Oh my God!
“Yeah,” I say, trying to sound nonchalant, but my voice betrays me, and I can hear Cael chuckle quietly on the other end. “I’m definitely up to it.”

I run my tongue over my lips, trying my best not to lick off the lip-gloss Mom forced me to put on as Cael says, “Where do you want to meet? I can always pick you up, but only if you’re okay with that.”

“That sounds good. I live on McKinley Avenue. My house is the only house with shutters and a wraparound porch.”

I can practically hear his smile through the phone, “I’ve passed by it a few times. I know the one.”

“Good,” I whisper.

“Yeah, good,” he replies, also in a hushed voice. “I’ll pick you up in about an hour.”

Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rings and I practically skip all the way to the door from the living room. As I get to the door, something stops me from opening it right away. Not only did Cael say he’d pick me up in an hour or so, it’s also because that stupid creepy feeling is nagging at the back of my brain. I feel watched, stalked even. And not at all safe.

I open the door reluctantly, and only poke my head out. Damien is standing there, holding a whole bunch of papers and a tin of cookies. He’s wearing a black suit, as if he weren’t headed home from school, but towards somewhere extravagant, somewhere extremely fancy.

“Hey,” he says all smiles and good looks. “Can I come in for a second? I brought your homework and some notes. Cara offered to do it, but I said that since we live so close to each other, and it was on my way, it would be no big deal. I hope you don’t mind.”

My heart slows down and I open the door wider, “Sure, why not.” I don’t know why, but Damien makes me nervous in a way nobody
ever
has before. I kind of associate him with shadows, mysterious and out of reach. Like if I tried to grab for him, there would be nothing but air in my hands. I realize that that’s kind of strange, but nothing else seems to fit a good description for him.

He comes right in, and as he passes by me in the small doorway, I supress the urge to shudder. Internally though, my guts are completely twisted, making me like I’m going to vomit. “So, how much homework do I have?” I attempt to keep my tone as light as possible.

Damien smiles, and walks into my kitchen like he’s been here millions of times, when really this is his first time, and puts the cookie box on the counter next to the fridge. Damien reaches into the fridge and pulls out a Moxie cola, my last one actually (I go through about four cans a day sometimes) and pops it open. I’m too jittery to say anything about his boldness, and I rub my arm awkwardly. He takes a long swig from the can and burps when he’s done. “Excuse me for my rudeness, but I was dying for a drink and niceties were not on my mind. Where were we? Homework, right.”

Damien hands me the papers, “These are the notes Cara took for you. She photocopied a couple of other student’s notes as well, but took extra detailed ones for you. You miss one day of school, and Cara really goes all out for you. Got her taking notes, Banning, maybe you should stop going to school altogether!”

His words are amicable, there’s no hint of contempt in them; but I still feel like he was implying something else with those words. He tries to laugh good naturedly, but it sounds tinny to me, fake.

Forced.

I look over the papers and smile despite my mood at Cara’s effort. I’ll have to make a note to thank her later, take her out to lunch or something. Damien’s eyes lock on mine as I glance up, and he smirks at me, and raises his eyebrows as if he were asking me a question. “What?” I find myself asking, my voice trembling as he continues to smirk at me.

Damien steps towards me, much too close, and he tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. “I make you nervous, Khiara. Why is that? Have I ever done anything to offend you? I really like you. In fact –and you can’t tell Victoria or she’ll kill me– I’ve kind of got a little crush on you.”

I gasp.

His smirk widens into a grin. “It’s a silly infatuation, really. But you interest me. I find myself watching you from across the class; I know you’ve noticed. I’m not going to hurt you, Khiara, like you seem to think, and don’t try to deny it, I can read body language pretty well. I just…want to get to know you.”

“I don’t believe you,” I whisper, and his eyes grow hard, his smile drops right off of his face. “You seem absolutely in love with Victoria, and you’ve
never
given me any indication that you…feel that way about me.”

He shakes his head and puts his hand over his chest. “You have my Scout’s honour that all I want to do is be your friend; to get to know you. I mean I thought we were on the path to being friends already, but I guess you’ve been a little conflicted. Please, don’t worry. Will you please let me be your friend? I think I could show you a whole new side to life that you’d really enjoy.”

No,
I think.
There’s something off about you.

The doorbell rings just as I open my mouth to say something – I don’t know what – and his face grows hard, his jaw becoming clenched. “You should answer that. It might be important.”

I practically jog to the door, and am relieved when I see that it’s Cael. He’s dressed in a normal green tee-shirt with black jeans, and his hair is messier than ever though I can tell he’s tried to tame in into submission by the way he keeps patting it down. His unassuming clothing alone is enough to make me smile, but the way he fusses over his hair honestly brightens my mood.

“Hey,” I say.

Cael grins, “Hi. Sorry I’m a wee bit late, the car was giving me trouble.” He peers around my shoulder at Damien, his expression becoming blank.

Turning around, I gesture to Damien, “I believe you two already know each other?”

Damien’s face looks like he’s tasted something sour, while Cael looks impassive. Cael reaches his hand out to shake Damien’s, “Yes, we’ve met…
before
.” I can’t help but notice how he stresses the word before, like it holds something deep inside it. “We were good friends once. We grew up together”

Damien rolls his eyes and snorts, as if the story made him remember things he’d rather not, “Well, yes, but that was a long time ago. Things were different than they are now. I suppose I’d better leave you two at it then?” I wonder what could have happened for them to have stopped being friends.

“What happened?” I ask. Mentally, I smack myself. Why, oh why, do I have to blurt things out at such awkward moments?

Damien motions to Cael to tell the story, looking weary about it.

He smiles a sad smile, “Well,” Cael begins, “I guess we just got on the opposite sides of a fight we didn’t know much about at first. We didn’t really have a choice. It’s hard to explain. We were young and stupid. Anyway, it’s whatever now. No need to talk about it and ruin our d-” he pauses, “our day, hmm?” He almost said date. Almost. But he didn’t.

Damien nods his head, smiles and claps me on the shoulder, and turns to Cael. “Well, have a great time. Be careful with this one. She’s pretty
special
.”
Gosh, I feel dirty somehow…

Cael’s warm, strong hand finds its way to mine and he nods as Damien heads out the door and onto the street. “I will,” he calls, “She’s safe with me. Don’t you worry.”

~*~

Cael insisted on opening the passenger side door of his car for me. I tried to say no, but he opened it anyway, helping me get in, ever the gentleman. Right now, we’re still parked in front of my house, the engine idling. Cael smiles and says, “So, where do you want to go?” I Shrug and tell him anywhere is fine by me, but he persists.

“There’s nowhere at all you’ve got in mind? Like a
park
or something.”

“Well, there is a park that I really like to go to, it’s sport of a special place, but it’s kind of far from here, and we have to walk over a bridge. Have you been Facebook stalking me? How did you know?” I joke, but there’s a slight amount of real curiosity in my words, because surely I didn’t tell him about my special place, and even on Facebook, I only liked the park’s page.

He laughs, “Cara swiped my number from your phone, apparently. Your mom called Cara and told her about tonight, and since Cara had taken my number down like a pro, she called me and told me where you might like to go. No stalking on my part, and I don’t even own a Facebook account. There’re too many people I’d rather not interact with.” Well now I know why she took such awesome notes for me!

I feel my face turn three shades of crimson, “Oh…I’m going to kill her for taking my phone! This isn’t the first time she’s done this to me.” One time, when Cara found out I had a crush on a boy named Jonathan in seventh grade she tracked him down and asked for his number. She managed to take my phone away from me in first period Math, and slipped it back in right when the bell rang, and I caught her with her hand in my purse.

Another time, she wanted pizza, and knew that I had the number for Dominos on my phone. We were at a party, and she was drunk out of her mind, but she managed to take my phone from my pocket without me even noticing, until I reached for it and it was gone. I spent half the party looking for my phone, and as soon as the doorbell rang, Cara jumped up from the couch, mid make-out session, handed me my phone, and went to pay for the pizza. The action itself explained the situation, and I almost hope she choked on her food. That is, until I got some pizza in me and everything was forgiven.

“Facebook isn’t worth the drama it brings. I hate social networking sites, but they’re so addictive, really.” I say, as Cael starts the car.

He smiles at me, and says, “So, can you take me to your special place? I kind of brought a picnic.”

I feel my cheeks pull into what I think must be a pretty stupid grin. “Awesome,” I say. “I’d love to show you my special hang out.”

Twenty minutes later, we’ve parked the car, and we’re walking across Pipton Bridge that leads to Elmridge Park. Not many people use the bike portion of the bridge, because it’s so high up, and there’s a portion of it that’s kind of broken. It’s just a small part of the barrier that keeps the car and bike path separate, but it makes most people nervous, so they rarely take this path. That never stops me and Cara, or a couple of other nature lovers, though for the most part we’re usually the only ones in the park.

Elmridge Park is on an island or sorts (a really, really, small one), just off of Serene Falls, so the bridge we’re on has a lot of water underneath it from the river, and I’ve always wondered what would happen if I fell off.

Towards the end of the bridge near the island there are lots of rocks, and I know that if I was to fall there I wouldn’t survive, or if I did I’d be seriously injured. I shudder at the thought, and Cael misinterprets my shudder as me being cold, so he stops walking, takes off his sweater and offers it to me. I slip it on gladly, not wanting to explain my thoughts. It’s better that he thinks that I was cold.