Destine (The Watcher's Trilogy) (3 page)

The remaining few days of summer passed uneventfully, and before I knew it, it was Sunday evening and I was staring
with distain
at my
messenger
bag packed full of fresh notebooks and pens
.
Next thing I knew
my alarm
shattered through my dream just as Johnny Depp was leaning in to kiss me
.
I jolted awake
.
I smacked my alarm and lay in my bed confused
. W
hy
was my alarm set, and why for six
a
.
m
.
?
Then
reality dawned and I remembered. “
Ohhh
…
the first day of school.”

I sat up slowly and swung my feet onto the floor
.
I blindly stumbled to the bathroom and put the hot water on full blast
.
I stepped into the warm rush of water and prepared myself for the day to come
.
After forcing myself out of the shower
,
long before I wanted
to get out, and brushing my teeth
,
I pulled on a new pair of jeans and a forest green polo shirt that I thought set off my auburn hair, and laced up my new sneakers
.
I went into the bathroom and attempted t
o
s
tyle my hair the way the woma
n at the salon had done the other day
.
I failed miserably and pulled my hair up into a high ponytail
.
I grabbed my purse and cell phone and headed for the door, stopping to grab a banana on my way out
.

As I walked to school, eating my banana, several
cars passed me filled with teenagers
headed the same way I was
.
Cami could have driven to school, but it seemed pointless when we both lived three blocks away
.
Cami was three blocks in the opposite direction though, so I walked to school alone and met her out front
.
She looked great
.
She was wearing a denim mini skirt with black strappy sandals and a pink
t-shirt that fit her slim figure very well
.
Her blond
e
hair was down and the pink highlights blended into the pink t-shirt where her hair rested on her shoulders
.
I couldn’t help but smile
as I approached
.
When I got close e
nough
,
she grasped my hand excitedly
.
“Are you ready for the first day, of the last year, of your high school career?
”
she asked dramatically
.

“Since when d
o you talk in rhymes,” I teased
.
She shot me a sideward’s glance, and still hand in hand we walked up the steps into school
.

“Remember,” Cami whispered, “this year is going to be different.”

I gave her a reassuring nod.
“Right.
”
Although I was sure this year was
not
going to be different
.

Chapter
2

“He hath set water and fire before thee: stretch forth thy hand to which thou wilt
.
Before man is life and death, good and evil, that which he shall choose shall be given him.”
Ecclesiastics
15:
17

Schedules had been mailed out
the week before school started,
and
as always,
Cami and I were
in the same homeroom
.
She was Cami Clark and I was Michelle Cross
.
Homeroom went the same as it did every year
.
The teacher sat us alphabetically so she could take attendance easier
.
We said the pledge of
allegiance
, although most everyone just muttered their way through it
.
The teacher
hand
ed
out
the student code of conduct, and reminded us we needed a pass to be in the hall at all times
.
Blah, blah, b
lah
.
The bell rang
,
sending us to first period
.
I waited for Cami by my locker and we walked off to the science wing together
.
She was headed for chemistry, since she had not done so hot in chemistry last year
.

I left her at
the door as she rolled her eyes.
“Here we go again.”

I
snickered
at her joke and headed across the hall to anatomy and physiology
.
I was actually excited for this class
;
we got to dissect a fetal pig as a midterm assignment and I couldn’t wait
.
Cami thought it was gross, but it sure beat sitting still, taking notes, and listening to lectures for forty-five minutes
.
Mr.
Ed
d
er
was writing on the board when I walked in, and it appeared we could take a seat wherever we wished
.
The back of the classroom was already filled with members of the football team and whatever cheerleader they were dating
.

“
How predictable
,
” I thought to myself and then
smirked thinking that none of the cheerleaders had looked at the course description before blindly signing up
.
Now I really couldn’t wait till midterm
.
I took a seat in the middle of the room at a desk two rows from the front
.
Not so far back
that
I couldn’t see the board, but no
t
so far forward that Mr.
Edder
could see what I was doodling in my notes
.

The second bell rang and Mr.
Edder
turned
,
smiling at the class
.
He started to pass out books and take attendance when a knock sounded at the door
.
A boy stepped in wearing a white button up shirt and dark denim jeans
.
His black curly hair was a mass of tangled waves falling
just above his eyes, and as he looked up
I saw his eyes
peek through that mass of tangles
.
They we
re startling
,
to say the least
.
His eyes
looked to be so clear that n
o color seemed to describe them;
gray maybe
,
but less cloudy and clearer, like ice
.
The room fell
silent;
you could have heard a pin drop as Mr.
Edder
looked at his ro
ster for the new student’s name.

The boy leaned in and pointed
wordlessly at Mr.
Edder's
paper.
“
Ahh
yes, Gabriel Lewis
.
Everyone this is a new student, Gabriel Lewis
.
I trust you will treat him nicely and make him feel welcome at Shady Lane
.
Take a seat Mr. Lewis
, I was just handing out books,
”
Mr.
Edder
stated
.

Gabriel crossed the room and
you could feel the entire class’
s attention s
h
ift with him
.
In a school of only four hundred kids that you have seen every
day for your entire life, a new student was an epically big deal
.
Gabriel tossed his messenger bag under a desk in the far left of the room, but in the front row, and slid down into the seat
.
Mr.
Edder
continued to assign textbooks, and then hand out
the syllabus
.
I
heard several squeals of repulsion as some of the cheerleaders noticed the midterm dissection project
.
I actually heard one unnamed football player ask what
fet
-al meant
.
I silently wondered whom he copied off of to even pass far enough to get into this class
.

Through
out class, I
discreetly
stole
glances
in Gabriel’s direction
.
He never turned in his se
a
t, he just stared straight ahead and at the papers Mr.
Edder
handed out
.
I wondered if his family was the one I saw moving in last Wednesday on Spruce
Street
.
The bell interrupted that thought and everyone stumbled out into the hall
.
I went in search of Cami.

The rest of the morning went by uneventfully
.
Cami and I had
C
alculus
together
.
I was not looking forward to anything in that class
.
Then I had history,
I was taking Western Civilizations
,
followed by pottery
.
I had taken it for Cami when she suggested we take a “fun” class together for our senior year
.
She had dropped the class two weeks later, but I had never gotten around to it
.
So here I was in pottery
…
alone
.
Well I might discover I have a hidden talent and become a famous potter, but
since the need for pottery pretty much died with the collapse of the Roman Empire,
probably not
.
Th
ankfully, after pottery
it was time for lunch
and a
ll the seniors had lunch together
.
I walked into the crowded cafeteria and scanned for Cami
.
I couldn’t find her, so I went to get in line
.
After grabbing a slice of pizza and
a chocolate
milk I resumed my search for Cami
.
I f
ound her at a table near the
windows, unpacking her lunch
.
She had set out
a
V
itamin
water, an apple, and a salad
.
She waved me over as I approached
.

“I have decided to
only eat locally grown produce
.
I heard that it’s the best way to
stay healthy,
”
Cami declared as I took the seat across from her
.

I nodded and kept my mouth shut
.
This was just another one of Cami’s fads
.
She had been vegan for two weeks
unti
l I told her that chocolate milkshakes are not vegan, and she pr
omptly revoked that declaration
.
When we were in fourth grade she had decided she was vegetarian
.
She had stuck with that one for a couple of months,
unti
l Thanksgiving when her mother cooked her
tofurkey
, and the rest of the family at
e
turkey
.
Then she had gone through
her yoga phase, and her
feng
shui
phase,
her surfing phase, and a karate
phase
.
Each phase was eventually forgotten and left for Cami’s next big plan
.
This locally grown phase would fall by the wayside as soon as she realized that Doritos were not locally grown
.

Cami turned to me a
nd
blurted, “Have you seen the new guy?”

The change in topic stopped me for a minute, but I eventually caught up. “Yeah, he’s in my science class.
”

“Lucky, I haven’t seen him yet
.
I heard he’s like a total bad boy who got kicked out of his last school and his parents had to move here so he could finish high school
.
How cool is that!
”
she shrieked.