The Rising Moon (3 page)

“
Thanks,” he said as I handed him the steaming cup. “So, how was first day of school?” He asked blowing into the hot coffee.

“
School was ok. I got some really nice teachers this year and hopefully I should be able to slide through the year with ease.”

“
That’s great dear. Well I’m stone tired. Gonna watch the evening news and head to bed early tonight,” he said taking a deep breath and walking to the living room.

“
Good night,” I said as I headed back to my room. He lifted his hand and waved.

Once inside I walked up to the window and pressed my forehead against the smooth, cold glass. The moonless night was quiet, no rain clouds brewed outside tonight.

∞
Chapter 3 ∞

THE NEXT DAY began like any other day, except I awoke on the floor with a quarter-sized bump on my head. After dressing for school, I hurried to the kitchen to grab some ice. When I placed the ice on my forehead, I noticed a dish with eggshells and crumbs in the sink and smelled fresh coffee still warm in the coffee machine. With no reason to prepare a breakfast for two, I grabbed a snack bar from the pantry and poured myself a cup of coffee to go. Carefully balancing the cup and bar in one hand, I held the ice to my forehead and headed out the door. Emi was already waiting for me outside the car.

“
Are you alright?” she asked trying to get a closer look at my forehead. “what happened?”

“
I fell out of bed.” I removed the ice pack, and exposed the swelling purple blue souvenir, as water dripped down the side of my face. She smiled a half smile and tried to hold back from laughing.

“
I'm glad you find it funny,” I reapplied the ice pack.

“
Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just I can’t help it,” she laughed. “Is it ok for you to drive? I mean what if you suffer a concussion or something?”

“
I'm fine.” I inserted the keys into the ignition, “get in before I decide you should walk." She wasn’t going to take the chance of having to walk to school. Or worse, be driven by one of the sweaty ranch workers, so she quickly and quietly jumped into the car.

While driving up the dusty gravel road I looked past the windshield and took in the soothing scene of the rust-colored hills and the green open plains that were as wide as the sea. Around the bend in the road, the horses ran against the backdrop of the snow capped mountains. John and a couple of the ranch workers were outside the stable unloading hay from a truck.

“
How's he doing?” Emi asked. I wasn’t sure if she meant
‘
how was he doing health wise?’
or
‘
how's he been
coping with Veena’s death?’
I'm sure she meant the latter.

“
He’s fine.”

“
How’s his drinking?” Her question came as a surprise. “He’s fine. He has it under control.” I didn’t want to tell her that it has gotten worse, so I lied. I tried really hard to avoid eye contact with her. I wasn’t a good liar so I kept my focus on the road.

She nodded and reached for the radio flipping through the stations trying to find a song she liked. She stopped when she heard the voice of Miranda Lambert. She pulled a pen out of her bag and began to sing into it like a microphone.
"Love is looking for you..."
She sang in her less than perfect singing tone. It was tough concentrating on the road while trying hard not to laugh.

“
Hey, you never did tell me who that guy was,” she said when the song was over.

Her question caught me off guard. I jerked the steering wheel to the left, cutting off a car in the next lane. After being flashed the finger by the other driver, I reached to lower the volume on the radio, as if the music was the cause to my sudden distraction.

“
What guy?” I asked densely, fully aware she was referring to Ryan.

“
Duh… hello! That tall, dark and very handsome guy whose eyes were watching you like a hawk yesterday after school,” she blurted out with her eyes wide.

I gave her a quick glance.

“
Oh, him. His name’s Ryan." I replied trying to sound nonchalant. My eyes went back on the road. I tried to give her the impression that I wasn’t in the mood to continue with this conversation, but of course, she didn’t stop.

“
Ryan," she repeated. “So? Is that all you know about him? If I had a guy looking at me the way he eyed you…especially a hot guy, I would make sure I knew more than just his name.”

“
Listen, I’m not like you. I'm not interested in having a crowd of
friends
or a
boyfriend
,” I said as if the words friends and boyfriend were some kind of disease, “and besides he probably hates me by now. I was so rude to him yesterday when he asked for my number. I doubt he ever wants to speak to me again."

“
He asked for your number?” Her eyes glowed with excitement.

“
Uh hum.”

“
And what did you do?”

I took in a deep breath, “Nothing. I ran away."

“
Well that explains why you ran past me like a crazy woman yesterday,” she replied sinking deep into the white rugged seat. “If you’re not interested in having a boyfriend, you can always be his friend. This is your senior year. Enjoy it.”

I didn't answer. How could I explain to her that I was cursed to live a life of solitude? She wouldn’t understand. Even my friendship with her was one-sided. In fact, we’ve spoken more in the past few days then we ever had since I moved to the ranch five years ago. I was content with my life as it was. I wouldn’t be upset if Ryan never wanted to speak to me again. It was better off that way.

“
Well, at least we know he's not mad at you.” Emi said as I turned into the school parking lot.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw Ryan standing beside his silver Ford truck watching me as I pulled into the parking spot beside his. He looked like he just stepped out of a western GQ cover. He wore an opened black button down shirt, over a form fitting T-shirt, complete with blue jeans, boots and a black felt hat. He stood as tall as his truck, mountainous compared to my compact tiny car.

“
Morning, ladies,” he said raising his hat.

“
Good morning,” Emi replied with a nod. She flashed me a smile and a wink and ran to meet her friends.

“
Hi,” I replied leaning on the side of my car.

I swallowed hard as we nervously stood there quietly staring at each other, not knowing who should talk first.

“
I wanted to apologize for being so pushy, yesterday,” he said breaking the silence.

“
You don’t have to apologize. I was the one who overreacted.”

“
You see I---,” he paused, lifted his hat, and nervously ran his hand through his dark loose hair, “I like you and I was hoping we could be friends.”

I swallowed hard and avoided looking into his bright brown eyes. I cautioned myself not to overreact again. “I would like that,” I gulped when I realized I said it. Ryan had a large smile on his face. “But---,” I blurted wiping his smile away, “my life’s a bit complicated…”

“
I like complicated.”

“
No seriously,” I replied. “There’s stuff about me that make me…different.”

“
Listen,” his voice was sincere as his eyes narrowed on mine. “I don’t care how complicated or different you feel your life is. I like you and I want to get to know you better.”

“
Fine. We can be friends, but when things start getting complicated or weird; don’t say I didn’t warn you."

∞
Chapter 4 ∞

RYAN WAITED FOR me after algebra and walked with me to the courtyard during lunch time.

“
Are you ready to meet my friends?” he asked, as he held the glass doors open for me.

“
Not really, but do I have a choice?”I replied, my breath uneven. I felt like I was going to faint from the nerves. He held out his hand for mine. It felt soft and warm. Suddenly my breathing was normal.

“
Don’t be nervous. They’re going to love you.”

We walked out into the yard, over to the oak tree where his friends were. “Everyone, this is Lia.’ He sounded proud.

I waved. He pointed to the girl resting her head on a boy's lap, as he ran his fingers through her long chestnut-brown hair. The boys’ oval shaped face was framed with black chin length hair. They sat staring and whispering to each other as if they were in their own world. Ryan cleared his throat loudly to catch their attention. “The lovely couple is Brandon and Anne.”

I smiled and they both nodded and waved.

“
These two knuckleheads are my cousins, Kevin and Tyler," he said as he stood between them with his arms around their shoulders. The resemblance was uncanny. The three of them could've been brothers.

“
How you doing?” Kevin asked as he reached to shake my hand.

“
What's up?” Tyler said with a nod. “Welcome to our clan.”

“
Thanks.” I replied.

"And this here is my cousin Denise and her friends Lisa, Jen, and Kima." Denise was petite and thin, her dark wavy hair hung loose past her waist and her green eyes were bright and small. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Ryan hasn’t stopped talking about you since yesterday. I don’t know what you did, but my cousin is crazy about you.”

Ryan’s face turned red and she looked pleased at embarrassing her cousin. He shoved her hard, nearly knocking her to the ground. Kevin and Tyler laughed and playfully teased him, while he stood there blushing. He turned to them and tackled them to the ground. But they were no match for him. The twins dusted themselves off, moaning and whining.

"Come sit with us," Denise said pulling my hand, "you don't want to sit with these immature boys." She turned and stuck out her tongue at them. Denise and her friends were friendly, except for Kima. She didn't look at me. She mostly kept to herself.

“
You have pretty eyes,” Jen said staring into them. “They’re a little strange, but pretty.” I always got that reaction from people who first realize I have heterchromia. “Thanks.” I replied, lowering my eyes and pulling on a loose thread on my jeans.

"What happened to your forehead?" Denise asked as she leaned forward to have a closer a look. My face blushed red as the girls stared at me. I ran my fingers on the soft bruise and said, "I fell off my bed while I slept last night."

I lowered my head, covered the bump behind my hair and waited for their laughs. I was surprised they didn’t find it as funny as Emi did this morning. Denise turned to Lisa and whispered something I didn't catch. Whatever she said, Lisa seemed to agree, because she replied with a nod.
“Have you always lived in Lander?" Lisa asked, “I don’t remember seeing you here before.”

“
I moved here five years ago.”

“
Really?” she replied.

I wasn’t surprised no one noticed me before.

“
Where did you used to live?” Denise asked.

"North Carolina." I never felt comfortable talking about my past or myself with anyone. Especially with people, I just met. I looked over at Ryan, who instantly turned to look at me as though he felt my discomfort. In a blink of an eye, he made his way over to us.

"What's with the questions?" he asked Denise.

"We just want to get to know her better." Denise replied.

"It's ok, Ryan," I said taking a deep breath. I somehow felt better when he was around.

“
Are you sure?” he asked. I nodded and he took a seat beside me.

"Why in the world would you move to Lander?" Jen, asked. I wrapped my arms around my knees, hugging them tightly.

“
I was sent to live here after my previous foster parents died.”

“
Foster parents? What happened to your real parents?” asked Denise.

“
My parents died when I was little and because I didn’t have any known relatives, I was sent to foster care. I’ve lived in Louisiana, Georgia and North Carolina and now I live over at the Ulric ranch, with my foster father, John Miller." I let out a deep breath everyone's eyes were on me, listening closely. Even Kima was listening in on my pathetic, depressing story.