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  Everyone laughed, causing Lynn to smile as she played with Ryan’s fingers, which were wrapped around her own.

  “That’s enough, class!” Mr. Harris ordered, his lesson interrupted. “Miss Eris, Mr. Klingalsmith, you both can find new ways to interrupt my class in detention after school.”

  Lynn rolled her eyes at the teacher undaunted, as Spencer whispered harsh complaints.

  And this, Donna thought, will always be my average day. The highlight of her week would be picking out a new fridge and possibly a pair of shoes on sale. She stared at the board, imagining every number the teacher drew was a gymnastic pose.

  She had no idea what was really coming …

  * * *

  Ryan

  Trouble was on its way and Ryan could feel it. After school he, his older brother Randy, and Lynn sat at a table together with the rest of the cheerleaders. He was drumming his fingers anxiously. They’d all just finished football practice and were having a bite to eat before he, Lynn, and Randy headed off.

  He looked at his girlfriend for a moment, wishing they could go somewhere alone, away from everyone else. She had looked so hot today, her neckline low and her T-shirt rising more and more every time she moved. She had been in such a racy mood earlier, but now …. like her body, her personality always morphed. She’d gone from flirting to cruel to just plain annoying, ordering the other cheerleaders around; telling them when they messed up, and what they shouldn’t be eating, all while she ate what she pleased. She was a leader in the making. If ever put in charge of an army, Lynn would be greatly feared. But sometimes he wished she’d give it all a break. That they could just be like a regular couple.

  He heard the door start to open before the bell on it shook. Spencer Klingalsmith, the most annoying guy in Ryan’s class, and Rebecca Leopold, Donna’s other close friend, walked into the small town diner. Rebecca was laughing at Spencer’s stupid jokes as if he was Jim Carrey on TV or something. Ryan rolled his eyes. He wished Donna would stay away from that kid, pick a different guy to hang out with, or preferably she could just hang out with Rebecca.

  He looked through the clear glass window knowing where Spencer and Rebecca were Donna wouldn’t be far behind. After a second he spotted her walking inside the shoe store across the street, her eyes staring at the running shoes on the wall. “I’m gonna get some air,” he said as he got up from the table, taking his soda with him.

  Spencer’s mom, one of the waitresses at the diner, handed Spencer some change from her pocket. It dropped from her hands causing her to bend over.

  “Uh, yeah, me too.” Randy got up quickly and started moving behind him while staring at Spencer’s mom’s behind. She was probably the reason Randy had chosen to come eat here in the first place. Spencer’s mom was hot, very hot, and young too. She’d had Spencer when she was only a teenager. Randy practically walked into her as she stood up straight, her butt supposedly grazing his hands by accident. Spencer gave both brothers very pissed off looks, as if he was tough or something. Spencer tough? Ha, that’s a joke. Yet instantly Ryan felt on edge, watching his older brother closely, making sure Randy didn’t start something regrettable with this guy. Being the town hot head defined Randy in ways most people couldn’t imagine, and it was Ryan’s job to make sure everyone stayed under control.

  They headed outside, both leaning against the restaurant wall as Randy pulled out a cigarette and played with his lighter. It was un-believable because their mom had died from smoking and here Randy was cutting years off his life. The butt of his cigarette caught on fire without him even pretending to flicker the lighter on.

  “You need to be more careful and use your lighter,” Ryan told him. “Dad would freak.”

  “I am a lighter, little brother,” Randy corrected him. “Chill.”

  Ryan rolled his eyes. Lecturing Randy was like talking to a wall.

  “So is this why you wanted to come out here?” Randy asked him, looking toward Donna as she lifted up different running shoes from inside the store; she was looking at the prices no doubt.

  “I needed to chill before training.”

  “Sure,” Randy said in disbelief.

  Ryan ignored him, watching Donna, his once childhood companion, try on a pair of running shoes. They were black and white with one thin pink stripe. Girlie enough for Donna, where on the other hand Lynn, looking as herself, would never touch them.

  Donna looked at the price on the box several times and then handed the shoes back to the sales girl and left the store. She was wearing old-fashioned baggie overalls on top of her blue gymnastic uniform. The blue lit up her eyes as the sun shinned down on her messy blond hair. Donna was the nice girl, the shy type of girl who is kind and often overlooked, but when you do look, you saw that she was incredibly beautiful.

  Their eyes met as she came toward the restaurant door and she took a deep breath bracing herself. As if she needed the extra strength just to walk by and not embrace him like she used to when they were younger. Every time she did that, everyday when he had to see her at school and she took that “brace yourself” pose, it was like a punch to the gut. And every time he wished he could say something.

  “If it isn’t little Donny,” Randy barked while breathing out more smoke. Donna gave a half sarcastic, half embarrassed smile and kept walking by. Years ago Randy used to antagonize and bully Ryan and Donna both with all his older friends. To try and escape him, they would run and hide in the woods for hours at a time, building forts and imagining dumb adventures. They had become so close back then, their bond was almost indescribable; up until right before the summer of Donna’s first trip to New York when something terrible had almost happened and it was all Ryan’s fault.

  “It’s better this way,” his father’s words echoed inside his mind. “Just keep her away.” But he still always wondered what it would be like if he and Donna were dating. If he could be just like her. Normal.

  Chapter Two

  Donna

  Donna had strange dreams that night. Usually whenever she closed her eyes she was stuck seeing nothing but continuous gray, but tonight she dreamt of a cold, black darkness settling over her town, freezing everyone to stillness. She dreamt of her father and his own childhood best friend, Richard Applegate, Ryan and Randy’s father, struggling to keep warm, to not freeze to death like all the others. She searched outside for something to help them, but couldn’t find anything. Then a light came from underneath the ground. Like a hidden sun coming out to play, but before Donna could call her dad and Mr.Applegate, before she could tell them about the light, the ground started to shake. The light got brighter and brighter, and before she knew what was happening, the fire underneath the ground started to explode. The last thing Donna saw before she opened her eyes was a hooded man in the distance, a man who had tried to hurt her years back the first time her father brought her to New York. She saw the man’s haunting silver eyes staring at her as the explosion, an electric explosion, swallowed up everything.

  She couldn’t get back to sleep after that. She got up extra early to jog as she had the day before, and felt a strangeness she couldn’t shake. Not just in her head, like she normally would after having a nightmare, but her whole body felt off.

  She opened the front door and took a few steps out without looking down. Something big had been placed on the bottom doorstep that she hadn’t anticipated, causing her trip and fall. Her water bottle went flying as she was forced to dive roll so she won’t smash her face against the rocks on the steps. Her gymnastics training, learning to fall without getting hurt, saved her as she rolled onto her legs which were now covered with mud. That’s just great!

  She looked at what she had just tripped over and had almost caused a broken neck. A box. A shoe box? She picked it up and looked at the outside label. They were women’s shoes. Her heart started pounding and she opened it fast, knowing what they would be. Am I still dreaming? she thought with shock and surprise. The shoes she had looked at yesterday, the ones she had wanted
for over three months now but couldn’t ever afford; they had been placed on her outside doorstep in the middle of the night.

  Ryan must have done this, she thought. He was the only one who left gifts for her in secret without acknowledging it. But it wasn’t her birthday, or Christmas. What was so special about today? Why would Ryan do something so sweet, but then go back to not talking? Was she that big of a dork, so low on the totem pole, so pathetic that he had to … No, I’m not thinking negative, this is a new year! She slowly put the shoes on. Of course they fit perfectly. Not that she believed he knew her shoe size, but he had probably asked the lady what size she had wanted. So now he knows I wear a size nine compared to Lynn’s tiny feet! How embarrassing.

  Still … thank you, Ryan, she thought as if he were still there listening. She took a deep breath, then looked around for her water bottle. It must have rolled into the bushes or someplace. She didn’t want to track mud back inside so instead she took off, jogging hard, not caring if she got sweaty because when Ryan left gifts he always avoided her for the rest of the day afterward. She knew besides school she’d barley see him. The real question was why?

  * * *

  Later, she got back to the house and found her dog throwing up all over the kitchen. Fan-freakin-tastic! She went to her dog’s puke filled water dish and cleaned it, then filled it with fresh water and set it next to him. He looked so sad.

  “It’s ok, boy, it’s ok.” She took him out back and hosed him off while her dad cursed at his old truck for not starting. Great, I’m going to be even more late than usual. As Donna was just about done cleaning her dog, the water stopped coming out of the hose. No! Not today! Please not today! She tried turning it on and off repeatedly but it was clear their water had stopped again.

  Feeling tired she emptied two water bottles on the kitchen floor to clean it, then went upstairs to inspect herself in the bathroom. No shower today! Spectacular! She actually wasn’t sweating at all. That was a miracle in itself, but her face and knees were dirty. So she poured her last bit of water on a face cloth and used it to wipe off her face, and then the mud from her knees; then she got changed.

  After all that she had only drops of water left in her bottle. She downed it, not filling her thirst at all. She went downstairs and grabbed a protein shake and headed outside. Her dad was under his old truck, singing to himself.

  “How is it?” she asked him.

  “Oh,” he started. “Just a couple of things loose. Nothing I can’t fix.”

  She listened as her father tightened things. Suddenly she felt very thirsty and tired, almost like she was going to faint. She leaned one hand on the car, popping her shake open with the other. Her eyes were shutting; she felt dizzy.

  Her shake dropped to the ground as she lost her balance. She clutched both hands to the car catching herself.

  “What was that?” her dad asked from underneath the car.

  She went to talk, trying to wake herself up. Then she felt heat in her hands while she was touching the car. It came quickly, coming up her arms and down into her chest. A feeling of quick heat, like she had been pleasantly warmed up on the inside.

  She took a deep breath, all of sudden she didn’t feel dizzy or thirsty. Only bits of tiredness remaining. “Nothing, Dad,” she answered.

  “Good, because I’m done,” he called out, coming out from underneath the car. “There is no beast your father can’t tame.”

  Usually she’d roll her eyes and smile when he said that, but she felt … strange.

  “Go get yourself another breakfast, darling. I’ll drive you. I’m already behind, might as well be more.”

  “No, I’m not … I’m not hungry any more.” It was true, her hunger had disappeared. In fact, she felt like she’d eaten so much that if she ate more she wouldn’t be able to move, yet she felt no food in her stomach? Today has been so bizarre! she thought to herself. Maybe I’m still dreaming?

  Her dad put his keys in the car. It sounded like it was going to start, but then didn’t. He did it again, cursed, and tried once more. “What the … ? I just jumped the battery yesterday!” he complained, followed by curses.

  “Dad, I’m going to walk, ok?” she told him and started off. That old truck was always needing to be fixed. It was as old as she was.

  * * *

  Donna walked into Mr. Harris’s class an hour late. He actually turned and looked this time. “An hour, Miss Young? I’m going to have to give you a detention this time,” he told her in a low voice.

  Donna nodded and went quickly to her seat. She wasn’t mad. Mr. Harris was one of her favorite teachers and had always cut her slack.

  “Shouldn’t she like, get a detention every time she’s late?” Lynn called out to the teacher, putting her nail file down.

  Donna hid her face humbly, embarrassed, tired again, and out of it completely.

  “Isn’t that like, the fair initiative to be done?” Lynn went on, enjoying the sound of her own voice as she spoke loud enough so the whole class could hear.

  “Miss Eris,” the teacher corrected her, “why don’t you worry about showing up to your own detentions?”

  “Like that will ever happen!” Spencer chimed in.

  “You’ll have one today Miss Eris,” the teacher went on, ignoring Spencer, “and one tomorrow for not showing up yesterday. You, Mr. Klingalsmith, will have one also.”

  “Hey! What did I do this time?” Spencer started but the teacher ignored him, turning toward the board. Lynn whispered insults loudly at Mr. Harris and then went back to filing her nails. Once the teacher was enough into his lesson, Donna laid her head down on her desk, her body feeling drowsy and tired again.

  * * *

  Rebecca

  At lunch Rebecca sat with Donna and Spencer at their “we don’t exist” table. Rebecca Leopold was short and very petite, all of ninety pounds, with reddish-brown curly hair and bright green eyes. She had liked Spencer since the sixth grade when he mysteriously moved to their town, and she and Donna had become his only friends. But Spencer, as usual, was telling his jokes while staring at every girl but her. Why can’t he ever think of me as sexy? she always wondered.

  Donna was laying her head down on the table, which was unusual for her to want to sleep at lunch. Not that Rebecca had any classes with her; she’d been put in all advance classes since before she knew them both. She was already earning college credits through their school’s dual enrollment courses online and on the fast track to one day attend M.I.T: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  “What’s up with you Donna, not enough sleep after all that partying?” Spencer asked sarcastically.

  “I don’t know, I don’t feel good I guess.”

  “I hate being sick, I’m sorry,” Rebecca sympathized. “You should drink a lot of water.”

  “Yeah, soup and stuff,” Spencer added through eating bites of his sandwich.

  “I am kind of thirsty I guess.” Donna slowly started to rise then stumbled, catching the table to balance herself. She looked dizzy.

  “Wow,” Spencer said. “Do you need me to walk you over?”

  “No, I’m good.” Donna started off toward the water fountain.

  Rebecca wished she had been sick, maybe then Spencer would have offered to walk her somewhere. They had all been best friends since middle school, but ever since Donna had come back from New York this year Rebecca had noticed Spencer was looking at her like he did the other school girls. Would he ever look at Rebecca, who wasn’t athletic like Donna, and didn’t have big breasts like Lynn? Her only talent was stopping computer viruses in her spare time. Would anybody ever look at her as more than a friend?

  Paul Cohen walked over and sat next to her. She only knew him slightly. He was in all the same advanced classes she was, and they always won awards together. He’d constantly been the number one student at any subject, and she’d been number two. Not that it bothered her; he was two years older so she knew she was still in good standing.

  �
��Hi, um, Rebecca,” he said slowly. He was always shy like that, fumbling on his words. Some days he wore his contacts, mostly though he wore his thick black glasses, which were constantly falling off of him.

  “Hey Paul, what’s up?”

  “Well, um, I know I didn’t meet with you guys for the practice presentation at the assembly. Do you think you could fill me in?”

  “Yeah, sure.” She smiled, “We a—”

  “No, um, not here. I, ah, have something to do,” he interrupted her. He glanced around as if someone was watching him.

  “I think you need to ease up on the coffee there,” Spencer commented at his strange behavior.

  “No I’m, I mean,” he straightened his glasses as they fell down his nose. “I am, just busy that’s all. Have a lot on my plate.”

  “Ok, well, let’s meet after school,” she told him.

  * * *

  Donna

  Donna walked down the hall toward the water fountain. She took a deep breath, steadying herself. Ryan was there filling his water bottle up. With her pulse speeding up a bit, she walked over, waiting behind him.

  He turned around, facing her, looking at her for only a second, then looking past her. His tall, muscular body was only a foot away from her. She could smell his cologne and could not pull her eyes away from his chest. He looked like a movie star, hotter even. There was not one girl at the school who would resist him if he asked. They were all in love with him.

  He looked at her feet; at the shoes he had bought her. Then she caught the tiniest smile on his face. She blushed, smiling back for a second also. Then he looked on, his attention caught by his older brother Randy who was coming their way, leaving all the football players behind him.

  “I got the call,” Randy told Ryan, ignoring Donna’s presence completely. He walked behind his brother, getting a drink from the fountain himself, and cutting Donna in line; another barrier stopping her from drinking.