VIOLET

-WINTER-

My weekend has passed by in a blur. My brother Jethro had come home from school to spend the weekend with me, as he always did. He studied at the state university three hours drive from Ash Mountain. It had taken him a while to decide to go back to school but I had talked him into it. I was old enough to care for myself during the week and he had a life of his own he needed to enjoy. After months of argument, discussions and the check from my parent’s life insurance finally arriving, he had finally caved in. Now that we had the money to afford school and the regular necessities he had moved away, not before making me promise not to run off with a pack of bikers or have wild sex parties without inviting him. I had rolled my eyes at this, I’d need popular friends before I had crazy sex parties and he would so not be invited! I would not be able to stand walking down my high school’s halls knowing that he had partaken of the forbidden fruit of my class mates. Ew! Just…gag!

Julia had come over on Saturday and I told her of my vision. She found it as unnerving as me that I had “seen” the heated discussion instead of just hearing it. Silence, more “I love Lucy” reruns and fattening snacks had filled the rest of our day but not another word of the beautiful people I had seen. I had not wanted to admit to her that I was more afraid of Caleb’s eyes than of the vision itself.

It was now Monday and I was failing at my attempt to murder my alarm clock. My hand kept slapping the small table by my bed unable to find the source of the high pitched beeping. I finally opened my eyes and groaned when I saw my empty table top, not again! I sat up groggily and looked around my room trying to find where Jethro had hidden my clock this time. It was a tradition of sorts, every Sunday night before he left he would slip into my room and hide my alarm clock to make sure that I would get out of bed in the morning.

Unfortunately he knew me too well to trust me to make it on time on Mondays. I finally spotted the damnable contraption; it was lodged between my closet’s door and the frame, keeping it open. Stumbling out of bed I trudged over to my little black clock and proceeded to stamp on it with a shoe. God! It was amazing that something so small could be so endlessly annoying! Now I understood how Michael felt about me. I observed the pile of plastic and wire and smiled happily as I made my way to take a quick shower.

The bathroom was in the hallway but I did not mind since it was all mine most of the time. I stripped and stepped into the shower as I thought of my chores for the week, what I had neglected to do on the weekend. There was not much to be done other than my laundry; I had managed to clean the house on Sunday. The house was small, only boasting of a couple of bedrooms, a bathroom, a small living room and a kitchen that doubled as a dining room since it had a small counter in it with stools. It was perfect for me and my brother. It was not the house we had grown up in but it was the house where we had healed after the death of our parents.

My favorite part of the house was the backyard, I guess you really could not call it that since we did not own the property behind our house but we had free access to it none the less. It was a beautiful clearing that led to a small lake. I spent many hot afternoons in the summer swimming to my heart’s content and many cold ones in the winter skating on its frozen surface. It was my sanctuary, my place away from thoughts and the world, hidden by the thick forest that surrounded my house along with the rest of the town. Like I said before, I loved water.

After running out of hot water I made my way to my room and groaned when I looked at my closet door. I had failed to notice during the alarm massacre earlier but hanging from my door was a dress. Damn Jethro and his idea that women should wear dresses!!! I loved my skinny jeans! Hell, I loved any jeans! Pants were god’s gift to the modern day woman. Can I get an Amen? Needless to say, I was miffed, I ripped of the paper that was taped to the hanger and read it.

Dear Winter,

Haha, yeah right! Listen here Brat! I know what you did to the last dress I got you! And I did not appreciate the slashes and red paint you added to it, even if you were dressing up as “Carrie” for Halloween.

I chuckled as I remembered the white formal looking dress that Julia and I had cut up last Halloween. We had meticulously done my hair and applied makeup before pouring a bucket of red paint over my head to resemble “Carrie”. Classic movie, my favorite scene was when they had poured the pig’s blood over her during prom. I sighed as I remembered the looks on people’s faces as we went to the town’s annual Halloween costume party at the plaza. Good times I tell ya, good times… I continued reading.

Now Winnie, you are going to wear this dress today and you are going to like it. And I know you will be wearing the dress because you will send me a picture of yourself in it…from school with your cell phone! I will be waiting.

Love you Sis!!!

Your dashing brother that ALWAYS knows best, Jethro.

I groaned again, it seemed to be this morning’s habit, when I read once more Jethro’s nick name for me. He only called me “Winnie” when he was mad or when he wanted me to be mad. Today seemed to be a combination of both. Another groan escaped my lips as I finally took a good look at the dress. It was green, a soft olive green, with thick straps that let the dress fall fitting to my waist before flowing out down to my knees. I put the dress on and hastily put on some eyeliner and black strap sandals without looking in the mirror not wanting to give myself a chance to change my mind and take the damn dress off. I could almost hear my skinny jeans and converse calling from my closet, sobbing as I left them untouched. Sighing I picked up my back pack.

-I’ll come for you later my beauties! - I whispered to my sobbing clothing as I locked the door and made my way to school.

*************

-Oh my word! You have legs!...very white legs…- Exclaimed Julia as I walked into first period.

She sat at our regular round desk near the back of the class. Mr. Hynes had set us up in groups of four and we would remain that way for the rest of World History class this year. I did not mind, he had been kind enough to let us choose our groups so I was pleasantly stuck with Julia and Michael. We were the only group of three due to an incomplete class. We would have chosen Reese to be with us if it were not for the fact that he was in the Honor classes. Reese was cocky, egotistical, arrogant, moronic…well, you get my drift, but he was smart and well on his way to John Hopkins to become a doctor, early admission and everything.

-I am blind! –exclaimed Michael as he looked up to discover my stupid dress. Correction, the dress my stupid brother had made me wear. It was not the dress’ fault. So maybe I was not as pleasantly stuck as I thought I was. I rolled my eyes as I clunked ungraciously into the seat beside them, “accidentally” smacking my backpack against Michael's head. –Ow! What was that for? It’s not my fault I was blinded by the light reflecting off your pasty white legs!-

I opened my mouth to answer but Mr. Hynes had walked into the classroom. He was a decent teacher as far as things went but he expected attention and silence during class. It was not hard to compromise in this, he never lectured more than 20 minutes and the rest of the class was spent in discussion and work within our groups. Plus, it was hard not to pay attention to a teacher who loved his job and retold history as if he had been there himself.

We settled into our table and took out our notebooks and pens, and in Michael’s case, his laptop. Halfway into Mr. Hynes’ lecture on some war or another there was a knock on the door that made him stop mid sentence. We all looked at the door as if it had grown horns, this was Ash Mountain High, and everyone knew everyone and NO one knocked on doors to get into class. Mr. Haynes was the first to snap out of our collective daze.

-C… come in? - He sort of asked as he cleared his throat. The door silently pushed open, blocking our view as the whole classroom seemed to hold their breath.

-Thank you Mr. Hynes- A deep, sultry voice rang through the classroom as the door closed slowly.

I looked up at the new arrival and felt the color drain from my face, not that I had that much color in the first place. I recognized the tall frame, the creamy white skin offset by the black skinny jeans and simple white T-shirt. I slowly looked up to meet his eyes, hoping I was wrong. The boy shook his black hair out of his face and I gasped when he looked straight at me. His eyes were violet, it was him.

-Caleb- I whispered but the room was so quiet that everyone had heard. Suddenly the classroom erupted in sound. The girls giggled and whispered amongst themselves as the men grumbled and seized up the new comer.

Caleb was staring at me and I found myself breaking my own rule again. I let my mind slip, it moved slowly across the room, gliding through everyone’s thought until it found Caleb’s. I frowned as I reached his mind, I could sense it but I could hear nothing. He tensed as soon as I tried harder to listen and I retreated swiftly afraid that maybe he had sensed me. I looked away trying to escape his gaze and noticed that Julia and Michael both stared at me. I mouthed “It’s him” to Julia and she froze in her seat. Michael looked at me questioningly and I was franticly trying to come up with an excuse or a lie or…something but was soon interrupted.

-Settle down class- Mr. Hynes said firmly and the class froze mid sentence, we all knew he was partial to yard work instead of regular detention. He looked down at the slip of paper that Caleb had handed him, cleared his throat and continued. –Caleb McClellan will be joining us here for the rest of the year. Caleb, go sit with Michael, Julia and Winter since you seem to know each other-

I cringed as Caleb made his way to our desk and with every step he took I sunk deeper into my seat wishing I was a teleporter instead of a mind reader. I wrinkled my nose in thought. I wonder if teleporters existed, I mean, if I did, then who was to say that… I shook my head and tried to remember that I was supposed to be in the middle of a panic attack. I looked up at Julia and she seemed to be panicking to. She lifted her hand and tapped on her temple softly as she did when she wanted me to read her mind. I sat up and looked at the teacher, who had started lecturing again, as if I was interested. I made my way into Julia’s mind easily.

Ok, we can deal with this but we need to get it together. He knows that we know his name, we need a plan and you look like you are about to pass out. So you are going to pass out. Let Caleb sit, we will wait until Mr. Hynes assigns our work and then you are going to faint.

I could hear her chuckling out loud and Caleb gave us a weird look as he sat between Michael and me.

I will offer to take you to the infirmary and we will head to the library. Ok? Tap your notebook twice if you heard me and agree.

I tapped my notebook with my pen twice and smiled. Thank god for Julia. After making such a stupid mistake I really needed to get away from here, and to be honest, Caleb scared me. Not that he looked menacing, very much the opposite, he was dead sexy…Shit, concentrate woman! The man is evil! Ok, so I did not know that but he unnerved me and I was not easily spooked. I shook my head as I tried to concentrate on the lecture but found myself stealing glances at Caleb. He was staring at me still and raised an eyebrow when he caught me looking. I sunk lower into my chair while returning my gaze quickly to the teacher. I nearly jumped out of my seat when a note landed on in front of me but relaxed when I saw it was from Michael. I smoothed out the small piece of paper and read.

What the hell was that, Fallen? You looked like you had seen a corpse when he came in to the classroom! And how did you know his name? Is everything ok?

I grabbed my pen and hastily scribbled my reply, passing him the note when Mr. Hynes turned his back to write out today’s assignment on the board.

I heard a secretary talking about the new arrival this morning when I went through the office. I guess I was just surprised that he would end up in class with us. I thought it would be a freshmen or something. I mean, we never get new comers.

I saw Michael frown as he read my reply but then he shrugged and relaxed, I guess he believed me. I thanked the Goddess above (Hell yeah the Goddess! I mean, if there is a God then there better be a Goddess too!!!) and started to quickly copy today’s class assignment off the board. I know I was about to “faint” but it would not do well to start missing school work now. So I am a bit of a nerd, sue me.

-Ok class! Get to work, you know the drill! Caleb, your team will explain all you need to know and meet me after class so I can give you my lecture notes for the classes you have missed- Mr. Hynes said as he sat down and pulled out a stack of papers that required grading.

I returned my attention to my notebook and sighed. Action time! I groaned in pain letting my hand fly to my head and started gasping for air before letting myself fall limp off the chair. I heard a few people gasp and I found it hard to suppress a smile as I lay on the floor.