Living Silver

January 7th, 7:56 am.

“And after I told him I wasn’t interested, he started going on and on about how he deserved someone a lot better than me.” Aimee Vaughn shook her head and scoffed, opening the locker we shared. Since we were in the same math class for first period and we were the only two that didn’t know someone else, we decided to get a locker together. “I don’t get what it is with guys. Why does every single one of them think that they’re God’s gift to women? I hate that cocky attitude they’ve got. They need to catch on that not everyone is going to like them,” she continued. “What the hell is that?”

She pointed to the bottom of the locker where a single silver pearl sat, glistening in the hall light. It hadn’t been there before we left school for Christmas vacation, and we certainly didn’t put it there.

“That’s weird,” Aimee said, frowning. “Did your necklace break?”

I shook my head. “I don’t own a pearl necklace.”

“Oh.” She picked it up and examined it with squinted eyes. “I’ll just toss it then.”

“No, don’t do that,” I said, taking it from her.

“Do you think it’s real?”

“Probably not but it’s pretty.” I put it in my pocket. “I’m sure I could make a use for it. Whenever my cousins come over, they like to create bead necklaces.”

Aimee cocked a brow. “You don’t even own beads.”

“I know, but they use whatever they can find in the couch cushions and puncture holes through it,” I replied with a shrug, grabbing my binder and pencil case and closing the locker. It had been a long and uneventful Christmas break that year and except for opening presents and having family over for dinner, I had done absolutely nothing. I didn’t take much enjoyment to going outside to shovel and getting pelted in the face with a block of ice from the spawn of Satan; my twelve year old cousin Michael. As weird as it was to say it, I had been happy to get back to school.

“I’m so sick of grade ten,” Aimee muttered when we were sitting down in our seats and pulling out our math textbooks. “I can’t wait until grade eleven. Then we only have one more year of math and will never have to take it again. I’m sticking to College level. What about you?”

“Probably the same,” I answered, taking out my phone and setting it on silent. Pax always texted me during class because he was the only one willing to break the rules. Trey and Karlee were both in a criminology class that was for students in grade eleven but they wanted the head start and their teacher was constantly on their asses so if they made the attempt, they’d get kicked out for sure. “The only problem is that my mom’s probably going to force me into University and settle on telling me to work harder. I don’t think she understands that some people just don’t get it,” I added.

“Tell her,” she laughed. “Don’t take no for an answer.”

The teacher started his lesson and since it was academic, we had to at least make the effort to pay attention but for the first time in math class, I actually knew what I was doing so I spent the period doodling in my notebook and swapping messages with Pax.

I refuse to do work. Do you even know how stupid my teacher is? He’s asleep right now and Marcus is shooting spit balls into his beard.

Now that’s disgusting.

That’s Marcus. What do you expect? Tell your teacher you have to go to the bathroom and then walk around with me. I have nothing to do and I’m already out of the classroom without even having to ask. He’s totally out of it.

Nice try, Pax. I have to do my work.

Who do you think you’re talking to?

I looked up then and saw him at the doorway with a grin on his face. He waved and raced off, leaving me laughing at my desk while everyone stared at me like I was a complete idiot.



I had a job interview after school that day at an animal shelter which was more of a volunteer position than an actual paid position but if it got me out of the house three days a week, it was worth it. Plus, I loved working with animals and after three years of being rejected for my request to my mom about getting a pet, this was just as good as owning one for myself.

When I was sitting down at the entrance, twiddling my thumbs and making random drum beats on my knees to fill the time as I waited for the manager to come out and see me, the world came crashing down on my head. My eyes practically left their spot in my head and my jaw dropped when a tall, blond-haired beauty stepped out of the back room with his eyes glued to the clipboard in front of him. The first thing I noticed was the eye lashes; since I couldn’t focus on his actual eyes, I noticed the length of the hairs covering it. That brought me down to the rest of his facial features; proportionate nose, strong jaw and full lips that were very tempting for me at the moment. I bit my lip when he looked up and smiled at the woman behind the counter. Beautiful powder blue eyes lit up when he did so and then when he turned, they landed on me.

“Andy?” he asked and since I lost the ability to process a proper sentence, I just mutely nodded. “Meredith can see you now,” he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the door leading to the back of the kennel. I stood up and walked past him, somehow managing to say “thank you” before I stepped into Meredith’s office. She sat behind her desk typing something up on her computer while dogs whined and barked from the hallway.

Meredith looked up and smiled. “Hi Andy. How are you?”

“I’m good, and yourself?” I returned, sitting down when she put a hand out to the chair in front of her.

“I’m not too bad. Did you meet Gage?” She pointed over my shoulder and I turned around. The boy was standing at the door with the smile still on his face.

“I don’t think I had the pleasure,” he said, holding his hand out to me. “It’s nice to meet you, Andy.”

“You too,” I got out.

“So you’re looking for a part time position?” Meredith asked but it seemed she was just talking to herself as she flipped through my cover letter, resume and application. “You’re sixteen, right?”

“Not until next month,” I replied. “I know that the job had an age requirement but I figured it was better to get out there whenever I had a chance and since my birthday isn’t that far away, I was really hoping you’d still consider me.”

“Are you a consistent worker?”

I nodded. “All the time.”

“And you’re really interested in this job?”

I nodded again. “I love animals, and I like being busy. If I sat at home all day, then I wouldn’t get very far,” I explained. “I’d much rather work here as a volunteer than somewhere that I don’t take much of an interest in even if it pays. I don’t want to stick my foot in the door if it’s taking me in the wrong direction.”

She smiled and looked at Gage. “She’s a smart girl.”

“It sure sounds like it,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

“You know, you could learn from her,” she pointed out, tossing a balled up piece of paper at him. “What are you doing working here? You want to be a lawyer.”

“Is it your position I’m filling?” I asked him, desperately hoping I hadn't just screwed myself over.

He laughed. “No, I’m not leaving quite yet. I love working with animals and being a veterinarian would be a good secondary job if I don’t get anywhere with law. I’ll probably be leaving after the summer though, because my dad works at a law firm and when I’m at University, it would be good practice.”

“Gage is in grade twelve,” Meredith said, folding her hands and putting her chin on top of them. “From the looks of it, he goes to your school too.”

How had I possibly missed that?”

He looked at me, his head tilted to the side. “Now that I think about it, you do look familiar. Do you have a brother?”

“Nick,” I said with a nod. “Do you know him?”

“I think so. Does he go to Ryerson?”

My eyes went wide. “Are you two close?” If that was the case, I needed to suck up to my brother big time.

“Not really, but I was in grade nine when he was leaving and he was our peer tutor for my English class,” he replied. “He told us he was applying there and that he wanted to be a journalist. We didn’t really talk though. He just helped out.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

God, Nick was so lucky.

“Well,” Meredith cut in, looking over my papers one more time. “You seem to be our best applicant so far.” She smiled at me. “Do me a favour, will you Andy? Hang around your phone for a bit when you get home. If I were you, I’d be expecting a call.”



December 25th, 12:37 am.

“I don’t know,” I said to Pax, crossing my legs and clearing my throat. He was just staring at me, his elbow on the arm of the chair and his cheek in his hand. His eyes bore into mine, making my heart leap into my throat and my face heat up. “I’ve never really . . . thought about it. Are you saying you have?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. I just know that since Trey and Karlee are finally together and he was hinting to me the other day that I should maybe ask you out on a date, it could be a possibility.”

“He was?” I asked, sitting forward. “I didn’t know anything about it.”

“Well he said that the only two people that hang out more than us are him and Karlee, which I guess makes sense,” he explained. “I was just wondering if you ever considered it.”

“Maybe,” I said, mocking him. He smirked. “There have been obstacles. I had an . . . almost boyfriend and you had flings. Am I supposed to expect anything more from you than our friendship? This works for us. You know what happened during the summer.”

He folded his legs at the ankles and cocked a brow. “Tell me again.”

I frowned. “No. You remember fine.”

“I know I do. I just want to hear you say it. We had a fling.”

“So what? No one knows about that,” I said. “I don’t see any reason to bring up the past.”

Pax chuckled. “I do,” he disagreed. “I think we have every reason to.”