The Light

I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, trying to perfect my look. Today would mark my first day at Oakridge High School and I wanted to make a good impression on my classmates. My normally straight hair hung in curls past my waist, the brown slightly wavering toward dirty blond at the close of summer. I lightly applied black eyeliner to the top of my eye lids before adding mascara and strawberry lip gloss to my face. I beamed at myself, happy with the way my makeup had come out.

I slipped a summer dress over my head and stepped over to the floor length mirror behind me. The dress just brushed my knees and tightened at my waistline. It complimented my frame and the white silk stood out against my tan skin. Mom gasped behind me,” Darling, you look wonderful.”

I grinned at her,” Thanks mom.” I reached around to embrace her, holding back tears as I wished once again my father was alive. He should be here with us, standing in the doorway with a grin plastered across his face. He’d be so proud of me.

Mom must have noticed because she let her lips turn up and her eyes water lightly. “If he could, he would be here. I promise, baby girl.” I nodded in agreement but it didn’t stop the intense longing. My phone started blasting some random song at the top of its lungs, notifying me that Jasper was outside waiting on me. I hugged mom one more time before grabbing my old battered backpack and running down the stairs. She hollered down at me,” Be careful, sweetheart.”

I ignored her as I opened the front door and ran into a very hard, muscular chest. “Jasper, what the crap?”

He shrugged sheepishly,” You didn’t answer the phone so I figured something was wrong.”

I rolled my eyes at him,” Yeah, yeah. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.” He smirked at me and let his eyes travel on me from head to toe. I smacked his chest playfully but also in warning. I didn’t take kindly to being looked at like a piece of meat. He held his large hands up in defeat and we trudged over to his little black car. I opened the door and shoved my bag in the back before seating down. Jasper grumbled something and then I put my feet up on his dash.

He gritted his teeth but held his tongue. Smart man. I grinned evilly before turning the radio on and changing it to a random rock station. The country boy just bared his teeth ever so lightly before the radio completely turned off. The system and everything just flat lined out. I gingerly touched the dial and it flickered back on. Jasper lurched in surprise for some unknown reason and my head slipped forward. “What in the world, Jasper? What has gotten into you?”

He ran a hand through his blond hair as he straightened out on the road. “Sorry you just spooked me. The radio doesn’t usually come on after something like that. You have to taper with it. Sorry.”
I didn’t know what to say so I nodded and kept silent as we made our way to school. The old building hadn’t changed a bit since we were little. Jasper parked his car in some numbered spot and I quickly exited the car. I looked around at the sea of people going into the school. Disappointedly, I didn’t recognize any of them from my childhood. Jasper gently laid a hand on my shoulder in order to comfort me. “A lot of the kids you remember moved off at the beginning of high school. Our freshman year there was earthquake and many homes were destroyed.”

I grimaced,” Oh, I didn’t know that.” He patted my shoulder and then pushed me forward lightly. I took a deep, reassuring breath and walked up to the front concrete steps. Many stopped and stared, causing me to blush furiously but I pointedly ignored them. My first class was Biology, something I was genuinely interested in because I wanted to be a marine biologist.

I took a seat next to one of the big picture windows and glanced up expectedly at the board. Apparently the teacher’s name was Mr. Andrews, or at least it was what the board proclaimed. A flush of teenagers came in just as the final bell rang. The teacher was the last to enter the room. He had an air of authority around him that made you listen. He greeted us coldly, his hard icily eyes inspecting us. “Hello, class. My name is Mr. Andrews and I will be your biology teacher this year. Let me make one thing clear, you are to be seated before the final bell rings or you will be issued a detention. You will be wake and pay attention in class every day or you will spend your afternoon in here again, relearning the lesson. There will be no excuses. If you don’t think you can take this class, you may leave now and go to the guidance office. This will be your only chance.”

A shuffling arose around the room and any students went out the wooden door. There was only ten or so left in the room when Mr. Andrews cleared his throat. It was like a switch had been flipped. His eyes warmed up and he actually cracked a smile. “Now that we’ve gotten rid of the others, we can get started.” We launched into genetics of the sea life around Gold Cape and before I had even realized a whole hour passed, the bell rang. I shoved my notebook and textbook into my bag, standing up in a hurry. I didn’t want to be late for my other classes. Mr. Andrews called to me, “Arabella, I just want you to know that it’s refreshing to find a student that loves the sea life almost as much as I do. I’m sure you’ll find Oakridge is just the place for you.”

I thanked him politely before leaving the room and blending into the crowd. Today was just going to be a long day. My next class was English, which turned out to be just as boring as I thought it would be. Algebra was going to be a constant challenge but I felt like I could keep up with the heat. Lunch actually came as a surprise when the bell rang. Everything was passing by in a whirlwind and I found myself wandering around the cafeteria in search of Jasper. Eventually I stopped him in a cluster of girls. A cluster of outrageously pretty girls. I forced a carefree smile on my face as I approached him. “Hey Jasper.”

His face lit up as soon as I spoke and secretly I was pleased with the glares I was getting from the ‘pretty’ girls. “Hey there, Ara.” He pulled away from the others and waved me over to another table filled with boys from the football team. Or was it soccer?

I slipped into a seat next to a very nice looking guy with spiked up brown hair with beautiful blue eyes. “Hi, I’m Ara.”

He glanced over at me, looking slightly irritated but double took. I felt a rush of pleasure at the fact I could turn heads just like those other girls. “Hi there Ara. I’m Chase.” He placed a hand out for me to shake and I daintily put my right hand in his. He beamed at me and I smiled back. I heard a growl from across the table and felt a kick aimed at Chase from under the table. I glowered up at innocent looking Jasper. He was busily talking to one of the other boys, but kept sneaking glances my way.

Suddenly there was a boom and smoke started erupting into the room. “Arabella!”