The Malicious Storm

I made it to my table and sat down with a huff.

“You pissed Raven off, didn’t you?” Lakin asked, well more like stated.

“Was it the way I look now or the yelling you heard?” I scoff. I sigh and shake my head, laying it down on my bag to think over everything. A few minutes later, just as I was getting comfortable, I felt someone come up behind me.

“Rayne?” A soft voice calls out. I sit up and turn to look at Izzy. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Sure, if Raven isn’t going to be there,” I mutter and stand up, dragging my bag with me. Izzy shakes his head no. I follow him out of the cafeteria and into the hallways. I noticed that he seemed so sad for some reason. If those assholes back at that table treated him like shit again, I’m going to give them hell. “Izzy, is something wrong?”

“What? Oh no, nothing is wrong…just thinking over everything,” he muttered, clearly lying. I let it slide since he doesn’t know me and how nosy I can be.

“Well what is it that you want to talk to me about?” I ask. I hear him sigh.

“Raven isn’t as bad as everyone is telling you he is. He just has a temper and saying anything harsh towards me sets him off,” He says quickly. “And….he doesn’t get physical like that with people much.”

“Oh is that so? Then why the hell did he with me?” I inquire, sort of pissed off now.

“It’s hard to explain….” He trailed off.

“Well we have time till next period starts,” I stop walking and turn to him. He looks up with worry in his eyes.

“We have this…thing, I guess you can call it,” he starts off. “He watches out for me, makes sure I stay away from the wrong people. He wasn’t going to hurt you, but he did want to make it clear that he doesn’t want you to boss me around.” I looked at him skeptically.

“If watching out for you means calling you a bitch and telling you to shut up every 5 seconds, then my sister must not really hate me like I think she does,” I tell him. Maybe if I’m convincing enough, he’ll ditch those assholes he calls friends.

“Rayne, you don’t understand what me and him have been through…” he mutters.

“That shouldn’t matter if he treats you like crap,” I say, a little too loudly than necessary. “It’s the same with Storm.” I have no clue why I brought him up.

“Those too have been best friends since before they could walk. Raven is oblivious to the fact that Storm treats me the same way he does.” He says. “Look, just don’t judge Raven okay. That’s all I ask. Maybe if you hang out with me more, you’ll get to know the both of them better.”

“Gee, that sounds so wonderful!” I remark sarcastically. Izzy laughs, his sad mood disappearing. “I’m going to go look for my next class, so I won’t be late this time. See you later.” I say and walk off quickly, before Izzy could invite be back to that horrible table. What kind of people are in this school?

~ ~ ~ ~

When the last bell rang for the day, I was the first one out of the school to the steps. I was about to look for Kade to give me a ride home but then I remembered that I had to give an answer to Ben’s offer. I sigh, taking a seat on the steps to wait for Ben. I wish I had asked him what his car looked like so I could go wait by it…I sigh again.

“What the hell is with all the sighing your doing?” A rough voice calls out from behind me. I turn slightly to see none other than Storm standing there, staring down at me. This time I let a huff of anger out.

“Go away Storm, I’m waiting for someone,” I quickly say, hoping he would go away.

“Oh really? And who might you be waiting for?” He asks, getting on my nerves more and more.

“Uhhh if you must know, I’m waiting for Ben. He’s going to show me around town,” I smirk, knowing he will get angry. I look over to see his reaction. His smug look quickly turned to one of pure hatred.

“You shouldn’t hang around him Rayne…He’s a bad person,” He growls, more animalistic than it should have been. “Believe me….I know I can be an asshole, but I have reasons…And I never lie.” With that he just walks away. What the hell was that? I watch him walk away, towards a big black truck. He was so odd at times…and confusing. How the hell was I suppose to live next to him for the next year? I just shake my head and think of other better things.

“How long have you been waiting?” A voice says from behind me. I turn to see Ben standing over me. Smiling I stand up.

“Not long at all,” I say my eyes immediately lighting up at the thought of hanging out with him. He holds his hand out for me to take, which I obviously do. The moment I touched his hand, I wanted to yank it away; it was ice cold, more cold then any normal human being should ever be able to handle. Before my reaction takes over, I manage to keep my hand in his. He never noticed my slight twitch so I tried to think of something other than the ice cube standing beside me. Now that I notice that, I can feel the icy aurora surrounding him and radiating off of him, making me shiver a little bit. How is he so cold?

“Are you cold Rayne?” I snap my head towards him, surprised by his sudden question.

“W-what? No, no not at all…a little chilly out here t-though, don’t you think?” I fumble over my words. Ben’s eyes change sort of, as if someone found out a deep dark secret, but they quickly switched back to the original expression.

“Well no not really…you’re probably only cold since you got that short skirt on…” he trails off, some what suggesting something. I look down at my walking long legs. Yeah maybe that’s why I’m cold.

“Can I have your hoodie then? If you don’t think its cold, why wear it?” I smile. My logic was reasonable. Ben smiles, removing his hand from mine. I let out a sigh of relief in my head, thankful that I can move my hand out of its numbness. Ben hands me his black hoodie and I quickly put it on, hoping to shield myself from the cold weather. His hoodie is warm, despite his body being cold and smells like...well I don’t know what it smells like but it’s a good smell. I’m so absorbed in figuring out what the smell is that I didn’t expect Ben’s freezing hand to grab mine again. I yelp and yank it back.

“Whoa! What’s wrong?” Ben quickly asks, clearly oblivious to the fact that he was the reason I yanked my hand away from his. I look down away from his eyes in embarrassment.

“Uh nothing…just…” I thought through every excuse that I had. “I just remembered something…I uh hurt my wrist a few months back, so uh I just want to be warned when someone goes to grab it…so I can like…position it right…so it wont hurt?” I awkwardly smile, hoping he bought the total lie. He seemed to falter a little bit but finally relaxed his face, believing every word I said. I let his hand take mine again and just tried to get use to the cold feeling.

“So…what are we doing today?” I asked as Ben led to me a black and red Camaro.

“Well, I was just going to show you the main shops and such in town. The nearest mall is about an hour away, so I can’t take you there today,” He explains. He holds the car door open for me and I climb in. It is much warmer inside his car than it is outside; it’s even warmer than standing beside him in the cold. While he shuts the door and walks around the front of the car, I take the chance to look around the interior of his car. The seating is black leather and very expensive looking, making me think of my own car. There are CD’s in the back of the car and very little trash. Before I can look anywhere else, Ben had shut his door and we were off to the middle of town.

I was not use to seeing all the trees and open spaces, with few houses in between, that passed us on the way. I was use to giant skyscrapers and sidewalks, with very little trees and other plant life. There were no people on the sides of the road into town, just gravel shoulders and bushes. I think back to the times were my friends and I would run through the people crowding the sidewalks in the city. They would shout at us for being rude and shoving everyone. It’s odd to say, but I honestly will miss those times. It will be a long time before I am able to move back into the city and be on my own, living the life I had grown up living.

“Rayne, is everything okay?” I hear Ben faintly ask, masked by the strong vibe of my thoughts. I slowly look over at him, still thinking of my city life that is now gone.

“Yeah, everything is fine,” I mutter. From now on, I will not think of living in the city while I am living here in the country. Eventually, I start to see more buildings closer together and more cars as well. We pass a gas station and a Dollar General, which has a small parking lot beside it, with few cars parked in it. Ben pulls up on the side of the road beside a doctor’s office. He is on my side of the car, holding the door open; before I can even process that we were parked.

“Here we are...” He explains, asking as a chauffeur. “Smack dap in the middle of Chambers, Nebraska, home of absolutely nothing.” I laugh because I’m positive that is the truest statement ever.

“That sounds like an honest statement,” I say and grab his hand, this time completely ignoring the cold feeling. “Where are we off to first?”

“Just follow me,” he says and leads me up the mostly empty street. He shows me the doctor’s office, a copy shop, and a grocery store, which is in a much bigger building than the rest of the town. We pass only one apartment building and a couple houses. He didn’t walk me down any other street but did point out that there was a car shop down the left street and the elementary school and park down the right one. We walk another block before I smell the most intoxicating aroma I have ever smelled. I look at Ben with curiosity.

“It’s the pastry shop…people just call it the bakery…that makes it seems like we live in the pre-industrialization era…” he trails off. “Anyways, it’s like a café just not French and stuff, I suppose you could say. I go here almost every day after school.” He leads me into the fresh smelling shop. The scent of freshly baked bread and chocolate fudge hits me like a tsunami. I sigh at the delicious smell and look at Ben. We walk to the booth furthest from the door. I take my time to look around the shop. It’s a pale blue and pink color, with golden accents around the flooring, which is black and white tiling. Along the walls are old black and white pictures of the town of Chambers being founded, the shop being built and the opening day. The pictures seem to go in chronological order, going from blurry black and white pictures, to clear colored ones. The last one has Ben standing there beside an old man in front of the shop.

“Hey Ben, who is that man you’re standing beside in the last picture?” I ask. Ben looks over at the picture, searching for the one I was talking about. He thinks for a minute, as if he wasn’t sure whether to tell me or not. Eventually he does.