August (The Year of The Change Book 2) (29 page)

"There you go, Sylv."

My dad patted my head and pulled the covers up to my chin.

"Where?"

"The twins’ bathroom. You were having trouble getting into the tub when I found you."

A moan escaped as I pulled the covers over my head and rolled to my side.

"Don't worry, you're safe now."

Yeah, I would be safe until my subconscious took over and made me the walking dead, again. No telling what I would dream now, with that image in my head.

It was back to the Peterson’s for more knitting. Today Destiny was going to teach me how to cast off. It was a good thing because my scrap scarf, of ten different small balls of yarn, was now over eight feet long. It was wrapped around what was left of the bright yellow yarn and the knitting needles, and tucked under my arm. In my hands, I carried a book Sue was lending to Cara. It was some romance novel that takes place in Spain.

I couldn't wait to talk to Destiny’s mother. Last night was her big date with Tog and I was dying to hear how it went.

The side door had become my entrance of choice. Destiny let me in at the first knock. The kitchen was full of activity as everyone helped shuck corn and can it in quart jars. It wasn't even lunchtime yet and they were almost done.

I placed my knitting on a chair in the corner so it wouldn't get messy. “Here’s the book Sue told you about.”

Cara took it. "Please tell Sue thank you."

"I will." I would if I remembered.

Emma put me right to work next to Richard cutting kernels off the cob.

I couldn't wait any longer. "So, Cara, how'd your date go with Tog?"

Cara smiled with a blush. "It was wonderful. He was a perfect gentleman. He's smart and talking to him was very … stimulating."

Richard huffed and almost cut his cob in half.

"Where'd you go?"

"There's a cute little café in Willow. They have the best Italian I've ever had."

"Grandma makes the best Italian." Richard chopped the stuffing out of the unfortunate cob in his hand.

"You're right, Grandmother's is the best, but this was the best I'd ever had in a restaurant. It was very close to hers."

Ignoring Richard's anger wasn’t easy, but I did. "So, you had fun?" I could imagine sweet little Cara tucked in beside big Tog, all warm and secure. Boy was I envious.

Cara tilted her head with a smile and looked off to nowhere. "Yes, I had a lot of fun."

"Do you plan on seeing him again?" I tossed the finished cob into the trash can between Richard and me.

Richard went perfectly still, the cob massacre momentarily forgotten.

"Yes, actually, I invited him to dinner here on Saturday."

"That's great." I would stay clear Saturday so I didn't get in Cara's way.

Richard huffed and stood with a bang as he slammed his knife to the table. He stormed out without a word.

"Oh, dear." Cara stood frozen with one hand over her mouth, the other over her heart. She moved to go after him.

Emma stopped her. "Let me talk to him."

She slipped out, leaving us drowning in silence. We continued working for a few minutes.

Destiny had enough. "I can't believe what a jerk he's being."

"Now, Destiny, Richard’s having a hard time with this." Cara kept her eyes on the pot of boiling water. Her forehead creased and her shoulders pulled up protectively.

"It's bad enough he thinks he's going to keep me dateless until I'm thirty, but Mom, he has no right imposing this on you."

"Honey, it's just that he thinks it's his duty to protect us."

"I know, but he needs to loosen up, especially for you."

"If Tog sticks around very long, I'm sure Richard will get use to this."

I snorted as I picked up another ear of corn. "If Tog is smart, he'll stick around."

Cara smiled. "Thank you, but only time will tell."

"I'm betting he's smart." Another cob done.

Cara glowed red. "Come what may, until then, we have to be patient."

"Patient schma-tient." Destiny muttered.

She must’ve of thought what I was thinking. My wonderful, adopted big brother needed a knock upside the head, but I certainly wasn't going to do it. I can be smart, too.

We finished up quickly without Emma or Richard.

At almost noon, Destiny and I hung up the dishtowels we’d used to dry pots and utensils and went to her room.

On the way, we passed Richard's domain. The door was shut and he had one of those hotel 'Do Not Disturb' signs hanging on the knob.

"Does he do that a lot?"

"Usually it’s only when he's studying or talking to a girl on the phone."

"Oh, he's really mad, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but Mom's right, he'll get over it."

I wasn't as confident as Destiny was.

Nightly Workout

I entered the kitchen amongst everyone laughing. "What's so funny?"

They looked up and laughed again.

"What?" It always irritated me when I was left on the outside.

Dad wiped his mouth on his napkin. "Well, I got quite a workout last night and I was just telling everyone about it."

With trepidation, I sat at the table and Sue shoved the tray of pancakes at me.

"Why were you working out last night?" I buttered my stack waiting for him to continue, I could use a good laugh.

"I chased you." He chuckled.

"Me?" My stomach knotted, but not enough for it to quit begging.

"Yeah, you ran down the stairs, jangling the alarm, so I rolled out of bed, hitting the floor running, but almost plowed you over as you dashed into our room."

"What?!" Not Sue’s domain! How many rules did I break with that?

"Yeah, it surprised me, too. I tried to catch you so I could get you back to bed, but you got away from me and ran down the stairs to the front door."

My stomach didn't care about the story, so I dug into the food.

"I caught you before you could get the latch undone and get out the door. I steered you toward the stairs, which you ran up. Of course, I had to follow, so I ran up the stairs, too. You buzzed up and down the hallway until I got a good hold of you and talked you up the attic stairs."

Oh, good, the story was coming to a close and I could start apologizing.

"You ran up, but when I reached your room, you were ready to come down and slipped past me. I chased you to the kitchen and caught you as you tried to get out the back door. It was a good thing I put a second latch on that one. I kept a hold of you all the way to your bed.

Okay, now it's the end.

"I had you all tucked in when you jumped to your feet in the middle of your bed and flipped your covers over my head. You ran around your room and into your bathroom where you tried to get your window open, but I stopped you and took you back to bed. You were settled and looked to be fully asleep so I slipped out and went downstairs."

Wait for it.

"When I turned to close the door and put the alarm in place, you were right behind me and slipped through my hands and dashed downstairs again!" He laughed before he took a sip of orange juice.

Would this ever end?

"Out of breath, I followed you. You ran around the living room then into the sitting room, stepping from chair to chair before you tripped over the footstool, but rolled to your feet and dashed off to the kitchen, trying the garage door on the way, but I had that bolted."

Thank goodness.

"In the kitchen you kept knocking into the table until you dropped to your knees and crawled under. I caught you on the other side and took you back to bed. I tucked you in,
again,
and you asked me to sing to you, so I sang a few songs and you settled right down."

I'm glad I don't remember that.

"I waited thirty minutes before I felt comfortable leaving you." He chuckled. "I watched over my shoulder all the way down the stairs. With the alarm in place, I went back to bed. I was so tired from chasing you, I think I was asleep before I was flat." He chuckled and went back to eating.

Now it was my turn. "I'm so sorry, Dad."

He shushed me. "It's not your fault, honey. It's almost over, so we'll start getting decent sleep again." He laughed. "I think I'll take a nap instead of lunch today. Sylv, you might want to do the same. You want to be awake when we go tour your school tonight."

"Dad, maybe I should just go with the Petersons so you can get some sleep before I do something else crazy."

"No, I wouldn't miss this for anything. Everyone's talking about what a great school it is. I'm looking forward to it." He pushed away from the table. "I'd better get going or I'll be late. See ya’ll tonight." He kissed Sue good-bye.

"Man, I miss all the good stuff." Tim was mad that he didn't get to see me make a fool of myself. "How come I slept through the alarm?"

Sue put another platter of pancakes in front of me. "Because, Timothy Alan, you could sleep through a five-point-o earthquake."

He pouted.

"At least you're getting sleep." She frowned at me on the way to the sink.

Sue was the last person I wanted sleep deprived. Hopefully, she planned to nap. I know a nap was definitely on my list of things to do today. I'll try again to talk Dad into letting me go with Destiny to tour the new school. There was no sense in him having to stay up any later than he has to, just to guard me. Richard could do that and probably enjoy it.

A New Country to Conquer and Destroy

The open house for the new Col. John B. Herring Memorial High School was a big event for Talkeetna and The Village. The county had decided three years ago to build one big high school between the two communities. After a long, hard fought battle, the two communities and the county finally came to an agreement and the beautiful new building was built.

The flier that came in the mail said the PTA had a full spread of goodies in the cafeteria. My stomach approved and was willing to go. The Pep Band was going to play in the foyer all evening, which made me glad I wasn’t in the Pep band.

Dad wanted to see the school, something I didn't understand, so the whole family went. He’d looked so tired when he came home. I hated to see him have to do one more thing today. I did try to talk him into letting me go with the Petersons, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

So, here I was, walking through the halls that would keep me trapped for the next nine months as a Herring Cougar. It kind of sounded like an oxymoron.

It was a beautiful building with lots of windows for natural light. With Civil Twilight starting at 6am and ending at 10pm, we would have a bright school to start the year with. Even better, there were real green and growing plants spread throughout the whole space. I couldn't help touching all the leaves as I passed them. Halfway down the main hall, Sue caught me fingering all the foliage and frowned. I kept my hands to myself after that. I sure didn't want to get Sue madder at me. Besides, she won’t be around when school starts and I could touch all I wanted to.

Each classroom gleamed new. You know how a new car has a special smell? Well, this building had that new school smell. I liked it, but my stomach turned at the thought of attending here. I liked my old familiar school more, with its fifty-year-old tennis shoes and science projects gone bad odor. Sigh.

The principal, Mr. Nelson, stood by the office greeting all the new kids and their parents. He didn’t have much of a presence at only five-foot-six and a slight build, but his no-nonsense air shouted not to get on his bad side. I’d never been on a principal’s bad side, mainly because I was too chicken to do anything that would anger a principal, or even a teacher, for that matter. Actually, they rarely noticed me. I wasn’t super smart or involved in school politics. I was just there.

Well … that was until this year. My old principal had firsthand knowledge of all the weird stuff that happened around me. The fact that he’d never said anything to me spoke volumes about him. I hoped things didn’t get any worse here. I would hate to be the cause of Mr. Nelson's ulcer or heart attack. He didn’t look that strong.

We picked up my class schedule from a nice Native American woman with a big smile and dimples. She was the friendliest school receptionist I'd ever met. What would she be like when the parents weren't around?

Down the hall, Dad rummaged through all the papers in the envelope before he pulled out the map and we went in search of my classes. As we found each room, my dad had to talk to the teacher, so it took us forever to get from class to class. He was determined to make sure I would be safe. I love my dad.

I spotted Richard and some of his friends in the hall and he waved. When his friends realized he was waving at me, they all waved, too. They weren't close enough to be affected, so I enjoyed the attention, hoping they would keep their distance. A little later, I noticed them following us. I watched closely, afraid they’d become muddled. If they did, Richard wouldn't let them follow us, unless Richard was finally affected and wasn't thinking straight. They were all on the football team and the idea of my father having to save me from that accumulated muscle power made me edgy. I was ready to go home.

From the corner of my eye, it was obvious they weren’t zeroed in on me, but on those around us. Richard shooed away the guys that followed in my wake. I smiled at Richard and he gave me a thumbs-up. His friends followed suit. Steve Trouter wasn’t with him and I was relieved. Steve was already affected and there was no doubt he would cause trouble.

When my father was done talking with Mr. Wilde, my Social Studies teacher, I pulled him to the side. "Dad, Richard is following us." He looked past me. "He's getting rid of the affected guys."

"Really?" He smiled and waved to Richard, giving him the thumbs-up.

Thumbs-up must be a guy thing.

"That Richard sure is an outstanding young man. He’s going to make someone a good husband."

"Ah …" Huh? Why would Dad say that?

He took Sue's hand and walked out of the classroom. Was my Dad hinting to me?

After the library, where I would have Study Hall, we went to see the new lunch room. It was huge! It had rows and rows of long tables with chairs. The food court, as they called it, had a salad bar, drink island, and a main food line. My stomach sat up and took particular notice of the long row of food counters where some nice people would serve lots and lots of food. My stomach salivated. The shiny tray track ran all the way from the large stack of trays at the beginning of the line to the shiny new cash registers at the end. There was a poster of the first week's menu and my stomach grumbled that it wanted it to be Monday right now.

Dad chuckled next to me and steered us over to the long table piled with goodies. Four women, from the PTA, hovered nearby ready to refill any perceived holes in the well-stocked table.

We each piled a small paper plate with goodies and sat at a shiny clean table off to the side, away from the refreshments. My stomach didn't like the location because it was too far from the food.

Dad and Sue looked over the map for my next class. Just as I was about to swallow a cookie, Eli walked in with some of his friends. They overloaded their paper plates and sat at a table by the main door. Eli scanned the room and spotted me. His eyes latched onto mine for a brief moment. With every ounce of internal strength I jerked my head away and looked at the grey patterned table top before me. So intense was my stare that I noticed there were small dots of maroon splattered among the pattern.

My blush was uncontrollable. Nonetheless, I had to hazard another glance. Eli wasn’t looking, but all the guys with him were. When they saw me stare, they all looked back at their table. All except the biggest one, who smiled. I thought maybe he might be the oldest Beaver brother Destiny had pointed out at football practice. I didn't dare smile and I really shouldn't look, so I dragged my eyes back to the maroon dots.

My dad, tense now, eyed them wearily. I didn’t blame him. From the way Dad looked at the table of large football players, we would have another discussion about being home schooled until the holidays. Sue had not been happy with that suggestion. I had to admit, I wasn’t too keen on the idea, either. She could be okay, at times, but twenty-four seven was not appealing.

To my relief, Richard and his friends walked in. They immediately converged on the goodie table. The four women watched in horror until the boys were done. It was a wonder there was anything left. The PTA ladies rushed to reload the table as his gang strutted away.

Richard’s group spotted Eli and joined his table. They all seemed to know each other and dragged more chairs over until there wasn't an inch of room left. They laughed and talked loudly. I couldn't help smiling as I listened and stole glances. Richard was in his element. He was telling some story that required his whole body, and the others laughed. Richard was such a fun person. Too bad I didn't have an attraction to him, but he
would
make a great husband for some lucky girl.

Eli's big friend caught me staring and smiled. I was self-conscious, but I kept myself from ducking under the table. My last brownie went down with a wash of lemonade and the thought of going back for more played in my head. Unlike the twins, I held myself back. The last thing I wanted was to look like a pig in front of all those boys, especially Eli. Tim and Tam each brought me back two cookies and my stomach could have kissed them. I hugged them instead.

When I finished the last crumb on my plate, Dad said it was time to go find Mr. Bohannon. Sue looked relieved to be out of the lunch room. A large array of boys wandered in, glazed and confused. Too many guys made my father antsy to move on.

I was glad to leave, too, but hated having to walk so close to Eli's table on the way out. Their silence as we passed made me want to bolt out the door. Being noticed at all was strange, but this year, being noticed by boys was unnerving.

When we emerged from the lunchroom, I was thankful to be in the hall and headed away from all those eyes … cute eyes, no less. As we entered English class, Richard and his friends appeared down the hall and headed our direction. They sure didn’t stick around to enjoy their refreshments. They did all carry cookies and continued to chew. Richard was in the center telling another funny story while the others revolved around him.

Fifteen minutes later, we left English and Richard’s group was across the hall laughing. All of the sudden, one of the boys broke away from the crowd, walked over to me and introduced himself as Tony Pasturin. I recognized him as one of the boys from football practice. Uh-oh, it was number seventeen. He was tall and good looking with a smile to die for. Now I understood why Destiny was so interested in him. This was not good. Destiny was nowhere to be seen. Phew!

From the Discovery Channel, I’d learned, when faced with a wild animal to stand still and not startle the creature into rash behavior. I hoped that applied here. He reached up and stroked my hair before he took my hand, holding it to his heart.

Richard rushed over and got between us. He pushed Tony back as I tugged to get my hand free from the smaller guy’s grasped. Dad helped break his grip. My hand stung and I shoved it into my pocket. No use making a fuss, I was used to this kind of thing … sort of.

Richard looked over at my dad. “Sorry about that." He dragged the affected boy by his collar. "Come on, Tony. Let’s go get some fresh air.”

They escorted Tony away against his protests. Richard snagged a couple more of his friends that looked a little glazed and herded them further from us. Uh-oh, there’s Steve Trouter from game day with Sammy, earlier this month. He came out of a hall further down. Richard grabbed him, too. Steve waved and walked backwards as he followed my adopted big brother.

Dad frowned, but when he looked at me he smiled. “Richard’s a pretty good kid. Some girl is going to be mighty lucky. Okay, let’s go find Biology.” Dad led the way, the map held out in front of him. I brought up the rear, struggling to pick up my jaw. My father was definitely hinting.

After Biology was Art. On the way to the far hall, Eli followed us at a distance. He was alone so he wasn't as much of a threat. I wanted to slow down and let him catch up. I think Dad noticed him, too, because he snagged my sleeve and pushed us faster.

We found the Art room without a problem. As Dad and Sue talked to the teacher and the twins hopped from station to station, I kept a watch on the door. Would Eli pass by it? The anticipation of seeing him again beat hard in my chest. Sure enough, he did walk by. He even slowed to peek in. When he saw me looking at him, he quickly passed out of sight. Did he come this way just to look at me? The thought made my heart swoon. Then I laughed at myself. If that were the case, then it was only The Change at work. Sigh. I really should try to enjoy this while I could. Four more months and he wouldn't peek in anywhere to see me. Sigh. I promised Gram.

Dad called me over so I could talk with the teacher for a few minutes, until it was appropriate to go so other students could have time with her. Mrs. Foster seemed nice. Hopefully, I wouldn't freak her out with my sporadic drawing.

When we left the room, I looked for Eli, but didn’t see him. I shoved both hands in my pockets and shuffled down the hall. As we found our way to the foyer, I thought I saw someone out of the corner of my eye. When I turned, no one was there. Just my imagination trying to fool me into thinking Eli was there. We left the building and drove home. It wasn’t until we were almost there that I realized I didn’t see Destiny, even once. I sure hoped our paths crossed when school started.