Dark Side of the Moon (3 page)

Chapter 4

The rest of the week was as bad as the first day.  I tried to take notes instead of drawing in my classes.  Tried to finish my homework in study hall.  Sat with Dan and his new friend at lunch and kept rejecting Derrick every time he’d try to hit on me.  Struggled through math, and ignored London in Chemistry.

I was so glad Art was my last class of the day.  It gave me a chance to calm down before I returned home.  All of my stress from the move and trying to keep people away from me fell away as I focused on my project.  A few of the kids in the class were really good, and when the teacher praised my work like theirs, I didn’t believe him.  There was absolutely no way my stuff was that good.

After school, I met up with Dan.  We were mostly silent on the bus as we returned home.  We had already developed a routine.  When we arrived home, I’d go to my room, and try to draw while listening to music while I assumed Dan went to his room to play video games or something.

Then, when it was time for dinner, I’d emerge from my room to be somewhat civil.  Afterwards, I’d return to my room for the night.  I’d try to talk to Miranda and Jocelyn after I returned home from school, but it usually wasn’t more than a couple texts back and forth.  I was pretty much alone in Moonlight Falls.

Dan and I were only in school for four days before the start of winter break.  I thought it was completely pointless for us to go to school for those four days, and had told my parents that we should have waited until after Christmas to move.  In fact, they should have waited until May to move, but they never listened to me.

That Saturday, my parents insisted that we go around the town, get used to everything and find out where everything was.  I didn’t want to go, but they threatened to take away my art supplies for the duration of winter break.  Blackmail of any kind should be illegal.

I was bored and a little cold as we walked through the town.  Though Charleston could be cold this time of year because of winds blowing from the Atlantic, we were a lot closer to the mountains here, and were higher up.  It didn’t seem to bother my family, though.

For a while, we ventured into the little family owned stores instead of the ones that we had back home.  They were nice little stores, packed with product and customers.  And the people that worked there seemed friendly, but it wasn’t home.

Then, we stumbled upon a crafts and hobbies store.  It was just like the chain stores, only as well as the name brand products, they had some products I’d never even heard of before.  And they had some oil colors that I hadn’t been able to get my hands on.

Okay, maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

For a little while, I browsed the products.  They had everything I could think of:  different paint brushes, charcoal pencils, oils, paints, papers, and more.  They also had more canvas sizes than I’ve seen.  I was like a kid in a candy store going through everything.

I was about to pick up a pack of oils that had pastels in it when I asked my mom, “Can I get this?  Please?”  I had tried to catch when the hobby store in Charleston had this specific pack of oils because it had several different shades of the same colors, but they just couldn’t keep it in stock.  I did not want to pass this up, even though they had several packs.

“Christmas is next week, Selina.  For all you know, we could have already gotten this for you.”

I groaned and put the oils back.  It probably would be pointless to ask for anything now.

“Let’s go to some other stores.  This one will be here after Christmas,” my mom said.

I nodded, and followed her and Dan and Dad to the front of the store.  But before heading to the door, I stopped by the register.  An older man was behind the counter, a smile on his face.  “Hi, I’m Selina,” I said, holding my hand out to him.

“I’m Richard.  I’m guessing you’re the family that just moved in on Black Bear Drive.”

I nodded.  “Now that I know you’re here, you’re going to see a lot of me, Richard.”

“What’s your hobby, Selina?”

“Painting and drawing mostly.  I’m running low on supplies, so I’ll definitely be back sometime after Christmas.”

“Alright.  See you then, Selina.”

I gave him a smile before exiting the store.  My family was standing on the sidewalk in front of the store.  “Did you buy something, Selina?” Dad asked.

“No, just making connections so that they’ll hopefully let me know when they receive a shipment.”

They nodded, and turned to go to the next store.

Though I was happy that we discovered the crafts store, I was bored in the other stores we visited.  They did not have anything that interested me.  Dan discovered a gaming store, so it was his turn to freak out over the games they had.

We went to one of the smaller restaurants for lunch afterwards.  The food was actually really good, so I knew we’d return in the future.  After lunch, we decided to go back to the house.  Mom then said something about finishing the decorations.  I figured she was going to make me participate since I didn’t earlier in the week.

But when I walked through the front door a few minutes later, my phone rang.  It was Miranda.  I rushed to my room so I could talk to her.

“Oh, my God, I miss you so much, “I said as I answered my phone and closed my door.

“I know!  It’s just not fair how you had to move away.”

I collapsed onto my bed.  “I hate how I’m missing out on everything back home.  What all has happened?”

“Amanda and Ronnie broke up yesterday.”

“Seriously?  They’ve been together forever.”

“I know.  Apparently, they got into a fight about each other’s families.  Hopefully they can work it out.  Oh, and Jocelyn’s seeing Joey now.”

I froze for a second.  “What?”

“Yeah, that’s why she hasn’t been talking much.  She’s completely enamored.”

“I thought she hated Joey?”

“He took her out to her favorite places, and did a lot of things she likes that she didn’t know he knew about.  Seems like he was only pretending to be an ass to her.”

“That’s just so weird, thinking of them together.”

“Try seeing them together.  It’s even weirder.  So how’s your new school?”

“Awful.  One of Dan’s new friends keeps trying to hit on me.”

“Is he a jock?”

“Yeah.”

“So not your type, Selina.”

“I know.  Dan knows, but he won’t tell the guy to stop.  I think it’s because he’s trying to get on the football team.”

“What about that guy, your lab partner?”

I gave her a confused look, even though we were on the phone.  “What do you mean, Miranda?”

“You didn’t really say that much about him, Selina.”

“That’s because there’s really nothing to tell, Miranda.”

“Really?  Are you sure?”

“Yeah.  He’s lazy, and doesn’t really move during class.  When we’re not in the lab, he doesn’t even take notes.”

“For someone so frustrated with him, you seem to be paying attention to him a lot.”

“That’s because he sits beside me in and out of the lab.  Of course I’m going to see what he’s doing.”

“What does he look like?”

“Like a guy.”

She groaned.  “You’re no fun, Selina.”

“Sorry.  I wasn’t intending on finding a guy when we moved out here.”

I knew she rolled her eyes before she said, “Have you tried talking to him?”

“No, not really.  But would you want to talk to someone who had a pissed off look on his face all the time?”

“What does he have to be pissed about?”

“Hell if I know,” I snorted.

“Sounds like a troublemaker that doesn’t want to be there.”

“The second part is true, but according to Dan, the first part isn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Dan said there was a fight in the cafeteria on our first day and that London was the guy to break up the fight before teachers arrived.”

“He broke up a fight?”

“According to Dan.  I wasn’t there to witness the fight or him breaking it up.”

“He sounds strange.”

“Very.  But let’s get off that topic.”

“Okay.  We both miss each other.  How about we see if you can come visit me or I can come visit you for a day or two after Christmas?  I mean, we didn’t really have that much of a good-bye when you left, Selina.”

Why hadn’t I thought of a way of seeing her?  “You’d be up for something like that?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Okay, I’ll have to ask my parents, though.”

“I’ll go ask mine right now.  Call me back with their answer.”

“Alright talk to you in a bit.”

After saying bye, I hung up with Miranda, and almost skipped to the living room.  My parents were placing garland on the rails to the stairs, and Dan was putting wrapped presents under the tree.  I assume that they had already been wrapped before the move and hidden in our parents’ room to keep us from snooping.

I ventured over to the stairs.  “Hey, Mom.  I just got off the phone with Miranda.”

“Oh, how is she?”

“Good.  We miss each other.”

“I know, honey.  But it’ll pass, especially when you make new friends.”

“Well…we were kind of talking about that.  We were wondering…if sometime after Christmas if I could visit her for a day or two or if she could come here.”

Mom and Dad stopped what they were doing to look at me.  “Selina, we just drove here from Charleston not even a week ago.  Christmas is time for family, and we only have Christmas Day off from work.  We don’t have time to drive you to Charleston or bring Miranda here.  And I doubt her parents have the time, either.  So the answer is no to both,” Dad said.  “Besides, you need to make new friends here.”

The blood drained from my face as I felt my hopes crashing down around me.  “Are you serious?” I nearly whispered.

“Yes, Selina.”

It took me a moment to respond, anger fueling me now.  “Why?  Why can’t I go see my friend for a day or two?”

“We just told you, Selina,” Mom interjected.  “We can’t get time off to drive you and Miranda back and forth across the state.  The answer is no, end of discussion.”

I wanted to say so many things to them.  They took me out of the only home I’d ever known, took me away from my school and the friends I’ve known all my life, and force me into a different place and expect me to forget everything about Charleston.  It just wasn’t fair.

Instead of saying anything to them, I stormed to the front door, jerked it open, and slammed it shut behind me.  I didn’t have a car or the keys to my parents’ cars, so I made my way down the driveway on foot.  I needed to vent off my anger, and being away from what made me angry for a while was the best option for me.

After a few minutes, though, I regretted my decision.  I had made it down the street when I realized that I didn’t have my coat.  I was so angry, though, that I didn’t really feel the cold.

On the left side of the street were houses.  On the right side were trees.  Though I knew it was a bad idea because the sun was setting, I stayed on the right side of the street.  I stayed out of the way of cars this way, but I had no idea what the woods held.

A moment later, I heard a twig snap.  I turned to look behind me, but saw nothing.  The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.  Was someone following me?  If it had been my parents, they would have called out to me.  Maybe it was a deer or raccoon foraging for food?

I continued down the street, trying to reign in my anger and concern for that sound.  All I wanted to do was see my friend.  Was that so terrible?  It just wasn’t fair.

Right when I was about to turn the corner to go further into the neighborhood, I heard more twigs break.  As I turned to see if anything was behind me, I felt a sharp pain in my upper arm.  I tried to scream from how much it hurt, but something dragged me down to the ground, knocking my head on the sidewalk and the wind out of my lungs.

I tried to kick whatever held me, get it to let go of my arm.  That’s when I saw that a big black wolf had its teeth dug into my arm.  I tried to scream again, hoping someone would hear me and help, but it jerked its big head, jerking me as well.  It tried to drag me into the woods, and was so far succeeding.

Though I was in a lot of pain, I tried to fight the wolf off.  But its grip was too tight on my arm.  Fallen branches and twigs and leaves scraped against my face and body, causing me even more pain.  Panic coursed through me.  What in the hell was I supposed to do to get it to release me and go away?

When the wolf finally released me, I tried to get away from it, struggling to get to my feet.  But it grabbed my leg, and crunched down, making me scream.  With my arm free, I tried to punch it through the pain, trying to get it to let go of me again.  But it just pissed it off when I punched him between the eyes.  He lunged at me, his head trying to grab my neck.