Tompkin's School (For The Extraordinarily Talented Book 1) (6 page)

As soon as I got to the stage I got into character. I took myself to a place of emotion and got swept up into everything. I was completely mesmerized, a feeling of security and chaos took over and I was no longer Izara from New York. I was Serena from Gossip Girl or even Viola from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. I could be anyone I wanted to be without a care in the world.

All too soon it was over and day one of auditions was over and we were notified that we would find out who would be returning for the second day of auditions in the morning.

“How do you think day one went?” I asked Kia on our way back.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll both be at the second tryout,” she said, confidently, "I’m exhausted now!”

“Me too,” I laughed.

‡‡‡

Thursday and Friday went by without much happening. Tryouts were soon over and now we were just waiting for the final results to be posted the following Monday morning. Kain had officially decided to join the basketball team, figuring it was his best option. It was also our first official weekend at school and Lee suggested that we spend it by going to the town and seeing the sights. I had no idea what kind of fun could be had around here, but I had nothing better to do so I figured why not? Kia and I were just about to leave our room when my phone started ringing.

“It’s Lee," I said, answering the call.

⎼
“
Hey, you might want to bring a suit
,” Lee said over phone, “
we might go swimming.
”

⎼“Sounds great,” I replied, “we’ll meet you at the cars.”

⎼
“
See ya,
” he said, hanging up the phone.

“What’d he say?” Kia asked, standing by the door.

“We need to bring swimwear,” I shrugged.

We grabbed our things, put them into a beach bag and rushed out to meet the group. When we arrived, the regular group of guys were there, including that guy named Amadeus. I would make sure
not
to look directly at him. Leslie and a few other girls from the drama club were there as well.

“Okay,” Lee said, “looks like we’re all here. We thought we’d go get some food and then decide what to do from there.”

“Awesome!” Kia said, enthusiastically.

“We’re taking my truck and Amadeus’,” Lee said, walking around to get in.

“I’ll need to stop for gas,” Amadeus’ liquid voice said.

The sound of it slithered through my ears, seeming to create a strange and painful stab of heat to my skull. I winced and my eyes caught a glance at Kain, who was looking at me strangely. Maybe I was imagining things.

“There’s a gas station in Davis," Lee replied, “come on, Izzy!”

I smiled and took the front seat. Kain, Laurent, and Leslie filled up the back seat and soon we were leaving the campus, for the first time since we had arrived. We drove back down the same way we came when we first got to the Academy, speeding down the road. Once again I was surprised at how unpopulated the area seemed to be. I only saw a few signs along the way. There was a sign reading
Catfish Kitchen
, which sounded...adventurous. Then we actually had to slow all the way down to a stop because we had to wait for sheep to cross the street! Seriously, there was a flock or a herd of
sheep
crossing the road. What? Were we in Switzerland? I asked Lee about it and he said that that house always had a ton of random animals, including a huge white watchdog that seemed to never move. As we neared Davis there was an
SHR Construction
business, an
Arbuckle Sports Center
, and a
Chevrolet
dealership that looked sadly out of place. We passed two banks and then pulled up to the
Shell
station. Lee parked the truck at the side and we got out to wait. Some went into the gas station to get snacks for later, but I stayed by the car. It was such a small town!

“Not what you’re used to, huh?” Lee asked.

“Not at all,” I laughed, “I can’t even believe this is called a town! More like a little village.”

He laughed, nodding in agreement.

“I mean, there’s even a barn thing next to the gas station!” I said.

“Oh, that’s actually
Bill’s Bar-BQ
serving everything from catfish to Mexican foods," he replied.

“Barbeque, catfish,
and
Mexican food?” I gasped.

I looked at the red barn more closely and realized that that was exactly what the sign said. Not only that, but it gave a list of other foods it served, including “Chester” fried chicken, “Hunt Brothers” pizza, “Ribeye” steak, “Cou fried” steak, BBQ ribs and brisket, country hamburgers (whatever that meant), and, of course, catfish.

“Does every place serve catfish around here?” I asked.

“Apparently,” Lee replied.

Just then the group came back from the station, all laughing at something. Kia was guiding Kain back to the car, who wore the most disgusted look on his face that I’d ever seen.

“What happened to
you
?” I asked.

“We dared him to eat one of the station’s pickled eggs,” Kia giggled.

“He’ll be fine, just give him a few minutes,” Laurent laughed.

“He had a pickled egg, didn’t he?” Duran called from the other truck, “Don’t worry, man, it’s a rite of passage.”

“Wow, that was⎼” Kain coughed a laugh,
“
awful
!”

We all laughed and then got back into the truck. As I put on my seatbelt I finally noticed that trucks were very popular in this area. They were literally everywhere!

We drove more into the town, passing a
Sooners
grocery store, a Sonic, Burger Land, and a
Gordon White
Lumber yard. We also passed a gas station which was called the
Soonerette
that also served barbeque and a lot of other random things, obviously including gas for your car. We stopped at the only red light, which was conveniently right next to the City Hall and Fire department. There was a coffee shop called
La Brue’s
that didn’t seem to belong in the town! It looked like a good place to get a decent cappuccino.

We parked on the side of the street in front of several connected buildings. One of the buildings had a sign reading
Las Casadas Mexican Restaurant
and I definitely hoped it didn’t serve catfish and gas, too.

“Let’s go eat,” Lee said, turning off the ignition.

“We’re probably gonna have to eat outside,” Laurent said.

“Probably,” Leslie agreed, “this place gets pretty busy.”

We ordered our food and then went out a door at the side of the building into an area I hadn’t noticed before. There was a wide space in-between the restaurant and the next building, kind of like a courtyard. The opening towards the street was barred off with a tall, black gate and there were several tables scattered around a small stage for live music. It was such a hot day that even the few outdoor fans didn’t help a whole lot.

“So, how did you get the name Kain?” Kia was asking.

“Oh, there’s a story,” I laughed.

“Seriously,” Kain agreed, “weren’t we known as like baby 1 and baby 2 for like a month?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed, “so who knows how mom came up with our names.”

“So, where are you all from?” Kain asked.

“I’m from Miami,” Kia replied.

“Duran and I were born in New York,” Laurent said, “but we moved out here when we were little.”

“And we’re from New Mexico,” Leslie replied, motioning to the other two girls whose names were Raquel and Tiffany.

The conversation continued into other subjects and, after we finished eating, we all decided to go to this place called
Little Niagara
where the water was supposed to be freezing all year round. We got back into the trucks and headed back the way we came and stopped to quickly change clothes at the gas station. It took about five minutes to reach another town called Sulphur.

“What is that awful smell?” I gasped.

“Yeah, this area always smells,” Lee replied, “it’s the sulphur from the water.”

“Hence the name of the town,” Laurent smirked.

“Yup,” he agreed.

We turned right and then took the next left. After a few minutes we parked and all got out of the truck.

“Okay, follow me,” Lee said, taking a little path into the trees.

I could hear people splashing into rushing water and somebody shouting about how freezing it was. The path brought us to a wide river with a medium sized waterfall that people were jumping off of. Some were wading into the water at the sides, only to quickly leap out because of the coldness.

“Let’s go jump,” Laurent said.

“Wanna join us?” Lee asked me.

“Uhh,” I replied, “is it really that cold?”

“Definitely,” Duran confirmed, “come on, brain, you first.”

The guys made their way to join the line at the waterfall in order to jump off.

“I think we should just dip our feet in first,” Leslie suggested.

“Good idea,” the girl named Tiffany agreed.

The five of us left our things on a nearby picnic table and went to the riverbank. I dipped a toe into the water and shrieked as the ice cold water touched my bare foot.

“That is
freezing
!” I squealed.

“I know,” Leslie laughed, “the first time I came here the guys convinced me to jump. That was a mistake.”

“I still can’t believe you did that,” said the other girl named Raquel.

“I warned you not to do it!” Tiffany said.

“I know, but I was trying to show off,” Leslie laughed.

We finally sat down on the rocks, our feet used to the cold temperature by then, and watched the boys jump off one by one.

“It’s Kain’s turn, look!” Kia laughed.

Kain was in the middle of the waterfall, standing on a rock at the edge. Fearlessly, he leapt gracefully into the air and dove into the water.

“Wow, does he compete in diving?” Leslie asked.

“I don’t’ think so,” I shrugged, “I mean, just swimming lessons when we were younger.”

“Impressive,” Kia commented.

Kain emerged from the water and let out a howl.

“Damn, that’s cold!” He bellowed.

We all laughed until the guys came our way and started splashing us. Lee sent a huge wave of spring water my way and I jumped out of the water without hesitation.

“Stop!” I laughed, backing away from the bank.

“Why don’t you jump?” He asked.

“After Kain’s reaction?” I exclaimed, “I don’t think so!”

“Come on!” He said.

“I think all of you need to jump,” Duran said, “at least once!”

“It’s actually not so bad once you’re inside,” Kain said to Kia.

“Really," Kia said, in disbelief.

“No lie!” Kain replied.

Just then, Lee jumped out of the water and before I knew what was happening he picked me up and was headed towards the bank.

“No, no, no, no!” I squealed, “let me
go
!”

“No way, you’re coming with me,” he laughed, “hold your breath.”

Suddenly, with me still in his arms, he jumped into the water and soon I was surrounded by piercing cold water. The coolness of the ice brought a comfort to my skull that it had not had in a long time. It was better than painkillers and better than any massage. It was therapeutic and suddenly I didn’t want to go back up. I wasn’t suicidal, but if I could just breathe underwater I would have stayed there because it felt so good. My air was running out, so I decided that it was probably a good idea to go back to the surface. I moved my arms and glided up to the top.

“Wow!” I gasped.

“Oh thank god!” Lee said.

“He was about to go back under for you,” Duran said.

Jeez, how long was I under for? It didn’t seem
that
long.

“Are you okay?” Kain asked.

“I’m perfectly fine! The water’s great,” I laughed, “I want to dive now. Coming Kia?”

“Why not?" She replied.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try it?” Laurent asked Leslie.

“Are you kidding?” She laughed, “That water’s
way
too cold.”

We reached the top of the waterfall and I stepped to the edge. I looked over to the group who were all cheering for me. I smiled and decided to show off a bit so I took one small step backwards and prepared myself. I leapt off the edge and turned my body into a pike front flip and then opened my body back up just in time to dive into the water. It was exhilarating and absolutely freeing. I forgot how much I loved the water. I came back to the surface, shaking the water from my eyes.