When Lightning Strikes (Lightning Series Book 1) (10 page)

A girlish squeal sounded from the front of the store when they entered. A tall blond woman swept her mom up in a hug. “It has been so long!”

“Julie, this is Ariel.” Her mother introduced her after the woman let her mom go. “Ariel, this is Julie.”

The young blond woman smiled at her with enthusiasm. She took Julie’s hands in hers and squeezed them warmly.

“Hi, Julie. Yes, my name is the same as a princess, but I had the name before she did. Your mom has told me so much about you over the years.” She held out a hand to her in greeting, clanging as a massive set of expensive–looking gold bangles moved on her arm.

“Hi.” Julie was unsure how else to respond to all that and shook her hand.

“Your mom texted to warn me this morning that you needed to get a lot of school clothes. So, what do you like?” Anticipation of a big purchase gleamed in Ariel’s green eyes.

The older woman gestured around the store. It was larger on the inside than it looked from outside. The walls were whitewashed and had fake seashells arranged in different geometrical patterns between clothing displays. Not promising. Neatly organized racks held a wide variety of designer clothes. All of the racks had labels on them, like Chanel. At best, she saw things that some of the prissier girls at her old school wore. At worst, it was too formal and adult. Andromeda had already headed over to one rack and was pulling things off to try on for herself.

Julie smoothed her skirt uncomfortably. She couldn’t tell this lady that she didn’t like her stuff.

Ariel eyed her up and down. Her eyebrow raised as she watched Julie twisting the fabric of her black skirt. “I can see you are a bit uncomfortable wearing skirts and such. What did you wear in Atlanta?”

“Jeans, t–shirts, and sweaters mostly. I wore leotards a lot since I danced, so I liked to be comfortable.” She felt shabby admitting this and not sure why she felt she had to explain herself.

Ariel smiled at her wistfully. “I wish I could wear something like that at times. It’s more comfortable than cramming myself into skinny pants and heels.”

She gestured at the tight white pants and flowing asymmetric blue blouse that barely reached her waist on one side. She pushed up a sleeve and made the bangles clang again. She looked back at Julie, and her bright smile faded a little.

“That won’t do for the island, though. Especially with your family returning. You guys are the new hot topic.” She winked. Julie gulped. The whole island was talking about them. “Come over here. I think we can find some things you will like.”

“I’ll be right here, honey, if you need anything.” Andromeda absently held up a top to check where the bottom might hit her.

Ariel pulled her to the back of the store. The items back here looked like they were for younger people. There were miniskirts and some midriff tops. Julie felt her hope dying, until her mom’s friend pulled out several pairs of stretch pants and maxi skirts in different colors from behind one of the racks.

“These aren’t jeans, but they are about as close as you are going to come on the island. I know you don’t like skirts, but you might like these too. Let’s see what size you are. You are smaller than most of my clients. Everyone here seems to be tall.” She laughed like it was a joke.

The woman kept up the chatter as she took more items to one of the dressing rooms on the back wall. Julie followed her and was surprised when Ariel went inside one of the large dressing rooms with her. She wasn’t shy, since she was used to changing in front of others as a dancer, but it was weird having someone come into a dressing room with her. Ariel grabbed a small bag from the corner, pulled out a tape measure, a note pad and started measuring every part of her. She wrote it all down on the pad. Julie looked at her oddly.

She grinned. “I try to write down the measurements of everyone who comes in. That way you can tell me what you need, and I can send it to you without you having to come in. I get the impression you may be one of those people. There isn’t a thing wrong with that. I can select stuff for you and send it home with your mom. I know she will be in here enough.”

“You guys must have known each other well,” Julie slipped in when Ariel took a breath, surprised that this woman knew her mom’s shopping habits.

“We grew up together and were best friends. Looking at fashion magazines and shopping were our favorite things to do. The island didn’t have a store like this one then. Everything had to be shipped in from mail order.” Ariel’s grin faded. “We tried to keep in touch after she left, but, well, it’s hard to do. I’m glad to have her back. Even if she may not…oh well, I tend to ramble. Ignore me, dear.”

She looked at Julie, startled for a moment, and then thrust one of the long maxi skirts at her. “Here try this on first.”

The woman slipped out of the dressing room before Julie could say anything. She put the skirt on fast and walked out to where Ariel stood waiting to pin up the skirt, since it was made for someone a lot taller.

Julie tried to work up the courage to ask her about what she was going to say. She wasn’t good at confronting people, except her family. She struggled for a moment trying to find a way to ask that didn’t sound demanding.

The door chimed as she opened her mouth. Ariel looked up with pins in her mouth, from where she knelt checking the length of a skirt. The smile tightened when she saw who it was. Julie followed Ariel’s gaze across the store.

A haughty, willowy woman entered the store. Her black hair was pulled back from pinched features. Well, her features weren’t pinched—they were beautiful and symmetrical like everyone else here—but her expression made them pinched. Like she smelled something bad.

The woman glanced around, raising an eyebrow as she noticed Andromeda, who stared at the woman. Her mouth tightened.

“Hi, Andromeda. Good to see you back in town.” The woman’s smooth voice didn’t sound pleased at all. “Or should I call you Andy still? I know you liked to shorten your name when you lived here before. It always sounded a bit mannish to me personally.”

“Hello, Marian,” was all her mom said.

Julie’s mouth dropped open. Her mom was never that polite to someone who was openly rude to her. She was used to commanding respect as a successful businesswoman.

“I understand that your son, Jamie,” her brother’s name rolled off her tongue like there was something derogatory about the name, “will be attending school with my son Arorynd now?”

Her son’s name was Aroreghd or whatever, and she had a problem with Jamie’s name?

Julie couldn’t help it. She started to giggle. Turning her back to the conversation, she opened her mouth wide and rubbed at the joint of her jaw and cheekbone to try to stop. Her eyes watered. The happy emotion didn’t want to stop. So instead, she tried to quietly cough. She probably looked like a complete idiot shaking over here on the other side of the store. It was like she had lost all control of herself.

“Yes,” she heard Andromeda say quietly through her coughing fit.

“This must be a great relief to your husband and his family. His line won’t die out after all. What a happy surprise, given who he ended up marrying.”

Julie turned quickly at these words. Her giggles died. She barely caught her mom’s mouth tense as she faced the front of the store again, but all she did was nod.

She didn’t understand why her mother was nodding at this rude woman. She should want to slap her or something. What family was she talking about? Her grandparents were dead, who else was there?

She clenched her fists and stared at a bright flower pattern on a dress next to her. The bright pink flowers looked brushed on, and she could make out the diamond pattern of the thread under the colors. As her eyes drifted through the pattern, her thoughts drifted away and her hands relaxed at her sides.

“This must be your other child. Julie, is it?” Her gaze swept briefly over Julie with complete disinterest.

Julie shook her head. She couldn’t remember what she was thinking about.

Andromeda nodded again and clenched the clothing she held tightly.

“You won’t mind if I borrow Ariel’s help for a few minutes, will you?” The woman wasn’t asking.

“Sure.” Her mom replied.

Hastily stuffing her box of pins away, Ariel bumped into one of the racks in her rush to the front of the store. Andromeda and Marian stood staring at each other. Ariel looked between them anxiously. “How can I help you today?”

Her mother broke her gaze away from Marian, and her eyes flickered to the back of the store. She started a bit as she met Julie’s eyes. She’d forgotten she was there. She bustled back to where Julie stood and insisted on going in the changing room with her to see everything that they had picked out so far. By the time they emerged, Marian was gone.

They spent most of the morning with Ariel. Then Andromeda took her to lunch in a cute bistro. She acted strangely subdued to the few people who came up to say hello to her. Everyone around them seemed to be wearing dressier clothing and wearing haughty expressions similar to Marian’s. Apparently it was the norm here to look like everything smelled bad.

Julie lay in bed much later that night distracted by how much her mom insist she buy and the huge final cost. She grew angry thinking that her parents pulled her to this island with snooty people that her mom acted weird around. Her thoughts evaporated as sleep overtook her and thoughts of blue eyes invaded her dreams.

♦

Chapter 9: New Schools

≺≻

J
ulie only half paid attention to Andromeda the next morning as she poured a big bowl of cereal. What did it matter if she ate a huge bowl of sugar or a few slices of bacon? What did she care? She wasn’t dancing anymore. It made her irritable—she felt like something was crawling under her skin, waiting to explode. She wondered about herself. As soon as an excuse came up, she let her dream slip away.

Dreams. She blushed as she thought about her dream last night. She had woken up in a sweat, with tingling lips. She couldn’t remember the guy in it. The memory faded fast. He was blond. Maybe from a movie she watched recently? She couldn’t think of a single blond man she met that made her feel that way.

“So I will take you to your school today, and your father will take Jamie to his school.”

“Umm, I must not have heard you right. What do you mean about ‘Jamie’s school’? Are we going to different schools? Is it an all–boys school or something?”

Her mother kept her head turned, fussing with the eggs. Her hair swayed as she shook her head. The egg pan clattered a little as she picked it up.

“No, there are girls at Jamie’s school.”

She brought over the plate of eggs and placed it in the center of the table. It sat between the plate of bacon and fruit that was already there. She frowned at the bowl of cereal.

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat something else? You usually make me cook you a boiled egg to have with some fruit. You always picked on Jamie for eating too much sugar.”

“I already told you not to bother.” Julie picked up another piece of bacon. “I’m not training for anything anymore. Or maybe ever.”

Andromeda stared at her for a few moments, and a worry line creased her forehead. Julie put her head down and spooned in another bite of cereal while keeping eye contact with her mom.

“Okay, well let me know if you change your mind.”

Her mother was acting weird. She felt so alone right now. Her dad was always a bit aloof, but she used to get along well with her mom. While she didn’t tell her everything, she always had her support on things that mattered.

It wasn’t like that anymore. Something was broken. She felt an island apart from her family and even her old self. They’d crossed the bridge three days before, but it felt like months.

Why was she going to a different school from Jamie? They had both been in honors together. Her parents had made it clear to both of them that they expected decent grades if she danced and he played sports. She didn’t know what to think or feel. The thought stuck with her, which felt weird itself.

Why did it feel weird to be thinking about something?

Jamie and Lir came in a few minutes later. Jamie didn’t look like himself. Instead of his jeans and un–tucked polo shirt, he wore black slacks and a crisp white dress shirt. He held a sport coat in one hand and a black leather messenger bag in the other. So, no book bag either. He looked like a twin to her dad who wore a light blue dress shirt instead.

Julie choked on her cereal.

He grimaced. “That bad, huh?”

“What are you wearing that for?”

“It is apparently the school uniform.” He raised his eyebrow as he looked her up and down. He took a seat across from her and grabbed a piece of toast. “You look dressed up too. A skirt and button down shirt? Where’s the t–shirt and jeans?”

She blushed and tugged at the long striped skirt. “This was the best I could get here after all my clothes got lost. The skirt is comfortable at least.”

“All your clothes got lost?” He glanced up at Andromeda in confusion. She shook her head a little. “Well, I think you look nice. That dark blue has always looked good with your red hair. Though, it does make your eyes look more blue than violet.”

Jamie grabbed the plate of eggs and scraped half of the plate onto his own.

Julie tipped her head to the side, eyeing him narrowly. He didn’t usually compliment her. She walked right into a perfect joke for him, and he didn’t take it. Instead, he tried to make her feel better.

“So,” Lir said, getting her attention where he sat beside her, “are you excited about starting at your new school? I understand that you met Kara the first night we were here. Her mom saw me the other day and mentioned how excited she was to have another girl in her class.”

Julie was glad they brought this up. “How is it that I’m the only other girl in her class? Why is Jamie going somewhere else? Mom told me.”

Her dad bit into a piece of toast before answering. “There are two schools on the island. Jamie is going to the more traditional school because of sports. We are sending you to the other, smaller school. It has more of a focus on fine arts but still a good reputation academically. We thought you would prefer a school where you could take dance as one of your electives.”