Wildflower
pulled out a quill. It looked like any ordinary quill. Only, I knew what she
was capable of doing once her fingers finished guiding it along the parchment.
She began sketching an outline of a cluster of birds with the black ink. There
were at least a half a dozen in the flock.
“With
each new life we breathe our souls will migrate toward one another. Our souls
will carry us over land and water to be reunited again and again.” she smiled
as she replaced her quill and began chanting in her native and mysterious
language.
Like
magic, the ink evaporated off of the paper and swirled in circles in the air
until it found purchase on skin. A cluster of delicate birds were suddenly
embedded at the nape of her neck. I felt tingling warmth spread over my chest.
When I looked down I found one more imprint engraved over my heart.
I
glanced down at the winged figure permanently seared into my skin and
smiled. They would not separate us. We
would be one forever because my heart would always belong to Wildflower, in
this life and every future life.
Excerpt:
Jordan
I
shuffled my feet more quickly as the late bell rang for class. The obnoxiously,
blaring sound was a rude reminder of my inability to get to class on time.
Fortunately, I had Mr. Falls for Calculus this period and he would, no doubt,
be attempting to flirt with Ms. Warner, the Algebra teacher, in the hallway
just outside the classroom. As I rounded
the corner I confirmed that my suspicions were correct, raced through the door
and slid into my seat before Mr. Falls had the slightest clue.
“Pushing it a little close again
aren’t we, Laney?” a heard a friendly voice tease as I settled into my
seat.
I
only smiled in return, guilty as charged.
My junior year at Plymouth North
High School isn’t panning out so great, not that I’d expected it to. No, I’m
pretty much ignored by my peers and most of my teachers. It’s not so much that I’m disliked, I’m just,
well, not the norm. I’m not rich, so I
can’t claim any trust fund baby attention. My parents, Shane and Andrea
Stillwater, are hard working middle class folk. My mom is an accountant and my
dad is the Art teacher here at Plymouth North and, sadly, the only teacher in
the school that acknowledges my efforts.
I have no exceptional athletic abilities. In fact, I’m pretty pathetic
with any sport which requires the manipulation of a ball, which is pretty much
every sport. I’m just an average
student, so you won’t find my name on the Principle’s List. Not that I’m complaining, I don’t mind being
average and blending into the institutionally drab, beige walls of Plymouth
North. In fact, I prefer it that way. Unfortunately, I’m not quite average or
normal enough. You see, my mom is White but my dad is Native American and
apparently, at Plymouth North, the in – crowd prefers a pure pedigree. In their
eyes, I’m a freak. My people believe physical wellness and spiritual wellness
are connected. By alleviating injury or sickness
affecting the soul you may restore the physical body to balance and wholeness.
If I get sick my dad takes me to see my grandfather, our tribe’s Shaman, and he
heals me with his spiritual gifts. Needless to say my peers find my tribe’s
beliefs and practices to be a bit odd, so I’ve been labeled as the weird witch
of the North, North Plymouth, that is. I’m not bitter, though… OK, I’m a
little bitter but I don’t feel sorry for myself because that’s just pathetic
and I am not pathetic.
So, what motivates me not to jump
off of a cliff, you wonder? Well, first of all, my parents are pretty great.
Yeah, I know, this is not exactly normal sentiment for a teenager but they
don’t really bug me that much. Second, I’m pretty good at finding distractions.
I love to draw and ride horses. When I
get bored I can draw myself into a world that is much more interesting than my
own or head out to my grandfather’s ranch and hit the trails with Bunny, my
favorite quarter horse. Third, Carly Higgins, my best friend since kinder –
garden, Carly can always makes me laugh, even when I feel like crying. Last,
but not least, Jordan Stone, a super hot guy. We have English and Spanish
together and he sits right behind me in both classes. We talk and flirt and
joke around and it subdues the monotony a little bit.
“So, do we have any plans for the
weekend yet?” the friendly voice whispered as Mr. Falls entered the classroom three
minutes after the bell finished ringing.
“I don’t know, Carly. I’m still kind
of bummed about the last one.” I complained.
“All the more
reason to put yourself back out there!” she encouraged, forever the optimist.
“Miss Higgins, do
you wish to address the class this morning?” Mr. Falls interrupted.
“No, sir…” Carly
frowned.
Mr. Falls nodded
an unspoken warning to Carly and I and began his lesson. I was off the hook for
now.
The day continued in its usual
monotonous manner until fourth period English class. Jordan Stone is in this
class.
“How’s it going,
Stillwater?” Jordan smiled as he loped into the room and slung his book bag to
the side of his painfully uncomfortable metal and wooden desk behind mine. He was dressed in worn blue jeans and a black
tee shirt. His blond hair was tousled on top of his head from the recent sprint
from his previous class. It still looked
good. No, more like perfect. His green eyes pierced through me as his dimpled
and gleaming, white grin took my breath away. OK, stupid, it’s time to say
something. What was it that he just asked me? Crap!
“Uhm, hey, I
didn’t see you at Jessica Jacob’s party last weekend. Did you find something
better to do?” I teased awkwardly, at a loss for words.
Jordan laughed,
not missing a beat. I have no doubt he realizes that he drives me crazy. This can’t be healthy, still, I persist being
the masochist to love that I am.
“Nah, we heard it
was gonna’ be lame so we crashed Gracie’s place instead. Her parents were out
of town.” he replied nonchalantly.
Great! My favorite person, Gracie Henderson, little Miss Perfect,
weaseled her way into Jordan’s weekend effectively canceling me out. Gracie’s been getting one up on me more often
than I care to admit these days.
“Oh, uhm, well, how was that?” I asked tightly, not wanting to
show my annoyance and not really wanting to hear his reply.
“Awesome!” he nodded enthusiastically. “Everyone was there. Why didn’t you come? I
missed you.” he said sincerely.
OK, this is an improvement. He noticed that I wasn’t there. Maybe
he was looking for me. Maybe he had wished that I had been there. I looked up
to see that he was staring at me and it finally dawned on me that he was
waiting for my reply.
I straightened up and snapped out of my trance.
“Oh, well, you know, I didn’t want to let Jessica down. It was her birthday and all.” I explained
lamely, not wanting to admit that I had not been invited, would never be
invited, to a party being thrown by the one person who seems to hate me more
than anyone else in the entire world.
I’ve often wondered what Gracie has against me. For the life of me
I can’t come up with a single reason. I’ve never done anything to her.
Actually, that’s a lie. I know exactly why Gracie doesn’t like me, but it would
not be politically correct to voice my opinion on this matter. I am, after all,
already the under dog here. My father
isn’t white and this fact doesn’t sit well with some people. It really sucks
and I wish everyone would just grow up and get over it. Well, no use crying about it, I guess. It
won’t change anything.
Just as the bell was about to ring the devil herself sashayed into
the class- room.
“Hi, Jordan!” she squealed. “It was so great that you could make
it to my party last Saturday. It was so
much fun, wasn’t it? I mean, everyone who was anyone was there, right?” she
droned on.
Don’t think I didn’t catch that last jab either. She eyed me
meaningfully when she uttered it so sweetly.
“Oh yeah, man! You’re party
totally rocked.” Jordan nodded. “Let me know when you decide to play host
again.” He winked before he shifted around in his seat to face Laura Rice. “Hey
Laura,” he whispered. “…did you finish you’re Calculus homework last night? Can
I copy it?” he grinned mischievously.
“Sure thing,
Jordan.” she agreed easily, pulling her home work from her bag.
I bet Jordan has yet to do a single Calculus assignment this
year. As Jordan smiled at Laura, or her
home work, Gracie’s expression fell. Her glance drifted to Laura and conformed
into a scowl. Laura remained oblivious,
still entranced by Jordan’s charms.
Dang! Gracie must have it bad for Jordan to be jealous of Snora – Laura.
We’re talking major bore – fest personality.
Get a grip Gracie!
OK, I know, that was mean and being mean isn’t usually my style.
Maybe Laura isn’t so bad, maybe she’s just shy.
She’s good at Calculus. There, I
said something nice about her so why do I still feel like a total hag? I don’t
mean to be cruel; it’s just that Gracie always makes me feel like a loser. She
thinks she’s better than me, so much so that sometimes I begin to feel like she
might be right. She really gets under my
skin, you know?
“So, Laney, how was Jessica’s party?” Gracie turned her venom on
me.
Sure, her voice was friendly enough but her eyes held the
paralyzing and hypnotic stare of a cobra ready to strike.
“Oh, it was great!” I smiled cheerfully.
I lied. Gracie rolled her eyes.
“Well, I heard it sucked!”
she hissed, no longer attempting to hide her malice.
On that note we all shifted uncomfortably in our seats and focused
our attention toward the English teacher who was beginning the day’s lecture.
Yet again, I was saved by the institution of public education.
After English class Jordan walked with me to our Spanish
classroom. During our stroll he remained unusually quiet for about half of the
distance.
“So, Laney, do you have plans for this weekend?” Jordan voiced
shyly.
OMG! He was asking me out! OK, take deep breaths and don’t pass
out.
“Uhm, no?” I responded awkwardly.
I was completely caught off guard by his inquiry.
”Oh, well uhm, how would you feel about going to see a movie with me?” he
continued.
“Great! What movie?” I agreed without hesitation.
Only then did I realize that perhaps I shouldn’t sound so eager.
My doubt was immediately remedied, however. As soon as my words were uttered I
observed Jordan’s shoulders and gate relax, and return to his normal easy
posture.
“Really?” Jordan breathed with relief and surprise.
“Uhm… yeah, what movie?” I persisted, entirely surprised and
thrilled by his reaction.
Surely, he knew I would say yes. What idiot wouldn’t?
“Awe, wow! I totally thought you would say no.” he continued to
confound me with his delusional response. “I mean, I’m totally psyched that you
want to go out with me. I’m just surprised, I guess.” he jabbered on, finally
explaining his uncharacteristic behavior.
“Why?” I wondered.
“Because, you never do.” he shrugged.
I raised another clueless eyebrow at him.
“You never say yes when guys ask you out.” he clarified.
“So, what, is this like an experiment or something?” I
worried.
Get the freaky Indian girl to go out with you! Were they taking
bets? Was money exchanged?
“No, I promise it’s not like that at all. I really like you,
Laney. The truth is I’ve wanted to ask you out for a long time, but I didn’t
because all the guys said you would say no. I was too chicken. You know, afraid
of rejection?” he admitted sheepishly. I smiled, both satisfied and flattered
by his response. Jordan immediately relaxed again and ran his fingers through
his golden locks. “So, why do you always say no… to the other guys, I mean?” he
wondered.
“Because, I think they’re a bunch of creeps.” I answered honestly.
It’s true. Most boys at Plymouth North find me to be more than
easy on the eyes, but I’m not easy, and I know their intentions don’t progress
beyond their hormonally driven male instincts. What I mean to say is, none of
them would take me home to meet their mother, if you can catch my drift. The
sad and true fact is, my caramel complexion would not be overlooked or
accepted.
Jordan’s shocked expression was so comical I couldn’t help but
burst into laughter. At my knowing
reaction he quickly and ever so smoothly collected himself.
“You’re a handful, aren’t you?” he chuckled.
“Maybe…” I said coyly.
Cannot wait!!!
Be sure to stop by Amy's blog on the first for an awesome giveaway! Here are the links to her blog and where you can learn a little more about her and the amazing books that she writes.
Blog
Soulless; The Story of Shayan, The Soul Quest Trilogy, Prequel
Soul Quest, The Soul Quest Trilogy, Book One
http://www.amazon.com/Soul-
The Guardians of Souls, The Soul Quest Trilogy, Book Two
The Guardians of Souls, The Soul Quest Trilogy, Book Two
http://www.amazon.com/
The Glassheart Chronicles (Co - Author; A series of paranormal romance short stories.)
http://www.amazon.com/The-
The Glassheart Chronicles (Co - Author; A series of paranormal romance short stories.)
http://www.amazon.com/The-
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