Derrolyn Anderson - [Marinas Tales #1] - Between The Land And The Sea (16 page)

“Can I give you guys a ride home?” he asked as we washed our brushes.

“No thanks,” I said, my voice thick, “Megan’s taking us.” I turned to leave. When I got to my desk I went to reach for my bag and felt something wet. Someone had dumped the dirty paint water into it. I looked up to see Heather and Jamie scurry out the door, laughing maliciously. I saw red.

Ethan came over to me, worried. He’d seen that expression on my face before.

“What did they say to you?” he asked, alarmed at the smoldering rage in my eyes.

“Nothing,” I replied sharply and turned to go. I grabbed my soggy bag and stormed out to find Cruz and Megan, eager to get home and put an end to this day.

I was pacing back and forth, waiting just back from the little cluster of girls standing and snickering at me when I saw Cruz and Megan approach.

“Hey fatty, your boyfriend looks like a girl!” Shayla called out to them. I could see Cruz and Megan look down, cowed. That did it. I raced up to within inches of her face, shaking with a ferocious rage.

My fists were clenched with fury and I spat out menacingly, “Do you have a problem?” Shayla stepped back reflexively, unaccustomed to being challenged. Then her eyes narrowed and she came at me. I had never hit anyone before but I was fully prepared to fight back, too angry to be afraid.

Strong hands grabbed me by my shoulders, lifted me off my feet and moved me aside. Ethan had gotten between us. I looked up to see Shayla’s shocked face.

“Knock it off!” he said to both of us, looking angry. He took me by my upper arm and escorted me to the parking lot, followed by Cruz and Megan. They were staring at me in awe.

When we got to Megan’s car I was breathing deeply, trying to control my raging anger.

“Marina,” Ethan said intensely, turning me to face him. “Don’t you know not to mess with someone bigger than you? That girl is tough, she could really hurt you.”

“I don’t care,” I said defiantly, shaking his hand off my arm. He exhaled hard, turning to Megan and Cruz.

“Can you get her home alive please?” He turned to go.

Megan and Cruz scolded me about being reckless the whole drive home, and by the time we pulled into the driveway the storm had passed, and I was feeling calm again.

“I’m sorry,” I said remorsefully, “She’s just so awful.”

“Sticks and stones,” Cruz had said, explaining that fighting back only made it worse.

I couldn’t understand how to explain to them the rage I felt when I saw them being harassed.

It was as if I was being taken over by a different me– a more ferocious side of my character was starting to emerge and it was more than a little alarming. The only problem was that I liked the way it felt to give myself over to it.

Once they got over their shock, Megan and Cruz had a laugh about the look on Shayla’s face when Ethan broke up the fight. Then they got back to fretting about what she would do next and decided they needed to stay by my side at school as much as possible.

“We have to stop you from starting a fight,” Cruz said, looking at me like I was a bomb about to detonate.

“You sure do have a bad temper!” Megan exclaimed.

“No I don’t!” I protested.

Cruz laughed so suddenly he snorted. Megan and I started laughing along with him and soon I felt better than I had all day.

“You don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head, “I never did anything like that before I got here... it must be all the fog or something.”

Cruz laughed his snorting laugh again, “Aptos fog is to blame?” he shrieked, “What about San Francisco?” I shrugged. He had a point.

Megan studied me, calculating, “Maybe it’s a mermaid thing.” I cast a cynical look her way and turned towards Cruz, “Please don’t tell your mom what happened,” I asked him, “She worries enough as it is.”

Megan dropped us off, and we could see that Abby’s Volvo was back in the driveway. After dinner that night Abby and I did the dishes together. She asked me how school was going and I put a positive spin on it, telling her how much I liked my art teacher. She told me about her day getting the car fixed, and asked me more about my swimming lesson with Ethan.

“It was nice having Ethan over last night. We used to see so much more of him right after–” She caught herself, stopping in mid-sentence.

“After what?” I asked.

Abby turned to me, and I could see that she wasn’t sure what to say.

“You can tell me,” I pushed her, a tactic Evie used frequently.

She pressed her lips together, “When Ethan was just a small boy his mother ran off with another man. His father took it very hard. Poor little guy, I could tell he was so sad, just... lost. I mean, his own mother abandoned him.” She shook her head sadly at the thought, “He used to ride his bike over and spend a lot of time here before the boys kinda just went their separate ways.”

“What ever happened to the mom?” I asked.

“Nobody knows,” she said, “She just fell off the radar screen.”

“That’s sad,” I said quietly.

She sighed, “Very… but Ethan turned out nice, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” She elbowed me and I couldn’t help but laugh, “Uh, yeah.”

“By the way,” she added, “he refused to let me pay him for Saturday. He said it was his pleasure.”

I blushed, and hugged her goodnight.

Lying in bed that night I thought about what had happened at school. By all accounts I should be afraid but I simply wasn’t. The thought of fighting Shayla actually appealed to me. If she did beat me up I could probably get out of going to school easily. I started weighing my options, imagining how horrified my dad would be if he saw the big bruiser coming at me.

I could egg her on as my ticket out of Aptos High, and he’d have to consider letting me go to an online school. Or, it could backfire and get me sent me off to boarding school in England or something. Either way, it would leave Cruz and Megan stuck taking Shayla’s abuse alone, and I felt strangely protective of them. Plus, I wouldn’t see very much of Ethan...

I thought about the sabotage of my purse in art class. Material things simply weren’t terribly important to me, probably because I had always been given so much. Evie dressed me lavishly, indulging my every whim with her vast wealth, but she also used her money to do a whole lot of good, and she was only truly impressed by sheer talent. She went to great lengths to impress upon me that I mustn’t respect people simply because they had money, and would often point out that true friendship, love and loyalty was priceless, and impossible to buy. Still, she loved her expensive things, and laughed that although money couldn’t buy happiness it could certainly be counted on to purchase freedom.

Expensive things were obviously a big deal to the girls at school. Evie’s advice to always dress up in the face of adversity came into focus. I remembered the envy in the girl’s voices as they gossiped about my pricey wardrobe. I smiled to myself. Game on! I would dress to the nines and rub their noses in it. It might be a shallow strategy, but I knew it would aggravate them and the thought delighted me. I got out of bed, slipped on a robe and knocked on Cruz’s door.

“Come in,” he called. He was still up, working on a paper pattern.

“Cruz,” I asked sweetly. “Can I wear that black lace blouse to school tomorrow?” His eyes narrowed, no doubt remembering how I had looked in it. “Oh, you
are
bad!” He handed me the blouse with a cynical smile.

I laid out the outfit I would wear tomorrow; Cruz’s blouse, along with my most expensive designer jeans and some tall Michael Kors biker boots that looked as ferocious as the top. I dug through my jewelry box, fishing out an outrageous pair of diamond chandelier earrings. I unpacked a quilted patent leather Chanel bag and put my things in it. They called me a freak and they didn’t know just how right they were.

It was time to let my freak flag fly.

The next morning before school I called Evie to ask for a favor. I’d left all of my outrageous designer things in the city, figuring that there wouldn’t be much call for fur lined jackets, thigh-high boots and cocktail dresses in a small beach town like Aptos. I wondered if she would be so kind as to ship some things down to me.

“Do I detect a date coming up?” Evie asked, excited.

“No Evie,” I said. “I’m just thinking about dressing up a little more at school.” She readily agreed, and was only surprised that I hadn’t thought to bring all my clothes originally. After all, as she often said, you never know where you might end up getting invited.

“How are the driving lessons going?” she asked expectantly. I explained that I hadn’t had a chance to get out and drive yet, and that the family car wasn’t always reliable. I promised to practice as soon as I could.

Evie was perturbed, “This is taking entirely too long,” she fussed impatiently. She proceeded to try and pump me for information about my swim lesson with Ethan. I needed to leave for school so I was able to dodge her.

“Thank you Aunt Evie! I love you,” I hung up.

That morning I styled my hair like a rock star and paid special attention to my makeup. I put on the clothes and jewelry I had laid out and stood back to inspect my image. The fresh young school girl had been replaced with a high fashion diva. That’ll do for now, I thought.

“Wow Marina! You look like some kinda celebrity today,” said Abby as I entered the kitchen.

“Thanks Abby, I’m wearing Cruz’s design,” I said as I twirled around.

“The kid is good,” she smiled, her eyes glowing with pride.

Cruz came into the kitchen and did a double take when he saw me, “Whoa! You look like a bad-ass!”

At school I could feel hostile as well as admiring looks from my fellow classmates. The little group of surfer girls and groupies muttered amongst themselves as I passed but made no moves towards me. I could sense Ethan’s watchful eye on me as I moved about campus that day. I had the feeling I was being followed.

I looked away pointedly when the football players tried to make eye contact. Most of the girls at school swooned as the big thick necked brutes strutted down the halls, but I missed the point of all the idolatry. Large well-fed boys battling it out on the field contrasted starkly with the real hunger and desperation I had witnessed growing up. To me, the game just seemed silly and pointless, the boys, stupid.

I was dismayed to look up and see one of them coming straight towards me. He was well over six feet tall, dripping with arrogant attitude. He leaned against the locker next to mine, his huge bulk looming over me.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Yes I am,” I replied.

“Aren’t you gonna tell me your name?” he ogled me.

I was surprised at his rudeness, wondering if that approach got him very far with the other girls, “Probably not,” I said flatly, casting him an annoyed look.

He leered at me, “You’re feisty– I like that.”

I closed my locker and left, blocking out the sound of his laughter behind me. Oh yeah Evie, I thought, there were lots of boys here, only most of them were not worth knowing. I looked up to see Ethan walking alongside me, looking down with amusement.

“Nice outfit,” he said, “You look... interesting.”

“Cruz made the top,” I said defensively, uncertain of what he meant. We got to the art room and Ethan followed me over to an empty table. Heather and Jamie pointedly avoided sitting with us. I could feel their hostile eyes on me. I turned to cast them a dirty look.

“Marina...” Ethan murmured a warning.

“What?” I said, feigning innocence.

“Just ignore them.”

“I don’t care what they say about
me
, I’ll be out of here soon enough. I’d leave right now if it wasn’t for Cruz and Megan.”

Ethan looked pained, “They’re just a bunch of jealous girls.” That I knew, and I planned to rub their noses in it.

When we got home from school I had lots of math homework so I went straight to my room.

Loud footsteps came pounding down the hall, followed by a fist banging on my door.

“Marina! Marina!” Cruz was practically screeching, “You’re not gonna believe this! Quick–

come out front!”

There was a shiny red sports car parked next to Abby’s Volvo in the driveway. It looked fast just sitting there. A huge man was unloading boxes from a white van parked on the street, and I was confused until he straightened up. I smiled at the familiar mirrored sunglasses and shiny head of the Russian giant.

“Boris!”

“Allo Marina!” he waved, “Evelyn sends me.”

I ran up to give him a hug. It was surprising how good it was to see a familiar face after all the weirdness I’d been through lately. He explained that Evie had called him this morning and asked him to deliver one of her cars to me along with several large boxes of clothes. Boris handed me an envelope that contained a note from Evie along with some car related documents, explaining that he had taken it to the shop and had it serviced that morning.

“She’s
real
classic,” he said, looking at the car with admiration, “You be drivings careful, sveetheart.” He looked around the neighborhood suspiciously, like he expected someone to jump out of a bush or something. Boris deposited the boxes on the porch, ruffled my hair with his gigantic mitt, handed me the keys and was gone.

Cruz and I looked at each other with enormous grins. I took out the note and read that Evie wanted me to use the car to learn how to drive and get my license as soon as possible. It was signed with a big red lipstick kiss.

“We better go tell Abby,” I said, laughing.

We found her in the garden meditating, and when she stepped out front she didn’t look very tranquil.

“I don’t know about this,” she fretted, “What will you father say?”

“Mom! This is an antique Porsche Targa– it’s like a work of art!” Cruz enthused. “Besides, it’s just on loan, and you know I promised Marina I’d teach her how to drive. You yourself said I was an excellent driver... and it’s insured!”

“Well...” I could see her begin to weaken. She went over to the car and looked in at the pristine black leather interior. “Antique?” she raised her eyebrows, “This was a hot car in my day,” she said with a smile, and I knew we had her.