Elysium's Love Triangle (3 page)

I close my eyes.

I think about nice, comforting things, like home.  I picture myself in a peaceful garden filled with flowers.

I think about Greg.

Eventually I fall back asleep.

I am half-asleep when I sit back up, suddenly.

There is something wrong.

Once again I glance over to Angelica’s bed.

She isn’t there.

*

“Where were you last night?” I ask Angelica the next morning, “I was worried sick.”

She looks at me like I’m crazy, “I was here, silly!”

She brushes it off
,
just like that
,
as she pulls her school blazer over her head.

There is no way she was h
ere.  I was awake for ages,
waiting for her to return.

I waited
until half six.  I was about to call the police.

Then, rather mysteriously, I fell asleep.

Last night was very weird.

I tell Angelica all this.

She laughs lightly, “You were dreaming.”

I know I wasn’t.  It was all far too real.

Angelica seems much too uneasy now too, like someone being found out.  This is what really convinces me that I’m right.

I begin wondering why she won’t tell me.

What is it that she’s so keen to keep a secret?

I shrug it off.  Perhaps she was meeting some boy and is afraid that I’ll rat them out to the Principle.

Yes, that is probably it. 
There is a
completely innocent explanation.

At this point Tanya Terson, a nice girl from my green-eyed group, bursts into our room.

She forgot to pack her hair straightener and is completely panicking.  Her long ginger hair is a testament to this,
it
is still extremely curly.  Angelica just smiles and offers her a loan of the one she brought
a few days ago
.

Tanya thanks her sincerely; she’s her ‘saviour’ apparently.

Then Tanya notices the posters. 

Her eyes find the one of the snake and she shivers, “You should get nice
r
p
osters Angelica . . . These one
s are kind of creepy.”

“Nah, I like them,” Angelica has the same careless grin as ever.  She seems a lot more relaxed now than a few minutes ago.  “Do you know that I used to have a pet
snake
when I was younger?”

Tanya’s eyes widen and he
r
body straightens
quickly
, “I don’t know how you coul
d do that.  Even hearing the word ‘snake’
really
creeps me out.”

She is not lying, you can tell from the way her voice has got
ten
smaller.

I decide to distract Tanya and address them, “Are you guys coming to breakfast?  We don’t want to be late on our first day.  Krein would put us on his watch-list!”

Indeed he does have a watch-list.  He told us about it.  On it are the names of the people he w
ill be keeping a ‘very
close eye’ on.

Tanya does a quick straighten on her hair and the three of us leave together.

“I don’t know why I’m even going to breakfast,” Angelica says.  “I am so full.  I literally couldn’t eat another thing.”

She has a knowing smile after this. 

I didn’t see her eat anything yet today.  She seems serious though.

I think back to her absence last night again.

I think about the way she seemed to revel in Tanya’s fear just now.

The very same way she revelled in the fear of the people on the plane.

There is something very strange going on. 

I decide to keep my eyes open from now on.

*

I like our English teacher, Professer Madson.  He assigned us seats and put me sitting next to Daniel.

The green and blue eyed classes are mixed for this English.  The teachers gave us a timetable at breakfast
this morning in which the blue-eyed class
were
referred to as ‘Class B’ and my class were called
‘Class G’.  B for the blues and G for the greens I suppose.

I try to take notes on the novel Madson is telling us about.  It has something to do with Shakespeare and I think it takes place in Denmark.

I really can’t concentrate.  Daniel is right beside me after all, looking even better than yesterday.

Every now and again he whispers to comment to me about something.  His voice is sexy when it’s low like that.  Half the time I don’t even get what he’s saying.

Most of my responses have been ‘oh, yeah, right’ or something like that.  He probably thinks that I’m a bit dim.  I promise myself that next time he talks to me I’ll come back with something educated and astounding.  I shall not get distracted by the beauty of his hair, I tell myself.

My stream of thought is broken when a girl suddenly screams behind me.

Everyone turns quickly to see what’s wrong.

It’s Mandy Cramson from my class.  She has jumped out of her seat.

“There’s a spider . . . It’s huge.  It came out of no-where.  In my book . . . Someone take it away!” She dares to look again at her desk, the fear obvious in her voice.  “Oh my gosh, there’s two!”

She looks like she might faint.  She backs away from her desk.

I reckon she’ll make a break for the door
if someone doesn’t stop her
.

Mr Mad
s
on addresses her in the same droning voice with which he called out our notes, “Miss Cramson will you please calm down . . . Someone please get rid of those
things
so that we can resume with our class in a nice
sane
manner.”

I look over at Angelica who looks rather satisfied suddenly. 

She’s not the only one.  All of the people with blue eyes seem rather contented.

Their eyes, there’s something off about them.  It’s the same thing I noticed with Daniel’s yesterday.  There is a slight glow to them.

I do a quick check, each and every one of them seem to have this other-worldly feature going for them.

I wonder how I didn’t notice it before.

Daniel volunteers to get rid of the spiders.  He obvious
ly doesn’t share Mandy’s phobia
.

Once they are safely out the window class resumes.

I notice that Daniel gives his sister a look when he sits down.  It’s a chastising one, like she’s done something wrong.

She shrugs, not seeming very bothered.

Class goes on for another ten minutes normally.

Then a guy named Harry Garfield jumps out of his seat.

He has just seen three wasps.  They just landed right in front of him.

Craziness ensues as our new arrivals take flight.  You’d be surprised at how many people are completely freaked out by wasps.

All of the people with blue eyes remain completely calm.  I notice because I have begun to pay attention to them.

Not one of them even looks irked.

It is almost like they are
distracted
from the pandemonium going on around them.  They are all concentrating very hard on something seemingly invisible, staring forward blankly.

It’s like they are doing some kind of deep meditation.

Daniel closes his eyes for a second and takes a deep breath.

Professer Madson has had enough of the theatrics, “Just what is going on here today?”

I am wondering the same thing.

*

We are in a supervised study-class after sc
hool.   Krein is our supervisor
so we have no option but to be quiet.

Greg is sitting beside me, completely restless.  He keeps passing me little notes with random thoughts on them.

A lot of them make me want to laugh.  Others are really deep and philosophical.

He gives me another one now.

It is a drawing of a boy with an umbrella.  The sun has just come out. 

The picture is entitled ‘My Life’.

I know exactly how he feels.  I give him a smile and get back to studying.

He has another
picture
drawn in a minute, he passes it to me.

This time the boy has sun-block.  It is raining.

This one is entitled ‘My Life: The sequel’.

I look at him. 

He has such an innocent puppy face on now.  He just nods his head at me.

I can’t help it.  I laugh.

Krein is beside me in a minute.  He gives me an ‘official’ warning.

Silence must be upheld.  Didn’t I hear him at the start of the class?

I assure him that I did.

I will be kicked out of study
-class if he has to give me a second warning
.  He goes back up to his desk, now finished with his rant that distracted more people than I ever could have.

Greg writes me a new note.

He is sorry.  He won’t get me in
to
trouble again. 

I send him a note
back
to tell
him that it’s fine.

I have quite enjoyed his company during this class.  I’m pretty sure it kept me sane.

He works on his next note for quite a while.

In the end it is another drawing, a lot more professional this time.

An Angel. 

The detail on her hair and wings are amazing.  It’s completely beautiful.

The title simply reads ‘You’.

My breath catches in my throat. 

That’s so nice.

I put my hand on my heart and look at him. 

I whisper it, “Thanks.”

He gives me a look to say ‘no big deal’ before beginning work on a new one.

I study him as he does it.  He does have a sensitive side beneath it all, perhaps.

Again I marvel at how much he’s grown
up
.

He is very handsome
.  I would very much apply the word ‘Angel’ in describing his face and body.

Unfortunately I have no artistic medium in which to express this.

His next note is in the written word.

He is wondering if
Krein would ‘spontaneously combust’ if the two of us just started making out right now.

So much for the sensitive side . . .

Again he has succeeded at
putting an idea in
to
my head.

One, as always, that is against the rules.

I shake my head at him and give him a wry smile.

He winks and says quietly, “There’s a lot of study classes to come . . .”

He is right.

He is also very good at breaking down my defences.

I find myself getting just a little bit lost in his eyes.

The bell for the end of class rings and jolts me out of it.

I gather up all the notes.  I might stick some of them into my diary.

The Angel one is a definite must-keep.

Anything from him is.

I chastise myself.

I
know
Greg Harshaw is trouble. 

My falling for him must stop now.

Two of the girls from Class B are behind me.  Completely by mistake I overheard one of them. 

There is a ‘member meeting’ tonight, she says. 

This piques my interest.  There are no meetings scheduled tonight for any of the extra-curricular clubs in the school.  It would be on the notice board if this was the case.

The girl had been talking quietly as well.  No one was supposed to hear.

‘Member Meeting’.

I being to wonder if there’s some wonderful secret society going on around here that I haven’t been privy to.

I stuff my books in my bag.

Angelica might have been at one of these meeting last night.  If they’re a secret group it would explain why she couldn’t tell me.

I decide to stay awake tonight, just to see if she slips away again.

I swing my bag onto my back.

When did I become such a curious person?

Something about these people is drawing me to this mystery.  I feel strangely
involved
in it.

Greg wants to know if I have any interest in visiting the boy’s dormitories.

It is an innocent question, he insists, with a hint of pure guilt in his eyes.