My Soul to Save (Soul Keeper) (7 page)

Emily and I stand in our cap and gown and pose with the guys while her mother, the scrapbook queen, makes sure we hit every pose just right. Over all, it's a somber day for me. Other than my few friends, no one will be cheering for me when I walk across the stage. I at least wish my mother could come down
, and be here.

In the end, Sam ended up making Valedictorian and I can't wait to hear his speech. He helps me up into the cab of his monstrous truck. He wanted this time alone with me on the way over. I don't know about him, but my gut is twisted into knots. After today
, our high school days will be over and change will come down on us fast and hard like a hammer. I only have two weeks before my internship starts, but Sam's dad has already started their move. And once he leaves for Texas, I won't see him again until Thanksgiving. I hate this. I hate knowing that it was basically my fault he didn't get into Harvard.

The angel's devised a plan to keep me as far away from him as possible because of his mark. It's why I have two and a half angels watching my every move. It's why Sam has
one
the size of all three of mine combined. Nothing can go wrong, or so they hope. I wonder if these people have ever heard of Murphy's Law. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, in the worst possible way at the worst possible time. They should know that this applies to me at least twice a day.

Sam's arm rides along my shoulder with his other hand on the wheel. I love being right here, his girl. He looks so professional in his white shirt and blue tie. His gown is adorned with special
cords and a stole to signify he is the elite among the many. I knew he was this when he was dressed in scuffed boots and faded t-shirts.

My future was preordained and I wonder how much of my success is my own. Would I have gotten into Harvard without their fate bending hand? I was always afforded the top schools even though my father was not a rich man. Even my grandmother's inheritance, where did it all come from? How long has all of this been planned?

"Hey, are you okay? You've been off in another world for a while now." Sam asks blessing my cheek with a kiss.

"Was I? I guess I was just reliving all of my high school memories."

"I remember the first day I met you. I could see you were beautiful, but when you spoke to me, I knew that you were something different. You're like no one I've ever met before. Graceful, inside and out, I said to myself."

"I liked that you said Ma'am. I knew you were nothing but good. I knew you would never hurt me." I cringe as flashes of him and Peyton kissing play in my mind. But this Sam didn't kiss
Peyton no that happened on my other path. This Sam has been with me since day one.

"My dad made sure all of us kids knew to mind our manors, even when no one was watching."

"Well you sure were a gentleman at my house all weekend after prom."

"You sa
y that like it's a bad thing," he says half laughing.

"Sam
you’re leaving, we aren't going to see each other for months." Sam pulls the truck over and puts it in park. He tips my head up so we're eye to eye.

"I know and it’ll be hard. I'm gonna miss the hell out of you. But I believe in us. I think we'll get through it. Don't you?" he asks, looking up at me with his soul capturing amber eyes.

"As opposed to what, breaking up?" I blurt out.

"Don't even say that. Look, here's how I see this going down. We get to school and at first we'll talk several times a day, then we'll get busy with school and so maybe it will be a call before bed. We will miss each other but we'll be too busy to notice. Before you know it, the break will be here, and you'll be back in my arms."

"That's not how I see it. That's not the way loneliness works. Maybe at first we will be able to be strong for the sake of our love, but month after month, year after year, it will wear us down. We'll form new bonds with other people, people who are minutes away, not plane rides. One day you'll forget what it was that you liked about me, because people grow and change. I'll never be that sweet girl you fell for that shared her spot under the tree with you during lunch."

"It's not often you're wrong but one day in the far, far off future, I'm going to rub your nose in this conversation when we're on our honeymoon." He smiles out, completely convinced he's won this one. Of course the only words ringing in my ears are far, far off future and honeymoon.

He puts the truck back into drive and we make the rest of the trip. I bury my head on his shoulder and pray he's right. The campus is packed with our graduating class and half the population of Virginia. It seems a bit excessive for a class of only three hundred.

Emily spots us and waves from across the football field. I make my way over to her while Sam has to check in on stage.

“Good luck on your speech.”

“Thanks, I just hope I can see your pretty face from up there. You’re all the luck I need.” He gives my waist a squeeze before heading off.

"I can't wait to get this over with and get to your party Em's."

"You're not the only one. You'd think they'd come up with a new tradition over the years. Who thought wearing stupid cardboard squares on our heads and parading around in blue nightgowns was a good way to commemorate thirteen years of education?" she chides.

"What would you have us in? I mean if the world got rid of the cap and gown what would be the universal symbol for graduation be?"

"Bolo's and fedora's of course."

"I love it."

We find our seats and I prepare myself to listen to the principal's droning cadence for the next half hour. Sam takes the lectern and clears his throat. He looks nervous. He hates public speaking more than the cafeteria food. 

"Class of two thousand and fourteen, we did it. Parents, thank you for helping us get here. I pray that you all go on to be successful in whatever it is you have chosen to do with your life. The reason that this stadium is so packed tonight is because this is
the
moment your parents have been molding you for. The day that they finally get their lazy, annoying teenager out of the house. See– they’re nodding.

They’ve paid for the next four years of college so that you can go annoy your professors and be lazy in your own place. See
– they’re nodding again.” The crowd laughs.

“This school is for the politically minded, so perhaps many of you will go on to do great things for our community. You’re all nodding, but there’s a lot that we don’t know, that we think we know
– that’s what makes us so annoying. See, now your parent’s heads are bobbing again.

So I implore you to go humbly into the world and learn the things that matter to you. If it doesn’t move you then don’t do it. My mother died of cancer when I was a young teenager
, and ever since, I've made it my personal mission in life to kick cancer's ass. Sorry Principal Horn."

The crowd cheers out and Mrs. Cohen, our lit teacher stands up, clasping her hands to her mouth before applauding. My mother arranged for her five year old to be cured from Leukemia as a birthday present to me. Principal Horn frowns at Sam's profanity but Mrs. Cohen keeps him in his seat.

"But whatever it is you do out there in the world, do it up right, take it down hard, and don't let anybody tell you that you can't." Now everyone is on their feet, even
they
fell in love with him in minutes.

Seeing Sam in the spotlight makes my heart swell, I'm so proud of him, and so in love with him. His gaze moves over the crowd during his speech but it always comes back to me as if I were his focal point. I'm glad I can't read his mind right now because I'm sure he's doing the old, picture the crowd naked trick. He speaks from his heart and it may not be the most eloquent speech I've ever heard, but Sam when Sam speaks, people listen, no special powers needed.

After the speeches are over, we line up alphabetically and I'm stuck between two girls from my home room. The line is moving at a snail’s pace. Did everyone here get a scholarship? Maybe it was their gift from the heavens for having their memories altered all because of yours truly. Anyone who ever saw Elijah and I near each other, had the memory swiped from their brain the same night they did it to me. What I still haven't figured out is if my memories really happened or if I just think they did.

If they can go back in time and erase the moment I met Elijah then that would have altered my course. There was no gorgeous next door neighbor protecting me.
However, the photo of Elijah and Ari at Homecoming pleads its case that it all really happened. The girl behind me nudges me. The one in front of me has already accepted her diploma and is off stage. How long was I standing there for?

Principal Horn looks a bit annoyed. "Graduating with national honors and a full scholarship to Harvard University, Brennen Elizabeth Hale." Sam comes out of his seat on stage and hugs me. I pause for a picture with the principal. In the crowd, Jesson, Emily and Sam's family cheer for me and I blush. I accidently blink into the other realm and notice Elena, Inara and Will are patrolling the sky. They fly up and down the football field like fighter jets armed and ready.

After hats are tossed into the air, making it impossible to determine which is your own, I look for Sam. He finds me in the crowd, glimpses of his dazzling white smile appear between seas of blue gowns as if he were Moses parting oceans.  When he finally gets to me, he lifts me into the air and whirls us around, kissing my lips once before setting me back down. I take in his clean woodsy scent and bask in the way his hands feel supporting my body.

"Come on, I want you to meet my Pawpaw."

He interlaces our fingers together and leads me to a spot near the bench where his family has congregated. All of these people are here for him? Sam talked about how big his family was back in Texas but I had no idea they were so close knit. There must be thirty people here at least. They each take turns hugging Sam and he introduces me to aunts, uncles, cousins and finally, we come to Samuel Montgomery Sr.

"Pawpaw, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend Brennen." The fragile looking man springs to life and grips my hand like he means it. His eyes are softened by white brows and shaded with a straw cowboy hat. He's in a grey sports jacket with patches on the elbows and a large gold belt buckle that looks western. Light glints off of his crocodile skin boots in the afternoon sun, making him appear like he was straight off the set of
Dallas
.

"Good to meet you Brennen, I hear my little Sammy is quite taken with you." He smiles out instantly embarrassing Sam.

"It's a pleasure meeting you and I was captivated by your grandson the moment he walked in and sat down next to me."

"Well that’s
because I taught him everything he knows, including how to impress the ladies." He waggles his brow while Sam rolls his eyes. I can’t help but laugh.

"Pawpaw," Sam admonishes.

"My compliments to the professor, Mr. Montgomery." I take Sam Sr.'s proffered arm and we continue to chat with his extended family. I see relief wash over Sam's face, he must have been worried about what his grandfather would think of me. I like him, he makes me wonder what my grandfather was like. Mine died before I was born. Sam's grandmother passed away a few years ago from a heart attack.

"What about your grandparents on your mom’s side, do you still talk to them?" I wonder aloud.

"Not since Mom passed away. They took it very hard and it's hard for them to see us because we look so much like her. At least that's what Dad thinks."

"I guess people handle grief in their own way, but I would want to see my grandchildren grow up."

"That's why I'm glad Sammy here is moving back to Texas, I've missed him and those girls. Speaking of, Sam have you got an eye on them?" I glance around the already thinning crowd and I don't see them anywhere. I shoot a furtive glance to Elena in the other realm and she takes to the sky looking.

"I'll go check the restroom,
" I offer and it's not long before his entire family is searching for the twins.

"Mia, Maci are you girls in here?" I call out into the bathroom that I can already tell is empty. Inara keeps close by my side with Elena away.  Fear begins to grab hold of my heart. "What if they took the girls?"

"Just hold on before we jump to conclusions."

"Inara would they do something like this just to get to me or Sam?"

"Hurt two innocent girls to prove to you they will hurt anyone you care about?" She doesn't even bother to finish, I already know they would. They killed a plane full of passengers just to get to me, one was a little baby. I can't even imagine what they would do to someone I know and love like my own little sisters.

I broke up with Sam for t
his very reason last year. We fought about something stupid and he apologized, but I knew that being what I was, put him and his sisters in danger. So I chose to end it. Of course that was before the memory switch. As far as this version of Sam is concerned, I've never been anything but a loving girlfriend.

"They found them, they were under the bleachers with a couple of boys from their school." Elena says catching us as we exit the bathroom.