Natural Selection (2 page)

I ignored her, grabbing a bottle of
water and jumping up to sit on the counter. After a long chug,
which drained almost half the bottle, I gave her by best
“nyah-nyah” expression and stuck out my tongue. She opened her
mouth to say something but was interrupted by our brother
Alexander—though we only call him Xander—entering the room.With
mischief dancing in his bright blue eyes, he snatched the peanut
butter and jelly sandwich Sariah had just put together. He jumped
up on the counter kitty-corner from me and dared her to object with
his eyes.

“
Am I surrounded by
heathens?” Sariah asked, her eyes narrowing. I could almost imagine
her as a cat with her ears laid back and tail lashing. Xander
shrugged and took a giant bite of the sandwich. I laughed as the
ridiculously thick layer of peanut butter Sariah is fond of coated
the roof of his mouth. He made silly faces trying to get it off.
Still giggling, I hopped down and poured him a glass of milk. He
downed it in one drink then took another, slightly smaller,
bite.

“
Pig!” Sariah hissed at
him.

“
Witch!” Xander mumbled
around his full mouth.

“
Alright, settle down;
separate corners,” I yelled, the diplomat as usual. Wasn’t that
supposed to be the job of the middle child?

Sariah shot Xander a hateful
expression as she pulled another slice of bread out of the loaf and
started over. I took another long chug of my water then tossed the
empty bottle into the recycling. I made a mad dash for the fresh
sandwich, but Sariah snatched it away before I could nab
it.

“
You ready for your first
day of high school, Lia?” Sariah asked as she took a bite of the
freshly made peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She rolled her eyes
in exaggerated enjoyment and took a delicate sip of
milk.

“
Sure. It’s just another
school year. I can’t imagine the geography will make it that
different,” I said with a shrug.

Xander gave me a crooked grin, and
Sariah’s eyes widened. They glanced at each other, their brows
raised in similar surprise. Sariah shook her head, grabbed her
sandwich and milk and walked out of the kitchen mumbling. Xander
hopped down off the counter and started to head out too, but he
stopped and turned at the door.

“
Seriously, Lia, things are
going to be
way
different soon. You have to be prepared for anything. And not
just at school. Your whole life will change.”

Well that wasn’t ominous
or anything
, I thought as he left the
kitchen. I dropped down off the counter and put away the sandwich
makings Sariah left out. I took a sponge and wiped up the jelly
Xander had dripped and took a couple of quick swipes where my own
hind end had been. My neatness had grown into an obsession over the
last year.

With the kitchen clean, I flicked off
the light and headed to my room. The familiar greens and browns of
my room were comforting. My bed sat between two windows on the east
wall so I woke to the early morning sun on my face every day. A
quilted comforter the color of moss on an old oak tree covered the
neatly made bed, and green curtains were tied back to reveal ivory
colored lace. The room hadn’t originally included a closet, so my
dad had built one long ago—a walk-in with bars for clothes and
shelves for everything else on three sides. In the alcove created
by the construction, I had a massive vanity, the old-fashioned kind
with a padded bench where you sit while doing your hair. My dad had
adapted it so lights, incorporated to look like flowers blooming on
the vines carved in the old wood, shone beautifully.

I rummaged in my dresser
for a couple of moments and found my pajamas. Grabbing my shower
caddy from the table by the door, I headed to the bathroom. I
turned on the water, waiting until it got to the perfect
temperature before adding Sweet Vanilla bubble bath. Climbing into
the warm water, I opened my latest novel. I liked the kind actually
rooted in reality, which had nothing to do with sparkly vampires of
questionable sexuality. This one was a collection of horror stories
called
Sensing Evil
. Finishing one of the spine-tingling stories I climbed back
out, my toes pruney. I toweled off and applied my favorite almond
scented body butter before dressing. As I walked down the hall with
my hair still wrapped in a towel, I overheard my parents’ quiet
voices drifting up.

“
We’re going to have to say
something soon, Nancy.”

“
It’s too soon. I haven’t
seen any signs she’s changing. It’ll only freak her out if we tell
her too soon.”

Interesting, which “she” were they
referring to? Was it one of us or someone else? Could it be
something else entirely? You can’t come into the middle of a
conversation and expect to draw the proper conclusions. I started
to head to my room again, but their continued voices made me
pause.

“
You realize what can
happen if we wait too long.” I couldn’t mistake the worry in my
dad’s voice. He had never been overly emotional, and curiosity made
me take a quiet step towards the railing.

“
I think we still have
time, probably until next summer.” My mom insisted, almost pleading
with him to agree with her.

“
We have to get her out of
sight for a while to keep people from asking too many questions,”
my father said on a sigh. “Perhaps, we should send her to be with
my mom for the school year.”

Who did they need to get
out of sight? My mind went to a Lifetime movie about a girl who got
pregnant and was sent away so no one would find out. I couldn’t
imagine that being the case, but why else would they need to hide
someone away? Somehow, I suspected I was the topic of this
conversation. Well, at least I’d be closer to Normal. Even in my
head the local joke didn’t sound that funny. I didn’t want to go to
Bloomington
or
Normal for an entire year!

“
Frank, she doesn’t suspect
anything about this family, let alone that she isn’t human!” my
mother hissed.

I gasped, my grey eyes getting bigger.
I heard footsteps coming out of the living room, but I was gone
before anyone saw me. My eyes screwed shut, I leaned against the
door in my room. I heard someone climb the bottom two steps and
stand still for a moment. Then came the quiet rumble of my father’s
familiar baritone, though I couldn’t make out the words. The person
at the bottom of the stairs, presumably my mother, walked away
towards the kitchen. After a slow count to one hundred, I sighed
and opened my eyes. Pulling out the bench to my vanity, I lowered
myself carefully. It wasn’t rickety or anything, but with a little
caution, I might be able to pass the beloved furniture on to my own
granddaughter one day.

I quickly dried and combed my shoulder
length hair straight back away from my face. I tossed the comb down
and stared long and hard into the mirror. I focused on the chubby
cheeks and baby face, searching for some sign that I might actually
be growing out of this runtness. I was so sick of looking like a
perpetual ten-year-old. Deciding it was the same face that had been
staring back for the last four years or so, I stood and grabbed my
book from the end of the bed. I flopped down on my stomach and
started to read. I had a couple of hours before I needed to get to
bed and worrying about things I couldn’t change wasn’t going to
help me sleep.

I’d only made it a couple of pages
into my book when a strange dizziness came over me. I had trouble
breathing and my vision doubled. I slammed my window open and stuck
my head out as pain hammered the inside of my forehead. After a few
deep gulps of night air, it seemed to pass. My skin suddenly felt
too small and tight. Was I having a panic attack? I chalked it up
to my worry, picking my book up again. I vowed not to let myself
dwell on this. Tomorrow would bring better things for me to worry
about anyway.

I ARRIVED FOR my first day of high
school fairly early. Evelyn met me at my new locker. Her brown hair
was smooth and straight, and her swooping bangs disguised a long
face. Her overly large lips were covered in hot pink gloss, and her
fairly linear eyes were surrounded by lots of black eyeliner. She
wore a sassy red and white sundress with brown sandals—making me
feel a little frumpy in my green polo, jean shorts, and bright
green Chucks. We walked to class together since we both had the
same English class. I liked the teacher, and English was always a
good subject for me.

Second period, I had P.E. It was the
first time I had a gym uniform, which I self-consciously changed
into. I seriously hoped no one would notice my flat chest or
scrawny body. Our school gave students a choice between weight
lifting, calisthenics, yoga, and sports. Because of this, all four
years were mixed into one class for whichever track they
chose.

We filed into the gym where the
teacher had the lower classmen stand on the half court line and the
upperclassmen on the three point line. After calling attendance, he
paired us off randomly into teams for badminton. Since when is
badminton a sport you played in gym? I patiently waited as he
called names off the list, but found my mouth suddenly dry when I
finally heard my name called off in an emotionless
voice.

“
Amelia Hoffman and
Nathanial Peplow.”

Nate was my brother’s best friend and
two years older than me. I had a huge crush on him when I was
younger—really the only boy I’d ever liked. I thought I was going
to marry him until he started to be mean to me about three years
ago. I guess once he discovered girls it was inevitable he would
realize I was one of them. The worst part about it was a part of me
still wanted him, it was a little tiny part that I shoved into a
corner to cry itself to sleep.

Reluctantly I walked up to
Nate, who shuffled his feet and gave me a chagrined smirk without
meeting my eyes. I shrugged, refusing to let my heart flutter in my
chest. His brown hair had gotten longer over the summer and fell
into his gorgeous eyes. I’m not talking emo, and certainly not
Justin Bieber, just long and shaggy—and kind of hot. Hating myself
for lingering on someone so not worth the effort, I pushed the
thought aside. He only noticed my existence to make it miserable.
Nate towered over me—trapped in a ten year old body
everyone
towered over me.
He was solid with strong features that made me think of classic
Hollywood leading men. “Not helping!” I mentally sing-songed at
myself.

“
What was that?” Nate
asked, still not meeting my eyes.

Heat flooded my cheeks, and I muttered
something noncommittal while staring at my scuffed up Converse. I
have never been more relieved in my life than I was when Coach
MacDonald assigned us each to a court and passed out our
birdy-thingy. I threw myself into the game ignoring all the
awkwardness and pent up emotions that wouldn’t leave me alone. Nate
and I were nearly unstoppable. It almost seemed as if I could sense
where he was. I knew if he would be there to lob the shuttlecock
back or if I needed to, but I refused to linger on the strange
awareness—calling it a sportsman sixth sense. Hey, denial isn’t
just a river in Egypt!

At the end of the period it wasn’t a
surprise we were at the top of the boards. Nate slapped me a high
five and pulled me into a bear hug—my feet lifted off the ground as
he spun. The minute his hand touched mine a bolt of electricity
went through me, and when his arms closed around me it got worse.
Every muscle in my body went rigid with pain. My skin felt like it
was shrinking and my head pounded. My world shrank to a tiny
pinpoint, and all I could focus on was the glowing presence that
was Nathanial.

As he set me on the ground my rigid
body turned to liquid and I slumped to the floor. I was only
vaguely aware of him scooping me up and shouting something as he
ran out of the gym. I expected him to take me to the nurse’s
station behind the office, so I was shocked when I heard the school
doors slam shut behind us. He placed me on the ground beneath a
stand of trees across from the door, his hands gentle on my
face.

“
Come on, Lia. Come on back
to me.” He said in a voice that echoed strangely in my ears. He
pressed something cool and damp into my palm, and then ran his
hands up and down my arms briskly. Slowly the pain receded and
awareness returned, but my body still felt like Jell-O. “Take it
easy, don’t try to move yet.” Nathanial said quietly, his hands
never leaving my skin.