Resurrection (42 page)

“Well, I wanted to see how things are going at school this year.”

“Mom, it’s the middle of the year already—why would you be interested now?”

She shrugged her shoulders indifferently. He could tell she was trying to act casual about the situation. “Because you never skipped classes in your old school, so it makes me wonder why you would do it now.”

“My old school wasn’t high school,” he pointed out. “People don’t skip elementary school.”

“That’s true, I suppose.” She nodded her head. “So everything is okay, then? No one’s giving you a hard time?”

His face felt like it was heating up, so he quickly looked back down at the book he had been reading. Hopefully, she wouldn’t take notice, but it was unlikely. Mothers seem to have a sixth sense about these things when it comes to their children. There had never been a time in his life when his mother hadn’t known something was wrong with him. The case with his school wasn’t something he really wanted to talk about though. It was embarrassing for him to tell his own mother what a loser he was.

“Everything is fine, Mom. No worries.” She sat looking at him for a minute, before taking the hint and getting up to leave.

“All right, well, I’ll leave you to do your work then,” she said, leaning down to kiss him on the head. “Goodnight.”

“‘
Night,” he replied as she shut the door behind her. Feeling a strong need for some fresh air, Aiden walked over to the small window that was the only source of natural light in his room and opened it up to feel the night breeze. Some days were just worse than others, he told himself. Things would get better—they had to.

It didn’t start to get better the next day. On his way to school, his father’s piece of crap car died, making him late
again
for first period. This time he had the sense enough to skip it altogether and avoid the wrath of his teacher. Thankfully, his mother agreed to call the office and explain his absence. Before second period, someone had spilled milk in the hall, which had made the tile floors just slippery enough to send him flat on his ass as everyone rushed to class. If that wasn’t humiliating enough, it also happened to be right in front of Melissa’s locker. Ethan hurried over to help him up, but it didn’t save him from being the laughing stock of the whole school again.

“Are you okay, Aiden?” Melissa asked, bending down while he still sat on the floor.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled awkwardly, taking Ethan’s hand and hauling himself up. Walking away, he cursed himself for not taking the opportunity to spark up an actual conversation with Melissa. He only had had four conversations with her to date, and all them had been school related. That could have been his chance to have a regular one without answering a question about an assignment, or their homework, but he blew it.
Figures,
he thought crossly.

During lunch, he had the presence of mind to sit himself on the opposite side of the cafeteria from Bentley and his crew of older douche bags. Thankfully, Ethan decided to skip during his lunch and sat with him as company. Aiden suspected he did it on purpose, to save him from any further humiliation, but neither said anything.

“Look how pretty she is when she laughs,” Aiden said, finding himself staring at Melissa from where he sat. She had such a pretty mouth, and always swung her head back when she laughed really hard. Her chestnut hair came down to the middle of her back. She wore the front with a blunt bang along her forehead. She had huge brown eyes that seemed to sparkle.

Ethan looked over his shoulder uninterestedly. “I don’t know what you see in her,” he commented.

Without thinking, Aiden picked up a fry and threw it at Ethan’s face. “What do you mean? She’s gorgeous.”

“Are you defending your woman’s honour with a tossed fry?” Ethan asked with raised eyebrows. “Should I bring in the big guns and start throwing pudding?”

“No!” He held up his hands in defence. “That’s all I need, a food fight started by me.”

“It’s not that I don’t think she’s pretty, but I don’t find her pretty enough to be worshiped, quite like you seem to.”

Aiden shrugged his shoulders in disagreement. “Everyone has their type, I suppose.”

“If you say so.”

The two were eating in silence when suddenly a shadow was cast across their table. They both looked up simultaneously to see Bentley and his minions standing there.

“Well, what do we have here?” he snickered, with his crooked smile.

“Leave them alone, Bentley,” Aiden heard Melissa say from behind him.

“Have we offended you in some way, geek?” he asked, looking straight at Aiden. “Yesterday you’re sitting by us, and today you’re all the way over here? What? Do we smell or something?”

Saliva began to build in Aiden’s mouth. The three boys crowded around them. Ethan sat rigidly across from him, looking to Aiden for some resolve.

“We just decided to sit over here,” Aiden replied hesitantly. “It had nothing to do with you.”

Bentley placed both hands on the table, bending down so his face was level with Aiden’s. “For some reason, I don’t really believe you, four eyes,” he sneered. The two other thugs chuckled beside him. “I take offence that you’ve decided to move away from me, and I don’t like being offended.” Aiden shut his eyes, praying the guy wasn’t going to hit him or something. “You’d better watch yourself, or your next two years here will be hell.” He started to stand back up, and Aiden thanked God it was over. It wasn’t. With one fluid motion of his hand, Bentley flipped the tray of food that lay in front of Aiden, spilling all of it down the front of his clothes. The other kids sitting around them began to laugh.

“Bentley!” Melissa yelled out. “What the hell is wrong with you?” She rushed past him, bringing with her some napkins to help clean Aiden off. “I’m so sorry,” she said quietly. Aiden sat there in shock, partly from what had just happened to him, and also because she had never been as close to him as she was now.

“Don’t help this skinny fool, Mel.” Bentley laughed, disregarding her clear irritation with what he had just done. “Let’s go.” He grabbed her arm, forcing her to stand up.

“Do not,” she said, ripping her arm out of his hand, “grab me like that! I’m not your property, Bentley. You don’t get to tell me when I can or cannot leave a place.”

“Whatever,” he said, turning away from her. As him and his friends began to walk away, Aiden heard him say “bitch” under his breath. That was the last straw. Without thinking, Aiden got up from the table and walked up to Bentley, tapping him on the shoulder. As he turned around, Aiden punched him square in the jaw, sending Bentley staggering backward.

“Yes!” he heard Ethan say from their table.

Both friends of Bentley’s began to rush Aiden when all of a sudden Mr. Beck was there, breaking up the three boys. “Aiden, go to the principal’s office. You boys take your friend here to the nurse.”

Aiden grabbed his bag and walked off to the front office, covered in food and pulsing with adrenaline. Just as he was leaving, he watched as Melissa ran over to Bentley to make sure he was okay. His heart fell. He had just punched a guy out for this girl, and already she was running back to him. That was so his life.

BOOK TWO, EDEN SERIES

By Janelle Stalder

CHAPTER ONE

The scent of dirt and grass filled his nose, as well as something sharp. He tried to breathe in deeper, recognizing the metallic smell of blood. A cool breeze played with his hair. Then the pain hit, and his surroundings melted away. He heard her voice again, breaking through the dense fog.
It’s okay Aiden. Everything will be okay.
Elisa’s voice repeated this mantra, over and over in his head, but it was hard to hear her. The fire in his veins burned its way through his entire body. He knew he was screaming, but even that was muffled by the rushing sound in his ears. The pain was unbearable. Black spots dotted his vision. He wanted it to end. Why wouldn’t the pain end? He opened his mouth to scream again, his jaw aching, and closed his eyes against the bright light.

When he opened them again he was back in his room.

Lying on his back, Aiden waited as his heart rate slowed down.
It was just a dream,
he reminded himself. Well, at least
this
time it was. He had been having them the entire summer, waking up the same way, drenched with sweat, his blankets on the floor, and his clothing sticking to him like a second skin. Sitting up slowly, he dragged his hand down his face, giving himself an inward shake. The numbers on the alarm clock said it was only six in the morning. It felt like he hadn’t slept at all. The whole house was quiet. No one would be up for another half an hour or so. Aiden let the peace settle in around him, enjoying the silence. As soon as his little sister was up, there would be no more time for him to reflect.

The dreams were constant and similar in matter. He would be back in Eden, fighting beside his friends, beating back the northern army. All would seem well, but it always ended with immense pain. Sometimes it wasn’t an arrow, sometimes he was simply attacked by some unknown figure. There was a presence there – always. It loomed just out of his vision, watching him, testing him. For what? He didn’t know. Truthfully, he didn’t even think it meant anything. Dreams were just your subconscious mind creating false images, weren’t they? The strange presence felt real, but only when he first woke up and the dream was still fresh in his mind. By the afternoon he would convince himself it was nothing. He let out a sigh, looking back at the clock. He didn’t actually have to wake up for another half an hour, but there was no way he was getting back to sleep now.

Grabbing fresh clothes and a towel, he headed down to the second story from his attic bedroom and into the washroom. The door to his sister Eddie’s bedroom was open. He could hear the sound of her softly snoring. It made him smile as he went by. While the water warmed up, he looked at his reflection like he did every morning. It was still weird for him to not have to wear his glasses. His mother had dropped the subject, be he knew she was still confused by the change. Who wouldn’t be? When Ethan had commented on it, Aiden simply said he was wearing contacts now, but his mother knew better. Aiden wondered suddenly if his mother had
Googled
it.
Probably
, he decided. She
Googled
everything.

He rubbed at the dark circles under his eyes. God, he looked awful. The first day of school and he looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks. If he hadn’t signed up for the football team, requiring him to be up and at the school at the ungodly hour of seven in the morning, he might have been able to go back to sleep for another hour or so. But no, he had decided to join one of the school teams, subjecting himself to this early morning regimen.

The room was beginning to steam, so he quickly took off his damp t-shirt and kicked off his shorts. Over the summer he had continued to work out, capitalizing on the muscles in his arms and legs he had earned while in Eden. He regarded his reflection in the mirror closely, with a sense of accomplishment. Last year he was nothing but a tall, lanky nerd in glasses. Now he was thicker and more confident. He smiled lightly at himself. His health and physique were why he had joined the team. He wanted to stay in shape, just in case he was called back to Eden. He had to be in top form if he ever returned.

As the water hit, the usual melancholy settled over him at the thought of returning.
If
he returned. Yeah, that was a big
if,
he thought somewhat angrily. It was hard to keep hope when he hadn’t heard a word from anyone since he had been returned home. The entire summer had flown by, and not one person had contacted him.
Well it’s not like they can pick up a phone and call you!
Scolded his inner voice. This was true. Despite his newfound hate for the little voice in his head that kept him in check, he knew it was right. Part of him was angry that he had been left without any answers, but his more sensible side knew there was nothing he could do about it. Diana could come over, but he didn’t know if she could do it at will, and how much it might take out of her. Unless…no. He dismissed the thought from his head immediately. She was fine. They were all fine. He had to believe that.

No more thoughts of Eden
, he told himself. Instead he let his mind wander to thoughts of what the new school year would bring. His arch nemesis Bentley, and his crew, were gone this year. Aiden smiled at the thought. He might actually get through a year without being picked on. Ethan, his best friend since grade 9, had heard Melissa had broken up with Bentley over the summer. Apparently he had cheated on her while visiting a college. How Ethan knew this, Aiden had no idea. He had long ago given up trying to discover his best friend’s weird ability to hear anything and everything about the people they went to school with.