The Price of a Gift (The Price of Secrets Series) (6 page)

"It's been ok." I didn't want to elaborate and say I haven't done a darn thing, cause I text him earlier today about how busy I've been.

Ok, walking while its 92 degrees was not a great idea when you have curly hair. I could all but feel the length drawing up and frizzing out.

"I know walking was my idea, but can we find some shade. In about three minutes I'm
gonna have raccoon eyes from my mascara melting down my face."

"You don't need that stuff, you're beautiful."

"Thanks, but you're such a guy, every girl needs mascara." I playfully pushed him. Uh oh, I know that look, that feeling. He thinks we are having a moment and we so are not.

"And you're such a girl, lucky for me. Hannah
let’s sit down, I want to talk to you." He walked ahead of me to a bench under a tree. At least it's shady.

As I sat down I saw two upcoming freshman girls attempting to play tennis. Mostly they were swinging at air, but by the sounds of their laughter, they were having a blast. Trying to show Josh I was his FRIEND, I hit him on the arm and pointed in the direction of the tennis court. "
There’s you two pretty girls."

He looked, but only briefly. "You beat both of them put together, hands down. Even without mascara."

Awww he is so sweet. Why can't I just like him back? "You're just saying that cause I can hear you and they can't." Ok I can't stand this anymore. I know he is building up the courage to ask me and I'm gonna have to hurt his feelings. Unless.... "Josh, I know what you want to talk to me about."

"You do?" Even if I couldn't read his feelings, I could see the shock in his eyes.

But I ignored it and played it off. "Yes, and let me just say you are so sweet to be thinking of me."

"What? No Hannah, you
...”

"Please let me finish. You don't have to worry about me Josh. We decided to just be friends and that was a good decision. You don't have to worry about things being weird between us when school starts back. Nothing has to change. We have always hung out with the same crowd, and we still will. We were close friends before we dated, and we will continue to be. And when you start dating someone else I will be happy for you.
Really." I put my hand on top of his for emphasis, and to read him.

"You really are a good person, Han. I know you know I was going to ask you if we could get back together. You're not a good liar."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, really. Don't worry about it. I think I was just second guessing our decision, and I was worrying about school starting back and what it was
gonna be like without you. But I realize now that I do still have you, as a friend."

"You are such
a good guy, especially for a jock." Now it was his turn to push me. There's that crooked smile that used to melt my heart. I had Josh back and I felt a small weight lift off my shoulders, that is until I sensed him tighten up. The next thing I knew he was talking in a fast whisper to me.

"Don't look but Megan is walking this way. After we broke up I started talking to her a little bit. But she is so annoying and all I could hear
was you in my ear saying 'really, are you stupid?' So I dropped her. I think a part of me did it for spite, cause I knew you didn’t like her. I'm sorry." Well Jaycee called that one.

Before I could say anything, I heard her voice. "Hello Josh, Hannah." It was worse than nails on a chalkboard. Josh nodded and I was suddenly very interested in studying my split ends. "Are you guys
back together? Did you tell Hannah you came running to me after you broke up?"

That's
it, I've had enough of her. Jaycee wasn't here to help me fight my battles, but I got this. "No, Megan, we are not back together, we are hanging out as friends. If you had any you would know what that looks like, and yes he told me about talking to you. But that's ok, everybody shops at second hands stores every once in a while."

Josh coughed, holding back a laugh while Megan shot daggers at me with her eyes, then turned and left. She has this prissy walk that she thinks makes her look all high and mighty, but in reality it makes her look like she's got something stuck up her butt. "Dang Hannah, Jaycee is rubbing off on you."

"She would be so proud." We both laughed until I was wiping, mascara filled, tears off my cheeks. That was just what we needed. The worst was over and we were getting back to normal.

"So you
wanna be my wingman and help me pick up girls? You could tell them what a great catch I am."

"Umm, not even a little bit. But I will buy you a cone of ice cream."

"Deal." He stood up and held out his hand. When I took it I could feel that Josh was gonna be just fine.

I had just got out of the shower and was putting my wet hair in a braid when my phone rang. It was Jaycee! "Hello?"

"Hey, you home?
Cause I'm coming over." No invitation needed with her.

"Yes and come on. I can't wait to see you so I can fuss at you for leaving me."

"Good, I'll be there in like two minutes. I'm with my Dad. If you were home, he was gonna drop me off with you on his way to see my uncle."

"What if I wasn't home?" I teased.

"Well then I would have been stuck with him. Open your door, we are turning on your road."

"Ok bye." I ran down the stairs and past my Dad.

"Where's the fire?" He asked.

"Jaycee's here!" I opened the door and did a little stand in place dance until she got out of the car, then I ran to hug her and waved at her dad over her shoulder.

She was about two shades darker and her hair had gotten lighter in the sun. "I brought you tacky souvenirs."

"Then I'll only half fuss at you." We went back into the house and headed for the stairs.

Mom came out of her bedroom. "Hello Jaycee. How was the cruise?"

"It was awesome. Mom took like a hundred pictures. I will bring them when she gets them developed. She's old school and used the throw away cameras."

We made it to my room and I shut the door. She handed me a bag with a coffee cup and a t-shirt and both said 'The Bahamas', with a scene of the beach.

"I love them, thank you."

"I thought you could use the coffee cup to hold your makeup brushes or something. Now tell me how great I look so I can tell you about my trip and about Jake! We are going out tomorrow night."

Two hours later we had talked all about her trip. Like how the hot steward winked at her every time her parents wasn't looking, and we went through the pictures she took on her phone. I then told h
er about Josh and about Megan. Also about the recent visits from Samantha and the black evil shadow. Just bringing that up gave me chills all over again. I didn't realize that I had been bottling all this up just waiting to share it with her. She hadn't said a word while I gave her every little detail.

When I finished she grabbed my hand and looked me, all seriously, in the eyes and took a deep breath. "Please tell me you took a pic of Megan's face when you told her off." I laughed so hard I started to cry. Then the tears wouldn't stop. In a way it felt good to cry out all the stress I've been holding in. "
Aww Han, I'm sorry, don't cry. I was just trying to lighten the mood." She hugged me tight, and then got up to get me a tissue.

"No, it's ok. It was funny, and it felt good to cry it out."

"I might not be able to see them, but I can still find a way to help you figure all this out."

"Why can't I just be normal?"

She put her arm around my shoulder and said. "I know the answer to this one. I have thick calves and you're a freak of nature. I think that since we are so gorgeous, that is the universe's way of leveling out the playing field for all the other girls in the world. So they can have a fighting chance."

I started laughing again, without the tears this time. "Did I tell you how much I missed you?"

Chapter 5

"What's wrong Hannah Banana?" My dad paused from singing with the radio long enough to ask.

Before I could answer, mom chimed in. "We thought you would be excited that we are getting the house with the pool."

Their questions were reasonable, seeing as I haven't said a word to them since I woke up this morning. But I'm not ready to talk about the dream I had last night. Dad would want me to tell him the whole dream in detail and then he would go over every little part. Normally that would be just what I would want him to do, but this time I felt like this was private. Like Samantha trusted me with something and I needed to keep it to myself for
a while. I will tell them later.

"I just don't understand why I have to go to the closing with you guys. It's
gonna take forever and I could be finishing up packing my room."

"We're doing this as a family. Like I told you, before we know it you will be off to college. Your daddy and I just want to spend as much time, and do as many things, with you as we can. Besides, the movers are at the house as we speak packing whatever is left. Aunt Elena is there overseeing everything."

"I don't want strangers touching my stuff." How gross, grown men having to handle my panties.

"Well if you had all your things packed already, like I told you to, no one would be touching anything of yours except the boxes." I think she likes being right. I think she absolutely loves rubbing her rightness in my face. "But lucky for you I asked Elena to pack your dresser for you instead of the movers. So now you have nothing to drama about".

Dad spoke up. "Oh no! What ever will you do Hannah?"" He's such a bad actor.

"You're both dorks." I said while rolling my eyes, for dramatic effect, for their benefit. "There's no way I can be related to you two." Dad stuck out his tongue at me through the mirror and mom turned and winked at me. Exactly the results I was trying for. They get on my nerves and make me mad on a daily basis but as far as parents go, they're pretty much the best. And although I would never admit it I think they are
kinda cool......for old people.

Getting closer to the lawyers office I could feel my stomach knotting up. I'm really
gonna miss that house, it's where I've lived my whole life. I hope Samantha understands why I'm leaving. That's what I was telling her in my dream last night, that I'm just a teenager and I have to go where my parents go, that I have no choice. I could tell she sensed that subconsciously I was a little relieved we were leaving because I was hoping the shadow guy won’t be able to follow me to the new house. She already knows she can follow me wherever I go, she proved that the other night. Samantha kept crying that I have to help her or she will be stuck here forever. Then it was like I was pulled back in time. One minute Samantha was at the foot of my bed, then the next thing I knew I was standing outside in a pasture like setting. The moon was so bright I could see the reflections of its light dancing along the top of a pond at the bottom of the hill. I felt myself being drawn to it. As I started to walk, I could feel the soft, wet grass under my feet. I looked down not only to find myself shoeless, but also dressed in a long white nightgown thingy. (This is what she was wearing in my room the other day, not a dress). Like something out of Little House on the Prairie, this show my grandma used to watch reruns of. But it didn't faze me, at the time it felt right. So I continued walking slowly down the hill trying not to slip on the dewy carpet of grass. I started taking deep breaths to calm myself and I realized how clean and fresh the air was. The closer I got to the water the more my heart began to race, yet I couldn't stop walking, I had to see what was waiting for me. I was praying please God don't let anything jump out of the water. And please, please God if I go into that pond, which looks like that’s where I'm heading, don't let something grab me. At the water’s edge I could hear the frogs and crickets singing in the background. Beyond the pond I could see that the pasture ended and woods began. The last thing I remember is a woman screaming 'Samantha'. Then I woke up. I thought Samantha would appear to me, but she never did. The experience frightened me. For the obvious reason that, hello, it’s like my mind freakin time traveled, and that was the first time that has ever happened. But mainly I feared I wouldn't remember everything, or that I would miss something important. I understood that I was taking the place of Samantha and that meant she heard me call out to her that I needed more to go on when she left me the morning Jaycee got home. Out of all the living impaired that come talk to me, Samantha is my favorite. She has never tried to scare me, well until last night. We have a few things in common even though we were born about 100 years apart. We are about the same age and we both love and want to protect our families.

"Come on Han. We are
gonna be late." Mom thinks we're late if we're not 15 minutes early. I hadn't realized we had parked and they were standing outside of the car waiting on me.

"Look Marie. The
Carver's are here." Dad said.

Following my parents gaze, I watch four people open the car doors of a white SUV. The dad looks to be the same age as my dad. He's a little taller than my dad and cute. Of course I don't think my dad is cute, even though Phoebe thinks he is. But Phoebe is a slut so you really can't go by her
judgment. Her only requirement in a guy is a pulse. I love her but I gotta call them as I see them. There was someone behind the dad but I just couldn't... awww he's a cutie pie, looks a lot like his dad except for the hair and skin tone. He looks to be about 11 or 12. I will have to get Jaycee to tell her little brother about him. They might be in the same class together when school starts back. The wind started to blow and I could see, out of the right corner of my eye, hair flowing. Long black silky hair that was attached to the most beautiful woman, not on TV, that I have ever seen. Looking at that hair and her dark skin tone, she had to be American Indian. She was putting her sun glasses on top of her head as she laughed at something the little boy said. The dad must have heard it too cause he reached over and tousled the boy’s black hair that was like his momma’s. I had forgotten that there were four of them until they all, a little irritated, stopped and turned back toward the car. At that very second several things happened at once; my ears began to ring, tingling goose bumps popped out on my arms and legs, drool threatened to run down my mouth, and I saw him. The gorgeous black haired guy, with raven dark eyes looking back at me. I couldn't breathe. I've seen hot guys before. But he's different, he's the one. Dang, cryptic much? Here they come. You'll be fine, just be yourself.