The Prophecy (12 page)

“Not
rush things? Sarah, you’re a senior. You’re running out of time. Have you at
least given any thought where you want to go?”

I
shrugged, not meeting her eyes. “Not really.”

“Do you
at least have an idea about what you want to with your life?”

I sighed
impatiently and then leveled my gaze at my aunt. “Can’t I just get through breakfast
first?” Meg was entering into full freak-out mode. I had to put the brakes on
this one fast.

David
snorted. “I guess someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” 

Meg
shot him a look that clearly warned he’d better be quiet if he knew what was
good for him. She turned to me. “Okay. What’s up?” 

“Boy
problems,” David said. “Isn’t that what it always is with girls her age?”

“Shut
up, David.” I got up and dumped my dishes in the kitchen sink, my appetite
ruined.

After
dressing, I brushed my teeth, gathered my bag, and then sat on the sofa in stony
silence waiting for Adrian. Ten minutes later he pulled into the driveway and
honked.

“Since
when does Adrian not come to the door?” David said as I rose. “You shouldn’t
let him do that.”

“We’re
just running late is all,” I said. “And besides, he doesn’t need to come to the
door. That’s so old fashioned anyway.”

David
raised his brow. “It’s not old fashioned, Sarah. It’s polite.”

I hoisted
my bag over my shoulder and gave him what I was sure was an unconvincing smile.
“See you later.”

Adrian
was alone in his car; for that much, I was thankful. I didn’t relish the idea
of apologizing for last night’s argument in front of an audience. “Where is
everyone?”

Adrian’s
hands tightened on the wheel, but he didn’t look at me. “I didn’t think you’d
want them here.”

“Adrian,
I—”

“Besides,
my car isn’t big enough for five people. Caleb’s catching a ride with Shyla.”

“What
about Jasmine?”

“She
took the bus.”

I
laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Wow. She must really hate me to
voluntarily subject herself to the bus.”

“No
more than you hate her.”

His
words stung and I fell quiet. Finally, I said in a quieter voice, “I don’t hate
her, Adrian. I just don’t like her much.” Adrian didn’t respond.

We’d
received our final schedules a few days ago in the mail. Just for something to
do, I pulled mine from the front pocket of my bag and looked it over, even
though I had already memorized the location of all my classes. The short drive
to school felt more like an eternity.

“I
can’t believe we have only one class together.” I didn’t add that it especially
sucked since Caleb was also in that same class. I’d have to share Adrian with
him all the more.

“I’m
sure you’ll survive,” he said.

I bit
the inside of my bottom lip. Adrian was making apologizing extremely difficult,
and I didn’t want to go to school feeling angry.

“I’m just
trying to make conversation, Adrian. Why are you acting like this?”

“Like
what?”

“Like .
. .
this
,” I said, waving my hand in his direction. “Answering with as
few words as possible.”

“I’m
sorry you feel I’m not conversationally stimulating today.”

Adrian rolled
to a stop at the crosswalk to let a few students pass and I opened the door. He
looked sharply over at me, surprise on his face. “What are you doing?”

“I’ll
walk the rest of the way.”

“The
school is across the street. We’re almost there. Don’t be a drama queen.”

But I’d
already gotten out. “I’m not being a drama queen,” I said through my teeth, slamming
the door.

Adrian
sped past me, tires squealing, and I walked as quickly as I could the rest of
the way, keeping my head down. People were looking. I didn’t care, though. Let
them stare.

Priscilla
met me at my locker after homeroom. We quickly compared schedules again, but
nothing had magically changed in the past twenty-four hours since we’d last
compared notes.

“So you
really couldn’t switch these two classes? I can’t believe lunch is the only
period we have together,” I said. I didn’t mention my fight with Adrian on the
way to school, if only because I was afraid I’d burst into tears if I talked
about it at all. The apology hadn’t exactly gone according to plan.

“Lunch
is the most important part of the day,” Priscilla said, unconcerned. “Don’t
worry about it. It’s not like we don’t ever see each other anyway. I’m
scheduled to work this afternoon, so I’ll bum a ride with you and Adrian after
school.”

“We’re
walking today.”

Priscilla
made a face. “Walking? Since when do we walk anymore?”

“We
just are.”

“
Okaaay
,”
she said, at last getting that I was upset.

The
bell rang and I gave her a sheepish grin. “See you later?”  

“You
know I’ll get to the bottom of whatever you’re not telling me,” she said before
she turned on her heel and walked away.

My first
class of the day turned out to be gym. Whoever thought having gym that early in
the morning was a complete nimrod. At least Shyla would be suffering alongside
me. She was already in the dressing room when I walked in, and I snagged the
locker next to hers.

She groaned
when she saw me. “Is this lame, or what? At my last school I had gym at the end
of the day, which was perfect. We don’t even have time to take a shower. Do
they really expect us to break a sweat and then go the rest of the day smelling
like cattle?”

I
smiled. “Just watch out for Coach Wally. He’ll call you out in front of
everyone if you don’t take his class as seriously as he does.”

She bent
to lace up her sneakers. “Fantastic. Hey, did you see who’s in this period?”

I yanked
off my jeans and then tugged on a pair of shorts. Shyla didn’t know anyone at
this school yet, and Priscilla, Adrian, and Caleb weren’t in this class. That
could only mean she was talking about one person. “Oh, please don’t tell me . .
.”

She
nodded. “Jasmine.”

As if
speaking her name conjured the devil herself, a toilet flushed and Jasmine emerged
from a stall. We made eye contact briefly before each of us looked away.

I
finished changing clothes. Thinking about my argument with Adrian that morning,
I decided I should be the bigger person and at least say hi to her. “What can
it hurt?” I said to Shyla.

Shyla made
a sweeping gesture with her hand. “Be my guest. Just don’t say I didn’t warn
you.”

I
closed my locker door and spun the lock, having made up my mind. Approaching Jasmine
cautiously where she was standing in front of the mirror, sweeping back her
hair it into a cascading ponytail, I called out to her. “Jasmine?”

Her
raised left eyebrow was the only indication she gave that she’d heard me.

“Um. I
wanted to let you know that you can hang out with Shyla and me if you want.”

“You
wanted to let me know,” she said, her voice flat. “As if you and Shyla are the ‘it’
girls around here and I need your permission to breathe the same air.”

My
reflection’s eyes widened. “We’re not the ‘it’ girls around here. And that’s not
what I meant.”

“Oh, so
you just feel sorry for me, the new girl in school.”

“No!
That’s not it at all.” I huffed in exasperation. She was completely twisting my
words. “I’m only trying to be nice!”

Jasmine
spun to face me. “I don’t need your sympathy, Sarah. And I can take care of
myself.” She bumped my shoulder as she stormed past me on her way to her locker.

I trudged
back to Shyla, somewhat in shock, to find her chuckling under her breath. She
rubbed her hands over her arms and pretended to shiver.  “Brr! You just got
iced.”

The blood
was pounding in my ears and a tingling sensation had started in my fingers. I
flexed them, recognizing the feeling at once. Whatever happened, I couldn’t
lose control. Especially not at school, in front of everyone. I closed my eyes
and took a few deep breaths, waiting for the feeling to dissipate.

“That
girl is one colossal brat,” I said at last.

TWELVE

Katie
Cunningham, my arch-nemesis, strode into the locker room and dropped her bag on
the bench next to me. After Jasmine, I was beginning to think there was some
cosmic conspiracy to make my life as difficult as possible.

“Omigod!”
she said, staring at me in disbelief. “You’re actually . . .
pretty
this
year.”

I
stared back. “Excuse me?”

“Your
hair. You cut it. It actually looks . . .
decent.
You know, now that it
doesn’t drag on the ground.”

“Thanks,”
I said in a tight voice.

“Maybe you
could try wearing a little make-up, too.”

“I’ll
keep that in mind.”

She
smiled, as though she’d done me some huge favor. “Good. So who’s your friend?” she
said, casting her eyes at Shyla and giving her the obvious once-over.

“I’m Shyla
Hunt,” Shyla said. “And I can speak for myself.”

Katie
puckered her lips but otherwise ignored the barb. She pointed a slim finger at
Shyla and cocked her head. “Last name Hunt. You’re not related to that hottie, Adrian,
are you?”

“He’s
my brother, not a hottie. And we’re twins.”

“What
about that one over there? Is she related to either one of you?” Katie said,
her finger moving between Shyla and me like a divining rod.

I didn’t
have to look to know who she was talking about. As much as I couldn’t stand
Jasmine, I took offense at her being called “that one,” as well as the
implication that we were all somehow related because the color of our skin.

“That’s
Jasmine Moon,” I said, keeping my voice as even as possible. “She’s a
sophomore. Her brother Caleb is in our grade. He and Adrian are best friends.”

“Oh,”
she said, turning a suspiciously speculative look in Jasmine’s direction. I couldn’t
be sure, but I thought I detected a calculating gleam in her eyes. And I didn’t
trust it one bit.

Something
about Katie wasn’t quite right today. I squinted, trying to put my mental finger
on what it was, and then I realized. “Where’s Danielle and Devon? Couldn’t
manipulate the new office secretary to coordinate your schedules?”

Katie
sniffed and turned away, pretending to be preoccupied with taking her gym clothes
out of her bag. “They moved a few weeks ago to Boston, for your information.
Their dad got a job transfer.”

“Wow.
That sucks,” Shyla said. “Senior year, too.”

All the
fight seemed to have gone out of Katie, and I actually felt sorry for her. Until
she opened her mouth again. “That’s okay,” she said. “There’s always another
Danielle or Devon waiting in the wings.”

“Right,”
I said, just as Coach Wally bellowed from the hall that he’d start deducting
points if we didn’t get moving.

Jasmine
didn’t say one word to Shyla or me during the entire period, which was
perfectly fine by me. It being the first day of school, Coach decided to take
it easy on us, and Shyla and I set off at a lazy pace around the track. It may
have been early September, but it was still warm enough to break a sweat
without much effort. And I did not want to go to my next class looking like a
mess.

I’d
been keeping tabs on Katie during our walk when all of a sudden she closed in
on Jasmine and tapped her on the shoulder. Jasmine whipped around, clearly on
the defensive. I was too far away to hear what they were saying, but I could interpret
body language just fine. Jasmine listened for a few minutes before nodding her
head, a huge smile breaking out on her face like the sun peeking through the
clouds.

I
stopped dead on the track. “Oh crap.”

Shyla stopped
beside me. “What?”

“Do you
know what happens when you mix baking soda and vinegar?”

She
gave me a look. “Not a clue. I pretty much bombed chemistry.”

I
nodded in the direction of Katie and Jasmine. “
That
happens.”

Shyla
looked their way and then back at me, still not getting it. “Plain English,
please.”

“Katie
Cunningham is the Queen B-word of our class, possibly of the entire school. Her
two best friends have moved away, and now she’s cozying up to Jasmine. Don’t
you see what this means?”

Shyla
turned back to look at them, and her eyes widened in sudden understanding. “Oh.”

“Jasmine
is bad enough on her own,” I said. “If Katie sinks her witchy claws into her, who
knows what will happen?”

Coach
blew his whistle at us and pointed to his watch. “Move it, ladies! This is not
social hour. Let’s
pretend
like we care about our bodies.”