Everlasting Bond (24 page)

Rounding the corner of the crowded corridor, she found her walking alone. She knew if Stacy made it into the cafeteria, then she would lose her. Katrina wasted no time. She grabbed Stacy by the arm and pulled her aside by the plum lockers.

“Let go of me, Katrina Davenport. I have nothing to say to you. I’ve been your friend for years and this is the thanks I get!”

“Listen to me, please.”

“Why should I?”

“Because, you’re my best friend.”

“Fine. You’ve got 10 seconds.”

“Nothing happened. He offered me a ride and we made plans for Saturday night after the dance.”

“Uh-huh. I’m out of here.”

“For the
3 of us! That’s it,” Katrina quickly added, reaching for Stacy’s shoulder. “Stace, you’re my best friend and I’d never do that to you. Never. You have to believe me.”

Katrina bit her lip and waited in anticipation. Stacy's wheels were turning and she was deliberating everything Katrina had said. It was the longest few seconds of Katrina's life. Then the water works started. Tears welled up in Stacy's eyes. She threw her arms around Katrina and squeezed. Her grip was so tight, Katrina could barely breathe.

“Kat, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I’d ever think that. About you of all people.”

“I forgive you. I guess,” Katrina smiled, playfully rolling her eyes. She was glad to have
her friend back.

“Gee, how kind of you.” Wiping her eyes, Stacy asked, “So, where are we going?”

“What?”

“After the dance?”

“Oh, that. I was telling Donovan about the amazing view of the stars out at Dead Man’s Point. I thought it might help set the
mood
,” Katrina grinned, as she raised her hands and used air quotes to emphasize the word.

“Aw, thanks Kat. We better go before Donovan’s left by himself and those cheerleaders start to circle him like vultures,” Stacy teased, grabbing Katrina and rushing to the cafeteria.

Katrina watched Stacy’s face light up like a Christmas tree as soon as she saw Donovan. He was waiting like a devoted and loyal puppy at their usual table. Stacy waved and gave him a flirtatious smile. As they walked over to him, Katrina was happy things were back to normal—between her and Stacy at least. Her other problems were a whole different set of issues to work on later.

“I was wondering where you two disappeared to,” Donovan said, giv
ing both girls a playful smirk.

“Sorry, we had some girl stuff to take care of,” Stacy said, sitting down next to Donovan.

“Yeah, girl talk,” Katrina smiled at Stacy, taking her seat opposite Donovan.

“Anything interesting?”

“Actually, I was filling Stacy in on our plans for Saturday night.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, that sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun. I can’t wait. You should come with us to the game too,” Stacy said.

“Sounds good. A night out with my two favorite locals,” Donovan joked.

The rest of lunch, Katrina spent watching Stacy babble about the next night. Excitement oozed out of her entire body over the plans they were making. Katrina laughed as Stacy took her bubbly personality to a whole new level. Her mind was running wild with so many ideas for tomorrow. It was like watching someone open the floodgates and there was no stopping her.

Katrina found it amusing and just sat back enjoying her best friend’s quirkiness. With each word, Stacy’s voice grew louder in excitement. Katrina had to admit Donovan was a trooper. He nodded and listened to all of Stacy’s harebrained ide
as for the following night without a word.

After lunch, the group separated. Donovan took his usual solo route to his class, while Katrina and Stacy made their way in the opposite direction. The whole way to class Stacy never stopped talking. The only thing keeping the conversation from being entirely one sided was an occasional nod of agreement from Katrina. Finally coming to the last fork in the hall, Stacy walked into her class and Katrina headed one door over to her English class.

Katrina sat through English in a fog. She resented the class. And with everything going on in her chaotic personal life, the last thing she wanted to do was listen to work written by people who lived at least a hundred years before her. As the thought made its way across her mind, she couldn’t help but feel a bit hypocritical. After all, she was in love with someone who was in fact that old. And she couldn’t forget the fact that she herself had a past life around that time. Katrina kept her head down, as a smile of embarrassment played on her face. The more she thought about it, the more she found it harder to control herself. Before her giggles turned into a full on laugh-attack the bell rang and saved her from bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

She was still in a bit of a daze when she made her way into history. During history, her attention span wasn’t any better. Cole's absence made her feel like a very big part of her was now missing. Even though she tried, nothing could make the emptiness go away. Flipping through the pages of her history book only served as a reminder of a past she had thought she had forgotten. She flipped through to another page when something caught her eye
and she came to a sudden stop.

It was a page filled with paintings commissioned by many of the wealthy families during the late 1700’s. Most of them were ones she’d seen many times before, but there was a certain one that stood out to her. Adorned with the same golden
crest she had seen at Cole’s house, she’d recognize those perfect 4 anywhere. The painting was identical to the one hanging in Dr. Aldrich’s study, just smaller.

Katrina’s heart jumped into her throat, as the image of Cole through the water-colored canvass gave her stomach butterflies. She ran her fingers over the cool slick page and tears fell down her cheeks. Seeing his picture made her realize just how bad she missed him. Her eyes traced over every inch of him in the painting. The longer she stared at his face the more she swore he was looking back at her. Seeing him in her book helped ease some of her pain.

The bittersweet reunion was interrupted by the sound of Mr. Weber’s loud voice over the intercom. Katrina slammed the book shut and wiped her tears away before anyone saw. She threw it in her bag and tried to let Mr. Weber’s voice distract her, but it was too hard to understand. His voice was badly distorted. Only parts of his speech were audible. She heard brief references to the up-coming football game and other announcements that didn’t matter. When the bell interrupted him, she bolted for the door.

Out in the hall, her tears came faster. She couldn't stop them. It was like an uncontrollable fountain of sadness. Katrina headed towards Stacy's last class and tried to calm herself down. The last thing she wanted was to have an emotional meltdown at school, of all places. She sniffled and wiped the last of her tears away. There was no mirror near by, but she knew her nose was red and her eyes were puffy. She hoped Stacy wouldn't notice. Unfortunately, Stacy knew her too well and was very perceptive. As soon as she made eye contact with her, Katrina could tell she knew something was up.

“Hey, Kat. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just got something in my eye.” Katrina chewed on her bottom lip and looked down.

“You need to work on your lying skills. I know you well enough to know when something’s wrong.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” She looked at her and snapped. When Stacy gave her a confused look, she added, “Just having a bad day, that’s all.”

“What happened? Have you heard about your mom? She’s not worse is she?”

“No, she’s fine. I just miss her.” Katrina felt bad lying to her.

“Tomorrow night will take your mind off it. Getting some fresh air will help you feel recharged.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am.” Stacy took a few steps and when Katrina didn’t follow she stopped and turned towards her. “Aren’t you taking the bus with me?”

“Actually, Donovan offered me a ride home this morning.”

Stacy gave her an awkward stare. “Oh.”

“There you guys are,” Donovan’s voice interrupted.

“Hello,” both girls said together.

“I offered to give Katrina a ride.” Donovan turned to Stacy. “Would you like one too?”

“She’d love one,” Katrina winked at Stacy.

“Yeah, I would. Thanks,” Stacy said.

“My car’s this way.” Donovan walked a little ahead of both girls.

Hanging back
, Katrina heard Stacy mumble, “Nice view.” Katrina stifled a grin. Stacy was as bad as a guy sometimes. Giving her a gentle nudge on the shoulder, Katrina kept walking to the car.

She mindlessly started fidgeting with her amulet when pain ripped through her fingers. “Ouch.” The amulet was like a ba
ll of fire against her fingers.

“What’s the matter, Kat?” Stacy asked.

Katrina could see both Stacy and Donovan staring back at her, looking confused.

“Nothing, I just stubbed my toe.”

“You know sometimes, I almost forget just how clumsy you can be,” Stacy teased.

“Gee, thanks.”

“Anytime,” Stacy cocked an eyebrow at her.

Katrina shook her head and then hopped into the back seat. Stacy took the passenger one. Judging by the look on her face, Katrina knew she would have enough energy to keep a conversation going until they reached Katrina’s house. That left Katrina f
ree to just sit back and relax.

The ride went by faster than normal and Katrina didn’t realize they were at her house until she felt the car start to slow down. Katrina was a little relieved. She loved Stacy, but sometimes she was too much even for her. Undoing her belt, Katrina looked up and saw Donovan staring at her from the rearview mirror. He playfully rolled his eyes and she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud. The more they hung out with Donovan the more he seemed to be a perfect fit. It was like having part of her brother with her and she appreciated that more than ever.

“Thanks for the ride.” Katrina grabbed her stuff.

“Anytime.” Donovan gave her a big smile.

Katrina climbed out and turned around to wave. “Bye.”

Stacy and Donovan both waved back. Katrina walked a few feet when sh
e heard a car window roll down.

“Call me later!” Stacy shouted.

“I will.” Katrina turned and watched them drive away. She stood there for a bit after. Her eyes wandered around and found nothing except for trees.

“Alone, again,” she muttered to herself. Katrina turned to head inside, when she heard what sounded like a twig snap. She froze. It echoed loudly from somewhere off in the distance. “Hello!” She tried to keep her voice calm. “Is someone there?” Standing there for what seemed like an eternity, she strained to hear any sign of movement. There was none. “Just great
. I’m starting to hallucinate.”

Moving up the front steps and into the house, she shook her head. Lately it seemed she was becoming a basket case and it was starting to get on her last nerve.

As she stood in the entry, she hated how empty the house was. The only sound she could hear were the low buzzing sound of the refrigerator and the ticking of her mom’s apple clock. Katrina was desperate to hear another voice. She took her phone of her backpack and went to dial, but she panicked. What if Jake answers? She hadn’t thought of that. That changed her mind and she slammed the phone shut. She went to set it back down when it vibrated in her hand.

“Hello.”

“Kat?” A strange, yet very familiar voice was on the other end.

“Jake!” she gasped.

Hearing the sound of his voice for the first time in a couple weeks, her heart stopped. She suddenly felt very embarrassed for being afraid to call him. His voice was like music to her lonely ears.

“It’s me, Kat.” His tone sounded very smooth and confident.

“It’s so good to hear your voice. Are you—okay?” Katrina hesitated, unsure if that was an appropriate question.

“I’m good.”

“Where are you?”

“Not far.”

“When can I see you?” Katrina couldn’t contain her excitement. It was the first conversation she had with any of her family since all of the chaos began and the suspense was nearly killing her.

“When it’s safe. I promise.”

“It better be soon.”

“Don’t
worry. It will,” Jake laughed.

Hearing him alive and laughing should have been enough to make her happy, but something was off. Jake didn’t have his usual boyish laughter. This one was more of a deep grunt. It reminded her of her fathers laugh. Fighting tears, she tried to ignore it and not ruin her ex
citement. Instead, she asked, “How’s mom?”

“She’s fine.”

“When can I see her?”

“Soon.”

“Have you heard from Cole?” Her heart froze at the desperation in her voice. Until then she hadn’t said his name out loud and it made her body tense.

“Andrew's been keeping in touch with him. He’s okay.”

“You have to give me more. I’m dying here.”

“I’m sorry, Kat. I can’t. I’m not sure it’s safe.”