Ruby Rising (2 page)

I noticed someone walking around the lake towards us. She was the first person I’d seen since we left the house. Wearing a long black dress and knee high boots underneath it, a silver chain around her neck catching the sunlight, she walked slowly, not seeming to pay much attention to anything in particular. She looked around my age, maybe a little older, with long shiny black hair that cascaded down her back and pale skin that actually seemed even whiter than my own. As she came closer; Phoenix woke up and started growling. Embarrassed I tried to calm him with a soothing voice and some reassuring pats, hoping that this girl wouldn’t coincide her arrival with his strange mood.

“Hey,” she said, not quite smiling. The first thing I noticed were her eyes. They were an amazing green. Not the hazel green you normally see, but a beautiful emerald colour, I was captivated by them.

“Hey,” I answered, managing to get Phoenix down to a small growl. “Sorry about my dog, I only got him today…” I trailed off, not really knowing what else to say.

“It’s fine, most dogs don’t seem to like me, not really sure why.” She stared at Phoenix and he abruptly whined and went quiet. “There you go, maybe he just needed a minute to get used to me. Mind if I have a seat?” She sat down before I had answered.

“You’re the De Grey’s girl aren’t you? Ruby isn’t it?” She looked at me with her head cocked to the side slightly, her gaze was intense and a few seconds to remember what she’d asked me.

“Um, yeah I am. How did you know?”

“Well, I’ve lived here a few years and we don’t have that many new people in town. My uncle is your dad’s new boss, so he told me to keep an eye out for you. You know make sure you don’t get hassled at school and stuff. We’re in the same year at school and we’ll probably have a few classes together too.”

I tore my eyes away from hers a few seconds too late to not be considered rude. The way she had said ‘uncle’ was a little odd. My guess is she didn’t really like her uncle much. I took in her pale skin, black lipstick and black hair she was absolutely gorgeous in a gothic kind of way.

“Oh, he mentioned his boss had a niece, nice to meet you….” I really didn’t know what to say. I was never a very good conversationalist when I first met people. I usually took a while to warm up to them. I liked to try and figure people out a little before becoming friends. It’s why I only ever had a select few friends.

“Mikayla.” she said and suddenly stood up, making Phoenix start growling again. “I’m one of the organisers of the Primfield’s youth group if you’re interested. We go camping at term break, but mostly just hang out. It’s on this Friday night. I could swing by and get you if you like? Aren’t you living in the Cannon’s old house on Piper Street?”

I didn’t even know the address myself, but there was still the issue of my father’s over protective streak to deal with. “Look, I probably won’t be allowed out anyway. My dad can be… let’s say a bit on the over protective side. But I can ask.” I stood up as well, not really liking having to look up at her.

“Leave it to me. I’ll get my uncle to talk him into it. I’ll see you at school tomorrow and I’ll pick you up on Friday.” She smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes that I felt were looking into me rather than at me. It felt almost intimate.

“Well, um…okay then no worries, nice to meet you too”. I pulled gently on Phoenix’s lead, trying to stop the low growl he’d started again. “I’ll see you around Mikayla.” I figured I’d meet up with her at school and spend the rest of the year trying to convince my father to let me go to the youth group. Although it had been him that mentioned the youth group this morning, mentally I crossed my fingers, hoping it was a good sign.

Halfway back towards my street I turned back towards the lake. Mikayla was still standing where I left her, looking straight at me, she didn’t wave or move and as I rounded the corner I was relieved to be out of her sight.

I continued on and turned down my street without looking back again. Sure enough the street sign said Piper Street. I was curious as to how Mikayla had known so much about me when we’d only arrived the day before and why had she bothered to introduce herself to me today instead of waiting for school tomorrow?

CHAPTER 3

My father was still at work when my mother and I sat down for dinner later that night. Phoenix had been fed and was happily playing outside with a new chew toy Mum had bought him while she was out shopping. I knew she secretly loved animals, despite my father’s attitude towards them, all kinds, she had nurtured that same love in me in so many ways. We had gone to the zoo a lot together when I was little and the park was almost a daily outing. Often we spent more time lying on the ground watching the bugs and ants carrying their cargo than actually playing.  My father never went with us on trips to the zoo, he was normally at work or at a work related function. At least they were the usual excuses.

“How did you go on your walk today? Did you see anything interesting?” She smiled at me from across the table. I’d missed doing this with her; talking over dinner and sharing our days.

“I only went to the lake, Phoenix had a good run around and got chased by a duck.” I told her an animated version of Phoenix versus the duck and soon we were both laughing. “Oh, I met that niece of Dad’s boss at the lake. She seems okay. She invited me to the youth group on Friday night.”

“Really? That’s good. You must have hit it off then. It’s not like you to make friends so quickly.” She finished eating and begun to clean up.

“She’s a little different and I wouldn’t call us friends yet,” I took my plate over to the sink and started to help, “but at least I’ll know someone at school tomorrow.”

After we washed the dishes I went up to my room to get ready for my first day at Primfield High School. I grabbed my backpack and filled it with a couple of folders filled with loose leaf paper, and my pencil case. Then plugged in the charger and connected my laptop. I stood in front of my wardrobe for a few minutes before picking out another pair of jeans, my black combat boots and a black singlet top and put them on the back of my chair for the morning. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about making a decision in the morning about what I was going to wear.

Once that was done I was still too wound up to go to bed so I grabbed a box to unpack. I pulled out a few of my photo frames, my picture board that I had made and my digital photo frame. I love my photos, I have hundreds of them on my computer, and on the memory card in the digital frame. My photo board went straight up on the wall, it tells a story to me every time I look at it. Where I’ve been, what I’ve done and how much I’ve grown in size and maturity. There was even a photo of me and Claire that was taken when we were about seven. I plugged in the digital frame and watched as familiar faces filled the small screen.

Although I wasn’t really tired, I climbed into bed and lay there wondering what the next day would bring. I knew I wouldn’t get much sleep and watched the images cycle through my digital photo frame, smiling at some of the memories it holds. Part of me still desperately wanted my old life back. But a larger part had accepted that it wasn’t going to happen, that Primfield, for now at least, was where we were staying.

“Nervous?” My father asked at the breakfast table the next morning.

“A little” I admitted as I picked at the piece of toast on my plate.

“Your mum mentioned that you met Mikayla yesterday. That’s a good thing before your first day.” He took a big mouthful of coffee and then set his cup down in the sink. “Her uncle speaks quite highly of her, says she’s quite mature and responsible, running the local youth group on Friday nights. She could be good for you to make friends with.”

“She did mention the youth group, I wouldn’t mind going on Friday night this week to see what it’s all about.” I paused before adding, “maybe make a few more friends.” I bent down to pack my lunch into my bag so he couldn’t see my face.

There was a slight pause before he answered. “I’ll think about it and let you know. Have a good first day honey.” It was his standard answer for most things. It was better than a flat out no, however. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks Dad.” I hoisted my bag onto my shoulders and grabbed Phoenix’s food to put outside for him with his toys.  “Well, I’m off. Wish me luck!”

“You won’t need it honey, they’ll love you, just like I do.” He disappeared before I could say anything back. He was being very affectionate, which was incredibly un-dad like.

I stood there for a minute taking in what he had said, just the fact that he was even here for breakfast was amazing. I called out a goodbye to my mother who was busy gardening already, trying to beat the summer heat. I could hear Phoenix whining until I hit the top of the street.

Following the direction my mother gave me I went around the short side of the lake and down a few streets. I was there in twenty minutes, spot on time for an assembly of the entire school population. Which, in comparison to my old high school wasn’t that many, but considering out of the three or four hundred students I knew only one, it was still daunting.

I stood at the back hoping to just blend in, although being out of uniform I knew I would stand out. I was happy hiding until the Principal decided to introduce the new year eleven student. Me! Apparently a new student was a bit of a novelty to Primfield High School.

I couldn’t control the blush that swept across my face as I walked to the front of the entire school. I felt the same colour as my hair. After the usual ‘please make her feel welcome’ speech I was free to slink back to the last row.

On the way I spotted Mikayla standing with a few of her friends. One particular boy caught my eye, he was wearing black jeans and a black Bonds t-shirt which showed off his body. He arms were lusciously toned, something I definitely noticed and appreciated on guys, but not too over the top. He put some of the other boys standing near him who hadn’t reached the same level of physical maturity to shame though. It was only then that I noticed that his eyes were the same colour as Mikayla’s, that entrancing emerald green. They almost glowed, and seemed to be calling to me. I found myself standing in front of them before I realised I was even walking.

“Hey Ruby”, Mikayla moved slightly to allow me into their circle. “Welcome to hell.”

“Yeah, it’s nice to see a familiar face,” I smiled slightly at the green eyed boy before looking at Mikayla again. “Does your Principal always point out the new kid?”

“It’s a small town, they like to make sure everyone’s
looked
after.” She looked at me for a second longer than I felt necessary before continuing. “This is Scott, my brother. He repeated a year so he’s in the same year as me now.”

“Hey Ruby, nice to meet you”, he smiled and a sole dimple stared at me from his left cheek. I was definitely a sucker for a boy with dimples! “Mikayla said you were cute.”

Oh, no shame then. I wasn’t used to being spoken to so forwardly, unable to help myself I blushed scarlet. Jake popped into my mind for a second, but his memory was beginning to fade. Any hold he had on me emotionally was waning. I closed my eyes for a second, appreciating the fact that I hadn’t slept with Jake, and trying to gain some composure.

“Leave her alone Scott, you’re making her blush.” Mikayla’s words sounded harsher than they needed to be but Scott instantly apologised, a smaller smile still playing on his lips as we headed inside.

The day went by in a blur of new teachers, assignment dates and topics, new names to memorise and a lot of Mikayla. She was in nearly all of my classes except two for the first semester, and Scott was in one of those. I blushed whenever he smiled at me, it was instant, I simply couldn’t control it.

I headed home alone at the end of the day, it was nice to be able to unwind and I was looking forward to going for a run later. As I walked around the lake I saw a girl from school sitting on a bench, she saw me coming and stood up abruptly.

“Are you Ruby? The new girl?” She looked really uncomfortable, her bag hanging off one shoulder as she bounced from one foot to the other.

“Um, yes. Are you in my classes? Sorry if I didn’t see you, it’s been a pretty full on day”. I watched as something flickered across her face, and it was gone as soon as I saw it.

“I wanted to warn you. Um, about your new
friends
.” She almost spat the words out. The venom clear in her voice.

“I don’t really have any friends yet, I only met Mikayla yesterday while I was walking my dog and Scott this morning.” I began to walk around the blonde girl. She seemed nervous and I just wanted her to spit out whatever it was she wanted to say to me.

“Well, you seem to fit in with them pretty well, for someone who just met them.” She eyed my clothes almost angrily before continuing. “Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to tell you. It’s Mikayla, she’s not…” She almost yelped when Mikayla walked up behind her.

“Well, hello Krystal, fancy seeing you
here
, meeting the new girl I see”. I didn’t know what was going on, but anyone could tell that these two had history. The tension between them was almost a visible field.

“Mikayla,” Krystal visibly took a small step backwards but didn’t drop her gaze from her. Mikayla in contrast appeared to be quite calm and almost amused with one eye brow arched and one corner of her mouth turned up. I couldn’t tell if it was fear or something else that Krystal felt towards Mikayla. “Nice to meet you Ruby, I’ll catch up with you another time, I hope.” Krystal backed up a few paces, not once taking her eyes off Mikayla, who was still smiling calmly, then turned and walked briskly away, not looking back.

“You want to share what all
that
was about?” I asked turning to Mikayla. For a second it looked like she wanted to tell me something, then she simply said. “Nothing to worry about with Krystal, she likes to imagine things. We were friends, once upon a time, although it’s hard to imagine why now.”

“Can I ask what happened? She seems almost
afraid
of you.” The personal question spilled out before I had time to think about it.

“It was a while ago now and it’s a very long story. I have to go, but I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mikayla walked in the same direction that Krystal had gone and I wondered if she was going to try and catch up with her.

I dismissed the internal alarm that was clanging around in my head. I didn’t know if it was for Krystal or Mikayla as I hadn’t gotten to hear either side of the story.

Phoenix was sleeping when I opened the back gate, but quickly became excited when he realised I was home. I let us both in to the kitchen unpacked my bag and took him up to my room to play.

A little tug of war game wore him out again, and he fell asleep curled up on my pillow. If he wasn’t so cute I would have pushed him off, I didn’t really want to sleep with a mouthful of puppy fur, be he was just too cute to disturb. Neither of my parents were home so I started the small amount of homework I had and wrote up the due dates on my wall calendar. I was usually pretty organised when it came to school. My mother had made sure from a young age that I was responsible for my homework and keeping up to date with study. It was a practise I was grateful for now.

During dinner with my mother we chatted about our days, I gave her a slightly edited version where the little drama with Mikayla and Krystal was left out. My mother had an over protective parent radar, it just didn’t run on the same high intensity as my father’s, and if she thought for a second that either of those girls were going to be trouble she wouldn’t let me go anywhere near them.

A surprise phone call made me smile, it was Claire. We spoke for three hours, mostly about what was happening back in the city, how Claire’s first day was. She mentioned that Jake was seeing a couple of girls, which hurt but not as much as I thought it would. After all hadn’t I spent half the day ogling Scott? When we first broke up I couldn’t believe it, I was utterly devastated. Now I felt like this move might have saved me from some heartache further down the track. I hadn’t wanted to give him
every
part of me. I’d never felt ready to go all the way with him or anybody else; I was still a virgin. Not that I shared that information around, most of the girls I knew had already had sex more than once, and most of them with different boys. I just felt like it was something special and I wanted to keep it for someone I loved and loved me back just as much. It might be a little corny and completely unlike most teenagers, but I knew once I gave my virginity away I couldn’t take it back. It meant more to me than a one night hook up with a random guy for social points at school.

Claire asked about my first day. I told her how embarrassing it was to be hauled up in front of the entire school, reliving my blushing nightmare for her enjoyment. I told her I’d met a couple of people, but didn’t give her any details. After all, I barely knew them and there was nothing much to tell was there? I didn’t tell her about the dimpled Scott, I didn’t want to mention him just yet.

After I hung up, I picked out my clothes for the next day. Combat boots, the same blue jeans I’d worn today and a simple black t-shirt with a faded picture of Edward from Twilight on the front. I still wanted to go for a run but it was too late now.

I lay in bed with the light off, the moonlight filtering through the side of the curtains. There was something about Mikayla and Scott that didn’t quite mesh. More than a lot of black clothing and extremely cute dimples, but I fell asleep before I could figure it out.