Spearwood Academy Volume Two (The Spearwood Academy Book 2) (7 page)

I
look to be about thirteen. I’m sitting on the beach
in a pink tankini. The guys are ahead of me, playing Frisbee. Well, most of the
guys are, Amr is off to the side of me reading.

“Why don’t you go play
with them?” I ask.

He glances over the top of
his book. He looks at the guys, who are now fighting over the Frisbee and rough
housing. “Why don’t you?”

“I’ve already beat them
three times and they get all bent out of shape if I beat them every time. That
includes giving them bruises when they try to tackle me. It wasn’t like that
when we were little.”

Amr sighs and closes his
book. “That’s because they see you as a girl now.”

I frown. “That’s good,
because I am a girl.”

“No. Before they knew you were a girl, but didn’t see you as
one. You have boobs and curves now.”

“What does either have to
do with it?”

“A lot, trust me.”

“Well, do you see me like
they do?”

His nose scrunches up.
“Not really. I think of you as more of a sister. You’re not my type anyway.”

I scoot closer to him and
smirk. I lean into him. “Who is your type?”

His cheeks flush, before
he mutters. “Karen Gillan.”

I frown. “I don’t know who
that is. Is she one of the girls staying here at the resort?”

He shakes his head. “She’s
one of the companions of the Eleventh Doctor.”

I frown still then it
clicks. “Oh, she’s off that show you love. Doctor Whatsit.”

“Doctor Who.”

“Yeah, that show. I never
really got into it. I’m a Kardashian kind of girl.”

His lip turns up in
disgust. “I hope one day you gain a more refined taste, at the very least stop
watching reality television.”

I shrug. “Eh. Television
is your drug of choice, not mine.”

“And what is your drug of
choice? Triton?”

I look over at him with
wide eyes. I cannot believe he just said that aloud. I reach over and slap his
thigh. “Shut up! He might hear you!”

“Avvi, go get us some
drinks. We’re dying,” says Maverick.

“What’s the magic words?”
I call back. The least he could do is say please. Too bad we don’t have
servants here to help out.

“Bunny panties!” yells
back Dante.

My cheeks heat up and Amr
busts a gut laughing. He sees my panties one time, on laundry day, and he will
never let me live it down that they had bunnies printed all across them.

“Shut up, D! When are you
going to drop that?”

“Never, Fire! I will take
it with me into the beyond.” He gives me a wink and I stick my tongue out at
him. It is his turn to blush, he turns away from me quickly and goes into the
sea.

“C’mon, I’ll go help you
get the drinks. I’m dying of thirst, too,” says Triton, as he comes to stand in
front of me. He holds his hand out to me, to help me up. I’m glad the blush
from before is still staining my cheeks, or else he would see the new one that
took its place.

I take his offered hand
and stand up. Even though I’m now standing, he doesn’t let go of my hand. I
can’t help but let a small smile ease onto my face. He pulls me toward the
concession stand and I look over my shoulder at Amr. He grins and holds up his
thumb, I grin in return.

As we get to the
concession stand, I realize he is going to walk past it. I stop him, but he
keeps pulling me on, taking me towards the actual resort. “Triton, what are you
doing? I thought we were getting drinks?”

“We will, but first there’s
something I want to tell you, and I want to do it away from the others.”

Once inside the resort, he
sits me down on one of the loveseats in the lobby. He stands in front of me,
for a second, before he starts pacing. Now he has me worried. Whatever he wants
to tell me is serious. He runs his hand through his hair and looks at me with
those beautiful blue eyes. “Triton, you’re making me nervous.”

He sighs. “I’m sorry. I
don’t mean to. I just don’t know, exactly, how I want to say this.”

“Well, just say what you
want to say.” My fingers grip at my thighs. What in the world is he going to
say? Am I going to like it? Or hate it?

Finally, he takes a seat
next to me. He looks at me and bites his lip. “Avvi, no, Avalon. I like you.
More than just a friend. I like you, a lot.”

My smile must be a
mile-long. The Sun god has blessed me. “I like you too, Triton, a lot.”

His smile is just as big
as mine. He touches my cheek, my heart hammers against the wall of my chest. He
leans in, ever so slowly, and hovers just over my lips. “Can I kiss you?” He
all but whispers. I give a small nod of my head and close my eyes. His warm
lips touch mine. I’m floating on a cloud. We pull apart and I look at him. In
my thirteen years, I never imagined my first kiss would be this perfect. I
reach out and take his hand. I am over the moon.

“
Was there a reason you wanted to go down memory lane
with my first kiss?” Something about saying that feels like a lie. ‘
You’ve
never been kissed on the mouth a day in your life,’
says a voice in the
back of my mind. I shake my head. Where did that come from?

“I didn’t mean to show that
one, I apologize.” Something in his voice tells me he is lying. I have known my
dad long enough to be able to tell when he isn’t telling me the truth. I’ll let
it slide. I want to see what else he’s going to show me.

“Carry on.”

I’m fourteen, perhaps,
fifteen years old.

Dad and I stand next to
our indoor pool. A thin coat of ice covers the top. Chilled breath billows out
of my mouth. I’m in nothing but a simple sports bra bikini. Dad holds up a gold
coin and flicks it far off into the center of the pool. As soon as it
disappears under the surface, I run to the edge of the pool and jump.

I’m so used to doing this
training, I don’t even feel the cold anymore. The gold glints yellow and it
takes me no time to find and grab it. I’m out of the water before my lungs can
even begin to hurt. “Fifteen seconds. You’d be faster if you were strong enough
in your air magic. You wouldn’t even have to get in the water.”

I lower my head. “I know.
I’m working hard at it, but I just can’t grasp it beyond the feather. Yet,
that’s the only element that responded to me during my Picking.”

“You’ll get the hang of it.
I’ll hire you a tutor when you get to Spearwood. I’ll make sure he’s the best
at magic and specifically Air magic.” He tosses me a tank top and shorts.

I put on the tank top,
over the sports bra. “Thanks, Dad. Sorry you have to go through all that trouble
for me.” I put on the shorts.

“Nothing is too much
trouble for my princess. Come back inside with me. Your mother should have some
pound cake waiting for us. There’s something she and I want to talk to you
about.”

“Oh, that sounds ominous.
Should I be scared?” I move to walk beside him, we link arms.

He pats the top of my
hand. “No, it’s a good thing for all of us.”

Once inside, we sit down
at the kitchen table, keeping it informal is how we have always done it around the
house, when there are no guests. Mom serves each of us a slice of pound cake,
her favorite, and a cup of rose tea. The rich smells make my mouth water. I
take a small, dainty bite of my cake and look up. Neither of my parents have
touched their tea or cake. I put my fork down. “All right, tell me what the
news is, I don’t think I can stand the suspense anymore.”

“We’ve made a decision
about your future,” says my mother.

“My future? What kind of
decision?”

“We’ve arranged for you to
get married after you finish your stay at Spearwood. On paper, you are
engaged.”

I swallow hard and my
hands form fists. “Please tell me that it’s Triton.”

They look at each other
and then down at the table. “No, we have wedded you to Paden Hansen.”

“What! Paden? I haven’t
spoken to him since I was twelve and he was fourteen and too cool to hang out
with us. I don’t even know him anymore.”

“Regardless of that, he’s
a Royal.”

“Triton’s a Royal too!” I
stand.

“Sit—”My mother starts to
say, but then she starts to cough.

My dad rubs her back and
hands her a napkin. She coughs into it. “He’s only a half Royal and with the
rarity that you are, we want you to have heirs with a full Royal. We’ll discuss
this later. I need to attend to your mother.”

I look at her and the
napkin in her hand, it’s stained with red. “It’ll be okay, Honey. The healers
will figure out some way to cure you. I’m sure of it. They are the best in the
world.

~*~*~*~

The healers didn’t find a
cure, and we didn’t talk about the arranged marriage again before her funeral.
Two days before it, I was forced to tell Triton of the arranged marriage. He
was furious and refused to talk to me about it. He told me that if I wasn’t
going to fight it, then we were done. The truth? I felt guilty for trying to
fight it while my mother died at a rapid pace.

Now, I sit outside the
Shrine chamber, where her body lay. Waiting for the sun to rise and greet her.

The sound of footsteps
alert me to the fact that someone is standing in front of me. I look, for a
split second, I hope that it’s Triton. The moon is full and bright on this
night. “Oh, hi,” I say, to Paden. I hang my head, hiding my tears from him. He
takes a seat on the ground next to me.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Which one?” I ask. I
glance at him through my curtain of hair.

“What do you mean?”

“Because of our arranged
marriage. The love of my life refuses to speak to me, and because it was my
mother dying wish, I refuse to fight it. Guess you and I will have to be forced
into a loveless marriage, so that we can bear powerful heirs.”

“Who says it has to be
loveless? Sure, I’m not your first pick, but we don’t have to be miserable
because of our parents.”

I scoff. “You are
optimistic.”

He moves my hair out of my
face and tilts my chin up. “I don’t feel like I got the short straw. You’re
beautiful and strong. I know your world is crumbling right now, let me help you
pick up the pieces and rebuild it again. I will be here for you, even if you
love someone else.”

I don’t know what to say.

He reaches into the inner
pocket of his black suit. “I’m supposed to give you this at the dinner of our
families meeting, but screw it. I hope you like it. You liked things like it
when we were younger. I hope it’s still your favorite color.”

In his hand is a small red
velvet box. Slowly, he opens it, revealing a ruby ring, with a snake wrapped
around the stone. He remembered how I used to play with garter snakes, and how
everything in my room had to be a deep red.

He lifts it out of the box
and I hold up my hand. He places it on my left ring finger. “I really love it.
How’d you remember all that?”

He smiles and leans
forward to kiss my forehead. “I’m glad you like it, Avalon.” He stands and then
bends down. Gently, he picks me up by my arms and steadily places me on my feet.
“The sunrise will be here any moment. Soon your mother’s essences will go to
meet the Sun god.

I turn to look at my dad. He
has no emotion on his face. That was one of the most difficult things I have ever
had to relive, his wife died again, and yet he isn’t even crying. “Please tell
me that was the last one.”

He nods. “I’ll let you wake
up now.” I smile and stand. “Oh, and Avalon?” “Yeah?”

“Your friends might seem a
little weird tonight. Don’t pay it any mind, they will be back to normal by
morning.”

I give him an odd look. “All
right.”

He reaches out and pats my
shoulder. My world falls into darkness.

~*~*~*~

“Princess! Clementine! Wake
up, you’re freaking your whiney boyfriends out.”

My eyes flutter open. I’m
lying on one of the loveseats in my dorm. Lusk stands over me. I rub my eyes.
What a strange dream, it felt so real. I’ll have to tell dad about it. “Lusk?
Why are you calling me a fruit?”

I yawn and run a hand through
my hair. I smile, it’s still straight. That cream actually is long lasting.

“What did you just call me?”
he asks.

I look at him and blink
slowly, my vision is still blurry. “What?”

“What did you just call him,”
says Dante.

“Uh, Lusk, that’s his name
still, right?”

“You never call me by my
first name.”

I laugh. “Are you high? I’ve
always called you by your first name, since the day we met seven years ago.”

“I think we should take Miss
Clementine to the infirmary,” says Bullock.

I frown. There it is again,
that fruit. “Do I have a new nickname, or something?” I ask.  “You guys
keep calling me a fruit. Really? A fruit? That’s the best you could come with?
I rather have D, here, calling me Fire.”

“That’s your last name,
Avalon,” says Triton.

I give him a glare. “What are
you doing here? I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me? And in case
you’ve suffered some kind of group head injury, my name is Avalon Roseman.”