The Beginning of Never (The Never Trilogy #1) (15 page)

I came up laughing and without thinking, threw my arms
around him while his automatically went around my waist. Seconds of pure
delight passed before I realized how we were. I started to pull away but he
held me to him, and with his free hand, brushed the hair out of my face.
Moments passed and soon our heads were inching closer together, our breathing
ragged.

But at the last moment, he lowered his head and rested
it against my forehead. I was disappointed, but apparently a little more than I
thought I would be because before I could stop myself, I slanted my head and
placed a small peck on his lips.

Immediately I swam away, not even waiting to see his
reaction and as I lifted myself out of the water, it felt like my heart was
going to explode out of my chest. I quickly picked up my shorts, and headed
back to the blanket.

He followed shortly after, his shorts now back on and
his shirt in his hand, but I avoided his gaze. I was now seated on the blanket
and finger-combing the tangles out of my hair, but all I could focus on
was
the picture in my head of what I had just stupidly done.

“Oh my God,” I cried under my breath. “Lenora what did
you just do?”

“Here,” he said when he reached me, and I looked up to
see that he was offering me his jumper. I declined for absolutely no reason
which was incredibly stupid of me because I was shivering from my damp shirt.

“Take it off.” he insisted, and dropped the jumper
beside me. With a sigh, I pulled the shirt over my head and handed it over to
him. I quickly put his jumper on and watched as he left to spread the shirt on
a small rock, not too far away from us.

“What about you?” I asked, when he returned.

“I’m fine,” he said and took my hand to pull me up.

It brought me closer to him than was appropriate but in
my effort to avoid his eyes, my gaze became involuntarily glued to his chest.
And then at the vein that throbbed on the edge of his bicep. Only when he
cleared his throat to get my attention did I realize that I’d been staring for
longer than I had thought.

With a gasp, I started to babble an apology and
immediately turned away, but he held my shoulders and turned me right back.

“This way,” he said. He then bent down to retrieve a
Canon camera from his backpack which he slung over his shoulder. “I found
something on Tuesday.”

“Really?”
I said. “What?”

“Be Patient,” he teased and it made me smile. However,
I still felt so embarrassed by all the ways that I’d managed to effortlessly
fool myself within the last thirty minutes.

He led me through barely visible paths, and the thick
green scenery of huge trees and countless plants. The canopies of the taller trees
did an excellent job of almost completely shielding the sunlight, so when the
rustling that constantly sounded around us continued to drive me even closer to
him in fear, he eventually noticed and took my hand in his.

My hand
burned
from the feel of his hand in mine, and when I looked down my arm, I wasn’t
surprised to see that it was covered in goose pimples.
 
His action revealed the care for me that he
had in his heart, and it made me feel so insanely happy.

After walking for quite a while, I started to get an
inkling of where he was taking me. At first, I heard the rushing sound from far
away but as we continued on, it gradually became louder. Excited, I started to
softly bounce on my feet, but he tightened his hold on my hand and pulled me
along.

“How did you find it?” I asked.

“You’re ruining the surprise; at least pretend you
don’t know,” he said. But I continued bugging him just for the fun of it, until
the deafening roar of the water dimmed out my voice.

Carefully, we headed up a small rocky incline and when
we got to the top, the sight that I met completely took my breath away. A
powerful cascade of silvery white water rushed down rocky outcrops, and plunged
majestically into a calm pool. Nathan stilled my hand to stop me from going any
further, but from where I stood I could see the mists as they rose up and
shadowed the rocks, as well as the moss and wildflowers that surrounded the
entire waterfall.

It wasn’t huge but it was powerful, and when I saw the lily
pads with white and pink flowers, anchored far off to the opposite ends of the
calm pool and close to the banks, I felt the urge to shout out my joy. This had
to be heaven, surely.

I glanced back at Nathan, my eyes bright with awe and
appreciation. He understood, and sent back a soft smile.

“Thank you,” I said and hurried over to throw myself in
his arms.

He caught me. “You’re welcome,” he said with a small
laugh, and leaned slightly away to look into my eyes. As he softly stroked my
cheek with the back of his fingers, I saw the complete admiration for me that
shone in his eyes; I threw myself back into his arms.

He held me as tightly as he could and so did I. My
heart was melting inside my chest and at that moment, I didn’t want to be
anywhere else or with anyone else in the entire world. The moment was consuming
and priceless, and one that I knew I’d never forget.

“Do you want to take some pictures?” he asked, after
we’d stayed like that for a few seconds.

I nodded, and released him so that he could use his
camera. He took some of the scenery first while I continued to stare at the
waterfall until he came to get me. He led me to a high rock, and after making
sure I was steady, started to click away.

Spreading my arms, I threw my head backwards and wanted
to yell out the overwhelming joy I felt, but the roar of the waterfall would
have overpowered it so I didn’t bother. In as long as I could remember, and
especially in the last three years, nothing had made me feel like this, and I
wanted to remember every moment of it.

Nathan continued clicking away as I struck comical
poses and made funny faces at his camera from where I stood. Eventually, I
moved towards him but he kept clicking until I pulled on his arm to let me take
some photos of him. He nodded, but kept on taking random shots even as I
complained.

I was really starting to get uncomfortable so I reached
out to take the camera from him, but he raised it up in the air and out of my
reach. Grabbing one of my hands, he whirled me around to fall against him and I
happily did, a high-pitched squeal escaping my lips.

He positioned his arm and then took a shot of us
together, surrounded by the beautiful waterfall, trees and wildflowers; I was
leaning against his bare chest, my grin ridiculously wide and eyes ablaze with
joy. His arm was around my waist and as I turned sideways to glance at him, I
saw that he too had a wild grin on his face.

He pressed the shutter button on the camera, and that
memory was captured forever. It was a magical moment, and I would never forget
it.

We arrived back at school
almost two hours later. With a smile, he said goodbye before heading to his
house while I headed over to the dining hall. He wasn’t going to come in for
dinner today and when I arrived at the hall to meet it already filled, I wished
that I could skip it like he had. But I was way too hungry so I ate as quickly
as I could, and then went straight to my room.

I was exhausted when I got in so after a quick shower,
got into bed so that I could fall asleep. However, I couldn’t stop replaying
the scenes from the stream over and over in my mind, especially when I’d
purposely complained of being tired and he’d piggybacked me for a few minutes
as we’d returned to the clearing.

It had been amazing, and as I continued to reminisce
over it, it brought the most powerful of emotions coursing through my body. I
hugged myself underneath the covers feeling the overwhelming warmth and
drugging thrill that I still felt from the day and from him. I knew I was
digging a very dangerous hole for myself but at that point I didn't mind at
all. The world was taking me on a ride and it was more than what I could have
ever imagined.

He left me a message online the next afternoon saying
that I was to bring my test materials to dinner that evening, and I thought him
insane for two reasons; a) that he would for even a second, consider the idea
of us sitting together with the entire school's population watching.

And b), that I would be willing to do any studying when
I was supposed to be eating. Nevertheless, I indulged him and took my note book
with me.

However I was a little late, so I had to go further
down the hall before I could find a vacant seat. To my annoyance, the only one
that I could settle for was so far away from the front of the hall, that I
could barely see him. I was worried that he would think that I’d skipped dinner
because I was so impossible to spot out, but that wasn’t enough to make me do
anything stupid- like go over to his table to announce myself.

So I stayed put, but grew more depressed when I
realized that this part of the hall didn’t even get their food from the same
buffet counter as his did. Here, I was surrounded by first and second years
shooting petty insults at each other, and laughing too loudly. They were still
too young to be self-conscious about anything so more than once, I caught the
nauseating sight of mashed food in their mouths.

I was moving the creole rice around my plate, and
wondering when this nightmare was going to end when a boy came up to me. He was
small, and bore a similarity in appearance to all the others beside, so I knew
immediately that he was in his first year.

“Here, this is for you.” he said shyly, and handed a
folded note to me. I took it from him but before I could ask him what it was
about, he turned around and took off.

I opened it and instantly recognized Nathan’s scribbly
handwriting. It read:

Nora…

You just missed James singing
Kesha’s
‘
Tik
tok
’ song- It was
disturbing,

And, remember to wait a few minutes after dinner. James will
come get you.

Instantly a laugh escaped me,
startling the people on my table who had probably since concluded that I was
mute. From then on, I couldn’t stop imagining how James would have sounded and
looked
, while singing the song. I wished
I had been there to watch.

As I reread the note again, my heart swelled with the
sweet ache that came from knowing that he knew exactly where I was seated, and
had taken the trouble to send me the note.

Suddenly I regained my appetite and hurried through my
meal, anticipating the hour when dinner would be over and everyone would start
leaving. Of course most of the first years around me left as soon as they were
done so in no time at all, it became obvious that I was still there for some
other reason.

The entrance of the hall however, was still filled with
seniors whom had now come to value social relationships, over the video games
and social activities that were no doubt waiting for the younger students back
in their houses.

It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes after the
majority of the seats around me had been vacated, but being there alone and
waiting, made it feel like forever. I was just about to get up and go over to
Nathan’s table when I saw James heading towards me with a huge smile on his face.
I let out a sigh of relief.

“Hi.” He said when he reached me.

“Hey” I responded, and got up to face him.

“So, I hope you’re excited.”

My smile waned.
“About what?”

“The library club.”
He
replied, with a look on his face that showed that my question was unexpected.
“We have our session in the library now. Alex said you loved reading and wanted
to come along.”

“Um, isn’t the library closed by now?”

He started to laugh, until he saw my face and realized
that I wasn’t joking. “Please tell me you know that when you guys have prep in
your rooms, fifth and sixth years are allowed to have theirs in the library –
until 11pm even.”

“You’re kidding!”

“How long have you been here again?” he asked, and
turned around so that we could start walking towards the entrance of the hall.

“Oh please.” I scoffed.
“How am I
supposed to know that when we’re not even allowed to stay up till then?”

“Of course that’s a perfectly reasonable explanation
for why you don’t know the routine of a school that you’ve been in for three
years.”

“I’m more of a ‘live in the moment
kinda
girl’.” I said.

“Uh huh, definitely.”
He said,
unmoved by my attempt to excuse my ignorance.

“I really am though.”

He chuckled. “Okay.”

When we reached his table, I was surprised that Nathan
was nowhere to be found, so I asked James where he was.

“He went back to his dorm.”

“Isn’t he coming with us for the meeting?”

He snorted.
“Of course not.
He
has his own library in his room- the snob.”

My face instantly fell.
What had Nathan just gotten me into?
It barely even registered in
my brain as James picked up his bag and we started to walk out of the hall
because I was trying to figure out what was happening.

“How did you know I was back there?” I asked James.

“Alex told me. He was the one that told me to come get
you since you wanted to come along.”

“And you’re sure he’s not coming?”

“Yeah, I mean, he never does. Did he say something to
you? Is he going to stop by? I’ve been trying to get him to accept our invite
for months.”

I shook my head. “No.
No
he didn’t.”

*

The library club took place in
the section of the library that allowed for a quiet chat, and leisurely
reading. It was usually decorated with huge navy blue sofas, but for today’s
meeting, a few more single chairs had been added around it to make room for the
surprisingly large number of people that came. From where I sat on one of the
single chairs by an extreme corner, I had counted up to forty-five people.

James was in his element as he led the discussion about
the classic literature book that they had read for the week. I’d never heard of
it, but apparently reading it automatically made you sound smarter because
everyone that stood up to give their reviews did it pretentiously. They used
such unnecessarily complex words that I was certain I wasn’t the only one in
the room who had trouble understanding.

It no doubt made them feel smarter, but it made me hate
Nathan even more than I already did. I still couldn’t believe that he had
thrown me in here with no intention of bringing me out. It would have been funny,
but I was too angry and disappointed that he was still so inept at dealing with
me. Anyway, it had only been fifteen minutes since I’d been here so there was
still a possibility that there was a punch line to the joke. I just couldn’t
accept that there wasn’t because I had to believe that he knew better than to
forcibly thrust me into a situation such as this.

At twenty-five minutes past eight, I almost fell out of
my chair when I happened to glance backwards, and saw Nathan arrive. I watched
as he took a seat and started to watch the Slovakian girl that was now giving
her review. With my mind, I willed him to turn so that he could meet my gaze
and see how pissed I was, but when almost a minute later he still hadn’t, I
turned my head back to the girl.

I gave myself
and
him
until 8:30, because if he hadn’t made a move to get me out of here by
then, I was returning to my house immediately. By 8:30 however, he still hadn’t
done anything so I got ready to leave. Just as I was about to excuse myself,
the girl finished with her review and James stood up to announce the next phase
of the meeting.

“Now we go for the ‘
hunt
and discover’
.” He said with exaggerated excitement. “And for the new
comers it simply means that you go around the literature section and find any
fascinating book that you would want to be our read for next week. The point is
to enjoy discovering new books with little to no distraction since we’re the
only ones here. Have fun, and I’ll see you all back here in half an hour.”

Everyone got up after that and so did I. I didn’t turn
to look at Nathan again but I knew when he came up to me. He stood behind me as
I took my time to brush off whatever imaginary lint particles I felt were on my
clothes.

“Are you going to talk to me anytime soon?” he asked
calmly, sounding as if he was ready for whatever hell I was going to raise at
him for sending me here. It made me smile, and although I was still pissed, I
had to admit that his plan was brilliant. I couldn’t have thought about it if
I’d tried, but it did made me wonder why he felt that it wouldn’t be a good
idea for us to be seen together. Did he perhaps know something about Beverly
and the bullying?
 
I hoped that he didn’t
because it made me anxious at what his reaction would be.

Before turning to him, I tried my best to wipe the
smile off my face and replace it with the scowl that had been on it all
evening.

“Do you plan to warn me next time you decide to send me
to a library book club?”

“No.” he replied unrepentantly. “Societies like this
are good in molding young minds like yours.”

“And let me guess, you’re not part of these young
minds”

“I am not.” He said, and then surprised me when he
gently brushed my hair away from my shoulder.

“Uh,” I cleared my throat. “How old are you? I’ve never
thought to ask.”

“I’ll be nineteen next month.” He replied, and then
took my hand in his. “Come on, let’s go. We have
work
to do.”

I grumbled half-heartedly as he pulled me along with
him.
 
“I’m not in the mood for math
anymore.”

“Don’t
worry,
I’ll get you in
the mood.” He said, and I was sure that it was an innocent comment but I
couldn’t help the fake cough that escaped my lips. It made him laugh.

“Those vampire novels are ruining your mind.” He said
as we reached my usual table. After pulling out a seat for me, he pulled out
another for himself and sat down.

“They’re not,” I disagreed. “And you’ve only seen me
with one so far. What makes you think that that’s all I read?”

He took a moment to consider the question. “I don’t
know.” he said, “Anyway, let’s get started. I heard most of your class failed
the math test."

I smiled.

"You're pleased?"

I shrugged. “It got Mr. Barron to give a retake.”

“Well then, let’s make sure you do better this time
around.”

"Don't you have your own studying to do?" I
asked.

"I'll do that later." He said, and we began.

After I showed him the problems I had difficulties
with, he put his glasses on, and started going through them with me.

We were at it for almost two hours and by then, I had
forgotten about the library club. I wasn’t even sure they were still around
because the book cases that shielded my table from the rest of the library
prevented me from seeing anyone else.

It was now getting close to 11pm and we were almost
done because he had gone through almost all the calculations that I had covered
since the beginning of the term. He was so focused throughout the whole thing
that I was almost too scared to make jokes. I did try though; little dumb
remarks here and there, to which he only supplied a light smile if I was lucky,
but most times he totally ignored them.

I knew he was serious, but I didn't expect him to be
this single minded. It was so different from how I was because I had a low
attention span, so my mind wandered away easily. But he just stayed on what he
was doing and only turned to me when he wanted to ensure that I understood what
he was saying. I was tempted more than once to ruffle his hair or peck his
cheek, but I’d already surpassed my flirting limit for the day and quite
possibly the month. I cringed when I remembered how I’d kissed him in the
stream.

I’d succeeded in convincing myself that it wasn’t a big
deal, and that he’d probably just taken it as a friendly kiss, but I would have
liked it if he’d at least mentioned it, even if it was to discourage me from
repeating it in the future. That would of course be a huge blow to my self-
esteem but it was better than completely ignoring the fact that it had
happened.

After another half hour of making me run through the
problems again, but this time listening to me as I explained them to him, he
finally let me breathe.

He excused himself for a few minutes to check on James,
but then came back and wrote out a question that he wanted me to try out. I
rolled my eyes but picked the pen up to start on it. He leaned forward to watch
me as I worked but it was too distracting so I kept stumbling around, trying to
find the solution. He was just too close to me now. So close that I could feel
the warmth from his body. I really tried to concentrate but when he went on to
drape an arm across the top of my chair and leaned even closer, I dropped the
pen.