The Winter Prince

Chapter Two

First, second and third period went by fast and now it is time for lunch. I went to my locker and put my stuff away. I heard the familiar shriek of Amanda’s laugh and I quickly shoved my head in my locker. I was so not in the mood for her; luckily she was too busy talking and didn’t see me. Her locker was on the other side of the hall and about six lockers down from mine. She was talking to Tanzie and Danielle about the new guy and I couldn’t help but to overhear.

“His name is Zane Bennett and he is from Virginia but I’m not sure where.” Amanda said. “He moved here with his parents and his mother is a stay at home mom and his dad is a business man that travels a lot. He has no siblings and he owns a motorcycle.”

“You got all that in one period,” Tanzie said.

“Oh honey, I got much more than that” Amanda beamed “I know his favorite color is black, he’s single and he is all mine.”

“What about Adam?” Danielle said.

“Adam is more of a sex toy” Amanda laughed “Zane is mysterious, wild, and sexy.”

They all giggled and headed to lunch. I shut my locker and leaned against it. God she is such a bitch. I watched her and everyone else head to lunch and I just stood there thinking about what happened this summer. No matter what I can’t get it out of my head, healing my sister and those animals changed me. I could feel something inside of me turning and I didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t scare me. I don’t know what’s going on and I can’t tell anyone. I probably should get to lunch before Amy and Eddie come looking for me. I pushed off my locker and started walking down the hall when I saw Zane looking at me. Before I could do anything he walked down the hall, the opposite way to lunch. What is that guy’s problem? I thought to myself.

When I got to lunch my stomach was growling, guess I didn’t realize how hungry I was. The choices were sloppy joes or cheeseburgers with tater tots and some veggies. The sloppy joes are never that good. To me most of the school’s lunches taste like feet. The lunch lady looked at me and I could tell she wanted me to pick something already. I decided to go with the cheeseburger and she angrily threw the tater tots and veggies on my plate. I thanked her and went to sit next to Amy and Eddie. I couldn’t help myself and found myself gazing around the room looking for Zane. I didn’t see him but saw Amanda and Adam off in the far corner making out. Geez get a room you two.

Amy and Eddie were talking about something, I wasn’t really interested in listening to but I couldn’t let them know that. So I just ate my food and nodded or laughed whenever I saw one of them do it. I saw Amanda and Adam sneaking out the lunchroom and groping each other, I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t really hungry anymore and wanted to get some fresh air. I told the guys that I needed to go to the restroom and that I would catch them later. Eddie said later but Amy gave me a puzzling look.

I threw my trash away and headed out of the lunchroom. I walked out to the courtyard, only a few people were out here eating lunch. I sat down on the bench and looked at the sky. It wasn’t exactly a nice sunny day. The clouds were gray and there was a slight cold chill. The leaves were rustling against the yard. I felt a shiver go down my spine and I got this bad feeling that something bad was about to happen. I didn’t feel safe being outside anymore so I decided to go back in. I was heading to the doors when I felt something fly past me.

I shrieked and looked around, off to the distance I saw a bird sitting on the bench I was sitting on. I took a deep breath and laughed at myself, wow I need to get a grip. I looked at the bird and it was staring at me. Something about the way it stared at me made my stomach turn. I turned around and headed to the doors again when I heard the bird cawing and the next thing I knew it was flying past me and ran straight into the building and landed on the ground. I ran to the bird and it wasn’t moving.

I looked at the bird and I knew it was dead and something compelled me to touch it. I quickly looked around and saw no one was around. I laid my hand on the bird and it started glowing. I felt the energy rush through my body and the bird's neck cracked into place. I saw it’s eye open and it got up and flew away. “You're welcome” I shouted.

I got up and felt really dizzy, my knees were shaking and my vision was blurry. I was about to collapse when someone caught me. I barely had the strength to move my head but I felt someone lift me up and carry over to a nearby tree and sat me down. I closed my eyes to stop everything from spinning and I felt someone lean over me and I opened my eyes and saw blue ones staring back at me looking concerned.

“You okay?” Zane said.

I shook my head and took a couple deep breaths. Everything stopped spinning and I didn’t feel weak anymore “Yea” I told him. It took me a second to realize that he might have seen what I did but just in case he didn’t I quickly said “Just exhausted you know, didn’t sleep much last night and didn’t really eat anything.”

He looked at me for a moment then nodded his head “Can you stand?”

“I think so” I said and tried getting up but my knees were still wobbly and I tumbled but he caught me. He wrapped his arms around me and our faces were inches apart. I felt his breath on my face and it was surprisingly cold. I stared into his eyes and he stared back at me. I wanted to stand like that forever but the moment was over already. He cleared his throat and let go of me but kept his hand underneath my arm.

“I think you’re fine, you just need to eat something” He said glaring around the courtyard. He tightened his grip on my arm and started to shove me towards the door. He closed the door and just stood there glaring outside. His grip on my arm was still tight and he held me really close to his body. He had a protective look on his face but at the same time his face was also scary, I was starting to get uncomfortable.

“I think I can walk on my own now,” I told him.

He looked down at his hand on my arm and let go but didn’t move away from me. I had goosebumps where his hand used to be and it felt oddly cold. “You should get to class,” he said.

“It’s my free period” I told him “But you should get to class before you get in trouble.”

He chuckled and stuffed his hands in his pockets “I’m sure I won’t get in trouble” he said.

I looked down at my phone “Well class is already halfway through, so if you show up now you're going to get into trouble” I said sounding like a goody to shoes. I felt my cheeks turn red wishing I would’ve said something cooler. I looked up at him and saw him watching me.

He had a slight smile when he said “I can charm my way through anything.”

“We’ll that’s cause you're gorgeous” I said, feeling my cheeks getting even redder. Wishing I was invisible I quickly added “Well I better get going.”

He nodded his head and as I turned to leave he grabbed my arm “You might want to be more careful with certain things.” I just looked at him and quickly walked away. I reached my locker and leaned against it. He saw me heal that bird and now he probably thinks I’m a freak. But if he thought that then he wouldn’t have helped me out. Trying to collect my thoughts I just couldn’t get a read on him. First he’s cold towards me then he’s nice and then acts strange again and then back to flirting. Or at least I think he was flirting with me.

I was so confused and still didn’t feel very well. I decided to take Zane’s advice and go get something to eat. I headed to the nearest vending machine and got a couple nutrition bars. I scarfed them down and felt much better. The bell rang and everyone started piling out of the rooms. I probably should do something for my next free period so I went to the library. I walked into the library, found an empty table at the far side of the room. I took out my headphones and played some music and drifted off to sleep.

I dreamt of this summer like I did so many times and it was always the same. We were walking home from the movies and I was texting my friends. Lily was in front of my skipping and trying not to step on the cracks in the sidewalk. The next thing I know there was this huge gust of wind and I heard Lily shriek. Her hat flew off and she was chasing after it. She ran out into the middle of the road and I saw a black sedan coming towards her. I yelled for her but it was too late. My eyes were burning and tears streaked my face. I kept yelling for Lily but she didn’t respond, I knelt down beside her and tried waking her up. I kept thinking please no, please no she can’t be dead. I can’t lose my sister, I put my hands on her and I prayed for her to wake up.

I felt a rush of energy running through my veins and my hands began to glow. Her cuts and scrapes started to disappear and her bones were cracking into place. Lily opened her eyes and asked why my face was wet. I cried even harder and pulled her into my lap and hugged her hard. Everyone was rushing to us and when the ambulance came they were shocked to see that she only had some bruises. We still went to the hospital but no one could explain it. My parents and the doctors kept her overnight for observation but I knew she was fine. That night I was too afraid to be by anyone so I stayed home while they were at the hospital. I still couldn’t process what happened and I just stared at my hands and cried until I passed out.

“Excuse me miss” I heard someone say. I opened my eyes and saw the librarian staring down at me “The bell rang honey, time to get to seventh period.”

“I’m sorry” I told her “I didn’t realize I fell asleep.” She nodded and went to put some books away.I felt someone watching me and saw Zane walking away. What was he doing here? I grabbed my stuff and headed to the yearbook. I was excited about the yearbook. I take it every year, I love photography.

“Nice to see you again Madison” Ms. Wild said and gave me a hug.

I hugged her back “Nice to see you too Miss Wild, how was your summer.”

“Madison, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Jenny and my summer was good. How are you my dear, I heard about what happened to Lily” she put a hand on my shoulder.

I was getting tired of people asking me that but I knew she meant well “I’m fine....it was a miracle that she only got some bruises. She is doing much better now” I said and thankfully the bell rang before she could say anything else. I found a seat by the far corner away from everyone else, I like working with no distractions. Jenny was coming around and handed us our syllabus, it was the same every year.

“Today we are just going to browse through all the templates and i’m going to have you watch an editorial on the website. This way you can see what you are going to be doing this year and so you can get a feel for the camera” Jenny pulled up the website “I know some of you think this is an easy class and for the most part it is. But you can’t just take a photo and call it a day. We are going to work on your technique and try some very cool stuff. This class is not just a yearbook it’s also a digital photo class and I will grade harder as the year goes on.”

She continued talking the rest of class but I just zoned out for most of it. She says the same thing every year and I’ve been doing this since freshman year. I nodded with the rest of the class and doodled in my notebook. The bell rang and I headed for my locker. Amy and Eddie were waiting for me.

“So how was your first day?” Amy said hooking her arm through mine.

I saw Zane leaning against the wall staring at me “It was pretty uneventful” I told her as I stared back at him. I had a gut feeling that he saw what I did but for some reason he didn’t do anything. He didn’t even seem surprised.

“Uneventful huh” she said looking between Zane and me.

“Nothing happened” I said as we walked right past him. I knew he was still watching me but I didn’t turn around.