The Winter Prince

Chapter three

The next few days went by really fast and strange things were happening. Everytime I go outside I feel a sense of power, I feel like I’m a part of nature. Don’t get me wrong I’ve always loved the outdoors but now it’s like nature obeys me. I can make plants grow and sometimes I feel like the trees are talking to me. I can make the leaves whistle in the wind and I can feel the earth humming through my feet. I don’t know if i’m just going crazy or if something else is going on. And to make things even weirder is that I still get the sense of being watched and I swear everywhere I go Zane is there but he never talks to me. He just stares and disappears.

I couldn’t get enough of the outdoors so I decided I was going to walk to school. I stepped outside and breathed in the fresh air. I took my sandals off and walked through the grass with my bare feet. I felt the earth humming through my feet again and it actually made me giggle and want to dance. As I kept walking I felt the wind pick up and I swear I could hear the trees talking. I took a step towards them and I heard a small voice in the back of my head warning me of danger. I was probably just imaging it so I ignored it and just kept walking.

I got a couple blocks when rain started pouring on me but something felt off about it. It felt, I don’t know, dark to me and I got the feeling someone was watching me again. I looked around but I didn’t see anyone. It started to rain harder and it was actually starting to hurt. I hugged myself and wished the sun would come out. I felt this surge of energy coursing through my veins and I felt the earth humming through my feet again. The next thing I knew the sun was coming out and the rain stopped. But I still felt something dark and dangerous lurking ahead.

I only had a few more blocks to go so I picked up my pace. The feeling of darkness got closer and I started to run faster. The air suddenly got colder and I could see my breath. In front of me was a huge puddle and all of the sudden it turned to ice. I was running too fast to stop and the moment my bare feet touched the ice I slipped and started falling into the street. I heard a car honking and looked up and saw the car heading towards me. I immediately closed my eyes and threw my hands in front of my face. I braced myself but nothing happened because someone's arms were around me. I looked up and saw Zane staring down at me again.

“Madison are you okay?” he said.

“Yeah..no….I don’t know” I said, straightening myself. I looked behind me and the car was driving away.

I looked down at the puddle and it was still frozen. The dark feeling went away but somehow I knew it wasn’t going to last. I’m not sure what the hell just happened or how Zane managed to save me. I don’t even know where he came from. My mind was still racing when I realized Zane was staring at me.

“I need to get to school,” I said and started walking.

“I’ll walk with you” he started following me.

I felt safer with him being around but I was so confused so I just nodded. My clothes were clenching my body, my hair stained my face and I’m pretty sure I had raccoon eyes. I was shivering and my breathing was a little shaky.

“Here take this,” Zane said, handing me his jacket.

“Thanks” I said and put the jacket on. His jacket was cold but at the same time warm and it smelled amazing. It smelled of axe with a mix of something else, it kinda reminded me of winter. When we got to the school my clothes were still wet so I headed to my locker hoping I had some extra clothes in there. I didn’t but I knew Amy always had extra clothes, I opened her locker and found her gym bag. She had a pair of jeans, shorts, her favorite perfume,deodorant, and a bunch of makeup. Great I thought, everything but a shirt.

I sighed in frustration and was about to give up when I heard Zane clearing his throat. I turned around and saw him holding out a t-shirt “Here” he said.

“How did you know?” I asked.

“I saw you looking around your friend’s bag and I knew I had one, so here you go.”

“Thanks,” I said and took his shirt, “I’m going to go change and i’ll give you it back tomorrow.”

“I’ll wait for you and we can walk to class together,” he said.

“You don’t have to,” I told him.

“I want to,” he said and I blushed “And besides I’m heading there anyway.”

“Since when?” I asked, looking confused.

“Since this morning” he answered and put his hand on my back and led me to the bathroom. “Now go get changed before we are late, I seem to recall your not too thrilled being late.”

I turned and smiled at him “But you can charm your way through anything right, so no worries.” He chuckled and I went to go change. I looked in the mirror and I looked horrible. My hair was plastered to my face and it was starting to frizz. I looked like something out of a horror movie with my mascara and eyeliner running down my cheeks. I peeled off my clothes and put them in my bag, then I put on Amy's shorts and Zanes shirt. Zanes' shirt was a little big on me. I smiled when I saw what kind of shirt it was, it was a black harley davidson t-shirt. I couldn’t help but picture him in it with his perfectly hard body and felt my cheeks turning red.

I needed to stay focused, he was waiting for me. I grabbed Amy’s brush and brushed my hair then put my hair in a messy bun. I took a wet paper towel and scrubbed the makeup off then reapplied it. I took a double take in the mirror and decided it was good enough. I grabbed his jacket and walked out of the bathroom, Zane was still waiting for me. He looked at me for a moment and I thought I saw him smile a little bit then the bell rang.

“Are you ready?” he said.

“Yup” I told him and we walked to class.

When we walked in everybody was already seated. Amy looked up and gave me a questioning look when she saw us together. . I glanced over at Zane but he was already making his way to the back of the room. He sat down and his body language was different, he wouldn’t even look at me just stared at the front of the room. He wasn’t the Zane I talked to a few minutes ago, the one who offered me his shirt and walked me to class. What was his deal? I sat down next to Amy and got my notebook out.

“What are you wearing?” Amy said.

“Nothing” I said and continued to look down at my notebook.

“Mads,” she said “I know that’s not your shirt.”

“It’s nothing” I told her and looked at her blank expression “Honestly, it was pouring down rain and I got wet. I bumped into Zane and we walked to school where he gave me his shirt.”

“OH MY GOD” she shrieked “You're wearing his shirt.”

“Shhhhh” I put my hand over her mouth “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Whatever you say” she looked back at Zane “So what’s his problem? If he was nice to you earlier then why is he acting like he doesn’t know you?”

I looked back at him but he just looked right past me “No idea” I said. The rest of the period was spent talking about some boring stuff. Mostly about upcoming english assignments and papers that are going to be worth half our grade. I kept looking back at Zane but it was like I didn’t exist, I mean not even a small smile or a nod. A few times I caught him looking outside and each time his look clouded over. I couldn't see what he was looking at. The bell rang and Zane shot out of the room again. I grabbed my stuff and was following Amy out of the room when I stopped short.

A little ways down the hall Zane was leaning against his locker and Amanda and her two sidekicks were there. Amanda had her hand on Zane’s arm and was faking a laugh at whatever he said. Zane was talking and laughing with her and it hurt. An hour ago he was nice to be and now this. As if sensing I was watching him Zane looked over at me. I didn’t want him seeing me watching him so I looked away and walked past him.

I got to Algebra 2, which is not my favorite subject, and sat all the way in the back in the corner next to Adam. I’m a major note taker so I got my notebook out and got everything ready. Mrs. Garcia comes in and tells everyone to take out their notebooks and follow along. She wasn’t feeling well so we were just taking notes today. She pulls up her powerpoint and we all start taking notes. A few minutes later I sense a familiar presence and look up to see Zane coming in. He glances at me for a second and then sits on the other side of Adam.

Seriously! I thought. I tried to ignore him and went back to taking notes. After a few slides I looked over at him and he was leaning back in his desk with his arms folded just staring at the board. He wasn’t even taking any notes or paying attention for that matter. He glanced over at me and I quickly turned back to the powerpoint. I heard him chuckle and I knew my face was red again. Ignoring him I went back to focusing on the notes.

The bell rang and again Zane shot out. I get my stuff and head for world studies and I find Zane there again. What the hell? This is getting weird and unlike all my other classes we have assigned seats...and guess who is sitting next to him. Thankfully Amy is in this class too so I take a seat and ignore him just like he’s been ignoring me. Though I can’t help sneak a peek and I catch him smiling slightly. What a jerk! Mr. Grant comes in with a cart of laptops “I don’t care if this is the first week of school” he said “You're in high school and been through this a bunch of times. So come get a laptop and pick one of the topics on the board and start researching it. You have until monday to pick a topic and write a five page essay. This is only the rough draft and it’ll be fifty points, so no slacky. Now get to work.”

You have got to be kidding me, I groaned and put my head on my desk. I heard someone clear their throat and I looked up to see Zane holding two laptops. He handed me the laptop and sat down and ignored me again. I swear I can’t get a read on him. I looked at the board, there were so many topics I didn’t know where to begin. After a few minutes I narrowed it down to the War of 1812, the civil rights movement or Leonardo Da Vinci.

“What are you doing?” Amy asked me.

“Not sure yet” I told her looking over at her “I’ve narrowed it down to three choices.

“Lucky” Amy said “I have no clue what I am going to do. History is so not my favorite subject.”

“Mine either” we both groaned and went back to work. I looked over and saw Zane playing a game. I wanted to talk to him but after the way he treated me all morning I couldn’t. I sighed and went back to my computer. I had a lot of work to do before monday and no clue where to begin.

Lunch couldn’t have come any faster, the bell rang and Zane was gone before I even had a chance to put my laptop away. Amy and I walked out and found Eddie waiting for us. We went to our lockers and headed for lunch. “Hey mads” Eddie said “Where did you get that shirt?”

“Oh it’s Zane’s” Amy said and giggled.

Eddie looked at me shocked “It’s not like that okay” I held out my hands before he could say anything “It was raining this morning and I got soaked. Zane happened to be there when I was looking for some clothes.”

“Sure” they both said

“Hey I'm wearing Amy’s shorts and that doesn’t mean anything is going on” I told them.

“Hey that’s supposed to be our secret” she said and wiggled her eyes at me.

We burst into laughter but when I got into the lunchroom my laughter died down. Over at Amanda's table, in the middle of the lunchroom, Zane was sitting there with Amanda and her sidekicks. She was all over him and was talking into his ear. She had her body pretty much against him and he was just letting her. So he can ignore me but talk to her. I should’ve known guys like him would like girls like her. “Hey you okay?” Amy asked.

“Yeah i’m just not that hungry anymore” I told her but I couldn’t peel my eyes away from them.

“Come on Mads, just forget about him” Eddie said.

I saw poor Adam leaning against the wall looking at Zane with pure hatred. Zane looked over at me and it was like something changed in him when he saw me. His face looked ashamed and he slightly pushed her away. I don’t know why it hurt so much seeing them together but I couldn’t help but feel drawn to him. I couldn’t stand there another minute. “I’m not feeling very well” I told them “I’ll see you guys in a little bit.”

“Really?” Amy said.

I couldn't explain to them why I felt the way I did. Heck I didn’t even understand it myself so I just left. As soon as I was out of eyeshot I ran to the bathroom trying not to cry. God I don’t know why I’m like this I barely know the guy. And when I am with him half the time he is a total dick. I paced back and forth trying to calm myself. Before I even had time to hide in the stalls I heard the familiar laughter followed by Amanda and her sidekicks.

“Oh hey Mads” Amanda said and went to the mirror to fix herself “Are you okay?” she smirked at me.

“Yeah I’m fine” I told her and went to leave but Tanzie and Danielle stopped me.

“Why did you leave the lunchroom so quickly?”Tanzie said and smiled big.

“I didn’t” I told them and tried to push past them.

“Yes you did and I think it was because you saw Zane and me” Amanda said walking closer to me “Oh honey did you actually think you had a chance with a guy like that.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about” I told her “Now can I please leave.”

She got even close to me when she sniffed the air “Are you wearing men's cologne?” She said “And what are you wearing” she sneered at me.

I took this as my cue “I’m surprised you don’t recognize the smell since you were all over him a few minutes ago. You remember him wearing this yesterday right” Her jaw dropped and I smirked at her and pushed past Tanzie and Danielle. Wanting to get as far away from them as I could. I broke into a run and went to go to the courtyard. I opened the door and smacked hard into someone. They caught me before I could fall flat on my ass “Are you kidding me” I said.

“You okay Mads” I knew that voice. I opened my eyes and saw Zane holding me.

“Not this again” I realized I said that out loud and pulled away from him “What do you care.”

“I do care,” he said.

“Could’ve fooled me,” I told him.

“Mads” he started to say but I cut him off.

“Just leave me alone” I walked around him.

“Wait, you shouldn’t be out here by yourself” he said and tried to follow me.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do after being a jerk to me all morning” I yelled at him “First you're rude, then this morning you're nice to me and once we were around people you completely ignored me. I don’t even know why I care so much but I do. But right now I want to be left alone.”

He looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t. I kept walking away and when I turned to look behind me he was gone. Part of me was relieved and the other part of me wished I hadn’t done that. Though I ignored that part of me and went to sit on the bench. I looked up at the sky and watched the birds flying around. About ten to fifteen minutes later the bell rang and everyone was on their way to class. Thankfully I had a free period so I didn’t move. I watched as everyone disappeared and I was left by myself again.

I got that strange feeling that I was being watched again and it sent a shiver down my spine. It wasn’t a good feeling either and I felt like something bad was going to happen again. It was the same feeling I got before it started pouring on me earlier. It scared me so I got up and slowly walked back to the door. I heard a stick crack and when I turned around I thought I saw a dark figure a little ways away, I couldn’t be sure but the feeling of darkness hit me hard. I felt my body humming and my veins pulsing with power. My eyes were stinging and I knew I had to get out of there. I ran towards the door and slammed it behind me.