Before I know it, I have been to Spanish class and Algebra, now its lunch break. Thankfully, I am not super hungry, as the cafeteria is pretty basic. I can see Ashley and some of her copycats, sitting at one of the tables in the lunchroom staring at me and whispering. I think I will avoid the diva and her posy by eating my lunch outside. I found the perfect spot with some shade, under a tree and off to the side to the football field. I am mostly alone, but there are some guys goofing off and tossing a football around on the field. As I am reading my book and enjoying my Mackintosh apple, some jerk runs into me, well more like, falls onto me.
"Whoa! I am so sorry about that. Are you OK?"
"Ouch... well if you're not squashing me, I might feel better".
He lifts himself off me to a kneeling position on my right. After I picked up my book and now ruined apple, I look at the jerk that landed on me.
"Wow! I mean, hey there. I really am sorry about that. My name is Camden".
He is cute... Tall, muscular, dirty blonde, blue eyes and what a smile... I am used to this attention to being the new girl. Many boys are suddenly wondering whom the new girl is and if she is easy. I usually just ignore them, but this one is somewhat cute, so I will play along.
"Hi... my name is Shannon". I look down and see that my water bottle spilt down the outside of my left thigh to my knee and I now have a grass stain on one of my favorite jeans. As I try to collect my things to leave, Camden says,
"I really am sorry. You are new here aren't you; let me make it up to you by taking you out Friday night, say 7pm? I can show you some places around town where some of us like to hang out".
Friday... Friday... Hmm I am pretty sure nothing is going at home. "Sure, why not".
Camden jumps up and heads over to his boys, and I notice some fist pumping and then some hungry looking stares back at me... Great what did I just get myself into?
I collect my stuff and head back into the school. I need to find a washroom before my last class so that I can maybe stop some of the grass stain from becoming permanent and ruining my favorite pants. Of course, the washroom I pick has Ashley and some of her posy in there, but it is too late to leave now, they saw me. I head over sink to the paper towel dispenser and begin to blot off some grass stain with soap and water. Ashley and her posy begin to swarm around me. Now I am thinking that maybe I should of just let my pants air dry and deal with the stain later at home. Ashley begins the interrogation.
"So Shannon, that's your name right? What brings you to Bantam High?"
Oh boy, here we go. As I wash my hands, I casually look up at her and as I am about to speak she interrupts me and says,
"Actually, I don't care. I just want to warn you that Camden is mine. I saw what happened outside. Don't even think about it."
She leans in and so does her posy. Wow... gotta love childish intimidation.
"Ashley, isn't it? Really, I do not give a shit what you think. Furthermore, if Camden asks me out, it means he is not into you. So don't threaten me with a good time."
Just as Ashley was about to try and bitch slap me, I go to turn off the tap, the lights begin to flicker and the tap goes crazy and sprays Ashley in the face. As she is trying to salvage the makeup that remains on her face, I take my cue and leave the bathroom.
Well that is not a great way to start a first impression but the truth is they already had their minds made up about me before they even got to know me. My last class for the day is Art with Mrs. Lea. The class is on the first floor near the side exit door. Perfect, I can make a quick escape as soon as the bell goes.
Mrs. Lea seems like a bit of a hippy but I think we are going to get a long great. Art class is one of my favorite subjects, I like having the freedom to be creative. As we take our seats, we all notice the cup of tea on our desks. Loose tealeaf's float around the cup. Apparently, she likes to dabble in tealeaf readings and thought it would be a good idea to see what we all come up with, she said it is a great way to get to know each other. I have never done this before and it sounds fun. She instructed all of us to sip our tea until most of the tea was gone and just the leaves remained in the cup. The tea tasted bitter but I drank it anyways. Then we had to turn our cups upside down on the saucer. Once the remaining bit of tea left the cup, it was time to read our tealeaves. When I turned my cup over, I swear for a second that I saw symbols all over the inside of my cup. It looked like a weird star with eight pointed sides and in every pointed section of the star, there was a symbol. Above that and around the upper edge of the cup there was more symbols separated by bars. Then all of a sudden, my vision blurred and after I blinked a couple of times to clear my vision, it was just a cup with some tealeaves. What the hell was in that tea?
Mrs.Lea walked around the room and examined everyone's cups. Some of the kids leaves showed horseshoes, which meant good luck. Others got hearts for new romances or anchors for stability. When she came to read my cup, she paused for what seemed like an eternity. Then just before the bell went, she said,
"Class you're dismissed. Shannon, would you please stay a moment after class".
"Sure" I said. Naturally, I want to know what my tealeaf reading says. I did not drink that bitter tea for nothing. After everyone left and the door closed. She kept staring into the cup while she started rambling aloud,
"The number 3, fire, water, earth, air, spirit, a bridge, death and love. Remarkable. I have never seen tea leaves like this before. You possess so many symbols it's hard to decipher them all."
"Really? Is it that weird? Also, what was in that tea? It was bitter and now I can't seem to taste anything and my throat kind of burns like after I eat something spicy".
"Oh? I put a tiny drop of wolfs bane in the water to help the leaves stick to the cup. However, no one has ever noticed before. I was extra careful about the dosage since it can be toxic in high doses. Are you allergic?"
Wolfs bane?! Are you kidding me? Isn't that for werewolves, who is this teacher... maybe she is crazy. Whatever.
"No Mrs. Lea, not that I know of, but it's slowly going away."
I lied. She looked over my face and hands and said,
"Strange, just keep drinking water to flush it out".
As I left her classroom, I looked back and found her staring back into my cup. God she is weird.
YOU ARE READING
The Calling
Teen FictionShannon Taylor is a senior in High School. Her parents are in the military and move around a lot. Shannon is used to not living in one place for long. She thought she was mentally prepared for starting a new school again. She just wants to focus on...
