Her amber eyes, looking gold in the midday sunlight, flashed with excitement. She squinted against the bright sun, searching for a glimpse of blond hair in the 4th period lunch crowd. It was a sunny day, warm for a October morning. Students went outside for lunch on days like this, relishing the light breezes flowing through the courtyard. It was busier than usual, even for a Friday.
Finally, she spotted the neat blond hair bobbing in the middle of the circle of jocks. She hurried over and made her way to the center of the group. A smile broke out on the face she had been searching for. "Shayna!" he exclaimed.
"Hey, Blake," she said, grinning. Blake gave her a side hug, and kept guffawing with his baseball teammates. The tallest of the team, with messy dark brown hair, nodded at Shayna. She nodded back, and said, "Hey, Kurt. Kerry's stuck inside finishing a math test."
Kurt shrugged like it was no big deal, but the way his shoulders slumped slightly revealed his disappointment. Shayna opened her mouth to say something, but Blake's muscles tensed and he turned her away. He led her to their usual bench under the big maple tree.
Occasionally, a jock would come over to recap on the recent baseball game, or a cheerleader to congratulate the back-up pitcher. Blake would smile his movie-star smile and thank them politely, but he would always turn away and focus solely on Shayna.
It wasn't that Blake was possessive, he was just protective of her, and that made Shayna feel shy, but warm inside. Maybe it was the way he looked right into her amber eyes, or noticed the little things about her, but whenever they were together, she felt fully loved. He made her feel beautiful, even more beautiful than her sisters. She didn't have their bright, exotic eyes or bold, strong nature, and often times she felt insignificant. But to Blake, she was the most important person.
The bell rang, ending lunchtime. The juniors hurried to their next classes. Shayna had English next, with her twin sister, Kerry. Daisy, a year older, would be going to lunch.
As soon as the sisters stepped into the classroom, Kerry let out a squeal of delight and bounced over to Kurt's side. The two had been dating since eighth grade, three years ago.
They were physically perfect for each other: Kurt, with his stylishly ruffled dark chocolate brown hair and hazel-blue eyes, and Kerry, with her wildly curly but shiny and bouncy brown hair and bright green eyes, surrounded by dark lashes. Kurt was the perfect boy, and Kerry was the perfect girl.
Of course, Daisy and Shayna had known Kurt as long as Kerry. Kurt's family had moved to a house down the street from the girls when Daisy was five, Shayna and Kerry four. The four of them had grown up together, but Kerry was very attached to Kurt from day one.
Kerry joined Kurt's circle of jocks and cheerleader friends, leaving Shayna alone, as usual. Sighing, she unpacked her backpack and got her English work out. She swirled a few strands of her dark hair around her finger.
Jessica Harris, Shayna's best friend, sat down on Shayna's desk and flashed a wide grin at her friend. Shayna couldn't help but smile back. Jessica was always happy, and most times, radiated positivity.
"Did you do the homework?" Shayna asked, biting her bottom lip. "I didn't understand the last question."
The girls compared worksheets and, as usual, Shayna's was all correct.
"Class, let's settle down!" a sharp voice called. Ms. Harper clapped twice and the class scrambled to their seats.
Ms. Harper went down through the rows of desks and snatched up the homework assignments like a starving hyena snatches up prey.
Needless to say, Ms. Harper was not a favorite of all the teachers. When the bell rang, Shayna let out a long sigh of relief. At least she wouldn't have to deal with Ms. Harper for the weekend, though being with her family wouldn't be much better.
The rest of the day went by in a blur of schoolwork and being alone. When the final bell rang, Shayna rushed to the exit and sat on the stone wall outside the school, waiting for her sisters, Kurt, or Blake.
Hands from behind clamped around her eyes, putting her in darkness. "Guess who?" a deep voice said. Shayna's elbow lashed out behind her and connected to her attacker's rib cage. She turned and said, "Kurt!" trying to sound angry, but she couldn't keep the laughter out of her voice. Kurt rubbed his side and chuckled, "If the Yorktown High School's star pitcher can't play because his demon neighbor broke a rib, it's on you."
They bickered good-naturedly until Daisy and Kerry came. The four walked home together, Kurt's house first, the sister's house a few houses down. A few other kids lived on N. 27th Road, though they were in different grades than Kurt and the sisters.
Kerry bounced up the stairs of the McMansion. The house was goldenrod yellow with white shutters that were never closed, a white picket fence around the yard of lush green grass and a Oleander tree next to the small porch that was next to the large white garage doors. The tree was in bloom, the last of it's flowers showing off their bright pink color before the hot sun baked them into dying brown crisps.
Shayna followed her sister and pulled out the house key from her backpack pocket. Daisy trudged after her younger siblings, entering the house first once the door was open. She went straight to her room upstairs. Kerry followed. Shayna lingered in the kitchen, grabbed an apple, then went up to her room.
Her room was the second one on the left on the second floor. It had pale purple walls and a pearly white ceiling. There was a window in the middle of the wall facing the door, her bed in the corner the left of the window, her white desk to the right. She had a towering bookcase about five feet from the foot of her bed, leaning against the wall that had the door. Her white dresser, in the fourth corner, was littered with jewelry and accessories on the surface. A full length mirror stood next to the dresser, facing the wall with the window. The closet was behind the full length mirror.
Shayna set her apple on her desk, dumped her backpack at the foot of her bed, and collapsed on the teal comforter. She buried her face in the white pillow and sighed. Before she could pick herself up and start thinking about her homework, her phone buzzed from deep inside her backpack.
She lunged for it and dug it out in a second. She unlocked her iPhone and answered the call.
"Hey, Blake," she exclaimed, her weariness fading like the last traces of night's darkness in the dawn sky.
"I have a game tomorrow at noon. Can you make it? Coach said I can pitch an inning." Shayna could hear the excitement in her boyfriend's voice.
"Sure," she said, "I think we were gonna go anyway, to watch Kurt." She regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth. She hastily added, "You know, since Kerry and him..."
"Well, okay, see you there." Blake's words were cheerful enough, but were clipped with jealousy. Shayna gave a short response and hung up. She tossed her phone away and began her homework.
YOU ARE READING
A Ship Without Sails
Mystery / Thriller[ COMPLETED ] "You know how there's a bunch of nice, brand-new, fancy McMansions on a street, and then there's that one old, dull, small house that's totally out of place? The one everyone's just waiting to be torn down? I'm that house." Shayna Blac...
