POWERS OF NATURE Book 1 - Into the Storm

Chapter 8

Monday came quickly, and without dreams thanks to the sleeping pill Stephanie had begged from her mom, but the morning brought more desolate weather.

Stephanie frowned at the sky and the cloud's that threatened to burst at any given moment. She was tired of the storms, the rain and the never ending wind. Glaring one more time at the sky, daring the rain to begin while she was still in the open parking lot, she stepped out of her car and faced the school building.

It was an old brick building, having never received an upgrade but Stephanie preferred it this way. There were leaves of ivy climbing the walls, and grass surrounding the three story building. It had grand archways that led into the corridors, before leading off into the classrooms in a square shape with a large grassy courtyard in the middle dotted with tables. There were so few instances of vandalism that they never bothered to put gates up. It reminded Stephanie of an old castle, without the steeping towers.

Her mom had offered to call the school and excuse her after Stephanie had told her about the argument with Mary, but Stephanie had insisted she go to school. She had two months left, and she couldn't, wouldn't, hide. Friday had been a reprieve from all the craziness. After spending the whole weekend reading the journals, doing her own random research as well as finding out the truth about her parents, Stephanie felt she would lose her mind if she stayed in the house one more day. That was saying something considering she already felt like she was losing her mind. Between real life and the life like dreams that plagued her, she felt she was losing touch with reality. School was normal. She needed a dose of normal.

As if hearing her unspoken dare, a drizzle started and Stephanie hurried towards the building, her head down against the rain. She stumbled as she bumped into a warm bodies and stopped, looking up to apologise. Her apology died on her lips when she looked into Riley's chocolate brown eyes, a shade lighter than her own. Her eyes travelled to the hand he was holding, before following the arm to Mary's face and her mouth popped open.

Her eyes flitted from Riley's face, to their hands, to Mary's face and back again. She waited for the hurt, anger or betrayal that she knew she should feel, but surprisingly felt nothing and she burst out laughing. Mary and Riley looked at each other before taking a step back from her and she laughed again.

"Have you lost your mind, Stephanie?" Mary asked, her tone filled with venom. She had wanted to hurt Stephanie, not have her laughing at her. Stephanie shook her head as she stopped laughing and smiled at them.

"Ah, Mary." Stephanie smiled, fake sadness colouring her tone and wiped the tears away caused by her laughter, "I don't know why it took me so long to see through you, and you." She gave Riley a pointed look but he refused to meet her gaze. Mary glared at her. "I don't know why you guys waited so long. Honestly, looking at how comfortable the two of you are, I can see this didn't just "happen" over the weekend." Her fingers made quotation marks in the air. Mary's cheeks darkened in embarrassment, proving Stephanie's point. They were still standing in the light rain and a small group of students had gathered by the archway of the entrance. Everyone knew that Riley had been Stephanie's boyfriend and Mary her best friend. They knew something was happening, and like at any typical high school, each wanted to be the first to see the drama.

Stephanie, noting the group behind them, made to walk around the pair but Mary, also seeing the crowd, spun and grabbed her wrist. Stephanie jerked back and pulled her hand out of Mary's grasp. "Don't touch me." She said calmly, her eyes narrowing. Mary smirked at her.

"I told you that you were nothing without me. You'll be sorry you ever gave my friendship up." Mary said, coldly but Stephanie rolled her eyes. "The only thing I'm sorry about is the fact that I naively thought our friendship meant more to you than it did, that I wasn't as important to you as you were to me. The one thing I am not sorry about, is ending our friendship."