Chosen (Updates Once Upon A Time)

Chapter 2-- Journey

Chapter 2

Cameron 

"Cammie!"

I turned just as my girlfriend Arielle slammed into me. Arielle was the head cheerleader of Lightfire High. She was petite and Asian, with large brown eyes like warm melted chocolate and waist length brown-black wavy tresses. Her skin gave off a healthy, tanned glow. I loved her to bits. Smiling, I leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Missed me?"

"Yeah," she pouted. "I missed you last night..."

"Aw, I’m sorry babe. You know what," I grinned mischievously. "I'll make it up to you." Then I lowered my lips to hers. The touch of her lips tingled all the way down to my toes and I backed her up against the line of lockers. She tangled her fingers in my hair and I ran my hands down her legs as she hooked them around my hips and pressed herself against me. I lost myself in the sensations of the kiss, until--

"Cadre! Liona!" The voice of my history teacher, Mr. Ferguson sent us leaping yards away from each other. "No PDA in the school halls!" Damn...

"Sorry Mr. Ferguson," I said as Arielle tried to straighten her clothes. "It won't happen again."

"Fat chance of that ever happenin'," he snorted and then walked off.

"Ari, I have to get to class. See you after school?"

"Actually, I have detention today... can you pick me up?"

"Sure," I nodded. "Bye Ari," I kissed her forehead. "Love you."

There was no answer as I turned my back and walked away.

**********

"How's my favorite quarterback?" I slapped Chester on the back as I walked up to him when walking to my car.

"I'm good," he said distractedly. "Hey listen, I have to go to book club today, so I'm not catching a ride with you. Sorry." Book club? Chester hated books.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." He scurried away in the opposite direction to the library. Maybe he just didn't know where it was... 

**********

After getting a coffee at a nearby Starbucks, I pulled up to the school lot. I decided to surprise Arielle by waving to her through the window of her detention class. I was walking along the outside of the school when two figures moving in the window caught my eye. I frowned and walked closer. Wasn't Arielle wearing that sparkly top today? I squinted through the glass. Holy freaking hell. That bastard!

Arielle chose that moment to look up from Chester's lips and... stared straight at me. A look of panic crossed her features as she glanced at my face through the window. I shook my head, got in my car and drove away before Chester even knew what was going on.

**********

After I got in the car, I drove to the park. Even though the park was over an hour's drive away, it was the only place I could go where I could think in peace. When I parked and got off the car it was nearing twilight, and a storm was brewing overhead. I headed a few yards into the woods and plopped down on the grass. Lightning streaked across the sky as I lay down on the soft springy grass and gazed at the clouds overhead. How could she do this to me? A tear fell from my eye. And with my best friend, no less. Another dripped onto the ground. The clouds darkened overhead and as the rain began to pour, the tears fell from my eyes as if they were jealous of the water already sliding down my face.

**********

A loud crash of thunder startled me and my eyes snapped open. The lightning flashed across the sky and thunder rumbled a few moments later. The storm was close. I rose and set off towards the car, rain dripping off my jacket and jeans. As I neared the edge of the forest, the rain beat down harder, and soon I was shivering from the cold. Another streak of lightning lit up the night, and I turned just in time to see the tree beside me catch fire as it was hit by the lightning. I gasped and turned, sprinting away from the fire that was spreading across the open meadow of the park. Within minutes, it had caught up to me and swallowed me whole. The only thing I felt was bliss and comfort as my vision turned bright orange and faded into nothingness.

**********

When I opened my eyes again, the sky was a deep blue and a smatter of stars were scattered over it. A full moon hung in the sky, but something seemed... off about it. As did the stars. I turned around to go back home. God... Mom's going to shit monkeys! I spun around. My car, and the edge of the forest were nowhere to be seen. Fuck... I took stock of my belongings. I had some matches, a pack of crackers, a hoodie and a small bottle of water. That wasn't going to last long... I began walking in a generic direction. Before long, I came across a perfect circle of grass. This was as good a camping place as any. I sighed and plunked onto the ground, eyeing a long branch that rested not far away from me. I wrapped my t-shirt around the tip of the branch and lit it on fire. Now I had some semblance of protection from whatever came creeping by in the forest. Suddenly, I heard some wolves howl, and some snarling as well... I didn't think there were any wolves in this part of the country. I stood up and looked around. One by one, the wolves stepped out of the shadows, growling and snapping their jaws. I gulped.

I'm in some deep shit...

Then, out of the blue, an arrow came whizzing by and struck a russet brown wolf in the shoulder. It whimpered and fled. One after another, arrows came whizzing out of the darkness. I kept staring at where the arrows appeared. Then, a girl stepped into view.

She looks just like Arielle... I hurriedly turned away to keep an eye out for the other wolves who were steadily advancing on me.

She did. Same black tresses shot through with brown, same skin tone, but there was one difference. This girl carried herself regally, almost as if she were royalty and showed no fear as she faced down those wolves. Soon, all but two of the wolves remained. One lunged and raked its razor-sharp claws along my forearm. I gritted my teeth and winced against the pain, but I made no sound.

After a while, only one wolf remained at the girl's side.

“Hey!” she called, walking hurriedly over to me.

“Hey, are you okay?” She asked gently, laying a hand on my arm.

Does it look like I’m okay? “Yeah—yeah I’m fine.” I grunted, tying the bandage tighter around my arm and wincing.

“Where are you from? Clan Amden? Deota? Seron?” She asked.

My forehead wrinkled into a frown. What was she talking about? None of those names meant anything to me. “What are you talking about? I’m from Eaglewood, Florida.”

She frowned as well. “Wait a minute… Florida, as in the United States?”

Where else? Florida, China? “Yeah. What do you mean by clans?”

She tensed up, obviously thinking about something important. I stayed quiet until she said something else.

“Never mind,” she dismissed. Changing the subject, she said, “I’m Avalon Lionel. What’s your name?”

Okay, so this is definitely not Arielle.

"Cameron," Seeing her face tore open the stitches I had so carefully put in the wounds on my heart. I swallowed to keep the tears from flowing out. "Cameron Cadre."