Coexist: Keegan's Chronicles

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Keegan smiled as she walked down the hall and saw her friends waiting for her. She attended a Catholic school, and other than the uniforms, she thought it was fantastic. She loved going to school, which was kind of odd for a teenager. School was a place where she felt normal around her human friends. All the girls managed to add some individuality to the uniforms with jewelry, make-up, and hair accessories. Lately, she’d taken to adding a scarf to her uniform, and so far no one had told her to take it off. It was a fashion trend that she picked up during her time in Dubai with her family. They traveled a lot, at least twice a year, and always took trips out of the country. Her parents wanted them to see there was more to the world than the United States.

Donald spotted her and thought, Why does she have to be an elf? He had no issue with the fact that she wasn’t human. He wasn’t human either. It drove him crazy, but he knew she could never return his feelings, not in the way he needed. Because she was an elf, she had an inability to feel deeply about anyone other than her chosen mate. They could date, but it would never lead anywhere. Last year, she had pursued him, and he had told her he only liked her as a friend. It was one of the hardest things he ever had to do. He couldn’t justify putting himself through the pain of knowing he would be nothing more than a passing fancy so he settled on the next best thing—being her friend. He had to settle with that.

Taking another quick glance at Keegan out of the corner of his eye, he banged his head back against the front of his locker. He loved everything about her. She was funny, smart, friendly, confident, considerate, and clumsy, which was so cute; not to mention the fact that she was insanely beautiful. The room felt brighter the moment Keegan walked in. Ugh, he felt so corny just thinking about his feelings for her.

***

Anna and Lauren had Keegan’s locker open and were applying their makeup when she walked up.

“You guys really need to get your own mirror,” Keegan said, rolling her eyes.

“There’s no fun in that, and besides your mirror is magical or something. It makes us look amazing,” Lauren said over her shoulder.

“Uh huh, I’m sure the $5.99 Target mirror has magical properties.”

Keegan pushed them aside to stow away her backpack, and looked at herself.

Through the mirror, Keegan could see Donald; he was so cute with his orange hair. He happened to look up at the same time, and she saw his blue eyes reflect back at her. She smiled at him, but he couldn’t see. He closed his locker and turned away to joke around with the rest of his crew.

Donald, Sam, Spencer, and Calvron were inseparable. On the rare occasion they were caught by themselves, each one usually complained about the other. They were worse than women in a beauty shop.

Sam, who happened to be one of the hottest guys in school, threw a piece of paper across the aisle at her. Keegan tried to look cool by catching it, but of course she failed miserably. Anna picked up the crumbled paper and hit Spencer in the head, which caused them all to laugh.

Keegan saw Katie timidly walking up to her. Katie was shy and had a hard time making friends, and even though the two of them had become quite close, Keegan had a feeling she still didn’t feel like part of the gang.

“Did you finish your math homework?” Katie asked.

“Of course, this morning on the ride over here.”

“I have no idea how you can do that,” Katie said. “It takes me hours to do math work.”

“Do you need any help?”

“Yes, but just on a couple of questions.”

“No problem, I’ll help you at the end of English class.”

Keegan wondered what her friends would think if they found out what she was, but it was forbidden for her to reveal her secret. She imagined if she told them that they would look at her as if she were some kind of freak. Humans seemed to fear magic and anything that was different from what they were used to.

Keegan aced her test, and the rest of the day went by in a blur. Her least favorite part of the day was gym class. She was always made fun of for her lack of coordination.

Today, things felt different though, and even the coach noticed. They played soccer and not once did she trip and fall or miss the ball. For the first time ever, Keegan scored a goal, and she even had some decent blocks. Obviously, her training with Thaddeus was paying off. She felt strong and confident. Maybe her father was onto something when he said time and practice was the key to everything. It had certainly worked for Thaddeus.

While Keegan enjoyed high school, her brother was home-schooled. All elf children who were born to be warriors were taken out of school in the sixth grade. It allowed them to focus on their training, which included using their mind and becoming highly intelligent. Most of their training took place at a camp where they spent hours in the field learning the ways of a warrior, and then they completed their studies at home on their own. They spent countless hours reading and had a strong grasp of history. Her brother could recite books word for word, which was kind of creepy.