The Airdrie Firefly

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Calm before the Storm

Steven was distracted as he walked to his locker before Mrs. Nessman's first-period English class. He was too inside his own head to notice the sea of sixth graders part in front of him, staring in horror at the cuts and bruises on his face and arms.

The weekend had been a flurry of activity—a weekend that included his first-ever news story getting picked up by CTV News, and it was airing tonight. That by itself was enough to keep his head spinning, but there was more, much more.

He had also, well Talyn had really, discovered Bigfoot! It was a scoop that would probably be bigger than any he might have in his entire life, but one that he couldn't report, not without putting the species at risk.

Then there was the odd business with his doctor heading up a special division at the zoo, and he was looking for Bigfoot, no less! What was a people-doctor doing heading up a division for the zoo? And if the zoo knew about Bigfoot, what else did they know about?

Maybe there's a secret aquarium somewhere with a baby Loch Ness Monster in it, Steven thought. He shook the thought out of his head.

Finally, there was all the craziness surrounding Talyn, not the least of which was their kiss. Nothing more had come of it during lunch the previous day, but he'd been busy communicating back and forth with Chelsea Tanaka, the CTV reporter covering the story.

Steven absentmindedly spun through the combination of his locker and then unloaded the contents of his backpack. He sighed as he tossed the first of a week's worth of meatloaf sandwiches inside his locker, to prevent the smell from attaching itself to the material of his backpack.

"Hey, Digs."

Steven looked toward the voice and saw Chris. He had a bandage on his nose and both eyes were black.

"Sorry about that call yesterday," said Chris. "My nose was killing me—my whole head, really."

"I know the feeling," Steven said, gesturing to his whole body.

"Listen, Digs," Chris said in a hushed voice, eyes scanning the crowd moving past them. "I have to talk to you about your girlfriend."

"What girlfriend?" said a familiar voice.

Chris spun around to see Talyn.

"I . . . uh . . . I'll see you later, Digs," Chris said, shuffling backward before spinning on his heel and striding away.

"I packed an extra one for you," Talyn said, handing Steven a brown-bag lunch.

"I didn't know you were back," Steven said, an involuntary smile stretching across his face.

"I tried to tell you yesterday, but you were kinda busy."

"Thanks for this," Steven said, looking in the lunch bag. "I missed these."

"Well, I couldn't have you starvin' now, could I?" Talyn said. "So, what about this girlfriend?"

Steven's head snapped up in a flush of embarrassment to see Talyn's bright green eyes searching his face through red ringlets. She was wearing another dress today, emerald green, and more makeup. Steven's eyes found their way back to Talyn's, and again he felt the butterflies in his stomach that had been so prevalent on Friday.

"Girlfriend? I . . . I don't . . ." muttered Steven.

Talyn's face changed. The smile Steven was so used to seeing on her face pulled back into a clenched jaw. And there was something about her eyes; they had somehow lost their luster and now blended into the shadows that her hair cast across her face.