Amaranthine

Chapter Fifteen

© Copyright 2011 

All work is property of Leah Crichton, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.

Duplicity: (doo-plis-i-tee)

deceitfulness in speech or conduct, speaking or acting in two ways concerning the same manner with intent to deceive

double dealing

My life had become woven of fairytale magic. Orion was everything I'd ever dreamed of and then some. I turned seventeen and spring would soon be summer, breathing heat and life into the world around me, a world that consisted of time with Orion.  Lazy days beside him and nights that I found myself longing for.

I waited with impatience for the stars to emerge, because when they did, my own constellation would come.  I lived for these stolen moments and would curl up beside him, fitting like that missing puzzle piece into his arms and sleep. Each morning when he would leave, he would tell me he loved me, and each morning I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t still dreaming.

Chloe never did return to school, and much like Orion’s outburst, no one said anything about Mona. Rumors ran rampant that Chloe had been taken to the psychiatric ward at the hospital. Despite the fact that she was so mean to me, I still felt awful for my enemy. Mona’s strange behavior continued to fester.  It was like walking on eggshells around her, but Orion kept me easily distracted, pleasantly distracted, from much of anything else.  

We sat outside at lunchtime, all five of us. This weekend it was Alicia and Alex’s birthday party, which took up most of our conversation. Now that it was getting close, Alicia wanted to make sure everything was perfect. “So at last count we have about a hundred fifty people.”

“I don’t even think I know a hundred fifty people,” I said. If this was just for their birthday, I couldn’t even imagine what their grad party would be like.

Mona blushed. “One fifty one. If it’s okay, I’m going to bring a date.”

“What?” Orion was bored, but sat up, his interest piqued by Mona’s statement. “You have a date?”

“What’s it to you?”

“It’s nothing to me, but weird. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you date anyone. I’ve known you for like, forever. He must be something special.” 

“What’s his name?” Alicia asked.

“Kyle,” Mona said.

“Kyle,” Orion scoffed. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he was jealous but his lips were turned up at the ends as if he was amused.

“I can't wait to meet him,” Alicia said. “Do you know what you're going to wear?”

As they babbled about jeans versus dresses, I turned to Orion and asked. “Why do you find it funny that Mona’s bringing someone to the party?”

“Not funny. Weird. I thought Mona was going to be a crazy cat lady. She never showed any interest in anyone before. I can’t really explain it.” He spoke carefully, as if his words could make it more convincing to him.

“Well, I kind of feel sorry for the guy,” I said. Did he have any idea what he was in for? “Maybe I feel sorry for Mona, too, what with you thinking she’d end up a cat hoarder.”

Orion’s eyebrows rose. “Why? You don’t even know him and, if you knew her as well as I do, you’d not be the least bit surprised in my cat collector theory.”