The Beginning: A Novel of Crossed Paths

Chapter 3: New Girl - Mark

Chapter 3

New Girl

Mark

My alarm beeped.  I sighed – another sleepless night, another school day.  I pushed backwards from my computer desk and rolled across the hard-wood floor of my bedroom to my dresser.  I rooted around for a clean shirt and a pair of socks.  I threw them on quickly and made my way down the spiral staircase to the kitchen.

My mom was making eggs for breakfast.  I glanced at the clock and saw I only had ten minutes before I had to leave for school.  Instead of sitting down at the table where my mom wanted me, I picked a banana from the bunch on the counter and started to peel it.

“Mark, why don’t you ever eat a real breakfast?” my mom asked in exasperation.

“A banana’s a real breakfast - it’s fruit, isn’t it?” I countered.  I had done way worse than a banana for breakfast.  There was one week a few years ago that I had taken to eating mint chocolate chip ice cream in the mornings.

I could see her thinking through this.  After a minute, she shook her head, rolled her eyes, and began to dump the omelet onto a plate for my dad.  That was the thing about having scholars for parents – they always had to think things though before giving an answer.

I finished my banana before my dad came into the room.  I grabbed the book bag that was on the back of one of the kitchen chairs and waved to my mom as I scooted out the doorway to the garage.  I flipped on the overhead light and saw my red Jeep.

It was not my favorite way to travel, but I could not go running up to the school at a hundred miles per hour.  The Jeep was the next best thing if I did not want to get in trouble with my parents.  They did not approve of my using my powers for fun.  They would rather I waited until the “opportune moment” showed itself.  I thought that I could use my powers when I wanted, as long as I did not use them to do anything illegal or immoral.

With this in mind, I drove up to the school and parked in my usual spot.  I jumped out and slammed the door just as Trevor came walking up to me.  Trevor Dauterman had been my best friend for three years running.  He was on the student council and had the brown hair and blue eyes that girls seemed to like.  They were always throwing themselves at him.

“Man, have you seen the Lowells’ new foster kid?  She is wicked hot.”  It was typical Trevor behavior to start talking about the hot new girl in school right off the bat.

“If you haven’t noticed, I just got here,” I replied.

“That’s no excuse once you see her.  Maybe I’ll get her to be my girlfriend,” he said.  I supposed this would not be too hard.  Trevor usually got the girls he wanted.

“Good luck.  You know it’s the new girls that are always tough.”

“I don’t think this one will be.  I heard some rumors that she is one-of-a-kind-chick that never talks.”

“She’s probably just shy . . .”

“No, I mean she never talks, as in hasn’t talked in ten years or something,” Trevor interrupted.  This was an interesting piece of information.  I would have to either prove or disprove this.  Maybe I would try talking to her myself.

“Do you know her name?  It might be a little easier to talk to her if you did,” I asked, trying to make it sound like I would enjoy helping him.

“It’s something like ‘Red.’”

Trevor and I had been walking into the school as we continued our conversation.  I now said “See you later” to Trevor and turned left down the west hallway to drop my book bag off at my locker.  I used the same combination lock I had been using since freshman year.  It was a wonder no one knew the combination yet.