Tetrology Of The Sea - Book 1: From The Sea 🪼✔

Ten

Shana picked out an outfit for school. Being a cheerleader meant that people were always looking at her and judging her. She wished she wasn't being judged all the time and that everyone treated her normally but she knew she had an image to uphold and so she found a cute miniskirt with a graffiti top. Her hair was already styled to the side and she only needed some shoes...
"Come on, Shana! You're taking forever again!" Aylin called from the stairwell. "I'll make you walk if you don't hurry up."
"I'm still getting dressed!"
Aylin had risen as a football player and was also popular with the ladies. His ear length brunette hair made all the ladies swoon because it was so soft and luxurious. It was only because he used Shana's conditioner...
She heard the front door slam closed and she blanched at herself in the mirror. She walked over to the window and found her brother actually pulling out of the driveway and leaving her. Shana couldn't believe that he would do that to her. She'd get him for that and she knew just how to do it...

****************

"Travis, you're going to be late for school again." Ruth said with a tired voice. "And please stop smoking in the house."
Travis pulled the cigarette from his mouth and blew smoke into the air with a defiant look toward her. Ruth gave him a daring look and he sighed, pushing his black hair from his face.
"And don't you dare try and weasel your way out of dinner tonight. I know it ruins your... "image" when you're with me and Josh but I'm still your mother."
"Not really..."
Despite that though, he put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a playful kiss on the cheek. Ruth smiled, liking whenever the little boy she had rescued came out in the... whatever this was that was in her presence now. After the ordeal with going back to the ocean, he changed his whole being. He demanded that he get contacts and when he turned fifteen, he dyed his sandy blonde hair black and began to run on the beach so he could get fit. Of course, everything but the pooch at the bottom of his stomach was toned.
If nothing else, at least he worked an honest job and even though he smoked (which Ruth hated), he usually had the decency to do it outside and only did it when he felt stressed. He was easy to let it go but he liked the image it gave him and so he didn't stop.
As he swirled the keys on his finger to go to his car –that he saved up for- the tick, tick of heels caught his attention and he looked up. Shana was shuffling herself across the road with a mini-purse under her arm.
"Oh goodie, I caught you! Listen, can you give me a ride to school? Aylin left without me."
Travis decided to measure her up with his eyes from her sparkly pedicured feet that were in high wedges, up her very shapely legs, over her tight and ripped stomach, perking breast and then at her face, where a perfect set of emeralds stared at him under decently placed makeup.
"You really want to get in the car with me?" he asked, pointing to the used Suzuki beside him.
"I don't have a way to get to school and I'm not going to take the bus. Come on, Travis..."
"Your brother will kill me." He said, putting the cigarette in his mouth again. "I don't need that. The first half of the year has been great without seeing his mug or his fist. I'd like to keep it that way."
Shana frowned. "I'll tell him not to hurt you."
"Never worked before."
"Please, Travis. I'm going to be late."
He blew some smoke out and then sighed, scratching his head a little.
"Whatever."
He flicked the cigarette to the ground, wiped his clothes off and opened the passenger door for her. Shana blinked rapidly for a moment at the chivalrous act, for even her boyfriend didn't do that. She quickly got in and shut the door as Travis got in beside her. She looked around at the car and then her eyes settled back on Travis, who was staring at her with a funny look.
"What?"
"Don't judge my car with your eyes."
Shana made a face. "I was thinking it was nice."
"Liar."
Shana moved her mouth to the side and looked out the window.
"You don't wear your glasses anymore. Did your eyes get better?"
"Contacts." He said, backing the car up.
"I see... Why did you look at the sun for that long anyway?"
"I wanted to see it, what do you think?"
Shana frowned. "You don't have to be a smart ass all the time."
"I do it to keep you at a distance. Your brother hates me for some reason and if I look in your direction and he thinks I'm looking at you, he will beat me to a pulp. He's already ruined my reputation and social life."
"I do apologize for it." She said sincerely.
"But what has your apologies done? Nothing..."
Shana sighed and crossed her arms.
As they pulled into the school, Shana made a face at the mud.
"You park here?"
"I didn't get a car in time for the nice asphalt." He pulled into his parking spot and grabbed his books and his jacket. When Shana didn't open the door he looked at her. "What?"
"My feet will get dirt on them. I wore nice shoes..."
Travis scoffed and rolled his eyes as he put his jacket on and slammed his door shut. He then tramped around to the other side of the car, his combat boots getting muddied. He opened the door and leaned over Shana to undo her seatbelt.
"What are you doing?"
"Saving your precious wardrobe." He said, turning his head to her.
He smelled of aftershave and smoke and his hair smelled like Axe showering gel. The smoky smell wasn't as overpowering as Shana thought it would be and she allowed another sniff of his hair before he pulled out and suddenly grabbed her under her legs and around her waist.
"What are you doing?!"
"Carrying you over the mud so you can priss your way to school on the sidewalk." He said, kicking the door shut. "Isn't this what a princess is used to?"
Shana wanted to clock him but she realized how right he was and how conceited she sounded. Don't want to get my shoes dirty? When did it matter if my feet were mucked up? Travis set her on the ground and she steadied herself. He tromped his way back and grabbed his things. Now that she looked at him, she didn't realize how attractive Travis had gotten over the years. Sure when he had first gotten his braces and glasses he was a little dorky but when he started growing up, the glasses made him look very cute and the braces had made his smile exquisite. He was pretty buff but could never seem to get rid of a small pudge at the base of his stomach but that pooch seemed to make him even more distinguished.
"You'd better get going or you'll be late." He said, looking down at her.
Her eyes caught his black eyes and she stared at him, never realizing now extraordinary his eyes were.
"What are you doing?"
"Your eyes are an unusual color..."
"They're black. Which really isn't a color, but an absence of color."
"They're like pools of onyx."
Travis was taken aback by the statement and smiled a little.
"Thanks... That's the most truthful thing I've heard you say to me."
Shana looked up at him again and he smirked at her.
She shook her head of bad thoughts. She had been a good girl for this long, why would she be thinking of naughty things now? With Travis?