The Glass Dance

Chapter 1: Duck Days

 CHAPTER 1  Duck Days

Three days.  Three long, wet days since the sun had last peeked out, unobstructed, from its place in the stratosphere.  At times, the rain had pelted, unrelenting, in furious symphony, with stroboscopic lightening and booming thunder.  Sometimes, it only drizzled.  But for three, soppy days, fit only for ducks, it had rained.

The water ran in streams, through the parking area, and down walkways, outside Forest Hill High School.  It streamed through Tyler's hair, and ran down her face.  Pressed for time this morning, she had forgotten to include her umbrella in her hasty grab of school paraphernalia.

The school hallway was blessedly dry, except for the floor, which was a messy mixture of tracked in water and mud.  As Tyler wove her way through the throng of student bodies, she was greeted a couple of times by classmates, but she barely paused in her undeviating beeline for the haven of the girl's restroom.

The reflection in the mirror was, unfortunately, the face she had feared.  The girl staring back resembled more a drowning victim, than a high school junior.  With wet fingers, she rested her books on the narrow ledge, below the looking glass, and began to fumble with her hair.  A perusal of her purse turned up an elastic scrunchie, and she slicked her long, wet hair back, from her face, and twisted the band.

Closer scrutiny, of her features, revealed that her makeup, even the mascara, had lived up to it's waterproof claim of, "wont streak, smear or disappear."  Maybe the day showed some promise after all.

"Hey chick!"  The image, joining Tyler's in the mirror, was that of her homeroom classmate, Erin.  Erin was pretty, popular, and extremely personable.  "How was your break?"

Spring break, for Tyler, had consisted of five fun filled days babysitting her four year old cousins.  Then, as if to taunt her for her self pity, Hurricane Briell had abruptly changed courses, sweeping closer inland, in passing the Texas coast, than expected, and the weekend cookout with her best friends had been rained out.  

"Great."  Tyler replied with false enthusiasm.

Erin’s lips were pursed as she applied a trendy shade of lipstick, and finishing up, she probed for details as she smacked her lips.  "So what did you do?"

Erin's best friend, Ashleigh, was leaning into the mirror also, silently going through the same primping motions.  Ashleigh was extremely social also, but only to her own group.  A group who wore the latest designer trends, and partied somewhere on the coast during spring break in someone’s parents’ beach house.

Ignoring the snooty girl, Tyler returned casually to Erin, "Oh you know--just hung out at the pool and stuff."  No need to add that the pool was a wading pool, not even knee deep, in a backyard of overgrown weeds and grass, shared with two tow headed tots, and one mixed breed terrier.  "What did you do?"

Erin quipped the expected response, chattering, as she gathered her things.  "We went to Crystal Beach.  But we came back when it stormed."  Pulling open the door, Ashleigh wordlessly exited, and Erin began to follow, but briefly turned back.  "Congratulations, by the way.  Guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other this summer."  Then she was gone, beyond the silent swish of the door.  

Feeling a confused frown pucker her brows, Tyler replayed the parting phrase.  Congratulations?  The door smacked open, admitting several giggling girls, and grabbing her books, Tyler emerged back into the hall.  The mass of students had thickened, and a glance at this wing's clock showed only a few minutes left, until first period began. 

Automatically, as she had done for the last couple of semesters, she separated one familiar pair of eyes, from the dozens moving her way.  Her heart lurched, pounding out a couple of extra hard beats, as it always did, for him.  His eyes warmed, and he curved a slow, familiar smile when he noticed her.  With each step, they converged closer, until they finally collided beneath the hall clock that she had checked moments ago.