Ophelia parked on the street outside Togo High School, easily on time for the first day. As she stepped onto the broken asphalt, she saw the owl perched in a birch tree. Morning sunshine lit up her golden wings. "You're being a little creepy."
The owl didn't answer, of course.
Still, her presence seemed as natural as the newly fallen snow. Nothing creepy at all.
"Well, I think you're the prettiest bird I've ever seen in my life." Ophelia faced the school and let out a long breath. "I wish I could fly away with you. Only two more years and I'll be free," she mumbled, face down, and trudged across the student parking lot.
As a junior, Ophelia was entitled to a space in the lot, but securing the right was not a battle worth fighting. She just wanted to put in her time, graduate, and get the heck out of the Alaskan Bush. She wanted to explore the world she'd only known through books, her family's vast DVD collection, and the tourists who no longer came.
As she rounded the school mascot statue, a tundra wolf, she heard a girly chuckle and looked up to see a gaggle of cheerleaders under the school sign. The big football game wasn't until Saturday, but they were already in their red and black uniforms.
All the other girls despised the cheerleaders but were afraid to say so.
Katelyn, a tall, blond bimbo, looked over Ophelia's ensemble, a sneer in her thin lips. "What are you? A pirate?" She propped books on her curvy hip, careful not to block the large chest Martin liked so much. She fancied herself Martin's girlfriend, but everyone knew he played the field. "Your sister dressed you again, didn't she? Bianca's nuts."
"An opinion valid only in this geographic location." Ophelia glanced down at her white ruffled blouse, brown vest, jeans, and rider boots. She wore gold loop earrings, too, but refused to tie a scarf around her head. "In greater centers of art and science, imaginative individuality is indicative of genius level intelligence."
"Geek." Katelyn waved a hand and walked away.
"Yeah, ridicule what you don't understand," grumbled Ophelia. She proceeded to the main entrance. "Morons." At least, big words could always be counted on to frighten off Katelyn.
Martin's voice carried across the teacher's parking lot and she turned to watch, first foot on the bottom step into the main entrance. He strode between the teachers' banged-up vehicles, his parents' brand-new black truck behind him. How they could afford such massive SUVs was beyond comprehension.
"Martin!" Katelyn brightened up and hurried to him, followed by her girlfriends. "Where's your new truck?"
Ophelia proceeded up the concrete steps and into the school. The last thing she wanted to see was Katelyn fawning over Martin like a whipped dog starved for affection.
The junior class lockers were blue and a step up in cleanliness from the sophomore's yellow lockers. Even so, she'd brought her own lemon-scented multi-purpose cleaner and cotton cloths.
Ophelia lifted the latch and readied the spray bottle, but as she opened it an orange scent wafted through. A paper revealed itself, dangling from the shelf by a single piece of tape.
It was a drawing of a barn owl.
And the moldy old locker had already been cleaned.
She only realized she'd gasped when the Lysol fumes stung the back of her throat. She freed the drawing. "Ooh, so beautiful."
The barn owl, the one she'd seen outside the café, had been drawn in minute detail and brought to life in shades of brown and gold with gentle strokes of colored pencils.
YOU ARE READING
The Finding of the Ice Princess
FantasíaBe careful what you wish for. Ophelia's had a wicked crush on Martin since they were kids, but she was always just his geeky little friend. Then, on the first day of her junior year, he's suddenly and wildly attracted to her. She can't imagine what'...
