Flickering Flames

Chapter One: The Beginnning

Flickering Flames

By: Aoife O'Regan

Thanks to illyna16 for the amazing new cover!

A/N: I just updated some things in here; the tense has been changed to present, and some more stuff has been explained.  Thanks so much to RMCage for all of the advice, it was much appreciated!  But please, point out any mistakes I've made.  I promise to change my errors (unless they don't turn out to be errors...)

CHAPTER ONE: THE BEGINNING

          “Nice to see you again, Mrs. Doeringer.”  I smile sweetly at the wrinkled student counselor as she scribbles down some notes on a paper on a clipboard, her clearly dyed blonde hair falling in front of her face.

            She sighs.  “Nice to see you again, Miss Oakley.”  She sounds even more unenthusiastic than most times I’ve seen her.  Which just happens to be many; usually once a day.

            I sigh too.  “I told you before, call me Ember.  Ember.  Can you say that?”  I sound like Dora the Explorer.

            She looks up from the paper and gives me a blank stare, and also plays with the pearl necklace adorning her neck.  I smile and wave to lighten up the mood.  “Did I ever tell you how much I love your last name, Mrs. Doeringer?  It reminds me of—”

            She rudely interrupts me.  “The dream you had when a deer came up to your door and rang the doorbell.  You’ve repeated yourself every time we’ve met.”

            I stare off into space and ‘hm’.  ‘Hm’-ing is when you make a sound that is kind of like a laugh, but it’s inside your mouth, and it’s just this little tiny noise.  Mrs. Doeringer has expressed her distaste for the word ‘hm’, ‘hm’-ing, and ‘hm’-ed, saying that there’s some other word for it and that I should remember what it is.  I don’t.

            “So how have you been Mrs. Doeringer?  Myself, I’m doing just dandy these days.  You know, the other day, the cat Skitty—”

            “Ember, I don’t need to hear about your cat.  I already know that he weighs sixteen pounds—”

            “Fifteen now.”

            “Don’t interrupt me.  Do you not understand we’re here to talk about—” She stops herself, probably because I’m waving my hand in the air and making ‘oo’ noises.  Those are the ones where—

            “Ember, do I need to bring Ms. Beecher into this?” she declares sternly.

            My eyes widen.  “No, no, of course not!  She’s— Wait; did you say Ms. Beecher?  So it’s true!  Because Daniel told everyone that she got divorced, but no one believed him, but I did, because she’s so boring, I don’t understand how she met anyone in the first place!  You, Mrs. Doeringer, I am not at all surprised are married.  I bet you were popular when you were in high school.  Did you like high school?  I bet you did, you were like so popular!  I bet Mrs., I mean, Ms. Beecher was some loser everyone hated, and— Mrs. Doeringer?  Are you okay?”

            Mrs. Doeringer has her hands clasped around her face, and generally looks stressed out.  I’m about to say something else, but she must see my lips starting to move, so she quickly stands up, towering over me.  She looks kind of mad.

            “EMBER SABINA OAKLEY, YOU ARE HEARBY EXPELLED FROM RAINWRIGHT HIGH SCHOOL!” she shrieks at me.  I am rather taken aback.  Her madness decreases after a second.  “Remember the time I was with you, your parents, and Ms. Beecher and we talked about all of this?  Well, Ms. Beecher has concluded that it would be best for all of us if you left.”