The Circle

The Circle - Chapter Four

Four:

"No offence April and I know you like to take offence," Alex Field felt a fist punch him jokingly in the stomach. "Ok ok, chill out Jinx, but it's true. It sounds like a massive pile of bull." 

"Agreed," April tucked into her lunch but was lacking in appetite and it wasn't an occurrence she favoured. 

"Keep it down Alex, we don't want anyone overhearing!" Jinx punched Alex in the stomach once more. 

"Oi, leave it out will you, like there's spies planted around the place is that what you mean?"

Alex Field was a joker and always tried his best in every way to make people laugh. His tall physique and broad shoulders gave him a typical sportsman appearance but the fact that he hated sports kind of destroyed the facade. He had a shaggy mop of brown hair and deep puppy dog eyes that generally lacked any type of mystery. Although he liked to at least try and pay attention to his appearance every now and again, especially if there were girls around. The most particular girl being April McCabe. He was well aware that his chances with April were extremely slim. He had faced facts long ago. April just wasn't interested but that didn't stop him wanting her. His prominent jaw line and cheek bones stuck up like mountains and his cheeky eyes glistened as he smiled. 

"My Mum wouldn't make this crap up, you know that." 

"I'm not saying that Jinx," April butted into the argument finally. "It's just... can it actually be true? I mean - do you believe it?" 

Jinx was silent as she picked at her chips. "Honestly April, I have no idea but Mum has everything set up for tonight."

                                                                                                *****  

Jinx and April made their way back to the Garcia caravan after another tedious day of school. As the two friends silently joked about Loretta Antonio's carry-on's and Alex Field's obvious crush on April, once again the girls were oblivious to the hooded character following closely in the shadows of the Eastern Woods.  

Once they were back at the caravan, the girls weren't surprised to see that Clarinda had everything set out for the evening including a huge amount of snacks which April was most pleased about. Although April was interested to see what Clarinda had found out about her ancestry, she was extremely sceptical about the whole thing and on top of that, she was shattered. Her sleep had been so disturbed with nightmares about Gavin that she was beginning to feel the tiredness setting in, but she needed to at least hear Clarinda out before she passed out into a coma. 

"Right April, first thing is first," Clarinda sat down on the sofa with a thud, the old chair struggling with her weight as she got herself comfortable and sipped at her herbal tea. "Have you been experiencing anything strange recently? Anything you can't quite explain?" 

"Well actually now you mention it, Loretta was almost friendly today and that in itself is the biggest revelation I have ever been forced to witness. Oh, and Gavin has his hair highlighted. Bizarre, must be some sort of magic?" 

Jinx was laughing hysterically. Trust April to make jokes at a time like this.

"Girls, this is serious!" Clarinda's face told the two friends all they needed to know. Apparently this was no laughing matter but April couldn't help it. The whole idea was ludicrous. 

"Sorry Clarinda, but honestly no - nothing strange or out of the ordinary has happened to me. Well, other than what I've just told you." 

Clarinda heaved herself from the sofa once again and waddled over to the book shelf, removing a large leather bound book entitled 'Sancia Encanto'. All of Clarinda's books seemed to be leather bound these days. April stifled a hysterical giggle.