Authors: C Fournier
Chapter 7
Stephanie
Wilson
Boston 9:30am
Wednesday February 14
th
2029
He was going to my school, which could only mean one thing…he was a son of a gang member. How else could he afford this school, a vehicle and a house? My family could barely afford to keep our home let alone get a vehicle. Our moms are working extra hours just to get us through school. My brothers and I are getting whatever jobs we can get to help pay for schooling and other necessities.
Right now I work three different jobs. I work at a coffee shop, at the library and at a corner store. Kevin works at a bowling alley and at a restaurant as a waiter, and the twins work as babysitters and dog walkers
. Life can be very hard at times but we are working through the rough patches.
All the girls are all giggly about Antonio, but for my friends, my brothers…and me, he’s just another person to avoid. When I told my brothers that I had helped him and how stupid I felt for helpi
ng a gang member, they understood…mostly. But I still got lectured by Jean and Betty, about being careful with the strangers that I let into the house.
I pretended to listen to the lecture, but I didn’t really pay too much attention. I mean I
don’t try to be rude or disrespectful, but I’ve heard it multiple times. I guess they will keep saying it until I actually listen. I guess I’m a little too kind hearted, especially in these rougher times.
Although I did have a little trouble
yesterday with a couple of guys who tried to take me home with them. I’ll just say that I am not a dainty princess or a delicate flower, and those guys were a bit surprised when I knocked them both into the wall. Then they fought back…much harder then I had anticipated. So I got a little banged up, no big deal. Besides I’m a pretty fast healer, but it doesn’t hurt to use tonics to help with the bruising.
Still Jean and Betty worry about me.
I don’t like it when I make them worried, but no one can ever really be safe anymore. It didn’t always used to be like this though. I sighed and thought back to when I was younger, helping my grandparents on the farm. Those were the days…before all the gang fights ruined everything! I clenched my fists underneath my desk, and ground my teeth together. I had to keep my anger in check, so as not to get into trouble with the principal or any of the gangs. But sometimes you can’t solve things with just words…
Although this is the best school around, it costs an arm and a leg to go here.
And the people are not very friendly. But I did manage to make a couple of friends, or should I say a couple of outcasts…like me. I also made a couple of friends in higher up gangs, but I had very few of those. Since almost all of the higher-ups look down on people like me and my brothers, they all think that we are all just a bunch of annoying little cockroaches that they have the displeasure of meeting.
But
I knew something was odd about Antonio the moment he stepped in the door to the coffee shop. He had this weird ‘keep away from me’ aura that really intrigued me. I kind of suspected that he was in a gang, but I didn’t think he was in a high level gang. Now things are going to have to change. I’m going to have to be as strict with him as I am with the rest of the gang members that bug me.
I took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts of him out of my mind.
Then I started to think about that music composition book that my parents had given to me before they died. I had tried to play the music that was written in it, but it sounded off when it was played and the lyrics didn’t make sense.
I tried to refocus on my class, but then another thought pushed itself to the surface. What is in the locked box that we got the day after my parents died? It didn’t have a key, and it wasn’t a combination lock. But it did have a note taped to the top of the box. The note had said something like:
W
e gave the key to a trusted friend. Don’t worry about finding them because they will find you, when the time is right.
But who was close enough to my parents, that my parents would give them the key to a locked box. The box that was apparently special enough to die for. I wonder who has the key now
. I mean seriously would that same person that they gave it to in the first place still have it…even now?
Chapter 8
Antonio
Caine
Boston 10:45 am
Wednesday February 14
th
2029
I still don’t get what this weird charm on my necklace means. My mom gave it to me as a present for Christmas and when I asked my dad what it was, he just shrugged and went back to his work. I always wear it around my neck because it was the last thing my mom gave me before she died. She had told me that it was a very special charm, and that it was given to her by a very close friend.
It was in the shape of a
cross with some writing on it, but none of the writing was in English. I could read some of it, because of the various languages that I’ve been around through all the travelling, but most of it was a mystery to me.
Where did my mom get this kind of
necklace from? It didn’t have an engraving of a company or of a continent. It looked like it was pure silver or white gold; no diamonds and it didn’t seem to have any other ores in it. But maybe I should see if I can get it checked, just to be safe. I’ll go to the jewellers’ right after school to see if I can find out where this came from, but for now I have to figure out how to get through the day first.
I found out that I
also have my second class with Haley Williams. I sure hope I don’t have anymore classes with her. She throws herself at me, and tries to sit next to me in class. She is very persistent and doesn’t take no for an answer, and I find her way of flirting way too extensive for my taste. I’m just the new kid after all; she probably will leave me alone after a couple more days…I hope.
My second class was a bit more busy then my first class, so I actually had something to focus on other then her creepy flirting. My first class was art and my second class was math, my third class today should be
business, then my final class should be chemistry. I wonder if I have any classes with Stephanie…hold it! Where did that thought come from? I shook her from my thoughts and tried to focus on my work.
I found that the more I tried to ignore her the more I was curious about her. I’ve never been as curious about anything as I was about her right now.
She was the only person I felt like I could let go around, and I really did not want to do that. If I let go of my emotional control that will lead to weakness, and weakness leads to pain and suffering. I know from some very painful and unforgettable experiences. My mother was one of them, but she was not the only one.
I was betrayed and cheated by an ex-girlfriend
of mine, she ran off with my best friend. I didn’t find out until I saw them making-out in my friend’s bedroom through his window. I wouldn’t forgive either of them, I couldn’t. Some things cannot be forgiven or forgotten no matter how hard you try…I can’t have a meaningful relationship or any kind of relationship, because it is a weakness.
I barely listened to the teacher or anybody for the rest of class
. I tried to listen but my curiosity kept butting in, as well as some bad memories. I almost didn’t hear the bell ring for the end of the second period. I shook myself out of this weird funk that I’d fallen into and went to go get my lunch.
I didn’t see
Stephanie which was both to my relief and, to my surprise, disappointment. I’d only met her twice and neither of them had been on good terms, but I was interested because she seemed so remote and…different. There was no other way to describe it, and it bugged me because I can usually read people easily. But she was so closed-off, and she kept putting on this mask that hid what she really thought and felt about something.
I grabbed a couple of things and went to go sit by myself, at a table on the other side of the cafeteria. I happened to glance out one of the windows in the cafeteria and I thought I saw Stephanie sitting out by
the bleachers. But before I could step back to look, I felt someone grab my arm. I looked down and saw Haley clinging onto my arm. I tried to remove her hands but she would not let go of me, and I ended up being dragged to a table with a bunch of other people that I didn’t know. And frankly I didn’t care to meet them.
I put up my guarded expression and glared at anyone who looked me in the eye. Haley didn’t seem to see any change
but everybody else at the table knew to be wary of me. They avoided any direct eye contact with me and some of them shuffled away from where I sat.
Haley still clinging to my arm sat down beside me. She was smiling like she had just won the lottery or an award that she really wanted to get. I really hate it when women think that they can just own a guy, because
they can’t and won’t own me no matter how hard they try. I’m not like that; I’m not an easy guy to get. I shrugged off her grip and crossed my arms so that she couldn’t grab hold of my arms again. She gave me a quick glare, and then looked back to the people around the table.
She is really blind if she can’t see what’s going
on; either that or she is really dumb and desperate. Haley kept talking to everyone at the table, acting like I wasn’t a threat to her at all. But she kept glancing out of the corner of her eye. She was trying to do it inconspicuously and I doubt anybody else noticed, but I did. I found it quite annoying the way she tried to lay claim to me, I belong to no one.
And I was exceedingly relieved when the bell rang for lunch to end.
But as soon as I walked into my next class my relief vanished, because there sitting on one of the desks was Stephanie. She was talking to a few people, they seemed kind of familiar but I couldn’t place them. She looked over to me and she let her gaze linger before turning away to rejoin her friends in conversation.
What was that just
now was she reconsidering her opinion of me. Why do I care what she thinks about me? She's a nobody, and a nobody is not a person. And they will never be a person to me, never!
The ring of the bell knocked
me out of my trace, and destroyed my train of thought. I quickly and almost unconsciously grabbed a seat. When I looked to see who I was sitting beside I was very distressed to find Stephanie to my one side and the guy she was talking to on my other. I sighed and looked to the front of the class. I need to learn to leave well enough alone…no matter how much it bugs me.
Class seemed to slip by very slowly; more slowly then any of my classes have ever gone by in.
It seemed like hours before my class ended. Its not that they were staring at me, it was just that they didn’t even acknowledge my presence. I was like a ghost to them; the only other time either of them glanced at me was when I was called upon to answer a difficult question.
I had answered the question to the best of my ability and got it right. I saw out of the corner of my eye
that Stephanie looked curious and I kind of wondered what about, but I didn’t bother to try because the guy on the other side had turned to an emotionless stone. I had heard Stephanie huff a laugh and then she sighed shaking her head. Then she turned back to being unemotional and disconnected.
I trudged back to my locker and grabbed my stuff for my final class. I was hoping that this class would be uneventful but it turns out that Stephanie was also in my chemistry class. This time though she was sitting on her own, staring out the window at something in the distance.
I sat down at the only available seat, which was right next to Stephanie. She didn’t even seem to notice me or anyone else for that matter; she was so focused on what was outside that window.
The only thing I could see was a park that was in need of some major repairs. The benches were broken and rusted, there were weeds coming up in the cracks of the sidewalk and the gardens were just a mess.
The place just looked plain ugly I don’t even know what she sees in that place. But then again she might not even be looking at it, she could just be think about something else and looking in that direction.
I never figured out the answer because the bell rang and the lesson started.
Stephanie, at the sound of the bell, whipped her head around and faced the board. This time class seemed to go by fairly quickly. I don’t know why but it just did and I was a little saddened when class ended, even though I had no reason to be. I found that I kind of liked her company even if she wasn’t talking to me. She had this calming sense to her that kind of helped me to relax, which is normally very difficult for me to do.
I just need to make up my mind about what I want to do
. Also if Stephanie fits into my plans somewhere, how would she? I feel so different when I’m around her, I feel like I can be myself. But didn’t I want to avoid showing emotion, to stop being who I once was. Is she really worth the risk of getting hurt again?
I walked to my locker and packed up to get going, I wanted to get out of there as quickly as I possibly could. Things were just really complicated and I was so confused with my feelings and my thoughts
. I had to get away and think things through.
Then I remembered that I still had to get that charm checked-out at the jewellers
. Okay, so I would get the charm checked first then I will go sort out my thoughts. I walked out of the school and started to head to my bike. But I was interrupted in my haste to get away when I saw Haley leaning against my bike. She was trying to look sexy on the bike by leaning forward on it, but to me it just looked like she was trying too hard. I stopped when I was right in front of her and crossed my arms.
She looked up at me like she wasn’t doing anything wrong, like what she was doing was natural. This, for her, probably was natural…and normal. But I thought it was plain gross for a girl to do that. Was she trying to see if I would bed her? If she is
, she’s crazier then what I’d first thought.
“Get off my bike,” I told Haley, trying to put a tone of displeasure in my voice.
She looked up at me and revved the engine, and then she said, “Why don’t we go for a ride, just the two of us.”
I leaned down to her face, and she closed her eyes. She had mistaken my motives, she thought I was going to kiss her, but instead I grabbed her by the jacket and pulled her off my bike. I dropped her on to the sidewalk and got on my bike. And just before I drove off I saw Stephanie crack a small smile while her friends stood and stared at me. Before I could stop myself I smiled back. Although I don’t know if what I did could be classified
as a smile, but Stephanie got the picture and nodded before heading off in the other direction.
I
drove to the jewellers to get the charm appraised. When I walked into the store I didn’t see anyone around. But then I heard a noise coming from the back of the store and an old man came out of a door that led to, what I think is, the storage room. He was bent over and I could see that his hair was almost all white, except for a small strip of grey going down the centre of his head.
He looked up at me and smiled, and I was surprised to see that he had all of his teeth.
He walked using a cane and he had on big eye glasses that made his eyes look small. The old man was dressed in a black suit, with a blue tie that complemented his eyes.
“Hello, how may I help you?” the old man asked
.
“I got this as a gift and I was wondering if you would know what the material is and where it was made?” I enquired, as I held up the necklace. The old man took the necklace in his hands and turned the charm over. He grabbed a magnifying glass from his pocket and looked at the charm more closely. The old man turned it over again and was nodding.
“This is a rare find,” the old man murmured. “It’s made out of pure white gold and the etchings on it say ‘secret music, secret box’ over and over in a variety of languages. A young woman had come in and asked me to make it a few years ago.”
I went in to my wallet and found a picture of my mom when she was younger with some of her friends. The picture was a bit bent from being stuffed in to small compartments from a few years, but you could still see the faces. “Did she look like this?” I asked, pointing to my mom in the picture.
The old man shook his head and pointed to one of my mother’s friends. “The young woman that came in looked like her,” said the old man. I turned the photo over and tried to read my mother’s handwriting. The writing was a bit smudged but I could make out most of it, it read Maria Santiago.
“Maria Santiago…no, no that was her maiden name,” said the old man. “When she was married her name became Maria Wilson, she was a good friend of the family. Well, until she was killed a couple years ago in a car crash, and it was on Christmas Day, too.”
The old man sighed and shook his head. “Both she and her husband were killed and they left four kids behind to be raised by Maria’s parents,” the old man continued, reaching into his own wallet and pulling out a photo of the woman, Maria, and her husband along with the rest of the family. They had one daughter and three sons, and Maria’s parents were in the picture, too. The picture was faded but it was better off then mine, and I could see the faces more clearly.
One thing that bothered me about the picture was that the daughter looked very familiar to me. I asked, “What is the daughter’s name?”
The old man looked thoughtful for a moment, then he said, “I can’t remember the name but I could tell you a bit about her if you’d like.”