My Forever (Canary Series)

BOOK: My Forever (Canary Series)
11.1Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either productions of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

My Forever

Copyright © 2014 by CL King

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stores in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any methods, photocopying, scanning, electronic or otherwise, except as permitted by notation in the volume or under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without prior written permission of the author.

 

 

 

 

 

I would love to dedicate this book to my loving Pawpaw. He is missed and loved every day. Even though he isn’t here to see my dream come true, I know that he is watching me from above smiling down on me.

I love you Pawpaw, thank you for always believing in me. This one is for you.

 

XOXO

 

 

 

 

 

Dream as if you will live forever,

Love as if you only have today.

CHAPTER 1

 

The first day that Olivia talked to Ian had to be one of the best days of her life; at least it was until she had to go home. She had always had a slight crush on him but never told anyone because they were in separate houses. Nothing more than a hello in the halls or a good luck at a game was ever exchanged between them. Ian was the kind of guy that dated different girls nearly every week. Olivia always said that she would never date a guy like that, treating girls more like property than human beings. In all honesty though, she was jealous of all those girls.

Olivia
thought back to the first day she saw him. It was at Cedar Country before her eighth grade year at Oakwood. The sun was shining bright; reflecting off the windows in the moss covered stone buildings. The temperature was just right for the end of summer and the start of fall. Some of the leaves on the trees where already starting to change their colors. She loved this time of year, it always brought her peace.

Everyone was getting their school supplies and the returning students were excited to see their friends that they had not seen since school ended
two months earlier. Olivia and Garrett were shopping together with his parents because hers were at a conference for their jobs. The walkways and stores were crowded with students wearing their school jackets of different colors to represent the house they were in and their family members. You could tell which kids where going away for the first time, they were overly excited about everything and the mothers looked scared, almost as if they wanted to cry.

While walking through the crowd
Olivia tripped and fell into Ian’s chest. He was the most handsome guy she had ever seen. His hair was a dirty blonde and touched right at the bottom of his ears, she had never seen such beautiful green eyes with flecks of gold; he was taller than her and made of pure muscle. When he took hold of her shoulders to steady her she felt like she had just been shocked by something electrical.

"Oh,
I’m so sorry," she said as she blushed when she stepped away.

He smiled at her, “There is no need to apologize, I’m just glad that I was here to catch you. That would have been a nasty fall if I wasn’t
."

She giggled and
Garrett called out her name, "I have to go."

He nodded but couldn't help but stare. "Have a nice day
Olivia," he called after her.

Nate
came up and slapped him upside the head, "Come on, let’s go."

By the time
Olivia looked back he was gone. She could not believe what was going on. No one has ever taken away her breath like he did. She didn't even know his name, but she knew that she wanted to get to know him better. She didn't know if he went to Oakwood or not but Olivia had a good feeling about him and knew something was going to happen.

***

Three weeks had passed since that afternoon and school was starting. Olivia didn't know what to expect from the school, arriving with no knowledge of the teachers and not knowing many people at the start. It was Garrett and her alone in the sea of thousands of other students. It felt weird not having their third musketeer with them.

Garrett
had always been her best friend. They grew up together side by side; some people thought they were brother and sister because of the way they looked. He had brown eyes and dark brown hair that was always cut short. His parents made sure that he got his hair trimmed at least once a month. He was thin and didn't have any muscles, but he was strong to say the least. Olivia had medium brown hair with natural blonde highlights. Her eyes were the brightest blue and she had the body of a dancer. Growing up she loved to perform, but her true passion was music.

They arrived at the train station and there were families saying good-bye to one another, tears falling from mothers and daughters eyes and friends being reunited.
Olivia felt alone even though she was surrounded by people. Her parents were, once again, absent from one of the most important days of her life. Garrett’s parents were always there for him. They had kind of adopted her over the years, always there for her whenever she needed someone. They grew up together and told each other everything, but those around them could tell that his feelings for her were more than just pure friendship. People warned her to be careful or else they would both get hurt. She never believed them; she always believed that Garrett and her friendship was always just that. Garrett, on the other hand, was holding a secret from her.

As they were loading the twenty
-car maroon train she saw him. He did go to her school and she knew that it had to be a sign. When he looked up and saw her she smiled and looked away. It was weird for her to be shy with anyone; she had no idea why this was any different. When they got to the school Olivia was filled with mixed emotions. She was happy to be away from her family but scared as to what might happen while she was away. She decided that this was a perfect time to make something of herself. No one here knew her so she could start over new.

The school was overwhelming and had an eerie feeling in the darkness of the night. The building was made of stone with many different passageways to get from one place to another. She thought it looked wonderful, but there was a certain
air about it that gave her a bit of an uneasy feeling. There were three houses, one on each side of the school except the front. They were all made out of stone like the school and each set up the same way. They were four stories high: one side was the boys’ dorms, the other was the girls and in the center was the living area. Each house had bathrooms on each floor, study rooms in the center along with a small library. For security reasons each house also had their own key fobs that the students would receive.

At the welcome dinner they split the students into their respect
ive houses. Before the school year started each student had to take a placement test to determine which house would be best for them. There was a choice of Riverbend, Rosewood or Mapleleaf. Each house represented a different strength: Riverbend represented loyalty, Rosewood represented bravery and Mapleleaf represented intelligence. Some students could fit into all three but they were put where they were the strongest. Olivia ended up getting into Mapleleaf with Garrett; however she wanted to be in the same house that the mystery boy was in.

Classes started the next day and all her teachers’ notice
d that she was extremely smart and talented. She rose to the top of her year very quickly making nothing but A's on anything and everything she did. When extra credit was presented as a choice she always took it. Olivia spent most of her time in the library which was dark except for the light that the lamps gave off and the sunshine that came through the stained glass windows. The books were old and smelled musky and most of them were very dusty. She loved it in there and knew that the library was one of the few places she could go and think. It wasn't odd to find her sitting at the piano late at night taking a break and playing some new song that she had written.

School was very important to her, later on in the year she would find out that the mystery boys name
was Ian. The friends she hung out with ran in the same circle as his and her group of friends were all part of the house football team. She quickly fell in love with the sport and went to all the games. On the weekends she and her friends would play just to have something to do. She learned so much from them. Olivia wanted to join the team but knew that she had to wait until her freshman year. Growing up though, she learned that practice makes perfect, so she continued to practice when she could. She was always part of the school paper, helped tutor her fellow classmates and hung out with her friends. When she did find some downtime between everything she would write songs and work on her music to escape everything.

***

When her freshman year started Olivia went out for the football team just to prove to herself she could do it. To her surprise she ended up making the team. She knew that Ian was part of his house team and they would play against each other. That didn't bother her at all because he was just another guy. She obviously liked him, but he dated a lot of girls and that was a turn off for her. Instead of getting into a relationship she just put herself into her school work, her music and the game. She was still a part of the newspaper but wasn't as involved as she had been the year before. The whole year went by in a flash and she was still top of her class.

Her
sophomore year came and went just as fast, except this time she was constantly busy. Olivia felt bad about not being as dedicated to the newspaper and tutoring during her second year like she was her first year. She was determined to make up for it and worked extremely hard. Everyone voiced their concerns for her, especially Garrett because he knew about her past. She just wouldn't hear it and said that, as long as her work didn't suffer, there was no need to worry. Little did she know that the summer was going to change her forever.

***

It was the first weekend of the summer and students were spending last moments with their friends before they were gone. Ian and Olivia were at Cedar Country hanging out with their own groups of friends. Every once in a while both of their groups would hang out, but that didn't happen very often now days. Even then she didn't have much time to hang out with anyone. She saw him at Cedar Country and his expression made her laugh. She could tell that he was surprised to see her there because she was rarely allowed to leave the house during the summer. When she saw him she was hoping to get some time alone with him.

Other books

Road to Reason by Natalie Ann
Destiny Mine by Janelle Taylor
The Age of Ice: A Novel by Sidorova, J. M.
A Penny's Worth by Nancy DeRosa
Old School Bones by Randall Peffer
The Pursuit of the Ivory Poachers by Elizabeth Singer Hunt