Remembrance (The Transcend Time Saga) (6 page)

CHAPTER 9

Drew didn’t make an effort to talk to me again for the rest of the week, and I was stuck listening to Chelsea gush about him every day in trig. When the final bell rang on Friday afternoon, I was looking forward to the time alone in the library to work on filling the sketchbook for my drawing class.

My pencil danced across the page, and all I could see were the images flashing through my mind that my hand ached to bring to life on paper. The current one filling my thoughts was of a glittering mask meant for an old-fashioned ball, and I tried replicating it to the best of my ability, focusing on each detail as I drew. I rested the sketchbook on my knee when I finished, examining what I just created.

The gold wiry lines of the mask slithered around each other like snakes, pointing downwards until the tip of the nose to accentuate the upward tilt of the eyes. The wires twirled around in a final circle at the ends adorned with silver and gold gems, and a silver stone hung below each eye like a tear mid-fall. It was beautiful, and I knew I had to purchase something similar to it for the Halloween masked dance at the end of the month. It was only the beginning of October, but if I wanted to get the mask custom made, I would have do it soon so it was ready in time.

Jeremy burst into the room after practice. His sudden entrance sent my pencil skidding across the page, resulting in a thick black line upon the drawing. “You excited for the game tomorrow?” he asked, not waiting for me to answer before continuing. “We’re gonna beat Derryfield so badly that they won’t know what hit them.”

I closed my sketchbook, figuring I would fix the drawing later. “I’m guessing practice went well?” I asked. I hoped it did—Manchester Prep slaughtered them in a game two weeks earlier, and Jeremy was still waiting for Beech Tree’s first win with him as co-captain.

He walked towards me and held out a hand to help me get up. “That’s an understatement,” he said, his blue eyes flashing with excitement. “They don’t stand a chance.”

“Awesome,” I said, shuffling my feet to stand. “I also kind of wanted to talk to you about something. We haven’t spent much time together just the two of us in a while, and our three-year anniversary is coming up on Sunday. I was thinking we could do something to celebrate?”

A smiled crept onto his face. “How does Alfonzo’s on the Lake sound?” he asked. “I’ve already made reservations, so I hope it’s okay.”

I widened my eyes at the mention of my favorite restaurant. “You really thought to make them before I asked?”

“Of course.” His eyes filled with intensity, and he pulled me closer, pressing his lips against mine. A drop of sweat trickled from his hair onto the bridge of my nose. “I’ve missed you, Liz,” he said, his breath hot against my face. 

“Jere,” I said, spotting some freshmen watching us through the glass door. “We’re in the library.”

“Let’s go back to my place then.”

“Aren’t your parents home?” I asked, glad to have the excuse.

He rested his forehead against mine, his sweaty hair matting onto my skin. “So what if they are?”

“I just don’t think it’s the right time.”

He slammed his hand against the wall, and I jumped at the sound. “It’s never the right time,” he said, leaning back to look at me. “Geez, Liz. You need to lighten up.”  

I ducked under his arm, grabbing my backpack from its resting spot next to the beanbag. “Just drop me off at home,” I told him. “I’ve got a lot of homework.”

“You always have a lot of homework.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Now you’re mad because I care about doing well in school?”

“I’m not mad,” he said, walking past me to yank open the door. “Let’s just go.”

“Sounds fine to me.” I stomped after him, glaring when he turned his back to me.

Both of us remained silent on the walk to his car, and we didn’t speak for the entire first half of the drive.

“Shannon, Amber, and Keelie want to go to the soccer game with you tomorrow,” he finally broke the silence.

I looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “They want to go to the game with me?” I repeated, making sure I’d heard him correctly.

“I mentioned it and they didn’t seem to not want to go with you.”

“I’m sure it’ll be a blast.” I rolled my eyes. “You know how much I love Shannon’s company.”

“Her friend Amber’s not that bad.”

“Only because she’s had a crush on you for a year,” I pointed out. “So she’s nice to you. Not so much to me.”

“She’s jealous of you.”

I looked at him like he was crazy. “Maybe.” 

“Of course she is.” He snickered. “You’ve got me.”

“Right,” I said, not wanting to inflate Jeremy’s ego any more by continuing the conversation.

“Anyway,” he said, trying to change the subject. “I gave Shannon your number. She said she’ll give you a call tomorrow to let you know when to meet up, or whatever it is you girls do before the game.”

“Great,” I said, glad when we reached my house. The gabled windows with open gray shutters welcomed me home, and I couldn’t wait to relax after the exhausting week. Maybe I could “forget” to charge my phone and miss Shannon’s call. However, that would mean missing the game, and even though things weren’t great between Jeremy and me, I still needed to be there to support him.    

* * *

The screen of my cell phone lit up at noon the next day, letting me know I had a new text message. I didn’t want to be interrupted from reading
Pride and Prejudice
for the second time, but I rolled over to see what it said.

We’ll pick you up at 4:30
.

It was simple and to the point, and judging from the unfamiliar number, I assumed it came from Shannon. If not, I would see who came by my house at 4:30 and go with it. Maybe it would be Mr. Darcy coming to pick me up in an extravagant horse-drawn carriage, but I couldn’t picture Mr. Darcy using a cell phone.  

Chelsea told me that Drew agreed to go with her to the game, and not wanting to feel like a third wheel with them, I texted Shannon back saying I’d be ready soon. Shannon and her friends wore jerseys to every game, but not wanting to freeze to death on top of being bored and stuck with the cheerleader wannabe’s, I opted for a comfortable purple sweatshirt on top of a white long-sleeved shirt. Shielding myself against the cold weather was more important than showing school spirit. I let my hair hang loose over my shoulders, since it would also help protect my face against the wind.

“Elizabeth!” my mom screamed from downstairs. “Your friends just pulled up!”

“Alright!” I yelled back, unsure if she heard. I did one last glance in the mirror before grabbing my bag and heading out of the house.

Pop music blared from the open windows of the silver Lexus SUV, and Shannon sat in the driver’s seat, smearing brown war paint in thick lines on her cheeks. The school colors of brown and white were unfortunate; it looked like she grabbed fresh mud and splattered it all over her face. Amber sat in the passenger seat, her face painted in a similar way.

Keelie stuck her head out the back window. “Where’s your school spirit?” she asked, her hair blowing in front of her face from the wind. Just as I’d expected, the three of them wore brown and white jerseys over long-sleeved shirts, which I doubted would keep them warm. My purple sweatshirt would stick out like a grape in the dirt.

“I’m wearing white under my sweatshirt,” I said, hoping they would drop it.

“We can wait for you to change,” she said. “We’re early, anyway.”

It was more of a command than a suggestion, and not worth the energy to argue. “I’ll be back out in a few minutes,” I told her over my shoulder, turning around and heading back inside. 

My brown jersey was in the back of my closet, and I managed to dig it out and throw it on top of my shirt, hoping the sun would stay out so the temperature wouldn’t drop too much during the game. There wasn’t much room for jackets on the cramped bleachers—you either had to wear it or put it near everyone’s feet.

If it did get cold, perhaps I could leave early in the pretense of catching hypothermia.

Once changed, I trudged out of the house and into the car, sitting in the back next to Keelie. She was applying face paint in thick lines on her cheeks to match Shannon and Amber. The brown matched the color of her hair, so she didn’t look quite as ridiculous as they did.

“Do you want some paint?” She held up the tube and squeezed some onto her finger, preparing to smudge some on my face. I was about to say no, but remembering how Jeremy wanted me to try being friends with them, I nodded and allowed her to smear two mirrored lines along my cheekbones. I felt like an Indian at a pow-wow.

“How come I’ve never seen you at the games before?” she asked, twisting the cap on the tube and tossing it in her bag.

“I usually sit in the back of the bleachers with Chelsea,” I answered.

“Oh.” She seemed at a loss of words, although I was glad she was trying.

“They better win,” Shannon announced, turning the music down so we could hear her. “I don’t want Warren getting upset like he did after the Manchester Prep game.”

The three girls talked for the rest of the car ride, so all I had to do was nod and laugh at the appropriate moments. The conversation revolved around hoping the guys would win the game, and Shannon and Amber arguing over which team members were the most attractive. Shannon insisted it was Warren, but Amber disagreed. She wasn’t the least bit hesitant in sharing her opinion that Jeremy was the best catch of them all.  

CHAPTER 10

A group of freshmen clustered in the front of the bleachers, so Amber led the way up to the third row, making sure to pick a spot in the center for prime viewing of the field. Keelie, Shannon, and I followed her in, and once seated, I looked behind me to see if Chelsea and Drew had arrived yet. There was no sign of them. Not wanting to think of the reasons why they could be late, I wondered if they’d changed their plans.

At least not having to see them together would be one less thing to worry about during the game.

We stood up when the players entered the field, and Shannon and Amber cheered and clapped until I thought they would permanently damage their vocal chords. Keelie was calmer than the two of them. She reminded me a bit of myself, and even though I didn’t know her very well, I thought there was a chance we could be friends.

A breeze blew through the air, and I wrapped my arms around myself to stay warm, unsurprised that the thin shirt I’d thrown on while leaving didn’t guard my arms from the brisk October weather. I regretted changing out of my comfortable sweatshirt. Then music blared through the speakers, signaling Jeremy and Warren to lead the team across the field. Jeremy had a huge smile on his face, and he scanned the bleachers, waving when he spotted me.

“Jeremy looks good,” Amber said, taking a sip of her diet soda.

“He does,” I agreed, reminding myself that Jeremy had no interest in her. She was just trying to get a reaction out of me. And I wasn’t going to give her one.

The crowd quieted as the game began, and everyone took their seats. Only one goal was scored by well into the second half, and the point went to Derryfield, causing the crowd to groan in disappointment. Nothing else happened for a while after that. Soccer had to be the most boring, slowest game ever. It would be much more interesting if every so often, the ball spontaneously exploded.

I missed sitting in the back with Chelsea, the two of us talking about everything from what colleges we wanted to look at to her boyfriend of the month. Unfortunately, this month it was Drew. Hearing her talk about him made me upset, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it was that I did to make him dislike me so much. 

Before I could contemplate the reason behind Drew’s sudden change in attitude, the crowd erupted into cheers, and I clapped my hands in the pretense that I was paying attention. “What happened?” I asked Shannon, since she sat on my right. 

“Warren scored a goal,” she said in annoyance, returning her attention to the field after speaking.

Leaning back in my seat, I watched Jeremy on the field, since the whole point of my being there was to support him and the team. The scoreboard changed to read 1-1, and the crowd calmed down as the game continued.

“So,” Keelie said, resting her elbows on her knees and leaning forward. “Do you know what you’re wearing to the Halloween dance?”

“I’m not sure,” I replied, rubbing my arms with my hands as another chill swept through the air. “I have an idea for the mask, but haven’t thought about the dress yet.”

“That’s okay,” she said, pushing her hair behind her ears. “I’m going shopping for mine next Saturday. Shannon and Amber already have their dresses, so you can come with me if you want.” 

“Alright,” I said, smiling at the unexpected invitation.

I was about to ask if Chelsea could join us and considered asking about Hannah as well, but Shannon interrupted the conversation before I could say anything. “There’s only five minutes left,” she hissed. “Stop leaning over me so I can watch.”

Keelie snickered and sat back in her seat. Not that I could blame Shannon for being annoyed. We
were
hovering over her, and I leaned back to give her some room.

Pulling my sleeves over my hands, I began focusing on the game, hoping someone would score so it wouldn’t go into overtime. A player from Derryfield ran the ball towards our goal, preparing to kick it in. Then Warren stole it back and headed in the other direction, progressing down the field towards Derryfield’s goalie.

Each team continued to steal the ball away from each other, and a sense settled over me that someone was watching me. I rubbed my hands over my arms as goosebumps traveled up my skin. A soft rumble came from the sky, and I looked up to see storm clouds in the distance. They were far enough away that the game would end before it started raining—if it didn’t go into overtime.

Another minute passed, and the feeling of someone watching me remained.
It can’t
hurt to look
, I told myself. I turned my head and glanced up the bleachers, my eyes traveling to the spot where Chelsea and I typically sat. My instinct was right. Drew sat in my usual seat, his eyes directed straight at me. The chattering of the crowd lowered to a mere hum, and everything around me fell into the backdrop. The goosebumps remained on my arms, but not because of the cold. I couldn’t even feel the cold anymore.

Before I could figure out why he was paying this bit of attention to me, his eyes shifted towards Chelsea, who sat next to him talking on her cell phone. He didn’t look at me again. I turned around to watch the game, but it was impossible to focus. He was probably just looking at me because I was looking at him. But no matter how many times I tried to tell myself that, I knew what I saw. He was definitely watching me first.

The crowd broke into cheers, snapping me out of my thoughts. I stood to clap along in the pretense that I knew what was going on, hoping it would be easy to figure out what had happened.

“Jeremy’s such an amazing soccer player!” Amber beamed, her over whitened teeth almost as fake as her bleached blonde hair. “You’re so lucky to be dating him.”

I smiled and continued to clap, trying to think of a subtle way to get her to tell me what I’d missed. It obviously involved Jeremy, and she would surely tell him if she noticed I wasn’t paying attention and missed a big play.

“I know, right?” Keelie filled the silence. “I can’t believe he made the winning goal right before the game ended.” She winked at me a second later while Shannon and Amber reached to get their purses from under their seats. I would have to thank her when they were out of earshot.

I refocused on the field to try finding Jeremy, spotting him standing in the center of the swarm of brown and white, slapping high fives with every member of the team. And despite the fact that the game bored me to tears, and that it wasn’t something I would choose to watch on my own, I was happy to see him succeed in something that he loved so much.

“Let’s go congratulate them,” I said with a smile, grabbing my bag off the ground.

Shannon shoved past me to get to the aisle. “I’m already there,” she said, flinging what she could of her short hair into my face. I took a deep breath, convincing myself not to walk past her and “accidentally” push her down the stairs on my way out.

Keelie linked her arm with mine, the action reminding me of something Chelsea would do. “Don’t let her get to you,” she said when Shannon was out of earshot. “She’s not so bad once you get to know her.”

The comment struck me as something that Jane Bennet, Lizzy’s older sister from
Pride and Prejudice
, would say. She was always trying to see the best in people. It was tempting to roll my eyes or say something about how obnoxious Shannon was, but I opted against it. “You realized I wasn’t paying attention to the game, didn’t you?” I asked as we walked into the aisle, hoping I was right and not making an idiot of myself.

“Of course.” Keelie laughed, glancing around and lowering her head to talk so no one could overhear. “You were looking at the hot new guy.”

I wouldn’t have chosen the word “hot” to describe Drew—“devastatingly gorgeous” was more appropriate—but I tried to not let my feelings show on my face. It would be humiliating if Keelie knew she was right.

“I was just checking to see if him and Chelsea were having a fun time,” I lied, saying the first thing that came to my head.

“Or checking him out!” She laughed, hopping off the stairs after me and onto the grass field.

“He
is
my best friend’s boyfriend,” I said, attempting to stay neutral. Keelie was more observant than I’d given her credit for. “I should find Jeremy,” I told her, scanning the crowd standing on the field.

“I’ll see you at Warren’s later?” she asked. “He always has a party to celebrate when we win.”

I was taken aback that Keelie cared if I was coming to the after party, but I reminded myself that she wasn’t like Shannon and Amber. She seemed to want to be friends with me.

“Yeah,” I said, even though large parties weren’t on the top of my favorite things to do list. “I’ll see you there.”

Keelie ran over to Amber and Shannon, and I spotted Jeremy still surrounded by tons of people on the side of the field. I was about to head over to join them, but  my phone vibrated in my bag, and I took it out to read the text message.

Hey Lizzie…it’s Hannah. Call me back when you can
.

I checked my missed calls to see if anyone else had tried contacting me during the game, surprised to find four of them—all from Hannah. Something big must have happened. I called her back, since it seemed like an emergency, and Jeremy appeared busy celebrating the win. He wouldn’t notice if it took me a minute longer to go congratulate him.

Hannah answered on the first ring. “Lizzie?” Her voice sounded shaky.

“Hey,” I said, glancing back over at Jeremy to make sure he was still talking with his teammates. He was. “What’s going on?”

She paused before answering. “Sheldon broke up with me,” she managed to say, bursting into tears a second later.

“What?” I asked, my mouth opening in shock. “Why? What happened?”

I could hear her sobbing on the other end of the line, and she waited to calm down before speaking. “He’s with Shayna now,” she said, gasping for air between each word. “They’re the leads in the school play, and apparently they’ve been seeing each other for the past two weeks. Behind my back. I can’t believe he would do something like that to me.”

“Wow.” I couldn’t think of what else to say. “I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Can you come over?” she asked, her voice weak from crying.

I glanced back over at the clump of people surrounding the team, catching eyes with Jeremy as he waved me over. He looked irritated, but I couldn’t ignore Hannah’s request. She needed a friend. She was content with only spending time with Sheldon since they began dating, and I was all she had left.

“Sure,” I said, trying to figure out who could drive me to her house, since Hannah was a few weeks away from getting her license. The party at Warren’s was south, closer to town, and Hannah lived thirty minutes north of school. Shannon was going to Warren’s, so there was no way she would drive me back home. It wouldn’t be fair to ask Jeremy to miss an hour of the party, so Chelsea was my only option. “I’m at school right now, but I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?” I said, hoping Chelsea would be able to drive me back. If she couldn’t, I would figure something else out.

“Okay,” she said, her voice steadier. “Thanks, Lizzie. I appreciate it a lot.” 

We said bye, and I hurried to where Jeremy stood surrounded by a few remaining members of the team. There was no easy way to tell him that I couldn’t go to the party to celebrate the win, but I had to do it. I wasn’t about to leave Hannah by herself when she was so upset.

He turned away from his teammates when he saw me running towards to him, a huge smile forming on his face.

“Great job!” I mustered up some enthusiasm, jumping up as he scooped me into his arms.

He swung me around in a circle so my hair flew behind me, placing me back on the ground a moment later. “Thanks, Liz.” He smirked knowingly, since the entire team probably already told him how awesome the play was. He looked down at me, and a look of confusion crossed his face. “What’s wrong?”

“I know Warren’s having a party,” I started, clasping my hands in front of me as I continued, “but I was just on the phone with Hannah—she called four times during the game, and I had to call her back.” I paused to take a deep breath before telling him the next part, hoping he would understand. “Sheldon broke up with her.”

“Wow.” He took a step back, seeming just as shocked as I was.

“She was freaking out,” I said, dreading what I had to say next. “She asked if I could come over.”

“And you said yes?” he asked, surprised.

“Of course I did,” I told him. “If the situation were reversed, she would do the same for me in a heartbeat.”

“But what about the party?” He frowned. “We just beat Derryfield—I scored the winning goal! Don’t tell me you’re gonna skip it like it doesn’t matter.”

“I have to,” I said, glancing at the ground before looking back up at him. “I can’t be in two places at once, and Hannah needs someone to talk to.”

“And
I
need you to come to the party.” He widened his eyes and placed his hands on my shoulders, trying to convince me to change my mind. I would have given in a year ago, but things were different now.