The Ylem (7 page)

“You don’t like natural?”

“No, I like natural. The landscape here is
beautiful, but I have to get used to it.”

He studied my face again. “Have you been to
the surroundings?

“The surroundings? You mean outside
Ruidoso?”

He nodded.

“No. We just moved down one week ago, and my
dad has been really busy so…”

“When you have the chance, do it. You’re not
giving this place too much credit. There are a lot of…” He trailed
off and looked at me musingly, taking on that intense stare again.
“There are a lot of beautiful things to see around here,” he said,
fixing his eyes on mine.

Was he still talking about the surroundings?
I swallowed and said, “Okay,” my voice shaky.

His lips twisted into that wonderful smile
of his, spellbinding me for the third, or maybe the fourth time? I
just knew that my face was burning and my heart galloping like a
race horse.

My Tristan immunity was officially
pathetic.

A squeaking door interrupted our silence. My
dad looked up and saw both of us standing in front of him.
Confusion hit his face. “Hi honey, I…didn’t know you had
company.”

“No, he wasn’t…it’s just…we were…he’s
Tristan Winfield.” I spluttered nervously. God, couldn’t I speak
like a normal person?

Tristan looked away from me with a smile.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” he said shaking my father’s
hand.

“Ah! Julian’s son,” my dad enthused. “I must
tell you, your father’s genius is quite impressive.”

“It is, sir. I learn something new each
day,” he beamed, showing a perfect row of white teeth, the kind
that dentists dream of.

“I bet you do. That man is Wikipedia on two
legs.” My dad shook his head in awe and both started laughing. The
scene couldn’t look more surreal. My dad with him, having a good
time. Something about that made me feel all soft inside.

“You’re in school with Kalista, right?” The
word
with
made my stomach twirl.

“Yes, I am,” he said, glancing at me with a
heart-racing half smile.

“You look pretty big to be in high school,”
my dad added.

“I get that often,” he said, still looking
at me.

“Well, I'm glad you’re both friends,” my dad
said, smiling.

“Dad, no.” I shook my head, unlocking my
eyes from Tristan’s. “We’re not…friends…he just popped in and…I was
here, that’s all.”

“Oh, okay,” he said with an odd expression
on his face. Then, “We got to go, honey, it’s getting late. I don’t
want to find some dumbstruck deer on the road.” He turned to
Tristan again. “It was really nice to meet you, Tristan. I guess
we’ll see you around.”

Tristan nodded at him and looked back at
me.

I paused for a moment, not knowing if to say
goodbye or just smile at him. He knotted my mind like no one, and I
didn’t want him to be aware of it. I decided to give him a quick
smile and rushed to the car. Once inside, I fastened my seat belt
and dared to look aside. The spot on the sidewalk where he’d stood
was now vacant. Part of me was comforted by the fact. The other
half was unexpectedly saddened.

What was the matter with all these puzzling
emotions?

My room felt like a sauna compared to the
ice-cold night outside. Through the balcony doors, I could see the
shadowy pines curving under the bitter breeze, their soft whisper
brushing the house. The natural settings in this town were
breathtaking. It made me realize how lucky my eyes were to witness
something this beautiful each day.

Well, not just that.

I shook my head.
You can’t think about
him
.
Stop
. I grabbed my pajamas from the armoire and
threw them on the bed. I pulled off my stretch jeans and tee, and
put the fuchsia camisole and black silk pants on. They embraced my
body smoothly. I turned off the lights, climbed into bed and opened
my eyes to watch the painted stars on the ceiling. One corner was
fairly glimmering compared to the rest. I lowered my eyes and saw a
shadowy light seeping through the doors.

Ugh. I’d forgotten to close the curtains.
There was nothing worse than getting up from your bed when you were
already in bed.

I groaned and pushed my feet off the bed. An
unveiled half moon was glowing in the dark sky, surrounded by foggy
gray clouds that threatened to cover her. The enigmatic picture
mesmerized me. It looked like a scene from a horror movie, shrouded
in mystery and danger. But instead of feeling anxiety, I felt the
most amazing peace and wonder. It was as if the moon was inviting
me to watch her.

I opened the balcony doors and stepped
outside. The icy breeze stroked my face, penetrating every pore. I
held my arms around me and tried to capture the warmth left in my
body. My long hair flew boundless in the wind, while the melodious
dance of the pines murmured in my ears. I sat down on the wide
chair and pulled my knees to my chest, seeking to feel warmer, but
the frigid wood underneath made it difficult.

Still, the landscape amazed me. It reminded
me of the painting I’d seen in the afternoon. The moon was the
same, only this time it was me in the balcony, freezing to death
with my skin sticking to my bones.

A dry crack caught my attention.

What was that?
I stood up with a
jerk. My eyes couldn’t catch anything in the dark. The glow of the
hoary moon only shed light on the pine tops. Everything beneath was
buried under obliterating shadows. But I remembered loads of bears
and deer wandered around, so I dropped my guard-like stance and
went back to watch the sky. The phantom clouds had veiled the moon,
muting her weak light to a dull glow.

I stepped back inside, closed the doors and
pulled the turquoise curtains together. The room didn’t feel as
warm as before. The cold floor sent goose bumps all over my body. I
ran to bed and curled into a fetal position, bringing my knees up
to my chest. I shut my eyes and tried to sleep. But a few seconds
later my eyes reopened. And on and on the battle went on until my
eyes closed for real and I started dreaming.

I was walking down a trail in the heart of
an emerald green forest. Diffused rays of light seeped through the
lush canopies of towering trees. In the distance, the sound of a
tranquil river soothed my ears, like soft cashmere. I followed the
enchanting sound, stepping away from the trail, and searched in a
dim place among branches and rocks. Fog lingered on the ground,
becoming thicker and seemingly infinite as I walked. A sense of
danger started wrapping around me, warning me to not go further.
But then, the fog parted and a stream of serene blue water appeared
in front of my eyes, hypnotizing me and leading me to its enigmatic
source. The sound grew stronger, and soon, the forest transformed
into a magical place, a perfect sheltered play land for nymphs,
unicorns and fairies.

A magnificent crystal waterfall, falling
like pixie dust on a midnight clear, rose above a swirling pond of
sapphire water, its edges surrounded with clusters of clear quartz
crystals and translucent stones of different colors and patterns. I
reached a flattened rock and sat down on its smoky, see-through
surface. I looked around mesmerized, the enchanting sound of the
water coursing through me, playing upon my soul.

Then, in the depths of the sapphire crystal
waters, a bright silver orb caught my attention.

5.
EXPECTATION

I woke up.

Light leaked through a narrow space between
the curtains. I focused my eyes on the digital clock on the desk.
It displayed a large red seven with a twenty on the side. I
groaned. I wasn’t supposed to get up this early on a Saturday. I
needed more sleep. And I loved to sleep in on weekends. It was the
only time of the week when I didn’t have to wake up startled by a
hideous, earsplitting alarm.

Ruidoso was messing up my morning
rituals—and dreams. What was that waterfall about? And the orb? My
dreams were getting more confusing. I looked down at my hands. That
sharp tingling sensation was inside them again. What was the matter
with me? First the nightmare, then Tristan, and
then…
this
?

Ugh. Well, now that I was awake, I’d better
start with all the heavy work I had ahead. Things did happen for a
reason. A lot of boxes were waiting to be opened and my hands were
the ones in charge of that operation.

Sooner than expected, the whole weekend flew
away and the unpacking mission ended successfully. The huge tomb of
mutilated trees that was my house didn’t look like a warehouse
anymore, and the best thing had been the distraction. My mind had
been too busy to think of
him
.

But now anxiety fluttered in my stomach just
to think I would see him today at school.
Will he ignore me?
Expectation rumbled inside of me.

“How was your weekend?” Valerie asked me as
we walked down the crowded hallway. Green flyers were pinned on the
white walls—something about supporting the Warriors.

“It was…entertaining.” I decided to keep
Tristan’s episode to myself.

“Entertaining? You should’ve seen the movie
we saw on Friday night,” Owen said. “There was action, blood, lungs
everywhere—and this dude…” Owen kept prattling as I looked at
Valerie for an immediate rescue. She rolled her eyes and shrugged,
as if telling me she couldn’t do anything about it. So we just
walked along with Owen, pretending we were listening until we
reached the cafeteria. “—and the bad dude wasn’t really the—”

“Owen!” Valerie called, cutting his prattle.
“Time to eat?”

He turned and looked at the annoyed woman
who was waiting for him to order. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. I want, uh,
three cheeseburgers, fries, coleslaw, a coke—oh, and a peanut
butter brownie. No, make that two.” Nothing strange for a football
player, I guess. He needed to fill that
reservoir
of his to
have enough energy for all the running and blocking thing.

Tristan wasn’t in the cafeteria—again. It
seemed he didn’t like to eat here, which made me wonder if his dad
was a great cook, too. Dean wasn’t at his table either.
At
least
, I told myself,
I’ll be eating relaxed
. I didn’t
want unpleasant glares from Chloe during lunch.

I took a mouthful of coleslaw, listening to
Owen’s babbling in the background, when a chair scraped across from
me. I drew up my head and saw Dean holding his food tray. “Hey,” he
smiled. “Do you mind if I sit here?”

“No, it’s fine,” I lied.

The girls aside were chattering pretty close
to each other and eyeballing at me. Others were staring dreamy-eyed
at Dean.
Ugh,
more enemies to my pocket for sure
. I
looked away, trying to ignore them, and spotted two gray eyes
staring at me from a table located in the opposite corner of the
room.

I choked and turned back my head to its
former position.

“Are you okay?” Dean asked, looking at me
through narrow eyes.

“I...yeah...yeah, I'm fine,” I stuttered, my
heart racing.
All this time waiting to see Tristan and he
catches me off guard
. Did he do this all the time?

“She spaces out a lot,” Owen said.

I glared at him.

“Spacing out isn’t bad.” Dean said, shooting
a disapproving look at Owen.

I looked at Dean with a grateful smile and
felt my face reddening. I hated this stupid blushing. It put me in
the spotlight. I felt like a two year old instead of a seventeen
year old.

But even with this embarrassing shade in my
face, even if I looked like a bright red tomato, I wanted to look
back at Tristan.

Don’t ask me why
.

“Hey, how are football practices going?” I
asked. Not that I cared, but it was the perfect bait to sidetrack
them.

“Great—even if Smith has some problems on
passes,” Owen said.

They bit the bait. Their conversation took
off and became far too exciting for them to notice me. I turned my
head carefully and looked back at Tristan.

He was eating with two guys. One of them was
the same guy I’d seen him with on Friday, with shortish hair and a
very cool Mohawk. The other one was sporting a sleek pony tail at
the nape of his neck. Both of them had striking features—dark
glossy hair, narrow eyes the color of dry leaves in autumn, olive
skin. They looked like brothers, and they were both really good
looking. Worthy of a fashion magazine—and worthy of Tristan’s
company. They certainly looked good together.

But I wondered…a guy like Tristan could be
surrounded by more people—more
girls
to be exact
.
And
he wasn’t. It was so odd to see a person so good looking being so
aloof. It went against the entire “hot guy code”—you know, getting
laid with as many girls as possible, making them fall in love, then
trashing them, walking around like the king of the world, stuff
like that. Or maybe it was part of his magnetism, of his game. He
was an enigma, and everybody loved a good riddle.

The sudden shape of a girl sitting across
Tristan’s table blocked my view. I moved my head trying to regain
it, but her head snapped in again, as if she wanted to stop me from
looking at him. That was when I recognized the copper blond hair
veiling Tristan.
Chloe.
She was scowling at me, burning me
with her arctic blue eyes. I looked away, feeling awkward, and
veered my head back to my table. Unpleasant things always found the
wrong moments to come along. Perfect timing, I would say. She
absolutely loathed me.

Crap
. I was sick of this
female-hating thing, sick. I always kept to myself and never stood
in the way of others. Wasn’t that enough? And what could I do? I
couldn’t tell Dean not to sit here. It would be too rude. Besides,
he was just a friend. If she thought I was a threat to her, then
she was wrong. Completely wrong. I wasn’t a freaking threat to
anybody.