Forgotten (4 page)

“
Yeah, I pegged you for a
private school kind of guy, but you should give McKesson a
shot.”

Bree babbled on about how great of a
school it was. I wanted to melt into the chair when she asked if
there was a special gal who had the privilege of being called his
girlfriend. Running out of the building with a wet-pee stain on the
front of my pants would have been less mortifying than sitting
awkwardly in my chair while Bree commented that I was without male
companionship tonight.

“
For years, I’ve been
looking for a lady who meets Miss Patterson’s description,” Jace
said shamelessly.

“
Single?” Bree asked
excitedly.

Jace hesitated to answer. Finally, he
said that he was looking for someone who can take his breath
away.

How was Bree not picking up on his
over-used pick-up line?

I stood and was cautious not to touch
Jace since my stomach wanted to jump out of my throat when he
leaned close. My balance faltered as I pushed away from the table –
and from him. When I got my bearings, I gestured for the exit
door.

They both ignored me. I
wanted to scream at Jace to dial down the cockiness and for Bree to
play a
little
harder to get. I groaned and took a step toward the exit. My
balance was still off so I grabbed Bree’s hand. She put her
discussion about what qualities men look for in a lady to a pause,
in order to assess me.

“
I better get you home,”
Bree said.

“
Please,” I
whispered.

She said her good-bye to Jace. I kept
my head down. We walked toward the exit.

“
A tease - I love it when a
girl plays hard to get,” Jace shouted out.

I couldn’t shake the exhilaration that
overcame me when I stole a glance back at him. His white silhouette
blazed in the sea of dull, gray shadows. His friend moved closer to
Jace the further we walked away. If I didn’t know better, he kept
an allotted distance between us.

C
HAPTER
T
WO

My hard earned “C” in art
class, was compliments to the nine weeks dedicated to color
schemes. I would’ve flunked out if it weren’t for ceramics. Mrs.
Briggs insisted on my ability to describe primary colors, complete
sketches, and paint like everyone else in the room. Since I was
only “legally blind,” she demanded my participation in class. Tell
me,
please,
how a
blind person was supposed to do all that? Granted I saw depth,
definition, and color in my visions. However, I wanted to keep up
the façade that I was blind like every other vision-impaired person
and not check into a loony bin because of my futuristic
abilities.

Covered in dirty water and spatter, I
molded the wet ball of clay. It was my second perfected attempt at
creating a bowl. I’d make bowls all day if it upped my grade a
notch.

“
You make a mean bowl,”
Ryker said.

When I didn’t acknowledge his presence
he flicked a piece of clay at me. I wiped it away and kept
working.

“
I’ll give you five bucks
if I can use your bowl for extra credit.”

A knock sounded from the
classroom door, interrupting me from responding. I smelled his
smoky, otherworldly scent before Jace walked into the room. My skin
tingled. I wanted to slap myself for even reacting to
him
. High-pitched giggles
echoed around the room when the girls got a good look at him. From
where I was sitting, he left something to be desired – like my
stomach not to be tied in knots.

“
This is Jace Eatros, a
transfer student. Please make him feel welcome,” Mrs. Briggs stated
after reading a note he handed her.

Please don’t sit beside
me. Please don’t sit beside me. Please don’t sit beside
me.

I sat utterly still,
praying that he couldn’t see me if I didn’t move – like a
tyrannosaurus rex and his prey. He nodded at me. I shouldn’t have
been surprised that a defensive mechanism rooted from the
cretaceous period didn’t work. If I could just sink down in my
chair far enough he might not notice me… After counting to ten I
looked up, just in time to see his white silhouette closing the
distance between us.
Stop walking over
here!
Surely there was a vacant spot at
another table, perhaps on the opposite side of the room?

“
Is this seat taken?” Jace
asked and then pulled out an empty chair out beside me.

At least the sound of him dragging the
chair’s legs across the floor hadn’t made me want to rip my ears
off this time. I groaned, making it clear I wasn’t about to throw
out a welcome mat. What’s with this guy? Was he so brainless that
he couldn’t tell I wasn’t interested in him? I tried to think of
something witty to say so he’d get the picture to find a different
seat that wasn’t close to me.

“
Don’t mind Winnie,” Ryker
eagerly said. “I’ve been working on her for years now. My best bet
is that she’s missing the girlie parts that make women enjoyable to
be around.”

“
Shove it, Ryker!” I said,
flicking my dirty fingers his direction. “Or I’ll mention your
opinion of womankind to Bree.”

“
Thanks for the advice,”
Jace chuckled, and reached for the ball of clay I was
kneading.

My skin burned when he reached for me.
I dropped the clay before his hand grazed mine. A headache began to
throb. I forced myself to relax when every muscle in my body wanted
to clench tight. Why any part of me was attracted to him was
unexplainable. I literally became ill around him.

“
You’re pale,” Jace
said.

Oooh, his voice could end wars it was
so enchanting.

“
I’ve never felt better,” I
lied.

He set my clay ball back down in front
of me. After wiping his hands on a towel, he draped his arm across
the back of my chair. An imaginary clasp seemed to tighten around
my throat. I tried to remember how to breathe. My chest refused to
let air into my lungs.

“
You play ball?” Ryker
asked.

“
Prefer hand-to-hand
combat,” Jace said casually.

As soon as he spoke, my lungs finally
began to fill. I swallowed the lump in my throat. What was going
on?! I glanced at Jace; I refused to believe anyone could trigger
this kind of a reaction. Nevertheless, if I entertained the idea,
the arrogant guy beside me would be the only person who
could.

I wanted to push Jace’s
hand off the chair; however, I had an unexplainable urge
never
to touch him. It
was like some primitive instinct had taken over my body and refused
to get anywhere near him but just as strongly, refused to move
away. My arms and legs froze. It took an act of God to lean away.
My anxiety peaked. I swallowed again and breathed through my nose,
hoping no one had noticed my awkward, clipped movements.

“
Like MMA?” Ryker asked in
an octave lower than what he normally spoke. I wanted to say that
it was pathetic that he developed a bro-mance, but I couldn’t
unclench my jaw.

“
Yeah, something like
that,” Jace said.

My brain felt like it was going
through a shredder when his finger trailed against the back of my
shirt. My eardrum split, and a loud ringing from his finger running
over the fabric in my shirt, drowned out everything else in the
room. The harder he pressed against my back, the more my stomach
twisted. My back spasmed. It took all of my self-control not to cry
out when he flicked his finger across my neck. Just as quickly as I
froze, my limbs obeyed me once again; I could move freely and
seized the opportunity. Stumbling out of my seat, I mumbled that I
needed a glass of water. Gravity shifted under my feet. I stumbled
onto the floor. Maybe he stuck his leg out and tripped me; I wasn’t
sure, but I knew Jace had done it somehow.

I glared up at him, only to gasp. For
a moment the definition in his face formed. Most of his facial
features were still muddy, except for two perfectly formed lips. He
spoke in a foreign language – one that I’d never recalled hearing
but was familiar all the same. However, that wasn’t what struck me
dumb. His lips – his perfectly shaped, full lips – didn’t move when
he spoke. I blinked, attempting to clear my vision. I had to be
seeing things.

His voice blared in my mind the longer
he spoke. The words I couldn’t understand seemed to echo an
unrelenting ringing in my ears. I couldn’t look away from his white
silhouette. I distantly heard Ryker talking, but whatever he said
wasn’t nearly as important as what Jace was saying – even though I
didn’t understand a single word.

“
What do you want?” I
whispered, unsure if I actually wanted to know. I focused on his
lips and watched intensively.

“
You
,” he said crystal clear and then spoke in the language I
didn’t understand. His voice tasted like syrup on my tongue, but
his lips never moved.

Mrs. Brigg’s shoes clicked sharply
against the tile as she walked towards me. A girl – Kayla, I
believe – helped me back into my chair while everyone else gawked
at me. The teacher demanded to know why I was laying on the
floor.

“
My vertigo is off. I
believe I’m getting a migraine,” I said, trying to think of any
logical reason why I suddenly got ill. I certainly wasn’t going to
take the opportunity and point a finger at Jace. They’d assume I
was crazy; I wasn’t so sure they’d be wrong. I tried to stand, but
the world shifted under me again. It forced me back on my knees. I
covered my mouth and hoped not to vomit.

“
I’ll call the nurse and
let her know you’re on your way. Kayla, can you escort Winnie?”
Mrs. Briggs said.

“
I’ll be fine by myself,” I
said, irritated that I’d been assigned a babysitter, even if I
wasn’t exactly top-notch shape.

My stomach instantly eased when Jace
muttered another incomprehensible comment in the language I didn’t
understand. The sound of his voice calmed me, which bothered me at
the same time. Kayla released her grasp when I promised not to move
without her. She left to grab her things when Jace piped
up.

“
Mrs. Briggs, I’m not
feeling the greatest either – a little nausea. May I be excused as
well?” Under his breath, Jace admitted that his nerves getting the
best of him from being in a new school.

“
I suppose. Could you
escort Gwyneth?” she asked.

“
I’ll be fine,” I said,
trying to stand once more.

I’d scarcely gotten the words out when
the floor shifted under me. I stumbled again. Jace grabbed my arm,
stabilizing me. A heat wave radiated off of him and crawled over my
skin. Blazing white light scorched my sight, but I couldn’t look
away. What was worse, was that I couldn’t figure out what to do.
Look away? Stare him down in what little defiance I had? Pull out
my t-rex moves and stand completely still. I wanted to pass out,
but I refused to have any rumors start that I fainted in Jace’s
arms, or worse – find out a classmate had recorded it on their cell
and uploaded it to YouTube.

Mrs. Briggs said, “I think it’s best
if you have –”

“
I can walk –” I said, a
little louder than intended. The edges of my sight darkened. I lost
my footing, slipping deeper into Jace’s embrace. His blazing hot
skin warmed mine. His flexed arms were hard as he held me tight
against his hardened body. I’d never felt safer in my life. “–by
myself,” I finished stubbornly, after realizing that his muscular
body had distracted me.

“
Winnie swooning into the
new guy’s arms,” Ryker snickered. “Bree will be furious she missed
it!”

Pushing away from Jace, I thought
briefly that perhaps the best place to throw up would be on Ryker.
It took every molecule in my being to stand upright. The moment I
let go of Jace, I froze. The color quickly drained from my face. I
swayed, but kept my balance.

Jace commented under his breath about
me being more stubborn than he remembered. The moment his breath
hit my skin, my blood boiled. A whimper escaped my throat, but I
knew Jace heard it because the intensity of his silhouette
brightened. I clenched my teeth together to prevent any other signs
of defeat from slipping out of my mouth in the form of a whimper or
gasp.

“
Kicking or screaming, I
won’t let her out of my sight,” Jace promised Mrs. Briggs, ignoring
my protests.

I objected, but he silenced me in his
own special way. He grabbed my arm, holding me with a grip I
couldn’t shake. Heat radiated off him. My chest clamped so tight I
couldn’t breathe. My back stiffened. His white silhouette flared,
and the pounding in my head felt like all its hairs were being
ripped out in chunks. Tears felt like acid on my eyes. I thought I
saw red in my sight. Liquid seeped from my ears as the dull ring
progressed into a fierce shriek.

My world darkened as my legs gave out
under me.

***

I awoke on a hard mattress. A young
man was threading together a mess of sounds into a sentence. The
longer I listened the louder it became and the more relaxed I’d
gotten. The thread of words formed a melody strangely memorable yet
ghostly unfamiliar.