Authors: K.L. Morton
"He likes Laura Smyth, and she definitely likes him, so just drop it Em." Trinny was growing a little tired of her friend’s comments over the last hour about Ben.
"I'm serious, he's been staring all night. Oh, sorry, he's stopped staring.... he’s walking now, this way."
"What?" Trinny swung round and knocked a jug of juice over on the table she had been standing next to, which then proceeded to pour into the lap of Lizzy Parsons who stood quickly in utter shock and let out a shrill squeal. "I am sooo sorry Lizzy, let me help you with that." Trinny was embarrassed and felt terrible for Lizzy, she was wearing white and the juice was orange. Lizzy flicked her head back throwing her bottle blonde hair over her shoulders; her dark blue eyes were blazing when she looked up to see who had ruined her night.
"It's fine Trinny, it's not like it cost much, only $250, but it's your birthday, so I can't be annoyed at
you
can I?" Lizzy's voice was certainly not sounding like she wasn't annoyed. She stormed off to the bathroom with a contorted look on her face, followed by her best buddy Laura Smyth who was eyeing Ben as he approached, then turned to give Trinny a scornful glare before she disappeared into the house.
"Are you okay Trinny?" Ben had real concern in his voice. "Don't worry about Lizzy, she shouldn't have worn white anyway, doesn't compliment her figure, not like yours does in that dress." Trinny could feel her face turning a burning hot red color, she didn't know where to put her hands, first she tried at her sides, then held in the front, then on her hips, then back to her sides, she had a slight stutter to her words as she spoke.
"H, h, hi Ben." And that was
it, that
was all she could muster.
What an idiot I am
, Trinny thought, willing herself not to say it out loud.
"Can I get you two lovely ladies a drink?" His grey blue eyes were lit up from the fairy lights hanging above them, and his smile was it's usual winning self, he was a smooth talker Trinny thought, and she was thankful when Emma spoke for both of them.
"We would love one Ben, you may have to go to the kitchen though, as this table's been emptied out." Trinny could tell that Emma was enjoying every moment of this.
"Sure, I'll be back in a minute, don't go anywhere." Ben winked at Trinny and set off for the kitchen.
"What are you doing Em?" Trinny spoke under her breath so Ben couldn't hear.
"I'm helping you out my friend, the whole,
'sixteen and never been kissed'
thing is getting old, and don't go giving me the excuse of only being sixteen for not even a day yet." Emma said with a look of scheming in her eye.
"You are impossible Emma Murphy. I do not want to kiss Ben Mathers. He's much more greasy than I thought he would be, did you hear what he said about Lizzy's body and then mine? Yuk, that means he's been taking the time to think about it." Trinny was really finding the whole idea that a guy would look at her that way quite difficult to understand.
"He's not that bad, give him a chance." Emma really wanted her friend to have a good time. At that moment, she noticed Trinny was distracted by something; she was looking over at three guys standing aloft near the dance floor. They were wearing dark pants and loose fitting white shirts, all slightly different styles from each other, but they looked like they were from another era,
very cool,
Emma thought. There
was one that stood out from the others, he was divine, but who were they?
"Trin, who are the hunks in white, and why are they staring this way? What am I saying? Why wouldn't they stare this way? But I don't recognize them. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind gate crashers that look like that." Emma looked at her friend and noticed that she wasn't as excited about this as her. "Trin?"
"I saw them at the beach today, and they looked like they were following me, then disappeared, I thought I'd imagined it. Don't they look different to you, like they don't quite fit in?" There was tension in Trinny's voice when she spoke. "It's just, I felt odd today when they were around, and I'm getting that weird feeling again, like they, they.... it's hard to explain."
"Trinny, that necklace you got tonight, is it meant to shimmer like that?" Emma was pointing at the amber gem Trinny wore around her neck, it was shimmering, like water was moving under the surface.
"I, I don't know, it must be the light or something." Trinny knew it wasn't the light, she was sensing there was something more to this, something more to her necklace, something more to those three guys. She had had feelings like this before, feelings she had been trying to suppress since she was a child, that feeling of never fitting in, of being different. Her father had always told her it was normal, but what was it? She moved toward the pool edge, and as she did she saw that one of the strangers moved away from the others and around the pool toward her.
"Watch out Trinny!" Emma cried out, but it was too late. As Trinny turned she saw a chair falling toward her, like someone had kicked it, and from the corner of her eye she
could also see the smirk on Laura Smyth's face. It felt as if she was in slow motion as her body was sent off balance, there was nowhere else to land but the pool. Just as she closed her eyes to prepare for the humiliation of falling into a pool in a cocktail dress at your own birthday party and having to look like a drowned rat for the rest of the night, she felt a strong arm catch her around the waist and pull her firmly back onto her feet. Instead of finding herself bobbing up and down like a buoy at sea, she found herself held in the arms of the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. Her face was only inches from his, and she could see his emerald green eyes as they met hers, to her surprise and relief, he was not letting go. She could feel every eye at the party was now on her and this stranger, but she did not want to look away, his green eyes that were glistening from the light reflecting off the pool captivated her. His dark brown wavy hair fell slightly into his eyes as he was leaning forward toward her, it was like they were in a dance and he had her in a dip. He spoke. She would never forget that voice, it was like silk.
"Watch yourself." And with those words he let her go and she was awoken from her revere.
"Thank you. You were really quick; I thought you were on the other side of the pool. Oh sorry, I'm..."
"Trinity. Trinity Hope Gaia." He spoke her full name, no one spoke her full name, only her father had ever called her that, she was taken aback.
"H, h, how do you know my name, my real name I mean, and who, who are you?" Before he could speak a word Emma was at her side like a bolt of lightening.
"That was a fantastic save, thanks for rescuing our damsel in distress, and you are?"
"Aarion." He only looked at Trinny as he spoke.
"I don't recognize you from school, are you from St Mathews College?" Emma was sure they were not high school boys; they had a maturity that the other guys at the party did not. He didn't answer her but spoke to Trinny.
"We need your help Trinity, your father and my father were friends and now it is up to us to fulfill the destiny that has been placed before us."
Wow, is this guy a nut case? And how dare he use my dad as a way to hit on me.
Before she could speak again, Emma stepped into protective mode as she could see that Trinny was very uncomfortable.
"Look mate, I think you've had your fun and now you can leave, you're upsetting my friend and I don't like it. I won't ask again!"
"Is there a problem?" Ben had been watching from afar and decided this was his moment to look like the good guy, but as he did, there suddenly stood a huge 6'4" blonde, brown eyed guy with rippling muscles standing at Aarion's side looking like he was about to rip Ben’s head off. Aarion placed a hand on his friend’s chest to back him off a little.
"There's no problem here, we were leaving. Trinity, when you want some answers, call my name. I will come." With those words Aarion and his two friends turned and walked out, leaving a stunned looking Trinny, a confused looking Emma, and a puffed up looking Ben, who now thought he had a good chance with Trinny due to his manly skills.
"Well, that was weird!" Emma said to her wide-eyed friend.
"I'm gonna head home now Em, I'm feeling a little drained and that was just plain strange."
"I'll come with you, I can sleep over, the party will die out by itself and I don't think there will be any better excitement than that tonight." Trinny smiled.
"Sounds great, pajama party is more my style anyway."
CHAPTER THREE
'We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live.'
- Unknown
The two girls were sitting back in the double bed discussing the events of the evening, the fact they left Ben Mathers sitting with a cooing Laura Smyth and Lizzy Parsons retelling his story of how he got rid of three weirdo guys from the party 'single handedly.'
"I can't believe you were trying to set up my first kiss with that guy Em." Trinny gave her friend a light hit on the arm.
"I thought that guy who caught you was going to kiss you for a minute, his face was almost pressed up against yours, he may have been weird, but he was just plain tasty...mmmmm!"
"Is that all you can think about? He was pretty gorgeous though, he reminded me of those male gymnasts on
the still rings, toned, not to tall, not to short, strong but with none of those steroid type muscles." You could see a slight glow on her face as she remembered him catching her.
"What did he mean by
'just call my name and I will come,'
it sounds like a one liner from a bad B grade movie..........seedy. It was an unusual name, what was it again?" Emma asked.
"Aarion...Aarion!" Trinny cried out his name in a mocking call as she said it a second time. They laughed. "I'll get us a hot chocolate, actually, I'll make it an ice chocolate, this heat is horrible!" Trinny got out of bed, she picked up the empty soda cans by the floor near the window and looked out towards the night sky, it was perfect and clear, the black was filled with stars that looked like dotted sparkles, it reminded Trinny of the star cloth backdrop on the school stage when she performed at the fundraiser cabaret night. As she looked down, she saw three shadows standing on the beachfront a few feet from her house. She jumped back in fright, falling over her shoes, then the bed, with Emma's legs breaking her fall.
"Ow, that hurt, how many times you going to fall and have someone catch you tonight?" Emma pushed Trinny off and rubbed her legs.
"They're out there, those guys, on the beach front." Trinny was freaked out. Emma jumped up and turned the lights out in the room. She went to the window, and sure enough, they were there.
"We need to tell your mum, and maybe call the police." Trinny and Emma ran to Lucille’s bedroom, she was still up and reading one of her favorite fantasy books. She could see they looked frightened.
"
What's wrong girls
?" She asked with concern.
"There are three guys outside the house and they followed us from the party...." Trinny and Emma proceeded to tell Lucille about the weird guys and what happened at Emma’s house. Lucille did not answer for a moment, but when she did, the calm in her voice took Trinny by surprise.
"So they asked for your help Trinny? And they used your full name?"
"Yes. Should we be calling the police mum?" Lucille sighed.
"No. I need to tell you something." Trinny gave her mum a quizzical look and Emma sat down on the end of Lucille’s bed, her face filled with confusion. "When your dad was alive, he told me that one day someone may come and ask for his help, he said that when that happened, he would just have to go, no questions asked. He also said that if he were not around, then they would ask for you, they would use your full name and ask for your help. He said that I was to tell you to go."