Chapter 1
My small, tiny feet padded quickly against the hardwood floor. Father was basically dragging me behind him down the white hall.
Room 103, that is what I saw before father barreled us through the heavy door. The room smelled of cleaner and had a small beeping noise echoing off the walls.
When father let go of my hand and walked out of my line of sight, I saw why we were there.
My mother was lying on a small white bed with tubing going to her nose and to her arms, it was scary.
I was so scared in that very moment I felt frozen. I had no clue what was happening, but I knew it was not good. I began to walk slowly to the bed holding my stuffed Ariel doll close to my chest.
“Meysa, come here baby girl.” My mother’s voice croaked out.
I crawled up on the small bed making sure to not touch any of the tubing, afraid I would hurt mother more.
“What is wrong mommy?” I asked quietly. “Mommy is sick baby. It is time for mommy to leave you and daddy.” Her voice was shaky and father was crying.
I was scared and confused so I asked “Why mommy? Will you be back soon?” She shook her head no, “God is calling me. I am going to heaven baby. Mommy cannot come back.”
Tears began clouding my vision. “Why mommy? Please stay. I promise I will be good.” I begged her to stay and not leave.
She pulled me in to a soft warm hug. “Meysa, I love you and daddy with all my heart and soul. I will always be with you, right here.” She said poking my chest where my heart laid.
She took rapid small breaths holding both my father and my hands. “Promise me Meysa. No matter what comes your way in life you will shine like the brightest star in the sky.
No matter how tough things get you will stay as strong as the waves in sea.” I nodded looking into my mothers deep green eyes. “Promise me you will watch over your daddy for me. He needs you just like you need him.”
My voice was broken in the midst of my crying as I tried to respond. “Yes momma.” She touched my cheek with her cold hand, “Never give up on family. I love you both so much.” She then took her final breath and her hand fell to the bed.
My father picked my small frame up from the bed and I cried hysterically into his chest as he carried me home. I could hear his soft cries as we made our way home.
He tucked me into bed kissing me softly on the forehead and walked out. I grabbed the picture of my mother from my small nightstand and talked to her.
“I will never give up mommy. I will watch over daddy for you. I already miss you so much and I love you like the water loves the ocean.” I held on tight to the picture as I cried myself to sleep.
That evening when I was eleven years old always played in my mind. I smack the alarm clock the read five in the morning. I went and took a fast shower.
Showers in the morning always helped wake me up and relaxed my body. I pulled on a pair of light blue ripped skinny jeans and a white spaghetti strap tank top, with my black leather jacket.
I quickly blow dried my long wavy hair and threw it up into a messy bun. I glance back at the clock to see it is 5:45am. I rush downstairs to the kitchen to start breakfast.
I began rummaging through the cabinets to see what I could find for breakfast. There was not much since I have not gone to the store yet. I decided to make bologna gravy and biscuits.
When finished I hurried and ate a small bowl, and the time was seven and quickly wrote a letter to my father. “Dad, there is breakfast in the microwave. Get some rest, I love you.”
I then grabbed my small backpack and headed out to begin the journey to my high school.
“Mey. Meysa hold up.” I heard my best friend yelling as I past her house. We have been besties since diapers. Our mothers were best friends.
“Hey Lacey.” I called to her as she jogged to catch up to me. “How was your morning?” She asked as her breathing was a bit rapid from chasing me down.
“Better than yours.” I said laughing at her trying to catch her breath. “I hate mornings. They do not agree with me. I swear I could be like one of the old-fashioned vampires. Only awake at night.” She said while yawning.
I laughed as I fixed my bag on my back and continued walking. “So bestie, have you heard the latest tea?” I raised a brow at her. “Lacey, I do not even drink the tea why would I listen to it.” I asked in a serious tone.
“Ha, Ha, my own personal comedian. How wonderful.” You could clearly hear the sarcasm in her voice. “Like I was saying about the tea. I was on gossip talk last night and apparently there are a few new sexy students coming to our school. “You and social media.”
She rolled her eyes as I continued talking. “You already know Alishia and her pets will be all over that.”
She groaned as I stated the obvious. “Why does one hoe need to plant her seed in every garden?” I gave her a confused glare trying not to laugh as I responded, “I think you need to retake sex education. I do not think women can plant seeds.”
She waved her hand at me, brushing my joke off. “Still, we are hot, fun, and smart. Plus we have not dipped our toes into every male infested pond we could find.” She was not lying.
We headed into the doors of the school and made our way to our lockers. I grabbed my first half of my classes’ books and binders.
“Hey Mey, see you at fourth period.” We did our best friend hand shake we have done since we were five. “Of course.” She then turned and headed up the stairs as I turned to head to my first period.
I felt someone’s hand on my arm and then knocked my books out of my hand causing my papers to fly everywhere. I bent down to pick them up as the witch herself spoke.
“On your knees where you belong like a good little servant.” She cackled as everyone began bellowing in laughter. I gathered my things quickly not letting her words bother me.
As I rose to my feet I made sure to look her in the eyes before responding. “I did not know servants were meant to be on their knees. I thought that was only for hoes like you.”
The crowd echoed in laughter and burns as I turned heel and headed to class leaving her speechless.
First period sucks for a lot of people but I loved it. My first period was literature and it was one of my favorite subjects.
“Good Morning class. First, I would like to introduce you to new student we have joining us here at Ocean View High.” The teacher’s gentle voice rung out. New student caught my attention causing me to snap my head forward.
When my eyes met his I had to keep my jaw from dropping and hitting the desk. He was tall, at least six foot. He had a nice tan which probably meant he spent his free time outdoors.
His body was very toned and muscular. His hair was black and short. The top was long enough to style with his thick dark locks. His eyes were a deep ocean blue.
I mentally was drooling at the man before us. The heavens took their time creating him. If they had a build your dream man site, he would be the outcome of every girl’s fantasy man in this school.
“Everyone this is Hudson.” The girls giggled and blushed. I agree he was fine but come on do not make it obvious that you want to jump his bones. “Hudson, welcome to Ocean View High and there is an open seat by Meysa.”
I rose my hand at her calling my name then froze slightly realizing the dream man was going to be sitting next to me.
I did not realize how quickly he made his way to me until I heard his deep rough voice. “Hello, nice to meet you. I am Hudson.” I stared at his hand he was holding out. “Meysa. Same.”
I could not think of anything else to say as I grabbed his hand to shake. The touch of his skin sent tingles through my body, and he gave me a warm smile.
“Careful sitting next to the rat you could get rabies.” I heard one of Alishia’s pets chip in. “Careful lying next to dogs, you will get fleas.” I snapped back causing her mouth to agape and Hudson to chuckle slightly. “Alright class settle down.” Ms. Clay’s voice rang through the classroom.
“It is time for the end of the year project. You all will be graduating in five months. This will count as fifty percent of your entire grade.” The class groaned because to graduate you have to pass her class and meant no slacking off as the others were hoping to do.
“Now this will be a team project. I will be choosing your partners.” I groaned mentally because now my grade was dependent on another person. “The subject is Fantasy Romance.” She walked down each aisle handing out a packet of papers.
“The packet before you helps break down what is a must in your book. There is a list of mythical creatures in your packet on the first page. You and your partner will each choose a character from that list for yourself. Get creative, be original. Have fun with it. It is fictional. Bring the character to life on the page. You have four weeks to complete your book. I will allot two days a week during class for you and your partner and the rest is up to you to situate.”
Ms. Clay loved assigning group projects and everything fictional. She said it was beautiful to see someone’s imagination come to life on a page. “Now the pairing. Julia you will be partnering with Greyson. Kyle with Samantha. Meysa and Hudson.”
My brows shot up as I looked over to Hudson who was wearing a luring smile. “When you turn in your papers I will be making them into books. I will read each one of them. I will choose my top three favorites. I then have a group that will be reading from those three. They will give reviews, feedback, and will choose the winner. The winning team will get a grand prize plus an A plus for the class.”
She is making it interesting adding in a grand prize. “Now each of you individually go over your list of mythical creatures. Choose the one you want to be part of the story. Give them a name, describe them, then you and your partner will have to build a story based on these two characters.”
I grabbed the sheet of mythical creatures. Of course, number one is vampires, then werewolves, fae, witches, warlocks, giants, elves, and fairies. I noticed there were a few missing creatures and I wondered if I could still use one of them.
I raised my hand waiting for Ms. Clay. “Yes Meysa?” “I was wondering about a few creatures that are not on here. God and Goddess, Dragons, and Mermaids/Merman. Can we still use of those?” she smiled really big. “Of course.” I smiled and grabbed my notebook ready to find my inner imagination.
I did not realize how caught up in creating my own character I had got until I heard the bell ring. I quickly grabbed my books and when I went to stand I bumped right into Hudson.
“Oh my gosh I am so sorry.” “Do not worry about it. Hey how about lunch I sit with you and we can make a schedule for this book?” I smiled and nodded. I turned heel and got out of there quickly before he saw my face as red as a tomato.
Finally, fourth period. Lacey and I had study hall together, thank God. She came rushing to sit next to me, “Hey girl guess what.” She excitedly asked. “You hit the lotto.” I exclaimed and she rolled her eyes.
“No, I met one of the new guys today. His name is Nyle. I swear he is one of the Greek Gods. He is absolutely gorgeous.” She went on about him for a good thirty minutes. I interrupted “Nyle, Huh?” wiggling my eyebrows at her. She slapped my arm giggling back at my insinuation.
“Well, he is my partner in our theater program. We have to make our own short story in a way and bring it to life on set with a musical number.” I laughed at her panic.
“Not funny Mesa. We have to figure out a story to portray, make our own costumes, and write a song for the set. Then we have to then make a small movie for the school to judge the winner.”
The bell rung for lunch and we headed to the cafeteria. “Lacey calm down. You are an excellent singer, actor, and you are basically my personal fashionista.”
She gave me a small smile. “But Mey, we do not actually perform. We are the directors and we have been split into teams of two. Nyle and I are the head of our teams and Alishia and her pet our the second.”
We grabbed our trays and headed to our table at the back of the cafeteria. “Oh, by the way, Nyle will be joining us for lunch.” I completely forgot so is Hudson. Before I could tell her I heard a husky voice that sent chills down my spine.
“Hey Meysa.” “Hey Lacey.” I turned to see Hudson and another gorgeous man standing next to him. “Well, I heard you and my brother Nyle have a project to discuss. I have on to discuss with Meysa as well.” She looked at me with shocked eyes seeing how I forgot to mention the other Greek God was my partner.
They sat down in front of us and it was silent for a moment. I decided humor is always the way to go to break the silence. “Nyle, are you a theatric guru to?” I then felt Lacey kick the side of my calf and Hudson chuckled. “Actually, I love theater.” I nodded at his response. I could see Lacey’s cheeks blush as he spoke.
Of course, Alishia would not let lunch go over so well. “Well look who we have here. We have plenty room at our table boys. There is no reason to be dirtying yourself by sitting with the trash.” She said as she shot daggers at me. Before I could speak up Nyle was quick to engage. “You see we believe in recycling and saving the planet, but even we understand when something has been used to many times to just leave it in the garbage.”
I instantly choked on my water at his words. Hudson then followed in saying, “Even the filthiest creatures know when they are not wanted.” I could not help but laugh as Lacey chimed in, “Girls I think that was your exit cue. Buh bye now.” Alishia and her hyenas turned and stomped away.
We each were talking about our schedules to figure out our projects when an idea hit me. “Lacey, Nyle. Did your teacher say you had to right the script?” Nyle shook his head as Lacey spoke, “No, but it has to be original.”
I smiled. “Well how about you guys use our original book to pull scenes from. I will go over my character with Lacey, Hudson will do the same with Nyle. Then you two can meet and start on costumes. Then as we write you guys can be like our critique team as you choose your scene.” Everyone shared glances before responding in unison. “Sounds great.”
We finished our meals in friendly conversation. “Since tomorrow is Saturday, how about we meet at my house around one o’clock?” I blurted out not thinking clearly. “As long as you are cooking lunch.” Lacey chimed in. I rolled my eyes and everyone agreed to meet at my house.
I gave the boys the address when the bell rang and went on about the day. I wore a smile on my face the rest of the school day excited for what is to come.
