Painfully Ordinary

1. BEGINNINGS

She truly could have made Aphrodite feel frumpy.

The strange woman glided out of my dream and through the pressing dark to the edge of my bed, where she stood staring into my eyes. Her straight, chestnut-colored hair flowed around her face and down her back as she moved with the grace and strength of a Native American princess. Her fluid white dress made me conscious of the oversized T-shirt and cheer shorts I had worn to bed. Her eyes were a breathtaking shade of violet but, while gorgeous, they definitely were not soothing.

I clutched the covers to my chin with shaking hands and shuddered as she openly assessed me. This was not her first visit. At first she’d stood just outside my open bedroom door, looking in; but, as time had passed, she’d gotten bolder. I couldn’t figure out who she was or what she wanted from me. What terrified me most is that she never said a word. I grew paranoid about doors being open while I slept, as if closing the door to my room could shut the door on my dreams.

Suddenly, I noticed the shadowy silhouette of a man standing in the far corner of my room. Had he come with the strange woman? Somehow, his presence seemed far more malevolent. I pulled the covers tight over my head, ears aching from the silence; when I finally dared to emerge, both were gone. But the word Ciro whispered through the inky darkness of my room.

Sleep eluded me for quite some time.

“Caitlin....” Mom called in a singsong voice.

Ugh. Is it morning already? If this keeps up, I am going to be completely sleep deprived. I had faced the same dream almost every night for the past few months, and they were getting creepier by the day — or night, whichever the case might have been. I found myself waiting for something even more ominous to happen, peeking around corners everywhere I went.

I tried talking to Mom about the dreams a couple of times, but each time I brought them up, she would bite her bottom lip and look away. Then she’d turn back to me with a smile and say something like, “Oh, Caiti, it was just a dream. You are being so dramatic.” And then she’d change the subject.

But I knew better. She only chewed on her lip like that when she was really stressed about something. I got the impression she wasn’t comfortable talking about the woman in my dream, and it was incredibly frustrating. Now, don’t get me wrong. I absolutely adored my crazy mom. She can be my best friend and fiercest protector. I guess if I were honest with myself, I’d have to say we do have a few things in common; people sometimes mistake her for my older sister instead of my mom. It is so irritating, but of course, I know she loves it.

“Caiti, get up! You are going to be late!” Mom yelled from the foot of the stairs.

“OK, OK; I’m up, I’m up.” I grumbled.

I sat up and threw my legs over the side of my bed, yawning. Pushing my tangled hair back from my face, I glanced up at the large tank on top of my dresser and saw my turtle happily jetting around his tank. At least Faffy was happy to be up this morning.

Standing, I stretched and dragged myself into the bathroom, which, thanks to my mom’s willingness to reassign the guest bathroom, I no longer had to share with my little brother. My phone vibrated on the bathroom counter, and I grabbed it before it fell into the sink. The incoming text was from my best friend, Leah — the one person outside my family who really gets me.

r u up yet???

ya, what’s up?

Can u get 2 school early?

Idk ill try. im not rdy yet

hurry up i have BIG news

Ack!

I unplugged my straightening iron. My hair, thick and curly, hung halfway down my back. It would take forever to straighten, and there was no way I’d have enough time if I was going to get to school early. I brushed my teeth, splashed water on my face, and dug through the pile of clean clothes in my papasan chair. Mom was always nagging me about how much easier it would be to find things if I just put them away. Whatever. That’s way too much work.

Settling on a pair of jeans and a shirt from my favorite hockey team, I snatched my phone and bag off my dresser and ran down the stairs. I could put my makeup on during the drive to school.

“That was fast.” Mom grinned and gave me a quick hug.

I shrugged. “Leah needs me.”

My mom laughed as my little brother, Brady’s, head popped up from his breakfast, his cheeks reddening slightly at the mention of Leah’s name. He shoved the last bite of his sausage biscuit into his mouth and jumped off the barstool.

“I’b rebbyy,” he said around a mouthful of sausage.

The 15-minute ride to Brady’s school and then to mine was punctuated with the hum of incoming text messages. In between texts I managed to get my makeup on and kept an eye on the traffic moving across Flower Mound, Texas — a suburban jungle recently erected over what had been Native American grasslands and cattle country. Home sweet home in the middle of the sprawling Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Mom watched me out of the corner of her eye and smiled. “Is Leah going to last until you can get to school?”

I had to snicker at her. Leah and I had been best friends our entire lives. There wasn’t a single memory from my childhood that didn’t include her in some way or another. Now we were juniors and were really looking forward to life after high school; we had even gone on several college tours. The typical high school cliques had really pushed us to our limit, and we couldn’t wait to surround ourselves with people who actually shared our interests.

“What is she so wound up about?” she asked.

Rolling my eyes, I let my phone drop into my lap. “I have no idea,” I said, shaking my head. “But after all this, it better be something really good.”

We pulled up to the back door leading to the cafeteria, and I could already see Leah hopping from one foot to the other. When she saw our car, she waved frantically.

My mom chuckled. “You two try to stay out trouble today, OK?”

Rolling my eyes and slinging my backpack over one shoulder, I strolled toward the door. Leah couldn’t even wait for me to get inside and met me halfway.

“Oh my God! Oh my God! What took you so long to get here? Did you hear the news?” She threw her long, blonde hair over one shoulder, blue eyes flashing with excitement. She was talking so fast, she grew breathless.

I held both palms up in front of me. “Easy, turbo, slow down for a minute. You’re making me dizzy.”

She grimaced and rolled her eyes.

“OK. Now. What is this earth-shattering news that made you text me nonstop this morning? My mom thinks you’re having some sort of episode.”

Leah raised one eyebrow and barked, “Would you be serious!?”

Surprised at the outburst, I patted her on the shoulder apologetically. “I’m sorry; I was just messing with you. So what is the big news?”

Slightly mollified, she took a deep breath before continuing. “Guuuurrl...” She fanned her face with one hand.

I noticed several brightly colored butterflies flying around her head. Where in the world had those come from?

“Have you heard about the two bits of hotness that just transferred? I got a text from Morgan before I even got here this morning.”

Huh? I was so distracted by her halo of butterflies that I barely caught what she was saying. Slightly dazed, I blinked rapidly.

Leah’s hand shook and acted like she was going to have the episode I accused her of earlier. “Caiti! Are you even listening to me?”

“I’m sorry.” I apologized again, contrite. “I’m just really tired, and I need more sleep. OK, so we have two new hotties. What’s their story? I mean, who are they, and where did they transfer from?” I asked before waving my hand dismissively. “Not that it matters, since Tami and her band of Alley Cats will latch onto them soon enough.”

Leah’s eyes sparkled again as she patted my arm excitedly. “That’s just it! No one knows anything about them, since they kind of kept to themselves all day yesterday. How we missed them I have no idea. But Morgan said they walked right past that whole group and didn’t even look twice, and Tami and her entire crew were so confused. I can’t wait to see them. On top of looking good, Morgan said they have the most incredible accents. They sound Russian or something. It’s totally exotic.” She paused. “And hot.”

I bit my bottom lip. I hadn’t even heard a whisper about them yesterday. “Well, what do they look like? How will I know when I see them?”

She shook her head. “Oh, don’t worry, you’ll know. Whew, girl, will you know!”

I didn’t even have time to think about what that meant before she grabbed me by the arm. “Hurry up; we don’t want to be late!”

I stumbled into geometry in a fog, still thinking about what she’d said. Why would anyone gorgeous and exotic move here, of all places? I plopped down into my seat and grimaced at the board. I was sure the Alley Cats would gather and start circling the newcomers in record time.

I tapped my pencil on the edge of my desk, impatiently waiting for Mr. Von to start class. Suddenly my pencil slipped out of my hand, rolled off the edge of my desk, and clattered to the floor.

Crap.

I bent down to pick it up and found myself staring into the face of the most breathtaking guy I had ever seen. He had rugged good looks, instead of being the pretty-boy, male model type. He was massive, like some sort of competition bodybuilder. If that wasn’t enough, his auburn hair was clean cut and spiked in the front, leaving the emphasis on his soft brown eyes, chiseled cheekbones, and square jawline. Vin Diesel might have some competition for my attention from this guy.

Holy crap! This must be one of the newcomers. No wonder the girls are all wound up.

I had no idea how long my internal monologue went on, but I realized he was silently holding my pencil out to me, a look of utter surprise on that amazing face.

“Thanks.” I mumbled as I took it out of his thick fingers, blushing to the tips of my ears.

Oh, man! Why didn’t I straighten my hair this morning and wear something cute?

Tami twisted around in her chair, watching me through narrowed eyes. One of the worst things about this class was the stupid seating assignment. Why did she have to sit next to me? I had never been able to stand her going all the way back to third grade, when she made it her hobby to publicly point out every single awkward move I made. Absolutely nothing I did ever missed her radar. She had always taken great pleasure in watching me squirm. Some things never change. I just stared back and raised an eyebrow in challenge. She glanced from me to where he was sitting directly behind her, and then I realized he was still studying me.

Tami turned all the way around in her chair and placed her hand lightly on his arm, showing him a row of perfectly straight teeth. “Oh, you’ll have to excuse Caitlin,” she said in a sickeningly sweet, baby voice and giggled. “She is just so uncoordinated.”

Oh, no she didn’t! Unfortunately, my emotions tend to show all over my face. When I’m pissed, everyone knows it, and I was all kinds of pissed at her.

She refused to break eye contact, daring me to do something. Normally, I would just blow her off; frankly, I’d recognized for years that she was a waste of energy. However, this time something inside me snapped. Perhaps it was the whole lack-of-sleep thing again.

I granted my total attention to the newcomer, flashing him my brightest smile. He appeared startled but presented me with a grin in return that took my breath away. “Oh, please excuse Tami.” I cooed in mockery of her tone. “She’s just mad because someone dropped a house on her sister.”

He stared down at the floor and, to his credit, didn’t actually laugh, but I saw his shoulders shake.

Tami glared at me. “Caitlin, you are such a freak.” Leaning closer to me and lowering her voice to a whisper, she continued. “You can just forget about him. He won’t want some little nobody like you. He will be mine. I’ll tell Ryan you were looking at him, and that will be the end of that, won’t it?”

This was exactly the kind of thing that always set Ryan off. Ex-boyfriends were the absolute worst. Ryan had pursued me for some time before I actually gave in and went out with him a couple of times. He had seemed like a nice enough guy at first, but he quickly became oppressively jealous and overbearing. In the end, I couldn’t get away from him fast enough. Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to take a hint and was relentless in trying to convince me, and everyone else, that we were exclusively dating. He was one of the major reasons that college looked so appealing. Tami fixed a fake smile on her face and carried on watching the newcomer like he was a juicy steak and she was starving. Tami always used the exact same tactics; I knew he would probably fall for it just like all the others before him — and believe me, there were plenty before him.

I pivoted in my seat just in time to see him scowl and remove Tami’s hand from his arm. I laughed aloud; I couldn’t help myself. He bent his head, giving me a conspiratorial wink.

Mr. Von decided to start class at that exact moment, so I never got to see her reaction, but I could only assume it wasn’t good since this was the second time he had blown her off.

Throughout class, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Someone was watching me, but the only person sitting behind me was the new guy. Was it him? I really needed to find out his name, so I could stop referring to him as the new guy.

Why would he be watching me? I am painfully ordinary. Someone who looks like him could have anyone he wanted.

I couldn’t figure him out. Then I suffered a moment of sheer panic, remembering how I had left the house in such a rush that morning. I seriously hoped I didn’t have some sort of Little Rascals-Alfalfa thing going on with the back of my hair.

I rubbed my necklace between my fingers, as I always do when I’m upset. It’s a dark gray stone cut into a unique pattern, like a flame, held on a long, black cord. My mom gave it to me when I turned 16 and made me promise to wear it every day. I never took it off, except at tumbling practice. The stone has been worn smooth by the constant rubbing, and holding it always relaxes me.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. I must have completely lost track of time, but what else was new?

Tami got up from her desk, placing her arm in new-guy’s. She batted her eyelashes and said, “Talon, will you walk me to second period?”

I rolled my eyes.

“I’m terribly sorry, but I am meeting up with Jace.” His voice was deep and smooth, and he had the bluest eyes I had ever seen. As he removed her arm from his, he glanced at my necklace then grinned at me, pivoted on his heel, and left the room.

Had his eyes changed? I must be losing my mind. A trill of laugher escaped my lips. Strike three.

Tami’s face turned an ugly shade of purple. She threw her purse over her shoulder and glared at me. “I’ll say hi to Ryan for you.”

Crap. This is exactly why I didn’t normally banter with her; it was just not worth the trouble in the end. She was going to make me pay for this encounter.

I laid my head on my desk and waited for the ground to open and swallow me whole.