Chapter 1, The Past

Chapter 1, The Past. Just so you know, I dont plan to call this novel "Sapphire Eyes".. Only a temperary.

 

Chapter 1

The Past

 

 

 First dance of the year. Oh what fun this would be. I don’t even get why students would be so excited about these dances. It’s just so plain... weird. Either way, as usual, I don’t have a date to go with to the dance, and yet I only had a week left, not that I care about this, I just have to go to dances all the time. My dad has been acting strange since my mom died from stomach cancer; he lets me go to dances, which is pretty weird because, dads never do let you go to dances. They are either too pre-occupied if you’re going to make-out (Which is gross) or just some nasty thoughts in their heads. However, my dad doesn’t stop me, because he trusts me.

 I went to my first period class, science. Nothing unusual happened, only the fact we had to dissect a frog. Not really gross, it was just an inside of a frogs’ organ system. Every girl and some guys are so squeamish, half of the girls skipped class, a quarter fainted, and the other quarter blew chunks, while the last group of girls and guys ran to the restroom and vomited, then fainted. I was the only girl who actually can handle the stress and goriness of a frogs’ inside.

 The rest of the morning was the usual, Math, Spanish, French. Nothing out of the ordinary for me.

 When lunch came, I sit with my friends, Dawn and Lila, the rest of table was filled with people I hardly even know.  

“Jade, you won’t believe what happened during Biology,” Lila shouted while she ran and crashed into me, making us falling to the ground, leaving a bruise on my knee.

“Sorry,” she murmured. “But this is really important news Jade, you know the guy in the soccer team I always had a crush on?” she asked.

“Daniel? Yea w-“

“He asked me to the dance!” Lila sputtered out, jumping lightly on her feet.

 “That’s great! What are you planning to wear?” I asked, trying to keep on with the conversation.
 

 “I don’t know yet. I’ll probably wear something stylish, but not tacky,” She pondered while she helped me up.

We walked to the table we usually sat. Dawn was five minutes late, which was unusual to us. She’d usually be much earlier than us, usually picking on her oranges, waiting for us.

She finally came running with a smile on her face. Is she happy about her music mark? Well, whatever it was, she’s going to blurt it out. If she doesn’t I swear I will get a dead frog from the science room and make her look at it until she finally spills the beans

 Apparently, I didn’t need to get a dead frog. Once she got to the table, hitting her leg really hard against the edge of the table that had sharp edges, but no damage had done her, she quickly sat down and blurted what was happening.

“Two things,” Dawn panted. “First thing, Robert asked me to the dance,”

“Who’s Robert?” Lila asked, confused.

“You know, the guy from my art class, the guy with the really light, dirty blonde hair,” Dawn gasping for more air.

“Oh that guy... he asked you to the dance?” Lila asked.

“Of course, and second thing,” she went on.”There is a new guy; I think his name is Seth. Girls think he is so hot, but not as much as my Robert,”

“I think he’s hot,” protested Lila.

“Well, he seems like Jade’s type. What do you think?” Dawn turned to me for my opinion.

“I – I don’t know. I never actually seen him yet,” I stammered.

“Well you’re about to find out, here he comes now,” said Lila, staring behind me.

 I turned to look and looked. He was gorgeous, as Lila described him. He had black satin, tousled hair; his skin was lightly tanned. His eyes were a brilliant colour of sapphire; it was full of happiness and excitement. His lips were full, and a light, healthy shade of padparadscha. He was dressed in a light blue t-shirt, light brown cargo pants, and khaki coloured sandals, as if he was on a beach. He had a smile on his face with his new friends. One of them was defiantly Robert. I turned to look at Dawn. Her eyes were on Robert; her expression looked happy and glad for him for making a new friend. 

“Wow,” I breathed. ”well it’s good to know how he looks like, but either way, I’m still not going to the dance. I really want to finish my book series,” I explained. “And for the record, I don’t think you guys would have time for me at the dance, because you have your dates,”

“Don’t be ridicules, Jade. We’ll have plenty time with you.” Lila said, while leaning over to Dawn whispering in her ear, but it wasn’t quite low enough and I was pretty sure she said, “Since we have plenty of time, we can get that Seth guy to dance with her.”

“I heard that,” I murmured.

“Well excuse me for helping you get a date, you should be thanking me for trying to help get Seth to dance with you,” Lila said, with a bit of drama.

“Well sorry for bursting your bubble, but maybe I don’t want to dance with Seth” I lied. I really did want to dance with Seth, but I knew that he was too handsome for my own good. Another reason is that there were girls surrounding him, especially the one I despised. Her name is Alexandra Derain. I despised her ever since third grade. She’d always try to embarrass me in front of the whole school, but all plans failed. Now she’s trying to proof to people that she can get a guy and get him to hate me. To me, that’s just a pathetic plan. It’s a guy. It doesn’t make a difference in my life. Does it?

 Seth’s eyes turned to me, locking them into place with my dull, brown eyes. My eyes widened in shock, blood started rushing to my cheeks, turning my face warm. I quickly looked away, and saw Alexandra with a container of ice cream, snickering at me, while flirting with Seth.

 I suddenly wanted to run away from the cafeteria. My eyes started to water, and I lost my appetite. I put my head down to comfort myself, breathing slowly in and out.

“What’s wrong Jade?” Dawn suddenly snapped out of her daydream of her and Robert, shaking my arm, worried.

“I’m fine,” I whispered. “I just need to go out for a bit,”

“Oh well, I’ll come with you,” Lila offered.

“No it’s okay. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

“Okay, if you say so...”

 I walked out of the cafeteria before she could finish her sentence. I had a sudden urge to run. How strange.

 When I got outside, I started to grow angry. I couldn’t believe it. Alexandra always has to get what she wants, and all she’s been was being a brat. Like on her tenth birthday, she got a young, white Maltese. She only had it for three months, and then abandoned it on the streets. Luckily, I found it under a bush. Poor thing was all dirty and thin from starvation. I wanted to help, so I brought it home with me. I didn’t have any dog food, so I went to my neighbours and asked them for some dog food, and explained to them why I needed it. They were glad I was going to help the poor thing, so they gave me sixteen packets of Cesar products and three bags of dry food. I got five packets of Cesar’s wet slices, three bags of Cesar’s dry food, and eleven Cesar wet entrees. They also gave me some dog shampoo and conditioner. When they closed their door, I slipped thirty bucks under their door, and walked back with the puppy in my arm. Surprisingly, it wasn’t restless. It was still alive, I knew that, but it didn’t squirm out of my arm.

 When I got back to my house, I took out the dog shampoo and conditioner, rushed to the washroom, and turned on the water in the shower. Slowly, I put the puppy in the tub and started to clean thoroughly and quickly, so it could eat as soon as possible. I felt its bones when I was washing it.

 When I was done, I quickly dried it off with my hairdryer. It was very clean by the time it was dried off. I wanted to give it a temporary name, so I checked to see if it was a girl or a boy. It was a boy, so I thought of a name when I came out of the washroom with him in my arms. I decided to name him, Jack.

 When I got to the kitchen, I put Jack down, and quickly got a bowl from the cupboard. I filled it with nice warm water, and set it down in front of Jack. Jack started to drink the water like a motor boat, because when I got back with the dry food, he was already done drinking it.

 I picked up the empty bowl and got another bowl from the cupboard. I filled one of the bowls with water again, and the other bowl with the dry puppy food.

 I set them down in front of Jack again. I turned to go to the washroom to clean it up. I could hear Jack crunching his food loudly. I smiled a bit. At least I could help the poor thing. Then I realised that the dog belonged to Alexandra. My face started to turn red as an apple. How could she abandon him like this? He’s just a puppy! I couldn’t beli-

The school bell distracted me from my memory from the past. I checked my watch. Was it already twenty minutes? I couldn’t tell. I just ran back inside to my locker to get my things for my next classes: Geo, Music and Gym.

 Geography was very surprising. When I entered the room, there was a big crowd around the desk beside me, so I waited at the door for the crowd to break down so I could get to my desk.

 Somehow, the crowd didn’t break up until the teacher, Mr. Keymen, came in and broke the crowd up. Then I suddenly noticed why there was a big crowd around the desk beside me. Seth was right there, his eyes filled with excitement, and his wide smile showed his glimmering, white teeth.

 Then it came to me. He was sitting next to me. “Crap,” I murmured while I went to my seat. Blood started rushing to my cheeks like always.

 I took a peek at him, and he was staring at the floor. I wonder why? Probably because he was new to this class, I guess.

 The rest of Geography was more of a drag, because we just had to watch a TV presentation.

 When the bell finally rang for fifth period, I gathered my stuff, and nearly bumped into Seth while I was getting up.

 We stared at each other for a long moment, possibly shy to say anything, until Alexandra came. She linked arms with him and pulled him to her side, while Seth was still staring back at me. I smiled and nodded to show my apology. He smiled, no more than a slight twitch from the corner of his lips, and nodded back.

 I left the room and off my way to Music, the easiest class for me. Yes, I said for me. Some of my schoolmates think it’s hard, but it isn’t hard for me because I took piano lessons since I was five years old, now I’m in grade ten.

 When I arrived to Music, I got out my flute and practiced a song that just popped up into my mind, and I had no clue how it was played, but I played it. I believe I was playing the song from this Korean theme song of this show that I couldn’t understand. I was surprised I could be able to play the song still.

 Mr. Stevenson walked up to me, his eyes widened in amazement, his wide grin full of excitement.

“Umm, Jade, may I see you for a second?” Mr. Stevenson asked.

“Sure. Why?” I asked.

“I wanted to ask you if you’d like to represent our school in the Music Festival. It’s a festival where you perform, and whoever makes the best performance, wins a School Music Award for the school that would have an engraved name of whoever represented the school. Would you like to participate?” he offered.

 I thought about it for a while. I could play a song on the piano to express my feelings on that day.

“Sure, I’ll do it. As long as I can use a Piano then that would be even better,” I agreed

“Sure, just be at the Music Festival this Saturday at 5:00 pm,” he excitedly agreed.

 I bet he’s thinking about how he’s so going to win this year.

 When Music class has ended, I rinsed my flute mouthpiece thoroughly, putting it back into the shelf where it was before I even touched it.

The rest of that day was typically boring. I never saw Seth after that, and I was glad. If I ever see him again, his eyes would smoulder into mine, and I’ll be brainwashed.

 Once I’ve finally got into my clothes after gym, I nearly ran to my locker. I was 5 minutes late, and I need to pick up Michael, get dinner ready for the dog and for the humans, and finish my homework.

 I quickly stashed the work I wasn’t going to do tonight, and put my pencil away in my pencil case. I hated to lose my pencils and pens.

 I ran to the parking lot, turning sharply to my right, and crashed into someone.

 “I’m so sorry!” I apologized.

 The person I crashed into, looked at me, and I realized, it was Seth. His face was unreadable, and just before I could say anything else, he swiftly got up and ran the opposite direction I was going.

 My eyes widened in shock. Did I do something wrong? Or was it because Alexandra embarrassed me? Well, whatever I did, I tried to apologize for the mistake I have made or ignore whatever she said about me, I can careless now about my love life.

 I checked my watch and it was quarter –pass three. I scrambled myself to get up, and stiffly ran to my dad’s car. I was only borrowing it because I lived thirty minutes away from the school. It was a 2008 silver Nissan Versa. My dad use to have a 1980 Volkswagen, and he figured that he needed a new car, so he bought this car. It was durable, and a really nice car for my whole family.

 When I drove out of the school parking lot, I turned on the radio, and checked the clock. It was twenty-five minutes pass three. I was late, really late.

 Once I got to Michael’s school, he was waiting there. He was looking down, angry. Crap. Was I that late? Stupid corner.

 I honked the horn, and then Michael looked up. He furiously ran to the car, got in the front, and then slammed the door shut so hard, I thought he was going to break the car door.

“Sorry for being late, Michael,” I apologized. “My gym class ran late,”

“It’s not you,” he mumbled. “It’s this girl. She keeps following me like a lost dog. It’s really annoying,”

“Oh. Well did you ask her to stop?” I asked.

“Yes, but she keeps following me. I really hate it, Jade! It’s driving me crazy!”

“Well, what’s her name?”

“I think it was Jessica, or something,”

“Oh. Well, have you considered maybe she likes you?”

He thought about it, then made a face.

 “Gross. She’s annoying, I don’t really like her. Anyways, why would girls like me?”

“Because you’re my handsome little brother,” I teased.

 Michael and I get along very well. We always tell each other stuff, from love, to hatred. We are more like best friends than siblings, and I was grateful for that.

 

 When we got home, Jack came running to us, with his tongue hanging out. He looked like he was smiling when he saw us.

 “Hey boy,” Michael said petting Jack’s head. “You hungry?”

 Jack nodded. It’s really funny how that happened. Michael and I teached him tricks. Like nodding when he wants something, whining when he doesn’t want it, or he just hates it.

 I took my bag and coat off and left it on the black, leather couch. I also took Michael’s coat and bag to the couch too.

 Michael went to the wooden cabinet and got out some Cesar, dumped it in a bowl, and poured water in a separate bowl so Jack doesn’t dehydrate from the dry food.

 He put the food and water in front of Jack, then Jack started to eat like a pig, but satisfied like a pig too.

Our dad isn’t going to come back from work until six, so we had about two hours to talk about school and life. How sociable we are.

 We went to his room and sat on the bed on opposite directions.

 “So, how’s school going for you?” Michael asked.

 “It’s...okay,” I said.

 He looked at me, confused.

 “Tell me the truth, Jade.”

 Darn it, Michael was the only one who could read my face. Other people tend to guess what was happening. I never do show my true feelings to anyone, only Michael seems to know how to read my feelings. My dad can’t even tell if I was happy or sad.

 I sighed.

 “Okay. So Alexandra is giving me a hard time. She always gets what she wants,” I explained. “I really hate her, she’s driving me crazy.”

 “It’s about a guy isn’t it?” he guessed.

 “How did you know?”

 “I’ve never seen you in this situation before. You never did care about your love life,”

 “Let’s just say, I was late because of Alexandra and Se-” I stopped there. I didn’t want to tell him just yet. It just reminded me of crashing into him, seeing him with Alexandra where I first laid my eyes on him.

 “Se...?” he asked.

 “Never mind, I’ll tell you tomorrow,” then I silently walked out of the room to get Jack in the bathtub. I could feel his eyes on my back once I got up off the bed.

 When I was finished washing the dishes after dinner, I went upstairs to my room. My room hasn’t changed since we moved here when I was four. It had polar white walls, very plain, a bed that was dull yellow, cabinets for my clothes, a mirror on the back of the door, and a bedside table with a phone and a radio sitting on top.

 I walked to the bed, turned on the radio to my favourite radio station, Mix FM, then took out my Twilight book from the ground. I couldn’t afford a bookshelf yet, so I leave them on the side of the room.

 I already read Twilight a number of times already, but I seem to keep reading it nonstop. I always admired Stephenie Meyer’s books.

 Twilight is about this girl and this vampire falling in love, but that get trouble along the way with werewolves and other vampires, who drink human blood. There are good vampires who drink only animal blood. Since I finished my homework at school, I sat on my bed and relaxed, reading, then drifted off to unconsciousness.

 

 It was a dull grey morning in Toronto when I woke up the next day. I didn’t really like grey mornings, but that’s just me.

 I slowly got up and changed for the day. I took out my school uniform for the day. Black pants, white collered shirt, a black tie tucked underneath my black woolen sweater.

 I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, brush my hair, and tie it up. My hair wasn’t really long, it’s only three inches down my back. It was black and it was shiny, due to my shampoo for making it luscious at first use.

 I went to Michael’s room and knocked on the door lightly, just enough to wake him up.

“Michael, time to wake up.” I said.

 My dad is usually at work at six to six, so a good twelve hours. He was a chef at a restraunt called “Asian Delights”

It’s one of the top ten restraunts that is healthy, yet tasty.

I slowly open Michael’s door, and see him still sleeping. I slowly walk to his bed and nudge him a little bit.

His eyes flew open, screaming, startling me.

 “Michael, Michael, what’s wrong?” I panicked.

 He was panting quickly, and I patiently waited until his breathing slowed down.

“Micheal?” I said. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing” He sighed. “I just had a bad dream. What’s for breakfast?”

 I sighed and laughed quietly. He always didn’t want me to worry about him, but I seem to worry about him all the time, like a sister should.

 I walked downstairs and started breakfast. Jack was still sleeping in my room, so I put his food near the couch in the living room.

 Michael came rushing down as he usually does every morning, and came to the dinning table, eating his pancakes I made for him.

 “Wow Jade, this is really good,” He complimented.

 I smiled. I was always a better chef than my dad, but I never do want to work in his restraunt.

 “Well, maybe I’ll teach you someday,” I offered.

 “No thank you, I’d rather have my sister cooking than me cooking,” He said, a bit smug. “Remember that pasta I made?”

 How can I not forget? He put so many spices, and the pasta was undercooked. It was the worst dinner I had ever eaten.

 “Yes. I guess you’re right. Give the sister a job to do, while the eight grader can handle his girl problems,” I teased a bit.

 “Please don’t mention that,” He begged. “Now tell me, what about this Se-”

I knew he wouldn’t forget.

 “Well,” I said, while popping my pancake into my mouth. “His name is Seth, and well, Alexandra was flirting with him,”

“Your jealous.”

I hesitated for a short moment.

“Yes. I am, but that isn’t it,” I insisted. “It’s what Seth was eating. It was...” I stopped there.

“Ice cream?” he whispered. I saw the agony in his wide chocolate coloured eyes. I could feel my eyes water with the exact imatitation as his.

 We both stared at each other for a long time, then I got up, taking his plate, and put it in the sink. I got a tissue for Michael and wiped his tears away.

“You know she hasn’t left us yet, Michael” I whispered.

“I know. I just don’t know why she had to be the one to..” he agonized.

“I know. But you’ll always have her,” I slowly patted his chest. “In here”

 He sniffed while slowly getting up from his chair, and getting his bag.

 I went to the living room to grab my bag and my keys, and then got out of the house with Michael, locking the door.

 We slowly got to the car, he sat at the front as usual, and I started the car.

We drove off the four-oh-one and down to Michael’s school, which was Jack Miner Senior Public School. I dropped him off at the drive way, waved at him, then drove off to R.H. King.

 

 The parking lot wasn’t full yet. I checked the digital clock in my dad’s car, and it was eight-fourty. I was twenty minutes early, so to kill time, I got out of the car with my bag, locked it, then went to the back of the school, into the field.

 I sat under a tree, took out my iPod, and turned on the music. I was playing “Drive my Soul” by Lights. I thought back to this morning, where Michael was crying. That hurt me, like something has been stabbed trough my heart. I never wanted to see my family to be in pain, especially Michael. I wrapped my arms around my knees, resting my back against the willow tree, and let me head droop against my knees.

 I thought about how my mom died from stomache cancer. It was painful to watch. My dad was always crying at night ever since she passed away. Now, he just works non-stop at the restraunt. She left us when I was four and when Michael was two. It was awfully painful. I remembered myself bawling on the bed, always thinking about her. I also remembered when Michael would always ask, “Jade, where’s mommy?” when he was five. I always tell him “Michael, mommy’s on a life-time vacation.” It hurts me to lie to him, especially when he was young. I finally figured it out when he was eight. I remembered how he made a big fuss, and screamed at me asking me why I haven’t told him about mom. He threw everything he could find, the tissue box, the fruits, even the ice cream that was there for some reason. Ever since then, our family had never eaten ice cream ever. Even looking at it makes us react. The only person who had to get use to it, was dad. I never seen dad in so much pain. He was crying and always saying “I love you, Megan” over and over, like a broken record. It hurt us so much.

 Someone tapped on my shoulder, I looked up. It was Lila. Her eyes looked worried. I took out my earphones from my ears.

“Jade, are you okay?” she asked.

“Yea, why?”

“You’re crying,” she told me

Oh. I didn’t realise I was crying. I quickly wiped away my tears and looked around. The school has been filled with people. I looked around and saw some eyes looking at me, worried. The one person who stood out the most, was leaning against the wall, with curious eyes. It was Seth. I quickly looked away once our eyes met, and got up dusting my pants, picked up my bag, and grabbed Lila’s wrist, walking inside of the school.

 Lila’s eyes were full of questions.

“I’ll explain to you when we get inside,” I whispered when we passed Seth. I felt his eyes smoldering behind us.

 Lila turned to him while we passed him, waving at him. I tugged her arm harder.

 We walked to my locker, still holding her wrist, and stopped there.

“What’s wrong, Jade? I’ve never seen you like this before,” she worried.

“Well, maybe because of you, I wouldn’t be in this situation,” I snapped

“What did I do?” she asked, offenced.

“If you haven’t told me about Seth, I wouldn’t be in this death trap,”

She stared at me for a long moment, then smiled with satisfaction.

“What?” I asked angrily.

“You like him,” she said. “You like him, Jade. Admit it.”

I hesistated. I felt my heart pounding loudly, my blood rushing to my cheeks, but I knew Lila can’t see me blush. As I said, I was good at hiding my feelings.

“Maybe,” I admited.

“I knew it!” she jumped, while shouting with glee.

“Shut up,” I demanded. “I have other things to worry about here , Lila. I have a family who needs me, without the boy problem,”

 She completely ignored me.

“I’m going to ask him to ask you to the dance,” she noted herself.

“No. Your not going to. I’m not going to the dance if your going to ask him,” I warned her.

“Aw, Jade. Why do you have to ruin my fun? Why can’t go along with this?” she asked.

“Because maybe I’m a party pooper. So that’s why I’m not going to the dance,” I informed.

“But can you please just admit you like Seth?” She half begged.

“Why?”

“Just admit it,”

 I knew she didn’t need me to admit it the third time, so I slowly turned around. Seth was behind me, staring at me.

 I meet his eyes, then slowly looked away, turning to my locker, and took out what I needed for the day. They were still staring at me. Before I left, I threw Lila a dark look, then went to my first period class.

 Lila was in my Science class and she’s my lab partner, so I can slap her for what she did this morning.

 I sat at our lab tables, waiting for Lila to show her face so I can threaten her in her sleep.

 The bell rang, and Lila came rushing to our table, just before Mr.Dertan entered the room.

 I didn’t get a chance to threaten Lila during class. We were learning about organs of a frog, and which organ does what.

 Once the bell rang, I slowly got up, and walked out the room to my next period class.

 Nothing interesting happened in Gym and Spanish. Just like everyday Gym and Spanish.

 I walked to my locker after the lunch bell rang. I opened it and put my stuff in my locker, and took my lunch money and stuffed it in my pocket. I wasn’t really hungry, so I might aswell get a lemonade or something to quench my thirst. I slowly looked at the pictures in my locker. I looked at my family picture, before my mom passed away. I stared at it for a moment, then moved on to Michael’s picture when he was younger. He was so happy then, always had that warm smile everywhere he goes. He still has that same warm smile, but it doesn’t seem to last long enough to admire it. I sighed.

 “Hello,” a deep, seductive voice greeted me, which startled me.

 I quickly turned around, frightened. A boy was leaning against the locker beside me. I recoginzed the face immediatly. It was Seth.

Author's Note

Ignore Spelling errors, and such. Kty.