Chapter 1: What the heck?

Unexpected events happen on Raina's last day of school. Unexpected for Raina, that is.

Raina was sitting at her desk in History class, not really paying attention to what the teacher was saying. She was gazing at nothing in particular, just spacing out. Raina was now thirteen and it was the last day of school. It was already last period, and in a few minutes the bell would ring.
 

Tick . . . tick . . . tick. The class waited expectantly until . . . RIIIING! The bell finally rang and everyone rushed out of the school doors. Raina grabbed her book bag and followed the crowd. Outside, she could hear the exchanges of goodbyes between classmates.

“Aw, I’m gonna miss you so much!”

“Bye guys!”

“Have a good summer!”

There were several more, but Raina just ignored them. She already said her goodbyes anyway and was on her way home. As she walked, she noticed a tall patch of grass blocking any view of what lay behind it. But Raina already knew. It was the exact same pond where she met him. At the thought of him, she absentmindedly pulled something out of her book bag. It was a photo of her at ten years old, smiling with him beside her. In the picture, he was a smiling as well, and looked about the same age as Raina now was.

Raina blinked back the tears that welled up in her eyes. She knew that it was pointless. She only knew him for a short amount of time, and it’d been three years since he left. Yet somehow, the nagging feeling in her chest that told her she’d meet him again was overpowering the logical part of her mind. Raina shook the thought out of her head and ran the rest of the way home. It was only a few blocks away, anyway.

When she neared her house, she noticed that her mother was not outside. Sometimes her mother would be outside, tending to the flowers in the garden. The flowers were in decent condition and still blooming, since summer was only beginning. Raina walked over to the door and pulled out her keys. She fumbled with them, trying to find her house key among the mob of key chains she attached. Finally she found it. It helped that the key was the only metal object among the rest on the key ring.

As soon as Raina got inside the house, she immediately headed upstairs to her room. She even ignored her mother’s attempt to ask her how her last day of school went. Raina blocked it out and shut the door to her room, lying down on her bed, staring at the ceiling and holding her favourite worn-out teddy bear to her chest.

Out of nowhere, her cellphone started to ring. Raina sat up straight when she heard her ringtone of the piano version of “Unchained Melody.” She glanced at her phone’s screen: Alexa.

Raina sighed. Alexa was one of her friends.  She was a bit shallow and superficial, but knew when she had to be the good friend. She flipped her phone open and said, “Hello?”

“Hey Raina!”

Raina lay back down as she replied, “What’s up Alexa?”

“Not much. I just called to ask if you wanted to come to the park.”

“You do know I just got home, right?”

“Well . . . if you don’t wanna go, then . . .”

“No, I’ll go. I’ll be there in about 5 minutes.”

“’Kay, see ya there! Bye!”

Then Raina hung up on her. She grabbed her beige sling bag and put in her cellphone, a notebook and a book.  She rushed downstairs and slipped on her low-cut gray converses to match her dark jeans and purple hoodie. Raina was just about to open the door until she heard a voice from behind her say, “Where are you going?”

It was her mother.

Raina slowly turned around and replied simply, “The park.”

“Didn’t you just come home?”

She knew that would be a problem. Raina inwardly sighed. “Yeah, but ‘Lex just called and asked me to come.
So can I?”

Her mother seemed skeptical, but soon agreed. Raina gave her a quick hug and bolted out the door. The park was a few streets away and Raina got there in less than five minutes, even though her mother’s comments created a bit of a delay. As she neared the main park area, she could see Alexa with two other girls and four guys. Raina shook her head. It was obvious that Alexa would bring boys.

“Hey Raina!” yelled Alexa. She was standing next to a boy with brown hair and hazel eyes. Raina knew him from school. His name was Hunter and Alexa seemed to be clinging onto his arm.

Alexa let go of him and ran to Raina, who was a still a small distance away. “I see you brought the guys,” Raina
sighed.

“Obviously!” Raina rolled her eyes at this, but then Alexa retorted, “Oh please Raina. We’re already teenagers now and you’re pretty much the only girl who doesn’t have any remote interest in a guy!”

Raina scoffed. “First of all, we’re only in the seventh grade! Even if it is considered being a teenager, that doesn’t mean that I have to like a guy.”

“Come on Raina!” We even brought Mason here for you!” she pleaded.

“So what, you just invited me here to set me up with a guy?”

“No!” Alexa answered quickly. “I just wanted you to hang out with all of us. And seriously, I don’t want you to become unpopular just because you don’t like a guy. I’m not forcing you to like him, but will it really hurt to give him a try?”

Raina gave in. As much as she didn’t like being set up, Alexa was right. She could at least give him a try. “Fine,” she said irritably as Alexa squealed and brought her over to the rest of the group. The first person she was introduced to was, of course, Mason. He had dark copper hair and olive green eyes. He looked pretty attractive for a seventh grade guy, but Raina still wished she was somewhere else.

“Hey,” he greeted, sending her a smile that all the other girls swooned at.

“Whatever,” Raina muttered. Although she had only met Mason few moments ago, he already seemed quite full of himself.

Alexa gestured for all of them to go to the playground. She was so excited that she didn’t notice Raina slip away. She headed in the opposite direction toward the hill. It was basically just a grassy area with a tall hill and some trees lining a fence farther away. Raina climbed up to the hill’s zenith and sat down, reaching into the beige sling bag she brought along.

She pulled out the book she packed inside earlier. Its leathery covers were a maroon type colour and was about seven inches thick. The words “A New World” were printed on the front in a decorative gold font. A New World was Raina’s favourite book. It told a fascinating story she wished she could live herself and was incredibly descriptive.

Her fingers ran across the edge of the book, flipping to a random page. She read the first few sentences appearing on the page.

“And then the dragon, once on the dusty, lifeless ground, spread its great wings and soared majestically into the night sky. The beast’s body was bright blue, much brighter than the sky, and its chest was silver like the face of the moon. It twisted and turned every which way as its wings stretched, revealing the membranes, like the veins of a leaf.”

She looked up from her book briefly, only to see that there was a girl standing at the bottom of the hill. She appeared about the same age as Raina, and had gorgeous wavy blond hair that reached all the way down to her back. She was wearing a denim skirt and a white blouse with a chocolate brown blazer over top. Her deep blue eyes were looking in Raina’s direction.

Raina put her book back into her bag as the girl climbed up the hill. For some reason, she kept a straight face the whole time. When she arrived at the top of the hill, she stood in front of Raina, looking down at her.

The girl’s poker face suddenly turned into a friendly smile. “Hi,” she greeted merrily. “My name is Angeline.”

“Uh,” Raina let out nervously. It felt kind of weird for someone to randomly come up to her and introduce themselves. “Hi . . . my name’s—“

“Raina, right?” Angeline interrupted in her same cheery tone. A look of shock crossed Raina’s face. “Yeah . . . how’d you know that?”

Angeline grinned, “I was sent to come get you!”

“Get . . . me . . . ?” Raina was incredibly puzzled, and Angeline, seeing this, commented, “Oh don’t worry. I’m not here to kidnap you. I just need your help.”

“That doesn’t exactly answer my question,” said Raina, still unsure.

“You’ll see if you come with me!” Angeline winked. Clearly she was a happy-go-lucky kind of girl.

“Okay, so if I go with you you’ll explain things?” Raina confirmed.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Alright then. I’ll come.”

Angeline squealed in delight and immediately took Raina by the arm and dashed down the hill. Raina got a bit dizzy by the time they got to the bottom, but ignored it as Angeline continued to drag her behind. Just as they were about to exit the park, Raina stopped when she saw a familiar figure close by.

“Alexa?”

“Raina why’d you leave? We were looking all over for you. And who’s she?” Alexa inquired, pointing at Angeline.

From behind her, Raina heard Angeline answer, “I’m Angeline, Raina’s distant cousin.”

Alexa looked hesitant, but accepted the answer. “What about why you left, Raina?”

Raina walked toward Alexa, and Angeline released her grip on her wrist to let her go. “I left because I didn’t want to go around in the park with Mason.”

She emphasized Mason’s name, spitting it out as if it were poison. Noticing this, Alexa asked, “Why didn’t you want to?”

Raina looked at her in disbelief. “Have you met the guy? He’s freakin’ arrogant, in case you haven’t noticed.”

There was a hint of annoyance when she described him. Alexa looked down, slightly embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know him that well. And all the other girls said he was a great guy.”

“Of course they would. They only like him ‘cause they think he’s hot. ‘Good looking’ is basically their definition of a great guy,” Raina stated, before adding, “But it’s okay. I forgive you.”

Alexa smiled. “So are you still gonna hang out with us?”

Raina shook her head.  “I’m sorry, I can’t. I have to go somewhere with Angeline. Maybe some other time, ‘kay?”

“No problem. We’ll just hang out another time. See you later!”

As Alexa ran off toward the rest of the people she had brought, Angeline came up from behind Raina. “C’mon, let’s go. Sorry about your friend though,” she said, ending with her apology.

“It’s fine,” Raina assured as she followed the smiling Angeline toward a multitude of trees. When they made their way past the trees, they saw something the both of them never expected.

In the sky, soaring above them, was a dragon.

And not just any dragon. Its body was covered in blue scales and its chest was silver. It was the dragon in the book.

A sharp gasp escaped Raina’s lips. Angeline just stared at it in surprise. “Uh... Raina?” Angeline nudged.

“Yeah?” said Raina blankly, not taking her eyes off the mythical creature soaring in the air. “We really need to go now.”

Raina snapped out of her stupor and nodded. Angeline grabbed hold of her arm and dashed ahead so fast that Raina couldn’t keep track of where they were going. Until Angeline made an abrupt stop. Right in front of them was a car. It was painted a rustic red colour and the windows were tinted so dark you couldn’t even see anything inside.

“Hurry, we have to get into the car,” Angeline commented. Raina agreed and opened the car door, sitting in the back seat beside Angeline. Even from inside the car, you couldn’t see what was outside past the dark tinted windows. There was a driver in the front; a girl around the age of thirty-one maybe with her hair tied in a bun and mostly covered with her chauffeur hat.

The engine roared into life as it moved forward. The vehicle began moving forward and it only seemed moments after the car had been started, that it stopped. “We’re here!” Angeline shouted happily.

A confused looked crossed Raina’s face as she opened the door to see something she had only imagined, but never really seen.

 

Author's Note

Excuse my horrible chapter naming skills.
I had chapter-namers block.
Is the story going too fast?
I sometimes do that... >.>
Suggestions?

Reviews

[she who must not be nam..]

Uhh... it kinda is going a bit fast... but thats your writing style!! I would say make Xavier and Raina meet again, but that makes it quite, well, normal... like... expected. In real life, you wouldn't expect it, but in stories, it's quite probable. At least anyone reading this would be anticipating Chapter 2!! I like cliff-hangers. At least writing them, anyways...