Chapter Five: Invitation

Forbidden. Evan ends up getting invited by Luke to some sort of "gathering" and he is unsure of what he is really walking into. Also, at lunch, Evan humiliates himself by trying to talk to Summer.

FORBIDDEN

 

BY: J O S H U A  D O N A H U E

Chapter Five

Invitation

 

A week had now passed�"it was just Tuesday of last week that I was at the park, fighting over the best swing of the bunch. Things were now settling down a little, and school was beginning to feel normal to me. There were still a lot of kids that I didn’t know yet, but Luke, Austin, Mitchell, Cheyenne, and Jessica were great. We had already walked around town twice, played video games at my place three times, and rode Austin’s golf cart around town once (which Cheyenne just about killed us with by running into a tree). But other than that, the week was uneventful.

My mom had just dropped me off at home, and then she headed back to the seafood place. Sunday night she had brought me home a plate of their food in order to try and make up for lost “quality time” with her. Apparently, on the weekends the restaurant is extremely busy and needs all the help it can get, so my mother had to work both day and night that day. But she seemed to enjoy it. She claimed she had gotten to reconnect with long lost friends that she hadn’t seen in a while. That left me home alone. Being the parent that she was, my mom made me promise not to throw any kind of party or anything while she was away, and I assured her I wouldn’t, seeing as how the secret would be out before sunrise. While she was away, I was forced to make my own food�"consisting of microwavable Hot Pockets and glasses of acidic sodas�"and clean up after myself. Nevertheless, I remained inside.

I wouldn’t dare enter the world outside unless I had my friends to shield me from the constant peace of the village. There was no action or excitement�"no crazy drivers honking at you to move out of their way or anything like that. Where was all that drama at?

            Back in San Francisco, that’s where, I answered mentally and miserably.

            I walked into the still-kind-of-strange home through the front door, and I went into the kitchen where I grabbed me a soda, satiating my dehydration and then placing my backpack on the countertop.

            After a moment, my cell phone let loose its normal chime whenever I get a new text message.

            I whipped it out my back pocket of my jeans and saw it was from my cousin, Luke.

Hey! Wanna come to a gathering thing with me this Sunday night?

I texted back the reply:

Are Austin and the others going?

A moment later I threw my can away as I awaited his response. My phone gave out another chime.

No. They’re not invited.

I didn’t know how to respond because I had no clue what this “gathering” thing was exactly. But Luke was family, and I had to trust him. So I typed out:

Ok.

            Then I mashed the Send key.

            I waited to see if he had any other response, but he did not reply. Apparently, the texting conversation was over.

It’s just a “gathering”�"probably a party of some kind. Some kind of party that only the cool people go to, my brain suggested.

I didn’t know, though.

I placed my phone on its charger when I got to my room. Then I blasted the radio and began doing my homework.

            So now I had friends, a small school reputation, a strange girl in history class�"who I haven’t thought much of�"a  new home, a long-lost family, and now I was being invited to parties. What more could I ask for?

*      *      *

As the school day seemed to drag on as the usual interminable prison for teens like myself, things were getting… weird. I know Hale was weird itself, but I was squirming my way into adjustment while still fighting my love for California sun. Even Hale High School was becoming very familiar to me, but that’s where the weirdness strikes…

I had already memorized all of my classes, and I had potentially remembered the nameless faces in each period. I especially knew that Summer was only in one of my classes. But not today.

            Today, I thought I was going crazy or just had a head rush from all the adjusting that I was doing lately�"or maybe it was just my eyes playing tricks on me again. I didn’t know. But what I did know was that in practically every class I had today, I could see the physical appearance of Summer.

            In chemistry, My male lab partner (who was sick the day I started school, I discovered) was someone I talked to just to bypass the time of the boring class. He was just one of those laid-back kind of guys. The moment Summer walked into the room and handed Mr. Wallace a piece of paper and then was directed to sit in a vacant seat in front us, my partner’s eyes bugged out.

Summer seemed to glide to her seat with ease, and when I looked up into her eyes, I found that they were looking back at me! But that only lasted a second. Then she sat in her chair without another glance towards me. Her partner�"a copper red-haired girl, covered in freckles with glasses over her eyes�"seemed intimidated by her presence and scooted her chair over a little to avoid contact as much as possible. It was as if Summer had an infectious disease. After Mr. Wallace resumed his teaching, my partner and I began to discuss her mystical presence.

            Occasionally, we didn’t finish a conversation because we were afraid of Summer overhearing or someone else, but I basically got the same information that I had received from my friends. The dude seemed a little frightened by her, yet he also appeared to be attracted to her at the same time. Unknowingly, I became irritated with his hormones to the point that I was a little rude to him whenever he showed interest in her. I couldn’t explain my actions or why I would even care about the situation. Still, she was there in chemistry, sitting right in front of me�"an experience my brain couldn’t entirely process.

            And the same sort of event played on through my classes: algebra, health, and literature�"she was there. She would walk in, several people would let their jaws drop for a moment, she would glide to the teacher effortlessly, hand him or her a slip of paper, then be directed to a seat nearby. I found it all a little freaky, but my eyes kept directing their pupils in her direction; I stared at her. I think the sight of her was like an addiction to me. It made me feel…something.

            When I entered the lunch room today, I insisted on getting food for everyone at the table, and they agreed; I rested my books down upon the lunch table. I wished that I could have carried them with me so that I could have something materialistic in my hands to fumble with, because what I was about to do was unthinkable.

            Every step that I took up the stairs to the buffet line seemed like an endless and historic journey, but at the same time, the top began to creep closer and closer to me as if desiring to smother me. My legs were barely able to lift themselves up each step, feeling like I was being held down by weights.

I was going to do it. I was actually going to do it.

            My heart beat faster and faster, wishing to just stop and fall dead immediately, not have to face the humiliation I felt I was about to bring upon myself. But I urged on up until I reached the top landing. The buffet lines were really short today (lucky me, I thought), so I got through them quickly with food for my friends. I was trying�"hoping�"to procrastinate with the lunch line and do “it” afterwards. But it didn’t seem to make a difference. As I came out of the line, I was supposed to go to my right to head back down the stairs with our food. Instead, I headed to my left, over to the few tables that resided in that area. And there was only one group of people over there: them.

            I was going to speak to her and her friends. I…

            I was closing in on them now. What was I going to do? Why did I even think about this? Dummy, dummy, dummy, I kept saying over in my head. There was no turning back now. I had to go forward with my plan.

So I got closer, both trays of food in my arms becoming heavier like sacks of pure stone and wobbling terribly from poor balance. My breathing quickened so much that I felt breathless, and my body heat was beyond normal human temperatures.

Just as I got closer to the table, one of them�"the dark auburn red-head, Rose�"looked at me and nodded her head in my direction as if to point me out, with a small, wicked smile starting to dance upon her lips. Sure enough, the entire group of girls suddenly turned their heads in synchronization and looked at me, resembling Children of the Corn. It was weird, but I ignored the action because I saw Summer looking at me head-on and this time; I knew it wasn’t my imagination.

            She was at the head of the table where she had been missing my first day at Hale High, and all of the other girls seemed to be seated in the exact same position and spot as before. But I didn’t have time to think about that because all of them looked at me with a questioning stare to see why I had crossed over the line that marked their territory.

            So, without any specific direction to an individual, I fumbled out a jumble of words. “Er�"Hi. I’m�"Um�"Evan. Evan…Woods. I’m new here and�"”

            “We know who you are. Now stop babbling and say what you want. We have better things to do,” Rose said with a sneer and cutting me off before I could actually make myself sound as civilized as possible.

            I was nervous and my intestines were in a tight knot that was impossible to loosen.

I could feel the entire student body looking up at me from below (even my friends), and I could only imagine their expressions.

So with an intended dodge from Rose, I spoke a little more directly at Summer. “Well�"You see, I�"er�"just wanted to get to know everyone, and�"and�"I already know everyone else, so�"I�"”

            Rose then said with just as much hate and rudeness as before, “Does it look like we want to get to know�"”

            “Quiet, Rose!” Summer said with brute force. Her voice made Rose seem feeble. It was like comparing a true goddess to a mortal. And Rose immediately shut her red-glossed lips together in a tight line.

But then Summer spoke again, only this time, her words were so smooth that they made me want to swim in them for eternity. “Well�"Evan, we obviously don’t get to know many others here, so as you can see that my friend, Rose, here has been not herself lately, so I request that you please forgive her. And just to ease the emotions here, might I suggest that you head back down to your friends, just to make Rose feel at ease.”

            I heard a familiar voice come up behind me and say, “Well, Evan, let’s get this food back to the table before it gets cold, eh?” It was Luke. He rested his arms on my shoulders and steered me away from the table of the girls. But before he turned away, I saw a glance pass between he and Summer. It was a look that I can’t describe, but it was definitely a look that would resemble unspoken words.

            After a moment or so, I found myself sitting at the lunch table surrounded by stares of astonishment. Every one of my friends was looking at me petrified, while in a state of shock. But that seemed tedious to me. I kept on replaying Summer’s charismatic voice in my head continuously. That is, until Luke said, “What the hell were you thinking, Evan?”

            “W.T.F. dude?” Cheyenne exclaimed.

            “What was that all about?” Austin questioned.

            Mitchell and Jessica were just waiting for an answer from me silently, not wishing to badger me anymore than necessary.

            “I�"I don’t know. I just�"” I stammered.

            “You just made a fool of yourself, that’s what you just did!” Luke said.

            “I�"uh�"I�"” I was at a loss of words. So many thoughts were swirling in my head. Why did I do it? What force was controlling me to make me even think of doing something like that?

In all honesty, I didn’t know how to explain my actions.

*      *      *

News travels fast. Potentially everyone had known of my “little trip down Nature Lane” during lunch yesterday. I caught numerous stares directed at me and soft whispers involving my name, but I didn’t say anything directly to the gossipers, and vice versa. It was the top subject at the lunch table yesterday, but it was dissolving slowly, and was turned into more of a joke by Austin and Mitchell.

            None of my friends continued to ask me why I had gone up there anymore since they knew I wouldn’t budge. I think it was just as much of a shock as to see me actually do it and speak to them. Still, I’m sure these were just a few thoughts that swirled in their heads a few times.

            And surprisingly, I felt no more of a need to communicate with Summer. I decided that what I had done was my act to discover the “nature girls’” secrets and it was simply a temporary spasm that I had gotten over. It was nothing, and didn’t matter to me anymore.

            However, during the course of the day, I allowed a few glances in Summer’s normal direction, but her seat was vacant. I thought maybe she had had her classes switched or something again, but her lunch seat was empty as well. It was really weird because every time I glanced up over the balcony at them, I could sense a few stares back at me. They obviously knew about me now�"they probably thought I was talking to them based on a dare or something or just to be funny. This didn’t make me feel too good about myself. While glancing up there several times, I even caught a few looks of disgust from Rose (I could only remember her name because her hair matched her name). The first time I looked up there, however, my friends noticed me, and immediately pounced on the opportunity to question who I was looking for. I played it off by saying that I thought I had seen something.

            Friday soon passed by, but not before Luke made sure that I was going Sunday night with him to “the gathering thing.”

            “So…you’re still coming Sunday night, right, Evan?” he asked me when he and I were walking down the hallway isolated from our other friends.

            “Um…yeah. I guess so.”

            “Okay. Great! I will come by and pick up you up in my dad’s truck around eight ‘o clock. Have you told your mom, yet?”

            “No. She’s probably gonna blow up when she finds out though. But I’ll convince her to let me out. You have your license?”

            “I got my permit. But we know all the cops in Hale. They don’t say nothin’ when they see me driving, so it doesn’t really matter. And okay.”

            “Oh…okay. Well, I’ll see ya then!”

            “See ya!”

            Then we departed for our classes, eagerly waiting to see what was going to occur Sunday night.

 

*FINAL VERSION 04.16.11

Author's Note

FINAL VERSION 04.16.11: A much improved version has been added thanks to an English master of mine who is reviewing this for me. (Only grammar/vocabulary edits have been made. Plot changes may be made at a later date). Thanks.

I was unsure about what to title this chapter because there are 2 main events that take place in this chapter. But I decided to go with "Invitation" because it goes with Ch. 6! And in Ch.6 things get...REALLY creepy for Evan. There is action coming! Rest a sure!

Again: if you see any grammar mistakes, let me know because I usually miss the most stupidest things!

p.s. this is v2.0 because I recently changed Evan's class "biology" to "chemistry" to go with the scene I am rewriting in Chapter 8. You don't have to re-read it all, just know that his class his CHEMISTRY NOT BIOLOGY. :)

Reviews

[Havatara]

Other than the fact that for some reason it's physically painful for me to read scenes where the main character is getting embarrassed, I thought it was great. I think there were a couple places where you had run-on sentences, but other than that I didn't see any grammar mistakes. The plot is really making me interested and I can't wait to read Ch. 6.

I can easily see the resemblence between twilight, as for my opinion on it, I don't really see it. but hell I havent' watched or read twilight so I wouldn't know. Pro Team Tyler's Van! XD
Anyway, I saw two things. One has been pointed out already:

When Evan is at his house:
I placed my phone on its charger when I got to me room. Then I blasted the radio and began doing my homework. (have you been playing puzzle pirates? : P)

In Summer's Dialogue, Though it may be how she talks, There's a bit of a mess up. Just pointing it out:
“Well---Evan, we obviously don’t get to know many others here, so as you can see that my friend, Rose, here has been not herself lately, so I request that you please forgive her.
",Has been not herself," Again, This May be how she talks. Just pointing it out.

Evan and Luke's conversation:
“Okay. Great! I will come by and pick up you up in my dad’s truck at around eight ‘o clock. Have you told your mom, yet?”
An easy mistake, "Come by and pick up you up,"

Those were the only things I caught. With the story I'm gonna say I just noticed your "Nymphs" Tag, and i Think I recall hearing about it in the introduction to the book. Makes me start thinking on these Nature girls. Another thing I was thinking about was that she seems to be off doing something a lot, I hope you can explain this in later chapters? I'm liking this more and more with each chapter, and Evan's personality is showing more and more from my initial thought of him. Thanks for posting up past your initial three chapters!
I'm surprised I my brain can process writing these reviews, (especially two in one night).

[Emma Lee]

"I placed my phone on its charger when I got to me room."
That should be 'my' not 'me'.

But it's great :)

Keep up the great writing,
Emily.

[bbb]

In the beginning of the story you wrote ..."school was becoming to feel normal to me"...it should say, beginning to feel normal. I noticed some other typos, but I can't remember them except two things. There was a 'you're' that should be 'your' (possessive) and the part where Evan texts and asks 'Is' Austin and the others coming, it should be 'Are,' instead. You might just want to go thru it again if you want to weed out grammar errors. But for the story itself, this is my favorite chapter so far. I really like the feel of this and am anxious to see what happens next! Absolutely stellar story-writing. :)

[Onyx_Rayne]

Still loving it! I'm excited to read the next chapter.

Again, you are keeping everything at an even pace and sticking with everything you've set forth in the previous chapters.

Fantastic work :)

[trish420]

I'm loving it.... everyone has had that horrible embarressing moment like that where they felt that EVERYONE was watching.... totally relatable. I'm super interested in finding out with this "gathering" is going to be like and finally figuring out some of Hale's mysteries!

[chaotic katie]

another fantastic chapter i loved it great job

[I.M. de Ville]

I'm so excited for the next chapter! Still though, I see a lot of similarities between this story and Twilight. The two girls named Rose are very much alike; both of them show open disdain for the protagonist and appear territorial like. Also, Summer reminds me of Edward when he changed his classes to be with Bella in the second novel. Coincidence? Hmm, only time will tell! But, I really liked this. I'm like, standing on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what happens next!!! Ahh this is great!