The Chronicles of the Caltamere Twins: The Prophecy

The Scars of the Past Part II

Present, September 10, 2015, Redville High School

Joan was babbling about something behind the scene as I recalled that night. The scars of the bullet holes were still carved on my body. Even the scar of her.

Joan and I reached for our lockers as students from different grade levels started to gather in the hall, meeting their buddies, their gangs, saying high-fives, --urgh! Such pathetic little creatures.

“Hey!” somebody surprised me from behind. I’d almost dropped my bag when I saw Rick Morrison waving his hand at me. I am squirming inside as my long time crush just waved his hand at me. He’s walking towards me now and I could feel my heart beating so loud. The noises in the background became insignificant as this marvelous creature approached me. His ginger hair silently waves as he walks. His olive eyes staring at me like in the movies, he walks in a dreamy kind of way. Wait, why is he approaching me anyways? We don’t have club meetings during the first day of classes.

Joan nudged me back to reality. Seeing me as what I am now, Joan stared at me playfully. Now, I can feel my cheeks hot. This is not the kind of first day I expected. I dismissed the feeling and faced Rick calmly.

“Hey!” I said. ‘Hey?’ Is this all I can say? Get a grip, Jen!

“You’re looking good,” Rick said casually. Wait, did he just compliment me? My heart is somersaulting!

“Ah -- I -- uh -- sure,” I stammered. What the heck are you doing?!

“So, it’s the first day, when do you want to have the club meeting?”

“Club meeting?”

“Uh, yeah. For our martial arts club. You remember that we’re in the same club, right?” he teases.

“Of course! Why would I forget that? Um, club meeting, I’m not sure yet.”

“Do you want to go over the agenda maybe later? After class?”

“Okay, that sounds good. I think,” I replied.

“Cool. See you in the usual place?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’ll catch you later,” he said. He turned his back and walked away. We’re not in the same class today, unfortunately. So, I’ll be seeing him later. And now, I have to deal with another person who would not stop hovering over me.

“You’ve got to stop that, Joan. It’s not like we’re a thing,” I said defensively. Rick is my crush since 5th Grade and we've been in the same martial arts club ever since. It’s pretty hard containing how I feel about him. Now, Joan will not let me rest.

“Ah! I could not resist! That was Rick! He approached you and asked you out!”

“No, he did not. He just asked to meet after class for club business,” I said matter-of-factly.

“Well, he doesn’t seem interested in talking about club business. I can see it all over his face! He’s into you.”

“Stop. That’s impossible. We’ve known each other for so long and I’m just his friend, nothing more.”

“You’re such an i***t, you know that?”

The bell rang just in time before I made my point. Save by the bell, I guess.

Our first class was Homeroom, nothing out of the ordinary. Our Homeroom teacher is named Miss Beverly Rosche, the single old cat lady. She loves her cats so much that everything she wears from eyeglasses to shoes and accessories all had a cat attribute. Her eyeglasses are pointy, brown to orange dresses, long nails, puffy shoes, and if you look closer to her face, it seemed like she had implanted three pairs of whiskers just a little above the corner of her lips. She’s an English teacher. For the whole hour, Ms. Rosche started with a few house rules, then she diverted her lecture with a few pictures of her darling cats. Kind of off subject, but she literally also had the traits of a cat. Then, out of nowhere, there was a red dot on the board. Ms. Rosche noticed it and she suddenly became distracted. The red dot moved playfully and she followed it with her eyes, like a cat would follow a red dot on a wall.

Well, this is funny. I search for the culprit who just managed to distract Ms. Rosche from her cat lectures. It was one of the jocks and I really cannot remember his name. The bell rang in an instant and the red dot disappeared. Ms. Rosche straightened herself out and cleared her throat, “Class dismissed” is the only thing she said.

We’re off to another room and another and another for the past four hours until the lunch bell rings. Finally! I need a decent meal. The first few periods were dull. I can’t believe this is Junior High.

Joan and I went to the cafeteria. The school cafeteria is a place for fitting in. You’ve got to know your group or you’re out. High school, as any other high school, is divided into different selections in the food chain, we have the jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds, the school’s tech geeks, and most of the time, just to protect themselves from other groups, they tend to sit with their club members.

As for Joan and I? We’re untouchables. Nobody dares to attack us because they know what’s coming for them if they do, most especially if they hurt a hair from Joan’s head. We sat in our usual place, at the bench near the window looking over the school’s front yard.

First day of school should be nice and exciting, but for me, it's a reminder of that nightmare. I couldn’t shrug the feeling of guilt. I tried to move on. I tried. But no matter how hard I try to forget what happened, it just keeps haunting me. I don’t know what else to do. I wasn’t strong enough to protect her. It was my fault she was killed.

Now, I have another one to protect. I’m not sure if I can be strong enough to protect her. She’s too precious and I don’t want to have a repeat of that day, ever again. That’s my resolve. I just hope I'm not being too overprotective with Joan. She’s capable by herself but knowing she insisted on keeping me company, I’m just so scared that one day, I’ll fail her.

“Jen?”

I can’t fail her. I would not allow that, again. I have to get stronger.

“Jen.”

A nudge on the shoulder brought me back to reality. Joan looked at me with concern. Ah, I know that look. She’s going to ask. I can’t tell her yet. This part of me in the past I can’t tell her. I don’t want her to see me any different. I liked how our friendship is now. I don’t want to spoil that because of a bloody past I had.

“You’re just staring blankly out the window and you didn’t seem to hear me. Is everything okay?” she asked. Her investigative instincts started to emerge and all I can do is make her believe a lie. I hate lying. But I have to. I have to hide this past from her. She can never know.

“It’s fine. I’m just enjoying the view. Look how sunny it is even though summer is already up,” I said, sounding a bit convincing so as to not raise any more questions she could ask.

“Uh huh,” she said. I waited for another question but to my relief, there wasn’t. Did I convince her at all? I mean, she can’t just let things go away after one question. There would be follow-up questions.

“Jenny,” she started. Here we go. “I’m not going to ask further, if you’re wondering. I already know that you won’t talk about things that bother you. You never did. But you have your reasons so, it’s okay.”

She’s resigning herself from questioning me? That’s unusual. She normally cannot let go of this kind of situation. I wonder what changed.

“Anyway, you’re meeting with Rick after class, right?” she asked. Oh, now I know where this will go. Guess, let’s see.

“Yeah, what about?” I said. I better be careful with my next words. I don’t want to start a story where there isn’t.

“Nothing much. So, I won’t get a ride from you?” she said. Okay. That’s quite dubious or maybe I’m just paranoid over something non-existent.

“Ah, right. You might want to ask Alvin for a ride. Rick and I might have some time before we conclude on the agenda to talk about in the upcoming club meetings.”

“Okay. I’ll go grab some sandwiches. Alvin might be a while to go down here. We only have less than an hour for lunch and we still have two periods to get by.”

“Oh. Wait, what subjects do we have left?”

Joan reached in her folder and pulled out the piece of paper we got from the Registrar’s Office. Joan organized this way. If you’ll have a look inside her bag, you’ll see everything is neatly placed. She has a small cylinder pouch for pens, folders for loose papers, a small clipboard for whatever reasons she has to use it, and an umbrella. She always brings one. Even if the weatherman says it’s a good day, she’ll still bring one.

“Let’s see. After lunch, we have Calculus and after that it’s English -- what? We’re still seeing the cat lady?!” she snickered at that notion and I can’t help but nervously laugh. Ah, talk about the first day of school. First period was homeroom and the last period is English with the Cat Lady.

“Wow. We won’t get enough of her for one day,” I proclaimed. Joan shook her head, set the paper back to her folder and went to the counter to get some sandwiches.

Joan came back with two sandwiches and two bottles of fruit juice. We finished our sandwiches in silence and made our way to class. We still have at least fifteen minutes before the class starts. I let Joan go ahead of me so I could go to my locker to look at something.

As I was nearing my locker, I’d felt that I was being watched. This uneasy feeling gives goosebumps at the back of my neck. I turned around and just saw a bunch of juniors walking so maybe I was just paranoid over something. I shrugged the feeling off and reached for my locker.

This is where I stored one of my mementos from her-- from the person who I failed to protect. I always look at the necklace hanging at the side of my locker. It reminds me how I should move on but never forget what happened. Few days from now, I’ll visit her grave, talk to her and maybe ask for strength to move on. I better get to class, a few minutes longer, I’ll be late and Joan will worry.