Heart Of Ice

Chapter 8

Samika's POV

"A wild wolf? Get out" Matt says and I resist my strong urge to roll my eyes at him. Sometimes, it's just involuntary.

"That's what they said" I say and look out through the window.

We are in the parking lot of Knoxville, waiting for Olive to finish her class and join us. It feels different to be waiting for the teacher because up until now I was always in the shoes of a student.

Matt's phone rings a little louder than mine and he quickly answers it.

"Yes, mom" he whispers into the phone and my eyes are still on the school.

"Yes. Yeah, okay. When is the last date?" He asks.

"I will try. It's okay. We'll get through" he says and hangs the call up and exhales.

I finally turned to him. He has his eyes closed and his head resting over the window. It is clear that he is stressed out. And honestly, I never even know about his family. As far as I remember from high school he doesn't come from a rich family but at least his family wasn't broke.

I wait for him to open his eyes and he looks straight at me once he does. I finally notice that his eyes are gray. I never really noticed that as well.

"Is something wrong?" I ask him and he shakes his head.

"What is it?" I asked him again.

"Nothing" he says and we both find Olive walking towards us with a grumpy look on her face.

"I never knew being a teacher meant such exhaustion! Now I feel bad for every teacher I gave a hard time so far" she huffs as she makes herself comfortable in the backseat and throws her bags, papers and charts at the empty space beside her.

Matt and I look at her once and turn to the front the next second. We both realized it would be best to not disturb her for a while because one cannot simply deal with Olive when she is tired or frustrated or hungry.

"Can we go have some coffee?" She asks and I drive to the nearest Starbucks drive thru.

We all get our drinks and I keep driving in random directions since none of us have any plans next. Olive then starts ranting about how messy students are and that their previous arts teacher was s**t.

"I should meet the guy once" Olive says and that got Matt's attention finally.

"What guy?" He asks. Now I have my ears at them for the conversation while eyes on the road, one hand over the steering wheel while the other holding the Starbucks cup. I'm just living my life.

"Their previous arts teacher, Mr. Andrew Larsen. He still has their term grade papers and the project assignment ones" Olive says again, slurping her iced coffee.

"Okay when are we going?" He asks and suddenly, I feel the sense of toxic masculinity from him. We? What the f**k. She can take care of it alone.

"Tomorrow" she says since it's the weekend and a holiday for most of the schools.

"I have my schedule packed tomorrow. I have to attend two weddings for the picture portraits and the paintings" he says.

"I'll take care of it. What will you do by tagging along anyway?" Olive asks and Matt doesn't say anything.

I look at Olive through the rearview mirror and she seems really exhausted. I dropped Matt first this time. They say coffee can wake you up, but Olive is snoring in the backseat and I don't want to wake her up.

I kept driving around until it was evening and she woke up. We both had dinner together and my tongue itched to tell her about my decision on owning an art school. But I just want to keep it a secret until everything is done. It can be a surprise for her.

"Matt is stressing me out these days" Olive says and I just look at her, silently asking her to go on.

"There is something going on at his home, ever since his father passed away. He is just not sharing it" Olive tells me as she chews her food.

First thing is that I don't even know Matt's dad passed away. Did I just hate him too much to not even know these details? Second thing, the conversation I overheard earlier didn't look like he has a problem with his mom. But I did not tell Olive about it. She knows it better than I do and I might just be mistaken.

I eventually drop off Olive as well and start driving to my place. Meanwhile dad asks me if I want to attend an ad shoot for Adam's resorts so I can slowly make my public appearance before I start my business career.

Moreover I have been in the shadows mostly, people know John Adams and Kate Adams have a daughter but they just didn't know how I look. Dad took serious measures against any paparazzi who tried to click my pictures and eventually, they stopped trying too.

I text him back that I am okay with it. He asked if I would like to meet anyone in particular so he can get them there that day. My mind instantly thinks of Shaun White and I tell him that.

What best way to use my first public appearance to give Shaun White the painting I painted of his.

I was so focused on the texts with my dad that I did not notice, I drove into the woods. The police did a great job at putting the warning signs that I successfully ignored.

I broke all barriers but I wouldn't even call them barriers anymore. They are just red tapes stuck from one tree to another. I look around but there is no sign of any wolf. So I quickly take a U turn and start driving back into the town.

But what I did not see coming, are two wolves coming towards my car when I'm driving just outside the woods. One slightly larger than the other.

I quickly try taking another turn but it's already late as my car hits a huge tree. The airbags filling the space in the car, my head falling on them. The wolves were staring at me through the other side of the car window. The panic attack slowly made its presence known. Everything looks like it's happening in slow motion.

Yet, my eyes quickly start to fall droopy. I could have swore the brown Wolf's eyes looked like Nyle's but my eyes were closed the next moment again. I don't know if I dreamt of it or not, but I saw the wolf leave and Nyle walk towards me.