Believe

Chapter Three: The Fued

“Gabriella, wake up. It is seven. You need to get ready for school.” Said Eleanor shaking me then going over to my window and pulling open the blinds. “How is your head? Did you sleep well?”


         For a moment I forgot where I was. When I opened my eyes and saw my new bedroom everything came flooding back to me. I was at my new home in Oregon, it was my first day of school today, and I was positive that they only person I knew my own age hated me.


         “I slept well,” I answered looking around. “And my head feels okay. Nothing like it did yesterday.”


         “Good,” Eleanor smiled. “Breakfast will be ready promptly at seven-thirty.”


         She left and I got up, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and got on my clothes for the day. I put on a pair of dark blue jeans, a yellow and white striped shirt, and a pair of black flats. I brushed my hair and decided that it looked good enough to wear down and headed downstairs.


         I was excited for the first day of school. Nerdy, I know, but it was like a big adventure to me. Breakfast was really awkward. Nobody really talked until I was done with my breakfast, then Eleanor and Wallace wished me good luck and practically pushed me out the front door to where they said Euan was waiting.


         My jaw dropped as I saw the car I would be riding to school in. It was a black BMW, I had thought his grandparents were lacking in the money department; that was obviously not an issue. I walked slowly to the car, admiring it the whole time.


         “You like it?” Euan asked, getting out of the driver’s side and going around the side and opening the passenger door for me.


         “Yes,” I said as I slid into the leather bucket passenger seat. It was defiantly one of the nicest cars I had ever been in. To my surprise, the inside of the car was completely spotless, I had expected at least some mess, but there was none to be found.


         Euan got in the driver’s seat and started the car. The engine hummed softly as Euan pulled out onto the driveway. It was the smoothest ride I had ever had. The road my mom and I had jostled over a couple days ago, Euan went over as if it was as smooth as glass.


         “You are extremely quiet.” Euan observed. His voice was soft and friendly as if our argument yesterday had never happened. I knew it had happened, and I was not going to get over it quickly.


         “I have gotten better coming here. I just don’t want to talk to you.” I stared moodily out the window.


         I hear Euan chuckle and I looked over at him sharply, but he was staring at the road out in front of him.


         “Why?” Euan said still staring out the windshield.


         “Why what?” I replied grumpily, I really didn’t want to talk to him. He was in a much better mood now, though. I wondered what had caused to have the total about face from yesterday.


         He was devastatingly handsome, though, I did not know how long I could hold up against him if he kept acting so polite. I had to try my best to remember the things he had said yesterday and hope that was enough to keep my guard from falling completely. I laughed slightly to myself. It would take a lot more than a pretty face to make my guard fall.


“Why don’t you like to talk?” Euan was looking at me instead of the road. My breath caught in my throat when his green eyes met mine. I looked away fighting a blush. Why couldn’t he leave me alone?


         “I don’t know,” I whispered softly and I knew that it was the truth. There really was no good reason. I told myself that I did it out of grieving for my father, but I knew that was not the real reason.


         Luckily the awkward conversation was cut short as we pulled into the parking lot of the school. I was awestruck when I saw how many cars were there. I was expecting to go to a small school, but this school looked like it held twice as many students as my old one; and it had held at least three hundred kids in the high school alone.


         “It is a little bigger than I thought,” I said half to myself half to Euan. He pulled into a parking spot and got out. He came around to my car door and opened it.


         “It holds two hundred and fifty kids in each grade.”


         “Wow,” was all I could manage to say as we started to walk up to the school’s front steps. The building looked as if it was made of bricks and it had a huge awning that hung out over the front door and the first two steps. I saw all the kids walking up the stairs and into the building, it made me nervous. I steadied my breathing and started up the steps, but somehow along the way I had lost Euan. I did not know how I was going to find my way anywhere if I did not have a guide. I was too busy looking for Euan to notice where I was going and I bumped into someone, almost dropping my book bag.


         “I’m sorry,” I mumbled looking down and blushing. That was great, my first time even walking into the school and I run into someone.


         “It is okay.” I looked up surprised that the person I had bumped into had actually paid attention. Usually when I bump into someone they gave me a dirty look and keep on walking. I was also surprised because the voice of the person who had spoken was male.


         “I don’t believe we have met before,” the boy extended one of his hands and I shook it distractedly.


         The boy I was shaking hands with was just as handsome as Euan was. He had shaggy blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was four inches taller than me and looked like he should be appearing in some Hollywood movie instead of going to Deadstone Creek High School. What did they do in Oregon? Breed gorgeous guys?


He flashed me a smile as he bent over my hand and kissed it and said, “I am Matthew Siduous. You are the girl staying with the McCready’s?”


         “Yes, I am Gabriella Macintosh.” I smiled back at him, unaware of the people flooding in around us on either side. I slowly removed my hand from his grasp, slightly weirded out because he had kissed it. No one did that anymore. I shook my head, getting a hold of myself. “Do you know where the office is? I guess I need to check in our something.”


         “Do I know where the office is? Of course I do! Follow me.” He started to push his way through the multitude of people standing in front of him. Luckily for Matthew, he did not need to push much, the people just moved aside for him.


         He led me to the front of the pack of people and opened the door to the school. The inside of the school was curiously laid out. In front of me was a long hallway with doors on either side of it. I did not see anything but that hallway. I knew it could not possibly hold all the classes required for a school of this size.


         Matthew led me into the first door and I saw I was standing in the office of my new high school. The office was painted a light blue with white trim. There was a long maple counter that ran the length of the room with only a small gap at the end to let people out from behind it. Behind the counter there were two desks, one had a computer and the other held a small, very young woman counting money. She looked up and smiled as she saw who was in her office.


         “Hello Mr. Siduous, what can I do for you today?” Asked the woman getting up from behind the desk and coming to the part of the counter Matthew stood at. The woman had chin length black hair and dark eyes that were sweeping Mathew’s face. I could tell that she was infatuated with him. I wonder what percent of the female faculty were not taken in by Euan and Matthew’s movie star good looks.


         “A Ms. Gabriella McIntosh would like her schedule, locker, and combination.” Matthew gestured at me, but the woman behind the desk’s eyes did not flicker from his face. I rolled my eyes, she was acting like a love sick school girl and it was kind of disgusting.


         “I’ll get it right away,” she said fluttering her eyelashes and turning back to her desk. I tried to force myself not to laugh, but a small giggle came out. Matthew looked back at me and raised an eyebrow. I shook my head and looked at the floor blushing. I wished I had not said anything. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach, I was sure I just embarrassed myself.


         “Here you are, Matt.” The woman behind the counter gave him a piece of white paper. “Don’t be a stranger around here.”


         “I won’t be, Ms. Nesbit,” Matt replied as he turned to leave, grabbing me by my arm and pulling me out into the hallway again. His grasp was firm, yet gentle and I fought the urge to turn and see what Ms. Nesbit thought of that.


         “What was so funny?” Matt asked, looking down at me.


         “‘I’ll get it right away Matt,’ I imitated Ms. Nesbit and fluttered my eyelashes. Normally I would not have really said anything, but being around this Matthew seemed to make me want to be my old self again. It was almost like I knew him from somewhere. “‘Don’t be a stranger!’ She was falling all over herself just to get a good look at you.”


         “I do seem to have that effect on the female faculty,” smirked Matt and looked down at my schedule. “It is now time for a little tour of the school.”


         ‘Don’t worry about it, Matt. I am sure I can find my own way, it is no big deal.”


         “No, it is my pleasure. I don’t mind showing a new student around, especially one such as yourself.” Matthew pulled open the next door down and I saw that it was a hallway of lockers. I pretended to be intensely interested in the hallway as I hid the blush that I felt burning my cheeks.


I didn’t see any other doors just locker after locker. The lockers were grey and had small tabs screwed into them saying which number the locker was. There was nothing very note worthy about the hall at all.


         “Are all the lockers in this hallway?” I asked, keeping my eyes firmly on Matt so as not to get lost, at least that is what I told myself.


         “Most of them, there are a few in the older part of the school, but most are situated here in Locker Hall. Isn’t that an inventive name?” Matt said sarcastically and looked down at my schedule again. “You are locker number 267.”


         He led me down the long hallway of lockers and I tried to look straight forward the whole time, aware that most everybody’s eyes were on me. Matthew stopped in front of me and I stopped quickly so I did not run into him again.


         “Here is your locker, Gabby. Is it okay if I call you Gabby?” Matt pointed to the gray locker in front of him. I nodded slightly. He smiled at me and I returned the smile weakly, I was more than nervous now, I felt like I was going to be sick.


“Are you okay?”


         “Just nerves,” I replied, turning to put my book bag into my locker. I turned back to him and smiled timidly. “I am ready.”


         “Good,” smiled back Matt. “Let’s see, your first class is…American Lit.”


         He took me out into the hallway with all the doors. There were more kids flowing in the front door, I could tell they were all starring at Matt and me. I was the new kid, I should have known I would be stared at and walking next to Matt probably did not help. I felt Matt tug on my arm and I turned to follow him down the hallway.


         “Now our school is set up in corridors. Each door in this hallway leads to a certain set of classes. The first corridor is history; the second on the left side is science. The next door on you right is all the math classrooms and this door to your left is to the gym and the older part of the school.” Matthew pointed at each door as he said them.


         “This is the Grammar door, American Lit is down this hallway, the sixth door on your right. I have Soc/Pysch first hour so I have to head back up to the history corridor. I might see you in some of your other classes.”


         “Thank you for showing me around.” I smiled shyly up at him. I wasn’t use to guys actually paying attention to me. “It was nice meeting you.”


         “The pleasure has been all mine,” Matt smiled, took my hand and kissed it again. I stared surprised at as he turned and started back down the hallway toward his class.


         I hurried down the hallway, afraid of being late. I barely made late bell and slid into a seat at the back of the classroom. The teacher walked in and surveyed the class, when his eyes landed on me he smiled maliciously.


         “Ms…Macintosh.”  The teacher said, looking down at a sheet of paper on his desk. “Will you please come to the front of the classroom?”


         I slid out of my seat and headed to the front of the class. I could hear giggles from the back of the room and fought the urge to look back. When I reached the front of the class the teacher smiled down at me, “Would you care to introduce yourself?”


         I faced the front of the class and sighed, of course my first hour class had to be spent with a teacher who was the spawn of Satan. I had feared this. Wasn’t this something teachers only did in movies? I had not thought I would actually have to stand in front of a group of students and say who I was.


         “My name is Gabriella Macintosh. I came here from Bloomington, Illinois.” I started back toward my seat.


         “Hold on a minute Ms. Macintosh, you are not finished yet.”  The teacher called and I turned back around to the teacher. “You must tells us what school you came from and what books you read whilst you were there.”


         Whilst? Who says whilst? “I came from Weston’s School for Girls in Illinois. We read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Old Man in the Sea, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Outsiders, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Death of a Salesman, The Catcher in the Rye, Flowers for Algernon, The Great Gatsby and most of Poe’s work.”


         “That is quite a list, you couldn’t have possible read all those books in just two years of high school.” The teacher looked at me disdainfully.


         “I took a senior lit class last year because I had nothing else to take the particular hour.” I looked up at him and smiled sweetly.


         “I see. Will you please take your seat Ms. Macintosh.” The teacher said and pointed to a chair in the front row. I was sure I had just made my first enemy at Deadstone Creek High School. “The first book we will be reading is The Scarlet Letter.”


         I heard various groans from around the classroom. I looked at the teacher as he went to one of his filing cabinets and opened a drawer. He was a lanky and tall with brown hair. He wore thick, black glasses and the name plate on his desk named him Mr. Nummer. Mr. Nummer pulled out a plastic container of what I could only assume was the book we would be reading.


         He passed out the books and allowed us to talk for the rest of the hour. I wasn’t sure about talking to other people. I wasn’t sure if they would think that I was just a hick from Illinois. To my luck the girl to my right decided to strike up a conversation with me. She had shoulder length blonde hair with bright blue eyes.


         “Hi, my name is Jean McKean.” She held out her hand. I shook it and smiled tentatively. “So, do you like it here? Is it a lot different from you old school? What was it like living in Illinois?”


         She pronounced Illinois with a ‘s’ sound. Did everyone in the world think it was said like that besides the people born there? I did not think it was that hard to remember that the ‘s’ was silent. I supposed I should not be thinking like that about the only person to talk to me besides Matt and Euan.


         “My name is Gabriella MacIntosh if you didn’t figure that out by my introduction. Um…this is my first class so I‘m not exactly sure what I think of it. It is a lot different mainly because there are boys here. I went to an all girl’s school, so we never saw boys at school unless we were holding a dance.”


         “That must have been awful!” Another girl exclaimed, coming to sit in the empty desk next to Jean. The girl was tall with red hair and freckles that covered most of her face. She had a wide smile and her eyes crinkled a little when she smiled. “I’m McKenna by the way.”


         “Nice to meet you.” I smiled. “It wasn’t so bad.”


         “What wasn’t so bad?” Another girl came and sat on the top of Jean’s desk. I was assuming that all of the girls were friends. The girl was slender and tall with her hair perfectly curled and her make-up flawless.


         “She went to an all girls’ school, Melissa.” McKenna replied waving at another girl sitting in the back of the room. The girl was small and she got up tentatively with a smile. She sat in the desk right behind me.


         “Hi,” she said softly. She had soft, brown hair and large, brown eyes. “I’m Blaire.”


         The girls chatted between each other for a few minutes, apparently forgetting I was there. I felt really weird sitting in the middle of them. I was just thinking I ought to move when one of the girls asked me a question.


         “So, where do you live?” Asked Melissa, she had auburn hair with blue eyes. She knew she was pretty and kept glance over at the guys across the room and smiling playfully at them. 


         “Oh, I live with the McCready’s,” I said and watched the girl’s reactions. Jean and Melissa laughed and smiled at one another while McKenna and Blaire looked at me in disbelief.


         “You are so lucky!” Blaire spoke softly almost every time she spoke. I liked her best out of the group so far. She seemed to empathize more than the others.  “Euan is the most gorgeous boy in school!”


         “Yeah, he and Matt defiantly are at the top of every girl’s To Date List at this school. You are, like, the luckiest girl at the school right now.” McKenna laughed.


         “Why?” I was slightly confused.


         “Well,” Jean grinned excitedly. “You get to live with Euan McCready and Matt is totally into you!”


         “Oh, whatever!” I laughed. Matt liking me, that was the best joke I had ever heard. Boys didn’t ever pay attention to me, especially boy like Matt. I vaguely wondered when she had seen Matt and me together, but I assumed half the school was talking about it already. “I barely know him! He couldn’t possibly like me!”


         “He could too!” McKenna’s blue eyes flashing happily as she realized she had just gotten her chance to gossip. I could tell Euan and Matt were their favorite topic of discussion. “At least one new person comes each year and he has never taken the time to show them around the school!”


         “Yeah, just last year I came to this school and no one helped me find anything until I came to third hour and met Jean!” Melissa smiled at herself in the small hand mirror she had been looking in. Jean rolled her eyes at me while Melissa closed her mirror closed with a click. “I would totally take Euan over Matt any day though.”


         “Me too,” giggled Blaire. “You have to invite us over sometime!”


         “There is one problem with Matt and Euan though,” said Jean. She seemed to know everything about everyone. She motioned for me to come in closer. “They hate each other! They try to find every chance they can to fight with one another. So I am telling you now, you probably with have to pick one or the other. No one is friends with both of them. You are either on Euan’s side or Matt’s. Of course all of us girls just kind of look at them both! You are different though. You live with one…so it might be a huge problem. No one really knows why it is like that, it just always has been. You are going to have to pick a side.”


         “A lot of people say it is some ancient feud between the two families.” Blaire dropped her voice and looked around the room to see if anyone was listening to our conversation. All the girls in our group stared at her, she obviously had never told this story to her friends before.


         “What do you mean?”  I leaned in closer to hear what Blaire had to say.


         Blaire looked around at everyone to see if they were listening and continued. “Well, the story goes that before Deadstone Creek became really populated; only three families lived here. The McCreadys, who had come over from Ireland, the Siduous’, who had traveled from New York to find their fortune in the West, and the Deadstones who, as far as anyone could tell, had no real reason to come here at all.


         “It seemed that as soon as all the families had moved in that they started to fight, the worst two were the McCready’s and the Siduous’. They fought over everything, land, money, even which one could catch the most fish off the coast. They dueled over the stupidest things and a lot of people in each family died. The Deadstone’s didn’t really care about the feud, but tried to fix it so they would not have to listen to all their bickering. They did an okay job until…”Blaire paused for dramatic effect and then continued. “Until one day the youngest Deadstone girl woke up to find that all of her family was dead.”


         “What?” I exclaimed.


         “Just let me finish!” Blaire said and smiled at the group, she had fully captured all of our attentions. “Supposedly, the reason that they all died is because they knew some kind of family secret that both families shared and all of them supposedly ended up dead except one. She was a young girl, she would have been about our age, named Eleanor. She had somehow escaped the massacre of her family and ended up marrying one of the McCready’s…supposedly.”


         “Did you say the girl’s name was Eleanor?” I asked, looking a Blaire intently.


         “Yes, that was her name,” Blaire looked at me curiously and opened her mouth to ask me a question but then was interrupted by Jean.


         “Who killed them all? What happened next?”


          Blaire smiled and said “No one knows which family killed the Deadstone’s. People tend to think it was the Siduous’ because the McCready’s married the last Deadstone, but no one really knows.


         “Even though the Deadstone family was gone, the McCready’s and the Siduous’ could no longer fight. Others had started to settle in the area and they had to stop their violent fighting. In remembrance of the massacred family the people named this town Deadstone Creek.” Blaire smiled at us all. ‘It is just an old folk story though.”


         “How do you know all this?” Melissa asked, starring at Blaire.


         “My grandmother tells me that story every time we pass by the old Deadstone mansion.” Blaire looked at Melissa as if she had told her this before.


         “Oh,” Melissa smiled. “Well all I have to say is that is the biggest piece of bullshit I have ever heard. I don’t know what your grandma has been taking, but she should stay away from those pills.”


         Blaire’s face blushed a deep red as Jean laughed. I looked at her sympathetically and she smiled. Maybe living here wouldn’t be so bad after all and it seemed that I had already gotten another clue to the McCready puzzle. The problem was that the puzzle had just gained more pieces.