Caleb&Adrienne part 1

-Caleb
“Hey Caleb.”
“Hey,” I muttered, not looking up from my sketch. I was almost finished, and I was NOT going to let anything or anyone interrupt, not even my best friend, Jared. I ignored his exasperated sigh and concentrated, my hand darting her and there, adding miniscule details. Jared spoke again.
“Oh yeah, Cale, did ya hear? There's supposed to be a new girl at school today. Apparently she moved here just Saturday.”
“So?” I said, shrugging, barely even interested. “We get new kids all the time.” Jared sighed again.
“Yeah, but someone said this chick’s lived in Alaska or something her whole life, never been to a normal school.” He sniggered. “She’s bound to be a weird one-Chase’ll eat her alive.”
Now it was my turn to sigh. As much as I liked my friends, they irked me sometimes with their “popular guy” attitudes. But the info on the new girl caught my attention. I paused and looked up for the first time. Jared was leaning against my desk with his hands in his pockets.
Could it be…? Nah. I thought. I shook my head fiercely, like a dog ridding itself of a gnat. Jared rolled his eyes.
“Alaska, huh?” I murmured thoughtfully. “That’s different.” Jared raised one shoulder carelessly.
“Yeah. I think Chase said she’s like an Inuit or something.”
“Hm.” I pursed my lips.
Then Jared, evidently bored with the conversation, leaned over and examined my drawing. He sucked in a startled breath, eyes wide. I ignored his reaction, also studying the picture. It was one of my latest sketches, a girl I’d dreamed about two days ago. I’d spent every waking moment working on it. This was a recurring pattern. I’d dream something weird, and then get this compulsion to draw, sketching non-stop till I finished.
But this one was different. All of my drawings were kind of odd, but this girl was the strangest yet. She was undeniably very beautiful, but in a different way than most of the girls around here. She had silky raven black hair that reached her hips. Her skin was a pretty russet color, and long black lashes framed big emerald eyes. She was shorter than me, but slender, with a curvy figure. She wore a bizarre sort of leather tunic, with a crimson headband tied around her head, black tights, and brown boots that encased her small feet and calves.
But still yet, her clothes weren’t the most extraordinary things about her. The most unusual was the fact that she was being stabbed through the heart, with a bright, shining blue blade. A bone-white hand gripped the handle of the sword, but the rest of the person ran off the page. In the picture, the girl was arched backwards, her head thrown back, black hair strewn all over the place, and grasping hands that reached in vain for whoever was attacking her.
I looked up from the paper to see Jared staring at me. He cleared his throat uneasily when I met his eyes.
“Ok, man, I've seen you draw some creepy things, but this is the creepiest yet.” He ran a hand through his black hair. “Did you dream this too?” I nodded wordlessly, rolling the paper up and sticking it in my bag.
Just then the teacher, Mrs. Kralen, walked in, and everyone hurried to their seats. She looked around imperiously at us, and then gestured impatiently to someone who hovered uncertainly in the doorway.
As whoever it was walked forward nervously, she glanced around the classroom, eyeing us warily, big green eyes peeking through curtains of long, glossy black hair. I felt shock numb my insides and my mouth fall open as a gasp echoed from behind me. I didn’t need Jared’s hard poke in the back of my head, or his urgent whisper in my ear, to recognize her instantly.
“That’s the girl in your drawing!!”
“I KNOW!” I muttered furiously, motioning for him to shut up. The girl had looked around at the sound of Jared’s gasp, and was now staring at me with a furrowed brow. I stared at her furiously, my face hard, noticing at the same time a crimson headband tied around her head under her hair. This was definitely the girl. Her eyes widened, confusion, astonishment, and fear etched into her features, and she looked down at her feet, letting her hair fall over her face. Mrs. Kralen put a hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“Boys and girls, this is Adrienne Arerra. She has moved here from Alaska. I know you will all make her feel welcome.” Mrs. Kralen glowered at us with a look that said, “or else”. She continued, “Why don’t we all introduce ourselves?” She pointed at me. “You go first.”


-Adrienne
The boy started, and then mumbled grudgingly, “Caleb Aterera.” His voice was husky and low, pleasing to the ears.
But he sent shivers down my spine.
I watched him surreptitiously, fidgeting with the strap on my bag, absorbing his tan skin and brown hair with bleach blond streaks, the kind of look that came from spending lots of time in the sun. I shuddered, wondering how such a normal looking boy could be…a killer. But then I saw that his chocolate brown eyes were fixed on me, in a glare that made his warm looking eyes freeze, like chips of ice. I gulped and averted my eyes, shivering slightly. Oh yes, I could see this boy as a killer.
Because this was the boy from my dream. The boy from my dream two days ago where I was murdered, stabbed by this boy. He’d had a bright blue sword, and I winced as the memories came flooding back. How the boy in my dream, only with alabaster white skin, had advanced on me with a feral smile. How cold the blade had been as it pierced my chest, the all consuming pain that had followed, then relief with the numb darkness…
I felt frozen, pinned down with the weight of that horrifying dream, still so fresh in my memory. I realized I was still looking at the boy, even lost in reminiscence, and as I watched one of his smooth, agile hands flitted down to his bag, where he grabbed a rolled up piece of unlined paper. He unfurled it gently, examining it, and then looking back up at me, then at the paper. I cocked my head, puzzled, and distracted for a moment from my dream.
Then Mrs. Kralen’s demanding voice sounded in my ear from far away, as if she were talking through a long tunnel.
“Excuse me Miss Arerra, are you listening to what I am saying?”
Still lost in thought, I answered absentmindedly in my native tongue, a musical, fluid language that I loved. When no one responded, I looked up curiously to see everyone staring at me. Realizing what I had done, I immediately felt a burning sensation on my cheeks.
“I-I’m sorry,” I stammered. “I was distracted,” I glanced swiftly at the boy, Caleb. He was smiling slightly, in a grim sort of way, but when everyone followed my gaze and turned to stare at him, he glared at me exasperatedly, with red-tinged cheeks.
“Right.” Mrs. Kralen observed me with piercing eyes. “Why don’t you sit there?” I followed the line of her pointing finger…to the seat right next to Caleb Aterera.
Of course.


-Caleb
I stared resignedly at the girl as she sat down next to me, carefully avoiding my eyes. What are the odds? I thought. Just by COINCEDENCE Mrs. Kralen picked the empty seat next to mine. Right. She’s just trying to torture me…old bat. I heaved a big sigh.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the girl look up sharply when I sighed. She looked a little bit scared, a lot angry, and very suspicious. Her slim brown hands were shaking, one of them clenched in a fist and pressed to her heart. Her lips were pressed tightly together in anger, and her eyes were huge and filled with distrust. I turned my head hesitantly, wondering if I should ask her what her issue was, but just then Mrs. Kralen rapped sharply against the blackboard with her stick and called us to attention. The girl, Adrienne, jumped and turned her eyes to the front, still looking pissed.
After class during break, when my friends and I were laughing and chatting around my locker, I reflected that maybe Adrienne was just scared and suspicious of the all the new sights and such. It couldn’t have been easy to move to such a completely different place. I firmly pushed away my suspicions that I had been the reason for her emotion.
Although, I thought, deliberating, I suppose I could have glared at her less. It’s not her fault she looks exactly like the girl in my dream.
I looked around, wondering where Adrienne was. I furrowed my brow, surprised. Why was I worrying about a girl I’d never even spoken too? I gave myself a mental shake, leaning against my locker and sticking a hand in my pocket. I listened thoughtfully to all that was going on around me, absorbing the laughter, feeling my mood automatically lighten as the happiness soaked into me.
“Um, Caleb Aterera, right?” A small voice with a lilting accent asked me tentatively. I blinked, startled, and looked around. Adrienne was standing anxiously in front of me, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she stared at me, still looking mad and scared and wary. I nodded at her.
“Yeah. What?” I spoke calmly, not wanting to freak her out anymore than she already was. She bit her lip.
“You're leaning on my locker.”
“Oh.” I was surprised. I’d been expecting her to accuse me of some wild thing or cuss me out or something.
I stood up and edged away, then stopped and waited. Adrienne stared at me, her russet skin darkening slightly, and turned to her locker.
She struggled with the lock, twisting it and trying to match up the numbers she had written on a slip of paper. She was having trouble trying to hold her books, turn her lock, and see the number at the same time. I sighed.
“Do you need any help?” Adrienne looked up with pursed lips and nodded, handing me the paper. I took one glance at it and twirled the lock expertly. Within ten seconds, the lock clicked and the metal door swung open. I stood back, grabbing her books from her hands and stuffing them in the top shelf.
“Hey!” For once, Adrienne looked something other than timid and wary. She stuck her hands on her hips, and I saw a glimmer of the person she really was, when she wasn’t in a brand new place, totally out of her comfort zone and obviously overwhelmed. She raised one long tapered eyebrow.
“What do you think you're doing? I need those!”
I shook me head, smiling slightly. “No, you don’t. It’s time for lunch. Come on, or we’ll be late.” It was true. The commons area had quickly emptied out, and we were the only two stragglers left.
We walked quietly down the empty hallways, the silence sounding louder and louder as I kept sneaking glances at her. I decided to break the strained silence before I went wild with curiosity.
“So…are you really from Alaska? Like, seriously?” I needed to figure out if she could possibly be the girl in my dream. I didn’t think so…but Adrienne looked just like her. Surely it couldn’t be a coincidence. Adrienne looked at me with surprise.
“Um…yeah…town called Ukpeagvik. Ever heard of it?” She smiled slyly, like she KNEW I had no idea what she was talking about. Which I didn’t.
“Ug-what-now? I have never heard of that in my life. Is that even English?”
“Ukpeagvik. And of course its not English,” she chuckled, “It’s in my native tongue. I’m related to a tribe of Inuit called Inupiat Eskimo. I’m sure you’ve never heard of them, right?”
I shook my head slowly. “So why did you come here?”
“Well, my dad works for this thing where disturbed kids-which really means kids in juvi-come to Alaska to become calm and all mellow and stuff. And apparently he’s really good at it, so they wanted him to come here and work with these “disturbed” kids.”
“So is it really different?”
“Well no. Except for the cold and the animals and the people and the landscape and the clothes and the transportation and the…well okay, everything is different.” She laughed. I could feel her warming towards me, losing a lot of the anger and suspicion and fear.
I smiled, deciding at the same time that I liked her. You don’t get very many spunky, outgoing girls here.