Chapter Two

The bell rang, signaling the end of another school year. Students laughed and shouted as they raced down the crowded hallways.

“See you tonight, ladies!” Brooklyn called to her friends.

“Sounds good, B!” they called back.

I can’t believe my first year of high school is actually over, thought Brooklyn with a sigh. The year had been pretty eventful, but not in a good way. Everything had been going great until winter break, when her mother announced that she and Brooklyn’s father were separating. The initial shock left Brooklyn and her brother Jax speechless. First she went numb. It didn’t take long for the aftermath to hit her right in the face. Her grades began to slip and her teachers reported that she was no longer her happy-go-lucky self. Sometimes, when she was alone, she would cry. Other times she would get so angry she felt as if steam would literally come out of her ears. Her brother seemed to take it better. He focused all of his sadness, anger, and frustration on the basketball court. Jax was Kennedy High School’s star point guard and he had been offered a coveted scholarship to play for the coveted Duke University basketball team in the fall.

Although she didn’t have basketball to rely on, Brooklyn did have two amazing friends, Taliyah and Parker, who were always there for her. They had been friends since kindergarten and their friendship had survived many ups and downs. Lately, they were inseparable, and tonight wasn’t any different. Thanks to their popular older siblings, the three had been invited to the party of the year at Jocelyn MacIntyre’s house. Simply attending the party would enhance their popularity status substantially. Everyone who was anyone at Kennedy would be there.

Jocelyn MacIntyre’s parents lived in a huge house with a massive pool and private tennis courts. The party would be catered by the best restaurant in town and The Wires were going to play live music all night. Best of all, there would be minimal parental supervision. Jocelyn had ‘the cool parents’ who usually ended up so bombed they weren’t capable of telling anyone what they could or couldn’t do.

Brooklyn had to admit, she was pretty stoked about attending the party. She had already spent hours picking out the perfect outfit and accessories. A simple green tank top, jean skirt, and black leggings accompanied by some cute gold earrings.

She sighed as she walked home. A warm breeze rustled the blossoms on the trees and Brooklyn enjoyed the time alone to think in the fresh air. By the time she got home, Jax and his best friend, Kai, were shooting hoops in the driveway.

“Hey B! Watch out!” shouted Jax a second too late. Before she could even look up, a basketball slammed into the side of her head. THUD! Brooklyn’s face immediately turned crimson. Although the basketball to the head hurt, she was more embarrassed Kai had seen it happen. He was literally perfect from head to toe. He had amazing aquamarine eyes with sandy blonde hair and a smile that could take your breath away. Then there was his body, perfectly tanned, lean, and athletic. When Brooklyn thought about Kai, her stomach flipped and her knees turned to jelly. Unfortunately, Jax knew exactly how she felt about Kai and he teased her all the time.

As if on cue, he shouted, “Sorry B! I know how you like to look your best for Kai!” Brooklyn’s cheeks burned hotter and she raced through the open garage door.

Ugh! If it weren’t for this party I would disown him!

A few hours later, Brooklyn looked at herself in the mirror. She twirled one last time to make sure that her outfit and hair looked perfect.  

Her mother passed by her daughter’s open door. “Sweetheart, you look beautiful!”

“Thanks, Mom,” Brooklyn replied as she slipped on a new pair of wedge heels.

“B! Let’s go!” shouted Jax from downstairs.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” Brooklyn called back. She carefully walked down the stairs. The last thing she needed was to trip and break her ankle.

“Now, you two have fun and don’t stay out too late!” their mother said.

“Don’t worry, Mom, we’ll be home before the sun rises!” said Jax with a smartass grin.

“Very funny,” their mother retorted. “You get home that late and you won’t have to worry about curfew again, because you won’t see the free world until you set foot on the Duke campus!” their mother retorted playfully.

The ride to Jocelyn’s took less than fifteen minutes. Her house was nestled into a mountainside shrouded by a dense forest. When Jax and Brooklyn walked in, the party was already in full swing.

“Wow,” Brooklyn whispered. She had never been to Jocelyn’s house before or any house that was this big. Clearly the MacIntyres had gone all out for this event. Brooklyn could hear music from the backyard and the tables stacked with food in front of her were pretty impressive. They hadn’t even walked five feet when Jocelyn popped into view.

Jocelyn immediately wrapped her arms around Jax and purred, “Hey, Jax! It’s so nice to see you! Can I get you something to eat? Perhaps a drink?” She was obviously trying to flirt with Jax, but he was ignoring her over the top hints.

“Nah, thanks, we’re good,” replied Jax as he backed up and shrugged his way out of her grasp.

“Okay, well, please let me know if you need anything,” Jocelyn cooed as she batted her fake eyelashes at him. She turned, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder, and walked toward two more guests who had just arrived.

“Hey, B, you good?” Jax asked.

“Yeah, I think I see Parker and Taliyah over near the punch bowl. How cliché is a punch bowl at a high school party?” Brooklyn asked.

“It’s only cliché if someone wearing a leather jacket pours a flask of rum in it,” Jax replied with a smile.

Brooklyn walked over to her friends and grabbed a cup. “So fill me in, what have I missed?” she asked as she poured herself a glass of the sweet smelling red liquid from the punch bowl.

“Well,” replied Taliyah. “Kai is here and looking as good as ever.”

“Ugh… I know!” Brooklyn sighed. Then she recanted the basketball-to-the-head story to her friends. “It’s like he has no filter! Whatever he’s thinking just pops out of his big mouth!”

“It could be worse,” said Taliyah, laughing. “You could have a black eye right now! Or even worse, you could be sitting at home on the couch with a concussion!”

“True. Very true,” replied Brooklyn smiling.

“Hey, Taliyah, isn’t that Ryder from Jax’s class?” Parker asked. She pointed across the room at a silent, watchful guy.

“Yeah, I think so. I mean he is the MacIntyres’ exchange student, so I guess he would be here,” responded Taliyah.

“Wait a minute. He’s who’s exchange what?” Brooklyn asked, shaking her head, trying to work that sentence out in her head.

“Yeah,” said Taliyah. “He’s an exchange student from Denmark, didn’t you know that?”

“Clearly I did not,” replied Brooklyn, shrugging as she looked over at Ryder. He had perfectly tousled black hair and deep green eyes. He appeared to be a bit shorter than Jax or Kai, but it was difficult to guess his height from across the room.

“I thought Danish people had blue eyes and blonde hair,” she said, unable to take her eyes off him.

“What does it matter? He’s pretty hot,” Parker retorted.

Then, as if he knew they were talking about him, Ryder looked up and locked eyes with Brooklyn. The exchange was so intense that it seemed like the world stopped for a minute and everything fell silent, even the music blaring outside. When Ryder finally looked down, Brooklyn actually had to force herself to take a breath.

Did that just happen? she asked herself.

“Um, Earth to B! You there?” Parker asked, waving her hands in front of Brooklyn’s face.

“Yeah, sorry. Yeah, I’m good. I think I just spaced out for a minute.”

“Right. If I didn’t know that you were madly in love with Kai, I would say you and Ryder just had a love-at-first-sight moment!” said Parker with a smile. Brooklyn just rolled her eyes.

Truthfully, she wasn’t sure what just happened, but it definitely didn’t change how she felt about Kai. Her infatuation with him had all started when he came over after school one day when Brooklyn was in seventh grade. Brooklyn had a horrible bout of the stomach flu that day and she had missed the past two days of school.

She was downstairs watching cartoons in her ratty pink robe and teddy bear slippers on when her brother walked in the door with Kai.

“That’s a good look for you, B!” Jax said with a smirk.

“Shut up, J—” Brooklyn stopped abruptly when her eyes landed upon her older brother’s attractive friend standing a few steps away. She froze, like a deer in headlights.

“Oh come on, Jax, I’m sure you couldn’t pull off that look,” said Kai as he winked at Brooklyn. That was it. That one event started a crush that still endured to this very minute.

“B, let’s go check out the band,” Parker said, interrupting Brooklyn’s trip down memory lane.

“Sounds good,” Brooklyn replied. The girls walked through the open doors outside on to the deck. The band played directly below on the lawn and a few people were already dancing.

“How many people down there do you think are actually sober” Taliyah asked as she glanced over the rail.

Brooklyn smirked. “Very few.”

“Hey, isn’t that Kai in the middle?” Parker asked, pointing down.

“Oh, um, yeah, I guess it is,” replied Brooklyn, her cheeks red.

I heard Kai snuck in some rum,” said Taliyah with a mischievous grin. “And I want some!”

Taliyah pushed through the sea of bodies jiggling and grinding to the music until she got close to Kai and Jax. She was only a few feet away and about to call out their names when she bumped into Ryder.

“Excuse me!” she yelled over the noise. Ryder turned and looked down at her. She smiled at him. “Excuse me, can you please move?” she yelled again.

Just a few feet away, Taliyah overheard Kai yell something to Jax. “You know, that Parker is pretty hot!”

Taliyah’s eyes widened as she looked past Ryder. Jax and Kai were dancing with a couple of girls, but she didn’t care. It was their conversation she wanted to hear. She grabbed Ryder and started to dance with him. Her back faced Jax and Kai.

“She’s only seventeen,” Jax yelled.

Ryder looked super confused. “What are you doing?” he asked loudly so he could be heard over the music. People were bumping into him, but Taliyah held onto his arms. “Shut up and dance with me for a minute!” she yelled.

“Yeah, that means easy taking,” Kai said.

“Seriously, lay off. That’s one of Brooklyn’s best friends. You know my sister has already planned your wedding and named your future children,” Jax yelled.

“It’s hard to lay off when you’ve already laid on,” Kai yelled back.

“Seriously?” asked Jax. Taliyah almost turned around to clock Kai, but she just gripped Ryder’s arms tighter.

“Ouch! Do you mind?” he asked, trying to pull away from her death grip.

“Well, maybe not laid on, but we definitely spent some quality time together over the last few weeks,” Kai said.

“Not cool, Kai, not cool,” Jax said.

Taliyah released Ryder and ran off.

Ryder looked at the imprints of Taliyah’s nails in the crooks of his elbows. What the hell was that all about? he thought to himself. He pushed past the two jocks in the crowd of drunks moving their bodies in some sort of rhythm to the cluster of noise ringing through his ears. These people are vile. He needed to get out of here and get back into the woods.

Taliyah ran up the steps, back to Brooklyn and Parker. Out of breath, she bent over to recover.

“What’s wrong, Taliyah?” Brooklyn asked, setting a hand on her shoulder. The band took a break and the people on the lawn dispersed.

Before she could say anything, Kai walked up. “Hey ladies, how’s it going?”

“No complaints,” Parker said.

“What are you guys doing after the party?” he asked.

“Well, no plans yet. How about you?” Brooklyn asked, trying to play it cool.

“Graham is supposedly having people over again. Same place as last week, remember?” Kai asked, winking at Parker.

“Um, yeah… I mean, yeah I remember where he lives,” Parker said quietly.

“Interested in joining us?” Kai asked, now looking directly at her.

“Yeah, maybe. We’ll let you know,” Parker said, stumbling over her words and looking at the ground.

“Okay, make sure you do. By the way, Parker, you look good tonight,” he said with a smile as he walked away.

Brooklyn froze. Did that really just happen?

In the meantime, Taliyah had regained her composure and now her face flared. “What the hell was that?”

Parker shrugged. “It was nothing. He was just being stupid.”.

“Clearly it’s a hell of a lot more than nothing,” spat Taliyah. Brooklyn clenched her fists, causing her knuckles to turn bright white. Her anger mounted with every second that passed.

“Well, we sort of bumped into each other at Graham’s house last week and, well…” Parker trailed off.

“And well what? You two hooked up? I heard them talking down there! How could you do that to Brooklyn? What the hell is wrong with you?” yelled Taliyah.

“Look, B, I’m really sorry, it just sort of happened…” Parker said quietly, looking down at her feet.

“Parker! You’re one of my best friends! How could you do that to me?” she screamed.

“I didn’t mean to, it was an accident! I swear!”

Her anger boiled over and Brooklyn shouted, “Shut up! It wasn’t an accident and you know it! You’re a slut and we are no longer friends! I need some air! Get out of my way!” She pushed past Parker and Taliyah, tears welling up in her eyes.

Parker frantically tried to apologize. “Brooklyn, please don’t leave! I’m sorry! I’m so—”

“Shut up, Parker!” fumed Taliyah as she ran to catch up with Brooklyn. “B, wait!” she pleaded.

“No, please, just let me have a minute to myself,” Brooklyn said, rushing down the stairs toward the lawn below. After she reached the plush grass, the tears flowed freely. She pushed past a few more people and through an open gate. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she knew she had to get away from Parker and Kai.

“How could she?” Brooklyn hissed. “She’s supposed to be one of my best friends! How long has this been going on behind my back?” 

The tears kept coming asshe slowed to a walk. Further and further away from the best friend who had deceived her and the boy who’d broken her heart. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but Brooklyn soon became aware that she had no idea where she was. A forest and gently sloping hills surrounded her and it became difficult to navigate her way through the terrain. Her only light was the full moon above.

“Great, I look like a hot mess and I’m probably werewolf or vampire bait,” Brooklyn said, sitting down for a minute to get her bearings. Crickets chirped and the wind rustled in the trees. Then, suddenly, everything went quiet. Chills raced up her spine. She looked around. “Hello?”

She heard a loud snap, followed by several cracks in the distance. Whatever was making that noise was on the move and closing in fast. The smell of rotting fish filled her nose and she gagged. What the hell is going on? Her heart thumped in her chest. She looked for somewhere to hide but the abnormally bright moon made that difficult.

All of a sudden, a figure crashed through the trees and collided with her. She hit the ground and her shoes went flying into the air. Her elbow hit a rock. She tried to sit up, but couldn’t. The wind rushed from her lungs. Panic set in. What just happened? What hit me? Did I break anything? Thoughts bombarded her mind as she attempted to take a breath. She started gasping for air. After a few moments, she sat up and looked around.

“What the hell are you doing here?” a loud angry voice shouted at her. Brooklyn spun around. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Ryder stood before her, with sweat dripping off his brow. His eyes frantically searching the woods behind her.

“Excuse me?” she snapped as she attempted to brush the damp leaves and moss off of her clothes.

“Get up! Hurry!” Ryder commanded in a hushed voice reaching out for Brooklyn’s hand. “We don’t have much time!”

“Huh?” she said.

Ryder grabbed her hand and pulled her up roughly. “Follow me,” he whispered.  

Brooklyn hesitated. What was Ryder doing out here in the woods? Why did he want her to follow him? What was he going to do to her if she didn’t follow him? Another loud crash echoed through the dense, quiet forest.

“Quick! Cover your ears!” Ryder instructed.

“Why?” Brooklyn asked.

“Do it or die!” Ryder snapped at her. No more questions, she covered her ears. A noise like nothing she had ever heard before pierced her eardrums. Tears welled up in her eyes. The shriek left a ringing sensation bouncing around in her head accompanied by a blinding pain.

“What is it?” she barely managed a whisper.

“That’s Grishma,” Ryder said seriously.

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