For one thing, he carried himself with a level of maturity that ninety-nine percent of the boys in my school seemed to be lacking. He was polite, thoughtful, chose his words carefully, and no matter how sure of himself he appeared to be, he was cautious and I admired that. I thought of his deep-blue eyes and his strong jaw, the way his hands pushed his hair out of his eyes.
Instantly, I felt my cheeks warm.
With Garreth in mind, I sneaked into my mom’s bathroom, raiding the medicine cabinet for mousse, gel, and shine spray, not having a clue how to use any of them. I was intent on transforming myself into something slightly more than ordinary, a task I was taking on blindly. A rather ordinary face, however, reflected back to me in the bathroom mirror, along with strawberry-blonde hair, light highlights from a box, a somewhat-clear complexion, save for the freckles that multiplied yearly, and green eyes so light they were almost the color of water and framed by thin, very light-colored eyebrows and lashes. I was often told I was pretty, but somehow the mirror always seemed to lie to me.
I sighed, not convinced the wild array of cosmetics would do any good but I was determined to try. My next victims, the drawers, silently waited and I pounced on them, excitedly uncapping lipstick tubes and popping open eye shadow cases. I felt like a kid in a candy shop.
I bounced downstairs with unusual enthusiasm, catching my mother’s shocked look. This was quite a switch from my absentmindedness of last evening when I simply couldn’t help my thoughts being elsewhere.
“You look beautiful, sweetie.” She eyed me suspiciously, though her compliment was honest. “Big day today?”
“Hey, Mom. Just in a good mood. I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed some of your makeup. Did I tell you we have early dismissal today?”
“I have to work until five, Tea. It’s Friday.” I knew I had blown her away with my chattiness.
Breakfast time usually consisted of a) silence, b) the occasional sleepy caveman grunt, or c) silence. I tried not to look her in the eye over my bowl of cereal since I could feel her staring at me and I could sense her jaw must have dropped a mile at my attempt to look like a normal seventeen-year-old girl. I only hoped she wasn’t perceptive enough to guess it had something to do with the opposite sex, though I had my doubts. A familiar honk faintly sounded outside. Claire to the rescue!
“See you later, Mom!”
I rinsed my bowl and dropped it into the sink, then grabbed my backpack and was out the door in a split second. The mental picture of my mother speechlessly staring at the door stuck with me and I wondered briefly if she needed medical attention.
I opened the door to Claire’s white Cabrio and hopped inside. Pink was in the CD player and the car was saturated in the scent of the new vanilla-roma tree hanging from the mirror. Claire was rechecking her porcelain complexion then turned in my direction. The look in her eyes mimicked my mother’s.
“Do I know you?” She feigned seriousness. “I only give rides to people I know. Please step out of the vehicle and back away slowly.”
I let out a small chuckle.
“On second thought,” she continued, “who are you and what have you done with my friend?” Claire took my hand in hers and examined my palm with exaggerated interest.
“Aha! Madame Woo says makeup is good idea for landing hunky new boy at school. It also serves as a good disguise for riding the bus again. No one will recognize you.” Her eyebrows wiggled up and down.
“You’re a nut!”
“You look great!” She was definitely thrilled to acknowledge my attempts to look beautiful. “I never understood why you never wore makeup. Hmm. I guess all it takes is a boy.”
I faked a look of innocence, but as the seconds passed the look on Claire’s face showed me I had no chance of pulling the wool over her eyes.
“Is it that obvious?” My voice suddenly a timid whisper.
“Only to me.” Claire smiled knowingly as she shifted the car into gear and headed down Church Street.
“Today, you’ll look like the new girl in school and Garreth Adams won’t know what hit him.”
I smiled to myself as I looked out the window at the passing houses. I could always count on Claire to boost my confidence.
“By the way.” The devilish smirk lingered on her face.
“Do you think your mom will let me borrow that lipstick?
” The sunlight streaming through the moonroof was warm and comfortable and so I allowed last night’s dream of Garreth to sneak into my thoughts once more before school. It was the first pleasant dream I could clearly remember in a long time and I closed my eyes, savoring the moment. His eyes, the deepest ocean blue, peered out from beneath his hair. He smiled radiantly as my heart pulled toward him and then he faded, as if my dream was revealing to me what it truly was. Just a dream.
Then the mist cleared slightly, revealing him once more as he held his hand out, beckoning me to join him. I stepped forward, momentarily blinded by the beautiful colors swirling around me. As I reached out to place my hand in his, the air quickened…electrically charged…static. I stared in wonder as the lines on his upturned palm swirled into a single, continuous thread and transformed into a beautiful eight-pointed star before my eyes, formed from beginning to end in one graceful, sweeping motion. Endless. Gateless. Eternal.
Garreth spoke my name softly and the moment I stepped into the mist I knew I was in heaven. Though reluctant to let the dream fade, I forced it to the back of my mind and tried to focus on the day ahead of me.
Claire was singing along to the next track. “Sorry about yesterday. Did you get home okay?”
“That’s a topic you and I have to discuss. I made it home okay, but public transportation is truly humiliating.
I’m employing you as my chauffeur.”
“Worse than putting up with Brynn and her posse?”
“Hmmm. A close second.”
About a block before school, I pulled down the built-in mirror underneath the sun visor above my head. I noted the transparent purple circles surfacing beneath my eyes from lack of sleep and made a mental note to experiment with concealer.
I decided to change the subject and tell Claire about the other night, about the dreams and the wings. Claire was my best friend, the obvious choice to hear all my concerns, but as much as I loved her, she was such a jokester and I didn’t know how she would react. I dove in before I could change my mind.
“Um, the night before last I heard some really strange noises.”
“What kind of noises?”
“Well, sort of like an animal or a bird flying around my room. I’ve been having these weird dreams about wings and…Well, I felt a draft.”
My tone was serious but I instantly regretted sharing my unnerving evening. How could I expect the ever-joking Claire to sympathize with this one?
“You read too many vampire books.”
She was right. My fictional track record left me wide open for that one. I felt like the boy who cried wolf.
“Or…” she continued. “Maybe Batman was coming to save you!”
Claire was cracking herself up, flapping her arms above her head while we were stopped at the traffic light. I shook my head and stared out the window. The looming shadow of Carver High School suddenly couldn’t be close enough. And then it happened. My stomach lurched into a series of somersaults when I recognized Garreth’s Jeep as we pulled into the school’s parking lot.
By the time Claire parked, my insides had tied themselves into a gigantic knot. An incredible rush of excitement, eagerness, and panic swept through me all at once, like the first day of high school all over again. I could scarcely will my feet to swing out of Claire’s car.
I scanned the campus for any sign of Garreth, my eyes raking over the fellow students I was forced to be herded with day in and day out, but he was nowhere in sight.
Trembling, I walked to homeroom alone.
The morning dragged on endlessly, though it was only just past second period. Anticipation bled into a twisted combination with all-too-familiar disappointment as I fumbled with my locker, and I decided to take on a more reasonable way of looking at the obvious.
Maybe I was a crutch to get him through his first day?
No, no. He seemed so sincere.