Hope Springs

Thursday morning was tense as well. Mom and Dad hadn’t solved their argument and May had reverted back to being a brat. Everyone’s tempers were short and I was glad when Dad finally dropped me off at school. I smoothed my hands on my jeans and pulled at my black tank top and adjusted my white jumper crop top. I brushed a strand of light brown hair behind my ear before striding into the school building and heading straight to my locker. My sketchbook was nestled snugly into my backpack and I slowly started feeling more at ease the closer I got to my locker. I smiled when I saw that Rhea, Hadley, Alex and Max were all waiting at my locker. My smile grew a little more when I saw Anya and Josh standing slightly behind Max.

Anya gave a shy smile and a small wave and I smiled at all of them as I put in my combination and opened up my locker.

“Hey Trinity,” Hadley smiled, “We are so glad that you are back, how are you feeling?”

“A lot better,” I answered, “My temperature is now ninety-eight point nine degrees, which is normal for me, so I am feeling so much better. I’m not even sure what was wrong with me.”

Max smiled, staring at me, his eyes soft, “What matters is that you are feeling a lot better. Just don’t ever do that again.”

Hadley smirked, “Yeah, Maxie was really worried. Like, really, really, really worried.”

“Shut up Hads,” Max growled, yes growled. His eyes flashed gold for a moment before returning to their normal blue and I shook my head. It was probably just a trick of the light.

“Sorry, Maxie,” Hadley apologized, “But you were really worried. It was quite endearing really, how much you seem to care for her. What do you think, Trinity? Is it cute how much he seems to care for you?”

My cheeks flushed and I narrowed my eyes at Hadley, “Hush. I have to get to class, and I don’t feel like discussing what is cute about Max and what isn’t.”

Hadley smirked and I groaned loudly, causing Rhea to giggle and Hadley’s smirk to grow. Hadley was enjoying this way too much. I had no idea why she wanted Max and I to get together or maybe she didn’t and she just really enjoyed teasing us, especially since I blushed so easily.

“What did you do last night,” Rhea asked conversationally, “You got back from the hospital so what did you do? Besides, homework.”

“Just researched and sat through an awkward family dinner,” I said, “Dad took Maria and May to a shooting range and Mom wasn’t very happy.” At their confused looks I added on, “Maria and May are six.”

The confusion instantly changed to outraged(Rhea), puzzled(Hadley and Max), and curious(Max, Alex and Josh). Anya didn’t seem to be paying attention and that was just fine with me.

“That’s so bizarre,” Hadley commented, “Why would he...I don’t understand why he would take them to a shooting range.”

I shrugged, “I don’t either. He never took me there and my Mom says it’s because I didn’t need it or if he did I wouldn’t need to rely on him anymore and he wants me to rely on him.”

“I don’t buy that,” Rhea says, “There has to be another reason that he didn’t take you to a shooting range. But why take two six year old girls to a shooting range? They are too young to be around weapons. They could have gotten hurt or something!”

“I know,” I commented, “I don’t know if he just let them watch and then taught them about bows or what. It was just so strange, and I don’t even know what to think. May and Maria shouldn’t even be around weapons but Dad thought it was a good idea to expose them to a shooting range for some reason.” I shook my head, deciding to change the subject, “Hadley has Claire told you anything about the possibility of me getting a job at the diner?”

“Ah yeah,” Hadley answered, “Even though you didn’t really do the trial period she is going to give you the job. She didn’t say why, she just said that she thought you deserved the job. I think it had to do with me telling her that you felt so bad that you didn’t make it to your first day of the trial period and so I think she knows now that you would really work hard and try your best.”

I grinned,”Well then thank you for telling her that. Yay! I’ll come by tonight I think then and pick up the work schedule. Is there anyone else working there?”

Hadley nodded, “Claire has seen a recent spike in sales so she has hired three more people aside from you. The first new worker is Raven. Rhea also succeeded in getting a job, and then this hum-humorous guy George and this girl Meaghan.”

“Meaghan,” I repeated, “Is she in our Psychology class?”

Hadley nodded, “Yeah, she’s also in your math class.”

So that’s why her name sounded familiar. From what I could barely remember of her, Meaghan seemed very shy but very smart. I remembered that she was petite and had mousy brown hair and dark blue eyes. She was also really into wearing nondescript clothing, that hid her figure.

“Wow, Claire is really expanding with Clara’s,” Rhea commented and Hadley nodded.

“Yeah...” She paused then, “Clara’s has been starting to get really busy though so it makes sense that she needs more employees. She and I can’t be waitresses by ourselves anymore. Having Trinity, Raven, Meaghan, and George will be good editions. So Trin are you excited?”

I nodded, “Yeah.”

The warning bell rang and we parted. Rhea, Hadley and I all headed towards AP American History together. Hadley looked a little more reserved and Rhea whispered quietly to me that Alex had been unusually silent so Hadley was a little worried. I nodded in understanding and sat beside her, quietly. AP American History went smoothly, with Ms. Anderson handing out a lot of homework which was what we had expected. Hadley had answered many of the questions that Ms. Anderson asked and I quickly realized that Hadley was doing the best in this class and was a history buff.

My next class which was Chemistry went fairly well. I was pleased to find that Max was in this class and it seemed that luck was on my side since we were paired up as lab partners. Then Honors Algebra 2. I wasn’t horrible at math, and it wasn’t the class I had really been dreading but I didn’t really know anyone in here aside from Meaghan. I sat alone at one of the long tables and tapped my pen against the desk, occasionally taking notes. When the homework was assigned I was relieved that it wasn’t this huge amount of homework and I knew that most of my night would be spent doing homework. Clearly, the teachers had no qualms about issuing copious amounts of homework.

Psychology was interesting. Not only was Hadley in that class with me, but so were Alex, Rhea, Josh, and Max. The teacher put us into table groups and explained that we would be doing projects in these table groups. My table group wasn’t a bad group, it consisted of Max, Josh, Rhea, and this shy girl named Hayden. After having told us that we began taking notes about the basics of psychology.

Psychologists use many different perspectives. Biological, cognitive, behavioral, evolutionary, and humanistic. 4 major goals: describe, explain, predict, modify and improve behaviors. I wrote, and slowly packed up my things when we were dismissed. When I had finished packing up my things I noticed that Max was waiting for me and I felt my cheeks flushed as I walked out of the classroom and he walked with me to my locker.

“You didn’t have to wait for me you know,” I said my voice quiet as I exchanged my Psychology textbook and notebook for my French textbook and notebook.

“I know,” Max answered, “But we’re going to the same classroom anyways and I wasn’t quite sure if you remembered where you were going.” His eyes snapped to look over my shoulder and his eyes flashed gold once again and his eyes narrowed in a deathly look. After a few moments he turned back to me and smiled, “Walk you to class?”

“Uh...” I hesitated, “Sure, since we’re going to the same place.”

The walk to class was relatively awkward and I could tell that Max wanted to break the silence and ask why I had become so silent, but he was hesitant to do so. He didn’t really know me and so he didn’t know how to ask me. Before we entered the classroom he grabbed my arm and my lips parted in shock as I stared at him.

“What’s wrong Trinity,” He asked and I yanked my arm from his grasp.

“A lot of strange stuff has been happening lately and I can’t deal with,” I answered, “First I’m in the hospital, and then there’s the whole pill bottle thing and then there’s also the fact that your eyes changed colors and I can’t convince myself that it was because of the lighting. Blue doesn’t change to gold, no matter what the lighting is.”

Max said, “At Clara’s, I’ll explain. Just...keep an open mind.”

I sighed, “I don’t know how I can. Does this have anything to do with the black wolf with blue eyes my mom saw?”

He shifted on his feet and that was all the answer I needed. It did. Maybe the wolves were their pets or something. Or maybe Max just had color changing contacts. I sighed again.

“I’ll meet you at Clara’s but I can’t guarantee that I’ll keep an open mind, but I’ll try my best.”

“Thank you,” Max looked relieved, “That’s all I ask.”