Chapter 2
Philosophy of the Storm
Aurora
The cold metal chain dug into my palms and my feet dragged against the beaten track of dirt underneath them as I swayed back and forth on the swing in the now deserted park.
I shouldn’t be here either, I was supposed to go over to Joey’s house at five after meeting Electra here, but my friend never came.
Swing.
I knew why.
Swing.
Stella texted me.
Stella: Electra left with Masso this morning. Your audition is on Friday.
I should’ve got up and left when it came, but instead I stayed, swaying back and forth as I watched the families around me while gripping the small, black-and-white picture in my hands.
I couldn’t tear my eyes off the bright, smiling faces and those toothy grins they gave their moms or dads. Or sometimes both at the same time.
I never had anyone to smile at when at the park. My family wasn’t of the hallmark, picture perfect variety. But he will be. The palm of my hand gently pressed against my still-flat stomach and the life inside it, cradling it protectively.
I don’t know when it happened, when I decided that it was a boy, but I just did. And as I watch all those kids today, I feel something shifting inside me.
It feels monumental. It feels larger than life. Larger than any audition I have waiting for me.
So, I ignore the second part of Stella’s message, focusing on the first. Electra left.
I always hoped she would, seeing as my best friend is truly the most talented figure skater I’ve ever known.
I just always thought I’d be going with her, yet I can’t blame her for fleeing as fast as she could.
I’d probably do the same if that door opened up.
She’s had her share of crap in this life already and deserves some dessert for once.
I take a deep breath, glancing at the overcast sky.
Make it big, Electra. Make it big for the both of us. I send the silent wish to those skies, hoping it carries to wherever she is now, while letting go of my dream along with it.
Strangely, it’s a lot easier than I thought it would be.
In fact, it isn’t only easy. It feels right.
My hand glides along my stomach once again. Yeah…it feels right.
At nineteen years old, my path is taking off in a different direction. One where I’m going to build a family with the guy I love.
The wind picks up its tempo just as the lights around the park flickered to life, making my blonde strands of hair fly and the empty swings around me sway with quiet creaks in their old joints.
The dead leaves surrounding the ground scattered impulsively in a little whirlwind while the ones on the branches were waving around me, like tiny, willowy arms, almost as if hustling me out of their quiet domain.
I should probably listen to them. I should get moving if I don’t want to be caught in the crosshairs of this storm that’s brewing tonight while walking over to Joey’s house, yet something is keeping me rooted to the spot.
I feel at peace here.
But as another gust of wind sweeps over my chilled body, I finally make myself move. Thankfully, the walk to Joey’s place isn’t a long one. His apartment is on the locals’ side of Iris Lake and not the flashy, expensive tourist one his parents favor, keeping their vacation home there.
So, I draw the lapels of my coat and hurry along the slowly deserting streets.
Stella has offered to give me a loan for a car countless times—knowing I’d never accept it as a gift—but still, I’ve never taken it.
Cars are expensive, even the old kind. You still need to fill them up and fix them, and I just don’t have the money for that when Dad can’t keep working as much as he used to and with my brother upping his game more and more every day.
Thankfully, my small town in Vermont is just that…small, and it’s quite easy to get around on foot.
Well, that will change in about seven months…
My hand lands on my still-flat stomach.
A lot of things are about to change.
Maybe I won’t even be in Iris Lake then.
Joey will most likely want us to move to Boston seeing as he’s getting progressively further in his studies and then he has law school.
It wouldn’t make sense for us to live in Iris Lake.
We’ve talked about it before, without even knowing about my pregnancy, so it only makes sense…
A slow trickle of frigid wind licks at my face in a warning before the sky lights up with lightning so bright it blinds me for a second, making me stop in my tracks.
A moment later, the growling thunder catches up with it, making the trees around me shake with its power.
Its angry roar seeping underneath my skin and taking hold.
It looks like a bad one, which means I need to get home before the buckets I’ve set up fill with rain water from the leaking ceiling. The last thing I want to do tonight after coming home soaked from head to toe is mop the floors in the dead of night.
Electricity isn’t always a given in our house, but Dad tries as hard as he can. I know that, just like I know I can go over to my trainer’s house and she’d help me out, but she’s already doing more than enough for me. I can take care of myself, and I do. And I’ll take care of my baby.
Both Joey and I will take care of our baby.
He will have everything I never even dreamed about as a kid.
He will never have to walk the streets in the evening, looking for scraps behind restaurants or watch tourists like a hawk to see if any of them left their hot coffee or tea behind when they were shopping, just so I could get at least a sip of something warm into my system during the cold winter days.
My hand clutches over my stomach as excitement strums through my blood at the thought but just as fast as it came, it was chased away by another bout of a ruckus thunder.
The sound so loud, so vicious, it shook the ground I knew to be my life, shooting straight through me. Making me halt and look up at the darkening sky. The storm turns the usual deep blues and whites into shades of rich, angry purple as the sky cracks open with yet another lightning.
The trees shake again and then…a whisper runs through my blood.
Startled, I gasp and turn around, my eyes sweeping across the street but it’s empty, deserted. There’s no one to whisper those words into my ear.
No one but the storm.
I didn’t have to look down to feel the hairs on my body raise just as the most ominous feeling settles over me.
There’s something in the air. Something dark and dangerous and it’s coming fast. A song carried by a thousand winds. My eyes scan the dark night once again, trying to listen past the howling and thunder to decipher what it’s saying.
But the wind only picks up, hasting its pace as each beat ricochets off my ears. Almost as if taunting me to decipher it. To heed their warning, but I can’t.
Crack, crack, crack…
My heart starts racing and fear courses though my blood, tainting it as the storm picks up and gained force.
It almost feels like…like…
Like it’s trying to stop me.
I look back over my shoulder. Those trees in the park with their long, thin branches…
Are they hustling me out?
Or trying to keep me inside the safety of their might?
I frown…well, that’s a weird thought. All of this is weird.
Quickly shaking it off, I tighten my flimsy coat around my trembling body and pick up my pace. I need to get to Joey’s faster and not stand here, practicing philosophy of the storm. Jesus…
“There’s my pretty girlfriend!” Joey shouts as soon as he opens the front door, flashing me his signature crooked grin I love so much.
“Did you get held up at practice? Wait, that dude from the Olympics school wasn’t coming today, was he?
” His face twists in thought as he searches his memory for what I’ve told him before, and I shake my head, carefully setting my shoes by the door with the bag and the coat on the bench near it.
Carefully, because that bench alone is worth more than my whole house. And I always shudder to think just how much Joey’s whole place costs.
Where I come from, dirt poor with a runaway for a mother, a brother who likes to live on the wrong side of the tracks while constantly tormenting me, and a father who barely holds it together when his health is slowly deteriorating, Joey Kloss is the complete opposite.
The Klosses are basically royalty around here and don’t even live in town all year-round, splitting their time between our small town in Northern Vermont and the busy life of Boston.
However, I know Joey from when we were kids, seeing him every summer break having fun with his friends on the lake, and during the holidays when his family would come up to their vacation home here.
Everyone knew the gorgeous guy with that athletic build of a football player, dazzling smile, and dark-as-sin hair.
And no one’s immune to that charm. Least of all me.
But it wasn’t until senior year of high school on Christmas that he accidentally bumped into me while I was skating with Electra.
According to her, she saw how he looked at me and made me show off.
I blushed like a ripe tomato and hissed for her to stop pestering me about it for half an hour, because I wasn’t going to do that, knowing a guy like Joey couldn’t be interested in me.
That’s when she took matters into her own hands.
Electra sped off with me, linking our hands together, passing the guys in a flurry and when she jumped right in front of their faces, I knew I had to as well or we’d both fall on our butts and embarrass ourselves in front of them.
After the first jump, I heard whistles and hollers, and as soon as we stopped and I was slapping Electra mad for pulling me into this, Joey materialized in front of me, clumsy on his skates and asked me to teach him how to be magical like me, all while flashing me his dazzling smile.
A week later, he took my virginity. After a month, I knew I loved him with my whole heart.