A Different Descendant: Freshman Year 1

Chapter 18

    “Told you it was going to happen,” said Heather, sounding like she had just won a trophy.
    “You told the Hathaway girl how you felt?” Dad asked.
    “Hm-hm.”
They were surprised as it wasn’t a ‘Henry’ thing to do.
    “Can I go to bed now?”
    “No you can’t! You have to tell us how it happened,” mom demanded.
    I groaned. “I told her, she snogged me and that was it”.
    “You two kissed already?!” Heather asked with eagerness.
    “Goodnight,” I said hurried up the stairs to my room.
******************
    That night, I reminisced in the feeling of having my first girlfriend.
Just before I drifted off into sleep, someone knocked on my bedroom door.
    “Come in,” I said groggily.
    “Henry, it’s me,” said mom, opening the door slightly, sending in little rays of light into my dark room.
    “Do you have a minute?” she asked.
    I got off my back and sat on my bed, giving her my answer.
She closed the door, walked towards my bed and sat next to my weary body.
    “I want to talk to you about your relationship with Freya,” she began.
    ‘Of course.’
    “Is something wrong?” I asked.
She was usually talking about me and Freya becoming something, just like my old man and Mrs. Hathaway. But the Hayden Collins in front of me was not that woman. This woman was rather worried
    “You only just reunited with Freya a few weeks ago. And you don’t exactly hang out with her a lot. You don’t exactly know her intently.”
     She didn’t have to go further for me to realize her point. It was a rather solid one that I hadn’t thought about. What if our relationship was only based on petty feelings we only caught in the heat of the moment? I realized I almost knew nothing about her when mom mentioned it.
    “I won’t go in too deep. I’ll take it slow for now,” I assured her
    “That’s good,” she replied.
I always knew relationships were challenging, but what’s life without a little challenge?
    “Goodnight now,” she said and planted a soft kiss on my forehead.
Just then, my mind went to a certain someone. “Is Alexis home yet?”
    “Yes actually. She was really stressed out, so she went straight to bed.”
Alexis was high off her gourd at the party the last time I saw her. I could only hope that Michael let her rest.
    ***************
    That night was the beginning of everything interesting in the city known as Mystery Falls. It was the start of a wave of many happenings. Happenings many of us were not ready for.
    **********
    “Bzzzzrrrr”
The buzzing sound of my 5:30 A.M alarm jolted me out of bed. I washed my face, put on a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, grabbed a ball and headed out to meet my dad downstairs.
    We jogged rather long distances and he drilled me on basketball. Every day, he had a new lesson for me and every tip and training exercise boosted my skill level.
    When we got home, breakfast was already happening.
    “How was training today?” mom asked.
    “Excellent,” dad replied.
   We both headed upstairs to change out of our sweaty clothing and got ready for the day ahead.
    After taking a bath and getting dressed, I took a glance at my itinerary to make sure everything was in order before I started out my day. Just as I was about to head out of my room, I heard a knock on the door.
    “Come in.”
    “Good morning Henry,” Alexis with a low, sappy tone of voice.
    “Morning.”
She definitely wasn’t feeling okay. She kept her head down and found it rather hard to maintain eye contact.
    “I’m really sorry.”
    “About what?” I asked.
    She paused. “Last. I’m really sorry about my non-chalance and getting high. I’m--”
    “It’s fine Alexis,” I said, not allowing her to finish.
    “Really?”
    “Yeah, it’s totally fine.”
I was not pleased with her, but Alexis always owns up to her mistakes. One of the reasons she’s loved by virtually everyone who knew her.
    “I promise, it won’t happen again,” she promised.
I couldn’t do anything but give her a small smile.
        ***********
At breakfast, as we ate;
    “How is it possible that no one’s seen this girl’s face yet?” dad asked.
He was somewhat mad at the fact that no one had gotten close to finding the naked night vandal. I couldn’t share any information with him as Blake said he didn’t want any of the officials knowing about what we had deduced so far.