Silver: The Lost Royal

6| First Ride

HER mind was a jumble of clothes, questions, and conversations as she rushed around her room looking for a decent top and pair of jeans. The clock read 12:25 p.m., a glaring reminder of her tardiness.

They had agreed, the previous day, to meet at Travellers by 1 p.m., and it was a forty-minute bike ride from her house. She should have left by noon to avoid cycling hard but got delayed by a weird conversation with her aunt earlier. That was the second in less than a day.

The first happened last night when her aunt insisted they had dinner together. Something they rarely did, especially since it was just the two of them. Her cousins, Mia and Brian, were at boarding school and college while her uncle had gone on a business trip. She had noticed he went for these every two months. She remained unaware of his occupation, for she would always depart for school, leaving him at home, and upon her return, she would find him waiting.

Her mind drifted to the conversation of last night.

~
Her aunt cleared her throat before she spoke.

"I noticed you came back late today. What held you back?" her aunt asked and Karyn's brows slanted inward. Since when did her aunt care why she would come back late? Her Aunt Helen's sole concern was having her home early enough to make them dinner.

"I, uh, had some extracurricular activities," she stammered. Her voice came out a pitch higher as she fabricated her excuse. "We are preparing for a minor event."

"Jamie didn't tell me you guys were planning something. By the way, what do you think of him?" her aunt asked.

"Who?"

"Jamie, he's your classmate, right?"

"Yeah, but we don't have classes together, so I can't say much about him."

Neither of them said a word in the silence that followed, but it left Karyn wondering why her aunt wanted to know her opinion of Jamie.
~

Then this morning, when she was about to head out.

~
"Aunt, I'll be heading to Elowen's house."

"Why?"

She cleared her throat. "Um, we have a project we're working on and it's half our grade for the term."

In truth, she hadn't come up with a lie good enough to cover her meeting at Travellers, so Elowen was her go-to because her aunt almost never followed up when Elowen was involved.

"Can't she come here?"

"No, she has a laptop and many textbooks that we can use for research, and they're all too heavy for her to carry around." The lie flowed easily this time.

"Have you done your chores?" her aunt redirected.

"I've done some. I would do the rest when I—"

"You're not leaving until you've done all. And when you're done, come tell me," her aunt said with finality and looked back at the TV. Karyn knew there was nothing more she could say.

In a frenzy, she hurried to do all that needed her attention. The clinking of dishes and the sound of the vacuum echoed through the house, drowning out her sister's constant chatter. The ever-present ticking of the wall clock pressed heavily on her ears as she worked without rest. Only by noon did she finish.

"Are you done?" her aunt asked with eyes still on the TV even as Karyn stood at the door to the room.

"Yes, I am," she responded. Karyn couldn't pick up on the light conversation from the characters on the TV as she stood with a restless energy bubbling within her, waiting for her aunt to give the go-ahead before she would dash out of the house.