Shai Soi

Chapter 26

Tap. Tap. Tippity. Tap. Tap.

My fingers drummed out a random beat. That was what I'd been doing. Tapping at one of coffee tables staring at the opposite wall, trying to convince myself to finish my summer school homework. Summer school. I couldn't believe after everything that had happened I was taking Biology and Algebra every morning for four weeks. Summer school...

Tap. Tap. Tippity...

About to pick up the pen, write the essay... I downed the rest of my second coffee, nearly crumpling it on table. Forgotten drops splashed my hand and face. It didn't matter. The coffee had long since gone cold. How? I thought. How can anyone do homework in a  time like this?

'A pride isn't dominated by a new male until the cubs have been captured and killed. In you our pride lives on.'

Some of Momma's last words dripped through my thoughts, freezing them in the fissures of my mind, forcing it to expand and expand and expand. It was too much. The ice forced my brain further, pushing at my eyes and dribbling out of my one good ear. Any second I was going to explode-

"Excuse me?" My third cup of coffee was set in front of me.

A pretty blonde waitress with a ski-slope nose stood beside my table. When our gazes clashed, she shrank inward- the hunch of her back making her far less attractive. She looked familiar...

"Do you need some napkins?"

"Napkins?" My mind grasped at her meaningless words. Napkins? Why would I need napkins? I looked down. Oh. My nails had punctured the sides of the cup spewing the boiling liquid into my lap. The pretty waitress nudged some napkins towards me, half hiding behind a pitcher of tea.

That's when it clicked. This was the same girl who'd served Derek and me that day when Sadie and Nathaniel were here. She was still hiding behind restaurant utensils. "Napkins, yeah, thanks." My fingers didn't feel right grasping for them. They felt numb like I cut off their circulation.

Or maybe you just burned your nerve endings with so much coffee so they can't feel anything.

The waitress rocked on her heels. It looked like she was waiting for something, but I stared at the floor sipping the coffee. She pointed towards the kitchen in a gesture that she was going to leave. Tea sloshed out of her pitcher and splattered over the table- and my homework.

Her face flushed. Someone behind the counter barked for her to clean it up. "Oops, I'm sorry! Here, I'll just..." She took a dirty rag from her back pocket (did she spill things a lot?) and dabbed at my soaked blank paper. She was reaching for a tipped sugar holder and knocked the second cup onto the floor. The man yelled at her again.

She blushed deeper. "Oh, I'll get it."

I sensed the trouble before it happened. The waitress placed the pitcher on the table's edge. She ducked down to clean up the ever-growing mess. The pitcher wobbled precariously. Almost with no thought, my hand lashed out and caught its handle. At least my reflexes were unfazed. Blue eyes the size of saucers ogled at me from the table's edge. On her knees with her ski slope nose and freckles, she looked like a little girl. I giggled. Her blush lightened, and she shot up. I kept the coffee, tea, and table still.

The man behind the counter growled about clumsy waitresses and threatened to fire her at the next drop of liquid. She gulped. "Here," I patted the seat across from me. "Do you want to sit- slowly!"

In her rush, she'd sent the table into another fit. A strange clacking accompany her movements.

"Hi." She sounded like she'd run five miles.