Betrothed to Apollo

9)Aurora

  

Rory Dawes stared out the car window. She watched trees blurring, passing mailboxes, and random street signs wizzing by. A light rain had started, the clouds an ominous gray. Rory felt the weather was mimicking her mood. She was looking out the window without seeing. She was trying to drown out her mother to no avail.
"I can't believe you deliberately disobeyed me, again," her mother seethed, scowling as she drove. For the past half hour, Emily had taken to listing every 'bad' thing that Rory had done in the last year and a half. Therefore, Rory had taken to watching the outside passing by, wishing she was anywhere in the world than in the car. Her little brother Zack whined from the backseat; still grouchy he wasn't able to continue watching Blue's Clues before he had to leave in the car. Rory sighed.
"If I didn't, you wouldn't have allowed me to go-"
"You're damn right I wouldn't have allowed you to go!" Said Emily passionately. "You left the state! You left without telling your father and I where you were going-"
"Like it matters," defended Rory. "You wouldn't have supported me and Dad barely cares when I'm home as it is."
"Your father loves you-"
Rory laughed. "He BARELY notices when I'm around. He has his new family around that's far more important than me."
Emily bit her bottom lip as she drove, knowing exactly who that barb was for. Rob got married, but he didn't start a family with his new wife. But the same couldn't be said for her. They both knew that. Rory didn't want to hurt her mother's feelings, but she also didn't want to sugarcoat anything. She was speaking about both of her parents. Emily's eyes misted. "You know I love you and your brother's equally-"
"Save it," interrupted Rory coldly. "If that were true then I wouldn't be getting punished for pursuing my passion."
"Music is a hobby, not a career!"
"You always told me to do what makes me happy!" Rory snapped back. "Why does that not count for music?!"
"Because music isn't going to put you through college!"
"TONS of people go to college for music!"
"OH," said Emily as she finally pulled up in front of the school. "And you're going to go to school for what, heavy metal?"
Rory gave a dry laugh. "This is why I hate talking to you." She stepped out of her mother's Volvo, tossing her backpack over a single shoulder.
"You're not exactly easy to communicate with either," replied Emily bitterly. Rory mumbled under her breath, about to slam the passenger door shut before her mother spoke again. "Don't forget, you said you would watch the boys for me tonight!"
Already aggravated, Rory shot her mother a thumbs up for she had already closed the door.

Rory didn't quite understand what her mother's problem was. Of course, she knew why Emily was upset. Rory didn't want to attend college the following year, but for good reason. She had no real idea of what she wanted to do. In Rory's mind, it was simple; why should she attend college when she had no idea what kind of career she wanted? To her, it seemed like a grand waste of not only money but time. For now, she wanted to focus on her music while she was still young enough that she could get away with it. Rory wasn't stupid; she was aware she one day had to have a 'career path' planned. But for now, there didn't seem to be a problem with simply doing what made her happy. Taking a year off from college to find out what she wanted to pursue career wise wasn't the worst idea in the world.
Rory barely noticed time passing as she made it through the busy and buzzing hallway of Crestview prep to get to her locker. She breezily opened the combination and popped the lock before a hand closed it shut.
"Boo," Meg teased, sticking her tongue out.
Rory snorted. "You got me."
"So, how much trouble did you get into for the weekend?"
"The usual," Rory replied as she opened the locker to retrieve her books. "No electronics, no car, disallowed from anymore performances- "
"So the usual," yawned Meg.
"Yep."
"Your parents are so anal. Have they even seen us perform? Do they even know you can sing?"
"They must," shrugged Rory as she and Meg headed towards their World History class. "They're the ones who signed me up for singing lessons as a kid."
Meg frowned as they wandered into the classroom. Rory had to maneuver past a herd of girls that were refusing to move out of the way of a desk.
"Why did they encourage you then if they aren't going to do it now?" Wondered Meg as she and Rory made their way to their seats on the far side of the classroom.
"Who knows, I'll bring that up in the next fight." There was bound to be another fight regarding her life decisions; there always was.
Meg giggled. Rory frowned as she watched every girl in the classroom minus the two of them stay circled around one specific desk. "What's going on over there?"
"Hottie new guy," said Meg. She stretched in her seat before throwing her braid of light-brown hair over her shoulder.
"Good grief. It's like the school version of The Bachelor," Rory snorted.
It was strange how many girls were surrounding the desk and trying to animatedly talk to this new guy. It didn't matter how popular or what these girls looked like, whether they were pretty or average, everyone was trying to talk to him.
By the time Mr. Sanderson walked into the room and the bell rang a minute later, girls were strangely still trying to get the new arrivals attention. Rory snorted. No one was that good looking. She concentrated on checking her homework from the night before, cross checking to see if she had any errors from the night before.
"We have a new student," announced Mr. Sanderson, motioning for the new arrival to come up front.
"Holy crow," breathed Meg beside Rory. "He really is gorgeous! He looks familiar..."
Rory didn't bother paying her attention to her friend. She noticed an error for her explanation question that she hadn't the night before. Rory bit the inside of her cheek and used her eraser to scribble out the answer. She felt quite stupid for she knew the right answer, she had only rushed trying to finish it.
"Please introduce yourself," said Mr. Sanderson once the new arrival was up front.
"Aiden Phoebus," said the young man up front.

"Excellent. And where are you from, Aiden?"
Rory didn't bother glancing up. She felt strong pity for this newcomer. The kindest thing she could do was not watch him with eagle eyes like everyone else in the class. It appeared new students were treated like special features in a freak show. That's how much attention they were given. Rory didn't want to contribute to some new kids' embarrassment. Mr. Sanderson was the type of annoying teacher who loved making new students brave clumsiness and the gossip of their peers to introduce themselves. Tuning out nearly everything the new arrival said during his introduction, Rory nearly beamed at her homework, satisfied there wasn't going to be a single answer wrong of the page.
After class Rory bolted from the room, determined to switch her History books with her ones needed for Calculus.
"Hello," said an appealing voice.
The day had passed by in a blur for Rory. She was playing catchup on all her homework giving her weekend escapade of being at the concert all weekend. She had procrastinated and was surely going to regret not finishing her homework last Friday.
Rory would be the first to consider herself average although she craved not to be. She wasn't an unfriendly person, but she also wasn't someone who would go out of her way for social interaction. Rory walked a fine line between being social when necessary but also keeping to herself. By the time she was back at her locker taking out the books she needed for homework that night, the voice startled her. She glanced up to find a very familiar young man with black hair and amazing brown eyes was watching her. Rory smiled. "Hiya cutie."

"Hiya, Doll face," saidSol, lowering his head to plant a kiss on the surprised Rory's lips.
***