The Forest Beyond

Chapter 1

Paragould, Arkansas, 1988

Once at school, Charlotte met up with her best friend, Lilly Locke. They had been best friends and cheerleaders since the sixth grade. They lived in a rural farm and factory town in the Northeast corner of Arkansas. Charlotte and her family had moved there just in time for Charlotte to start kindergarten. So far, this small community was all she knew in her life.

"Hey, Lilly. How was the rest of your weekend?" Charlotte bounded up energetically next to her friend and Lilly's boyfriend, Evan, a senior.

"Okay. We went to a movie Saturday night at the Dollar Theater." Lilly was quieter and more reserved than Charlotte, a perfect complement to Charlotte's high energy and enthusiasm. Lilly had long, curly, chestnut-brown hair that fell past her shoulders, hazel eyes, and freckles sprinkled across her thin nose. She was the same height as Charlotte—five feet eight inches—but naturally thinner. Charlotte was more muscular; she thought her muscular structure made her look fat, especially compared to her friend.

"Oh, yeah? What'd ya see?" Charlotte shifted the books in her arms and looked around at the other students gathering around the front doors. She saw their friends Diane, Gina, and Mindy, all with their boyfriends, coming up the walk on the other side.

"We saw Cocktail, finally. You know, with Tom Cruise." Lilly raised her eyebrows up and down and gave her a knowing look.

"Hmmm . . ." Charlotte closed her eyes, remembering how good-looking Tom Cruise was in that movie. "Yeah, I saw that one this summer. I want to see Young Guns. There are a lot of hotties in that one." She winked at Lilly behind Evan's back.

The morning bell rang for them to enter the building and head to class. Lilly hugged Evan goodbye as they parted ways, and the girls walked to their first-period biology class.

"What did you do this weekend?" Lilly asked her as they took their seats.

"Oh, nothing much. Just church stuff." Charlotte shrugged and took out her book and notebook. She was between boyfriends at the moment, which seemed to be the case most of the time. She dated, but no one ever stuck around after two or three dates. It always seemed the ones she was into were unavailable, and the ones who wanted to take her out didn't hold her interest for very long. All the other girls in her class had steady boyfriends. It was a big deal for a girl to wear her boyfriend's class ring. Lilly wore Evan's on her right pointer finger with a bunion pad underneath to make it fit. Charlotte wanted to wear a guy's ring like that, but so far, she hadn't gotten the chance.

"Charlotte, dear, will you come here, please?" asked Mrs. Olsen, their biology teacher. She got up from her seat and walked to Mrs. Olsen's desk. "Will you run this note down to the office for me, please?"

"Sure, Mrs. Olsen."

Someone coughed into his fist, "Teacher's pet."

She turned in the general direction it came from and made a face.

Once she stepped out of the classroom, she heard someone call to her. "Hey, Charlotte!" She turned to see it was Caleb, a senior football player.

"What are you doing out of class?" he asked, jogging up beside her.

"I'm running a note to the office for Mrs. Olsen." She gave him a big smile, trying to show off her dimples.

"Good. Then I'll walk you." Caleb matched her stride as they walked down the hallway.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Charlotte suspected Caleb was avoiding class.

"Nope. Senior off period. I was on my way to the student center when I saw you, so I thought I'd say, hey." He had a great smile, too. She looked at his big brown eyes. They reminded her of two chocolate M & M's. He had long eyelashes that made all the girls jealous.