The Huntress [2018 Archived]

Chapter 12

I awoke up the next day shivering hard despite the warmth that permeated my room. Nightmares had haunted me the entire night, images of dark woods, evil eyes, boyfriends and brothers lost, silver arrows.

I thrust my grey striped comforter aside impatiently and rose, stretching the sleep from my limbs.

I crossed my bedroom to my closet and stripped off my clammy pajamas. Standing half-naked before the mirror, I examined myself. I tried to see what the others saw, a bold blonde-haired, skinny-waisted, brown-eyed teenager, but all I could see were the bags beneath my eyes. I was really going to have to do something about them.

I was suddenly filled with annoyance as I flicked through the multiple hangers nestling quietly but ominously in my closet. Clothes were a special indulgence to me, perhaps more addictive than nicotine.

I understood what Amber would want me to wear-something flashy, fashionable, and preferably on the verge of being too revealing. Something plunging perhaps, or an off-the-shoulder number.

I searched through my entire closet, finding nothing that pleased my dark mood. I rifled through my pairs of shoes, still finding nothing that struck my fancy. I kept digging until I stopped.

At the bottom of my piles of cardigans, I found something that seemed to teleport me back six years. An old crumpled hoodie, one that had been worn from use, laid folded up on my closet floor. I used to wear this old thing all the time. It was my old comfort jacket, symbolizing a time when I matched tights with Converse and had a purple streak in my hair. A time that I had dubbed B.A-before Aaron.

I supposed then that I would need a B.N, a before Nate.

I wrapped the jacket around me, savoring the comforting material. I selected a pair of jeans, a neutral colored T-shirt, and a pair of tennis shoes. Scanning myself in the mirror, I twisted and turned to see myself from all angles. I scrutinized myself, my mouth twisted down. The girl staring back at me was like a ghost from my past. A distant memory.

And like most of my distant memories, it was bittersweet.

I could go to school like this. I could shock everyone. Make a statement. Apologize to Alexis.

With a vicious yank, I tore off the jacket off and flung it into the back of my closet where it now belonged. I reached for a knitted, cold-shoulder sweater, distressed jeans, and leather boots. Amber would like my choice of clothes, and so would half the guys in school.

I glanced back at the ghostly hoodie. I turned away from it.

Maybe tomorrow, I thought, breathing in deeply. Tomorrow is another day.

...

There were some perks about sitting with Amber and her friends in the cafeteria. For one, all the boys-and girls, for that matter-stared at you. It gave me a little thrill whenever Diana smeared makeup all over my face, or when Cat divulged any tidbit of gossip she had picked up on. She was a terrible gossip. By far the worst of us all.

People envied me. People looked at me.

I liked it.

Usually, Jamie sat at this table, the best in the cafe. But lately, she sat with Alexis at a table far in the back. Amber and I had shared a mean giggle over that. It gave me a wicked sense of satisfaction to see that we had virtually switched places. Instead of worshipping the princesses, I was one of them.

"Ugh," Amber groaned, plopping down beside me. An elaborate lunch complete with takeout sushi accompanied her. Suddenly, my Sloppy Joe and delicious greasy fries seemed nauseating. I dropped them with distaste and dug in my pocket to grab money for a salad.