Fire in the Woods

Chapter Four

There was a silver van waiting for Jasmine as she and Jacob left the school building.

Her family's van.

She swallowed and turned to Jason. He was shifting awkwardly on his feet, glancing at the bus for a second before shaking his head and turning back to Jasmine. "Well... see you in a month, I guess."

"Yeah..." This was way too awkward to be the way that she left her best friend. She managed a grin. "I guess this means that you're going to have to finish that Harry Potter project without me, eh?"

He smirked. "You mean I get to finish that Harry Potter project without you. With you running the show, we would've ended up doing most of it on the last day. You were pulling me back." His voice was light, teasing. Jason could always be counted on to join in on a joke.

She shoved him backwards, causing him to almost topple over due to the weight of his book-stuffed backpack. Despite her being five inches shorter than him, Jasmine had always been the stronger of the two. "Please."

"It's true!" Jason declared, relentless.

From the silver van, a car horn honked. Jasmine's parents probably weren't too happy about the time that the two friends were taking to say goodbye.

Jason jerked his head in the direction of the van. "You probably shouldn't keep them waiting."

"Yeah, fair point." She turned to leave, then did a 180 five seconds later and ran back, hugging the only student in her school who hadn't cared about the fact that she was homosexual, that she was less than social, that she would rather doodle dragons or play video games or read than go to parties or hang out on social media.

"See you on the other side," she whispered.

He smiled, or at least Jasmine assumed he did. She couldn't see his face.

They stayed there, ignoring the looks that they were getting, until the silver van honked again - this time twice.

Jasmine broke away. "Goodbye," she told him again.

"Only for a month," Jason corrected. "And we can still hang out online, right?"

"Of course. And don't put up with Emily, okay? If she's being a brat, call her out on it."

Jason laughed. "Well, I'm not sure if it's physically possible to call her out that many times, then. This is Emily we're talking about."

Jasmine laughed, then ran toward the van, waving at Jason when she reached it. He waved back, then ran toward the bus as if his life depended on it. Some things never changed.

As soon as Jasmine had clambered though the doorway of the ancient vehicle, pausing to get comfortable in the faux leather seats, and strapped on her seat belt, her mother craned her head back from where she was sitting in the driver's seat. "You ready?"

"Wait... we're leaving now?" Jasmine yelped. "I can't pack or anything?"

"We packed all of your stuff right before we left," her father told her. "Everything you need. Your mother and I have to leave now. I'm sorry we couldn't let you know in advance. Everything has been so sudden."

You think?

Jasmine slumped back in her seat, everything that was about to happen suddenly crashing down on her. "Let's just go now."

Choosing not to speak further, her mother started up the van and they were on their way.

Jasmine unzipped her backpack, taking out her sketchbook and opening it up to a page with a drawing she had half finished. In it, a girl with pitch-black hair and ebony skin clung to a ginormous maple with leaves the color of flame. She was wearing a dark silver tank top and ashy leggings.

A coal in the fire.

Jasmine stared at it. Wondered why the girl had been there. Or if she had been there. It could have very well been Jasmine's imagination.

But there was something about how the girl had stared at her, the intensity in her eyes.

That couldn't have been daydreamed.

Jasmine sighed and slammed her sketchbook shut. All of this was too much to think about. If Jason was there, he would probably compliment her on her drawing but not ask too much about it, crack a joke, do anything to cheer her up. Then they would talk about Mystic Fyres until her parents would announce that they'd heard enough about the game to be an expert at it themselves.

And now Jason would be at school, all alone. And she would be an hour away at her grandparents' house.

Her grandparents. At least something good would come out of all of this. She would get to meet her grandparents.

A few minutes ago, she would've been buzzing with excitement and eagerness to meet them. But now the reality had settled in. She wouldn't get to see Jason, or her parents, or any of the teachers that had been nice to her.

It's just for a month, she reminded herself. Just for a month.