Grey Eyes: Book One of the Forever Trilogy

Chapter Twenty Six

I didn’t cry.  Lying in bed, I kept expecting myself to lose it.  I was too frightened.  I think the fear in my mind had tricked my body into believing that I was battling some life-threatening situation so it was conserving my water.

I kept checking the conversations I’d had with Tristan and found this explanation worked with every single one.  Then I checked it with what Dr. Robert’s mother-in-law had told me.  Where was it that Tristan wanted me to end up?  Happy and in heaven.  Why wouldn’t he be able to go with me?  Because he didn’t think he could.  It’s why she said he was pointing to where I was supposed to go.  But she was right, I didn’t go.  I kept asking for more time—straying off the path to heaven and into the woods.  She had said that by keeping his secret he’d force me to stay on that path.  And if I hadn’t discovered that my lifespan was so short then she’d have been right.  I’d have just dropped dead and Tristan would have what he wanted, but that was so cold…too dishonest.  You couldn’t possibly do that to someone you loved.  Unless you were desperate.

There were no cracks with which to give myself reasonable doubt, so I eventually decided— to prevent myself from having a genuine anxiety attack— to wait until I could confront Tristan about it.  At least that gave me something to hold on to and I felt a little better.  That and the fact that I wouldn’t be seventeen for another fourteen months—heaven forbid I should die on my birthday.

Helena brought me the phone, informing me that Taylor was on the line, and then disappeared back into the hall, clearly preoccupied with tonight’s party.

“Hey Taylor,” I said, doing my best to keep the emotion out of my voice.

“Hey!  I just called to see if you still wanted a ride to the game.

Relief swept cross my face.  Thank goodness, a distraction.

Taylor could not believe that she still wasn’t allowed to pull up to my house, and most of the ride to the school was spent massaging her feelings.  Seeing that she still felt like she wasn’t good enough, just because her parents weren’t filthy rich, made me especially glad I came.  I complemented her on everything possible—to the point I thought it was obvious what I was doing—but if she realized it, she never said anything.  Nor did she ask why I had missed school again.

Heathwood’s stadium was over the top.  Big surprise there.  It made Pelion’s high school stadium look like a practice field.  There were elevators to take you up to your seats, padded cushions in the stands, and at least seven screens to watch the game if your eyes were too lazy to follow the action on the field.  We had seen the fireworks as we pulled up.  Plus, every person who walked through the gates was given a “Go Stingers!” poster and a program—we would have had to pay for both at my old school.

Taylor went right up to the fence that prevented the fans from running out onto the field and conversed with some of the players.  She seemed to know them all, and explained that they referred to her as “Kryptonite” because although Chris was the best receiver on the team, he couldn’t catch a cold if she gave him a kiss before practice.  She assured them that she hadn’t touched him at any point during the day.

Once we got to our seats, Taylor pointed out Darren.  He was standing next to the coach and looked enormous compared to most of the players on the team.  He wore a yellow number twelve on his black jersey and even his ruffled blonde hair seemed to match. 

It was impossible not to catch some of Taylor’s enthusiasm once the game began.  She was up on her feet for every play, never remaining seated for any ten consecutive seconds at any point during the first half.  When she wasn’t shouting at the team to “make a play,” she was leaning over to explain something to me.  I was having particular difficulty with why we were so excited to move the ball all of six inches.  She shook her head and laughed that we had gotten a “first down.”  Whatever that meant.