Destiny Rising

Chapter 1 - 16 Years Later

“They canceled!! What do you mean they canceled? We have a contract, they can’t just cancel. Can they?” I asked, looking up from my iPhone that I had resting on the clipboard.

“Deep breaths Sapphire, you need to calm down,” my best friend, Jasmine Mundane, told me, placing a hand on my arm. If it had been anyone else trying to tell me what to do, I would have told them to shove it. But Jasmine and I have been best friends since our first day of grade 9 at Aliquid Academy. A prestigious Academy just south of St Thomas, Ontario, Canada, where students were bussed, driven, or lived in residences surrounding the campus. She had bounded right up to me in English class and introduced herself. I was at first wary of her cheerfulness and was taken aback by her friendliness. But eventually, I got used to it and we’ve been best friends ever since. Those attributes are what made her the most awesome captain of the cheerleading squad, but despite her bubbliness, she also has the most calming of personalities and can calm even the most violent of people. So, taking a few deep breaths, I turned to her in hopes of her being able to explain this to me.

“How could the DJ cancel the dance starting in 5 hours?” I asked again.

“The manager said he got a serious stomach flu, and that they would send the deposit back.” Michelle, a fellow classmate and dance committee member answered.

“Thank you, Michelle,” Jasmine said, putting a hand on my back and steering me towards the empty stage that had been set up in the gym for the DJ booth. As I sat on the stage, carefully since I was wearing a short denim skirt, I let out a sigh and rested my clipboard on my thighs.

“What are we going to do? You know this dance has to be perfect. It’s our only chance to prove that the grade 11’s can handle a formal dance of their own.” I said, letting my gaze fall on Michael Pearson, as he and my boyfriend Troy Hollis climbed up ladders to hang the Spring Fling banner across the entrance of the gym. Michael was new to the school this year and was actually a really great guy and not half-bad-looking either. But he had never shown any interest in the girls who were all trying to get his attention. I met him on his first day at the beginning of the semester in the hallway. I was running an errand for my Ancient Civilization teacher to the office and I literally ran into him as I was rounding a corner. He was very nice and okay with me not seeing where I was going, he was even a gentleman and helped me up. The next time I saw him, he was at Troy’s soccer practice as the left midfielder, while Troy was the right midfielder. Even though Troy was a year older than the rest of us and graduating this year, we had been dating for just over a year and a half. I had been so amazed by the fact that the hottest guy in grade 11 would ask out and start dating a lowly grade 10 student. I loved him, and he was always so kind and gentle towards me, but lately, he has been really distant. Another new student this year, Darci Flame, has also taken to hanging around Troy and his friends. It never really bugged me until Troy started growing distant. Even now, seeing her staring up the ladder at him has me wondering what truly is going on with those two.

“Sapphire?” Jasmine said, poking my shoulder “Earth to Sapphire Tallulah”

“Sorry, what?” I asked, blinking out of my daze.

“You were doing it again.” She said with a sigh.

“Sorry Jas, I don’t know why I zone out like that” I replied apologetically.

“It’s okay, you’ve got a lot on your plate” she answered, shrugging.

“I know, but that’s no excuse,” I said as I stood. “Now we need to find a new DJ on such short notice. That should be fun”. I rolled my eyes and unlocked my iPhone. I opened up my contact list and started scrolling through it. When I finally found the number I was looking for, I hit the call and waited for the other end to pick up while mentally crossing my fingers. Once they did, I explained the situation and they were very nice and considerate and were able to work the schedule out to help us.

“Got a DJ!” I announced and everyone in the gym cheered as I hit the end-call button on my phone.

“Awe, no need to cheer for my arrival.” A voice came from the gym door.

“Late as usual K?” Jasmine said as we both walked across the gym towards another best friend, Kiara Ember.

“You know me, I couldn’t be on time even if my life depended on it.” She said with a shrug “Hell, I was born late. I was supposed to be born in early June, but I ended up being born a week late. On June 21st, 1998, the summer solstice”

“True, so true,” I muttered, taking in how different the three of us looked and our personalities, yet we were still the best of friends. I am 5’5, slim with long wavy chestnut brown hair that has natural copper highlights and hazel eyes. I had a normal skin tone that made my hair look darker than it is at times. I’m athletic and on the school swimming and tennis teams, as well as on the dance committees and the student prime minister. I was dressed in a mid-thigh denim skirt, a pale blue halter top, and black gladiator sandals. Jasmine is 5’5 as well. She is thin with medium-length straight strawberry-blonde hair, bright green eyes, and a rosy-pale skin tone. She is also athletic and is on the cheerleading team, as well as on the dance committee with me and the student deputy prime minister. She was dressed in a pale yellow sundress that skimmed her knees with brown flip-flops. Then there is Kiara, whom I met in the summer between grades 9 & 10 at a summer camp my parents had forced me to attend. It took quite an ordeal for us to go through together to become friends. After we left camp, her mom, for some reason, got transferred to St Thomas' office and Kiara got a scholarship to Aliquid. Then we ran into each other on the first day of vocal music class. I introduced her to Jasmine at lunch that day and we all became friends, known as the Trio. Kiara is 5’6 and curvy with long bright red hair with the white bangs she had done one-day last summer when we were sitting around bored because it was too hot to go outside. She has a tanned skin tone and grey eyes. She’s not athletic like Jasmine and me, but her curves come from her hips and large breasts. She is a top photography and art student though. She’s kind of a loner actually, she doesn’t seem to fit in very well with the stereotypical groups of the school. Today she was dressed in black leggings with an oversized dark purple tank top that had slipped off one shoulder. She had a studded belt cinched around her slim waist, oversized sunglasses perched on her head, and dark purple high tops.

“Awe, you still love me,” Kiara said, pulling us into a hug.

“I will, if you at least remember to pick up the table dressings from my house,” I said with my hands in the praying position in front of me.

“Um…yeah, they are in my mom’s van,” She said, twirling the keys around her finger.

“Um! Why do you say “um”? What’s wrong with them?” I asked, panicking a little.

“Chill, there is nothing wrong with them.” She laughed “I just need some guys to unload and carry the boxes in.”

“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath and looking down at the clipboard to check things off “Ryan and Matt can unload and bring them in. They are in gym 2 setting up the tables.”

Our school is one of 5 schools in St Thomas. They are Central Elgin Collegiate Institute, Arthur Voaden Secondary School, St Joseph’s Catholic High School, and Parkside Collegiate Institute. Aliquid Academy is a private school that was built at the turn of the century for wealthy people to send their children to receive a world-class education. Despite the beautiful, old-world façade, the school has been completely modernized for the 21st century. With state-of-the-art computer labs and a large library that is separate from the computer labs. An Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool, 3 gyms, outdoor playing and track fields, and weight rooms for the athletic students. There is also a theatre, music rooms, art studios, and photography studios for the artistic and drama students. The entire school has been updated with Wi-Fi, so students can use their laptops, tablets, and smartphones anywhere on campus. Students who don’t live year-round in the county surrounding the school are housed in residence buildings east of the campus. Luckily for myself, Jasmine, and Kiara, we actually do live in St Thomas and get to go home after school every day.

“Alright, cause my mom needs her van back and is coming to get it in an hour or two to take the younger sibs to Nana’s tonight,” Kiara said over her shoulder as she moved towards the door that led to gym 2.

“Okay,” I answered as a pair of arms encircled my waist.

“Hey,” Troy said, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“Hey,” I replied back, still looking at my list of things to do.

“I have got to take off. See you for dinner tomorrow night though,” he said.

“What? You’re leaving already?” I asked, turning to face him.

“Yeah, I have got plans with the guys tonight babe. I thought I told you,” he said, looking down at me.

“No, you didn’t” I replied, “But go, whatever, I’m busy anyways.”

“See you tomorrow babe,” he said, dropping a quick kiss on my forehead before leaving.

Sighing, I went back to my work and next thing I knew, everything was as ready as we could be at the moment. The new DJ and caterers were on their way and we set up and decorated as much as we could in advance. The only thing left to do was go and get ready for the dance.

“Okay,” I said as I got up onto the stage “Everything looks amazing. So, it’s time to all go and get ourselves ready. It’s 6:00 now, I’ll see you all back here at 7:30.”

With that said, everyone cheered and dispersed. Jasmine and Kiara walked with me out to my car and put their bags in the trunk of my dark blue BMW M6 convertible. Then we piled in as we headed to my house to get ready.