The Luna's Fate

SURPRISE

That night, my dreams were unsurprisingly theatrical. There I stood, in the middle of a field, surrounded by people whose faces I didn’t recognise. The colours of the bordering forest were brilliant, the trees dancing in the wind. Jackson emerged from the tree-line and headed towards me. I smiled and reached for him, wanting to know if his perfect skin felt as smooth as it looked. The dream turned sour then, with storm clouds building up and moving over, ready to bear down on us. When I looked back at Jackson he was gone and a huge golden wolf was in his place, and as it yelled at me to run, I woke up with a start. My bed was soaked in sweat, my alarm clock was buzzing, letting me know that it was time to wake up, thank goodness. I got out of bed and stripped the sheets off, planning to wash them before my mum noticed and asked what had happened. 

After putting my bedding in the wash, I took a quick shower and made my way to the kitchen for breakfast. Mum had left a box of cereal on the bench along with a note. 

Honey,

Dad and I had to leave for work early and we 

won’t be back until late, so I’ve left you 

some money for dinner.

Have a fantastic day darling, we love you.

Xoxo Love Mum xoxo

My parents are doctors. Mums’ a paediatrician and Dad is a GP so they spend lots of time at work, especially on weekends when the hospital was busy, so I spent most weekends at Sierras’ house or hanging out with her and Alex at Alex’s place. It wasn’t something that I overly enjoyed but it was better than being alone all the time. I know my parents love me, but sometimes I wished that they didn’t have such demanding jobs so we could have more family time. 

I left for school a lot earlier than usual and opted to walk instead of facing a multitude of questions from Sierra about where I disappeared to last night. I didn’t have anything to hide but she knew me so well that I was sure she would certainly notice that I was hiding something from her. Mount Beauty Secondary College was nestled in on the edge of town, a quick fifteen-minute walk from my front door. School didn’t hold my interest whatsoever, my teachers somehow idolised me due to thinking I was so smart because of my parents’ occupations. It’s ridiculous really, I mean, how can a child inherit the ability to know something before they’ve learned it? I didn’t sit at home, asking my parents what pi times two thousand five hundred and sixty-four equalled, but I definitely wasn’t going to be telling my teachers that. Lunch time came around faster than usual and before I knew it I was staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, trying to come to terms with the overpowering feelings I was having about Jackson.

“Come on Dakota, I want to go”, yelled Sierra from down the hall. 

“Okay, hold on I’m coming”, I hollered back to my best friend.

I ran out of the girls’ bathroom and caught her hand as I passed. We hastily made our way outside to the lunch area and burst through the door together. Everyone stopped and looked at as, before turning back to their conversations.“Way to make an entrance”, snickered Stephanie as she passed us on her way inside.

“Actually, if you didn’t realise, we technically made an exit, but nice try anyway”, Sierra replied, being sarcastic. I loved that about her, the way she always managed to outwit people when they tried to bully us. 

Stephanie Harris is the “popular” girl at school. I never understood how she was labelled that way since nobody liked her. Sure, she was attractive to the eyes, but she had a big mouth, no filter and a foul personality. She’s picked on me since we were kids and it’s only gotten worse as we’ve gotten older. I’ve always thought it was jealousy, since I have so many friends and get along with everyone I meet. 

I turned to Sierra and with a mimicking tone, repeated Stephanie’s words. We laughed together as she pulled me to our table. It was no surprise to see Sierra sit down right next to Alex and subtly place her arm against his. I mean, everyone can see that she likes him, oh, except him of course. She had just spent 10 minutes, after class, fixing her makeup and hair to make sure that she looked completely irresistible to him, even if he never seemed to notice.

“So”, I said as I sat down across the table from Sierra, who had the biggest grin on her face. “Who’s up for a movie night at my place tonight?”. 

“ME!” Sierra shouts, before blushing a bright red and shrinking back into her seat.

“Yeah I guess that sounds fun.” Alex grunts, “But no chick flicks, ok?”. 

“Fine.” I say, secretly happy that we wouldn’t have to go through another night of watching Mean Girls and Easy A with Sierra repeating every single word the characters say.

My body suddenly stiffened and I could feel a presence in the room, like someone was watching me. A warm tingle ran up my arms, making the hairs stand at attention. I turned quickly to look but there was nothing out of the ordinary, just a bunch of my class mates laughing hysterically while the class clown tried to fit a grape up his nose. 

“Gross” Sierra grimaced, covering her eyes in disgust. While Alex on the other hand chuckled quietly to himself. “You know what, I think that Brandon Withers must have been dropped when he was a baby”, I laughed. “Yeah, I think you mean at least forty-five times”, Sierra corrected me. 

We continued our discussion about what movies we wanted to watch. Alex and Sierra were having a heated conversation about the pros and cons of having a horror movie marathon. Although Sierra loved her chick flicks and sci-fi movies, she also had an unhealthy infatuation with horror movies. She even once told me that if she is going to die, she wants to be eaten alive. I know it sounds strange, and no normal person would ever think like that but that’s another reason why she’s my best friend. There’s never a dull moment when she’s around.

“Dakota!”, I heard a familiar voice shout from across the yard. I turned to see him approaching, I could pick that voice out of a line up. My throat tightened and my breath caught before it could come out in a loud sigh. I don’t know why just hearing him had such a huge effect on me, it’s bordering on insanity. I watched him as he glided effortlessly around the tables between us and gently lowered himself in to the seat beside me. “Jackson”, I tried to say as my breath finally escaped. It came out more as a moan than my actual voice and I saw the side of his mouth turn up in a half smile, the kind that made my knees turn to jelly and my heart beat out of control in my chest. He seemed to noticed.

“Hey Dakota, are you doing alright?” He asked as he turned to face me, our knees touching each other.

“I-I’m fine.” I stuttered as our eyes made contact. “What are you doing here?”.