Their Promised Queen

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

            “Mom, what just happened?” I asked confused.

            “I’m not sure. I hear a loud thump, walked over here, and you were just standing here,” my mom’s worried face staring at me. I have always thought it weird that I didn’t look like my mom. I don’t think I really looked like my dad either. Jason looked like a good combination of them both, I just never did. I used to joke with my mom that I must have been adopted, although she used to get said when I mentioned it, so I stopped. Mom used to have blonde hair and brown eyes, although her hair has more silver now than blonde. She is wearing her signature look of black slacks, a colorful blouse, and ballet flats. 

            “Hmm, I must have hit the ground too hard and got dizzy for a second. I am fine.” Although, I was not convinced this was true. That weird, whatever you call it, seemed too real. I felt like I was actually there…

            “Breakfast is on the table. Blueberry waffles and bananas,” mom mentioned while walking away. She knew just what would make my day better.

                                                     ----------------------------------------

            “Love you mom,” I said as I get out of the car. I really wish I could just drive myself to school, ugh. I was one of the only seniors at our small high school that did not drive to school. Actually, I was one of two seniors who didn’t drive to school. The other one didn’t drive because he had a DUI last year and his parents took his car and license away. 

            Since I am so early, I decide to sit on the grass under my favorite tree and wait for Ruby to get to school. She always brings me an iced coffee form Starbucks. I got to say that I absolutely love her. We have been best friends since we moved here when I was six years old. We had met on our first day of 1st grade together and never looked back. I sat on the lawn for about 30 minutes when Ruby finally showed up. 

            “Hey girl! Oh, how I have missed you this weekend. We definitely should have gone to the mall together!” She shouted at me as she walked up to my tree. 

            “I know! We should have. But, you know mom. She had plans all day Saturday and of course I had my pictures yesterday.” I said standing up and grabbing my bookbag. “Are you ready to go in?”

            “Abso-freaking-lutely! Let’s get this week over so we can graduate! Although, I am definitely not ready for finals,” she whined that last part. Ruby hates school. When she graduates, she doesn’t want to go to college like me, she wants to go traveling. She’s asked me to go with her plenty of times, but I keep turning her down. I’ve gotten a full-ride scholarship to a college in the town next to us. My mom had pushed the idea. I figured I would go there for a year and then transfer to a larger college out of state. Mom won’t be happy, but I have to get away from here. 

            The day goes by pretty slowly. Thankfully, I only see my ex, Dan, at lunch. I was able to avoid him for pretty much the whole day. He had the school skank hanging on his arms. I guess he had to get laid somewhere, I refused to give into him. Yes, I was still a virgin even though Dan was a known womanizer. I am surprised we dated for two years and didn’t have s*x. I mean, I didn’t have s*x, though I am sure he got it somewhere. The rumors swirling around the school about him cheating on me wasn’t new, I guess I was just naïve. 

            The last bell rang, and Ruby took me home. Mom surprisingly trusted Ruby driving, not sure why she trusted her to drive me around but couldn’t trust me to drive myself. I always thought it was a weird, confusing situation. When we got to my house we went upstairs and talked about what we were going to wear on graduation day. 

                                                     --------------------------------            

The next week and a half went by quickly and uneventfully. I was finally a few days away from graduation and my 18th birthday. We had planned to go to a large senior party the night of graduation and in celebration of my birthday. We decided to go shopping for the perfect party dresses. 

“I am hoping to get some tonight,” Ruby said looking over at me and winking. All I did was roll my eyes and turned to look out my window. We had taken our finals on Monday and Tuesday. So today, Wednesday, there was no school for seniors. Hence the mall trip for our dresses. 

We walk into Jackies, the dress store at the mall, and start trying on all the dresses that we think would look the best on us. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big fan of the ones I had tried on. Though Ruby had found what she said would make her smoking hot. I walk out of the fitting rooms, feeling defeated, to find the most gorgeous dress hanging right outside my door. It is a beautiful blue/green color that would go absolutely perfect with my eyes. I take it in and try it on to find that it fits perfectly. I glance at the price tag and it is so out of my budget. Regretfully, I put it back on the hanger and wished the price were within my budget. I hang it on the take back rack outside of the fitting room. 

“Wow! That dress is perfect for you!” Ruby tells me.

“Yeah. I know. But it is way too expensive for me,” I tell her. “Let’s go to a different store and look.” Ruby walks over to the dress and gives me a quizzical look.

“How is it out of your budget? It’s only $60,” She told me.

“What? That’s not right. It is almost $200.”

“Umm…well the tag right here says that it is only $58.97,” Ruby says. “You are buying it.”

I walk over to the dress and Ruby is correct. I am wondering what I was just looking at…the price tag had clearly said $187.50 not a few minutes ago. While staring at the dress, I walk up to the cash register and pay for it. When Ruby and I left the store, I explained the whole thing to her. She just shrugged it off to leftover stress from the last few weeks. We head to the food court to grab a bite to eat for lunch. We grabbed some deep dish pizza from Pizza Utopia and sat down at our favorite spot. 

“So, did you and Dan ever, you know?” She asked me as I chomped down on my pizza. I start to choke and Ruby laughs. We usually only talk about her s*x life, never mine, so I was caught a little off guard. “Dang Elora, are you ok?” She laughs.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little surprised we are talking about my s*x life for once. To answer your question, no. Dan and I never slept together,” I could feel my face starting to turn red. “I was never ready, and I couldn’t see myself being with him that way.” As I mention this to Ruby, I could feel someone staring at me. I looked around the food court, but it was mostly older couples milling about. No one staring at me, at least that I could see. When I turned back to Ruby, she wasn’t there. I wasn’t in the food court anymore. I was sitting at a long, wooden table in a huge room with high ceilings. What the heck? Am I dreaming again? All of a sudden, I heard a familiar voice singing…who is that? Why does his voice sound so familiar?