After school, Anastasia walked down the streets of El Dorado all alone to the Cemetery. A mysterious bird made a sound that distracted her, but nevertheless, she continued her walk. She sat in front of her parents' gravestone and wrote in her journal.
"Dear diary, I made it through the day. I must have said ' I'm fine, thanks' at least 38 times. And I didn't mean it once, but no one noticed. When someone asks, 'How are you?' They don't really want an answer." She continued writing.
( Crow Cawing)A black crow flew to Anastasia's parents' gravestone and all of a sudden, the fog began to grow. Ana noticed the bird and looked at it for a while.
"Okay, hi bird. That's not creepy or anything. " She continued writing, but suddenly noticed the fog became dense and the crow kept cawing. She stood up from where she sat and chased the crow away. "Shoo" the bird flew away. "That's what I thought." She said in relief, only to turn around and see the crow on another gravestone cawing. Anastasia freaked out this time, picked up her journal and ran away. A statue of a person stood behind one of the gravestones covered in fog, although Ana couldn't see who it was when she looked back. She started painting while she ran, fell and stood up only to see Sanchez behind her.
" You okay?" He asked. Ana sighed in relief after seeing him.
"Were you following me?" She asked amidst her panting.
"No, I just… I saw you fall."
" Uh-huh. And you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery."
" I'm visiting, I have, uh, family here."
" Oh, Wow, tactless." She said, sounding sorry. " I'm sorry, it's the fog. It makes me feel foggy. And then back there, there was this bird. And it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the movie bird, right? The Hitchcock." Ana tried to explain herself and all along Sanchez just kept quiet, smiling at her. She stopped trying to explain herself. " I'm Anastasia." She smiled.
" I'm Sanchez."
" I know. We have history together." She couldn't hide her excitement.
"And English and French."
" Right." These two couldn't take their eyes off each other. Sanchez helped take off the dry leaf from her jacket. " Thanks." She said, staring at him. Her eyes went through his body steadily. " Nice ring."
"Oh, uh..it's a family ring. Yeah, kind of stuck with it." He said, touching the ring again. It's weird, uuh?"
"No, no, it's just… I mean, there are rings and then there's that."
Sanchez began to make an uncomfortable face and Ana's smile faded.
" Did you hurt yourself?" He asked.
" Hmmm?"
" Did you hurt yourself?"
"Oh, uh…I don't know." Ana goes to check her legs, placing them on a bent tree. She found out she was bleeding when she lifted her lengths of trousers above her anklet.
Oh, would you look at that? That is not pretty. Are you OK? She asked him when he turned around backing her. Sanchez, seeing the blood, became uncomfortable as his face became reddened. Ana, who bent to look at her injury again, never noticed his reddened eyes.
" Take care of that." He said, not looking at her anymore.
" Really it's nothing." She covered her trousers back over the wound and stood up only to see that Sanchez was already gone.
********************************************
"I lost control today, everything I've kept buried inside came rushing to the surface. I am simply not able to resist her." Stefan sat up in the middle of the night to inscribe in his diary.
That same night, Harris went to meet Emilia Lance in the club/coffee house where she works. Many students go there to chill off the night after school. Soft hip-hop being played in the background.
" Hey." He said.
" Working." She carried a tray of food to the table where Eric Lance and Chavez James sat leaving Harris.
" Thanks Emi," Eric said.
" Do you need another refill?" Emilia asked Chavez flirtily.
" I'd love one." He said, smiling. Eric observed them both.
"Please tell me you're not hooking up with my sister." Eric asked Chavez when Emilia left them both.
"I'm not hooking up with your sister," Chavez replied.
" You're such a d**k head." Eric said, sipping his drink like he knew he was lying.
Emilia returns to meet Harris. Obviously, to get another order from the bar counter.
" What's your deal?" Harris asked her again. " I mean, summer you act one way, and then school starts, and you can't be bothered." He followed her to the bar table. She was too busy to even look at him.
" Look, Harris, I appreciate the pharmaceuticals but you can't keep following me around like a lost puppy." She said, not withstanding, concentrating on her work.
"When was the last time you had s*x with a puppy?"
"Keep it down, I don't wanna tell the world I deflowered Anastasia's kid brother. " She spoke almost in a whisper.
" And deflowered and deflowered." Harris' eyes filled with tears.
" We hooked up a few times in a drug haze. It's over. You got to back off before you ruin things between me and Chavez." She continued what she was doing and didn't look at him for up to two seconds.
"Come on, the guy is a total douche. He only wants you for your ass."
" Yeah, what do you want me for?" She hits and walks past him with a tray of the next order. Harris was distracted by Alicia's voice as she walked into the bar with Diana.
" His name is Sanchez Rodriguez. He lives with his uncle at The Rodriguez's boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid, military family. So they moved around a lot." Alicia said, comfortable with styles, moving her hands in and out girlishly and mesmerizing her eyes at every turn. Diana just followed and watched her closely.
"He's a Gemini, and his favorite color is blue." She continued.
" You got all that in one day?" Diana asked when they both got to their desired spot and Alicia stopped talking.
" Oh please, I got all that between the third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding." She left Diana standing alone with a red wine in her hands. Diana just smiled weirdly and watched her leave.