The Four Lovers: Interim
CHAPTER ONE
Coming Together
"You're sure you'll be fine going in today,
Dulce?"
Kevin nearly flinched; his mom had yet to
stop calling him that RIDICULOUS Spanish
name. After all, she barely knew any Spanish
at all--well, only the words that helped you
get by when you had a foreign lady in the
Jewelry store, or the ones that she wouldn't
teach to him, despite his age. Yet ever
since he'd been young, she'd taken to calling
him that, and it just bugged him. Bugged
him, bugged him, BUGGED HIM!
his mind warned,
and he turned to his mother and nodded. "I'm
sure I'm not the only kid who has ever
started school on a Thursday, Mom. In fact,
we used to do it all the time."
She smiled a brief smile, but a hint of
worry still lay in her eyes, and to reassure
her, he said, "I'll be fine, Mom. You'll
leave instructions for dinner, right?"
It was her turn to nod, her blue-grey eyes
still worried. "See you tonight," she said,
standing back as he turned on the car. With
a wave, he threw it in reverse and pulled out
of the driveway.
He reviewed the facts about himself and his
"situation" as began his drive to school. He
was Kevin Greystone, formerly of Chicago, now
a resident of Algo, Oregon due to the loving
breakup of his mother and father. He was
seventeen years old, and often defined as a
"loner" by his friends back home. Not to say
that he didn't have friends; he had plenty of
them, for their was something about his
smooth manner, threaded with sarcasm and
smarts.
he
thought glibly to himself. He had, up until
about six months ago, been a light blond,
hair worn collar length and straight. Then,
suddenly, his hair seemed to rush out of his
head, and grew quickly to touch his
shoulders. Not only that, but a wave of
pale, pale, pale blond/white coloring swept
his head, until there was nary a trace of his
former color. Also, his eyes seemed to like
the color changing act; they turned a darker,
steelier grey.
another
voice added, causing him to wonder when he
started listening to the voices in his head.
Though, really, it was right--he had matured.
So much so that natural leadership skills had
budded, and instead of his usual flustered
way of solving problems, he found himself
looking at them cooly, logically. Actually,
it wasn't so much odd--he'd always had a
detatched way of looking at things--so much
as the SPEED. It zipped on him with almost
no warning; soon, he became the one to turn
to, his cooly logical head producing the
answer.
Ahh, now there was something. Despite his
mother's feeble Spanish and his father's
proficency for no language but English, he'd
somehow HAD this knack to pick up Japanese.
When he'd been in fifth grade, there'd been
lessons given, and as a gag he took them.
And was entranced. By the time high school
came around, he was way ahead of his first
year class. WAY ahead. He liked to think of
himself as near fluent (speaking) now, though
he knew there was a lot he had to learn. It
was one of the very few things he prided
himself in, and all his friends knew his
abilities. They all wanted to know Japanese
cuss words as well; he taught them some
simple insults, and got himself in a fair
amount of trouble. From then on, he decided
that he wasn't going to talk about his
proficency.
He was about to ruminate more when he pulled
up to school. He shut off the car, stuck his
keys in his pocket, and checked over his bag.
Summoning up his courage enough, he entered
the building.
he thought
as he warily made his way to the Principal's
office. The night before he'd decided to
delibrately go late to school so that he'd
avoid all the office hubab there was in the
mornings. If this school was anything like
the school back at home, he'd have finally
gotten his schedule around, oh, the end of
the day. And that just wouldn't do--better
late than never.
He opened the Main Office door and walked up
to the desk, tapping softly on the metal
bell. A woman with short blond hair and red,
red lips walked up, voice pleasantly asking,
"Can I help you?" as an evil thought glared
from her eyes.
he thought. "Yes," he said,
endeavoring to keep his voice controlled,
"I'm a new student, and I'm here to get my
schedule."
Her mouth pursed in distaste, but she said,
"Right this way."
Fifteen minutes and several nasty looks
later, he was on his way. He brushed off the
offer of a map; he'd already memorized the
school's schematic on the plane flight here.
He had a remarkably good memory as well, and
an eye for plans and detail;
he protested as he put his bag
away, grabbing two notebooks and his pens and
checking his schedule. Then his watch. And
then his schedule again.
<3rd hour, Japanese,> he thought. He checked the room
number--E219--then headed toward his class.
He knocked politely, and was greeted by a
heavyset, light skinned man with curly hair,
glasses, and a look of death in his eyes.
he managed to think as
he introduced himself.
"Ahhh...Mr. Greystone. Transfer from
Chicago?"
"Yes, sir."
"We might do well to make it on time to
class, Mr. Greystone."
A flicker of a smile touched his lips as he
said, "Of course, sir."
The man--who he now knew was Mr. Niendor,
the teacher on his schedule--seemed a little
shocked by his words/expression, and stood
aside to let him into the class. It was
fairly crowded, now silent, thirty pairs of
eyes turned to stare at the new visitor. He
noted that the class was mostly male, of the
rough hewn, lower class type. His guard
instantly went up.
"Take a seat, Mr. Greystone," he said, and
obediantly Kevin headed back towards the only
empty seats he could see. He ignored his
classmates as he went, putting on an air of
aloofness--but they didn't ignore him. Low
whispers came to him:
|Grey haired jerk.|
|Look at the weirdo!|
|Stupid, stuck-up idiot.|
|Not ANOTHER one.|
He fumed for a second, yet controlled
himself and took his seat. They thought that
lowly of him, that they'd speak in the
language of the CLASSROOM to CRITICIZE him?
So, in return, he muttered, just loud enough
for them to hear, |I understand you.|
That shut them up, and quickly.
The rest of the class breezed by; he was
given a book and some workbooks (to do
exercises out of), the teacher introduced
some review grammer point, and set them to
their work. He finished easily, arranged his
materials on his desk, and looked around. He
wasn't surprised to see some people glancing
back at him, and he met their glances smugly.
Some turned away in obvious surprise; some in
embarrassment; but two caught his eye. They
didn't turn away when he met their gaze, but
stared with a bit of surprise and--what was
this?--relief? One, a blond with close
cropped hair, even smiled.
he thought, checking his
watch. This period was almost over, and he
checked his schedule to see if he'd have time
to get back to his locker before heading onto
his next class, Trig. He surpressed a
grimace, hoping this class wouldn't be as bad
as the one back home.
The bell rang a few minutes later, and he
waited until the room was almost clear before
walking out of the classroom himself. He
didn't want to get into a fight with those
people he "understood" on his first day of
school.
Outside in the hall, someone touched his
arm.
"WHAT?" he asked, whirling in anger, then
stopping in surprise. It was the blond who'd
smiled at him, next to a boy with a short,
luxurious mane of auburn hair.
"My name is Jared Gold," the blond
immediately said, offering his hand. "And
this is Nathan Marble." The boy offered his
hand.
"Kevin Greystone," he replied, not sure
where this was going. At home, usually one
introduced themself if they wanted to be a
friend--but he didn't know. Maybe Oregon
honor demanded knowing the face of your
attacker.
"I was impressed that you caught the 'talk'
today," Nathan said, his voice low and thick
and melodic, catching him by surprise. He
didn't think that the brown eyed boy, who was
rather slim, could produce such a voice.
"Thank you, I think," Kevin replied.
Jared smiled. "You were AWESOME!" he said.
"The last new student to walk through that
was intimidated, but you held your head up
and talked back. They are going to hate you
for the rest of the school year."
He couldn't help a smile; apparently Jared
had a gift for turning a death sentance into
a happy, cheery proclamation. "Sounds
wonderful," he said drily.
Now Nathan grinned. "Oh it is. They hate
Jared and I, and man, you should see what
they try to do to you at lunch."
"Speaking of lunch, what lunch do you have,
Kevin Greystone?" Jared asked.
He checked the schedule. "B," he replied.
They both brightened; "Your lunch, too?" he
asked.
"Yep," Jared said. He looked around, and
sighed. "Oh well, we're going to be late,
but meet us by the front doors. We'll take
you out for lunch."
He debated it a moment, looking serious,
then said, "All right."
"Cool...see ya there, Kev," Jared smiled,
and then the two boys walked off.
Kevin smiled to himself, and then took off
the other way toward towards Trig, in a
fairly decent mood.
* * * *
Kevin found that he enjoyed the lunch--the
small lunch shop made a fair turkey sandwich,
and they served scones, too!--but he enjoyed
the company of his two classmates more. The
boys naturally found that they had quite a
few common subjects, and all were rather well
read in them. Of course, there were
differances, mostly personality, but it all
seemed to make things click even easier.
Kevin couldn't stand to sit with clones of
himself, but Jared, with his personality like
his last name, golden and shining in the sun,
witty and fun, was nothing like him. He and
Nathan had more in common, being serious and
all, but underneath his cool exterior, Nathan
had bubblings of the same fun streak that
Jared was composed of. Upon comparing
schedules, he found they only shared Japanese
and English; how strange to be taking the
languages together. Yet there had to be a
reason--if there was one thing that he and
Nathan and Jared agreed about, it was that
there was Reasons for these sorts of things,
explanations beyond them, almost like Destiny
had set them up. He remembered their
conversation in the cafe...
/Jared looked pensive for once as he sipped
his coffee, yet Nathan spoke up quickly.
"It's not that we don't have free will," he
near whispered, deep voice a tad hoarse,
"just that some events are predestined.
Think of it as knots along a string.
Somewhere along that line, you're going to
hit it."
"What about if you stray off the line?"
Now Jared smiled, and answered, "You'll hit
another destined patch. They wait for you
wherever you go."/
As they hung out more, they exchanged their
lives as well. Nathan was the son of a
wealthy, wealthy man who had a keen mind and
an instinct for business, something
apparently inheirited by his son. His mother
was a high class designer, 'high class'
meaning she only designed her fabulous
dresses for her friends. Jared (or Red, or
Jade--he went by all three) lived alone with
his mother and some cats, none of which were
black--he stressed this vehemently. When
asked about it, he usually replied, "I just
DON'T LIKE BLACK CATS!" in his most uncalm
voice. Neither of them had much family
besides that, and didn't care for anymore.
Kevin thought, trying to
rationalize why he wouldn't want a little
sister or brother,
About a week and a half into their
friendship, the two sprang a surprise on
them. Nathan was driving them home (they'd
agreed to carpool, especially after finding
that their houses were close to each others)
when he suddenly turned down a sidestreet
close to Kevin's. Kev watched his house
disappear from sight, and then asked quietly,
"Where are we going?"
"To see Petal," Jared replied matter of
factly.
"We haven't been by in awhile," Nathan
confided. "He's probably worried."
"Who's Petal?" Kevin asked.
The two exchanged looks, which made Kevin
nervous (Nathan was driving, after all!), and
then Jared flipped back, "We never mentioned
Petal to you?"
"Not that I recall," Kevin replied, wary.
There was a moment of silence from the front
seat, and then Jared started, "Petal, Nathan
and I have been friends from childhood, and
are all close. Unfortunatly, Petal no longer
attends school with us."
"Why?"
"You'll have to meet him to see why," he
replied, turning straight.
Mystified, Kevin sat back, wondering. Why
would this guy--Nathan had said "He's"--not
attend school with the rest of them?
he
thought. He grinned.
Yet that didn't make sense, not with the
calibar of student that Nathan and Jared
were. Not that they were uppity, or
anything...
His thoughts were stopped by Nathan
wrenching the car into the driveway, and he
slid, with a grimace, into the door. He
thought he saw Nathan grin at him, and his
grimace deepened. Nathan had to be one of
the craziest drivers he knew--he liked speed,
and tight corners, and all sorts of things
that happened to drive Kevin partially nuts.
And, worst of all, Nate KNEW it drove him
nuts.
They all got out of the car, and for a
moment Kevin studied the bi-level house,
which was a shade of pastel green that
bordered between pretty and gross.
Arrangements of evergreens and gravel lined
the tan walkway up to the house, were Jared
knocked softly on the door.
In a moment, a blond woman with high
cheekbones and hazel eyes appeared, looking
nervous. That changed, though, when she saw
the boys. "Nathan!" she exclaimed. "Jared!
It's good to see you!" Her eyes glanced over
him, and the corners of her mouth tightened.
"Who's your friend?" she asked, politely as
she could.
"This is Kevin Greystone," Nathan introduced
quietly, a solemn fierceness in his voice.
"He's just moved here."
"Oh," said the woman, who Kev thought HAD to
be Mrs. Petal. "Well, come on in, boys.
Zach's been asking about you two."
Jared smiled as they stepped through. "It
has been a long time. I'm sure he'll
understand, though."
She nodded, her eyes fiercly raking over
Kevin's form when he went through the
opening. She nearly slammed the door shut
behind him, and he winced. He'd been hated
instantly before, but there was some reason
to that. This, though...
He slipped off his shoes and followed the
boys silently down the stairs, turning right
and taking a few steps into a doorway...and
stopping.
The room was all white, and nearly bare,
except for a table, a bed, and naked bulb
hanging from the ceiling. The boy he
presumed was Petal was sitting on the brown
table, in sweats, head bent furiously over a
book. His hair was a sweet blond color, and
hung in loose curls around his face,
shielding that in shadow. He didn't look up
when they entered, though Kev figured he knew
they were there.
"Petal?" Jared said softly.
"The hydronium ion is found..." he looked
up, startled from that thought to see Jared.
Now Kev could see his shining, gray-green
eyes, and the pale skin stretched over his
high cheekbones, taught enough to make him
wince. He noticed now the thin hand that
held the book, and how baggy the sweats were,
hanging off his body.
he thought, and incredible
sympathy sprung up in him for the poor man.
he wondered.
"Jared, Nathan," Petal whispered. "And a
friend." He managed a smile. "Welcome to my
humble room."
"My name is Kevin Greystone," he said
softly. "It's nice to meet you, Petal."
A dry chuckle surged in his throat.
"Actually, my name is Zachary, but these
two," and he shakily pointed at the boys,
"don't like to call me that. Too long for
them, they say, but I think they just like
Petal better."
"Not true, Petal. That's what you told us
to call you when we were little," Jared
pointed out.
Petal's eyes glazed over, and his head
dropped. "So I did," he murmured to himself.
Looking back up, he said, "My name is Zachary
Petal, Kevin Greystone. It's nice to meet
you." He paused for a moment, taking in air.
"Yes, I am sick, though I couldn't tell you
with what. I've been this way for the last
six months or so. Which is why I haven't
been at school."
"Not that we haven't been keeping him
updated," Jared said, stepping across the
floor--which was a light wood, and covered in
plastic--to hand him a slip of paper. The
boy looked at it and laughed, a sharp, dry
cackle rising from his throat.
"What?" Nathan asked.
Zach wiped a fake tear from his eye. "I'm
passed you in all of this!" he said. "I just
started acids today, and you guys are stuck
back in formulas!"
The two boys exchanged glances, and Nathan
turned to Kevin. "Petal's our class
valedictorian, though he's home schooled
right now. No one can touch him--he's that
smart," he whispered. "Probably passes you
in Japanese."
Kevin thought. |You speak
Japanese, sick one?| he called out.
Petal blinked, then replied, |Of course.
Who doesn't?|
Kevin smiled, and Petal smiled back. |Is
that all?|
|Nope, though I'm hardly as proficent in
Spanish as I am in Japanese.|
The other two looked between them, and
smiled. |Are you two on friendly terms,
then?| Jared asked.
Kev started to answer, but it was Petal who
opened his mouth first. |I would be honored
to call Kevin Greystone my friend,| he said.
"Funny, Petal's usually more finicky,"
Nathan murmured.
|I heard that,| Petal called out. He then
trained his bright green-gray eyes on Kevin,
and asked, |Well?|
|Ditto,| Kevin replied.
Petal stared for a moment, then laughed.
Soon, all four of them had clustered around
the boy on the desk, laughing and joking like
best friends should. And Kevin felt a peace,
a contentedness, strike his heart, and he
sighed with it, soaking up every moment of it
he could. For he knew that peace does not
always last.
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