A choice made is a choice lived

Chapter one

Jade

Slowly, I open one eye and move just enough to slap the snooze button. Peace. For a little while at least. I don’t want to leave my nest of warmth. I don’t want to untangle my legs from the blankets. I don’t want to wake up to let the dog out. Most of all I don’t want to start another boring day. I am tired of everything being the same…even though everything in my life is far from being normal. Sure I go to a school where everyone has their own special talents. Sure I up and left everything I knew just to be free; just to be me.

After hitting the snooze button countless times I roll out of bed; literally. Smashing into the cool wooden floors and groaning loudly. I hear soft steps coming near me before a cold nose touches my cheek and a small ‘rooo’ escapes her.

“Morning Sasha,” I whisper.

She sits back on her hunches pawing at me as I pry myself off the ground.

“I see how it is. Beat me up while I’m down. See if I give you a treat before I leave,” I joke while I become vertical again.

The second I am up she barrels into me for a hug. Giggling I hug her back and ruffle her coat. Who couldn’t love a Siberian husky?

“Back door,” I tell her.

She bounces off me and goes running for the backyard. I smile and follow behind her. I love watching her run and jump in the morning. She does just that and more. She goes full speed into the yard and jumps off all fours and snaps at the falling leaves. Not only is she amusing she is stunning.

She’s not your normal red and white Siberian husky. She has many rich reds that entwine with one another. They clash with the brilliant white like a tide’s wave trying to climb up a wall of rocks. To seal the deal she has a ‘dirty face’ with multi colored irises. At times I think the green in her eyes is trying to swallow the brown in her eyes and at other times I think the brown is bleeding into the green. Either way the two colors in her eyes are at war. Shining as bright as they can, holding as much emotion, wisdom and character as they can.

I realize I will be late for class and back away from the door with a smile painted on my lips as if a smile was rain drops. The smile is both sad and happy, gloomy and bright just like a passing storm.

I make it to school after many delays. I am late yet again. But I don’t mind. I like walking down the empty halls while only hearing the sound of my shoes striking the tiled floors. For some reason it makes me think. It’s peaceful and makes me so sure of myself. Funny how being isolated in a bright empty hall way can make me fell so…so secure.

That was it. I’d left a life that mirrored a nightmare so I could feel at peace, secure and free. Till this moment I hadn’t realized I had accomplished it. I felt like my soul was light and dancing inside of me. Screaming its victory song at the top of its imaginary lungs. I was no longer a kitten stuck in a tree. Not only was I on the ground I had figured out how to climb down that tree of anguish by myself. No matter what any fairly tale tells you it’s much more rewarding to save yourself then it is waiting for some knight in black armor to come riding up to your rescue.

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

Anita

The classroom door opens swiftly twenty minutes after the bell has rung. The whole class looks to see who would dare be late to Ms. Smith’s class. I can not help but smile when I see who it is. Only one person could be so uncaring. Jade.

The young lady steps into the classroom without a worry in the world. There something different about her. The greens and blues shine in her eyes like colorful jewels. The blue and green are separate but clash together in many places as if trying to join together. They held so much wisdom, sorrow and happiness. As if the colors in her eyes where really just lasting memories from her past. She was so young and yet she had all of those emotions and battle scares imprinted in her eyes. Her black hair only causes her to look more striking. She was breath taking head to toe. What made her even more beautiful was the fact that she didn’t know how amazing she was.

I jump slightly when I feel someone nudge me.

“What is it about her that causes you to zone out?” Monte whispered leaning in close to me.

I shrugged and nudged him away while watching Jades every move. Jade and the teacher had walked outside of the classroom. Luckily for me one of my ‘gifts’ was great hearing. I could hear Ms. Smiths voice raising and Jades coming out like silk.

“Late yet again?! What am I going to do about you? Its not like I can call home to your parents,” Ms. Smith said the last with a sigh.

I could sense Jades calmness fade away at the mention of parents.

“Would you rather I just not come when I am going to be late? Because if that’s the case then I can set my alarm clock and get an extra hour of sleep every morning,” Jade said in a matter of fact voice.

I laughed lightly and watched as Monte gave me an odd look. I shook my head signaling to him that I would tell him later.

“If your old enough to run away from home, make a living a finish out your last year of high school then why the hell cant you be grown up enough to come to class on time?” Ms. Smith shouted.

“Magic takes times,” Jade whispered so softly that I wondered if Ms. Smith even heard her.

Ms. Smith never got a chance to respond because Jade walked back into the classroom. She looked back to the teacher and realized she wasn’t coming in just yet and closed the door and headed up to take a seat with the rest of the class. She held her head up high and didn’t show a sign of victory. That caused me to respect her even more.

Not that it mattered much; she didn’t even know who I was. The second I thought this her eyes met mine and a smirk appeared on her lips before she looked away and walked past me. It took everything I had not to turn around and call out to her or watch her walk away.

Trying to act causal I look over to Monte. He’s grinning and it reminds me of the cat from Alice in wonderland. Which is ironic seeing as his gift is disappearing. I growl lightly at him and he does the impossible by widening his grin even more.

“Don’t you dare saying anything,” I warn him.

“Me?” He says with a hand over his heart and a look of disbelief masking his face. His grey eyes tell all his thoughts. Laughter is shining through them like the sun that breaks through the curtains in the morning.

“What? You never know she could like girls,” He said with a shrug of his shoulder with a more serious tone.

I could feel the heat creeping up my neck. Monte had been telling me for weeks to ask her out. Why hadn’t I? I am afraid. Afraid she will say no or even worse be sickened by the fact that I, another female, has an unyielding crush on her. The more I tried to get her out of my head the more I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

I am saved from my thoughts when Ms. Smith comes marching back into the classroom. She quickly finds the spot that Jade has chosen to sit at and glares at her. Trying desperately to control Jade with her mind.

That is her gift. She controls people’s words and actions. That is the reason everyone is afraid of getting on her bad side. It would be like poking a lion with a stick. You would lose once you pissed it off. While all of us have a talent or two all teacher should know how to out ‘power’ each and everyone one of us.

The class turns to see what Ms. Smith will make the poor girl do. Jade is holding her glaze and her eyes hold…laughter. I turn to see Ms. Smith is frowning and I can feel as her power rushes to meet its victim. It feels like an army of bugs is crawling across every inch of my skin. I rub my arm and feel as the goosebumps start to rise.

Jade laughs lightly. Then stands up and looks at her hands as she flexes them and moves all of her fingers.

“Is that the best you got? I can hardly feel the effect of your power,” Jade says with a questioning look to the teacher.

She was right. Ms. Smith had no control over her. When it comes to power the eyes normally tell everything. When Ms. Smith has control over someone their eyes seem to dull down in color. People who have pale blue eyes often they just blend to white.

Jades eyes still shown like lots jewels in the sea. One moment I had been looking into her eyes and the next she was gone. I quickly looked around and then found her only feet away from the teacher. Was that her gift? Speed? Couldn’t be the only thing though.

“I will not play this game,” Jade said in a low tone trying to keep the class from over hearing.

Ms. Smith said nothing. She had gone pale and looked frighten. Hell, I think most of the class was frighten. Yet I wasn’t. Why? Something told me Jade would do nothing. She wasn’t a loss canon waiting to go off. She seemed fair and most of all she seemed to lay low. Someone with that amount of power doesn’t get by for long unless they are trying very hard to hide it.

By the time the class started to get noisy Jade had slipped out the door unnoticed. Ms. Smith followed shortly after. I could just hear the gossip mill groan in its effort to keep up. I just sat back and looked over at Monte who was lost in thought. His hand was around his chin and a frown hung on his face. This was going to be an interesting day.