Author: Sara Tribble
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Things haven’t been good for me for the last six months. Hell, things haven’t been remotely modest for me, either. All of my negativity stacked inside me, begging to find some freedom so it could tumble and topple to the ground. I started my beater Volkswagen Beetle (I know, totally a girl car) and stepped outside of it, waiting for the air conditioning to kick in. Standing outside in the Texas sun beat suffocating in a car full of hot air, trust me on this. I pulled back my thick hair so it would stop my neck from sweating.
My AC sputtered loudly, dragging my daze back to my car. My hand checked the vent and the cold air flew past my fingers. I threw my book bag to the other seat and right when I tried to hop in, something caught me by the neck.
“Hey,” I said aloud, following the pressure of my necklace chain that wrapped around me like a noose.
The tight squeeze disappeared. My charm drifted down toward my bra. I grabbed the necklace chain and dug out the charm, but it slipped down from my shirt and onto the ground. A person behind me reached down and latched onto it first.
“Thanks,” I said to the girl who was helping me out.
She stood to her feet and faced me, holding onto the black gem in the palm of her hand. Her blonde hair pulled back tightly from her face, showing off her very strong bone structure with a wicked straight nose. She looked a little older than me, but her blue eyes bothered me the most. It could be because she hadn’t handed back my charm and only stared at me. It was already getting on my nerves.
“Is this yours?” she asked me nicely.
Of course, she had to have a sweet voice to go along with her gorgeous appeal. I hated how some people have it all. I tried to recall a name, but she was unknown to me from the other hundreds of faces I saw every day. She might be a new student, but it was a little late to accept transfer students.
“Yeah, it’s mine. It’s so weird, almost like you ripped it from my neck,” I said quickly then tried to smile. I expected her to chuckle, but she didn’t. In fact, she didn’t respond at all. I shifted my weight to the other foot to counter the awkward silence occurring. It was a common reaction I received from a lot of people.
“Probably felt that way because I did,” she replied after a moment. “I needed a closer look.”
I couldn’t believe she just said that! I didn’t know how to retaliate. My foot tapped on its own accord. Without knowing, my fingers rubbed against one another, wanting the gem back in my own hand. This girl was taking her sweet ass time with it and it made me slightly agitated. Okay, really agitated. She held it toward the sun, catching the glistening sparkles hidden beneath the deep, black color.
“I’ll be taking that back now.” I reached to take it from her, but she quickly snapped her hand down, with the gem enclosed in her fist. Unless I wanted to pry her fingers off, I wasn’t taking it anywhere.
“I rather like it,” she replied. “How much do you want for it?”
“It’s not for sale,” I told her firmly. And it wasn’t. It was completely out of the question. My father had given it to me.
“That’s a shame. I thought it’d be fair if I offered you money, but now I’ll just have to keep it.” She smiled, showing off a row of whitened teeth. She began to sicken me with her dead on perfection of beauty.
She tried to turn away, but I grabbed her left shoulder flinging her back to look at me. Her mouth dropped open slightly, but she composed herself right away. I ravished the thought of catching her off guard. Someone who probably had every aspect of their life planned out on some girly pink calendar. It was time to take back what was mine.
“Give it back to me now,” I said it with a hint of anger in my voice.
She cocked her head sideways and grinned. “Don’t you know the saying? Finders keepers.”
“If you don’t give it back to me now, you’ll be the one weeping,” I promised, clenching my left fist. My eyes darted down to my hand. I didn’t tell my hand to do that. Was it simply a reaction? I didn’t usually get worked up like this. I released my fist. In a weird way, it kind of hurt. The best way to describe it was having your hand squeezed together for hours then finally moving it for the first time, a very odd sense of pain. A tingling passed through me like a thunderbolt. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Give it back!”
I didn’t know what I was doing. The words coming out of my mouth weren’t like me, maybe in my personal thoughts, but I would never voice my feelings so openly without great reason or stress. For one, I was not a fighter. Plus, I didn’t even know this girl. Besides, was I seriously going to lay a hand on her? This wasn’t me. It was nothing remotely close to me. I’d never fought anyone in my entire life and here I was acting like that was about to change. I couldn’t believe I just said that to some random chick. What the hell was going on?
She looked like she was weighing her options. Her hand unraveled and showed what I wanted in the palm of her hand. Slowly, it moved toward me then she dropped it into her purse. She laughed a little, a mean kind. It taunted me, daring me to step up and make something happen. Today was already shitty. I had nothing to lose. I waited for her next move while I contemplated mine.
“What are you going to do about it?” She smiled devilishly.
Fury boiled up inside of me. It was my necklace. People couldn’t just come up and take something that belonged to you. That was stealing and totally illegal for a reason, which I finally understood why today. It meant nothing to her. She only wanted it because she thought it’d look good with some shirt or something just as dumb. I wouldn’t have it. That was mine, not hers and I was ready to have it back. No, fighting never solves anything. It only causes more issues. I needed to chill out.
That was the idea—until she made the most obnoxious humph noise.
Screw it.
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