…Brenda…
8 months later
Linda rested her head on the window of the bus and closed her eyes and tried to shut out the conversations of those around her. She hated taking the bus to school. As much as possible she walked to school. It gave her some exercise and allowed her to get a few things done before she left in the morning since she lived so close to the school. But it was nearly January now and getting much too cold to walk all the time. She still tried to walk home after school when it was a bit warmer but with the sun still coming up it was much too cold to walk this early in the morning.
The bus began to move and her head began to rattle against the window but she tried to ignore it there were more important things on her mind at the moment. Her dream the night before for example. After dreaming about her parents last summer she had thought that it had been some kind of strange sub-conscience thing caused by her finally meeting her cousins and finding out how her parents had died. And even though the dream had seemed pretty real she couldn’t help but think that it was just wishful thinking. Of course her cousin Rowel thought that it was real and that she really had met her parents and Kohath through her dream and she had to admit since having her dream her and her cousin had had some long discussions about Kohath and she was slowly beginning to learn to put her trust in him. At first she had hopped that by putting her faith in him she would somehow dream of her parents again but she had realized how silly that was and now she found that she really did trust him and was no longer faking it. Now as she reviewed over the last 8 months again she believed that Kohath really could tell the difference between real and fake trust and now she realized that almost immediately after she had truly trusted him he had allowed her parents to visit her in her dreams. It had surprised her at first. While she knew she would never forget the dream she had begun to accept that it might really be just a dream. But not anymore. Not after last night. Cause last night she had dreamed of them again.
“Leena, you must be the best Imaginese you can be.” Her father had told her, “We understand if you make mistakes everyone makes mistakes but know this, if you put yourself before others you will never be able to see us and instead all of your world will fall to pieces around you. You will have many choices in your life do your best to choose the right ones.”
“What do you mean? What choices? Can’t you give me some sort of a hint so I don’t fail?”
“Not now my dear daughter,” her mother had told her, “but know this we will always be here in this place between sleeping and waking we will be here. And we will help you to make the right choices. But we can only help you if you ask.”
“You are an Imaginese Leena not an earthling,” her father always seemed to remind of this fact as if she could ever forget.
“We love you Leena and always will.” Her mother’s calming reassurance always seemed to follow her father’s harsh reminders
“We will tell you this one thing” her father had said then, “when the human and the Imaginese stand together then and only then will we be released. Be the best Imaginese you can be and when the time comes you will know what to do.”
The bus stopped suddenly and her head slammed against the window. She sat up rubbing the back of her head. She always sat in the back so no one paid much attention to her and for the most part she had the seat to herself. She stretched out her legs across the seat and crossed one over the other then carefully she positioned her school bag behind her head and leaned back against the window again. She stared out the window opposite her and watched the trees and houses zoom past her vision. Occasionally they’d pass a farm with horses or cows outside but for the most part all the animals were kept inside during the winter. Linda lived on a farm too with her adoptive parents and three younger siblings 7 year old Jenny and the 10 almost 11 year old twins Trevor and Tyler.
The bus stopped again and people started piling out. She took her time gathering her stuff and walking toward the front by the time she finally got to the door she was the only student left.
As Linda climbed off the bus and began heading toward the school she heard snickers and whispering. She knew that it was directed at her but she didn’t care anymore she had gotten used to it. She knew it was because of the large scar across her right cheek that she had gotten when she was a baby. She had kept it covered with her bangs, but now she kept the bangs tucked safely behind her ear. The scar was one of the few memories she had of her real parents. The others laughed because they didn’t know the truth didn’t know that this scar was the simple price her parents had had to pay to save her life. The larger price being their own lives.
Linda looked up to see Cindy Armon, her best friend heading towards her. “So how was you’re summer,” she asked as she got closer.
“Totally unbelievable.”
“Really how so? Oh no Brenda Keegan, 12 o’clock.”
Brenda Keegan was the prettiest girl in the school she had her long blond hair pulled back in a bun that day and she had spent nearly an hour that morning making sure that not a single hair was left out of place then, a half an hour trying to decide what outfit to wear, a half an hour making sure her makeup was perfect and about 5 minutes brushing her teeth so that her teeth were sure to sparkle and then she had devoured a whole thing of tic tacs on the way to school and had then had to completely re-do the make-up again before climbing out of her car of course she would also put on a fresh layer of makeup after every class as well to make sure she always looked her best but for now she was as perfect as she was going to get.
Almost as soon as she had stepped out of the car 3 of her closest girlfriends had come up and started telling her the latest gossip. She walked as she talked her designer purse hung on her arm and her new designer heels clinked as she walked and when she walked it was like parting the red sea cause no one dared to stand in her way for more than a second.
As she walked toward the school more girls began to join her group of snickering girls who thought everything she said was funny.
“Did you hear about Heather?”“Yeah! I heard they had to put her into rehab.”
“What for?”
“She wasn’t eating.”
“I heard Josh was the one who turned her in.”
“Her parents were pretty upset and she was ticked at him but he saved her life. Too much longer and she might have died.”
“No kidding. That’s amazing.”
Brenda was only listening half-heartedly. Heather’s situation was nothing new. In the four years she’d been in high school. 25 of her friends had been removed from her friends list and 12 of them had been in rehab for one reason or another. Sad maybe but a fact of life none the less. But of the 25 friends removed from her list none of them gave her quiet as much satisfaction as her ex-best friend Cindy Armon.
She enjoyed teasing Cindy. She enjoyed the satisfaction she got when she saw the pain on Cindy’s face. Cindy was beautiful she had to admit with beautiful auburn hair and great style she had to wonder why out of all the people Cindy could have hung with she had chosen Linda. And even more why Linda when she already had Brenda. That was the thing that ate at Brenda the most why Cindy had chosen Linda over Brenda. It was that very act that hurt Brenda the most and had cost Cindy her spot on the top of Brenda’s list. Of course she knew as well as Cindy that with Mrs. Armon wheelchair ridden for the last 4 years Cindy had automatically been stripped off of Brenda’s friends list. But if it hadn’t been for Linda Brenda might have been able to overlook it after all Cindy was the best friend that Brenda had ever had. Now Brenda would make them pay. Cindy would pay for betraying her and Linda for stealing Cindy away.
Brenda was walking toward them now and she could see the fear in Cindy’s eyes. But Linda didn’t show the slightest hint of fear and that bothered Brenda. Linda was a senior same as Brenda but for the last three years she had been the most insecure person Brenda had ever met making her one of the funnest people to pick on. But this year Linda seemed to be unbreakable. “So,” Brenda jeered, “how was you’re Christmas vacation? Did you get out and do something? Or did you have your nose in a science book all summer?”
“Actually,” replied Linda, “I probably had a better vacation than you.” This of course sent Brenda’s passé into a gigantic snickering fit. Brenda silenced them with a look then turning back in Linda’s direction she flashed a snobbish smile and gave a slight chuckle as she continued
“I highly doubt that. What? Did you get abducted by aliens?” The girls roared with laughter and patted Brenda on the back.
“That’s a good one Brenda abducted by aliens. Ha ha ha”
“Hopefully they’d give her some improvements.”
“Heaven knows she could certainly use them.” The last two girls burst into another giggling fit and slapped each other five.
Linda didn’t say a thing what was the point of defending herself they would never believe her anyway and besides she had given her word never to tell anyone what had happened that summer, and if she wouldn’t tell Cindy why would she tell a bunch of snickering Hyenas that feasted off of the geeks, nerds and anyone else that was different than them.
Just then the school bell rang. Brenda turned importantly and walked away snickering in the direction of the nearest group of boys as if they hadn’t just heard the bell ring.
“Oh,” said Cindy in frustration, “That girl makes me so mad.”
“Just forget about it,” begged Linda, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the hall toward homeroom, “Let’s just get to class.”
When school was over Linda started to head home. It was a bit warmer now and she had decided to walk instead of waiting for the bus. But on her way off of the school grounds Brenda suddenly stepped out in front of her surprisingly none of her followers were around. “So,” she said, “we never finished our conversation and I’m dying to know what could possibly make your Christmas vacation better than mine.”
Linda frowned. Why did Brenda want to know about her Christmas so bad, was she that afraid that Linda had had a better Christmas? Linda smiled “Well… are you sure you want to know” What would it hurt to play along “Well you see I kind of… no I couldn’t possibly tell you.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think I can trust you to keep it a secret.”
“Says who” Brenda was really getting desperate now and was beginning to let her superior air slip which actually made her look pretty funny. It was the first time Linda had ever seen Brenda actually look so desperate and almost afraid.
“Well fine I’ll tell you.” She took a deep breath and leaned forward as if she was going to tell her something really wonderful. Brenda leaned forward too as Linda had seen her do only twice when she was flirting with a really cute guy. Linda was savoring this moment and wished she had a video camera so she would remember it forever. “I had a dream that I met my parents.” Brenda straightened her nose was wrinkled up in pure disgust as she realized that she had been tricked. “That’s it? That was what made your summer so awesome? A dream.”
Linda nodded “I believe it will happen in time if I just wait for it.”
Brenda rolled her eyes “You really are a geek aren’t you Linda Cuthbert.” Brenda had regained her composure and although she was incomplete with out her passé she did a good job of being intimidating on her own. But Linda had learned a long time ago not to let Brenda get to her. “You really need to find something better to do with you life Scarface. I mean really a dream was the best you could come up with? What is this world coming to? Usually when I ask a science geek something like that they bore me with some scientific equations, but this? I think you must have broken some kind of record. A ‘record of stupidity’ maybe or I know you just won ‘The Most Boring Christmas Vacation Record’ seriously have you never heard of shopping…like at the mall. Oh I forgot you’re a hand-me-downs, thrift-shop type person you don’t spend your time at the mall.”
Linda sat staring at her feet as Brenda went on and on about how pathetic she was, not because she was embarrassed but because she didn’t want Brenda to see her smile. Linda couldn’t help it. Here Brenda was wasting her precious shopping time yelling at Linda. And Linda couldn’t help but wonder if Brenda’s time was really as occupied as she always made it seem. What’s the home front really like Brenda that you have to waste other people’s time in order to feel good?
Linda suddenly noticed that Brenda had stopped talking and was staring wide-eyed at something around Linda’s neck. Linda looked down to the necklace she had gotten from her real dad for her first birthday she usually kept it under her clothes so that no one would see it. It must have slipped out when she had leaned over. She quickly covered it with her hand and placed it back under the shirt where it belonged. She looked up at Brenda who was completely entranced by the necklace. Finally she spoke
“Where did you get that? It’s gorgeous, much too pretty for a science geek. And I just have to have one so tell me where you got it.”
“Um my dad made it for me.” Brenda’s face darkened as she realized that Linda was wearing the one and only necklace. Then it brightened again.
“Listen you give me the necklace and I’ll see if I can’t help you with that dream-problem.”
“Dream-problem? I don’t have a dream problem Brenda. In fact I’m late so if you’ll excuse me I have a science geek meeting in about 10 minutes.” With that she ran down the road leaving Brenda in her dust
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