• The Other Chapters:
    Chapter 1
    Chapter 2
    Chapter 4
    Chapter 5

    Chapter 3

    “Jard! Hey, Jard! Guess what!” Jard turned and loped across the street towards Haily’s voice. She stopped walking, totally entranced. He took her breath away with his well-muscled chest, large, strong hands, and sharp, green eyes radiating intelligence. What she especially loved, was the way he cocked his head when he was talking. Suddenly Haily was in the air. “Jard, put me down!” she laughed. “You big oaf! I’m not a bird! I don’t want to fly!”
    Jard set her back and filled his voice with pleading. “Aw, Haily. If you forbid hugs now, soon you’ll want to do away with handshakes and Penguins all in one blow.”
    “Jard! You know I hate Penguins! They’re so odd and—Ooh! Now you’ve got me sidetracked. I wanted to tell you. I get to go to school! Raven sent me the acceptance letter!” Haily stopped. Jard didn’t look like he approved. With a worry-filled voice, Haily begged to know what was wrong.
    Jard blinked and made a visible effort to compose himself. “What? Oh. Haily. Raven’s not a very nice place. You wouldn’t like it.”
    “But—but it’s the only place that accepted me. And I’ll get to actually see you once in a while.” She paused to think about that. “Unless you don’t want to see me?”
    “What? No, it’s not that. I just don’t think Raven is right for you. Lark, or even Dove would be a better fit. Did you try those?”
    “Of course. My ma didn’t want me to apply to Raven, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to try, so I had to send in to Lark, Dove, Loon, even Penguin!” Haily was relieved to see him crack a smile, although it was tiny. She fake punched him in the shoulder. “Cheer up. It’s your last year, so you won’t hardly even have a chance to think about me.”
    Jard finally relaxed and let out a full belly laugh. “Nice try, but you can’t get rid of me that easily!” He took her hand and pulled her along. “I’m hungry. Let’s go snag some lunch.”
    “Hey! Jard! I’d like to keep my hand! Slow down or you’ll rip it off!” The remarks weren’t harsh. Instead of getting angry, she laughed and trotted after him. It wasn’t long before Jard opened the door to the Student Union.
    “All right. You’ve got some options. There’s a steakhouse, sandwich place um…what else? Looks like maybe some fatty, greasy place over there. Um… Oh! I almost forgot the pasta! So. Those are what you can get here. You can go somewhere else, but unfortunately” here he pulled a long, sad face. “You’d have to go without me as this is all I can afford right now.” She giggled. He grinned. “So? Which one?”
    Before Haily could answer, there was a light tap on her shoulder. She turned and exclaimed in surprise. “Gary?! Wha—what are you doing here?!”
    “I live here silly. And what are you doing here?”
    “OH! I didn’t have a chance to tell you yet! Here! Read this!” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a sleek, black envelope. She opened it with two hands and handed it to him. He read it, looked up at her and raised his eyebrows in a question.
    “So? How did this happen? Did you get a new interview?” He put the letter back in her hand.
    “Well, no.” She folded the letter and placed it back in her pocket. “I was going to call them, to schedule a new one, but I found this by the milk in the refrigerator before I could. Is it possible that he was actually who I was supposed to see? That maybe we both read the letter wrong?”
    “Not the both of us, no. And I would have met that guy before. I don’t have any idea who he was.” There was a brief silence as both thought. Someone cleared their throat behind Haily. She turned as Gary glanced up. Jard raised his eyebrows in a question.
    “Oh!” Haily exclaimed. “I’m sorry. Jard, this is Gary. He helped me out the other day. And Gary, this is Jard. He’s been my friend, and neighbor, kind of, for…wow, for ever it seems like. Do you mind if I invite Gary to lunch with us?” She spoke to each in turn, ending facing Jard.
    Jard shrugged. “Whatever. Yeah, he can come with us.” He didn’t fight to hard to keep the sullenness out of his voice. “Have you decided which restaurant you want to go to yet? What?” He was confused by the glare Haily aimed at him. He glanced over his shoulder, then back at Haily when he didn’t see anything. She put her arm straight as an arrow and pointed one finger. He turned so her hand was near his face and searched for what she was pointing at. When he saw it, he put his hand on Haily’s, folded it into a fist, and pushed her fist down to her side. He patted her shoulder, smiled at her, and walked away. She gaped. How could he just walk away like that? She watched him stop in front of Ri, hook her elbow and tow her over to stand with Haily and Gary.
    “I have some of my own introductions to make. Haily, Gary, this is Ri, a good friend of mine. Ri, this is Haily, my neighbor, and her friend, Gary. Would you like to come to lunch with us? I’m sure these two wouldn’t mind, would you?”
    Gary shook his head, glanced at Haily, and started. He’d never known she could possess such a venomous look. “You know Jard?” she spat. “I don’t think lunch will work today. Gary and I have some things to discuss. See you later.” With that she spun, and stalked away. Gary trotted after her in confusion. He glanced back to see that Jard and Ri had already forgotten them.
    He caught up with Haily and stopped in front of her. “Hey! What was that about?!”
    “Is he behind us?”
    “What?”
    “Is Jard behind us? Is he angry? Did he even notice that I refuse to talk to his girlfriend?”
    “No. He’s not going to come chasing after you.” She burst into tears. She searched her pockets, trying to find a Kleenex. Gary pulled one out of his pocket and held it out for her. “Here. Let’s find somewhere to sit, maybe buy some lunch and talk about this. Okay?” He caught her eyes. “Yeah? You want something to eat? What do you want, huh? How about some big, juicy burgers? Yep. I think that’s exactly what you need right now.” He grabbed her hand and towed her over to the steakhouse. “Two,” he replied when the host asked for party size. They followed to him to a small table in an out of the way corner. Once they were seated and their waiter had come and gone with their orders, Gary scooted his chair next to Haily’s. Gently, he placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I don’t understand what’s going on right now and if you don’t want to tell me, that’s all right.” He whispered into her copper hair. “But I will help if there is anything you want me to do.” He sat in silent support as she wiped her nose and her eyes. He released her when he felt her pull back. She sighed a watery sigh.
    “All right. Can we wait until after lunch? I want to eat something before I tell you.”
    “Oh, yeah. It’s no problem. I told you, I can wait forever.” He stopped talking as the waiter came back. They sat in silence as they ate, Haily thinking of the best way to tell Gary about Ri, and Gary thinking about Haily in general.
    Once the plates were cleared and the check paid, Haily stood and cleared her throat. “I don’t want to talk about this where someone else can hear.”
    Gary stood too. “Oh. Yeah. Sure. We can stop at my place.” He led the way out to the street and ducked right back inside. He shook his head like a dog and sprayed most of the people in the lobby with water. “Hmm. It’s raining pretty good. You stay here and I’ll find us an umbrella.”
    “What? No! I need something to jump start my brain. Rain will do just fine. If you want to stop somewhere and get an umbrella on the way to your place, no problem! Just don’t leave me here by myself. Please?” She did her best to hold back the tears, but she couldn’t stop all of them.
    Gary glanced around, shrugged, and took his jacket off. “All right. But you need to at least cover up a little.” He waved her off when she tried to protest and hand the jacket back. He wrapped her in it, stepped back, and laughed. “Well, it’s a little big. But it will work. You ready? Let’s go.” He looped his fingers through hers and led her down the street. It wasn’t long before they were both soaked through and Haily was starting to shiver. When he saw that, he pulled her close, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, trying to transfer some heat. He moved them along at a brisker pace. When she started shivering harder, he stopped, scooped her off her feet and jogged the rest of the way. Soon, he was fumbling with the door handle, attempting to open it without waking Haily, who had, somehow, fallen asleep. He finally got it open, got her inside, and stretched her out on the couch. He went back to get some firewood and shut the door. Quickly he built a hot fire in the hearth in the living room and went for some blankets. He sat in the chair across from her and watched, hoping for the best. As he watched, Gary thought hard about all of his options. When the shivering intensified, he picked the best choice. He unwrapped the blanket around Haily, snagged an extra large one, moved Haily to the floor, close to the fire, stripped off his wet clothes, and lay down next to her, wrapping both of them in the blanket. He pulled her close and willed heat into her cold form. He watched closely for the shivering to lessen. When it finally did, he relaxed and drifted into a light sleep.

    Haily woke to a warm room filled with dim light and sensed someone next to her. Normally, she would have started and pushed the person away, but this time she felt comforted by the presence. She sighed contentedly and stuck her cold nose into the bare shoulder next to her. She giggled when it jerked away. There was a rustling and the shoulder rose into the air. Sleepily she looked up into Gary’s anxious eyes. They softened as they examined her for any damage. A look of longing came into them and sparked a similar feeling in her. She was suddenly aware of how absolutely beautiful Gary was. Her heart rate and her breathing quickened. She couldn’t look away from the soft grey eyes hovering above her. She watched, mesmerized, as long lashes dipped and briefly concealed the beautiful irises. As the blink ended, Gary turned away. Haily started and realized she was staring. She blinked to make her mind work. She blinked again when she glanced at Gary, but for a much different reason than when she had before. Puzzled by what seemed to be a red smudge on his right shoulder, she crawled closer. She stuck her nose up as close as she could, gripped his shoulders, and whispered “Don’t move. There’s something on your back and I want to know what it is.”
    “It’s nothing. Just a birth mark.”
    “No no. It definitely has a shape. Give me a minute and I can tell you what it is.” Gary sighed and sat as still as possible. He listened to Haily’s mumblings. “Hmm. Looks like some kind of symbol. Hum hum.” He felt a finger tracing an outline of the mark. “I’ve got it!” An excited face peeked around his shoulder. He had to grin back at her enthusiastic expression. “You want to know what it is?! Yeah? Wait wait! You have to use a mirror, so you can see for yourself. Do you have any hand mirrors?” He directed her to mantle. She exclaimed as she picked up the extravagantly designed mirror. “Oh! This is gorgeous!” She looked around. “Hmm. We need a large mirror now. Where would one of those be?” She was answered with a laugh.
    “I can tell you where a couple are, but you’ll have to check to see if they’ll work.”
    “Well, ok.” He gave her instructions through the hallway and the description of a mid-sized framed mirror. “Try that one first. Don’t worry. I won’t go anywhere. Take your time. Explore a little. I just might take a nap.” He stretched, yawned and lay down. She watched for a few seconds then hurried into the hallway. As soon as she was gone, Gary climbed out of the blanket. He needed, at least, his pants before she came back. Quickly he pulled them on, hoping they were completely dry, which fortunately they were. He heard footsteps and rushed back to the blanket and threw it over himself.
    Haily stepped in the doorway and opened her mouth to say something. She stopped and did a double take. “Wow. He fell asleep fast.” She chuckled as her brain came up with different schemes for waking him up. She tiptoed up to the edge of the blanket and looked down. Hmm. Should I tickle him, or should I be a little more naughty? She didn’t have time decide because a hand whipped out from under the blanket and swiped her foot out from under her. She came tumbling down and landed nearly parallel to Gary. They rolled to face each other, he laughing and she pretending to fume. “Well now. Are you finished? I thought so. The mirror in the hallway will work just fine. Now be a gentleman and help me up.” She rolled to a sitting position and stuck her arms out expectantly. She felt toes brace against hers and a grip on her hands. There was a gentle tug and she rose smoothly to her feet. She nodded her head graciously. She maintained her composure until she saw Gary’s puzzled look. She giggled, grabbed the hand mirror, tucked her arm in his elbow and let him lead the way to the hall mirror.
    When they got there, she made him arrange himself with his back to the larger mirror and the small one in his hand. “Ok.” She pointed to the one in his hand. “You can move this mirror any way you need to in order to see. You got it?” She waited for Gary’s nod. “Ok. You might have to get closer. I’ll tell you what I think it is and you tell me if you can see it too.” Another nod. “A maple leaf.” She waited patiently, focusing on the mark. “Strange, I think I’ve seen this before somewhere.” After a while she looked up at Gary. He had a thoughtful expression on his face. “What?”
    “I’ll tell you later. Let’s go back in the living room where it’s warm. And we can finish the conversation we started earlier.”
    “Oh. Yeah. I forgot about that,” she muttered as they started back. Gary decided that her newfound silence was best left unbroken just then. He guided her to the couch where they sat, Haily snugged into the crook of his arm. “Um... I don’t know how to start. Once I get going, you probably shouldn’t stop me.” She paused for a few moments then turned her face toward him. “I’m going to have to tell a long story to get to the main point. You ready?” He nodded and she turned to face the fire. “All right. About mid-summer, my mom really started pushing college applications, and one day she finally just went crazy about it…” She told her story from beginning to end. “…I looked in the door and there was Ri, looking in the mirror. When I looked in the mirror to see her face, there was a some sort of evil demon thing standing there. I, of course, forgot all of this until just recently. When I did remember, I couldn’t bring myself to tell Jard. He was totally entranced by her.” She stopped talking and looked at Gary’s face. She was worried that the whole thing sounded outlandish, but she was certain that every word of it was true.
    “Wow… Just wow. I—I don’t even know what to say.” Haily’s heart sank. She had known that he would think she was crazy. “That was quite a day you had.” She raised her head and searched his face for signs of sarcasm. “What? Did you think I wouldn’t believe you? Oh ye of little faith.” There was a thoughtful moment. “I want to see something. We need to find Ri. Wait wait! Don’t get upset. I want to see if her appearance is any different for me now that I’ve heard this story. Ok?” He waited for her reluctant acceptance before continuing. “Is there anything you need from your place? Change of clothes? Hairbrush? Or are you comfortable the way you are?” Haily looked at herself. Her shirt was a little rumpled and her hair was an absolute rats nest.
    “Hmm. I could use a hairbrush, but you probably have one of those here.” She glanced up into a very tender look from Gary. Quickly she ducked her head in embarrassment. “Umm… I have to tell you something. I think you’re a really great guy, Gary, but Jard is a lot more to me than just a friend or neighbor.” She looked up again to see how he would take her statement. “I really appreciate your helping me out this much, but if you don’t want to have to compete with Jard, I would understand completely.” She looked back down, not understanding his expression. “That’s all. I just thought you should know.”
    She waited tensely for some response. As she was about to give up on one, a hand gripped her chin and tilted it up. Gary was so close that all she could see were his magnificent eyes. He kissed her, a long, teasing kiss. She responded. Later she would use the excuse that her body reacted before she understood what was happening. “You don’t mind my persuading you, do you?” he mumbled when he finally drew back.
    She sat, breathless, totally oblivious to the outside world. When she got control of herself, Gary was dressed and had straightened the living room, putting away all the blankets strewn around. He threw a brush to her and waited, silently, for her to finish. She tossed it back as he said, “We should really get going. Are you ready now?” She nodded and stood. Together they walked through the door and into bright sunlight.Webpage Title