Soul Searcher by D.M. Richardson (novel24 .TXT) 📕

Our arms were almost full and I found myself hoping we were done again. And again she led me to another store. This one made me blush. It was a lingerie store. She walked through and grabbed a strapless bra, one that the straps were interchangeable, and a push up bra. I started heading to the counter but she stop and picked out a shear nightgown, and a bra and panty set that were meant for nothing more than showing off what it was supposed to cover. When I protested she told me not to worry it was only for when I wanted to feel sexy. I sighed but didn’t protest any more when she put it on the counter with the rest of them.

Afterwards she led me to a makeup store promising that it was the last stop. When she tried to pick up a variety of different products. Some of which I had never heard of I finally put my foot down.

“I don’t wear makeup.”

“Not even a little?”

“No it takes too much time and why would I wear it to work on cars?”

“Please just a little?” I sighed. She looked so cute when she pouted.

“Fine I’ll use eyeliner.” she squealed.

“Okay what about some eye shadow. They have some that basically tell you how to do it with the way its kept in the container.”

“Okay but only dark colors I don’t look very good in bright ones.” she nodded and picked out some black and silver that matched my clothes.

Finally we made our way to the car with our bags. We had to put them in the trunk because they wouldn’t fit in the back seat. We stopped by KFC on the way to the house. When we walked in Koner rushed to us to help us with our burden. His eyes widened as he took in all of our bags. He looked from her to me and back.

“What did you do to the poor girl?” he asked. She looked at me in surprise.

“Nothing we just went shopping. You should see all of the cute clothes we found for her. I can’t wait to see her in them.”

“Well hon. Do you think it might have made her a little uncomfortable?” he asked with true concern. Sara looked at me with worry written all over her. I smiled at them both.

“No I had fun. Really.” I assured them and realized I meant it. I hadn’t even noticed my ability trying to push through my control. I felt oddly relaxed. Sara beamed and Koner looked convinced. “I’ll just take these up to the room and then I’ll come back to eat.” I grabbed all of the bags the best that I could and started up the stairs.

I dropped them on the floor in front of the closet door, and heaved a huge sigh. I may have felt relaxed, but I was also exhausted. I decided to put everything away later and hurried down stairs to eat.

I cracked my knuckles in frustration as I watched Rayne read her book in the cafeteria. She’s been living here for two weeks and she won’t so much as talk to me. It doesn’t matter what I do or say anytime I approach her with anything other than a physics question she shoots me down and pulls away. She’s impossible to get close to. What I wouldn’t give to just be able to reach out and touch her. To find out everything I want to know in just one touch.

I looked back to my friends and tried to pick up their conversation. It was useless. I had no idea what they were talking about. After a couple minutes of being stuck in my own mind I was jarred when a group of four girls came to our table. It took all of my self control not to groan.

Elizabeth was among them. Actually she was kind of the leader of their group. They were basically the outcasts except even the outcasts wouldn’t except them. They were pretty much the least attractive girls in the school. But they were girls that had obvious potential. The ones that at the ten year reunion they would turn from caterpillars to butterflies, and would have success added on to it. But right now they were all gangly, knock kneed, and braces. Liz was the leader just because she was the most attractive of the unattractive. Instead of a weight problem or braces she was just plain. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about her. Average looks and average grades. She could be William’s twin.

I had the unfortunate luck to do something nice for her once. And since then she seems to think she has a chance with me. I’ve turned her away at every opportunity, but she never gave up. She was constantly there always hanging on my arms and sitting as close as she could. I’ve entertained the idea of giving her a shot, but it would just be to pass the time and I couldn’t bring myself to do that to her.

She pulled a chair over and sat as close to me as she could manage. I was drastically losing my patience with her.

“Hey guys what’s up?” she asked taking the lead, and trying to dispel the tension their arrival caused.

“Nothing” Jacob answered uneasily. The guys knew how much Liz annoyed me. We all sat in an awkward silence for a few moments. Finally I’d had enough.

“Look Liz we were just talking about something really important.”

“Oh really what about?” Sometimes I wondered if she was really the airhead she seemed or if it was all an act.

“Well that’s kind of the point. It was a private conversation.” She looked at me expectantly “As in not something we can talk about with you. Or around you. And we really need to finish talking so…” She blinked twice then sighed.

“Okay we’ll be going then. Call me sometime?” she stood still staring at me. I gave a noncommittal sound and her and her friends walked away.

“So what important private conversation were we having?” Will asked with raised eyebrows.

“How in the hell to get her to leave me alone.” They all laughed and relaxed. Suddenly Will sat up straight and turned in his seat. I looked over to see what had caught his attention.

Rayne had stood and was putting her mp3 player up. It was an everyday thing with her. She sat by herself at lunch. Never talked to anyone. Always left when someone tried to sit with her. And after lunch was half over she would put her stuff up and go to the library until class.

“What’s going on?” Frank asked.

“The shows about to start.”

“What show?” I asked uneasy. She hadn’t made any friends and made more than one enemy since she had gotten here.

“She’s in choir with me, and has an amazing voice. Some of the girls are going to ask her to help them with their songs for state.” Will was average in almost everything. Except his voice. He was an amazing singer, and was almost famous for it in the school’s music circle.

“Why didn’t you tell us you had a class with her? We’ve been trying to figure her out for weeks and you could have given us more information.” Jacob accused. Will just shrugged.

“It’s her business if she can sing. Everyone doesn’t need to know everything about her.”

I looked up when she was level with our table. Just as three of the die hard choir girls walked up to her. Effectively cutting her off and trapping her.

“Hi I’m Cassy can we talk to you about something?” Rayne’s eyes were as wide as saucers and she looked like a startled rabbit.

“Umm okay.” Cassy smiled. She had a slight gap in her front two teeth but other than that she was pleasant enough. She had strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was pale with a slight splash of freckles across her nose.

“Great so we’ve heard you in choir and you’re awesome. We sing solos and we have an ensemble that we compete in for state each year. Each year we do okay but the judges always say that there’s nothing to put us apart from every other contestant. They say that we border on boring. Well we were just wondering if maybe you could help us out?” she had so much hesitation I wondered if she would even wait for the answer. I didn’t know much about Rayne, but I knew she wasn’t a people person.

Rayne stared at her for a count of ten. Then cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Well it’s not that I wouldn’t like to, but I don’t do well with people. Apparently I have an attitude problem or something. Umm I’m sorry, but I can’t.” Cassy’s face fell and she looked so down trodden like her last hope failed her. She mumbled an okay and thanks anyway then turned and started walking away with her friends right behind her. I watched Rayne for a moment as different emotions passed over her face. Embarrassment, guilt, annoyance, guilt, frustration, and then more guilt.

“Wait” she called seeming completely defeated. The girls turned to look back with so much hope it was sad. “I work during the week so we’ll have to figure something out for the weekend and use the music room when we can.”

All three girls started squealing and jumping up and down with joy. Rayne winced as if the sound was painful. I kind of thought so too.

“Really? You’ll help us?” Cassy asked smiling from ear to ear.

“Yes, but don’t make a big deal out of it.” she answered hurriedly and the girls immediately calmed down.

“Of course” finally the girls hurried away and Rayne’s shoulders sagged a little like she was taking on a huge weight.

“I knew it.” Will said. I looked at him expecting him to be talking to us. Instead he was still facing Rayne. She looked back at him.

“Knew what?” she asked with narrowed eyes.

“That underneath that tough exterior you’re all soft.” She took a step toward him and all of us tensed. All of us except Will.

“Don’t make me show you just how tough I really am.” It wasn’t until she was walking away with a slight smile that I realized they were just teasing each other.

Will turned back around chuckling softly and looked up to see us all staring at him.

“What was that?” Jacob demanded.

“What was what?” Will asked looking down at the table.

“She talked to you.” I said it came out almost like an accusation. He shrugged.

“So?”

“So she doesn’t talk to anyone.”

“She talks to me sometimes.” Frank said softly. We all turned on him. He lifted one shoulder. “Her locker is just a few down from mine. We see each other in the morning and after school. She doesn’t say much. It’s mostly a good morning and have a good day kind of thing.”

“Well