Overcomer - The Journey by Judy Colella (top 10 non fiction books of all time txt) 📕

“How was Home Ec?” Celeste asked as they shuffled into the room with the other students.

“Lame. Geometry?”

“Lamer.”

Seating was neither alphabetical nor assigned, and the teacher was okay, but Celeste was not in the mood for class of any kind. All she wanted was to go home and experiment with the harp. Her father had promised to find an instructor for her and Tara, and they’d agreed to take turns practicing. It looked like a simple instrument, so until they had a teacher, she thought she could figure out a lot of it on her own.

A minor commotion at the door… an odd shift in atmosphere… Celeste turned to see Cian entering the classroom accompanied by nearly every girl in World History. He wasn’t smiling or talking, perhaps because none of the girls were speaking to him, merely giving him adoring looks as they piled in around and behind him.

“Oh, geez.” Katie rolled her eyes. “They look like a bunch of zombie sheep from a bad movie.”

“Okay, everyone, let’s get going here – bell’s due to ring any second.” Their teacher, Mr. Barata, put down the book he’d been reading and glanced up.

Cian stopped at the teacher’s desk and held out a green piece of paper Celeste recognized as another transfer slip. Behind him, the girls came to a stop in a sloppy semicircle. Celeste grinned. I should take a video of this and post it on Facebook…

Mr. Barata took the slip from Cian, scanned it, and then nodded. “Cian MacDara?” He’d pronounced it correctly.

“Yes, sir.”

“All right. Why don’t – ladies?” He pointed at the room behind them. “Take your seats, please. Now.”

Celeste nudged Katie, who was sitting next to her, and nodded at the girls who had begun to wander toward their seats. “Unbelievable.”

“Okay! As I was saying.” Mr. Barata paused, waiting until everyone was settled before looking back at Cian. “Why don’t you choose a desk?”

“Yes, sir.” Cian turned and searched the room. One of the three unoccupied seats was in front next to Janine Whitcomb; another was in the middle of the fourth row where he would be surrounded on all sides by girls, all of which, Celeste was sure, would have loved to have him near them; and one was in the second row where Celeste would be on his right, the other three desks around him occupied by boys.

To Celeste’s delight, he chose the desk beside hers. As she had in the mall two nights before, she gave him a brief smile, hoping he wouldn’t think she was like all the other girls.

Mr. Barata did the roll call and class began; the words, “Migration of the Celts” was still up on the board from the week before. “I assume you’ve all done the reading assignment, yes? Can anyone tell me the starting point of this migration, or at least one of them, since there are various schools of thought on this?”

Janine raised her hand; without waiting to be acknowledged, she blurted out, “The Volga Valley.”

“Thank you, Janine, but next time please wait until I call on you – there were other people with their hands up, too.” He looked around the room. “Ah. Cian, you’re probably the most Celtic in origin of anyone here, with the exception of Celeste Kelly and Mike Quinn. Since you’re new, you won’t have gotten the assignment, but you may still know something about this. What information, if any, have you been given about your ancestors?”

Cian frowned and stared at his desktop for a moment and then looked back at the teacher. “I’ve been told that the Celts were originally from an area between the northern countries and the southeastern part of what you call Germany. They moved around a lot and did a great deal of conquering. In fact, they defeated the Romans a number of times.”

Mr. Barata nodded. “Very good! And because of this outward migration they may have, at some point, ended up in the Volga Valley, but that was after the Bronze Age. All right.” He got up from the edge of the desk where he’d been perched, went to the wall behind it, and pulled down a map of Europe.

Using a laser pointer, he indicated the areas discussed. Celeste, who had been watching Cian from the corner of her eye, saw him give a start when the teacher turned on the pointer.

You’d think he’d never seen one of those before. Huh. And why did he say, “what you call Germany?” Something about Cian MacDara was odd, but Celeste couldn’t put a finger on what. She’d have to ask Katie if she’d noticed it, too.

“What part of Ireland is your family from?” Mr. Barata was addressing Cian.

“Tír Conaill.” He’d said it with an accent thicker than Celeste’s father’s. She looked at him, puzzled.

“What was that?” Mr. Barata put his head to one side.

Cian swallowed and took a deep breath. “Donegal. Sorry. That was the ancient name, after its first king, Niall.”

Mr. Barata sucked his front teeth with his tongue as he nodded. “So it was.” He folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes. “Do you speak Gaelic?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fluently?”

“I believe so sir, although I’ve had no one with whom to speak it for well, quite a while.”

“Not many Irish Americans know that language, but if you contact one of the Irish-American societies, they may find someone for you who does. You might also want to go online to check.”

“Thank you, sir. Perhaps I will.” He looked down, and Celeste saw him mouth the words, “Go where?” A second later, and before she could consider this strange reaction, the classroom disappeared…

*******

Katie, who was on Celeste’s right, glanced at her friend to see how she was reacting to the bizarre way their new classmate was behaving – how could a laser pointer startle him? – and found Celeste staring, eyes blank, at the map.

Oh, no, not again! Katie tore a sheet of notebook paper from her binder, ripped it in half, and crumpled the two pieces into balls.

From time to time, Celeste would go into a strange, trance-like state for no apparent reason. Sometimes her lips would move, but she was oblivious to everything and everyone around her. When it was over, she’d claim to have no memory of what had happened, and sometimes she’d start spouting information about things Katie was sure she’d had no prior knowledge.

Hoping to snap Celeste out of it before anyone else noticed, she picked up one of the paper balls and took aim…

*******

Celeste stood amid pristine beauty. Around her spread a lush green land, small animals grazing here and there on surrounding hills. A few scattered dirt and stone huts, a stretch of cobalt blue water that sparkled with sunlight in a bay with no ships but a crude dock on one side. From behind her came several voices; she turned.

A group of men, some in long robes, others in knee-length tunics, were standing in a circle. A problem with cattle raids was being discussed. After she’d been listening for a while, it occurred to her, based on their clothing and accents, that they couldn’t possibly be speaking English. She began to wonder how she could understand every word. Who were these men? If she asked them, would they understand her?

Before she could speak, a small object struck the side of her head. She brushed at it with one hand, and another followed it. Not painful, but nonetheless annoying, so she glanced around for the source…

…and saw Katie, eyebrows raised, and she was back in History class.

Hey! What was that? What happened? She shook her head to clear it and… what was wrong with Katie? Why was she tossing large spitballs at her? Class was boring, but still!

“... religion of the ancient Celts?” Mr. Barata’s voice faded back in.

Celeste raised her hand, realizing that despite having heard only the end of the question, she not only knew the answer, but needed to respond.

“Miss Kelly?”

“Their priesthood consisted of Druids who also served as lawmakers and arbitrators. When there was a dispute, they settled things at meetings where all kinds of matters were dispensed. The people felt safe with these religious rulers, who were so convinced of the reality of reincarnation that they would often agree to settle a current debt in the next life.”

Silence followed as everyone turned to stare at her. Celeste bit her lip. She’d sounded like Janine, for heaven’s sake! But wait – where did all that come from? She blushed, uncomfortable with the attention but hardly surprised. Most of the time, her replies were confined to an “I don’t know,” or the shortest possible correct answer. This time, though…

Mr. Barata cleared his throat. “Aha. So you know something about that, do you?”

“Seems so.” Don’t ask me to explain, don’t ask, please–

The bell rang.

“You’re on a roll,” Katie remarked as Celeste sprinted for the door.

“What?”

“Chill, Celeste! Slow down.”

When they were out in the hall, Celeste leaned back against the nearest wall and took a deep breath. “What are you talking about, Katie? How am I ‘on a roll’?”

Katie looked away for a few seconds, then back, sighing. “Okay, I can tell you’re horribly upset, and I don’t want to make it worse, but you… you did that… that thing again.”

Celeste’s eyes widened. “When?”

“Oh, I don’t know – a few minutes before turning into a walking Irish history book.”

“Crap.”

“Maybe you really should get, like, a brain scan or something.”

“You think I might have a – a brain tumor, like in that movie about the guy who suddenly got real smart and thought it was aliens?” Celeste was on the verge of tears.

“I – well, no, but – I mean…”

“Excuse me.” Cian had walked up behind Katie, but was staring at Celeste. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I was wondering if I could talk with you?”

“Uh, sure – about what?”

He shifted from one foot to the other, shoved a hand in his pocket and fidgeted with the strap of his backpack with his free hand. Finally he nodded and shrugged. “I remember seeing you the first time in the mall, er, Katie is it? And Celeste?”

Katie grinned. “Wow! Yeah! How’d you know? I mean, we never introduced ourselves or anything.”

“Your names have been called in every class I attend with you, remember?”

“Wow, duh.” Katie rolled her eyes. “Well, okay, so what do you need?”

“I thought I only wanted to talk to Celeste, but it occurs to me that you probably know her so well that it would make sense to talk to you, too.”

“Hello? Celeste here.”

Cian blushed.

This guy is full of surprises! thought Celeste. Somehow, blushing didn’t seem like something a boy so incredible would do, and she was enchanted.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Look, can we meet after school? I think perhaps both of you can help me with something.”

Celeste exchanged a look with her friend, and they replied at the same time. “Sure!” She wrinkled her nose, embarrassed. “We don’t normally don’t do that.”

“Really? I rather thought you would.” He grinned, adjusting his books under one arm. “Anyway, where can we meet?”

“How about the library?” suggested Katie.

He nodded. “That’s perfect. See you later.”

As she and Katie watched him walk away, Celeste became aware of the cold, hostile glares of every girl who happened to be in the corridor at that moment.

Katie stood taller and glared back. “You look like pissed-off rabbits. Get a hobby.” She turned to Celeste. “Shall we?”

“We shall.”

As they went down the hall side by side, Celeste could almost feel daggers of jealousy thudding into her spine.

“Stupid rabbity-sheep creatures,” Katie muttered as they turned a corner. “Why don’t they talk to him instead of following him around, glassy-eyed and almost slipping in their own drool?”

“Beats me. I’m so glad we got over that stage early on. Not that I’m not