Vanish (The Frosted Realm Series, #0) by Stephanie Kline

Author:Stephanie Kline
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult, YA, Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Pop Culture, Stephanie Kline, Kline, Frosted, Fantastical, Mythical, Realm, Adventure
Publisher: Clever Girl Writing, LLC
Published: 2020-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

“So, after first period, I’ll hurry over and meet you in your classroom. Then, we’ll walk together to second. I’m right across the hall.” Ethan walked beside me, his anxiousness radiating from his person. “If you feel the least bit uncomfortable, just tell me, and we can go. No one will blame you for it. Oh, and if you need...”

I stopped and grabbed Ethan by the arm, pulling him to the side. I closed my eyes and pushed the irritation down. I knew he was just trying to help, but he was driving me crazy. When I opened them, his forehead was pulled together, and his eyes shifted wildly over my face. “What? What is it? Are you uncomfortable? Damnit. I should have made a code word for it. I have spent my life watching spy movies, and when we actually need a code word, I blank.”

“Ethan,” I said, putting my hand gently on his arm. “Calm down. Pull yourself together. I am going to be fine. If I want to go home, I’ll go home. I’m here, and being here means everyone is going to be staring at me, wanting to ask questions, but will be too afraid to. The last thing I need is for my best friend to act like I’m going to fall apart.”

He nodded. “Sorry. I'm just worried. I know these jerks can be brutal. I just wished you had taken a couple of more days.”

I sighed. “To do what? Sit around my grandmother’s house and wait?”

“No, I guess that wouldn’t help.”

I forced a smile and pulled him with me toward the classrooms. “No, it won’t help. What will help is having some sort of normal routine.”

We approached my first-period class, and I patted Ethan on the head. He glanced around me at the teacher and then turned, giving me a nod. “See you in an hour.”

I saluted him. “One hour. Got it.”

As he left, I chuckled to myself. I was glad I had a friend like Ethan. He and my grandmother were the only two people helping me to keep myself sane during everything. I stared at the floor in front of me as I walked into English. My feet slowed, though, as the hum of chatter abruptly stopped. Very slowly, I looked up and around at the twenty-seven faces, all staring at me with varying degrees of pity and curiosity. I thought I had prepared myself for it, but those deepening glares, the whispers, they caught me in a way that surprised me.

I had never been a sensitive girl when it came to caring what others thought. I had given that up in the third grade when I decided faking my way through life was far too exhausting. But in that moment, my hand crushing the strap of my bookbag, I felt myself recoiling, sinking back into the center of myself.

A loud clap of thunder roared, startling everyone, including me. I gasped slightly and looked out the window as the winds blew the limbs of the Willow tree out front wildly back and forth.

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