**While The World Is Crashing Down** [ Part 7 ] ^^I’ll Teach You to Fly On Hidden Wings…^^

© Jessica Swinburne 2011

[ Part 1 ]
[ Part 2 ]
[ Part 3 ]
[ Part 4 ]
[ Part 5 ]
[ Part 6 ]

AN: Um… Hi? : D

School finished later that week and the first week of holidays was gone by the time the sun came back.
I had generally good marks so my Dad just grunted when I gave him my report. He also didn’t have to be around to enforce any punishment as was a frequent occurrence the first year or so after Mom died, so I was home alone a lot, so I got to ride and play with my horses a lot.
When I wasn’t home by myself, I was either with Cya, Seth or Rain, or some combination thereof. Rain and I hadn’t been alone once yet though. Cya and Seth were always there, which I didn’t really mind, as I was trying to both decide what I kept seeing when I looked at Rain, never mind what I kept feeling, both of which confused me to no end.
I was brushing one of my horses, StormFire, when my phone went off. I didn’t bother checking the caller ID, I just answered.
“Hello?” I said, trying to sound as bored as possible.
“Come to movies with us? We’re bored?” A voice pleaded on the other end of the phone.
“Hi Cy… what we gonna watch love?” I pressed the phone between my shoulder and ear and carried on brushing Fire.
“It doesn’t matter, I just want out of Seth’s stuffy house. Rain’s coming now, then we can pick you up?” I laughed. Clearly I hadn’t ever really had a choice in the matter.
“Hmmm… Okay, see you in twenty?” She squealed in excitement.
“Yay yay yay yay-”
“Cy, chill, I’ll see you soon, bye.”
“Bye!” I laughed; ending the called and putting the phone back into the back pocket of my pants, and quickly finish what I was doing.
I got back to the house and pealed my sticky clothes off and showered quickly, in relatively cold water, because it’s like 40 degrees out and even hotter in the stables.
The cold water felt good against my skin, washing the dirt of the day away, making it all clean and new. I turned the water off after a good 15 minutes and ran a comb through my wet hair quickly.
I threw on the coolest clothes I could find in my closet, run an eye-liner pencil over my eyelids and shoved a hoddy into my bag for when it got cold in the movie theatre.
They rang the bell for the gate and I pressed the button to open it. I grabbed my wallet with my money and credit card in, and tossed that and my phone into my bag.
I got downstairs just as they pulled up next to the house, so I set the alarm, locked the house and jogged toward the car.
I pulled the back door open and flopped down onto the seat.
“Hey love!” Was Cya’s enthusiastic greeting from the front passenger seat. We were in Seth’s car, in case you were wondering.
“Hi ange.” I told Cya in way of saying hello, kissed Seth on the check and hugged Rain, regardless of the fact that I knew he didn’t like it, and he only let me do it. It made me feel all nice inside. Weird, right?
“Can we play music?” I asked, pocking my head into the front half of the car.
“Sure,” Seth smiled at me, as he manoeuvred out of the drive. “What you want on?”
“Anything.” I didn’t really dislike most music.
“Okay, I’m just gonna set my iPod to shuffle then, okay?”
“Sounds good to me.” Year 3000 by Busted filled the car as we reached the gate and I opened it with my remote.
I opened the window and leaned back on the door, with my feet slang over Rain and Rain’s arm over my legs.
It was little things that had changed since the day in the Gardens. He sat next to me, he stood next to me, he smiled at me and let me hug him and put various parts of myself on his lap. The only thing I hadn’t done was actually sit on his lap.
He leaned his head on the window and looked over at me. He smiled a coy little smile at me, which never failed to make me grin.
His smile faded into a hint of itself, just to tease me, and we looked at each other for a solid 3 minutes.
He broke contact and bent down to get something out his bag, and twisting my ankle toward him, started drawing on it. What he got from his bag being a pen.
He liked drawing on me, was something else I had discovered. Cya asked him to draw on her sometimes too, but he just wasn’t comfortable touching some people, so he didn’t really want too, but being him, he did.
He did seem to like Cya but it was only as a friend, and he didn’t like it when she flirted with him, I thought it was quiet funny actually.
Rain finally released my ankle about two minutes before we reached the theatre, and I brought my legs back toward me to see what he had drawn. On my ankle sat a perfect little butterfly ready to take flight.
I looked up at him and smiled. “Thanks.” I mouthed it because he wouldn’t have been able to hear me over the music anyway.
“Anytime,” came his reply.
Seth pulled the car into a parking lot of the mall, and killed the engine. He unplugged his iPod, cutting the music off mid-song and stuck that and his phone into his pockets. Cy hopped out and reached back in for her bag and then slammed the door shut, while I opened my own door and put my legs on the tarmac. Before I got out I turned and gave Rain one last smile before I too got out and closed my car door.
I slang my bag over my shoulder and yanked Cya into a hug, which she happily returned.
We let each other go but grasped hands and started walking toward the entrance with the boys trailing us.
Cya started talking about some boy she had her eye on, and I replied with all the enthusiasm required of a best friend when it came to boys.
When never stopped to wait for the guys, and they never bothered catching up, so Cy and I were discussing whether it was worth shaking in our seats from the suspense that a horror would bring about or we needed the good laugh that romance/comedy was sure to produce.
“Anything but romance,” Rain commented as he came to a stop next to us, where we were standing contemplating the movie posters.
“Why?” Cya asked, blinking three times in a row to look confused.
“Romances are sappy.”
“Not always.” I put in, without looking at the movie posters.
“They are in the movies.” Now I looked at him, and let a half smile over-come my face.
“Yeah, they are, huh?” I laughed and shook my head, turning back to the posters.
I noticed that Seth had come to stand next to Cya. I glanced at Rain, and briefly wondered if he was jealous that I always seemed to be next to Rain now. I demised the idea as irrational; Seth had never had an issue with my boyfriend or the attention I gave them before. He knew he would always be my best friend.
“Romance is over-rated anyway,” I said, rather cynically.
He didn’t reply.
“I wanna watch thaaaaat one!” Cya said, about two decibels too high, pointing at a movie poster.
“That one it is then,” I said, giving no one else the option.
I grabbed Cya’s hand and dragged her into the ticket line, and we brought four tickets for the soonest show for the movie Cya wanted to watch. On the up side, because the cinemas were in the middle of movies, there were only very short lines. On the down side, we had an hour to kill till our movie came on.
“Should we get something to eat?” Seth suggested, looking around the cinema hub, looking for something interesting to do that we hadn’t already done before.
Rain, on the other hand, was looking around like a five-year-old who was seeing the sea for the first time. Well at least I only saw the sea for the first time when I was five. The nearest beach was a four hour drive away, and we only seemed to go there every school holiday. My Dad owns a house down at the coast, which he brought the year I was eleven. My Mom and Dad and I used to go, but since my Mom died, Dad hadn’t been back.
Although he had wanted to sell it, I had begged him to keep it. It was such a part of my Mom. I didn’t want to give it up, even though it was still painful to go there sometimes. So Seth and I went two years after my Mom died, and had been ever since.
That’s where we meet Cya for the first time. Imagine our surprise when she turned up at our school three days later.
And we had all been going there during the holidays ever since. The amount of time and point of time that we went for varied. But we always went.
“Yes!” Cya squealed, and I covered the ear that was closest to her.
“You two go eat; I think Rain wants the tour.” He raised his eye-brows at me. “Unless you don’t…?”
“I do!” He said quickly.
“Later, behave you guys, don’t do anything I would.” I winked and grinned at Seth and set off at trot with Rain following, slowing after about a dozen steps.
“Rain…”
“Ri…” He had called me Ariah for about two days, until I death glared it out of him.
“Who was your first girlfriend?” He walked with slow deliberate steps, and I skipped in front of him mostly.
“This gothic chick named Lianne. Totally selfish cow. Dated me to make one of my friend’s jealous.”
“Bi…” I started to call her a long list of lured and un-lady-like names before I remembered my no swearing rule.
Rain laughed and a grin broke out over his face, “It’s okay, that was like, the 5^th grade.”
“Still.”
He grabbed my hand then, and pulled me so I was walking next to him. I let him.

**While The World Is Crashing Down** [ Part 6 ] ^^I’ll Teach You to Fly On Hidden Wings…^^

© Jessica Swinburne 2011

[ Part 1 ]
[ Part 2 ]
[ Part 3 ]
[ Part 4 ]
[ Part 5 ]

AN: One word. Chaos 

[{ Part 6 }]

I wasn’t sure how long I walked before I found them. They were sitting on a bench in front of a dark little pond that made me a little depressed just looking at it, and yet it had its own strange beauty.
Rain looked up at me as I advanced slowly towards them. They were both silent and looking in different directions.
Seth looked at Rain, and then followed his gaze. He didn’t seem surprised to see me.
I stopped about a meter from them and looked at Seth, eyeing him questioningly. When he looked away, I crossed the distance and sat next to Rain.
I looked into his eyes, not questioning, not demanding and not trying to extract information. Just trying to figure out what happened.
“I passed out.” His voice was horse, like he was sick, or had been crying. But he couldn’t have been crying, because his eyes were fine, not red, or red-rimmed.
“I heard.” Our gazes didn’t break, or falter.
“Are you okay?”
“Did you just ask me, if I’m okay? Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Disbelief coloured my voice, but it wasn’t harsh or accusing.
“I’m always okay.” He was talking in barely above a whisper. I guess we both were.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I didn’t say you had too.”
“Rain…” Seth cut in, and we both looked at him in surprise. I, at least, had forgotten he was there. “We’re just trying to figure you out. You don’t have to push us away; we can deal with whatever goes on in your life.”
“How can you say that if you don’t know what that is?” He looked away from us both and out over the water.
“Because we deal with each other.” I put in. “And while that might be very different from you, we do understand people who hurt a lot, because we deal with each other.”
“Seth?”
“My Dad’s mean and my Mom’s a little psycho, and they fight almost constantly, and have since I was little.” I looked at him with surprised, very few people knew his Dad, and the stuff he said to Seth, but even fewer people knew his Mom was crazy, and getting crazier, or that their relationship was unstable, to say the least.
He met my eyes. And I knew trusting Rain was, for him, a way to gain his trust.
Rain turned his eternally sad eyes on me, “Your Mom died.” His barriers were still there, but they were slipping.
“Yeah, and my Dad can’t look at me.” I smiled bitterly and shook my head, and looked down at my hands, and then over the water. “You’d think we’d cling to each other for support, right? No such luck. He loved, loves, my Mom so much, her death destroyed him, and he needed someone to blame. He choose me.” My voice turned emotionless as I hid behind my own barriers.
I felt a hand twist itself into mine, and I looked down at our, now, joined hands. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Wasn’t it? Really? Are you sure?” A bitter edge crept into my voice.
“Yes, I am,” I looked up and him and saw all the conviction I had hidden from for five years, so I wouldn’t blame my Mom for leaving me. It wasn’t her fault she died. So I had blamed myself. “Stop blaming yourself, you didn’t kill her. You loved her, I can tell, you loved her enough to blame yourself and not blame her for dying. It’s no-one’s fault she died.”
“She’s gone, and I’ll never see her again, and I’m not even allowed to be sad, because ‘It’s not what she would have wanted,’ so what? What if I want to be sad? What if I can’t deal?”  By the time I was finished, tears ran down my face, unchecked.
“Then you trust the people who love you to help you.”
“Then why don’t you let us help you?” My tears dried, my voice lost its hysterical edge and became deadly serious and I stood to face him all at the same time.
“Because no-one has ever understood enough to help me.” He lost all pretence and just told us the truth. “I will trust you enough, one day…”
“But not yet,” Seth broke his silence, and Rain turned to him.
“But not yet,” Rain nodded his head.
“Rain…” I said, consigned to the fact that he wasn’t going to open up to us then and there.
“Ri.” I sighed and dropped back into my seat next to Rain.
“Can we go home, please?” The emotional strain hit me then, and my head started to pound.
“Where we going?” Seth asked.
“Mine. My home.” They nodded, and Rain got up and pulled me to my feet. We stood there with my hands in his. I looked from them to his eyes, and saw trust there, along with an emotion that I never wanted to go away.

**While The World Is Crashing Down** [ Part 5 ] ^^I’ll Teach You to Fly On Hidden Wings…^^

© Jessica Swinburne 2011

[ Characters ]
[ Part 1 ]
[ Part 2 ]
[ Part 3 ]
[ Part 4 ]

AN: This is mostly a filler, I just wanted to put something up. Anyway, this is dedicated to Kerry!

[{ Part 5 }]

Rain didn’t turn up at the cars after that, so we left.
I had come to think of his picture as the same kind of revelation that me telling him about my Mom had been.
It told me about him. It told me he had some hidden pain, as cliché as that is.
Whatever he life had entailed before he came here, it wasn’t an easy one.
How did it get this understanding from a picture? No idea. I just did.
Seth was worried, I could tell. He knew something was up with Rain and his life too.
Cya was peacefully oblivious, as she normally was.
The next day was thankfully dry, but still cold, with no break in the apparently endless bank of clouds.
Also, no Dad, so I only got to school once the bell had gone. So I didn’t see Seth, Cya, or Rain.
I didn’t even pretend to listen in History, or my next class, or the next.
I was walking towards our usual break spot when I stopped.
“…He totally just passed out when he was walking into class. I’ve never seen Seth Hallo move so fast, he was at the back of the room, but he got to Rain in like, 3 seconds.” One of the senior girls was talking to her friend at her locker just around the corner from where I was.
“What did they do with him?” Her friend asked, sounding appropriately shocked.
“Oh Seth took him to the nurse, and after that Chris saw them get into Seth’s car and drive off.”
I turned and fled. I texted Cya and told I was sick and was going home and would see her later.
Seth’s house was 15 minutes from the school, but I swore I got there in 5.
It was a gamble to assume that they were at Seth’s and not Rain’s mystery house, but I had to start some place. Unfortunately I was wrong.
His car wasn’t in the drive, and there wasn’t anyone in the house.
I didn’t know where Rain lived, so I couldn’t exactly go look there.
I tried to think where Seth might take him, but I just didn’t know.
I felt an uncontrollable sense of panic. I felt like I was losing someone else that I loved.
I pulled my hand through my hair and sat down hard on Seth’s front steps. I pulled my knees up to my chest, put my arms around them, and rested my head on them.
I sat up abruptly. I remember that Seth used to take me to the most beautiful gardens about 20 minutes from town. I didn’t know why I thought about them then, but it did, and I wasn’t going to ignore it.
I jumped down the stairs and ran to my car, but paused with my hand on the door handle. What was I going to do if I found them? Did it really matter? I decided that it wasn’t, and got into the car.
Gradually houses and buildings changed to less populated scenery. I forced down the irrational panic, and made myself keep my car’s speedometer below 100. Crashing wouldn’t help anyone.
The gardens truly were and had always been incredibly beautiful, but when I drove in, none of it even drew me out of myself.
Once I had stopped driving, I sat and stared out the window blankly for a moment.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the picture of the rain and the girl whose face you can’t see.
“What deep, dark secrets are you hiding Rain Winters?” I threw the picture down on the passenger seat and got out the car.
This made me realize that I had no idea where they would be. It was a huge place.
“Oh no…” Now I was talking to myself, added to the fact that I was acting like an irrational psychopath.
Why didn’t I just try to phone them? I was going to do just that when I saw Seth’s car. Which completely side tracked me.
I walked onto one of the paths that lead into the gardens. I wandered for about half an hour before I stopped to think where Seth had always taken me, when I realized there had a different place for every mood, occasion and celebration, and that he had only ever taken to one place twice.
So I headed toward that place. It was an incredibly happy place, where I had two of my favourite memories.
It was secluded and hard to find, being hidden in the trees, but once you went in the garden itself, it was light; the cream coloured stones reflected the cloud-defused light.
I glanced around and stepped out into the garden.  I walk down the paths of the gardens, over the bridges, and paused on a part of the path and stood in the pond itself.
The garden, which wrapped around pond, was styled completely Japanese, from the bridges, to the shingled gazebo, to the statues that dotted the entire place.
But no Seth, and no Rain.
I crossed the small garden from where I stood to the exit opposite from the entrance I had come through.
I stopped and looked back at the place where I was almost completely sure dreams came true. And turned my back and continued walking down the path.

**While The World Is Crashing Down** [ Part 4 ] ^^I’ll Teach You to Fly On Hidden Wings…^^

© Jessica Swinburne 2011

[ Characters ]
[ Part 1 ]
[ Part 2 ]
[ Part 3 ]

[{ Part 4 }]

We had seen Cya sucking face with her latest boyfriend a little after Seth had gotten to school, and as was protocol had left her be.
She bounded up to me after 1^st period, and knew something was off when she hugged me, but, bless her; she had let it be, and started chattering on about something inconsequential so I didn’t have to listen.
Cya’s cool that way, she has subjects that when she talks about them she needs my attention, and subjects that she keeps in reserve for when I don’t want to talk, or listen.
I didn’t talk about my Mom, I just didn’t. It was just too painful. Ever since she died, there had been a part of me missing. My father didn’t fill it, not that he was around enough to help even if it did. She had just been such a huge part of me. She still was. I kept expecting her to barrel into my room in the morning and hug me awake, and badger me to make her cookies in the afternoon.
But she was gone; she would never wake me up in the mornings again, or nag me about anything ever again. I missed all of her, and talking about it hurt, so after the first two week I simply refused to talk about her death, eventually I could talk about her, as long as it wasn’t anything to do with how she died, or a few weeks before or after she died.
Cya knew it, Seth knew it, and now Rain would know it too. I knew Seth would tell him not to bring it up again. And I seriously doubted I would. But then, what happened this morning?
Was I going insane? No, I was already insane, had been for years. Cya reminded me every opportunity she got.
We arrived at our class room, and walked all the way to the back of the room, before sitting down next to each other.
It was math now, not my favourite subject, but I was pretty good at it, so it wasn’t that bad. Plus the teacher was hilarious, it’s always better when your teacher is awesome.
“Ri,” Cya dramatically tossed her hair over her shoulder, “are you going to come to this party on Saturday?”
“Yeah, why ange?” I looked over at her quizzically.
“I was wondering if I could stay over at your place afterward.” She asked hopefully.
“As long as there isn’t a boy coming home with us too.” I grinned at her, so she knew I was teasing. Cya dated a lot of boys, and really like a good make out session, but she wasn’t actually a slut by any means.
“That won’t be a problem.” As she finished her sentence, her face lit up and she grabbed my hand and shook me, “We should totally invite Rain! I mean we got invited before he got here, but Ashley won’t mind!” Ashley was the girl whose party it was.
“No, she won’t.” I had to admit, the party looked all the more fun with Rain there. I liked to party, but I didn’t drink so it was a bit hard to really get into it, unless I made an effort. “We’ll ask him after school.”
Cya smiled and did a little jig in her chair. I laughed at her and turned back to the front as the teacher came in.
The day went on, I saw Rain at lunch, and during break. We didn’t bring up what happened that morning.
The last two lessons of the day were always my favourite. Also the ones where they haven’t been making us do anything.
Science, then English last. Science was fun even when we were working, because my science teacher was also an awesome teacher, and he did fun things with us. But English was my real passion. I loved reading, and poetry intrigued me to no end. I worked hard, and I was naturally good at it, and that’s how I got into the advanced class, with the good Seniors.
How anyone managed this was that you get really good marks, you take a few classes at the local collage and you take a really hard test, if you pass, you’ve graduated High School English and you go to Advanced English.
There were only about 15 kids in the class, and we didn’t get new additions often.
Which is why I almost fell out my chair when Rain walked in.
I quickly leaned over to the girl who was sitting next to me, [the desks are attached in pairs] and asked if she could sit somewhere else, so a friend could sit next to me. She complied, with a smile too.
Rain raised an eye-brow in question and I beckoned him over to sit with me. He sat and dropped his bag to the floor with a ‘thump’.
“They discovered that my old High School had a program like this, and that I was it that one, so they decided I should be in this one too.” He explained.
“I didn’t say a thing.” I said with a quiet undertone of humour.
“You thought, ‘What the heck is he doing here?’” He smirked when he said it though.
“I did, did I?”
“Yes, yes you did.” It was a nice smirk.
“So, you’re a clever boy, huh?” I grinned, and turned toward the front, but continued the conversation.
“A clever boy? Well, no, but I do seem to be good at English.” He said getting something out his bag.
“An artist… and a writer too?” I questioned. Sometimes, at our houses, during break, and class too [so says Seth] Rain draws… like really draws. Beautifully.
“Not a writer, but I do like to think I’m an artist.”
“Well, I haven’t seen a lot of your stuff, but what I have seen is…” I whistled and shook my head, “Beyond brilliant.”
“Thanks…” He flushed, embarrassed.
“Don’t be embarrassed, it’s true.”
He smiled at me.
“Will you draw me something?” I smiled sweetly, but genuinely, at him.
“What do you want me to draw?”
“What can you draw? Or would an easier question to answer be what can’t you draw?” I asked with a raised eye-brow.
“Not to sound cocky, but I like to think I can draw anything. If I can’t draw something, I practice until I can.” I grinned. A true artist right here.
“Rain… draw me rain.” I smiled uncertainly at, wondering if he would take it the wrong way. Then I quickly added, “Please.”
“Rain…?” He seemed to be asking if I wanted him to draw him, or actual rain.
“Rain, as in water falling from the heavens.” I explained with a quiet chuckle.
“Oh, okay I can do that… What kind of rain?” He questioned further.
“Any type,” I shook my head, as if trying to clear it, “Any type at all.”
He nodded, and the teacher walk in, not that would have stopped anyone talking, not at this time in the year, but he took out his sketch pad. This affectively ended the conversation.
I took out a note book and doodled, until the end of the lesson.
When the bell rung, Rain looked up and around, seemingly wondering where the time went. I stood, put my stuff away, and waited.
“You’re waiting for me?” He asked, looking stunned.
“Yeah, why not?” He just shook his and shoved his sketch book into his bag.
I skipped out and Rain followed with a perplexed expression on his face.
I walked slowing, after I stopped skipping, finding no reason to rush.
“Ri.” I turned. Rain had stopped walking. “Take it.”
He had taken a piece of paper out of his bag. I took it and saw what I assumed was what he drew for me in class. It was a girl, with long hair whipping around her face, looking out at an endless cascade of a crazy storm.
I looked up into his eyes. They had turned light green; like they did when he let his barriers slip. Like he was feeling some intense, confusing emotion.
Then he walked past me and was already all the way to the stairwell when “Wow…” finally slipped out my mouth.

**While The World Is Crashing Down** [ Part 2 ] ^^I’ll Teach You to Fly On Hidden Wings…^^

© Jessica Swinburne 2011

[ Characters ]
[ Part 1 ]

It rained the next day. And the next. And the next.
It rained for a week solid. It didn’t stop for anything. If it wasn’t pouring, it was drizzling. I was starting to think the sun would never shine again.
Everything was wet, to the extent that people got used to being wet, or brought two or three different out fits to school.
After the first two days, my Dad realized that I was getting soaked before I even got to the end of the road, and made me take my car. This surprised me for the simple reason that he didn’t normally notice much. Except when I did something wrong.
Rain easily became one of us, quickly becoming aware of our moods and habits.
But him… He continued to confuse us all. Even me. I had always been able to understand people, just by spending some time with them. Some people intoxicated me, drew me in, to the point where I wanted to know all their deep, dark secrets, no matter how deep and how dark. Others just repelled me, not to the point where I actually hated them, but so that I kept my distance. There were few of the first kind.
From what I could get out of Rain, he was the first kind, which is why I just didn’t completely ignore him. I wanted to understand him, why he was the way he was, why he never went home until he absolutely had to, and why he wouldn’t even tell us where he lived, never mind actually take us there.
I knew there were some deep, ugly scares there. But I couldn’t get within a meter of them.
Sometimes when Cya and I were making food or something and he and Seth were talking, I could see him loosen. Relax the barriers, but the second he realized they were slipping, they’d go straight back up. He trusted Seth, but he didn’t understand why, or how.
It confused Seth just as much as it did me. It took him longer too realize it then it did me, but realize it he did.
Cya was either woefully ignorant of it, or was pretending to. But she could have actually not realized. Cya doesn’t notice these things.
I was seriously starting to wonder if he was as scared as I guessed he was. I wondered what went on with his family. I wondered if they were dead, or just too horrible to comprehend.
I wondered if there was an actual reason he always hid his wrists, or if it was my over-active imagination. I hoped it was my imagination.
But then there was that constant voice in the back of my mind that told me I would never truly know.

**While The World Is Crashing Down** [ Part 1 ] ^^I’ll Teach You to Fly On Hidden Wings…^^

© Jessica Swinburne 2011

[{ Part 1 }]

Rain.
I never really liked the rain. It’s wet and cold and generally uncomfortable to be in.
I had always loved the sun. The feel of it on my skin… The heat…
And yet there was always something about the rain that intrigued me. It was strange, and the only part of me I had ever suppressed. Put down, ignored. Like I was afraid… It confused me, so I simply ignored it. And life went on.

I stared out the class room window, wishing for the sun, and seeing nothing but cloud, gloom and rain. Joy.
Two weeks to holidays and they still expected us to work. They never learn. We never worked after exams, why should it be different this term? Exams were over, marks were being calculated and the teachers had better things to do than baby sit us, and yet, we were being forced to listen to the constant droning of our History teacher.
Spare me. I honestly don’t know why we even had to take History; it was just a waste of time. I don’t know why they didn’t just leave the past, in the past.
I certainly didn’t want to know about how the English revolutionized the world 200 years ago. And it didn’t look like any of my class mates did either.
At least it was almost over… but it was only first period. Could I really take 5 and a half more hours of this? I really hoped I didn’t die of boredom.
Just then our vice principle strolled in like he owned the place to have a nice little chat with our teacher. Hey, I wasn’t complaining, at least I didn’t have to listen.
After they had spoken for a few minutes the vice beckoned someone to enter the room. He was all floppy hair and long legs… haha sounds kind of like a girl… except he defiantly wasn’t.
He was tall, probably about 6 ft. 1, had straight dark brown, like really dark, hair, and the greenest eyes you’ve ever seen. I noticed that his right ear was pierced. He scanned the room, while walking to the front, like he was daring us to judge him.
Well I certainly wasn’t, it was his life, his body, and his hair and he could do whatever he wanted with it.
He shook hands with the teacher once he reached him, obviously introducing himself.
“Class, this is Rain, he’s new to the school, but he’s in my next class, so-” Just then the bell went, silencing him, and the whole class scattered in about 0.5 seconds.
Due to my seating arrangements, past the teacher was the easiest way out the room. So I walked slowly as to avoid having to wait to get out the door, no use rushing if you can’t actually get out right?
“Oh, Ariah,” my teacher called as I was walking past, forcing me to turn and look at them, “Please remember that your extra credit essay is due tomorrow.”
“Sure Sir,” I even managed to smile at him, even though he was one of the few teachers I didn’t like. “You’ll have it first thing.”
I just had to write it first. It didn’t help that I needed all the extra credit I could get in that particular subject.
When I finally made it out the door, I got attacked by my friend, Cya, as was our normal morning greeting, whenever we saw each other first in the morning. Now, today because she was wrapped around her latest beau this morning and all I saw of her was her back.
“Nice to see you too, after seeing you play tonsil hockey with what’s-his-name this morning.” I grinned lazily at her, just asking for a smart retort.
“Not my fault he’s better at kissing then you are at remembering names.” She complemented this with a sweet, innocent smile, as we started walking slowly to our next class, which we shared.
“The rate you go through boyfriends, I’m glad my memory doesn’t having enough space to keep up.”
We smiled at each other and linked arms for the remainder of our walk.
Although my next two classes were more interesting normally, but just couldn’t pull my attention so late in the term. This was why by the time we got to our usual break spot and sat down next to my friend Seth, I was so half asleep that I didn’t even notice the apparently newest addition to our group.
“Hey sleepy head, have fun in History?” Seth teased me, and then opened his arms for a hug. I gladly obliged.
“Haha, yes because History is just so enthralling.”
“Because you looked so attentive in History.”
Then I noticed him. His intense light green eyes laughing while his mouth only showed a slow quirk of the one side. I could see more of him closer up.
He had the thickest, darkest eye-lashes I’d ever seen, which I’m pretty sure were wasted on a guy, and was somewhere between tanned, and pale. He was wearing all black, but despite this and his appearance in general, he didn’t seem to give off the vibes normally attributed to Goths or Emos.
Also no tattoos. Well, that I could see at least.
“Sarcasm and the ability to sense it are virtues around here.” I threw back.
“Who said I wasn’t being sarcastic too?” His tone screamed challenge, but instead of humouring him, I simply gave him a really slow, really sleepy smile and turned to Seth.
But alas, Cya’s just too curious for her own good, and asked a good 3 seconds later, “Who’s our new friend Seth?”
“Girls, this is Rain, Rain, this Ariah, who you have to call Ri and Cya.”
“Nice to meet you, Rain,” Cya gashed and went over to sit next to him.
One of my eye-brows went up, a question I knew Seth would understand.
“He’s new.”
“Obviously.”
“Be nice.”
Up went the other eye-brow.
“Don’t give me that look, I know you.”
Grin.
“Will you be good, for me?”
Angelic look.
“Ri, seriously.”
I laughed, “Of course, you know I’d do anything for you.”
“Thata girl,” He smile and winked at me then turned to the recklessly flirting Cya and the not really flirting at all Rain. I smiled at the sight. A guy, not going for Cya? Miracle.
Tuning out all the noise, I put my head on Seth’s shoulder and closed my eyes.
But sleep was elusive at the best of times for me, never mind on my best friends shoulder.
“Ri, earth to Ri!” I could just imagine Cya waving her hand in front of my face. I opened my eyes and there she was, sure enough, waving her hand just in front of my face.
“Yes, almighty Cya, what can I do for you?”
“You can be sociable! Like you get when you’re happy, or we feed you too much sugar!” She grinned and pulled her tongue at me, so then, obviously, I had to pull mine back at her, show casing my tongue stud.
“Ariah Nyx! Put that away!” And my Head-Of-Grade had to choose that moment to walk past. Lovely. “If I see that thing once more, I’ll make sure it’s taken out. Am I understood?”
“Yes, Miss.” I tried to say it meekly, but it’s hard to be meek when you’re trying not to laugh.
She walked off in a huff, clearly going to have a worse day for having seen my tongue, and its stud.
“Damn she needs to get laid.” Cya said, using her best gangster voice.
“And you need to stop getting laid.” My oh-so sweet smile totally contradicting my words.
“Or maybe you need to get some too, little Miss Virgin.”
“Better virgin then slut ange.”
“Ladies.” Seth, being older than us, liked to pretend he could defuse pretend hostile situations.
I grinned at Seth and that was the end of it.
The bell went, and my day went on. At the end of it, I walked out to my motorbike, which was parked between Cya’s and Seth’s cars.
Cya and Seth were there waiting for me, so we could all go to one of our houses. While I was still walking towards them, I saw them call Rain over.
When I got close enough to hear them talk, I slowed to listen to their conversation.
“You don’t have a car or anything?” I heard Cya ask, Rain I was assuming.
“Nope, I don’t live too far away though, and plus I like walking, it’s good for me.” This was confirmed when he replied.
“Well, if you ever decide you don’t like walking, one of us will always give you a ride,” Seth came into it.
“Are you going straight home now?” Cya always did ask the most random questions.
“Na, I think I wander around town for a bit.” Weird… there’s nothing to do in our town, not in walking distance of the school at least.
“Well, if you want to blow that off, you can come with us to one of our places.” I said as I came close enough to be in the conversation. I was pretty sure ‘wander around town’ really meant he just didn’t want to go home.
He raised his eye-brows so they disappeared into his dark fringe. “Really?”
“Yeah, sure,” Seth dropped in, knowing that I had been genuine.
“Okay, that’d be good, thanks… Ariah.” He seems to struggle with my name, not remembering it, just saying it out loud.
“Sure… Rain.” I grinned. “Where we going today?” I asked the group in general.
“My Dad’s home…” Seth mumbled; Seth’s place is out then; none of us are really fond of Seth’s dad.
“I’m fresh outta any kind of food, its Mom’s shopping day…” Cya out too.
“My place it is, then. Rain you need to pick a car, let’s go.” Rain got into Seth’s car I noticed while I hopped onto my bike.  I started it up and manoeuvred out of my parking space, and riding out the parking lot, Cya on my tail and Seth just after her.
I live, not on a farm, but on something of the sort I guess, considering we have horses and enough space to ride them. I live with just my Dad and there’s a stable hand and a house keeper had that live in a small garden cottage on the other side of the grounds from us.
This means I pretty much live by myself. My Dad doesn’t come home much, and hasn’t really since my Mom died. The stable hand [Ty] lived in the house for a while so I wasn’t alone so much, but when I turned 15 I decided I was fine on my own. And so Ty moved back to the cottage, and I bring friends home, or go to them, as much, if not more, than I’m actually alone.
I pulled into the garage and shut the engine off. I got off and went and unlocked the house, deactivated the alarm and opened some of the windows and doors, so that by the time I made my way back into the garage, Seth, Cya and Rain were coming into it.
Rain wolf whistled and eyed the other vehicle. An Audi R8.
“Whose is that?” He asked with heavy emphasis on the ‘that’.
“Mine…” I said in a lazy tone, as if it meant nothing. “It was my 17th birthday present.”
“And that?” He asked, pointing at my bike.
“16^th.”
He nodded his head approvingly, his long fringe falling over his eyes.
“Come in, make yourself at home, those two do,” I winked at Cya and Seth, going back inside.
“And why wouldn’t we? We lived here half the time anyway.” Cya was simply being cheeky at this point and I just replied by lifting one eye-brow, and lifting the opposite corner of my mouth.
Seth went and got something out the fridge and took Rain to my room.
“Ooooh… A fine new addition to our group,” Cya said, going into girl mode and jumping on the counter.
“Yeah, and if you want him to stay in our group, you’ll keep your hands off,” I told her, banishing the bag of chips that I’d just got out the pantry at her.
“Awww, come on Ri… I’m not going to eat him,” Cya put on her pleading voice, which got to me with pretty much everything, except guys.
“Cy, I love you to death, but you pick up and drop guys like nothing, you want him in our group, although he already seems to be, then you leave him alone, got it?”
“Yes Mother,” We both laughed and grabbed the chips and drinks and went up to my room, throwing ourselves down on my bed.
I tossed the chips at Seth, Cya a drink each at Rain and Seth.
“So, Rain, where’d you live before this?” Seth asked casually, not letting on that we were all dying of curiosity. Even me, which was definitely something.
“Well, we moved here from DC, but before that we were in Ohio, and before that was San Francisco, and well, I think you get the point.” He told us.
“Hectic, how many places have you lived?” I asked, some curiosity unfortunately slipping through.
“I’ve never really tried to keep track, we just go from one place to another, normally once a year.”
There was silence.
“Who wants to go for a ride?” I broke the uncomfortable silence and changed the subject all in one go.
“Ride? As in… like a horse?” Rain looked a little perplexed.
“No a dragon,” I grinned, “Yeah, a horse. You’ve never ridden a horse before?” He shook his head.
“Well we’re gonna have to change that.” Cya said simply, who grabbed my hand and pulled me all the way outside.

Clouds…

I wrote a poem! For an online competition… Anyway here it is!

Clouds…
My eyes are closed.
I’m lying flat on my back.
My arms stretch out on either side of me, grasping tiny green stalks of grass.
The grass is cool against my arms and neck…
My eyes open, the sky looms over me,
And the clouds release their heavy burden onto the Earth.
Thick drops splatter the ground, who hungrily soaks it up;
It has been parched for far too long.
Torrents of water quickly drench my hair and clothes, but I do not move.
The Sun soon breaks through an opening in the flow of the clouds…
As it hits the rivers of water in the air,
It produces a kaleidoscope of colour
So beautiful, so ever changing,
It is incomparable.
Soon the clouds drift away to state the Earth’s thirst elsewhere,
And the Sun lays claim to the land…
I turn my face toward it, and it warms me,
Where the clouds found their way into my soul.

© 13^th January 2011 ~ Jess Swinburne