Into the Shadows by Karly Kirkpatrick
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“Mmmm, my stomach is going to explode,” Michaela gasped as she and Paivi made their way to the decorated entrance of the high school. She clutched her stomach with both hands. “Must…not…eat…so much pasta next time!”
“Just because it was all-you-can-eat didn’t mean you had to eat it all!” Paivi giggled and followed a red carpet through the cafeteria to the doors of the gym. On either side were members of Student Council with cameras, snapping pictures of the girls as if they were famous movie stars. The school mascot, the Terrible Tartan, was waiting to escort them down the aisle. Paivi giggled at his short plaid kilt, which displayed the school colors of maroon and cream. They entered through a large archway made of fake palm trees and made their way across the floor to their friends.
Paivi saw Jason a few times in the crowd, but avoided eye contact. She wasn’t sure if she was up to meeting his girlfriend. Unfortunately, she could see he’d noticed her. There was no avoiding it now.
“Hey, Paivi, I was just talking about you,” Jason shouted to Paivi after he half-dragged a petite girl halfway across the floor. “This is my girlfriend, Melissa.”
Paivi took the girl’s limp hand in hers and shook it. Melissa produced a half smile, but said nothing.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Paivi said, attempting a sincere smile, even though jealousy was slowly creeping through her. She brushed it off as she waved goodbye. Her eyes followed Jason as he walked away, his arm around Melissa. Next up was a slow song, driving all of the non-couples from the dance floor.
“Let’s go get something to drink,” said Michaela, hooking her arm through Paivi’s and pulling her off the floor. “I’m parched!”
Paivi gave the dance floor a quick glance, spotting Jason and Melissa, arms around each other, swaying to the music. Their eyes were locked on each other. She wasn’t quite sure why she felt the need to look; why torture herself more?
The girls headed out to the cafeteria, where tables had been set up for refreshments.
Paivi was relieved to get a break from the hot gym. They joined a line at the table where cookies were spread out on silver trays. The group of students in front of them made their selections and finally moved on.
Paivi glanced briefly over the table and something caught her eye. She looked closer at the display. She blinked her eyes, not sure if what she saw was real. It must be a coincidence. The cookies were arranged on the table to spell out something she recognized right away.
PAIVI
Michaela was chattering on about something that Paivi didn’t hear.
She noticed and put her hand on her hip.
“Hey, P, you aren’t even listening to me!”
She started to pout and then noticed the strange look on Paivi’s face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mick, do you notice anything about these cookies?” she asked, still staring at them.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I think they look good and I want to eat them all.”
“Yeah, yeah, no you’re right. I just thought, I don’t know…,” she muttered, not really knowing what to say.
The cookies still looked like they spelled her name, even if Michaela couldn’t see it. Michaela took the ginger snap that dotted the last ‘i’ in Paivi’s name and grabbed a napkin.
“Come on, let’s get some punch!”
Paivi grabbed a chocolate chip cookie and followed her over to the next table. An older lady in a Tartans sweatshirt, wearing a Scottish beret on her head ladled punch from a large bowl into red paper cups.
Paivi glanced into the bowl and felt sick. The fruit in the punch began to arrange itself into two words.
I KNOW
Paivi could hardly believe her eyes, but after the cookies she wasn’t so surprised. She was scared. What did they know about her? And who knew it?
The woman stopped pouring and looked at Paivi.
“Are you feeling okay, sweetheart?” Her hand with the ladle was hanging just above the fruity words in the punch bowl. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“No, no, I’m fine,” she mumbled. Maybe the ladle would mess up the fruit. She stood there staring at the bowl, waiting. It broke the surface, breaking up the fruit letters. But after the lady served the next portion of punch, the fruit seemed to gravitate back together, like they were full of magnets. The words had reformed.
I KNOW
Michaela grabbed two cups of punch, said a quick thank you to the woman and led Paivi over to a table.
“Are you all right?” She sounded concerned. “You look like you’re going to puke! Please don’t puke on me, I really like this dress! But seriously, do you think you are sick from dinner or something? You know you are allergic to cheese.” She looked around and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Or maybe this is because Jason is here with his girlfriend?”
Paivi’s mind was racing. She couldn’t tell Michaela. Paivi felt crazy herself, and she was sure Michaela would agree. She hadn’t seen the words in the cookies or the punch.
“Here, maybe if you get some punch, you’ll feel better.” She pushed it towards Paivi.
She was afraid to look into the glass, for fear there would be some kind of message.
“Look, I’m sorry,” she said, trying to sound normal. “I just don’t feel well. You’re right; it was probably all that cheese on the pizza. But it’s cool, I’ll be fine.”
“Seriously? What was Miranda Swenson thinking, wearing that hideous yellow dress? She looks like Big Bird!” Michaela giggled as she nodded discreetly in Miranda’s direction before shoving a cookie in her mouth. The table she chose had a perfect view of the people waiting in line for refreshments.
Paivi turned to look and snorted, hurriedly covering her mouth. The punch almost made a quick exit.
They didn’t notice two girls walking up to the table. The first was short and plump and was dressed in orange, resembling a pumpkin. The other was somewhat skinny and wore a green dress.
“Hey,” said Pumpkin, looking at Paivi.
“Um, hi?” Paivi tried to figure out if she should know the girl from somewhere.
“We’re supposed to tell you that Christian Nelson wants to talk to you,” Green Bean explained.
“Who’s Christian Nelson?” Paivi asked, although she was worried she might already know.
Pumpkin and Green Bean exchanged a look that clearly read ‘what an idiot.’
“Everyone knows Christian. He seemed to think you’d know him too. Anyways, he’s sitting over there.” Green Bean gestured to the other end of the cafeteria, where a bunch of students were sitting at a table, talking and laughing. He was there, in the middle of the group. He wore sunglasses, so Paivi couldn’t see his eyes, but she could see his blond hair, which looked white in the light, very clearly.
Her hands shook as she grabbed her used cup and napkin from the table.
“Come on Michaela, I wanna dance,” she said, standing up abruptly.
“Whatever,” said Pumpkin.
The girls, looking a bit annoyed, turned and headed back to Christian Nelson’s camp.
“Don’t you want to go over and talk to that guy? That’s the one that was checking you out on the first day of school. He’s pretty cute. And he looks pretty popular,” Michaela said, pulling on her arm.
“I’m not interested. And I don’t think he’s cute at all,” she added firmly. “I just want to go back to the dance floor. Let’s go find the girls.”
Paivi dragged Michaela back into the gym and disappeared into the throng. She had a hard time enjoying herself after the cookies and punch incident, and tried to make sure she was in the middle of the group as much as possible. She didn’t want to have to deal with Pumpkin or Green Bean or any more of Christian Nelson’s entourage.
She couldn’t wait to go home. Who was making food talk to her? Could it have been Christian Nelson? She still thought she might be seeing things. And she didn’t know who to talk to about it.