Page 1 of Ashes to New
Chapter One
WITH A HEAVY sigh,Elsbeth followed her fellow students into the embrace of summer. To them, it represented freedom, but for Elsbeth, the endless days would be nothing but a stretch of time to endure.
The halls of Carl Sandburg High School were filled with the shouts and raucous cheers of her classmates. A generalized mayhem celebrated the end of another year of school. Students emptied lockers of books, folders, and laptops. Old spiral-bound notebooks, along with mounds of papers no one cared about anymore, filled trash cans lining the halls.
While Elsbeth’s classmates rushed to say their good-byes, she walked in a cocoon of silence, gripping the contents of her locker tight to her chest, as she kept her gaze set three feet forward, avoiding any and all eye contact with her peers.
But she couldn’t avoid all attention.
Mr. Peterson leaned against the doorframe leading into his chemistry lab. He was talking with Scott Masterson, a junior, like Elsbeth. Scott was wildly popular, a jock with a brain, who got straight A’s and was working toward a football scholarship, the ticket to his future. She envied him for his freedom to pursue his goals.
“You’d better behave this summer.” Mr. Peterson’s voice was stern but caring. “We need our star player to make it to State next year.”
“Yes, sir,” Scott said, combing his fingers through the mop of bangs covering his forehead. He noticed her then. “Hey, Elz,” he called out. “Got plans for tonight? A bunch of us are going to the movies. You want to come?”
Scott had been trying to get her to go on a date for the better half of the last semester. She’d always been too busy—not a complete lie, but other things filled her evenings and weekends. It simply wasn’t cheering or band or volleyball team or dating.
With a shake of her head, she declined…again. “Sorry, but I’ve got plans, and my foster father isn’t keen on the whole dating scene.”
“Ah, it doesn’t have to be a date. It’s just a bunch of us hanging out.”
Hugging her books, she stamped down the wave of anxiety building in her chest. “I’m sorry. I’d love to, but…” But she simply couldn’t.
The hopefulness of his expression fell. “Maybe another time?”
She gave a fractional nod. “Sounds good.”
Moving to the center of the crowded hall, she made a move to escape the awkward exchange, but Mr. Peterson stopped her in her tracks.
“Elsbeth.” His words hit her in the chest and stopped the trudge of her feet.
“Yes, Mr. Peterson?”
The softness of his gaze tunneled straight to her heart, destabilizing her shields.
“You weren’t going to leave without saying good-bye to your favorite chemistry teacher, were you?” Mr. Peterson spread his arms out wide, welcoming her into his personal space.
Elsbeth curled her lower lip inward, biting hard. While she adored Mr. Peterson and he was, without a doubt, her favoriteteacher, to be that close to a man had her insides churning. But, with his arms outstretched, she couldn’t refuse, not without raising eyebrows—or worse.
“Be safe this summer.” He folded her into the briefest and most platonic of hugs. “Do you have anything special planned? Did you enroll in that summer program at the university I mentioned?”
The observership? No. Definitely not on the allowed list of summer activities.
She loved how he encouraged her and adored him even more for slipping the list of colleges with undergraduate pre-med programs inside her lab notebook. He was the one who’d told her about the highly competitive six-year medical school programs as well.
“Good-bye, Mr. Peterson,” she said.
He finally released her. Perfect timing, too, since her breathing had already accelerated.
She glanced at the clock hanging over the doors leading outside as it counted down her fate. Less than an hour remained. She should stay and linger within the halls to memorize every detail. Those images would serve her well in the months to come, but staying meant risking unwanted conversation.
Although she remained a frustrating mystery to her peers, she didn’t care. She had brushed off the advances of boys and kept those rare girls interested in befriending the geek girl an arm’s length away for years. Friends were liabilities. A pretty girl, Elsbeth made certain she remained too school for cool. Her brain would determine her future, not her standing within the social hierarchy of an average high school.
Chapter Two
HOME.
THE WORD CONJURED many images.A home should be a place of light. A place of love. A place of sanctuary and hope. Home was where weary souls rested their heads as day deepened to night and slumber brought peaceful dreams. Home was a place to recharge and recuperate from the toils of a difficult day.
