CHAPTER 3
With a huge smile on her face, Jayna sighed deeply, feeling the fatigue of her night’s adventures yet happy to know that she was now part of something extraordinary, something so fantastic that no one would believe her. She had agreed to become an Astral Warrior, help push the planet to its next phase of evolution. She had always been a spiritual person, respected all life forms and felt connected to Mother Earth, but this was something far beyond her imaginings. She could see the bigger picture now. It wasn’t only life on Earth; there were other dimensions and worlds out there, and what each person did or thought made a difference towards what would happen to the planet as a whole.
Jayna checked the clock on her nightstand. It was five a.m. She would be getting up in about two hours to get ready for school. It would be great if she could sleep a bit more. She closed her eyes and thought of the Astral world, the Council of Ascended Masters and Ethan.
The thought of Ethan made her heart skipped a beat.
There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, but she knew she had to be patient.
With the knowledge she gained during one episode in the Astral plane she was able to appreciate the power of her own thoughts. Each word she thought rippled into the universe affecting everything and everyone around her.
What an amazing concept.
Jayna thought of Ethan, his incredible physique, his wicked smile and his confession that he was attracted to her. Happy, Jayna thought, I am happy; and that is how she drifted off to sleep.
Blissfully happy.
“Jayna, wake up.” Liam barged into her room and jumped on her bed.
“Easy there, monkey.”
Jayna reached and hugged Liam. He was already dressed and ready for school, his light brown hair neatly brushed, looking devilishly handsome, ready to break some hearts in his kindergarten class today.
“Get up, Jayna, you gotta drive me to school. Mom said, don’t forget to go to grandma’s tonight. It’s her birthday.”
“Okay, Liam. Jayna needs to take a shower. I will be down in a few minutes. How about you watch some TV while I get ready?”
Liam ran down to watch his early morning show, while Jayna admired the bracelet on her wrist, the reminder that last night’s adventures were not a dream or a product of her overactive imagination. It made her heart race with anticipation.
Forty minutes later Jayna was dressed in jeans and her favorite top from Victoria’s Secret. This one actually met the dress code at school – students were not allowed to wear any tops that revealed too much skin. She ran down the steps, calling Liam.
“Hey kiddo, are you ready?”
Liam nodded with a big grin on his face.
“Let’s go.”
They ran out the door and into Jayna’s little blue car. Liam sat in his booster chair in the back and proudly buckled himself up. Some days their mother, Grace drove Liam to the babysitter where Liam stayed before and after school, other days it was Jayna. The drive to the babysitter wasn’t long. Jayna dropped Liam off at Lisa’s, gave him a big bear hug and kissed the top of his head.
“Have fun at school, baby.”
Liam pouted, “You are not supposed to call me that!’
“Ooops, sorry,” Jayna apologized.
“See you tonight. Mom will pick you up after school and I will see you at Grandma’s. Okay?”
Liam smiled and ran into the babysitter’s house waving good-bye. Jayna walked back to her car and drove off. She had a busy day ahead of her. Today was the second last day of classes before exams started; after school she was going to dinner at her grandparents. The school year was winding down fast, there were a lot of things that needed her attention. Exams would also be starting in a few days.
Jayna pulled into the school parking lot and ran to her locker. Her best friend, Pavlina, was anxiously waiting for her.
“Where have you been, Jayna? I thought you weren’t going to show up. It’s not like you to be late,” Pavlina said. “I was worried about you.”
“I would have called you if I was going to be late, Pav,” Jayna said.
The girls hurried to their class. All through first period, Pavlina was eyeing Jayna’s bracelet. Thankfully, the next period was a spare, so she could grill Jayna and find out all about it. Pavlina couldn’t take her eyes away from the bracelet. The fact that Jayna kept glancing at it too and playing with it was making Pavlina all the more curious. She smelled a good story behind it.
The calculus teacher was a no nonsense guy and would not tolerate people talking. He wouldn’t think twice about sending someone to the VP’s office if they were distracting the class, so Pavlina kept the lid on her curiosity. Mr. B handed out pages of review stuff for the final exam and pointed out some of the topics the class should pay special attention to. Once the girls were focused on possible exam questions, time flew by.
When the bell rang signaling the end of the first period, the girls shot out of their chairs and headed to the cafeteria where they could talk freely. They had a choice between the library’s study area and the cafeteria. If they needed quiet for serious studying they went to the library, otherwise it was always the cafeteria for some friendly girl chatter.
“I want to know about your new bracelet Jayna. Where did you get it from? It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s it?” Pavlina bore her gaze into her friend. “Spill it. I want to know everything about it.”
Pavlina grinned, “Don’t deny it. I caught you looking at it all dreamy-eyed. Nothing escapes my eagle eyes.”
Jayna didn’t know how to explain her bracelet to Pavlina. Would she even believe her?
“What’s the big deal, Pav? I like jewelry; I have lots of bracelets.”
“Yeah, but none like this. Did your grandmother give it to you? Is it an antique?” Pavlina pressed with her questions.
“Hhhmmm, it’s something like that.”
“That’s not good enough, Jay. I want to know all about it.”
“Pav, you will never believe me.”
Pavlina raised her eyebrows and placed her hands on her hips, ready for a verbal duello.
“Try me.”
“I was yanked out of my body, catapulted into a nightmare where I met this really hot guy who said I saved his oh-so-sexy ass; then he took me to meet a Council of Ascended Masters in a place called the Astral world. The Council gave me the bracelet as a gift. That’s the whole story. Do you believe me?”
“No.” Pavlina laughed, “But nice try. I think you are trying to hide something, or you wouldn’t be concocting such an elaborate tale.”
Pavlina shrugged. “Fine, don’t tell me. I will get it out of you eventually.”
The verbal duello over, Pavlina was back to her sweet self.
“So, what are you giving your grandmother for her birthday?”
“I will give her a photo of me and Liam, but first I need to buy a nice picture frame for it. She loves sentimental stuff like that. She would hate to see me spend too much money to get an extravagant gift for her.”
“What are you doing tonight,” Jayna asked.
Pavlina looked all dreamy. “I have a date with Darren.”
“Another date with Darren?” Jayna felt a strange discomfort about her friend’s involvement with this new boyfriend.
“Hey, are you two being safe?” Jayna blurted out.
“Jaynaaaa, what kind of a question is that?” Pavlina was embarrassed.
“It’s a smart question aimed at making sure you are doing the right thing. I know you two are getting very close, but now is not the time to complicate your life with an accident.”
“Where did you say you were going to look for a picture frame?”
“Okay, Pav, go ahead and change the subject.” Jayna shrugged. “The gift section of the pharmacy in the pla
za has a lot of nice frames. I don’t have to get a card, because Liam and I made one for her. She’ll love it. It’s an original masterpiece.” Jayna smiled thinking how her grandmother would make a big production over the artwork and hang it on her fridge, her personal gallery of Liam’s artwork.
“There goes the bell,” Pavlina said, happy to be saved by it. The girls gathered their stuff and proceeded to their next classes, this time in different directions.
The rest of the day went by pretty fast and Jayna realized that she had gone through the day on autopilot. She had not absorbed much of what was said in her classes. Thank God, they were only wrapping things up for the finals.