Ice Princess Ch. 11

It was the summer of '95 or was it '96, she couldn't remember exactly. It really didn't matter. She flipped a stone into the water and watched it skip across the lake. Jack had been bored and like her that summer he'd been tossing stones into the water from the other side.

She remembered watching his stone make splashes in the water just a few feet short of hers. Every day for a week they'd played this game. Each of them tossing in rocks and trying to out-skip the other. They kept it up until dark.

On the last day of the week, a Sunday, Jack didn't appear on the other side of the lake and Danielle found that she was disappointed. Perhaps he'd gone home, or he'd gotten bored with the game. She sadly started tossing in stones and counting the skips alone. Summer was almost over and soon she'd have to return to school.

"I bet I can beat that," said a soft voice from behind her. She turned quickly, to see who the voice belonged to. That's when she'd met Jack.

She sat down in the same spot, where she'd been sitting all those years ago, and felt around in the dirt for a tossing stone. There were always plenty of stones to toss in and she wasn't disappointed.

"I bet you can't," she'd replied, and handed him her next stone. "That one bounced eleven times before it sank, she bragged, crossing her arms across her chest in confidence.

Jack stepped closer and gave her an unbelieving stare. "No, it didn't, I counted ten," he corrected and kissed her cheek quickly, before he let loose of the stone she'd placed in his hand.

Surprised she'd missed the first few skips, but tried to recover by counting. "One, two three, four, five..."

Jack interrupted, "no it was already five before you looked. He grinned and reached down to pick up a new stone.

"Cheater!" she yelled, but laughed anyway. After all, it was just a game.

Talk about cheating. They'd spent the rest of the summer tossing, chatting, kissing, tickling and finally making love, then loving.

Going back to school wasn't such an easy thing. At least it wasn't for Danielle. Her parents had to remain over sea for the beginning of the school year so she'd been left with her aunt and uncle. Jack didn't seem to have any problems and he had also been left behind in his summer lodge as well.

He went back onto the football team and took back up with friends he'd made during the summer months. All the girls loved him. If he wanted to date he had his pick of beauties. He always smiled at her whenever he saw her, but didn't offer anything more than that.

Danielle started to wonder if any of it had happened at all. Maybe it'd just been a summertime fantasy. A dream of hers, and that embarrassed her. She'd stopped doing any extra things and mainly just kept to herself. Art was her love and she'd stayed with the drama club. She was the artist who did the sets.

She pulled up some grass and started chewing on the blades. It's funny how things change.

One day, toward the middle of the year, Danielle was working on the sets for a play the drama club was putting on to raise money for a local charity. She'd already painted the sled red. She'd moved onto the hedges, which would have strings of lights in endless colors attached to it when the play began. She'd been working on her creations steadily for the last half hour. Her mind was filled with endless projects she knew she needed to get done before school started the next day. Suddenly, she realized, she wasn't alone.

"Jack?" she asked, wondering why he'd just come into the room. "I'm sorry, but all the cast members have already left for the day, I'm just finishing up." She returned to her work filling in some pretty green leaves with paint. She'd be done in about two minutes and then she'd go home too.

"That's ok," he said, "I came in to see you." He sat down and took a big bite out of an apple; he had in his hand waiting for his words to sink in.

"What?" she asked; rather amazed that she'd heard him say that and stopped painting.

"Danielle," he stopped talking long enough to swallow the food he'd been chewing, and tossed the reminder of the apple in the trash before he continued.

"Why do you act like you don't know me? Did I do something wrong?" He sat down on the edge of the stage facing her with his back toward the gym.

"What?" She said again, totally confused. She laid the paint brush down on the cloth she'd placed on the floor to protect it and brushed at her face.

Jack snickered as he stood and pulled a Kleenex from his back pocket.

"A clown, you're not." he said and wiped at her nose, removing a layer of red paint. His touch was like magic to her. She swallowed hard and he moved away.

"What did I do?" he asked again as he tossed the Kleenex into the same trashcan his apple had landed in a few minutes earlier.

Sadness creped across his face and waves of despair danced in his eyes as he turned toward her waiting for a reply.

"Do?" Danielle remembered feeling like a rag doll, with missing parts. She had no idea what was going on around her.

She tossed the blade of grass; she'd had in her mouth, toward the ground. Her eyes moved toward the clouds. That summer they'd spent lots of time gazing into the sky. Picking out shapes and trying to guess what new ones might form. It had been fun.

Danielle stretched out on her back and put her arms behind her head, watching the clouds move above her in the afternoon sky.

"Do?" she'd said again taking a step backwards; big mistake that had been.

"Danielle!" Jack shouted, as her foot met the bucket of water behind her, tipping it over onto the cloth. Water went everywhere. Danielle hadn't fallen.

Quickly, they ran about saving the props for the show from water damage.

She chuckled, that'd been some experience. "What would have happened if I'd had to do them all over again?"

"Why do you ignore me?" Jack asked again. After placing the last prop onto a dry newspaper covered area.

Danielle remembered looking at him strangely. She'd never ignored him had she? The first day of school, he'd not even looked her way. Girls were draped all over him and his buddies, the ones who'd liked to make fun of her all during the summer, were hanging on his every word of wisdom. So where had she fit into that picture?

"Ignore you?" She questioned for the third time. "I never ignored you. You ignored me." She pointed out. "You never even looked in my direction." She started picking up the brushes and getting them ready to be cleaned.

"I..." he began and she'd cut him off.

"I'm nothing to look at really." She'd pushed her short black hair behind her ear never even glancing in his direction. "I realize here at school you're the center of attention."

Then she looked up. "Yea, I get that, really. You don't owe me anything. Just forget about me." She tossed the paint containers into the empty bucket as she picked them up. Looking away again, hoping he'd go soon.

"Danielle," he said again in a firmer voice, please don't go "I love you."

"What?" She remembered replying. "That's impossible... you're..."

This time he cut her off.

"Impossible! Why? Because I'm a jock and you're not?" Now, he sounded angry.

"Well..."

"Well nothing Danielle," he burst out. "I love you. I've loved you since I met you, this past summer. I don't care about popularity, or any of that high school stuff." He walked toward her. Determination seemed to be keeping him adrift.

"We're seniors this year Danielle, the real world is just outside those doors." He pointed toward the doors leading outside the building. "We will leave all this behind in a few months. I'd like to start that new adventure with you by my side." He stopped walking.

"I'm serious," he said, bending at the knee so he could place his face into hers.

"I'm already accepted into the same college you've been accepted at. I'm going just a few months ahead of you." He pulled her chin up with his fingers and moved in closer embracing her in his arms. His body felt so right close to hers.

His face was so close. Nose collided with nose. "Please, Danielle," he'd begged as his lips ran into hers. "Please don't deny me."