Bia

About half an hour after we’d eaten lunch, a good hour until we would be dismissed, Trevor poked me again.

I turned to him, agitated. “What?”
“Wanna get out of here?” he asked.

I stared at him blankly then looked around the room. The principal had disappeared. There was no one watching us, which was strange.

“Not really,” I replied.
He pretended to gasp. “What? Why? You want to stay here with the devil?”
I laughed. “No, I’d just rather not leave with you.”
“Ouch,” he chuckled.

I glanced at my history textbook and tried to read the page, but my mind refused to let me.

“There’s this fair going on about ten minutes off of the main street,” Trevor continued. “I thought maybe we could go together.”
I smirked. “Have we ever spoken before?”
“Once. I bumped into you in the hallway and you apologized. You’re not half bad, Bia. I don’t get why so many people hate you,” he commented.
“Yeah. Me neither.” I shut my textbook. “How would we get to this fair?”
Trevor’s face lit up. “You’ll go with me?”
“Maybe,” I responded slowly.

Trevor punched me lightly on the shoulder, an action I took to mean he was happy.
“I have my car,” he explained.

I’d forgotten he could already drive. Trevor wasn’t even supposed to be in my grade, but he’d failed the year before for ‘reasons unknown’ and was now stuck in a handful of my classes. All in all, he wasn’t bad. He could’ve been just as immature as the guys who were my age, but he wasn’t. He chose to be his own person and I thought that was cool.

“Get me out of here,” I smiled.
Trevor grabbed my hand and we shot out of the prison – er, library.

Walking through the fair, I honestly couldn’t believe such a world existed and I’d never seen it before. Sure, the fair had come to our town numerous times in the past, but I just hadn’t gone.

“Liking what you see?” Trevor asked me, his hand clamped on mine.
“Yes,” I gushed. “How come I’ve never been here before?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I come here every year.”

We walked passed a tent with the flaps open and a small girl inside. I craned my neck to get a better glimpse of the girl but she moved her head and all I saw was a purple turban.

“What?” Trevor followed my gaze to the tent. “Oh, you want to get your fortune told?”
I blushed. “No, it’s all a scam.”
“No, come on! It’ll be fun.” He dragged me in that direction and I reluctantly followed.

Sitting down on one of the wooden chairs, I looked around the tent. Colourful fabric was draped all over and incense made the area quite foggy. Trevor pulled up a second chair next to me and handed some money to the little girl.

“Bia,” the girl said to me.
I stared at her. “How’d you know my name?”
She grinned mysteriously. “I know many things. Do you want your fortune told first?”
“Sure,” I said with a nod.
“Okay,” she began. “Look into my eyes.”

I stared into the bright blue eyes of this intense little girl. She seemed to be searching for something but I couldn’t tell what. A tendril of brown hair fell in her face but she didn’t bother to brush it away – she was too focused on me.

“Demons,” she said in a raspy voice. “Demons and a big decision. A huge decision.”
I stared at her in alarm. “What?”
“Demons,” she repeated. “Oh… this is not good… I can’t let you make the wrong decision...”
Trevor glanced at me then back at the small girl. “What do you mean?”

She shot a look at him. “I said demons, didn’t I? Don’t you understand? Her world is ending. No, no look away… I can’t take it anymore...”
I averted my eyes to the floor as the girl began to cry.

“I’m sorry...” I offered.
“My name’s Fable. Fable Lunaria. We should’ve met before, but we didn’t. I don’t understand it though, do you know me?” she asked.
I shook my head. “N-no...”
“No, I don’t know you either.” She wiped her eyes having already stopped crying.
“Are you okay?” I ventured.
She nodded. “I’m fine. And Trevor? Stay away from her. She’ll only ruin you, too.”