Fic: The Life Of Cara (Or The Fortune Cookie Of Fortune) Episode 1 (Cara/Kahlan)
Title: The Life Of Cara (Or The Fortune Cookie Of Fortune) Episode 1
Author: raug_moss
Pairing: Cara/Kahlan, Dahlia/Rikka
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Warnings: High School AU
Summary: Cara doesn't believe in prophecies and destiny, but destiny decides to kick Cara's ass. But then again, mabye it's just plain coincidence.
A/N: I know that there are so many fantastic High School AU's of C/K out there, but I wanted to give it a try too. Here it is. Enjoy!
And I also want to thank my lovely beta madame_denna for her enormous support.
Why do mothers think that their daughters need diaries?
Cara had never planned to write into her diary but after living through a disastrous week she had to put down what had happened to remember it at some point in her later life.
…
“Cara! Cara, come over here. Why are you never listening?”
Cara sighed heavily, leaving the kitchen where she’d helped prepare the food.
“Because I had my head in the gas oven.”
Her mother rolled her eyes motioning for her to sit down. It was time for dinner and Cara simply dove into the food. She loved her mother’s cooking.
They were in a simple dining-room which belonged to a just as simple house somewhere in the beautiful town of Aydindril. It was only her mother and Cara. Her father had left a long time ago but both were doing fine, enjoying the mostly peaceful togetherness.
“Emma is trying a new diet” her mother began casually while loading herself mashed potatoes onto her plate.
Cara snorted. “She weighs about 300 pounds and it’s her hundredth diet.”
“Well it’s psychological, there’s not much anyone can do.”
“We could brick up every fast food restaurant in town.”
“Cara! Stop it. Emma’s a good friend of mine.”
The young blonde smiled mischievously.
“So, daughter.”
“Yes mother?”
“What are you up to?”
Cara leaned back poking the peas on her plate with her fork.
“I’m writing the lead article for the school’s newspaper.” Her mother’s face lit up with delight. “Darling, that’s great. What’s it about?”
Cara didn’t even flinch. “Dying in Aydindril.”
Her mother almost choked on the juice she was drinking.
“Dinner is especially delicious tonight” Cara said while trying to suppress a laugh with all her might.
…
A smart woman once said that you never knew if a week was going to be a disaster until it was over but Cara guessed that she should’ve trusted her instincts. She should’ve stayed in bed.
What was going to happen started to predict itself already on Monday morning when the blonde arrived at her school.
Dahlia was already waiting for her when she excited her car.
Cara wasn’t exactly a people person but somehow Dahlia had managed to ignore the blonde’s sarcastic attitude and she’d become her best friend. There wasn’t much Cara could’ve done to prevent it from happening anyway.
She tried to remember the first time she’d laid eyes on the bubbly dark blonde.
While reading a book Cara sat at her usual place in the back of the class. She ignored everything that was going on around her and completely missed the entrance of the new student.
A rather shy looking girl stepped up to the teacher and a few moments later the raspy voice of the elderly woman was heard in the classroom.
“We have a new student at our school. This is Dahlia Bennett, I hope you’ll all be nice to her. Is there someone who can show her around?”
Every person in the room found a spot to look at so that they would not be picked out to help the newcomer.
“Oh please, don’t you guys remember how it is to be new somewhere? You have no one to talk to and you’re all by yourself.”
Every pair of eyes turned to the unsuspecting blonde in the back of the class. The teacher smiled.
“Cara! You’ll be showing Dahlia around.”
Sea-green eyes lifted from the pages of a book. Before she could even utter a protest Dahlia had already taken the empty seat next to her.
“Thank you so much. I’m glad you’re helping me. My mom told me this morning that it might be hard to find new friends but here we are.” Dahlia’s smile was brilliant and Cara already wanted to use her book to knock the other girl unconscious to stop her incessant babbling.
Throughout the day Dahlia seemed glued to Cara’s side like an annoying piece of bubblegum on the sole of your shoe you simply couldn’t get rid of.
Before Biology class Dahlia had another question for the blonde. “So what are the people in this school like?”
“They’re cool.”
“What? That’s it?”
Cara sighed and pointed to a group of girls in the front row. “They’re cool because they look like they’ve just jumped out of a magazine.” Then she pointed to a group of guys. “They’re cool because they listen to the right kind of music.” At last she pointed to a group of two guys and three girls. “And they’re cool because they’re already so drugged that they’re beyond caring.”
Dahlia blinked a few times but she didn’t have a chance to say anything because the teacher entered the room and class started.
“Alright today we’ll be talking about blood. And no, vampires are not involved. First of all we need a vial of blood. Who’s going to donate?”
A low murmur went through the class as well as a few “Ewws”. Cara’s head snapped up.
“She will.” With an emotionless look on her face Cara pointed at Dahlia.
The new student gulped nervously staring at the smiling teacher.
…
Dahlia kept in step with Cara while heading to their next class. “I have a surprise for you tonight.”
“Alright, is it going to hurt? Will it be embarrassing? Or is there still time for me to escape?”
“Oh come on, it’s something nice. I’ll take you to a magical place.”
Cara raised her eyebrow replying nothing.
After class Cara found a nice shady spot underneath a large oak tree near the lunch area of the school.
She was carefully checking her camera. Her photo equipment was pretty expensive and she managed to take a few pretty good pictures every now and then.
In fact her photographs were excellent but the blonde was somewhat uncomfortable about showing them to others.
She was planning a trip later that day to the local graveyard to get a few good shots for her “Dying in Aydindril” article.
She was holding up the camera trying to clean the lens when her forefinger brushed over the release button. Without realizing the blonde had taken a picture.
…
It was evening and Cara’s eyebrows knit in confusion as she regarded her surroundings.
“Here? This is the magical place you wanted to take me to? It’s a Chinese restaurant. What’s so special about it? Are there invisible waiters, flying spring rolls or rice that doesn’t stick together?”
Dahlia smirked. “No. This place has special fortune cookies.”
A waiter approached to show them to their table.
“Fortune cookies?” Cara’s expression was more than doubtful.
“Yes. My mom says that the prophecies written in them always come true.”
Cara rubbed her hands over her face while murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like “Lord, have mercy.”
The blonde raked a hand through her shoulder-length hair while looking around.
“Why does it feel like there are 104 degrees in every existing Chinese restaurant?” Cara sighed answering her own question. “Probably to distract from the fact that they all have the same menu.”
“At least it tastes good.”
Dahlia smiled and ordered them both something to eat.
They ate in companionable silence, or at least Cara did while she tuned out Dahlia’s voice.
After finishing her meal the blonde leaned back being glad that she did take Dahlia’s invitation. The waiter brought the bill and the desperately desired fortune cookies.
Dahlia’s lips curled into a smile. “Alright, are you ready to find out about your future?”
Cara rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’ll open mine first.” Dahlia’s eyes lit up with excitement and Cara couldn’t help but smile.
The brown-eyed woman pulled a thin piece of paper out of her fortune cookie and Cara actually found herself leaning forward. “What does it say?”
Dahlia smirked. “Noon will bring a smile.”
Cara started laughing. A rare but pleasant sound.
“You just wait. My mom says they always come true. Now open yours Cara.”
The blonde chuckled and broke the cookie in half.
“Oh this is so cliché.” She handed the piece of paper to her friend.
“The love of your life will appear at the next sundown” Dahlia read out loud. Her face immediately faltered. “Well, maybe they don’t come true every time.”
Cara shook her head. “You’re such a child sometimes. Come on, let’s go, it’s late.”
…
The first half of the next day passed without any noteworthy occurrences.
After a peaceful lunch a broadly smiling Dahlia approached Cara who was just flipping through the pictures she’d taken at the graveyard the day before.
“Caraguesswhat!” The blonde reluctantly looked up from the little screen in front of her.
“I won’t be able to stop you from telling me anyways will I?”
Dahlia wasn’t listening. She was waving something in front of Cara’s face.
“It’s a smiley. Cara I found a smiley. It was stuck to my desk in my last class. Noon will bring a smile Cara. The fortune cookie was right!”
The blonde’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“Cara you’ll be meeting the love of your life at sundown!”
“Oh please, you don’t seriously believe in this fortune cookie stuff do you?”
Dahlia sat down next to her friend looking at the yellow smiling face in her hand.
“This is so exciting. I can’t believe it. You know what? I’m going to find out who put the smiley on my desk.”
Without any further explanation Dahlia got up and ran off.
With a thoughtful expression the blonde watched the form of her retreating friend.
There was no way those fortune cookies could predict the future. It was simply absurd to assume that she would meet the love of her life at sundown.
The day went on and Cara started to forget about the fortune cookie. She hurried home after school immediately occupying the bathroom to develop her pictures.
The room was dark except for the red light that was needed to develop the pictures successfully. She had everything set up and was about to check her negatives when she heard a car pull into the driveway. A few minutes later the bathroom door opened and her mother stepped inside.
“Cara you can’t always use the bathroom.” Her mom squinted at the drying pictures that were already hanging on a thread at eye level.
“I really don’t want to brush my teeth while looking at gravestones.”
Her mother pulled the shower curtain aside. More pictures were drying there.
“Or shower in a graveyard.” The older woman frowned.
“Mom please, I need some peace and quiet.”
“Fine” her mother huffed and left.
Developing pictures was one of Cara’s favorite things to do. She could focus on her task completely while enjoying the silence. But that kind of silence usually never lasted long enough.
The blonde was putting a blank picture into the little water basin in front of her waiting for it to reveal the object she’d photographed when someone knocked on the door.
“Cara!”
The blonde groaned.
“Dahlia what do you want?”
“It’s only three minutes till sundown! You have to come out.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll be meeting the love of your life. Richard thinks you should come out too.”
Cara went to the door yanking it open.
“What?”
She looked into two pairs of equally brown eyes. Dahlia was smiling.
“This is Richard. I met him at school today and we started talking, and he believes in fortune cookies too. So I offered him to come along.”
Cara had seen the boy with shaggy brown hair a few times in school, but she’d never paid any mind to him. Now he was standing in her hallway smiling sheepishly.
“Well I thought, maybe if no one showed up I could be here, you know.”
Cara’s eyebrows jumped and Dahlia frowned. “I didn’t know about that Cara. Richard you’re so stupid.”
The blonde was actually considering if she would get away with being certified legally insane, if she killed them both and told the judge afterwards that she’d done it because a fortune cookie had told her to do it.
She decided against it and closed the door soundly.
Dahlia squeaked. “Cara you can’t outrun destiny. What are you going to do?”
The blonde shook her head slowly returning to the water basin.
“Nothing, isn’t my problem if I can’t see the love of my life.”
Just as she heard a low murmur in front of the door telling her that it was now sundown the picture in the water basin became clear and Cara found herself staring into unbelievably blue eyes.
She didn’t remember taking that picture, but there it was. It showed the place in school where she usually spent her lunch time. But right in the middle of the photograph was a raven-haired beauty with a divine body and fascinating eyes looking straight into the camera.
“Oh God…”
“Cara we’re leaving.” The blonde barely heard Dahlia’s muffled voice.
…
She hadn’t slept much that night and she was awake before her alarm clock made a single sound.
Cara rolled onto her back staring up to the ceiling of her room.
“This is stupid. Fortune cookies, prophecies. Of course the love of my life didn’t show up.”
Certainly Dahlia would tell the blonde that the picture was a sure sign but first of all pictures didn’t count and secondly Cara barely knew the girl in that photo.
She’d seen her a few times but never cared to talk to her.
Kahlan Amnell.
Alright, yes, she knew her name and she knew that this Kahlan always seemed to have a smile for everyone but that didn’t matter.
Kahlan Amnell was popular, a cheerleader and the love of Cara’s life was certainly not going to be a cheerleader. End of the story.
Cara had a pretty bad headache and she was annoyed beyond belief ready to claw anyone’s head off who dared to look in her direction.
Breakfast with her mother had been a hostile affair and being in school didn’t raise her mood a single bit.
She was just strolling through the hallway when a young girl ran into her. The little blonde was crying.
Cara was about to yell at the girl when she looked up to her with brown eyes and familiar features.
A red haired boy skidded around the corner of the hall and came to a halt in front of them.
“Are you hiding with the older students now?”
The girl hid her face sobbing.
Cara stepped forward glaring at the boy. “Listen you little brat. You’ll leave her alone or I’ll make sure that you’ll never find a place to hide again. You don’t want to make me angry believe me.”
The blonde’s glare was horrifying and the boy looked like he was about to wet his pants. He nodded, turned around and ran off.
The girl was still sniffing but she faced Cara. “Why’d you help me? Do you like my sister?”
“Huh? What? Who’s your sister?”
“Kahlan Amnell.”
Cara tried to hide her shocked expression from the girl. “I uhm … didn’t help you. Forget what happened.”
The blonde turned on her heals and fled leaving a very confused girl behind.
…
Cara found her seat in the back of the class while trying to calm her racing thoughts.
Coincidence, nothing but coincidence.
“Excuse me Cara, do you have a second?”
The blonde raised her eyes. She forgot how to breathe.
There she was.
Right in front of her.
Kahlan.
Kahlan Amnell was talking to her.
Cara was mesmerized by the impossible blue color of Kahlan’s eyes.
Words, you need to form words, a sentence for that matter.
Cara swallowed. “Yes?”
Kahlan smiled. “Listen I wanted to talk to you…”
“Alright everyone. Take a seat!”
The teacher began class and Kahlan gave Cara a last glance. “We’ll talk after class.”
The brunette returned to her seat a little more up front to Cara’s right side.
Cara couldn’t focus on what the teacher was saying even if her life would have depended on it. In fact she was watching Kahlan.
Is she smiling at me? Cara saw how the corner of Kahlan’s mouth twitched.
Of course she is, because you’re staring at her.
Cara rolled her eyes and found another spot to look at for a while.
For the first time in her entire life Cara didn’t want the class to end.
The teacher was going on and on about some homework they needed to prepare and it was almost time for the bell to ring
Cara did the only thing she could think of. She got up and headed for the door.
Warm fingers wrapped around her lower arm slowly trailing downwards to her wrist. The fingers squeezed gently before letting go. Cara turned around.
Kahlan was smiling at her. “Looks like you don’t have time right now. Let’s meet after school in the parking lot?”
Cara nodded numbly and turned around trying to escape as fast as possible.
Cara raced into the bathrooms. She splashed some water in her face to cool the flush on her cheeks.
Then she stared at her reflection in the mirror.
“It can’t be. Is Dahlia right? Do cookies predict the future?” she mumbled to herself.
“There you are!” Dahlia had just entered beaming a smile towards her friend. “Is something wrong?”
“No.”
“Do you have a fever?” Dahlia put her palm to Cara’s forehead but the blonde waved her off.
“I talked to Richard about the prophecy.”
Cara snorted. “Great.”
“He thinks that maybe because the fortune cookies were made in China that they meant the Chinese sundown and not ours. Maybe there’s still time for you to find your true love.”
“Don’t you have any other topic to talk about?” the blonde barked.
Cara was annoyed and grumpy. She grabbed her bag and ditched her irritated friend.
…
There was no way in hell she was going to meet with Kahlan. This whole thing was getting out of control.
Cara’d simply gone to the school newspaper room to show the pictures she’d taken to the responsible teacher instead of heading for the parking lot.
Now she was slamming the door of her house. She threw the little folder onto the table in the kitchen.
“That idiot has no idea. What does he know about photography?” she murmured angrily.
The man had simply told Cara that her pictures for the “Dying in Aydindril” article were crap. She was furious about it.
The doorbell rang. Cara stormed to the door and opened it.
There she was again. Kahlan freaking Amnell.
“Guess we’ve missed each other after school.” She smiled shyly.
“Cara listen…”
“No!” The blonde was beyond caring now. Her feelings were riding a rollercoaster because of a fortune cookie and a beautiful brunette who seemed to be stalking her.
None of this would’ve bothered her if she wasn’t so fascinated by Kahlan. It wasn’t just her appearance but also that smart and loving personality she displayed every single day in school.
“Alright. Listen. I really do care, I mean I really like you a lot. I know that we don’t know each other that well but I think it is too important to let a fortune cookie tell us what to do. To me a fortune cookie is just sticky dough with a piece of paper. And prophecies? I don’t believe in prophecies. We design our own destiny! I hope you know what I mean?!”
Kahlan’s expression was unreadable but she answered slowly.
“Well sure. Uhm… I just wanted to say thank you for helping my sister today. I usually take care of her, but I was on the track field.”
Cara stood motionless in the doorway, her face deadpan.
“And uhm… I also had another question” Kahlan continued. She was obviously uncomfortable.
“I saw you with your camera the other day and I heard that you take pretty good pictures, and tonight’s that important football game…”
Cara gulped. “And so you thought you could ask me to take a few photos?”
Kahlan nodded hesitantly. “But you know what? I’ll just be sticking with the guy from the photo club of the school.”
“Yes you could do that.”
Kahlan smiled nervously. “Alright then. I guess I’ll see you at school.”
Cara’s expression was still blank.
“Sure.”
Without another word Kahlan turned around and walked away.
Embarrassment had just developed an entire new meaning. A very dark blush crept from Cara’s chest to her neck up to her face.
She closed her eyes briefly taking a deep breath before closing the door. And that was that.
…
It had taken about thirteen hours for the blush to disappear, but on the next day Cara had successfully managed to avoid Kahlan completely.
Dahlia fell in step with her as she walked down the hallway.
“Cara I finally managed to solve the fortune cookie mystery.”
“You don’t say.”
“Yes. The prophecy was for me not for you. I ordered the food remember? I told you that I was looking for the person who put the smiley on my desk and I found Rikka.”
Cara stopped. “Who?”
Dahlia waved and a petite girl with long blond hair and piercing blue eyes joined them.
“Cara this is Rikka.” Rikka smiled and nodded before giving Dahlia a small kiss.
“We met in the parking lot and once I’d found out that Rikka was the one with the smiley…”
“So you’ve found each other” Cara interrupted.
Dahlia blinked. “Yes.”
“Fantastic, then why don’t you tell Rikka that story again and I’ll be on my way.”
Cara was happy for them, really, but she wasn’t in the mood to be around two people who’d just fallen in love.
She had her own problems to solve. She hoped that Kahlan was not much of a gossiper otherwise word of their embarrassing little encounter would spread through the school like a wildfire.
She sighed heavily not aware of the icy blue gaze that lingered on her shapely body as she headed down the hallway.
-End Episode 1-
Episode 2
Author: raug_moss
Pairing: Cara/Kahlan, Dahlia/Rikka
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None
Warnings: High School AU
Summary: Cara doesn't believe in prophecies and destiny, but destiny decides to kick Cara's ass. But then again, mabye it's just plain coincidence.
A/N: I know that there are so many fantastic High School AU's of C/K out there, but I wanted to give it a try too. Here it is. Enjoy!
And I also want to thank my lovely beta madame_denna for her enormous support.
Why do mothers think that their daughters need diaries?
Cara had never planned to write into her diary but after living through a disastrous week she had to put down what had happened to remember it at some point in her later life.
…
“Cara! Cara, come over here. Why are you never listening?”
Cara sighed heavily, leaving the kitchen where she’d helped prepare the food.
“Because I had my head in the gas oven.”
Her mother rolled her eyes motioning for her to sit down. It was time for dinner and Cara simply dove into the food. She loved her mother’s cooking.
They were in a simple dining-room which belonged to a just as simple house somewhere in the beautiful town of Aydindril. It was only her mother and Cara. Her father had left a long time ago but both were doing fine, enjoying the mostly peaceful togetherness.
“Emma is trying a new diet” her mother began casually while loading herself mashed potatoes onto her plate.
Cara snorted. “She weighs about 300 pounds and it’s her hundredth diet.”
“Well it’s psychological, there’s not much anyone can do.”
“We could brick up every fast food restaurant in town.”
“Cara! Stop it. Emma’s a good friend of mine.”
The young blonde smiled mischievously.
“So, daughter.”
“Yes mother?”
“What are you up to?”
Cara leaned back poking the peas on her plate with her fork.
“I’m writing the lead article for the school’s newspaper.” Her mother’s face lit up with delight. “Darling, that’s great. What’s it about?”
Cara didn’t even flinch. “Dying in Aydindril.”
Her mother almost choked on the juice she was drinking.
“Dinner is especially delicious tonight” Cara said while trying to suppress a laugh with all her might.
…
A smart woman once said that you never knew if a week was going to be a disaster until it was over but Cara guessed that she should’ve trusted her instincts. She should’ve stayed in bed.
What was going to happen started to predict itself already on Monday morning when the blonde arrived at her school.
Dahlia was already waiting for her when she excited her car.
Cara wasn’t exactly a people person but somehow Dahlia had managed to ignore the blonde’s sarcastic attitude and she’d become her best friend. There wasn’t much Cara could’ve done to prevent it from happening anyway.
She tried to remember the first time she’d laid eyes on the bubbly dark blonde.
While reading a book Cara sat at her usual place in the back of the class. She ignored everything that was going on around her and completely missed the entrance of the new student.
A rather shy looking girl stepped up to the teacher and a few moments later the raspy voice of the elderly woman was heard in the classroom.
“We have a new student at our school. This is Dahlia Bennett, I hope you’ll all be nice to her. Is there someone who can show her around?”
Every person in the room found a spot to look at so that they would not be picked out to help the newcomer.
“Oh please, don’t you guys remember how it is to be new somewhere? You have no one to talk to and you’re all by yourself.”
Every pair of eyes turned to the unsuspecting blonde in the back of the class. The teacher smiled.
“Cara! You’ll be showing Dahlia around.”
Sea-green eyes lifted from the pages of a book. Before she could even utter a protest Dahlia had already taken the empty seat next to her.
“Thank you so much. I’m glad you’re helping me. My mom told me this morning that it might be hard to find new friends but here we are.” Dahlia’s smile was brilliant and Cara already wanted to use her book to knock the other girl unconscious to stop her incessant babbling.
Throughout the day Dahlia seemed glued to Cara’s side like an annoying piece of bubblegum on the sole of your shoe you simply couldn’t get rid of.
Before Biology class Dahlia had another question for the blonde. “So what are the people in this school like?”
“They’re cool.”
“What? That’s it?”
Cara sighed and pointed to a group of girls in the front row. “They’re cool because they look like they’ve just jumped out of a magazine.” Then she pointed to a group of guys. “They’re cool because they listen to the right kind of music.” At last she pointed to a group of two guys and three girls. “And they’re cool because they’re already so drugged that they’re beyond caring.”
Dahlia blinked a few times but she didn’t have a chance to say anything because the teacher entered the room and class started.
“Alright today we’ll be talking about blood. And no, vampires are not involved. First of all we need a vial of blood. Who’s going to donate?”
A low murmur went through the class as well as a few “Ewws”. Cara’s head snapped up.
“She will.” With an emotionless look on her face Cara pointed at Dahlia.
The new student gulped nervously staring at the smiling teacher.
…
Dahlia kept in step with Cara while heading to their next class. “I have a surprise for you tonight.”
“Alright, is it going to hurt? Will it be embarrassing? Or is there still time for me to escape?”
“Oh come on, it’s something nice. I’ll take you to a magical place.”
Cara raised her eyebrow replying nothing.
After class Cara found a nice shady spot underneath a large oak tree near the lunch area of the school.
She was carefully checking her camera. Her photo equipment was pretty expensive and she managed to take a few pretty good pictures every now and then.
In fact her photographs were excellent but the blonde was somewhat uncomfortable about showing them to others.
She was planning a trip later that day to the local graveyard to get a few good shots for her “Dying in Aydindril” article.
She was holding up the camera trying to clean the lens when her forefinger brushed over the release button. Without realizing the blonde had taken a picture.
…
It was evening and Cara’s eyebrows knit in confusion as she regarded her surroundings.
“Here? This is the magical place you wanted to take me to? It’s a Chinese restaurant. What’s so special about it? Are there invisible waiters, flying spring rolls or rice that doesn’t stick together?”
Dahlia smirked. “No. This place has special fortune cookies.”
A waiter approached to show them to their table.
“Fortune cookies?” Cara’s expression was more than doubtful.
“Yes. My mom says that the prophecies written in them always come true.”
Cara rubbed her hands over her face while murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like “Lord, have mercy.”
The blonde raked a hand through her shoulder-length hair while looking around.
“Why does it feel like there are 104 degrees in every existing Chinese restaurant?” Cara sighed answering her own question. “Probably to distract from the fact that they all have the same menu.”
“At least it tastes good.”
Dahlia smiled and ordered them both something to eat.
They ate in companionable silence, or at least Cara did while she tuned out Dahlia’s voice.
After finishing her meal the blonde leaned back being glad that she did take Dahlia’s invitation. The waiter brought the bill and the desperately desired fortune cookies.
Dahlia’s lips curled into a smile. “Alright, are you ready to find out about your future?”
Cara rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’ll open mine first.” Dahlia’s eyes lit up with excitement and Cara couldn’t help but smile.
The brown-eyed woman pulled a thin piece of paper out of her fortune cookie and Cara actually found herself leaning forward. “What does it say?”
Dahlia smirked. “Noon will bring a smile.”
Cara started laughing. A rare but pleasant sound.
“You just wait. My mom says they always come true. Now open yours Cara.”
The blonde chuckled and broke the cookie in half.
“Oh this is so cliché.” She handed the piece of paper to her friend.
“The love of your life will appear at the next sundown” Dahlia read out loud. Her face immediately faltered. “Well, maybe they don’t come true every time.”
Cara shook her head. “You’re such a child sometimes. Come on, let’s go, it’s late.”
…
The first half of the next day passed without any noteworthy occurrences.
After a peaceful lunch a broadly smiling Dahlia approached Cara who was just flipping through the pictures she’d taken at the graveyard the day before.
“Caraguesswhat!” The blonde reluctantly looked up from the little screen in front of her.
“I won’t be able to stop you from telling me anyways will I?”
Dahlia wasn’t listening. She was waving something in front of Cara’s face.
“It’s a smiley. Cara I found a smiley. It was stuck to my desk in my last class. Noon will bring a smile Cara. The fortune cookie was right!”
The blonde’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“Cara you’ll be meeting the love of your life at sundown!”
“Oh please, you don’t seriously believe in this fortune cookie stuff do you?”
Dahlia sat down next to her friend looking at the yellow smiling face in her hand.
“This is so exciting. I can’t believe it. You know what? I’m going to find out who put the smiley on my desk.”
Without any further explanation Dahlia got up and ran off.
With a thoughtful expression the blonde watched the form of her retreating friend.
There was no way those fortune cookies could predict the future. It was simply absurd to assume that she would meet the love of her life at sundown.
The day went on and Cara started to forget about the fortune cookie. She hurried home after school immediately occupying the bathroom to develop her pictures.
The room was dark except for the red light that was needed to develop the pictures successfully. She had everything set up and was about to check her negatives when she heard a car pull into the driveway. A few minutes later the bathroom door opened and her mother stepped inside.
“Cara you can’t always use the bathroom.” Her mom squinted at the drying pictures that were already hanging on a thread at eye level.
“I really don’t want to brush my teeth while looking at gravestones.”
Her mother pulled the shower curtain aside. More pictures were drying there.
“Or shower in a graveyard.” The older woman frowned.
“Mom please, I need some peace and quiet.”
“Fine” her mother huffed and left.
Developing pictures was one of Cara’s favorite things to do. She could focus on her task completely while enjoying the silence. But that kind of silence usually never lasted long enough.
The blonde was putting a blank picture into the little water basin in front of her waiting for it to reveal the object she’d photographed when someone knocked on the door.
“Cara!”
The blonde groaned.
“Dahlia what do you want?”
“It’s only three minutes till sundown! You have to come out.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll be meeting the love of your life. Richard thinks you should come out too.”
Cara went to the door yanking it open.
“What?”
She looked into two pairs of equally brown eyes. Dahlia was smiling.
“This is Richard. I met him at school today and we started talking, and he believes in fortune cookies too. So I offered him to come along.”
Cara had seen the boy with shaggy brown hair a few times in school, but she’d never paid any mind to him. Now he was standing in her hallway smiling sheepishly.
“Well I thought, maybe if no one showed up I could be here, you know.”
Cara’s eyebrows jumped and Dahlia frowned. “I didn’t know about that Cara. Richard you’re so stupid.”
The blonde was actually considering if she would get away with being certified legally insane, if she killed them both and told the judge afterwards that she’d done it because a fortune cookie had told her to do it.
She decided against it and closed the door soundly.
Dahlia squeaked. “Cara you can’t outrun destiny. What are you going to do?”
The blonde shook her head slowly returning to the water basin.
“Nothing, isn’t my problem if I can’t see the love of my life.”
Just as she heard a low murmur in front of the door telling her that it was now sundown the picture in the water basin became clear and Cara found herself staring into unbelievably blue eyes.
She didn’t remember taking that picture, but there it was. It showed the place in school where she usually spent her lunch time. But right in the middle of the photograph was a raven-haired beauty with a divine body and fascinating eyes looking straight into the camera.
“Oh God…”
“Cara we’re leaving.” The blonde barely heard Dahlia’s muffled voice.
…
She hadn’t slept much that night and she was awake before her alarm clock made a single sound.
Cara rolled onto her back staring up to the ceiling of her room.
“This is stupid. Fortune cookies, prophecies. Of course the love of my life didn’t show up.”
Certainly Dahlia would tell the blonde that the picture was a sure sign but first of all pictures didn’t count and secondly Cara barely knew the girl in that photo.
She’d seen her a few times but never cared to talk to her.
Kahlan Amnell.
Alright, yes, she knew her name and she knew that this Kahlan always seemed to have a smile for everyone but that didn’t matter.
Kahlan Amnell was popular, a cheerleader and the love of Cara’s life was certainly not going to be a cheerleader. End of the story.
Cara had a pretty bad headache and she was annoyed beyond belief ready to claw anyone’s head off who dared to look in her direction.
Breakfast with her mother had been a hostile affair and being in school didn’t raise her mood a single bit.
She was just strolling through the hallway when a young girl ran into her. The little blonde was crying.
Cara was about to yell at the girl when she looked up to her with brown eyes and familiar features.
A red haired boy skidded around the corner of the hall and came to a halt in front of them.
“Are you hiding with the older students now?”
The girl hid her face sobbing.
Cara stepped forward glaring at the boy. “Listen you little brat. You’ll leave her alone or I’ll make sure that you’ll never find a place to hide again. You don’t want to make me angry believe me.”
The blonde’s glare was horrifying and the boy looked like he was about to wet his pants. He nodded, turned around and ran off.
The girl was still sniffing but she faced Cara. “Why’d you help me? Do you like my sister?”
“Huh? What? Who’s your sister?”
“Kahlan Amnell.”
Cara tried to hide her shocked expression from the girl. “I uhm … didn’t help you. Forget what happened.”
The blonde turned on her heals and fled leaving a very confused girl behind.
…
Cara found her seat in the back of the class while trying to calm her racing thoughts.
Coincidence, nothing but coincidence.
“Excuse me Cara, do you have a second?”
The blonde raised her eyes. She forgot how to breathe.
There she was.
Right in front of her.
Kahlan.
Kahlan Amnell was talking to her.
Cara was mesmerized by the impossible blue color of Kahlan’s eyes.
Words, you need to form words, a sentence for that matter.
Cara swallowed. “Yes?”
Kahlan smiled. “Listen I wanted to talk to you…”
“Alright everyone. Take a seat!”
The teacher began class and Kahlan gave Cara a last glance. “We’ll talk after class.”
The brunette returned to her seat a little more up front to Cara’s right side.
Cara couldn’t focus on what the teacher was saying even if her life would have depended on it. In fact she was watching Kahlan.
Is she smiling at me? Cara saw how the corner of Kahlan’s mouth twitched.
Of course she is, because you’re staring at her.
Cara rolled her eyes and found another spot to look at for a while.
For the first time in her entire life Cara didn’t want the class to end.
The teacher was going on and on about some homework they needed to prepare and it was almost time for the bell to ring
Cara did the only thing she could think of. She got up and headed for the door.
Warm fingers wrapped around her lower arm slowly trailing downwards to her wrist. The fingers squeezed gently before letting go. Cara turned around.
Kahlan was smiling at her. “Looks like you don’t have time right now. Let’s meet after school in the parking lot?”
Cara nodded numbly and turned around trying to escape as fast as possible.
Cara raced into the bathrooms. She splashed some water in her face to cool the flush on her cheeks.
Then she stared at her reflection in the mirror.
“It can’t be. Is Dahlia right? Do cookies predict the future?” she mumbled to herself.
“There you are!” Dahlia had just entered beaming a smile towards her friend. “Is something wrong?”
“No.”
“Do you have a fever?” Dahlia put her palm to Cara’s forehead but the blonde waved her off.
“I talked to Richard about the prophecy.”
Cara snorted. “Great.”
“He thinks that maybe because the fortune cookies were made in China that they meant the Chinese sundown and not ours. Maybe there’s still time for you to find your true love.”
“Don’t you have any other topic to talk about?” the blonde barked.
Cara was annoyed and grumpy. She grabbed her bag and ditched her irritated friend.
…
There was no way in hell she was going to meet with Kahlan. This whole thing was getting out of control.
Cara’d simply gone to the school newspaper room to show the pictures she’d taken to the responsible teacher instead of heading for the parking lot.
Now she was slamming the door of her house. She threw the little folder onto the table in the kitchen.
“That idiot has no idea. What does he know about photography?” she murmured angrily.
The man had simply told Cara that her pictures for the “Dying in Aydindril” article were crap. She was furious about it.
The doorbell rang. Cara stormed to the door and opened it.
There she was again. Kahlan freaking Amnell.
“Guess we’ve missed each other after school.” She smiled shyly.
“Cara listen…”
“No!” The blonde was beyond caring now. Her feelings were riding a rollercoaster because of a fortune cookie and a beautiful brunette who seemed to be stalking her.
None of this would’ve bothered her if she wasn’t so fascinated by Kahlan. It wasn’t just her appearance but also that smart and loving personality she displayed every single day in school.
“Alright. Listen. I really do care, I mean I really like you a lot. I know that we don’t know each other that well but I think it is too important to let a fortune cookie tell us what to do. To me a fortune cookie is just sticky dough with a piece of paper. And prophecies? I don’t believe in prophecies. We design our own destiny! I hope you know what I mean?!”
Kahlan’s expression was unreadable but she answered slowly.
“Well sure. Uhm… I just wanted to say thank you for helping my sister today. I usually take care of her, but I was on the track field.”
Cara stood motionless in the doorway, her face deadpan.
“And uhm… I also had another question” Kahlan continued. She was obviously uncomfortable.
“I saw you with your camera the other day and I heard that you take pretty good pictures, and tonight’s that important football game…”
Cara gulped. “And so you thought you could ask me to take a few photos?”
Kahlan nodded hesitantly. “But you know what? I’ll just be sticking with the guy from the photo club of the school.”
“Yes you could do that.”
Kahlan smiled nervously. “Alright then. I guess I’ll see you at school.”
Cara’s expression was still blank.
“Sure.”
Without another word Kahlan turned around and walked away.
Embarrassment had just developed an entire new meaning. A very dark blush crept from Cara’s chest to her neck up to her face.
She closed her eyes briefly taking a deep breath before closing the door. And that was that.
…
It had taken about thirteen hours for the blush to disappear, but on the next day Cara had successfully managed to avoid Kahlan completely.
Dahlia fell in step with her as she walked down the hallway.
“Cara I finally managed to solve the fortune cookie mystery.”
“You don’t say.”
“Yes. The prophecy was for me not for you. I ordered the food remember? I told you that I was looking for the person who put the smiley on my desk and I found Rikka.”
Cara stopped. “Who?”
Dahlia waved and a petite girl with long blond hair and piercing blue eyes joined them.
“Cara this is Rikka.” Rikka smiled and nodded before giving Dahlia a small kiss.
“We met in the parking lot and once I’d found out that Rikka was the one with the smiley…”
“So you’ve found each other” Cara interrupted.
Dahlia blinked. “Yes.”
“Fantastic, then why don’t you tell Rikka that story again and I’ll be on my way.”
Cara was happy for them, really, but she wasn’t in the mood to be around two people who’d just fallen in love.
She had her own problems to solve. She hoped that Kahlan was not much of a gossiper otherwise word of their embarrassing little encounter would spread through the school like a wildfire.
She sighed heavily not aware of the icy blue gaze that lingered on her shapely body as she headed down the hallway.
-End Episode 1-
Episode 2