Some of you have been asking about the follow up of Jan Raymond’s spin off. Well, here it is! The next two chapters. I hope you’ll like it as much as I do!
Also, I’m gonna reveal what’s been going on with Jan’s Pinterest and what will happen on Friday…shh…take a look after the chapters!
CHAPTER 3
They had returned from Pha-yul before school started and soon got back into routine. Seb had been quite taken up with Ryan’s prowess on the football field the previous year, and had tried out for the team. He got the goalkeeper’s spot in the Holy Trinity football team. His days became a blur of classes, football practice and training. Mr. Harris had increased the pace of their training to get them ready for the “Gran-sdur”, the annual Games that were being held in Pha-yul, in which they were taking part.
Prom was also coming up and Seb went through his list of ex-girlfriends, most of whom he was still in touch with and decided that Anna, who he had dated briefly the previous year, was the best looking. He asked her to go to the prom with him and she agreed.
On the evening of the prom, as Anna walked into the drawing room where he was waiting for her, Seb gazed at her in admiration. She looked beautiful, as usual, dressed in a shimmering, steel grey sheath and her long, blonde hair shone in the lamplight.
‘Anna! You look stunning,’ exclaimed Seb, as he tied the white orchid corsage around her wrist.
‘You don’t look too bad yourself,’ she replied, looking approvingly at his well-cut tuxedo.
‘What can I say? You know, I just woke up, slipped into the first thing that I found and drove right over,’ he said, teasing.
‘Oh… your modesty kills me every time.’ She punched his arm. ‘Shall we go? Bye, Grandpa… I’ve taken the key. Don’t wait up.’
It was a short drive to Holy Trinity and heads turned as they walked in. Seb knew they made a stunning couple. He enjoyed the looks of envy he was getting from most of the boys. As he basked in it, he heard Maya call out to him. She was there with her date, Darren, and both the boys decided to get something to drink. Seb got the drinks for the girls and was walking back when he saw people turning towards the entrance.
Seb glanced up to see what had caught their attention. He stopped mid-stride, frozen in place, his mouth half open.
Ryan and Cassie were walking in together. He didn’t know that Cassie was Ryan’s date. Ryan looked quite dashing in his tux. But Cassie… Seb gulped…Cassie looked ravishing. Quiet, demure, sweet little Cassie had transformed into this exotic, breathtaking beauty.
She looked amazing in an emerald green, figure hugging gown, with a long slit down one leg. Her unruly mop of red hair was piled up high on her head with curly tendrils framing her face, and falling softly to her shoulders.
‘What is she doing with Ryan?’ he thought angrily. ‘When did he ask her out?’ and then a sudden thought struck him. He could guess why Cassie was with Ryan. Ryan, being the caring person he was would have asked Cassie who she was going out with, something Seb himself had never thought to ask. Maybe no one had asked her. Ryan would have immediately offered.
‘Why didn’t I think of asking her?’ he berated himself. But Ryan was the kind of person that Cassie deserved. Not a shallow, superficial guy like himself, who’s only thought had been to figure out who was the most beautiful girl he knew that he could get to go out with him. Well, he thought, he had got it wrong, hadn’t he? It looked like Ryan was coming in with the most beautiful girl he knew. Ryan and Cassie were talking to Maya. He walked towards them, feeling low and miserable all of a sudden.
As he neared them, he heard Cassie say, ‘Oh my God, this is so scary. I want to go home.’
‘Shut up! You look beautiful and you’re here with the most handsome guy in the room. Enjoy it!’ chided Maya.
Cassie looked around. ‘Oh dear! People are staring at me! I must look like a complete freak,’ she said, looking terrified.
‘Cassandra Johnson, you look like a goddess tonight,’ said Seb, loudly, joining them. He handed Maya and Anna their drinks. He caught Maya looking at him strangely and he raised an eyebrow. She shook her head, with a small smile and looked away.
Cassie was looking at him suspiciously. ‘Are you being sarcastic?’
‘Damn it, woman! Can’t you take a compliment? And mate, you look dashing,’ Seb added, turning to Ryan.
Both Cassie and Ryan blushed furiously. ‘Shut up, Seb,’ they said in unison.
For the rest of the evening, Seb couldn’t keep his eyes off Cassie. He found himself turning to look for her, every few minutes.
‘I want to go home,’ announced Anna suddenly.
‘Why?’ he asked her, puzzled.
‘You’re being very boring this evening. Why didn’t you just ask her out? Even now it’s not too late, just go dance with her if you like her so much,’ grumbled Anna.
‘Who are you talking about?’ asked Seb, still confused.
‘The redhead. You haven’t been able to take your eyes off her the whole evening.’
‘What? Nonsense! She’s one of my best friends,’ spluttered Seb.
‘Uh-huh,’ said Anna, with a disbelieving look. She shook her head, laughing merrily. ‘I never thought I’d see the day. Sebastian Hartford, mooning over a girl. It was worth coming to this lame prom. Listen, I know you want to stick around. I’ve already asked Granddad to send the car. So,’ she gave him a peck on the cheek. ‘I’ll take off then. She seems nice,’ she added, pointing to Cas, who had collapsed on one of the chairs, taken off her slippers, and seemed to be debating whether to put her feet up on the opposite chair. ‘I approve,’ said Anna, teasing.
After Anna had left, Seb walked back in, smiling, thinking about what Anna had said. Of course he liked Cassie. But he loved his entire team. He would give up his life for them if he had to. But to imply that he had any other sort of feelings for her. Absolute rot!
He walked up to where Cassie was sitting, alone. ‘What are you doing by yourself? Where’s Ryan?’ He plonked himself next to her.
‘Where’s Anna?’ she asked.
‘She left. I don’t blame her. This is such a lame party. So, where’s Ryan?’ he asked again.
Cassie pointed. ‘On the floor, with Maya.’
Seb stretched out his hand.
‘Come on, let’s go dance.’
Cassie smiled and took his hand, leaving her shoes under her chair, and they made their way to the dance floor.
‘You dance so well. Ryan was so bad. He kept stepping on my toes. I’m starting to enjoy this party now,’ said Cassie.
Seb grinned. ‘You know what? I take back my words. It’s not such a lame party after all. And you’re not such a bad dancer yourself.’
‘Please, dancing is not my forte. I know that, so stop lying,’ giggled Cassie, as she missed a step again.
Seb laughed. ‘Ok, truth! You are one of the worst dancers I’ve ever had the misfortune to dance with. But that doesn’t matter. I’m dancing with the most beautiful girl in the room.’
‘Are you being mean again?’ asked Cassie, looking up, her eyes narrowing.
‘Can’t I give you a compliment without you jumping down my throat?’ asked Seb.
Cassie’s face relaxed into a pleased smile. ‘Then, thank you.’
‘The dress complements your beautiful green eyes and that gorgeous red hair…’ started Seb.
‘Seb, shut up, you’re embarrassing me,’ Cassie cut him short, blushing.
‘Even your blush is very becoming,’ continued Seb with a mischievous grin, ‘and you do smell divine.’
‘Seb,’ said Cassie, who was beet red now. ‘I swear if you don’t shut up, I will fling you across the room.’
Seb burst out laughing. ‘I’m sure you would. Fine, I’ll shut up. But I meant every word I said.’
CHAPTER 4
In no time at all, they were on their way back to Pha-yul. The day they arrived, there was a big feast at the Temple. As they were seating themselves, Seb saw Cassie looking around, searching.
‘What are you searching for?’ he asked her. She flopped down beside him, looking put out.
‘Trey! He should be here by now, but he isn’t,’ she answered. Seb felt a flare of anger working its way up his spine.
‘When will she learn?’ he wondered.
Trey and his team arrived in Pha-yul a couple of days before the games, and to Seb’s annoyance, Trey started dropping by every evening to spend time with Cassie. They were practicing all out and were exhausted by the time they returned to their rooms every day. He could see how tired Cassie was, but she dragged herself off to spend time with Trey. Seb was pretty certain that Trey was using Cassie to find out their strategy for the games.
She had snapped at him when he’d told her that she should be careful about spending time with him, since he was the competition. But help had come from an unexpected source. Maya had added to Seb’s cautionary words, telling Cassie that she shouldn’t speak to Trey about the games or any of their strategies. Cassie had agreed and said that she’d be careful about what she said.
‘Not that I think for a moment that you guys are doing any talking,’ Maya had teased. He’d glared at Maya, irritated unreasonably by her teasing.
Seb found that he didn’t like Trey and Cassie disappearing together every evening. He couldn’t fathom his own emotions. Yes, he was worried about Trey hurting Cassie, but he realised that he was also furious with Cassie for believing that Trey was into her. Every time he saw Trey, he wanted to punch that handsome face in.
Just as Seb expected, once Trey knew that he wasn’t about to get anything out of Cassie, he stopped dropping by. He thought Cassie would be upset, but she seemed relieved, as she was weary when she got back from training and just wanted to hit the sack.
The day before the “Gran-sdur”, they had another visitor, Carl.
‘Where’s Trey?’ asked Cassie. Seb, who was entering the dorm, paused at the door, waiting for Carl’s reply.
‘Probably with Britta,’ shrugged Carl.
‘What’s he doing with Britta?’ asked Cassie, her face reddening.
‘Hooking up, I guess. They do that a lot. Totally sickening, if you ask me,’ replied Carl.
Seb saw Cassie’s face crumple. Maya, who was standing beside her, hastily grabbed Cassie and hustled her upstairs to their rooms. Seb saw the smirk on Carl’s face and took a step forward, but Ryan held him back.
‘Mate! Don’t! Don’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he hit a nerve. Come on!’ For a moment Seb was so mad, he wanted to push Ryan away and give in to his anger.
But he knew Ryan was right, and he nodded, swearing, ‘That jerk! I knew this would happen. Just wait till I get my hands on him.’
‘You will do nothing to him,’ said Ryan, kindly but sternly. ‘We’ve worked too hard to get disqualified. And that is what will happen if you beat up Trey. That is what they want. You leave Trey to me. I’ll see that he gets what he deserves,’ promised Ryan.
‘Go up,’ he said, giving Seb a gentle shove. ‘Now is when she needs you the most.’
Seb ran upstairs, taking two steps at a time and as he lifted his hand to knock on the girls’ door, he heard Cassie burst out, ‘God, I’ve been so stupid! Seb warned me and I didn’t listen!’
He gave a soft knock and without waiting for an answer, opened the door and peered in with a worried look.
‘Are you…’ he stopped, when he saw that Cassie was weeping. Both the girls were sitting on the bed, and Maya was hugging Cassie tightly, letting her cry. He swore under his breath and strode into the room. He pulled Cassie into his arms and enveloped her in a bear hug, motioning at Maya to leave the room.
He stroked Cassie’s hair, whispering soothingly, ‘There, there, it’s okay, it’ll be alright, you’ll be fine.’
Cassie was finally completely cried out. She pulled away from Seb, and said in a miserable voice, ‘Go on, say it, say ‘I told you so’.’
Seb sat on the bed and pulled Cassie back towards him. ‘Cas, they’re just trying to mess with your head. Don’t let them. We’ll go out tomorrow and kick the butts off Trey and his bloody team. He’s a jerk! Don’t waste your energy on him! Come on… Look at me!’ Cassie raised a tear stained, red face at him. ‘I will not ask you to cheer up and forget what he did. I want you to be mad. Give him hell on the field tomorrow! Will you?’
Cassie nodded. ‘Atta girl!’ He stood up and looked down at her intently for a second. He wanted to stay there and just keep holding her. The intensity of the emotions coursing through him surprised and overwhelmed him. He wanted to take her in his arms and never let her go. Never let her get hurt again. He took a couple of deep breaths and pulled himself together, and then said, ‘I’ll call Maya.’
He turned and walked away. As he opened the door, Cassie called out, ‘Seb?’ He turned. She gave him a watery smile, ‘Thanks!’
He smiled gently. ‘No one messes with my team. If you need a shoulder, holler,’ he said and walked out.
The plot is definitely thickening! Stay tuned. There is more to come…
I love pictures so what better place for me than Pinterest. It’s a great way of creating a virtual notebook with pictures, an author’s best playground if wanting to let their imagination fly…and I know that Jan Raymond loves Pinterest, too! Check out what she’s been playing with…
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/the-library/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/pha-yul/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/characters-for-circle-of-five/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/circle-of-five-settings-for-the-scenes/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/music-for-circle-of-five/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/gran-sdur-the-games-taekwondo/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/gran-sdur-the-games-the-relay/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/gran-sdur-the-games-the-riding-event/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/gran-sdur-survival-skills-event/
http://www.pinterest.com/janraymond397/gran-sdur-prom-night/
Cheers,
Jen x
P.S. Tomorrow I’m gonna reveal who’s Jan Raymond’s Friday night date!
AUTHOR JENNIFER LOISKE 
Reblogged this on Learning as I write and commented:
Spoiler alert in the spin off-for all those who are waiting for the third book!