Seth continued to stuff the last remains of his papers into his bag. “Yeah, that would be Joe Gray. I’ve told you about her, remember? She’ll be my room-mate for the rest of the year, so please do try to knock before entering our room from now on, dude. Joe Gray, this is Harry Ledger. Bass player and most awesome friend,” he introduced, grabbing a quick cool handshake with Harry.
Harry looked at me shyly and nodded a short greeting. “Hey, Joe.”
“Hello, Harry,” I replied, leaning back against my headboard and waiting for him to stick to the expected script about my name … It never came. Harry just stuffed his hands inside his baggy shorts pockets and waited patiently for Seth to be ready to leave.
I was stunned. That was a first. No, really, that was the first time someone had been introduced to me without the “But Joe’s a boy’s name” line coming up. The. First. Time. Ever.
I guess Tristan hadn’t exactly mentioned it the first time we’d met, but I knew he’d been thinking it and restraining himself from asking because I was daring him to say anything about it. Harry seemed like he didn’t care at all; that he wasn’t even masking the thought.
Harry must have noticed me gawking at him, because he started to shuffle his feet uncomfortably, anxious to get out of the room. He looked incredibly shy. Which was really strange. Beautiful boys like him were usually full of themselves, all smirks, winks and cocky replies. Harry, apparently, was nothing like that.
Seth finally finished his packing and grabbed his guitar case, throwing it over his shoulder, and headed for the door with a relieved Harry tagging behind. “So, Joe, we’ll be at rehearsals! See ya later, okay? Come on, Harry, we’ll wait for Josh there. I have a surprise song to show you guys. You won’t believe how good it is!” He winked at me before closing the door.
I smiled to the room, enjoying how excited Seth was about his new song. I hoped he’d let me hear him playing it some time. I decided now was a good time to take a bath, since I had the whole room to myself.
I took out my special tangerine shampoo for “happy occasions” only, and hurried to the bathroom. When I was done with my bath I walked out all cleaned up, properly perfumed, fully groomed, hair all nicely combed, and dressed in my black sweat pants and black tank-top.
I came to a sudden halt when I saw that another boy was sitting on Seth’s bed, with his back to me. He had really large shoulders and was thumping on his legs with two drumsticks. He turned to look at me when he heard me coming out of the bathroom.
“Hey, Seth, man, I’ve been waiting here for ev— Oh. Hi. Hello. You’re not Seth,” he said abruptly, a puzzled look on his face.
The lightest, bluest eyes stared back at me from a handsome, thin face complemented by thin lips. His hair was really short and as black as mine, almost shaved at the sides but a little longer at the top, where he was sporting a small mohawk.
“Hey, you must be Josh. I’m Joe, Seth’s new roommate,” I said, offering my hand to him.
He shook it, smiling kindly. “You have the name of a boy, but you sure don’t look like one!”
I smiled back at him. There it was. A variation of the traditional script, right on cue. It really was only Harry, then.
“They left for rehearsal a while ago. I heard Seth asking about you. He has a new song to show you guys. You should probably hurry, he must be anxious waiting for you.” I threw myself on to my bed and grabbed a book.
“Yeah, right,” he said, standing up.
Whoa! He was tall. And had really broad shoulders and a strong chest, but a lean build. Seth didn’t need to worry about playing good songs – not with everyone in the band looking like they did. He could try opening a modeling agency, in fact.
“Nice meeting you, Joe! If Seth starts annoying you too much, just let me know and I’ll take care of him for you!” Josh gave me a warm smile and a tiny wink, then he left the room in a hurry.
I spent the rest of the afternoon doing my homework as planned. After dinner I tried to wait up for Seth, reading a book in bed. I was really curious to hear the band’s comments on the new song, but sleep overwhelmed me and I didn’t even hear Seth sneak back into the room late that night.
Chapter Fourteen
Birthday Present
Thursday started pretty uneventfully.
I got up early and went to grab some breakfast on my own, leaving Seth still sleeping. Tiffany arrived fifteen minutes later, chatted with some friends and again headed to my table with her tray of food, to join me for breakfast. I noticed that this got me some weird looks from people around us. It was two days in a row that Tiffany had joined me for meals. People were starting to notice me, the weird-looking tomboy girl that captured Tiffany’s attention.
I felt a little awkward about the spotlight being on me, but I kept on munching my breakfast and trying to hide from all those prying eyes. We talked a little – well, Tiffany did most of the talking; I wasn’t much of a talker in the mornings – and then we parted ways to head for our classrooms.
I remembered that I needed some books from my locker, so I made a small detour to grab them first. On the way to the lockers, I started to pick up a few threads of conversation passing by me. At first I didn’t connect the dots, but soon I began to understand that all the whispers, hushed murmurs and side glances were directed at me.
“I heard she stood up to Professor …”
“… a boy’s name, that’s her over there …”
“The cheerleader squad are scared of her, nobody knows why …”
“She even stood up to Tiffany! She must be crazy …”
“… and they are best friends now? What’s the catch?”
“Who is she anyway?”
That last comment was made by a group of jocks to their captain, Bradley Finn. Seth had pointed Bradley out to me the other day, warning me to stay clear of him. Apparently, there had been a fight between them last year and Seth had left the basketball team. It was the first time I’d seen Seth so disgruntled about something. Bradley was a living, breathing jock stereotype: the school basketball team captain, big, dumb, massively loud, rude, pretentious and very conceited. Every quality I despised in a person. I had seen him walking round the halls before, but now Bradley had turned his face in my direction and was studying me with deep interest. I tilted my head down and continued walking to my locker, trying to draw the minimal amount of attention to myself, but people kept pointing and whispering at me all the time. I realized I was getting quite a name for myself. Fantastic. Not even one full week at school and I was already the crazy, deranged new girl. Just great!
I hurried to my locker and grabbed my books as fast as I could. The buzzing around me was starting to make me feel really uncomfortable. As I closed the locker door with a bang and turned to leave, a big heavy chest stopped me mid-turn. I stumbled backwards, startled, slamming loudly into my locker. When I looked up, I saw the smug, square-jawed face of Bradley staring down at me.
“So, you’re the new girl everybody is talking about! I don’t see what all the fuss is about. What’s your name, new girl?” He dragged his big hands through his short, sandy hair and smirked unpleasantly.
I regained my balance and puffed out my chest, trying to impose myself a little. Bradley didn’t seem impressed. “I’m Joe. Joe Gray,” I said quietly. I should keep it cool now. I didn’t need any more fights in this school.
“Hah. That’s fucking hilarious! What’s your mom’s problem, giving you a boy’s name like that!” he barked in a mocking tone.
I squinted my eyes at him, starting to feel my blood boiling. “Your mom’s half responsible for your pea-sized brain, but you don’t see me asking what’s her problem, do you?” I snapped. So much for keeping it cool.
His brow creased with the effort of thinking. “Are ya calling me stupid?” he barked again. He looked angry now, rather than amused.
“You know, the fact that you even need to ask that really answers your own question, dontcha think?” I said, crossing my
arms defiantly with my books against my chest.
Bradley leaned really close to me, forcing me to step back and bump against the locker door again. I mentally cursed myself: stepping back would give him the impression I was scared. Definitely not a good move in a fight-for-power-position. He extended both arms either side of me, blocking my escape.
“This pea-brain here is going to give you a lesson, though. It’s not very smart to piss off the most popular guy at this school!” he said menacingly.
I stared at him with my jaw clenched tight. He did not know who he was messing with. I had my martial arts belts to prove him wrong! “You back the hell off, or I’ll make you regret it,” I warned with a growl. I shifted my legs, giving myself enough balance to stand on one foot, while preparing a kick in the nuts routine. It wasn’t an approved manoeuver, technically speaking, but with a guy his size I needed to fight dirty to have some starting advantage.
But before I could do anything, a hand grabbed Bradley’s shoulders and pushed him away from me, hard, making him stumble backwards, almost falling on his ass. I was as surprised as he was.
Bradley regained his balance at the last second and stood up straight, turning to look at a furious Harry in front of him. Harry had his arms firmly at his sides, fists clenched tight. He looked really angry, but when he spoke his voice was low and calm. His hands betrayed the cracks in his calm façade, though. “I think it’s time for you to leave, Bradley,” Harry said.
Bradley wasn’t happy about being pushed around roughly like that. “Yeah? Who’s gonna make me? You, little rocker boy?” he barked. Bradley barked a lot. He reminded me of a pit-bull.
“Yes, the little rocker boy and I,” said Josh stepping up to Harry’s side.
Josh wasn’t as little as Harry. He had an impressive height, although Bradley was broader and bigger in the muscles department. But apparently Josh’s threat was enough for Bradley to reconsider his next move. Bradley glanced quickly around and noticed the absence of his buddies, the basketball team he always had by his side for backup. Now he was alone. And outnumbered. So he did what was expected of conceited cowards. He backed off.
“Fine. She’s all yours! Have fun with the tomboy there! She’s not even worth the aggravation!” he said, walking away with a sneer on his face.
Harry approached me and kneeled down to pick up a book I’d dropped, handing it cautiously to me. “Are you okay?” he asked in the same calm voice of minutes before, but now all the anger was gone there was a hint of softness to it.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Thanks, Harry,” I said, taking my book back. “I’m sorry to get you guys into trouble. He’s going to want to get his own back on you two later.”
Harry smiled softly and shrugged his shoulders, with an expression that said he couldn’t care less about Bradley’s retaliation.
“Don’t worry about it,” Josh added. “We’ll walk you to your class. Where are you headed?”.
“It’s … this way. It’s not really necessary, guys! I can take care of myself,” I insisted as they walked by my side through the hallway.
They weren’t buying it, though. Why would they? All they had seen was a scared little girl being hustled by a huge bully. One minute later they would have seen a little girl kicking the bully hard in the nuts, though. I was a little annoyed at them thinking I was that helpless. But they meant well and were just trying to protect me, so I let them tag along.
“So, Joe, Seth showed us his new song,” Josh commented casually.
I was happy with the change of conversation. “Yeah? What did you guys think of it?”
“It was pretty good.” Josh smiled.
“Very, very good,” Harry added from the other side of me.
“Good! Seth was very excited about it. He must be happy that you guys approved. He said you two are a bit picky in the lyrics department.”
“We’re not picky! We just like songs that don’t suck, that’s all!” Harry laughed. “And that one definitely did not suck. Thanks, Joe.”
Crap. They knew I’d had my hands on the song? But I tried to play dumb anyway. “Thanks for what? It’s Seth’s song.”
They both laughed at the same time.
“Yeah, yeah, right. We know there’s a little Seth in it, but we suspect you must have helped quite a lot!” Harry said, glancing sideways at me.
“Well, I just pointed out some little things. It is Seth’s song!” I repeated firmly.
“Okay. Whatever you say, Joe.” Josh smirked.
We arrived at my classroom door then.
“Here you are, safe and sound. Thanks for pointing out those ‘little things’ for the song! We appreciated it,” Josh said, patting me lightly on my shoulder.
“Sure, no problem. Thanks again for escorting me here. You really didn’t have to. I’ll see you guys around.” I smiled and stepped into my classroom.
Josh waved me goodbye and Harry nodded slightly, with his face a little down, avoiding direct eye contact. He had a little smile at the corner of his mouth. He was so adorably shy! I entered the classroom, smiling happily. I was really glad they liked the song.
The rest of the day passed by fairly fast. I shared some classes with Tiffany, a few with Seth and Josh together, and one with Harry. They always greeted me happily and arranged to sit in a chair next to mine. Which attracted a few more envious stares from other girls. It turned out I was gathering quite an awesome group of friends in this school! The only thing that could possibly top that would be Tristan’s arrival on Saturday.
And with that thought in mind, I drifted into a haze throughout all my classes on Friday. I was so anxious about Saturday that I didn’t pay attention to anything else. In the afternoon, some guy from school maintenance went to our room to fix the broken bed next to the wall, and at night Mom called to let me know she was coming at midday tomorrow. Then Saturday finally arrived! (Oh joy!) I was so anxious I woke up really early, even though I didn’t have to. I stared at the ceiling for like a hundred hours, until I gave up and got out of bed, deciding it was best to get ready and wait outside the school.
It was a pleasant day, a bit windy, but not too cold. The school had a huge campus with landscaped gardens, small fountains, big lawns and lots of beautiful trees everywhere.
At some point, I’d found this really private place on campus, with an amazing, impressive oak tree set alone in the middle of it. It seemed like a lovely spot to spend some time. I explored more of the grounds the whole morning, and just before lunch I bumped into Tiffany right outside the cafeteria.
We had lunch together and I told her my mom and half-brother would be arriving shortly. She clapped her hands, excited by the news. Tiffany was always in a cheerful, overexcited mood. It was hard to feel gloomy around her; she radiated joy and positive vibrations like the surface of the sun.
She waited with me by the front doors, the same place I’d dropped her Gucci bag on my first day at school. She was sitting on the small brick wall by the side of the steps, legs crossed sexily, and I was standing at her side, staring fixedly at the road, waiting for any signs of my mom’s car on the horizon. I tried to act relaxed, but inside I was squirming with anxiety. In fact, I was more than squirming; I was raging with nervousness.
Tiffany chatted excitedly, her hair bouncing wildly in the strong wind, oblivious to my jittery nerves and shaky mood. “So, tell me, Joey, is your brother as feisty as you are? Should I be putting my Gucci bags away? I can’t have mud on any of my babies again, you know!” she teased.
“Well, you’ll see for yourself soon enough, Tiff,” I said, giving her a vague answer. But before Tiffany could come up with another question, my mom’s car appeared at the bend of the road. “Here they are!” I said, beaming happily and pointing at the approaching car.
My mother’s car stopped a few feet away from us, and I walked slowly towards it. Suddenly the level of anxiety multiplied a hundred times over, making my palms sweaty and my heart pound fast. I saw Tristan looking up at the school fro
m inside the car. The thought of talking to him again made me feel so nervous, I was almost sick to my stomach. I didn’t have time to think about anything else, because Tristan opened the passenger door and stepped slowly outside, carrying a small backpack over his shoulders.
He was wearing black jeans, not too tight, not too loose, and a dark green T-shirt that made his eye color turn into a deep shade of green too. I thought nothing could ever top that ocean blue shirt I’d seen him in over a week ago, but boy was I wrong! Deep green definitely suited him. He had a black beaded wristband on his forearm. His black hair was all untidy because of the wind, which worked nicely in his favor. I knew he didn’t like messy hair, but it looked so good on him that I had to mentally thank the Gods of Wind around us.
Tristan turned in my direction and gave me that bright, open, warm smile of his. It made my legs a little wobbly. Without even realizing what I was doing, I closed the few steps between us, running to hug him so tightly that I even heard a light “Oof!” from him. I wasn’t thinking straight. I just wanted him close to me. It was such an overwhelming urge; it took over my entire body and mind. Never in my life had I had acted like this before! Never had I allowed myself to feel such uncontrollable emotions. Was it the bonds of the spell forcing me to act this way? Making my brain go all crazy, fuzzy and inadequate?
I felt Tristan tense in surprise under my hug, and the moment we touched this vibrant jolt of electricity passed through my entire body. It was like a heavy discharge of accumulated energy residue. So it really was the spell affecting my actions, I thought. It was forcing the need for close contact, to unload whatever it was we had been charging up all week long when we’d been apart.
I let go of him quickly, startled by that weird reaction. I think he also felt it because his eyes were wide and he was clearly in some sort of shock. Before we could gather our wits and say anything, we heard Mom yelling from the other side of the car. “How about me? Don’t I get a hug too?” she asked happily.
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