Magical

by Bria Berg

  “Once,” Tessa countered, “You saw him do it once, and honestly what guy hasn’t picked his nose? You’ve been talking about him for almost twenty minutes now so obviously you’ve been thinking about him. From what I’ve seen, he actually seems like a decent guy so maybe you should give him a chance!”

  That was the most consecutive words Tessa had ever spoken to Nicole that didn’t pertain strictly to chemistry, and the latter girl’s glare deepened. “What so now suddenly you want me to be just like you and go for anybody with a Y chromosome?” She curtly stood. “I don’t need to listen to this,” she spat and walked away leaving Tessa alone thinking the day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

  Tessa finished her lunch, and sat back to stare out the window. It didn’t look like it had stopped snowing since the morning. The snow had stuck to the ground and trees and was still falling, reminding her of a snow globe after you shake it. Two figures appeared in the snow, hand in hand running away from school. One was a girl who must have been freezing with her bare legs… Hailey! Tessa practically pressed her face against the glass trying to figure out who the boy was, and when she recognized him her stomach clenched. Jake Spiers, a junior, who was on the basketball team and had ‘approached’ Tessa a few times, to enquire about her nocturnal activities. As far as Tessa was concerned this guy was bad news. Why was Hailey with him, and where were they going?”

  Tessa stood with every intention of chasing after her sister, but when she glanced out the window again, they were gone. She groaned to herself and dug through her backpack finding her phone and immediately called Hailey. No answer. The bell rang and Tessa groaned trying to decide whether she should try to find Hailey, or go to class. Since she didn’t have any clue where Hailey and Jake were going and Hailey wasn’t answering her dang phone, she chose English class.

  English was boring as ever. It was Mrs. Melvin’s last year of teaching before retirement, and it was obvious she was pretty much burnt out. They spent almost every class period reading from the textbook, answering the questions from the textbook, and writing essays, from the textbook. Mrs. Melvin was basically there to make sure the class was quiet and didn’t get out of hand. It was a relief at times since nobody could talk to Tessa or even whisper nasty comments. Despite Mrs. Melvin’s age, her hearing was excellent, and the second anyone opened their mouth when not called upon, she would instantly silence them.

  After English, Tessa headed for her last class— gym. All of the seniors had gym last, but if you were on any sports team, gym would be like a practice period, which meant Dean’s whole team would be there, as well as the entire dance squad. Tessa used to be on the dance squad, but she was kicked off because she caused too many problems with her so-called ‘extracurricular activities’. Tessa changed into her gym shorts and t-shirt in a bathroom stall. It was too hard to undress with the other girls after they began saying spiteful things to her, especially things about her body.

  When she entered the gymnasium, the basketball team was already practicing drills, the cheerleaders were practicing cheers, and the dance team was dancing, but the bleachers were full of students. The football, soccer, and baseball teams which typically practiced out on their fields were snowed in. She made her way to where the students who weren’t on a team were gathered, getting ready to run laps around the gym. Nicole was actively ignoring Tessa. Snorts, snickers, and hoots sounded as she walked down the line of bleachers. The captain of the dance team turned and met Tessa’s eyes and a pang of sadness and regret filled her. Brigette Lawrence used to be Tessa’s best friend. They met the first day of sophomore year, and instantly hit it off. She had heard rumors about Brigette, that she can be your best friend or your worst enemy, but that hadn’t mattered to Tessa at the time. They used to do everything together; shop, eat, dance, gossip, and paint each other’s toenails, but as Brigette shot her a look of superiority, Tessa knew it would never be that way again. Not even her best friend in the world believed her when it came to Dean, and because of him, Tessa lost her best friend and what she loved doing—dancing.

  It was Sandra who put Tessa in dance class when she was three years old, probably the first and last motherly thing she’s done, nevertheless Tessa fell in love with the art immediately. She mostly did ballet, with some modern dance incorporated, but whenever she was telling a story through dance, that’s when she loved it most.

  Mrs. Casper, the girl’s gym teacher blew her whistle to call attention. She was the farthest thing from the stereotypical girl’s gym teacher. She wore a white skort, and white polo, looking as if she was about to go play a game of tennis at a country club. Her hair, perfectly highlighted was pulled back in a low ponytail without a hair out of place, and makeup expertly applied. She looked more like a trophy wife to her husband, not a high school gym teacher. “Twenty laps around the gym ladies! When you’re finished meet on the far court and we’ll play dodgeball!”

  Several girls groaned as the class began running their laps. The gym wasn’t made of just a single basketball court, but five in a row so the twenty laps was close to two miles in total distance. It was easy for Tessa to zone out what was going on around her when she ran, like the coyote calls, or comments about her breathing hard, or what the basketball and dance teams were doing on the weekend. She sometimes ran in the evenings when the weather permitted, but she was still sweating and panting when the twenty laps were up.

  Dodgeball wasn’t played at all like how it is in movies. The girls at Winston high were too afraid of messing up their manicures or ruining a perfectly good nose job to get at all aggressive when throwing, so it was mostly just granny tossing the ball across the line. Some girls were even throwing their balls at the nearest basketball hoop giggling when it ended up being an air ball. There were a few girls who actually tried to hit the others with the balls, but it was clearly just playing around with no intent of truly playing the game. Tessa stood off to the side counting the seconds until the bell rang, and when it finally did, she was the first to dash out of the gym.

  After changing in the stall, she tried calling Hailey, but the call ended once again with her voicemail. Where was she? Tessa was anxious to get home and hopefully find Hailey there safe and sound, and alone. It was Friday, so chances of her mother being home were slim to none which Tessa worried would give Hailey the perfect place to be alone with Jake.

  Chapter 4

  The snow still hadn’t stopped, and by the time Tessa made it safely inside her car it was the beginnings of a full on blizzard. She tried calling Hailey one more time, worried now that she was with someone out driving somewhere in this weather. Her little sister was a horrible little brat most of the time, but she wasn’t always like that. She used to be sweet and go to Tessa for everything and anything because they were so close, but when she got in high school, it was as if a snobby alter ego took over. Still, no matter how her sister treated her, Hailey was still her little sister, and Tessa loved her.

  She was one of the first students in the parking lot to which she was grateful, because she’d seen eager kids speed out of their parking spots, even in the snow and slide right into other cars. This was by far the worst conditions she had ever driven in, so she wanted to go as slowly as possible and not worry about other high school drivers getting in her way.

  The main road was a mess, and Tessa could barely see out of her windshield. She should have pulled over and waited it out; that would have been the smart thing to do, but she was so set on getting home and finding Hailey that she kept going. Cars were pulled over off to the side of the road, but she figured if she went slowly enough, she could make it through. Home was only five more minutes away.

  The car in front of her suddenly fishtailed into oncoming traffic. The approaching vehicle, a large red truck swerved to avoid the fishtailing car, only to slide and hit the front corner of Tessa’s car. Tessa went into a spin, spiraling clear off the road, straight into ditch. Her car was rolling, glass shattering all around her. Her mouth opened in a sile
nt scream as she shielded her face and head, but it wasn’t enough, and after a hard hit to her head, she blacked out.

  “Hey! Hey! Can you hear me? I need you to open your eyes.”

  Tessa peeled her eyes open and a man’s face came into view.

  His concerned expression melted into relief. “Thank goodness. Can you move at all? Does anything feel broken?”

  Tessa groaned. Her head was pulsating and when she reached up to touch it, was alarmed to feel warm liquid under her fingers. She pulled her arm down and stared at her hand; it was covered in blood. Oh man! I’m bleeding. This day just keeps getting better. Her thoughts weren’t very coherent, and she couldn’t remember what had happened. Her eyes felt heavy and she let them drift shut, but something hit her face. It wasn’t hard or anything, just down right annoying when she was trying to sleep.

  “No, don’t close your eyes. You need to stay awake. Talk to me if you can,” the man said.

  Reluctantly she forced her eyes to open. “Wh-what happened?” she asked tiredly.

  “You were in a car crash, and you hit your head pretty hard. I checked over your body as best I could, and I don’t think anything is broken. I’m going to lift you out ok?”

  “Ooookayyy,” Tessa replied closing her eyes again.

  “Don’t do that,” the man ordered. “Keep talking to me. Do you know your name?”

  “Tessa,” she muttered as her eyes rolled around.

  “Tessa, I’m Milo. It will take way too long for the ambulance to make it through this mess, so I’m going to take you to the hospital. You’re going to be alright.”

  Tessa tried to nod, but her head felt like it was made of stone, so the action made her slump. Milo noticed the small flames beginning to lick up the side of the car—definitely not a normal fire. Rolling into a ditch wouldn’t have started a fire. He had to get her out of there and quick. He unbuckled her seat belt, and gently lifted her into his arms. Her head fell against his chest, which was warm and it felt nice so she left it there. He only had to walk several feet before he stopped at his black truck. Smoothly, he laid her down across the back seat, just as her car exploded.

  Instinctively, he shielded her body with his own while he held his hand out to the flames, which instantly calmed. Tessa hadn’t moved or even flinched at the loud bang. He shook her slightly to wake her. Her eyes barely opened, but he grabbed a water bottle off the floor in the back seat, held it to her lips and told her to drink. She obeyed, and drank half the bottle before he took it away and climbed into the front seat.

  “How will you get through the storm?” Tessa asked softly from behind him after he started the engine. Her voice was a bit stronger and clearer than it had been moments ago and he didn’t expect to feel so much relief by it.

  “My brother Sam put some chains on my tires this morning before I left.” That and he would try to manipulate the conditions as best as he could to get to the hospital.

  “It must be nice,” she said in a breathy voice.

  “What’s nice?” Milo asked happy to keep her talking.

  “Having someone care about you.”

  His stomach clenched at her words. Surely she had people who cared about her. He wanted to ask her about her family, but instead said, “My brothers and I are close.”

  “How many brothers do you have?”

  “Two, Sam and Ethan. Sam is a year younger than me, and Ethan is two years younger.”

  “And you all get along?”

  “For the most part, I mean we’re brothers and we take family seriously.” He glanced in his rearview mirror to Tessa, and his breath caught. She was crying.

  “Are you in pain?” he worried.

  “No—yes. I mean my head feels like it just exploded, but I’m just a little sore everywhere else. I’ll be fine.”

  Milo didn’t want to confess he knew she was crying, but he had a feeling she told herself those same words often: I’ll be fine.

  They made it to the hospital and he reached out to pick Tessa up again.

  She shook her head, “It’s okay, I think I can walk now.”

  He looked at her skeptically. “I’d rather carry you if it’s alright.”

  Without waiting for her reply he cradled her into his arms. He felt a strong need, as if he had to protect her. He felt the power that was fueling the blizzard, and more specifically, he felt how it was directed at her car. He didn’t know or understand why, but he wasn’t about to leave her. She must be someone important with all that power directed precisely at her.

  She was admitted into a room, and Milo sat by her side until her mother came—the next morning. Tessa had since fallen asleep, but her mother’s high pitched voice woke her.

  “Oh, my dear daughter! What happened? You look terrible!”

  Tessa winced at her mother’s words, and dramatic tone. The doctor had given her medicine for the swelling, and it only took a small bandage to cover the cut on her head that had caused so much blood. Head wounds, go figure. Besides that she only had some very minor cuts and bruises. Now however, she thought she might want another dose of pain medication now that her mother was here.

  “I’m fine mom, just a little concussion. The doctor already said I could go home, he just needed immediate family to sign me out.”

  Sandra had stopped looking at Tessa, and started looking at Milo. Her face took on a flirtatious appearance as she extended her hand to him. “Who might you be?”

  Tessa followed Sandra’s gaze and blushed as she looked at Milo, really looked at him for the first time, without blurred vision, or stars blinking in her eyes. He was absolutely gorgeous, not in the Abercrombie type of way, but in the hundred percent rugged male type of way, like he could go camping or fishing at a minute’s notice and look good doing it. His brown hair was short, not gelled or anything, but still looked done. His eyes were a beautiful mix of green and blue. A day’s worth of stubble grew around his jaw making him look even more male if possible. He wore a sweatshirt and jeans, but the casual appearance suited him perfectly. He looked like he was athletic, not overly muscly, but strong. He glanced at Tessa, caught her staring as her cheeks burned as she quickly looked away.

  He took Sandra’s hand and shook it. “I’m Milo,” he said simply.

  Tessa felt the need to explain, “Milo pulled me out of my car and brought me here. I’d probably be frozen to death in the ditch by now if he didn’t show up.”

  Sandra beamed at Milo before she closed the space between them, and threw herself into his arms. He stumbled back at first, and then hesitantly patted her on the back. She pulled away, but held onto his arms. “I just can’t thank you enough. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to my sweet daughter. How can I ever repay you? I’m Sandra by the way.”

  Tessa fought the urge to gag. Typical Sandra, using her daughter like an accessory that she could just put on whenever she worked with the outfit.

  Milo took a step back, closer to Tessa, a little uncomfortable from Sandra’s forwardness. “You don’t have to do anything. I’m just glad Tessa is ok. It could have been a lot worse with how bad that blizzard was.”

  Sandra seemed to have forgotten that Tessa was even part of the conversation. “Nonsense, you must allow me to take you to dinner. I can get us into Basil’s tonight, or if you prefer I’d love a more intimate setting with some takeout, and I’m sure you’d be more comfortable at your place.”

  Tessa wanted to crawl under the blanket and disappear. Could her mother be any more obvious?

  Milo wasn’t sure what to think. Surely Sandra wasn’t flirting with him, right in front of her daughter who was just in a car crash? Luckily, he was saved from a reply because Tessa’s father strolled in.

  “Sandra,” he said curtly before moving to Tessa’s bedside. He hugged Tessa a little too roughly, making her wince at the pain. “How are you little baby cakes? I came as soon as I could.”

  “Fine,” Tessa gritted out annoyed at the game he was already starting with her mo
m. Whenever they were in a room together, each parent would act as if Tessa and Hailey meant the world to them, just to try and show up the other. Hailey milked them for everything they had while Tessa preferred to stay out of it.

  To further prove the point, he turned to Sandra and said, “Has she been kept comfortable? I’d hate to learn that she has been anything but happy since the accident.”

  “How nice to see you too, Jim. I just got here myself, but I was just about to take her home with me so she can be in the comfort of her own room. I was even planning on watching a movie with her.” Sandra lied, defiantly crossing her arms.

  Jim left Tessa and pulled Sandra into a corner where they began arguing in harsh whispers.

  Milo leaned down next to Tessa. “Are you okay?” he asked having the decency to look uncomfortable in the situation.

  “I’ll be fine,” Tessa replied robotically. “I just want to get out of here.”

  After seeing the way Tessa’s parents behaved he didn’t blame her, and there was that phrase again. I’ll be fine. When Tessa’s parents began arguing about particular sleeping partners, Milo nudged Tessa. “Need a ride?”

  A storm of liberation passed over Tessa’s face and she breathed, “Yes.”

  Chapter 5

  Tessa practically jumped out of the bed before her self-consciousness came into play and she looked down at her thin hospital gown. Milo immediately saw her embarrassed expression, and chuckled uncomfortably as he turned around, but not before he saw the outline of her small body through the thin material. Her clothes had been folded and sat on the bedside table so she snatched them and tiptoed to the small bathroom adjoining the room. Her sweatshirt had a bit of dried blood on it, but that didn’t stop her from putting it back on and she stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed. Her parents were still arguing so Tessa didn’t even hesitate before walking out the door. They didn’t even notice she had left.