Switch (New World Series)

by Janelle Stalder

  His flawless jawline locked as he nodded once. “Yeah…we did.”

  For a second, I thought he sounded sad, but in his stunning green eyes the painful anger remained. I turned my music down a little more so I could focus on him – his voice – every part of him. I smiled slightly and tried as best I could to hide the undeniable growing infatuation I had for him.

  “I saw your mom today,” he said, smiling faintly.

  “I remember,” I said, blushing slightly – my heart was racing so wildly, I could barely hear myself.

  He nodded as his eyes carefully looked all around me. The silence was awkward, and I had to break it. “Good show tonight,” I said quickly.

  “You did like it?” he said as a smile threatened to invade his perfect lips.

  “Yeah…why wouldn’t I have?” I asked, feeling the heat in my ears burn.

  “It just took you a while to move to the music,” he said, shyly looking over his shoulder at the passenger in his Hummer. He shook his head once, then looked back at me.

  “You saw me?” I asked in a shaky voice. I was absolutely humiliated.

  He turned back to me and looked intently into my eyes. “You’re hard not to see.”

  I shook my head and looked down. “I don’t think any band has ever made me move like that – at least not in public.”

  I dared to look up at him, only to see him smiling perfectly down at me. “Best compliment I’ve ever gotten,” he said quietly as his eyes searched over me.

  “I’m sure you’ll find more; you have a natural talent,” I said, growing more comfortable with formulating simple sentences.

  “We all do,” he said under his breath.

  I heard Madison yell my name. Before I could break out of the trance I was in, I felt her crash into me.

  “There you are. Oh – my – God, I really just ran all the way over here,” she said, trying to catch her breath.

  “Too many energy drinks?” I said shortly, absolutely furious with her.

  “Nope. They’re just starting to kick in,” she said, pushing one into my hand.

  “I don’t want it,” I said, giving it back to her. “I’m ready to go, but I can’t because you lost my keys.”

  “No I didn’t – here,” she said, pulling them from her pocket and laughing out of control.

  “What?! I watched you throw them,” I said, snatching them from her hand.

  “No, you watched me pretend to throw them – very convincingly, obviously.” She looked at Draven. “I was looking all over for you.”

  “Right here,” he said, quietly staring at me.

  “Great show tonight,” she said to Draven as she began to dance along with the music the band on stage was playing.

  I smiled slightly at him and said, “Nice to meet you.” I then looked at Madison and said, “I’m leaving with or without you – now.”

  I started to walk to my car.

  “Alright, you win – you don’t know where you’re going anyway; that GPS has no signal,” Madison yelled.

  I’d taken almost four steps before I felt Draven’s hand on my shoulder; I swear, I could feel energy coming off him. I hesitated and turned.

  “Wait,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you two to get in a car.”

  My cheeks flushed; I was sure now that he’d seen me countering the shadows in the field and thought that I was insane – too insane to drive.

  “I’m her ride, and I have no idea where I am – I’m kinda out of options.”

  He looked over his shoulder at Madison, then at me. “Let her ride in my truck. I’ll show you how to get back.”

  “You want her to ride in your truck?” I asked, trying to hide the anger and jealousy I felt for Madison – did he like her?

  She started jumping in place. “Sounds like a plan to me,” she said, running to his Hummer.

  “Alright, then,” I said, looking down and walking to my car.

  I sat down in the driver’s seat and turned up the music in my headphones just loud enough to cover the threat of the whispers – I couldn’t believe she’d just ditch me – I mean, what kind of friend was that? I could see the lights from the Hummer coming up from behind me. I couldn’t figure out what he was doing; I was supposed to follow him, so why was he behind me? I was looking out the driver’s side window when I heard my passenger door open. For a second, I thought Madison had realized how cold it was to make me drive back on my own – but when I turned to the passenger side, I saw Draven climbing in.

  “What’s going on?” I asked nervously, hitting ‘Pause’ on my phone as I watched him push the seat back so his legs could have more room.

  “I told you I’d tell you how to get back,” he said, smiling slightly.

  Every part of me was tingling. I had no idea how I was going to focus well enough to drive – what I’d do if I had to fight these shadows in front of him – I was horrified.

  “Yeah, but I thought you meant follow you,” I said, trying to take in a breath after I said the words.

  “I wanted to ride with you,” he said, pulling his belt on.

  As he leaned closer to me to fasten it, I could smell the addictive aroma of his cologne. I was literally trapped in my worst nightmare.

  “Just for the record, you’re only my second passenger – third, if you count my teacher,” I said, putting the car in drive.

  “Duly noted.”

  I caught myself staring into his perfect eyes. His dark lashes framed the most alluring color I’d ever seen. It was like they were intended to be black, but a shade of the most perfect green had shattered the black canvas that they were.

  He stared back at me with almost the same wonder, then smiled slightly. “That way,” he said, pointing to the left.

  I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment, and I tried to smile through it as I turned the wheel. I crept down the gravel driveway, fighting the glare of the headlights coming from his Hummer. Just before I reached the road, he reached up and moved my rearview mirror, taking the torture of the lights away. He then gently reached for my headphones and pulled them out; his warm fingertips had brushed up against my skin, and it took everything I had not to faint. I couldn’t stand this feeling; it was too out of control. I angled my eyes at him to see if I could see what he was doing to me.

  “You have to be able to see and hear if you’re going to get us home,” he explained, relaxing into his seat and grinning innocently.

  I looked in front of me at the dark road, listening for any reason to put my headphones in. I had no idea how I was managing to have a calm outward appearance; I was just thankful that I did.

  “Why were you listening to headphones anyway?” he asked as he pointed for me to turn left.

  I raised my eyebrows and tried to look confident. “I guess it’s my ‘vice’ – I didn’t take you for a person that listens to the radio,“ I answered.

  “Can you see me that clearly?” he asked.

  I angled my eyes at him quickly, then looked at the road. I don’t know what it was today, but everyone seemed to be referring to seeing like it was more than it was. I guess that’s a new form of slang in Salem.

  “I can see perfectly,” I answered, not knowing how else to respond to that statement.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw him nod, and it sounded like he mumbled. “I can only hope.”

  I turned to look at him, curious as to why he said that. He nodded his head toward the road, telling me to focus on driving.

  “You know there’s an outlet here to plug your phone in so you can hear your music, right?” he said, reaching for the dash to show me.

  “Duly noted,” I said, mocking the words he’d used before.

  He shook his head, grinning profusely. “What band are you listening to?” he asked.

  “One that plays music,” I said before I could sensor the sarcasm in my tone. It was a reflex I had when my friends in New York would ask me why I listened to the kind of music that I did.


  “Sorry,” I said, shaking my head and trying to hold back the sly smile that always surfaced when I was uncomfortable. I didn’t want to admit I was listening to his band, so I tried to curb the conversation to just music itself. “I like all music, but I love alternative, indie bands. I like…I like seeing the music before it’s polished, kind of like looking at a perfect sculpture before the dust of its creation is swept away.”

  I looked to my side to see if I was making any kind of sense, and I found him smiling adoringly like I’d just read his thoughts.

  “Perfectly conveyed… you have a way with words,” he said quietly.

  I moved my head from side to side, knowing that his words, his music, perfectly conveyed words into whatever I wanted them to be.

  “Your mom said she was happy that you were home,” he said as he angled himself against my door so he could see me more clearly.

  My cheeks flushed. I thought about pulling my hood up, but I pushed down my suffocating need for security and let him see me.

  “What else did my mom say?” I asked, even though I was terrified of his answer.

  “Not much… she said that she’d bought you this car for graduation, and…” he paused.

  I looked to my side to see if I was doing something wrong or had missed a turn. He was just staring at me.

  “And?” I said, letting my sly smile surface again.

  He hesitated, then said, “That she asked you to play.”

  I shook my head no. “She’s crazy…I don’t know how.”

  I glanced at my side to see the painful anger in his expression again. He pointed for me to turn right at the next street. “I can see the music in you.”

  I smiled slightly. “I love music – guitars.”

  He pointed for me to turn again, then let his hands rest on his knee. I noticed that he simply couldn’t keep his fingers still; it was as if they were playing music, with or without his guitar in his hand. I could clearly imagine the sound it would create if he were playing – it was helping block out the anxieties of the darkness around me – I just knew the whispers were waiting for a moment to make me look like a fool.

  It was quiet for a few minutes, but it wasn’t awkward. Even though my emotions were out of control, I felt safe around him. I relaxed in my seat and glanced to my side at him.

  “So, do you have a lot of friends in the UK? I heard you spent a lot of time there,” I said, curious as to what girl had inspired the song of his that I loved so much.

  “Not really; just dad’s family…we’re kinda shy,” he answered quietly as he stared out at the dark road.

  “You didn’t look shy to me – I just watched you play,” I teased.

  “The stage is one of the most private places in the world,” he said calmly.

  I tilted my head, wanting an explanation because I couldn’t disagree anymore. I had seen too many nervous musicians fight their way through their talent.

  “Well, if you see it the right way, that is,” he said, smiling slightly.

  “What is it with the word ‘see’?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Do you want a definition?” he asked.

  “No,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “Why did you ask, then?” he asked, trying to hide the curiosity in his tone.

  “My sister just said something about it earlier, and you’ve used the word more in the last thirty minutes than I have in the last week.”

  “Your sister is a writer.”

  I nodded, surprised he knew that.

  “Most creative people see the world differently than others; they see what’s yet to come.”

  “Deep,” I said, only pretending to mock his words.

  “How do you see the world around you?” he asked sincerely.

  I looked to my side to gauge his expression; he was intently waiting for my answer and looked prepared to judge my every word, which made coming up with a compelling answer impossible.

  “Sometimes it’s hard to see out of the glass box I’m in.”

  “Your shield,” he whispered.

  My grip on the steering wheel tightened; Britain had always talked about a shield I had around me.

  Draven reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone; as he read a text, he erupted into laughter.

  “What?” I asked daringly.

  “Nothing… would you like to stop for waffles?”

  “It’s, like, almost one in the morning,” I said, looking at the clock on the dash.

  “Do you have to get up early?” he asked, apparently amused by me.

  I smiled slyly and shook my head no.

  “Well, are you hungry?”

  I was hungry, but I knew I didn’t have any money on me. I really wasn’t even sure I had money at my house. I thought there was a good chance I had twenty stashed in my favorite jeans, but I knew if I didn’t, Kara would give me some.

  “I have to go by my house first; Kara said to tell her if I was going somewhere else, and she’ll never answer her phone if she’s asleep.”

  As Draven started to text on his phone, I looked in my rearview mirror, but I couldn’t see the headlights of his Hummer anymore.

  “Where are they?” I asked.

  “Aden had to get gas,” he said as a new text came in.

  He laughed as he read it, then sent a response. I felt my ears burn; I had no idea what he was saying, and it was making me mad. I was way too self-conscious for this.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Aden is having a blast with Madison; he was thanking me diligently,” he said, putting his phone in his pocket.

  “Really?” I asked, not sure if he was teasing or not.

  “No, not really, not-at-all,” he said, trying not to laugh.

  “What did he say? What did she do?” I asked, feeling embarrassed for Madison.

  “Nothing bad, just that she’s conveyed every emotion humanly possible in a never-ending sentence, and now she’s starving – all caps. They’re fine,” Draven said.

  “What did they say about going by my house first?”

  “Um, I believe it was a ‘n’ with twenty ‘o’s’ behind it, then it said, ‘Charlie has no clue on how to manipulate a curfew.’”

  “What did you say?” I asked, glancing at him.

  “I do,” he answered, winking at me.

  “You planning on charming my sister?”

  “Your sister is charming; she doesn’t need to be charmed,” he answered as he pointed, telling me to turn again.

  This was my road; I recognized it.

  “You do know her?” I asked, bewildered.

  He nodded as his body tensed with what could only be anger. I couldn’t figure out why I kept bringing that emotion out in him. My ears burned with embarrassment as I tried to think of what I could have said or done wrong.

  I pulled around the side of the house into the garage. I left the keys in the ignition and got out, then ran up the steps, trying to avoid that awkward moment where I should have asked him to come in.

  When I opened the back door, I found Kara still sitting at the table, headphones in, writing at the speed of light. I waved my hand in front of her to get her attention, and she hit ‘Save’ before she pulled out her headphones and looked at me.

  “Are you good with me going and getting waffles?” I asked.

  “There’s food…,” she hesitated as she looked over my shoulder, “waffles sound fun…how was the show?” she asked.

  I looked over my shoulder to see Draven standing in the doorway, smiling warmly at Kara.

  “Good,” I answered for the both of us.

  “Aren’t you missing someone?” Kara asked.

  “They’re behind us,” I answered nervously, looking at her and hoping she wouldn’t embarrass me at any moment now.

  “Interesting,” she said as she stared at Draven.

  “How’s that story working out?” Draven asked her charmingly.

  “Still working,” she said, winking at him.

/>   “I’ll be right back,” I said, walking past her. The faster I got my money and out of there, the better off I’d be.

  As soon as I reached the front room, I heard it again: the guitar. It was even more defined than before, making the tone almost addictive. As I climbed the steps, it didn’t get any fainter or louder; it was the strangest sensation to hear it...it was so warm.

  I found my twenty in my jeans and ran down the stairs. When I started to go down the last flight, I saw Draven standing in the center of the front room. I slowed my descent as I watched him. His eyes were gazing above him, and his body was rocking in perfect rhythm with the sound I was hearing. I quietly walked to his side and touched his arm, pulling him out of whatever thought he was in.

  “You hear that?” I asked as my eyes searched his for the truth.

  He smiled slightly and tenderly reached his fingertips to brush a loose strand of my hair out of my face. I literally lost the ability to breathe for a moment.

  “Hungry?” he asked quietly.

  I nodded stiffly. He reached his arm out and let his hand rest on my back, gently encouraging me to lead. My entire body hummed with nervous anticipation of being in his presence.

  Chapter Seven

  Kara was fixing herself something to drink when I walked back into the kitchen. She smiled nervously at Draven as she turned, and he nodded as if to calm her anxieties. I couldn’t understand what they weren’t saying to each other, or even how they knew each other so well.

  “Do you need anything?” I asked, walking to the back door, wanting a fast escape.

  “No, have fun,” she said, taking her seat at the table.

  When I opened the door, I saw Draven’s Hummer running behind my garage. As he stepped past me to talk to them, I started to pull the door closed.

  “Oh, Charlie,” Kara said, stopping me. She looked past me to see where Draven was. “What grade do I get now?” she asked in a teasing manner.

  “Maybe a ‘C,’” I said, playing into her words.

  “Interesting choice of letters,” she said, raising her eyebrows and putting her headphones in.

  I shook my head slowly, completely oblivious of what she meant when she said ‘interesting.’