“What if she gives it back to Nick?” I asked, anticipating his question. Steven nodded. “Then maybe he’ll say he never gave that to her and she’ll keep it, thinking it was lucky Jodi gave it to her or maybe she’ll think she has a secret admirer. Either way, does it matter? No matter what, it’s a happy ending.”
“Unless she thinks Jodi’s the secret admirer,” Steven and I laughed as Jodi rolled her eyes, wadding up a piece of paper and throwing it at Steven’s head. Just then the bell rang and we gathered up our stuff. I caught Jodi and Steven sharing a secret look, knowing that I’d missed something again.
I brooded over the possibilities of running into Nick all through my Teacher’s Assistant elective before English, hardly noticing that I gave a paper a B when really it deserved a C. I wasn’t scared, just full of pent up energy waiting to be expended. I felt like a ball of wound up springs. After class I waited for Jodi and Steven to find me instead of heading to class by myself and meeting them there, knowing that would make them feel better.
We walked to class in silence; I was clutching a book to my chest, holding it high and close to my chin. I couldn’t do anything to relax my face. I felt like a surly five-year-old but I didn’t care. We came around the corner and saw Nick leaning over to kiss Tracy good-bye. As he straightened up he caught sight of me over Tracy's head and I saw his eyes narrow and his jaw working while he ground his teeth, but he simply finished saying good-bye to Tracy and walked off to his class. Tracy turned a confused face in our direction and then her face lit into a smile when our eyes met. She gave me a little wave and turned to go into the classroom. If she didn’t want to acknowledge Friday night out loud, then I wasn’t going to bring it up.
"I think I saw him breathe your way, doll face," Steven snickered at me.
"Shut up, Flamer," I snapped at Steven. Jodi laughed loudly; obviously happy the tense moment was diffused so quickly. As we walked in all three of us were stopped in our tracks again seeing both twins standing at the teacher's desk. I felt my stomach flip again and my cheeks grow warm. Gently, but forcefully, I pushed Jodi forward to remind her to keep walking and we took our chairs, each in front of the other, just like in French class. The late bell rang and everyone fell silent. The twins were still standing by the teacher's desk and Mrs. Grant came to the front of the room.
"Ok guys, looks like we have two new students today," she indicated the boys with her right hand. "This is Ian," she gestured to Mr. Muscles, "and this is Jensen," she gestured to the other. I looked at Jensen when she said his name and to my surprise he was looking across the room, directly at me. My stomach would never unknot at this rate. Steven sat in front of us in this class and Jodi behind me. I felt her fingers slide through the ends of my hair and press into my shoulder blade. Dude... he is doing it again... she sounded almost in awe.
It almost creeps me out.
Sweetie, take a compliment. I wish Jay looked at me like that.
He does, you're just too close to his face to notice. I felt her smile before she broke the connection, taking her hand back.
"Ok everyone, you know the drill, family can’t sit together." There were a couple of pairs of cousins in the room whom Mrs. Grant had immediately separated on the first day of school. "So, who's willing to give up their seat for Jensen and take one of the free ones in the back next to Ian?"
"I will!" Steven's hand shot up into the air like a rocket. I heard Jodi snort behind me and then quickly try to cover it with a cough, but I was caught up in the liquid movement of Jensen's confidant stride as he came closer and closer to the seat in front of me. I would kill Steven for this later.
Rather than focus on the knot in my stomach that was getting tighter with every step Jensen took towards me, I watched Steven make his way over to Ian, who had beat him to the desks first. Steven slid into the chair next to Ian with a sly smile and arched eyebrow. I laughed quietly, turning back to the front of the class. Jensen was sitting now, just inches away from me. He raked his fingers through his hair trying to get the wavy locks to stay off his face. The most intoxicating scent came back to me, a combination of musk, cinnamon, and something sweet I couldn’t put a name to.
It was an incredibly short class; I had no idea what the subtext of Dante’s Inferno was that James, Tracy, and Crystal had rambled on about for the last forty-five minutes. I had less than a second when the bell rang to compose myself before Jensen stood and turned to leave or he would have caught me staring.
“Ugh, like trying to talk to a statue!” Steven complained as we joined him at the door and started off for History.
“What?” Jodi asked.
“Mr. Muscles, or should I say Mr. Cold-Shoulder!” Steven pouted.
“Ha! I told you he was straight!” Jodi beamed and searched around until she saw both twins walking together about twenty feet ahead of him. “Mmmm.”
“Jay…” I reminded her a little sternly.
“I’m only looking,” she muttered.
“Yeah, at least you have a boyfriend. Besides, you’d be wasting your time; he was staring at Tracy through the whole class,” Steven said.
“What!” Jodi and I cried in unison.
“What?” Steven said a little scared.
“How could you not tell us that immediately!” I said, lowering my voice and grabbing Steven’s arm and pulling him around to face us. Jodi and I both had stopped short at this piece of news.
“What’s the big deal, she was giving a presentation?” Steven shrugged.
“Ok, sweetie, think very carefully,” Jodi said. “Did he look at James or Crystal at all? I mean, even once?” Jodi had grabbed Steven by the shoulders and turned him to her to stare eye-to-eye, trying to impress the importance of this.
“Ummm…” He hesitated, clearly scared to say the wrong thing.
“Steven,” I said as calmly as I could, “try to remember.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Not even once?” Jodi pressed.
“No, when she finished talking and went to the side to let Crystal say her part he kept staring at Tracy.” Jodi let Steven go and turned to me. We held up both our hands and gripped them together, interlacing our fingers, smiles spreading over our faces.
“Not even once!” We whispered to each other excitedly.
Chapter 4
As we neared our History class we saw the twins turn into our classroom just a few steps ahead of us. After they both showed up in English I knew the chances were that they’d be here too, but the knot in my stomach had me torn between hoping they would be here and that they wouldn’t be here. Sometimes it really sucks to be a girl.
Terra? Jodi’s yellow thoughts broke through mine with a touch of her hand on my wrist.
What?
Could you try to get it under control? You’re making me queasy.
What? I repeated, a little more than confused.
You’re projecting and the knots in your stomach are making me queasy! She thought at me impatiently. Could you get either your stomach under control or at the very least stop projecting?! Bright yellow.
Sorry…I blushed again, which only embarrassed me more. How many times had I blushed in just these last few hours? I was careful not to look for the twins to see where Mrs. Taylor was going to place them. If I didn’t see where they were sat, then I couldn’t allow myself to peek at him during class and I knew if I tried to figure out where they were placed it would be completely obvious. So with a straight back and a stiff neck I lead us to our usual seats. After we took our seats at one of the long tables close to the very back of the room I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and centered myself, reinforcing my shields delicately.
“Ugh, thank you! I thought I was gonna have to take a Tums or something,” Steven said with a sigh. I glanced at him and then noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a few nearby students looking suddenly relieved about something, a few touching their stomachs or foreheads. I had really let my emotions get out of control.
“
Yessss!” Jodi said in a hissing whisper.
“What?” Steven and I asked together.
“Look,” Jodi pointed to the front of the classroom and we saw the TV and VCR combo set up in front of the desks. “Movie day!” She said gleefully. In any other class this meant some boring educational video that you’d be tested on at the end, but Mrs. Taylor was an unconventional teacher and liked to show actual blockbuster movies based on history. And more often than not, you would have probably already seen the movie and didn’t have to pay attention to know what it was about.
“Alright kiddies…” Mrs. Taylor called out, pausing to let the last few conversations die down. “Since this is the start of the holiday season, with All Hollow’s Eve just a couple of weeks away, and since you all seem to be doing exceptionally well on our tests and papers, I’m in the mood for some treats!” She smiled broadly. “Today we will be starting ‘The Patriot.’” There were a few excited murmurs throughout the class.
The sound of books slamming shut and zippers closing filtered through the room as Mrs. Taylor shut off the lights. The wall was lined with large west facing windows so the room wasn’t dark by any means, but it was relaxing. A few students folded their arms and laid their heads down, while some others reclined dangerously far in their chairs. I pulled my black leather-bound journal out of my bag and set it on the table. I tucked my left foot under me, pulled my right foot up to the edge of my seat, and leaned over my desk, pen in hand and started to write idly, not fully aware of what I was writing. Poetry was a hobby of mine, not that I let anyone read it, but it did sometimes lead to some of the most amazing spell work.
“So,” Steven whispered, scooting over closer to me, Jodi doing the same on my other side, “are you still anti-birthday this year?” My birthday was on Halloween. I was afraid that Mrs. Taylor’s mention of the holiday would cause this inevitable discussion.
“Does it matter?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Steven asked.
“Will that stop either of you?”
“Probably not,” Jodi answered.
“Probably?” I scoffed. “Definitely,” I muttered and they both snickered.
“What’s the big deal?” I felt Jodi nudge my right knee, which nudged my right arm and caused me to scratch a line through the last word I wrote. “Sorry,” and she grimaced, but I just kept writing.
“She’s right, what is the big deal? People love you all day and you get presents and get to do whatever you want because it’s your birthday! I’d have three or four a year if I could,” Steven sucked on his teeth in disgust at my lack of enthusiasm. “Personally, I would have three or four a year,” Steven said as he pretended to muss with his hair and check his make-up. I laughed quietly and shook my head. Tracy sat in the row in front of us in History and apparently heard us talking. She turned in her chair looking at me, her hands on the back of her chair and ducking her head to keep from bringing attention to herself.
“Really, Shay, your birthday is coming up?” Tracy looked excited as she whispered the question.
“Maybe,” I said suspiciously.
“When?” Tracy asked.
“I don’t remember,” I lied.
“Halloween,” Jodi said and I stuck my tongue out at her.
“We should throw you a party! A costume party!” Tracy said, bouncing a little in her chair.
“YES!” Jodi and Steven said a little too loudly, drowning out my groan.
“Shhh!” Mrs. Taylor admonished from the front of the room. Tracy spun around again to face front, but not before she winked at Steven.
“Damn it,” I sighed and buried my head in my hands while Jodi and Steven giggled. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Halloween, or presents or birthdays in general, I just didn’t do well as the center of attention. If it was just going to be the three of us, I would’ve been all for it. But now, with Tracy in the mix, it was sure to be a crowd and my empathetic powers waged war with my sanity in crowds.
I looked down and saw that I had finished writing and realized I had written the blessing Steven’s aunt had asked for for her new baby, Alexis, a week or so ago. “Oh, here.” I tore the page out of my book and handed it to Steven.
“What is it?” He took the page in his hand and squinted at it through the insufficient light.
“A blessing for your aunt for Alexis’ room,” I explained and then Jodi leaned passed me, pushing me slightly towards Steven, trying to see it too.
“Why are you giving it to me?” he asked.
“So you can do it?” My answer sounded as much like a question as his did.
“She won’t believe I can do it!” He said incredulously.
“Why not?”
“Because she changed my diapers as a kid!”
“Then let her do it herself,” I said with a shrug. Jodi had snatched the paper from Steven to read it.
“She won’t believe she can do it either!” He said in an urgent whisper. Tracy’s neighbor, Michelle, turned in her desk to shoot us the classic movie theater will-you-please-shut-the-hell-up look. Steven stuck his tongue out at her and she spun back around in a huff.
“I thought this was your mother’s sister?” I tried to whisper more quietly. Steven was half Mexican on his mother’s side and the one thing I learned about the Mexican culture, other than the fact that they have the best food, is that they still believe in mystical and magical things.
“Yeah, but they never think they can do this stuff. You’ll have to do it,” he took the page back from Jodi and forced it back on me. “Just tell me what you need for it and I’ll have her buy it.”
“She’ll buy the supplies but she won’t do the blessing?” I asked, a little astounded.
“Pretty much.” Belief is very important in my line of work; like God, magic does not exist to those without true belief. If his aunt truly didn’t believe she had the power to do the simple blessing, the magic wouldn’t hold. “Don’t forget, we’re Catholic, it’d be like blasphemy for us,” Steven said.
“But she wants it done,” I said slowly.
“Yeah,” Steven said just as slowly. “So?” He didn’t see the strangeness in the situation like I did since I was an outsider in his family.
“Ugh, whatever. Sage, water from the next time it rains, and everyone out of the house, but I’ll need Alexis nearby. So I guess they can be in the backyard or front or whatever.” I listed off quickly, regretting tearing out the page now.
“Um, water from the next time it rains? That might be months from now. She kinda wanted the blessing soon,” Steven said uncertainly.
“No, it’s gonna rain sometime this week.” I corrected him, sliding my journal back into my bag.
“How do you—” he started to ask but Jodi cut him off.
“Don’t ask, Steven.” We lapsed into silence for the rest of the hour. The bell rang, startling everyone who had become engrossed in the movie and forgot to watch the clock. Mrs. Taylor jumped up and shut off the movie, calling over our rustling bags and scraping chairs.
“Ok! We’ll finish the movie tomorrow and then on Wednesday we start on the post-Civil War section.”
“Oh goodie,” I grumbled for Jodi and Steven’s amusement. We followed the rush of students out to the hall, stopping at my locker to throw all three History books inside. We all used my locker the most because it was more conveniently located than either of theirs. Jodi’s locker was out by the Gym which was all the way on one end of campus, while Steven’s locker was out by the art building, the extreme opposite end of campus. I had won the “lottery” and got one right in the middle of campus on the edge of the Student Quad.
I reached in my locker to grab my French book when it hit me; a sudden wave of dread. I dropped my book to the ground, fingers trembling and my mouth went dry.
“Shay?” Jodi asked hesitantly.
“Tracy,” I whispered almost too quiet for even me to hear.
“What?” Steven asked, placing his hand on my shoulder to shake me, b
ut in my state the simple touch opened our channel in a flood. In an instant he knew what I knew and all the color drained from his face. I dropped everything, forgetting to shut my locker, and took off at a dead run, racing to the school parking lot.
“Steven, what the--” Before Jodi could finish her question Steven had grabbed her by the wrist and took off after me, pulling her along behind him.
“Something’s going to happen to Tracy if we don’t get out there!” Steven tried to explain in a rush as we rounded the office building and skidded to a halt on the asphalt of the parking lot, searching desperately for Tracy. Unfortunately the bell had only rung a few minutes ago so the parking lot was still full of cars, making it very difficult to figure out where we should be looking. Finally, after what seemed like too long, Steven pointed off to the right, “There’s Nick’s truck.” Again I took off like a shot, only to be hindered by the impatient line of cars that snaked through the aisles.
We weaved in and out, dodging between parked cars, trying to get closer to the truck. I felt like I was slogging through quicksand and the faster I went the harder it was to get to the truck. The mounting dread turned into pure panic when I saw Tracy’s black curly hair over the roof of the car next to the truck.
“Shay! What’s gonna happen?” I heard Jodi call behind me but I didn’t stop to explain.
“She doesn’t know,” Steven said helpfully. “She just knows something’s gonna happen.” He sounded like I would have if I could’ve forced myself to speak, but I was concentrating all of my energy on getting to Tracy. Suddenly, when we were still ten cars away from them, I heard Nick’s voice carry back to me.
“Just get in the goddamn truck!” Didn’t he know any other way to say that? Red colored the edges of my vision, tinting everything around Nick and Tracy. “Now damnit!” Nick yelled, grabbing her upper left arm and jerking her towards the truck and shoving her hard. She hit the side of the truck with her right shoulder and I could see her grimace of pain. I stopped short, knowing even with his broken collarbone, none of the three of us stood a chance against Nick.
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