Auracle

by Gina Rosati

  It’s great that Rei is smart, but the pressure Yumi puts on him to excel is a little over the top, if you ask me. She’s always had her heart set on him going to M.I.T. or some Ivy League school, but now that we’re juniors, the tension between them is piling up even higher than the stack of college brochures that choke Rei’s mailbox each day. Every college wants Rei. He is smart, athletic, community oriented, gets ridiculously high scores on standardized tests, and there are no compromising photos of him on the internet. His parents have saved more than enough cash to cover the cost of his undergraduate and graduate degrees, plus I’m sure he’ll be offered all kinds of scholarships. The sky is the limit for his future.

  The other two students who vie for those coveted top three ranking spots are Shawna Patel and Taylor Gleason. I like Shawna a lot. She’s even more brilliant than, dare I say, Rei, but she’s the good kind of brilliant, the kind that doesn’t make me feel stupid when she talks to me. Taylor, on the other hand, just never talks to me. Well, once in the girls’ room, she asked if she could borrow my lipstick, but I don’t even own lipstick and she made it clear she wasn’t impressed with my cherry Chapstick.

  I haven’t quite figured out Taylor. She gets straight A’s, she dresses like she’s just stepped off a magazine cover, and rumor has it she’s a wicked party girl who’s faster than Rei’s high speed internet. I don’t usually pay a lot of attention to rumors, though, because if I did, I’d have to believe that I’m kind of a snob and that Rei and I have been dating since we were in second grade, while the truth is I’m kind of shy and Rei has been not only my neighbor since I was three days old, but he’s also my best friend and self-appointed ninja bodyguard.

  Anyway, Taylor moved from Long Island to our quiet little town of Byers, Vermont, last summer. By the time school started in September, rumors were already flying that when Taylor was fifteen, she accused some twenty-one-year-old college guy of statutory rape. There are a dozen variations of this rumor, including one that her parents forced her to have an abortion, and there’s even a rumor that she started the rumors herself to launch her popularity in a new town, because what cool kid wouldn’t want to hang out with the scandalous new girl? Now she’s part of a clique of other pretty, shiny girls who like to drive into the city on the weekend to party with the college kids, which leads to even more rumors, most of which I ignore. Except for one rumor I know for certain is true … Taylor Gleason is crushing on Seth.

  * * *

  Seth and I have economics right after lunch. We walk Rei to his chemistry class, then take a right and follow the slow-moving river of students to the second floor. Taylor Gleason sits at a desk by the door, surrounded by a haze of musky cologne. While everyone else in the class is dressed in jeans and hoodies, sneakers or hiking boots, Taylor wears a tight, red mini-skirt and a low-cut black tank top that shows off her cleavage. She wears no pantyhose, but her legs are tanning booth bronze, and the heels on her shoes could be classified as lethal weapons.

  I take my usual seat near Teri Barnes and Lisa MacNamara. Seth goes off to sit closer to the window, which happens to be as far away from Taylor as possible. He’s plugged himself into his iPod, just minding his own business, but I can hear trouble click-clacking her way toward him.

  “Hi, Seth,” Taylor says in her sultry voice as she puts her books down at the empty desk beside him.

  He responds by turning up the volume on his iPod.

  She makes a big production of settling in and crossing one leg over the other. Once she’s all comfy-cozy, she sways her head dramatically to the left, sending her hair over her shoulder in a long blonde tidal wave. Swish. Her ear sparkles with a row of small diamond earrings.

  “I like your T-shirt. Is that a skateboard logo?” She reaches over to smooth a fold of fabric with one of her long burgundy fingernails.

  Seth flinches away and levels a nuclear glare at her, but this doesn’t faze Taylor.

  “I’ve watched some of your wrestling matches. You’re amazing. Do you skateboard, too?” Swish. The hair goes back over the other shoulder.

  Now she has Seth’s attention. Amazing or not, I see she’s lit a short fuse.

  “No,” he snaps much louder than necessary. “And quit stalking me!” He focuses his attention back on his iPod, a dark scowl shadowing his face.

  Everyone in the class, including Mrs. Watson, heard Seth. Teri and Lisa both look back at me with raised eyebrows and ‘O’ shaped mouths. I shrug my shoulders in reply. Hey, at least he didn’t drop the f-bomb.

  Mrs. Watson ahems loudly. “Is there a problem over there, Mr. Murphy?”

  “No!”

  “Good, then let’s begin class.”

  The hair swishes over Taylor’s right shoulder and I glance at her just before she turns to face front.

  Surprisingly, she is smiling.

  CHAPTER 3

  Rei and I met Seth in kindergarten, where we had a rule called Do Not Interrupt the Teacher During Story Time. I have a very vivid memory of Seth sitting criss-cross applesauce on the linoleum floor next to me, his eyes frozen on the teacher and a puddle of light yellow pee growing rapidly around him. We all kept nudging each other as we tried to scoot away, but it wasn’t until there was a sizable moat of space surrounding Seth that the teacher finally noticed and hustled him off to the nurse’s office to get a change of clothes.

  It’s always fun to remind Seth of this.

  When anyone else made fun of Seth for peeing in his pants, though, Rei morphed into his ninja defender mode. Even in kindergarten, nobody wanted to mess with Rei. That was when the Anna and Rei duo became a trio, and I learned I’d rather share my cookies than my best friend.

  * * *

  Taylor was not a witness to the legendary Pee Incident, and I don’t believe she’s ever heard him burp the alphabet, either. This explains a lot. I suppose if she judged Seth by looks alone, he would be quite a catch: a six-foot-tall guy with dark, wavy hair and relentless blue eyes that girls whisper longingly about.

  Pffft. Rei is just as tall, just as dark, just as handsome, plus Rei is half-Japanese, and his dark chocolate almond eyes are a welcome change in our little ethnically challenged corner of the world. Besides, my father has blue eyes. They are not my favorite.

  If Taylor took the time to know Seth, she would realize he’s a complicated guy who has Unresolved Anger Issues, according to the school psychologist, or as Seth calls him, That Douchebag. About three years ago, Seth came home from school to find a note from his mother which basically said she met another guy, so goodbye. Seth’s reaction was to punch the nearest thing, which was a sliding glass door. This earned him seventeen stitches in his right hand and a required weekly visit to That Douchebag so he could discuss his Anger Issues.

  Seth’s dad is a decent guy, and Seth has an older brother, Matt, who is now in college. They dealt with this crisis the way any three abandoned men would … with the help of ESPN and a steady supply of take-out pizza. Rei and his parents offered all kinds of support to Seth, and I knew I had to do my part and give him more time alone with Rei. Parents are supposed to love us more than anything—more than work, more than booze, more than the Champlain Spring Water delivery guy who never seemed to mind hauling those five-gallon jugs upstairs to Seth’s mom’s private office over the garage. Seth deals with his rage by channeling all that energy into stuff like wrestling, lifting weights, running with Rei … stuff that makes him sweat and forget.

  Remy’s Garage is within easy walking distance from the school, so while Seth heads off to work, Rei and I ride the bus home together. It’s a beautiful spring day, now well into the sixties with a light breeze and puffy white clouds.

  “Isn’t your mom at that real estate convention in Boston tonight?” Rei asks. Our backpacks are on the bus floor, doubling as footstools, and Rei is slumped next to me in the seat, his knees a full six inches higher than mine.

  “Yup. She’ll be home tomorrow at around five.”

  “So did she ask you to make din
ner for your father tonight?”

  “Yup. And isn’t that just a colossal waste of time?”

  “Colossal,” Rei agrees as he browses through a playlist on his iPod. “So what gourmet meal do you have planned?”

  “I’m going all out and making canned soup,” I tell him. “Because then he can just drink his damn dinner.”

  “You’re always thinking, kid.”

  “Always.” I am still a little restless from all that volcano energy, so I twist up onto my knees and open the window to let in the breeze.

  “So how is he?” Rei asks.

  “Who? My father? He’s fine.” I bounce back onto my seat and resume my slouchy position.

  “Fine?” Rei looks so nonchalant, just scrolling through his songs, but I know what he’s thinking.

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  He doesn’t look at me, but he doesn’t have to; I know what he’s going to say. “So you really banged your wrist on the dishwasher?”

  “I really did.” That’s two. He usually asks me three times before he’s satisfied.

  I lean against his arm and stretch my neck to see what song he’s looking for.

  “Hey!” He shields the iPod from me. “Don’t look. It’s a surprise.” He pulls one earbud out of his ear and reaches around me to push it into my ear. “Okay, listen to this intro.” He presses play and balances the iPod on my knee. A melody of complicated but beautiful guitar notes drift into my ear as Rei slowly picks at the strings of his air guitar.

  “That’s nice,” I say four beats too soon. The delicate music dies abruptly, and blaring metal guitar music and hoarse, undecipherable words rip through my head. I knew it! I yank the earbud out as Rei wails on the imaginary guitar strings, grinning at me.

  “Nice, huh!” he says a little louder than necessary.

  I snatch the iPod and spin the volume all the way down. Speed metal, power metal, thrash metal—I can’t tell them apart. They all suck as far as I’m concerned, but Rei loves this stuff.

  “I feel like my brain exploded and it’s leaking out my ears,” I inform him.

  “It’s probably just earwax.”

  “It is not.” I nudge his shin with my knee.

  He laughs and shakes his head when I offer him the iPod back. “You can drive.”

  I flip over to the playlist Rei keeps on his iPod especially for me and choose something quiet and acoustic. Rei strums his air guitar docilely beside me for the rest of the ride home.

  * * *

  My favorite part of Rei’s house is the whitewashed porch swing hanging from the farmer’s porch. We drop our backpacks and shoes off inside the front door and settle on the swing, listening to music while we wait for Rei’s seven-year-old sister to get home. Saya bounces off the bus promptly at three o’clock. Other than the doctor and nurses, I was the fourth person to hold Saya after she was born. Looking down at the tiny miracle in my arms, I laid claim to her as the little sister destiny neglected to send me, so it’s no surprise she runs into my arms for the first hug, then scrambles across onto Rei’s lap.

  Saya makes a face at Rei. “Is Seth coming over today?” I stifle a laugh. I’m not the only one who doesn’t like to share Rei with Seth.

  “No, he has to work.” He says this matter-of-factly, but I hear that little ping of disappointment in his voice again. He stands up and flips Saya onto his left shoulder, prompting a happy little squeal. “Let’s go get you a snack.”

  Saya hops up and down like a sparrow, waiting for Rei to peel a carrot with the green feathery leaves still attached. As soon as he rinses it off, he holds it up and asks, “Are you going to tickle me and Anna with this—do I have to cut the top off?”

  “I won’t. I promise.”

  “The eggs in the dish are hard-boiled if you want one,” Rei tells me as I look through the fridge, but I don’t want an egg. I want sugarsugarsugar. In the freezer, I find homemade ice pops that Yumi made out of green tea, lemon juice, and honey, which will have to do. As soon as Saya finishes crunching through her carrot, we head out to the porch and sit on the swing, sucking on our ice pops. Rei and I kick our bare feet lightly against the wooden floor to keep the swing in motion.

  The breeze tickles the wind chimes and a house finch sings along. I close my eyes and listen to the harmony while sweet and sour melts on my tongue and the faint scent of cherry blossoms drifts by.

  We swing backward.

  We swing forward.

  I still feel like I could run a marathon from all the energy I absorbed at the volcano, but it’s under control. Saya is fidgety, though, and the swing jostles as she hops off. Even with my eyes shut, I can feel a familiar vibration when Rei slides his hand along the back of the swing to fill the space where Saya was. Every person’s energy flows in a vibration that’s as unique as their fingerprints. When Rei started meditating a couple of years ago, his vibration changed and grew stronger, calmer, more … comforting. I absorb what I can, let it mingle with the volcano energy still simmering within me and tuck it all away for later when I’m home, where I’ll need it most.

  I open my eyes in time to watch Saya disappear into the house, only to reappear a minute later with a bottle of bubble solution. “I wanna go to the falls,” she pouts, and no human with half a soul could resist those blue moon eyes.

  Rei and I both roll up our jeans. We head down the wooded trail barefoot, which feels nice on a warm day like today, but is actually pretty stupid because here in Vermont, we’re still dealing with mud season. Saya loves the mud. She loves the way it squishes underfoot, the rude noises it makes when she moves her foot just so, the half-hidden worms that try unsuccessfully to avoid her grabby fingers. Rei and I are not nearly as excited to trek through all this mud, but as Rei points out, it’s easier to wash mud off bare feet than out of the tread of our sneakers.

  As we make our way through the woods, the constant, gentle whisper that lulls us to sleep each night amplifies into the sound of liquid thunder. Byers Falls is not that tall, maybe fifty feet from top to bottom, and maybe seventy-five feet long before the river flattens out again, but it’s rocky and it’s fast, especially at this time of year with all the spring runoff coming in from the mountains and ski resorts. Yumi and Robert drilled several lectures into our heads before they trusted us at the falls without them. The flat granite ledge at the top is big enough for about ten adults to stand on without crowding each other. Saya knows the rule. She scrambles up onto the ledge and lets Rei hang on tight to her hand.

  Years of exploring through the woods and over boulders have given Rei and me the coordination of mountain goats, but we are still careful as we walk to within a few feet of the edge where it’s still dry. The water is especially wild today, and the sunlight casts rainbows in the mist. Everything within a foot of the edge is glossy wet.

  “Careful!” Rei warns me. I sit down, leaving plenty of space between us for Saya. She has stopped bouncing for once and sits carefully, then hastily unscrews the bubble cap so she can get down to business. She gets a huge kick out of blowing bubbles into the falls and watching them pop in the strong mist. I stretch my legs out in front of me over the ledge, letting the mist wash away the mud from my feet.

  “Yuck! Whose idea was it to come down here with bare feet?” I ask. Rei and I both look at Saya, who giggles and blows another round of doomed bubbles.

  Rei lies on his back with one arm supporting his head and the other arm wrapped around Saya’s waist, staring up at the sky. I lie back, too, and close my eyes.

  Life is good. The sunlight is warm; the breeze is cool; Saya’s silky black hair is soft against my fingers. Even the icy mist that numbs my feet and the stiffness creeping up my back from the unforgiving ledge beneath us is real and good. As much as I love to astrally project, some things are just better with a body. Despite my date with a can of soup later tonight, I embrace this moment, and I feel happy.

  My little nirvana is interrupted by a spastic guitar solo blaring from the pocket of Rei’s je
ans. “Grab her, would you?” Rei waits for me to reach for Saya, then he retrieves his cell phone and shades his eyes from the sunlight to check the caller ID before he answers it. “Hey.” He rolls onto his side and mouths “Seth” to me. “Uh-huh. Okay. I don’t know. Hold on.” He pulls the phone away from his ear and looks at me hopefully. “Seth got out early. Will you watch Saya so we can go for a quick run?”

  “No!” Saya says adamantly.

  “Yes,” I correct her.

  “Thanks!” he whispers to me, and adrenaline is already fueling his smile. “Anna said she’ll watch Saya, but we’re at the falls right now. I can meet you at my house in about ten minutes.”

  As soon as he pockets his phone, Rei stands carefully and picks up Saya, putting her down on the other side of him, a safe distance from the falls. He keeps one hand on her shoulder and reaches his other hand down for me, but I’m already halfway up. Oh, what the heck. I let him be a man and pull me the rest of the way.

  “Come on, monkey,” he swings Saya up onto his shoulders. “This will keep your feet clean.” I know the real reason he’s giving Saya a shoulder ride is that he’s in a hurry and would rather not wait for Saya to examine every rock and bug along the way. He holds on to Saya’s ankle with one hand and tweaks a lock of my hair with his free hand.

  “Arigato.”

  Seth’s rusty little car is already parked in Rei’s driveway by the time we get back.

  “Be right back,” Rei tells Seth, and we head to the backyard to hose off our muddy feet. Even though Saya’s feet are clean, she tags along to play in the water. By the time I’ve negotiated the hose away from her, Rei has already changed into his running clothes and they are gone.

  * * *

  While the guys are out running, Saya and I entertain ourselves. First, we leave the green carrot top under a bush for any hungry bunnies that should happen to pass through. Next, I spot Saya on her back kickovers until she gets tired and wants me to demonstrate a round off to a back tuck. And another, and another … until finally, and only because I was dizzy from flipping, we play Barbies.