by West, Shay
“I have the book. I’m gonna start tonight!”
After hanging up with Jennifer, Alex called Drake, wanting to share the good news about her day off, and the extra free time she was going to have. Drake agreed to pick Alex up around nine in the morning and she would be in charge of packing them a lunch. The Mica Mines hike was short but Drake wanted to sit and have a picnic lunch out in the wilderness.
She’d never been asked to make lunch before. She was a little nervous about it. Drake wasn’t a super picky eater, so at least that should make things easier.
As she got ready for bed, she tried to figure out what to make for lunch. She ran through a mental checklist of items they had and decided she could make a pretty decent meal for her and Drake.
Suddenly, the reflection changed. The shock of it almost drove her running from her bathroom. Alex took a deep breath, knowing it would do her no good to run. Instead, she focused on the girl’s face in the mirror.
The girl’s age was difficult to ascertain. Her skin was smooth as silk, with no evidence of wrinkles, suggesting youth. And yet her almond-shaped eyes were two deep dark pools that were full of life and wisdom far beyond her youthful features. By the shimmery appearance of her face, Alex knew she must be looking into a piece of polished metal. So I am going to go somewhere ancient again. Greaaaat.
The girl’s hair was pulled away from her face and she wore a colorful hat that appeared to be lined with some sort of animal fur.
I think she’s a Mongol!
Terror followed the revelation. She knew the reputation of the Mongols for being savage fighters. The last thing she wanted was to be transported smack dab in the middle of a battle between ancient horse lords. You were a Spartan warrior last time, remember? the other half of her argued.
In moments, the girl’s face disappeared from view and Alex was once again staring at her own face. Rather than being completely scared out of her mind, Alex found she was actually excited at the prospect of traveling again. Guess the absence of strange girls in my mirror bothered me more than I thought.
Or maybe you like having this special gift just a little too much, Miss Hot Shot!!
Alex decided to go to bed rather than let that last voice say anything else.
CHAPTER 32
“YOU MUST BE totally bummed!”
Alex agreed with Jennifer rather than tell her that she was actually glad she was seeing girls again. Seeing the reflections of strange girls in her mirror had become the norm for her. Their absence had bothered her more than she would ever admit.
“So you and Drake had a great hike yesterday, eh?”
Alex spent the next several minutes telling Jennifer each detail of their hike to the Mica Mines, down to what they said and what they ate. Part of her thought it was so strange how girls could sit for hours and talk about such unimportant stuff but she found herself recounting the entire day in excruciating detail nonetheless.
“James took me on that hike a few months ago. It was pretty cool but I like going to the Monument.”
“Me too. But it was kinda neat going somewhere new.”
“Hey, we gotta start shopping for school! The first day is only a month away.”
The girls planned a shopping day. The three of them—Alex, Jennifer, and Amy—would spend all day shopping for school clothes. Alex felt like such a grown-up. She sensed it bothered her mom that she didn’t go with her anymore, but she just couldn’t stand the thought of Jennifer and Amy going without her. Besides, she wasn’t some little kid anymore than needed her mom to buy her clothes.
“I still can’t believe you finally get to get your license! It’ll be nice to be chauffeured around for a change.”
“Just because I’m getting a license doesn’t mean I’m getting a car. Besides, do you really want to be seen cruising North Avenue in the Blazer?”
“Bleh, You’re right. I’ll drive till you get a cooler car.”
“So did you hear the news about Catelyn?” Jennifer asked with an evil laugh.
Alex held the phone closer to her ear. She had had little contact with the bratty girl her sophomore year but just someone saying her name brought back all of the events of ninth grade. To say they had been difficult would be an understatement; Catelyn Montgomery had made her life a living hell.
“Did someone mess up her perfectly manicured toes?” Alex asked with a hint of venom.
“I wouldn’t be gloating like this if it was just that! No, Amy told me that Sierra told her that she heard her mom talking to Catelyn’s mom—”
“Who the hell is Sierra?”
“It doesn’t matter! Now do you want to hear the juicy gossip or not?”
Alex sighed. “Go ahead.”
“Anyway, so Catelyn’s parents went to Paris this summer and left their darling daughter home with her older brother, who was home from college. Guess he hated the idea of being a babysitter so he pretty much stayed gone the whole time. Catelyn’s folks were supposed to be back late last Sunday...” Jennifer trailed off as a fit of giggles overtook her.
Alex wanted to throttle her. She was on the edge of the bed, just dying to know the rest of the story and Jennifer couldn’t even finish.
“Would you get on with it? What the hell happened?”
Jennifer gasped and apologized. “Okay, so apparently her parents took an earlier flight and showed up home at around noon or so. Big brother’s car was not in the driveway, but take a guess at whose car was there!”
Alex gasped and put her hand over her mouth so her mom wouldn’t hear her exclamations of delight and mock horror, not to mention a little embarrassment. Alex had always had issues with the idea of sex and even speaking about it made her want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment. She was curious of course but at the same time she didn’t want to talk about it, even with her very best friend.
“Oh, yes! Catelyn’s parents walked in on her and Beau in her bedroom. I hear she’s grounded until she’s like thirty.”
Alex snorted laughter. “How reliable is this information? I don’t even know who this Sierra girl is!”
“Her mom and Catelyn’s mom do charity work at their church. I guess Catelyn’s mom was super upset and wants to send Catelyn to private school this year.”
To Alex, the thought of Catelyn Montgomery out of her life forever sounded even better than getting her driver’s license. With her out of the way, maybe Beau would notice me.
That thought shocked Alex more than a little. Why the hell should I care about Beau Johnson anyway? I have a totally hot boyfriend now, so why do I even care if they break up over this? She didn’t have an answer but she couldn’t deny the thrill of pleasure that shot up her spine at the thought of having some time alone with Beau.
Will I ever get over this guy?
“Anyway, thought that would make your day. I gotta run. Bye!”
Alex laid on the bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. Her heart swelled at the thought of Catelyn being completely absent from school their junior year. Beau will be so lonely. Guilt soon over-rode the pleasure. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Drake, but he had never made her feel all tingly the way that just saying Beau’s name did. The stuck-up jock had stolen her heart from the first moment she saw him. Part of her knew that this crush wasn’t healthy and that he wouldn’t treat her as nicely as Drake, but she still wanted to ride in a car alone with him, to park out along one of the many deserted roads around town so they could kiss in the dark.
Are you really willing to break up with Drake if Beau asks you out? A very tiny part of her mind insisted that Beau wouldn’t ask her out in a million years. And yet she ignored that voice and created the perfect scenario where Beau was wracked with guilt about how he had treated her the last few years and that being away from Catelyn had made him realize how much better Alex was. She didn’t forgive him right away, of course. Instead, she played coy and hard-to-get, playfully flirting just enough to keep stringing him along. But she couldn’t ignore her feelings and
soon gave in to his boyish charms. Every part of her body tingled with pleasure as she imagined him forcing her against the lockers. No matter how she fought, Alex wasn’t strong enough to break free from his muscular arms. His lips met hers and she tried to fight, but her heart betrayed her and she melted into his kiss, allowing his hands to roam across her body.
In her vision, they were inseparable. They went to every dance together, ate lunch every day together, spent every waking moment they weren’t in school together. He was kind and charming to her family and his family loved her from the moment they met her. Beau only filled out college applications to the schools she wanted to attend so that they could go to the same college and not have to be apart.
They were married after graduating from college. She was the youngest curator to ever run the Smithsonian and people praised her in print, television and radio. Beau went on to play professional football, winning over fans and his teammates alike with his winning charm. He never even looked at another woman, and always mentioned Alex’s name whenever the cameras were rolling.
The couple lived in a large home, drove luxury cars, had two children, and a dog. Their life was perfect in every way and Alex had finally found a man who adored every inch of her and worshiped the ground she walked on.
Beau stood behind her as she applied make-up, his hands on her shoulders, staring into her eyes in her reflection in the mirror. The love in those icy blue depths was enough to take her breath away.
Suddenly, Beau’s eyes widened, and he stepped back. Alex looked forward and screamed. A strange man was reflected in the mirror, his face a featureless mass. As she glanced to her own reflection, her face kept changing: a peasant girl from Ireland, a seductress from Spain, an old slave from the Civil War South. Her face changed faster and faster, some to familiar features, others to complete strangers.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me you were such a freak?” The look of love changed to one of revulsion and fear.
Alex tried to stop her beloved from running away but she was fixed in place. Her hand reached out and the faceless man moved closer to her reflection. When he touched her, pain like white-hot pokers lanced up and down her arms. She wanted to scream at Beau to help save her from the man that was going to kill her.
The faceless man reached for her face and Alex closed her eyes.
***
She awoke with a start, sitting up in bed and dropping the pillow she still clutched to her chest. The images from the dream were still vivid in her mind, including those of her and Beau’s perfect life together. Alex felt crushed beneath the weight of overwhelming sadness, as though she had lost something dear and precious to her. Her daydream turned real dream had been everything she had ever wanted, everything she wanted for her future...except the part where he figured out her terrible secret and left her.
No one’s gonna stay with you when they know your secret.
That realization was depressing to say the least. She wanted to believe that she’d eventually find someone to spend the rest of her life with, but the second her husband walked in on her during one of her little “trips,” he’d leave and never look back.
Not that she would blame him. It wouldn’t be easy to explain why she was standing stiff as a board and cold to the touch in front of the mirror. And if she tried to tell him the truth, he’d want to have her committed.
Jennifer knows the truth and she’s fine with it!
That made Alex feel a little better. Jennifer had never questioned Alex’s ability to travel through time, nor had she walked away. Alex knew the only reason she hadn’t was because of the physical proof Jennifer had seen with her own eyes. It was hard to chalk it all up to a brain tumor when Alex returned with wounds that hadn’t been there before the trip back in time.
Alex wondered if a teenager was just more capable of believing in stuff like this than an adult would be. Adults had their whole lives to convince themselves that the world was sane and made total and complete sense. Teenagers barely believed in their own mortality, let alone the idea that some things weren’t possible.
She glanced at the clock. There was still an hour or so until dinner would be ready. Alex grabbed the driver’s education book and dutifully began studying the rules of the road. She didn’t intend to waste any time re-taking the written exam. Most of the stuff she knew already just by driving around with Jennifer. Many things were fairly logical and didn’t take a great deal to understand.
Alex brought the book to the kitchen when she heard her mother call her name. She continued to read as she ate dinner.
“You’re taking this awfully seriously, aren’t you?”
“I want to pass the test my first time around. The sooner I do that, the sooner I can keep practicing.”
“What do you mean, ‘keep practicing’?”
Alex’s heart sank. She had just slipped up big time. How can I cover this up?
“I asked you a question, young lady.”
“Jennifer explains stuff to me when we’re out driving, like what to do at one-way streets and how much distance to leave between you and the vehicle in front, you know, stuff like that. And it’s not like I haven’t driven the go-carts at the fun park before.”
“Driving go-carts and hearing someone else explain things isn’t the same as actually being behind the wheel yourself. Being a good driver takes a lot of practice.”
“I know. I’ll work super hard, I promise!” Alex said as she put her nose back into the instruction manual.
“Be that as it may, you still have chores to do.” Patricia looked pointedly at the dirty dishes on the table.
Alex bit back a retort. She wasn’t about to ruin things by opening her big mouth. It would be far too easy for her mom to decide that she wasn’t mature enough to drive after all. She dutifully cleared the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher while her mom took care of the leftovers.
“I’ll wash up these few things. You’re done for the night.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Alex studied the book until it was time for bed. She planned on going through it so many times that she had it memorized. I’ll ace that written test!
She stood in front of the mirror flossing her teeth. Suddenly, her reflection shifted to that of the Mongolian girl. She was adjusting a hairband that had colorful strips of cloth hanging from it. Alex thought she could even see feathers hanging from the hairband as well. The girl’s mouth opened wide and her hand came toward the mirror.
Alex’s stomach lurched as the reflection of the girl moved quickly to the right and out of view. To Alex, it felt as though she were moving, making her stomach queasy like she sometimes got on windy mountain roads.
It’s not me, it’s the mirror that’s moving. The reflection settled to a leg of a chair or perhaps a table. Alex couldn’t tell. She could barely make out the bright light coming from the entrance to the tent in the background.
Alex blinked and stared at her own familiar face, trying to puzzle out what had happened while she blindly reached for her hair brush. A loud clatter made her turn her head. The brush was lying on the bathroom floor. As Alex reached down to pick it up, she thought she knew what happened. She was so scared she knocked the mirror down. She smiled ruefully. I totally know how that feels.
Before going to bed, Alex quickly send Jennifer a text message telling her she had more information about the newest girl to show up in the mirror. Jennifer promised to call as soon as she could.
As she lay in bed waiting to fall asleep, Alex’s thoughts turned to the start of her junior year and the prospect that she may be free of the bratty Catelyn. She couldn’t help but feel a little envious of the girl. Alex couldn’t imagine going all the way with a boy. The mere thought made her cringe and blush. It wasn’t as though she didn’t like kissing Drake, or like it when he put his hand on her hips, but she would never let him go any further. She had tried to imagine the two of them naked in bed together and her brain simply couldn’t conjure the image. Alex ha
d overheard girls in the restroom and the locker rooms talking about letting boys put their hands up their shirts, or letting their boyfriends take them off while they parked somewhere late at night. She wondered how they did it without being totally paranoid about what they looked like, or if their skin was soft enough or if they had remembered to put on deodorant, or if the guy was disappointed by what he was touching.
The first time Drake had put his hand on her hip, Alex had stiffened up, terrified of him wanting to take things further than what she was comfortable with. Then she worried that if she didn’t let him go as far as he wanted, he would break up with her. It wasn’t like it didn’t happen at school all the time. Girls would be in the bathroom bawling their eyes out because their boyfriends had broken up with them because they wouldn’t go “all the way.” Alex thought it was silly to put so much importance on an act that she thought sounded messy and embarrassing and awkward.
And yet she couldn’t help but feel jealous of Catelyn and Beau for doing things that kids her age mostly only talked about doing. For all of the talk that flew around the high school, she felt certain that only a few were actually doing anything.
Her mind conjured the images of the men she had encountered while on her travels through time. She wanted to tell herself that her wanton behavior in some cases was due to the emotions of the girls she inhabited but Alex knew better. Part of her wanted those men to touch her, to kiss her. The look in their eyes as they touched her face had been intoxicating. Drake never looked at her like that.
Will any guy in my time ever look at me like that?
CHAPTER 33
ALEX WAITED IMPATIENTLY for Jennifer to arrive. She checked her watch every other second, worried they were going to be late. I still need to find my classes!
“You have plenty of time, Lexi. Calm down. You’re driving me nuts,” Patricia said.
Alex opened her mouth, ready with a smart remark when she heard the familiar screech of tires and the thumping of the bass.
