“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.
I spread my fingers wide with my hands down at my sides, set my feet hip-width apart and drove my energy down past the asphalt into the ground. Steven and Jodi came up on either side of me, each placing a hand on one of my shoulders, lending their energy to me. This was no time for secrecy.
As I reached looking for the dormant fault lines beneath Nick I could still hear him yelling at her and calling her names, apparently no longer worried if people heard him treating her this way, the arrogant bastard. I took my anger and directed it to fuel my need, finally finding a wire-thin fault line. I grabbed hold of it, forcing the flow of my energy into it, guiding it to the place that Nick stood next to his truck.
I heard the crack and crumble of the asphalt as the fault line swelled with power, having gained enough control to keep the ground from shaking to give myself away. Inch by inch it came closer to Nick, opening a jagged line in the asphalt as it neared him.
“You just don’t listen!” Nick yelled, inches from Tracy’s face, and grabbed her collar and shook her roughly.
“That’s enough!” an unfamiliar, rough voice called out at him. I reigned in my energy, holding the fault line at bay just feet away from my target to look for the source of the voice. Ian came striding through the parking lot. The anger in his face and swelling of his shoulders made me wonder if he was just going to pick up and throw the cars that were in his way.
“Who the fuck are you?” Nick turned to look at Ian, fury plain on his face. Ian didn’t answer him. He strode confidently up to Nick, balled up his right fist, pulled it back, and fired, punching Nick square in the mouth. Nick reeled back, his head jerking up and back as he stumbled backwards a few feet. Ian didn’t stop though, advancing on Nick and throwing a left hook that caught Nick on the jaw line and caused his mouth to fall open. Then Ian threw an upper cut and caught Nick’s chin with his right fist again, lifting him off his feet to fall to the ground, flat on his back. I swear I heard his head bounce off the black top.
I pulled in my energy, careful to control the speed, afraid of a backlash, and siphoned off some of the excess to Jodi and Steven who still stood sentinel at my sides. Jodi was wide-eyed, never taking her eyes off of Ian to see the damage he was inflicting on Nick. I blinked finally, all our energy back in place, and pulled out of the ground.
“Are you ok?” Ian’s rough voice was suddenly warm and soft, as he placed a hand on Tracy’s shoulder and looked at her face with genuine concern.
“Yeah… thank you.” She had tears streaking down her face again, just like she had when I pulled her free of the truck over the weekend. She cocked her head to the side to look around Ian at Nick who was struggling to get back up.
“Don’t worry about him,” Ian said and turned to look down at Nick. He walked over to Nick’s head and crouched down, grabbing his shirt and yanking his shoulders off the ground. Getting real close to his face, Ian said, “I’m taking Tracy home from now on. If I ever see you anywhere near her, I’ll beat the shit out of you again.” He didn’t bother to ask if he understood. Ian simply stood up and held his hand out to Tracy with a smile and she took it in her own and followed him away from Nick.
I turned to Jodi, who was already smiling broadly. Saturday had worked out more quickly than we would’ve ever dared ask for. We took a collective breath and Steven and Jodi started back toward my locker to get the things we’d dropped. I took one more moment before I followed, looking back over my shoulder to where Nick was finally standing, dusting the gravel off of his jeans with one hand, red faced and angry. I chuckled quietly and turned to follow Steven and Jodi, but I stopped short, my stomach knotting up against my spine. Jensen stood at the edge of the sidewalk staring directly at me, one perfect eyebrow raised, arms crossed over his chest. He looked down at my feet, where the asphalt was newly cracked in a spider web of damage. Then he looked back up to my face and nodded ever so slightly. He smirked a little and turned to walk away.
***
I found Steven and Jodi at my locker. Steven was just standing back up from scooping up the last few papers from the ground. Jodi had my backpack by the straps in her right hand while she shut my locker with her left. Neither had noticed my approach.
“Whoa!” Steven yelled as he saw me seemingly appear out of nowhere.
“Sorry,” I said quietly.
“Hey, what’s the matter?” Steven furrowed his brow at me and Jodi turned to look at me, worry etched in her face.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something,” she said, searching my face.
“Well, not exactly,” I stepped over to the lockers and leaned my forehead against the cold metal and closed my eyes.
“What then?” Steven urged.
“Jensen was in the parking lot just now,” I muttered into the locker.
“So?” Jodi asked.
“He saw what I did.” My voice was failing me; it sounded like a distant echo.
“What!” They both cried. I squeezed my eyes shut against the noise.
“Well… at least… I think so.”
“Be more specific!” Jodi said sternly, grabbing me by the shoulders and turning me around roughly. I leaned back, my shoulders braced against the still cool wall of lockers.
“I don’t know!” I threw my hands up in the air before crossing my arms over my chest. “I stopped to watch and make sure that Nick wasn’t going to go after Tracy. When I turned back around to follow you I saw him standing there on the sidewalk. He looked down at my feet and then back up at me and then he kinda nodded and smirked and walked off.”
“He looked at your feet?” Steven asked, clearly confused.
“Yeah, I, well we, cracked the asphalt under my feet.”
“So?” Jodi continued to press. “Asphalt cracks all the time. This is Southern California after all.”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t just a crack under my feet. It kinda looked like a really heavy boulder landed there and left a circle of cracks that my feet fit into perfectly.” I shook my head slowly, opening my eyes to the overcast sky. “I can’t believe I was so careless!”
“Look,” Steven began, “Hey! Look!” He grabbed
me by the shoulders and pulled me straight to stare into his eyes. “Just because he thinks he saw something doesn’t mean anything, you get me?” He was speaking very sternly, sounding more masculine than I had ever heard from him in two and a half years. He looked at Jodi to make sure she was listening too and then back to me before continuing. “We just don’t give credit to anything he thinks or tries to say, ok? We act normal and people will think he’s crazy, remember, he’s the new kid.”
“That’s right!” Jodi said excitedly, grabbing hold of the alibi. “He is the new kid, people love us. If he tries to say crazy things about us or you causing cracks in the asphalt where you stood like The Incredible Hulk or something, he’ll be the laughing stock of the whole school.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I consented, knowing that much was true, but also knowing that he and I both knew what he saw and I had no idea what he was planning on doing with that information. After all, he didn’t look scared or surprised. The more I thought about the look on his face the more I came to think that it was like he had just seen something to confirm something he already suspected of me.
***
We made it to my house about ten minutes later. When I pulled into the driveway, I saw a huge red bow on the garage door and my parents were waiting for us in the front yard, both smiling broadly. I put the van into park and sat there for a moment just staring at the bow, all thoughts of Jensen’s knowing smirk suddenly erased from my mind. This had to be some sort of sick joke. That was the only thing that made sense.
“Oh. My. God. Dude.” Jodi hit me on the shoulder, bringing me back to myself, blinking away the shock. I still stared at the bow in confusion.
“No,” I said, the corners of my mouth turning down and my brows knitting together as I shook my head. “Not possible.” My voice wasn’t stunned, just matter of fact. My dad had to come over and open the driver’s door to get me to get out. My mom was all smiles holding a small present in her hand.
“Hi honey!” She beamed and joined my dad at his side. “We thought we’d give you an early birthday present!” She held out the present to me. If she were any more excited, she’d be dancing in place. Jodi and Steven ran around the van to stand behind me in order to watch over my shoulders as I stared dumbly at the little box in my hands.
“Duuuude!” Jodi whined, shaking me by the shoulder. I lifted the lid off the box. Nestled inside was the automatic garage door opener. Again I just stared at it. This had to be some cruel joke, like when you wrap a tiny gift in a huge box under thousands of Styrofoam peanuts. Steven grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me to face the garage and Jodi grabbed my right hand in hers and formed it into a point and pressed the button on the remote.
The garage door shuttered momentarily and then lifted smoothly away from the ground, the lights inside spilling out onto the driveway. I watched, eyes growing round as the hidden present was revealed inch by excruciating inch. The weak light glinted off the polished, rounded fenders, sliding down the streamlined body of the pure black 1969 Chevy Camaro. I was vaguely aware of Jodi and Steven’s cries of joy and jumping up and down next to me, occasionally reigning down blows on me.
“What… I don’t… but you said… What…” I stuttered lamely. I knew this car well, having drooled over it for weeks as it sat in a parking lot with a “For Sale” sign in its window. I had convinced my dad to go see it with me with the owner actually present to let us take a test drive once. It handled like a dream. It was loud and beautiful and faster than anything I had ever ridden in. The owner turned out to be some spoiled, rich, seventeen-year-old boy who was selling it simply because his mom had bought him a new jeep that he had put monster wheels on that were as tall as me. He was only asking three thousand dollars for it, and while that was a very reasonable price, my parents didn’t have that kind of cash to drop.
“Happy birthday, baby!” My mom wrapped her arms around my limp shoulders and kissed my cheek, followed by my dad who kissed the top of my head, smiling more with his eyes than anything else.
“I don’t understand…” I regained some ability to speak. “Dad… you said you couldn’t afford it?” Bewildered, that was a good word.
“I know, honey, but your mom and I did well at the casino on Saturday, just like we told you, and we decided you deserved it.” He squeezed my shoulder and rocked back on his heels, looking very proud of himself.
“But… really?!”
“Yes, really! Go, look!” My mom pushed me towards the garage. Jodi and Steven were already inside in the car, waiting for me. My dad hurried over to the minivan and backed out of the driveway to park it on the street. “Go ahead and take her for a spin, honey!” My mom called to me as I finally slid into the driver’s seat to find the keys waiting for me in the ignition.
“Oh my god…” I whispered, staring wide-eyed at everything, including the new stereo they had obviously installed before they brought the car home, complete with a CD player. I was afraid to speak above a whisper, for fear that any loud sound would cause this dream to come crashing down like an avalanche.
“Let’s go!” Jodi nearly yelled in my ear, bouncing in her seat against the strain of the seatbelt. I reached out and wrapped my hand around the keys, savoring the cold bite of metal against my fingers and turned the key eagerly. The engine roared to life instantly, Jodi and Steven were cheering happily. No more minivan for us; the minivan was dead to us.
I backed out of the driveway, revving the engine a little more than necessary, and barely heard my mom call out to me not to be too late before I threw it into gear and sped down the road.
I drove Jodi home first, Steven hopping out to switch to the front seat when Jodi got out. She turned and leaned into the car, "Hey, remember, Band's going to that thing tomorrow to play at the Government Center, so you don't need to pick me up. We're gonna be gone all day."
Jodi pulled her backpack onto her back and walked up to her front door. Since it was dark out, I idled by the curb, Steven and I watching to make sure she made it into the house before we pulled away.
"You know, I think I need a mental health day tomorrow," Steven said casually, his breath fogging over the passenger window as he watched Jodi close her front door behind her. I revved the engine and tore away from the curb just for the hell of it, a grin spreading across my face.
"A mental health day? Is one day really gonna help?" I teased as I shifted quickly from second to third with another growl of the engine.
"So witty tonight." Steven replied acidly.
"Really, though, you're gonna leave me alone all day?" It was rare that two of us missed the same day; it always sucked for the third. We all had more friends than just us, but none we were free to talk casually with. Awkward questions like "What did you do over the weekend?" always come up and I rarely had an easy answer for that.
"You’ll be ok," Steven said in a mock sympathetic voice, patting me on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes at him as I came to a smooth stop in front of his house, idling loudly. "Besides," Steven began as he got out, taking his bag with him, "then you can roll up tomorrow in your new car all by yourself and Jodi and I won’t be there to steal any of the spot light!"
"Oh gee, that's just what I wanted, more attention!" I said in mock delight.
"Might as well get used to it!" He stood up, ready to walk away.
"Hey," I called before he could shut the door. Steven leaned down to look at me. "Don't forget, water from the first rain. I think it'll be sometime tomorrow. Looks like late afternoon, early evening at this point." Steven furrowed his brow at me and started to open his mouth like he was going to ask me how I knew that but seemed to think better of it. He closed his mouth and shut his eyes tightly and shook his head.
"Dude... you are so much more than Jodi and I will ever be." Steven shut the door too quickly for me to ask him what that was supposed to mean and made his way to his front door.
Chapter 5
The next morning dawned to a darkened sky; no longer overcast, bill
owing clouds in shades of black, gray and white rolled over the city. I hoped Steven wouldn't over sleep and had already taken precautions to gather some of the rain that was coming. I half dreaded getting to school just on the chance people would ask about my car. Steven was wrong; I would've preferred he and Jodi be there to answer any questions for me. I dressed in layers, feeling the storm building faster and knew it would hit by the time I was out of French class. I grabbed an over-long green scarf and wrapped it around my neck before I headed out. I was amazed how quickly the engine heated up, not having to sit outside revving it for very long to get the heat moving through the vents. I snuggled against the seat, reveling in the soft leather as it hugged my shoulders.
School was unbearable from the moment I parked my car until I finally pealed out of the parking lot in a rush, kicking up loose gravel to the cheers of the muscle car gear heads that had crowded my car and begged to see the engine despite the rain. All day if people weren't asking about my car and birthday, they were checking on me to make sure I was coping alright with the absence of Jodi and Steven. Apparently I should've been wandering the school halls aimlessly, weeping uncontrollably.
As I predicted, the rain came steady and cold half way through French, pelting the windows in a staccato, distracting everyone for a few moments, only to annoy Madame Beaumont into giving us a pop quiz as punishment. And in each class we shared, I couldn't help but glance every once in a while in Jensen's direction and, as if by some magnetic pull, he always seemed to look right at me just a half second later and catch me looking.
Now all I could think about was that he must've thought I had been looking for a long time when he'd catch me. He didn't seem to care when I caught him. I had the sinking suspicion that maybe whatever about me that had enticed him now scared him. I knew by History I was upsetting the stomachs of half my class, but I just didn't care. I needed to get out and distract myself to calm down.
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