Good Luck Charm

by Kellie McAllen

  “What was that all about?” Niall asks as soon as we’re outside.

  “I think my cookie fortune just came true.”

  Niall cocks an eyebrow at me, so I explain the story of Connor and Dad’s sweatshirt while we drive to the hospital.

  “My fortune said a stranger would bring me good luck, then Connor shows up wearing Dad’s shirt and just happens to have extra chicken lo mein. There’s no way that’s a coincidence. It’s luck, plain and simple. Dad’s shirt is lucky, no matter who’s wearing it.”

  “Well, you know I don’t believe in all that, but he seems like a nice guy. Not too many people would give up their food like that. Maybe you should try to get to know him.”

  I gape at him. “You mean, like, go out with him? No! If he was nice, he’d give me the sweatshirt back.”

  Niall shrugs. “Well, if you’re with him and he has the sweatshirt, that would be a good thing, right? Even better than Dad having it since Dad’s not at school with you all day.”

  I have to admit, he has a point. There’s one flaw in his plan, though.

  “Connor’s not interested in me like that. I think he likes this girl named Mallory.”

  Niall snickers. “Mallory, huh? Sounds like an 80’s teen queen.”

  I chuckle; he’s not far off.

  “Can you take her?”

  I snort. “In basketball, definitely. But she’s really pretty. A lot prettier than me.”

  “Yeah, but does she have your amazing personality?” He teases.

  When we get to the hospital, Dad is in a lot of pain, and guilt swoops in and steals my good mood. I’m so caught up in trying to make him feel better I forget all about everything else.

  Chapter Five

  Kerri

  I wake up with a gasp the next morning, and anxiety smacks me in the face. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and I’m Irish, but I don’t feel the least bit lucky. I jump out of bed and throw on some clothes, wishing again that I had my lucky sweatshirt and hoping I can get to school a little early.

  I grab Connor’s chicken lo mein from the refrigerator and my keys off the counter, and I’m just about to walk out the door when I remember my car isn’t working. Crap!

  “Sean, can you drive me to school, like, right now? I need to get there early!” I holler, pounding on my brother’s door.

  He doesn’t answer right away, but I hear some thumping around. After a few seconds, he cracks open the door and peers at me with one eye open.

  “What time is it?” he mumbles. He’s still in his pajamas with his ginger hair sticking up everywhere, so I know we’re not getting out of here any time soon.

  I sag against the doorframe and pout. “Will you look at my car today and see if you can fix it? It won’t start.”

  “Okay, if I have time.” He stumbles out into the hallway, heading towards the bathroom.

  I go back to the kitchen to look for something to eat since I have to wait for him, but of course, there’s still no food. Somebody is going to have to take over the grocery shopping while Dad recuperates.

  I sit on the couch, eating some buttered saltine crackers and jiggling my knees, wishing I had my history book with me. I totally forgot to study for my test today. Life has been way too chaotic lately. Lucky sits at my feet begging crackers, and I toss him a few, petting his silky, red coat.

  Sean meanders out about five minutes before we absolutely have to leave if we don’t want to be late, looking like a Ralph Lauren model. “Where’s your keys, Ker? I’ll go check out your car.”

  I hand him my keychain and follow him out to the driveway. “It won’t start, it just makes a clicking sound.”

  He tries it and gets the same thing. “I think your battery is dead. Did you leave the lights on?”

  “No! I’m not an idiot,” I immediately snap, but the truth is, I might’ve.

  “Let’s try jumping it.” He hops in his own car and pulls it up next to mine then pops the hood.

  “We don’t have time, now. Couldn’t you have gotten ready a little faster?” My voice sounds kind of whiny, and I know I should be thankful I have a brother who knows stuff about cars; I just wish he knew how to hurry.

  “It’ll only take a minute.”

  I grit my teeth to keep from complaining. Actual time has no relation to Sean time. It doesn’t take very long, though, and soon my trusty steed revs to life.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I jump out of the car and hug my brother, squeezing him till he grunts.

  “Okay, okay. That’s enough! You’re gonna wrinkle my clothes.” He says it like he’s joking, but as soon as I let go of him he smooths out his shirt and adjusts his rolled-up cuffs.

  “You know, there’s a reason they call mechanics grease monkeys.”

  He wrinkles his nose and brushes invisible dust off his stiff jeans. “I’m going to be an automotive engineer, not a mechanic.”

  “So, a grease monkey in a suit?” I poke him in the ribs with my elbow, and he shoves back with his.

  “Thanks for fixing it, Sean.”

  “No problem. It should be good now, unless your battery is going out, then you might need to replace it. Let’s hope you just left your lights on.” He grins and winks then ruffles my hair.

  We both hop into our cars and head to school. I’m not late, but I’m definitely not early. I don’t even have time to go to my locker to get my history book.

  I manage to squeeze a few minutes of studying in-between classes instead of gossiping with Mia like I usually do, but by the time I get to history class, I still feel totally unprepared for this test.

  I notice Connor sitting on the other side of the room, and I’m not sure if I should ignore him or nod or what. It’s not like we’re friends. In fact, I’m still annoyed that he won’t give me the sweatshirt, but I also feel kind of indebted to him for the lo mein. He doesn’t look up at me, though, so I don’t have to decide.

  Mr. Pringle passes out the tests, and right away I get stuck on one of the questions. The next one isn’t any better. I rub my rabbit’s foot, stare at the tacky St. Patrick’s Day decorations on the wall, and wrack my brain, trying to remember the stuff I read last week, but too much has happened since then. The room feels chilly, but my hands are so sweaty that Fuzzy’s fur is damp.

  From the corner of my eye, I notice Connor pulling something green out of his bag. Dad’s sweatshirt! He slips it over his head, and it’s like I just found the gold at the end of the rainbow. I stare at the shirt and let the lucky vibes flow out at me for a minute. When I look back at my test, the questions seem a lot easier, and I fly through the rest of it, confident I’m gonna get a good grade.

  At lunch time, the cafeteria is louder and more chaotic than normal, and everyone seems to be messing with their phones instead of eating. I weave my way through the crowd to find Mia and Austin. They both have the KHOT radio app open, and an advertisement for a car lot is blaring through the speakers. In fact, pretty much everybody is doing the exact same thing.

  “What’s going on?” I plop my lunch on the table next to them. Leftover Chinese food on St. Patrick’s Day — not very Irish, but still probably a lot better than the nasty corned beef and cabbage the cafeteria is serving. It smells like dirty socks in here.

  Suddenly, the commercial ends, a song starts playing, and everyone starts shrieking and jabbing at their phones. A few seconds later, they start grousing and pull their phones away from their ears.

  “What’d I miss?”

  “KHOT is having a St. Patrick’s Day contest, and the winners get tickets to the Florida Georgia Line concert. Whenever they play a Florida Georgia Line song, the first person to call in and give the title wins a pair of tickets,” Mia explains.

  My mouth falls open, and I start squeaking and scramble for my phone. “I love Florida Georgia Line!”

  Mia giggles at me. “They play other songs in-between, so it might be a while before they play another one since they’re playing one now.”

  I pou
t and set down my phone, but I have the number to the station punched in, ready to hit the call button. I bob my head to the music while I suck up lo mein noodles.

  From the corner of my eye, I see Connor enter the cafeteria, looking as confused as I was. He gets in line for some food, and I’m kind of worried that he’s wearing Dad’s sweatshirt at the moment. I always dribble food on my shirt every time I eat, but then again, he’s probably not as unlucky as me.

  The song on the radio ends as he’s walking past, and another song starts. I only need three notes to recognize one of my favorite songs, and my finger automatically jabs at the green button on my phone. Everyone else recognizes the song about then and starts dialing. My phone rings once, and a voice comes on the line.

  “I got through, I got through!” I whisper-shout, and everyone around me gapes at me, including Connor, who has stopped in his tracks to watch the action.

  “KHOT, the station for today’s hottest tracks, this is DJ Derrick and you’re on a recorded line, can you name that tune?”

  “Cruise?” I say it like a question, but I know I’m right.

  Bells go off in my ear, deafening me. I pull the phone away an inch and wince. “That’s right! And you’re the first caller, so you just won tickets to see Florida Georgia Line in concert! What’s your name?”

  My breath, my heartbeat, everything stops as my body freezes, and I have to force my tongue to move.

  “Kkkerri,” I manage to choke out.

  “Congratulations, Kerri! What’s your favorite station for today’s hottest tracks and tickets to the awesomest concerts?”

  My mind is blank with shock, and I understand now why everyone always stalls on this question. What station am I listening to? Where did I call? I know the name is four letters, but I can’t string more than two together at the moment. Finally, I glance at Mia’s phone and see the header at the top of the KHOT app.

  “Uh, KHOT,” I finally blurt out.

  “You better believe it! Stay on the line, Kerri, so we can get some information from you, okay?”

  I nod then realize he can’t see me and choke out an OK.

  Music starts playing in my ear, and I cover the microphone just in case he can still hear me. “Oh my God, I just won tickets to the concert! I’ve never won anything!”

  I’m bouncing up and down, and the people around me start cheering and jabbering, and my eyes lock on Connor, who’s making his way to a table with his food. This is because of him!

  Another voice comes on the line a few seconds later, and I manage to remember my contact information. They tell me I can pick up the tickets at the station.

  When I hang up, Mia grabs my shoulders and shakes me. “Kerri, that’s so awesome! And you think you’re cursed with bad luck? Think again, girl!”

  I shake my head, looking across the room. “It’s Connor. He’s wearing Dad’s lucky shirt.”

  “Who?” Mia wrinkles her nose at me, and I realize I haven’t even told her about him. That just goes to show you how crazy the last few days have been. I usually tell Mia everything as soon as it happens.

  Connor’s not looking at me, so I point him out to Mia and explain about the sweatshirt, Friday’s big win, last night’s dinner, and my test this morning.

  “He’s cute,” is the first thing Mia says, ignoring the whole point of the story.

  “Hey!” Austin complains.

  “Not as cute as you, though.” Mia winks at him, and they start smooching, garlic breath and everything.

  I’m happy for Mia, really I am, but all the PDA does weird things to my insides, and I’m not sure if it’s embarrassment, jealousy, lust or indigestion. Could be a little bit of all of it.

  While Mia and Austin are kissing, I decide to go talk to Connor for a minute and tell him what happened. Maybe he’ll realize the shirt really is my lucky charm. He’s sitting with a couple people from the guys’ basketball team, and I wonder if he plays, too. Mia and I usually go to their games to watch Austin, but I never noticed Connor there before.

  “Hey, Connor.” I wave as I walk up to his table, and several heads turn my way.

  “Uh, hey Kerri.” He looks at me like I’m a large dog, and he’s not sure if I’m going to lick his hand or bite him.

  There’s an empty seat next to him, so I sit down, hoping that will make me seem friendly. He stiffens up, though, so maybe that was a bad idea, but it would be weird to stand right back up, so I just stay there.

  “Maybe you heard, but I just won concert tickets from KHOT, and it’s all because of you.”

  He looks at me, and his friends look at him. “The sweatshirt, remember? It’s lucky, and you were standing right by me when I called. I never would’ve won those tickets, otherwise, so… I just wanted to say thanks, I guess.”

  “You’re welcome… I guess.” He’s still staring at me like I’m crazy, possibly dangerous.

  I don’t know what I was expecting — him to say I’m right, that the sweatshirt belongs to me, and take it off and hand it to me, I suppose. But instead he just sits there looking at me like he’s expecting something else, or maybe he just doesn’t know what to do next.

  I suppose I should offer to give him one of the tickets since I basically just said he won them for me, but I don’t even know this guy, and that would kind of sound like I was asking him out, and besides, I really want to go with Mia.

  “Great job at the game last Friday, Kerri. You really came through in the clutch,” a guy named Eric says.

  “Thanks, I was doing pretty bad till Connor showed up with my Dad’s lucky sweatshirt on. That’s when everything turned around. My dad usually wears it to all my games, but he lost it, and Connor found it.”

  Eric raises an eyebrow at me then turns it on Connor. Connor shovels cabbage into his mouth, probably so he won’t have to respond. I wait for him to swallow, but he keeps chewing till I’m sure that mouthful of cabbage is nothing but mush. Whatever. I’m obviously not going to convince him to give up the sweatshirt any time soon.

  “Okay, well, that’s all I wanted, so, thanks again.” I huff and tromp away.

  The rest of the afternoon goes really smoothly, and I decide that it’s because Connor is here, wearing Dad’s sweatshirt, sending out lucky vibes.

  After basketball practice, I decide to pick up some groceries since it doesn’t seem like anyone else in my house is going to do it. I take a long shower in the locker room, enjoying the warm water. With four sports-playing guys in my house, the shower runs nonstop, but the warm water doesn’t. I’m a lot more likely to get a cold shower there than a warm one.

  Almost everyone else is gone when I get out to the parking lot which is surprising because the guys’ team usually practices a little longer than the girls’. There’s only one other car besides mine, a silver Honda Civic. The sun is setting, and the parking lot lights crackle on, spilling weak, yellow light in circles on the pavement.

  It feels a little creepy out here alone, so I quickly hop into the car and turn the key, but nothing happens. Again.

  No, no, no, no, no! This is so not cool! I try the key again and again, but get nothing. I get out of the car and slam the door, angry at Charge for letting me down. Sighing, I pull out my phone, about to call one of my brothers, when I see someone walking out of the gymnasium. I can’t quite make out his face from here, but I know who it is right away because he’s wearing a green sweatshirt.

  Chapter Six

  Connor

  Oh my God, I’m so glad it’s you.” Kerri is standing next to her car, and as soon as she sees me she bounces up and down and claps her hands.

  “Do you need some help?”

  “Just stand there and be lucky for a minute, will ya?” She jumps into her car, a scratched and dented red Beetle that looks like one of the new models — from back in the 90’s. It looks like she’s trying to start it, but the engine doesn’t turn over. Her smile flips into a frown that gets deeper and more comical the longer she’s in there.

  I w
ander over to her, and she gets out of the car, scowling.

  “Car won’t start?”

  She shakes her head, and her damp, rust-colored bun bobs on top of her head. “My brother had to jump it this morning. He said it might need a new battery, but I thought it would start since you’re here now. You’re supposed to be lucky.”

  I smirk. “I don’t know about all this luck stuff, but I can give you a jump if you want.”

  Her frown melts into a look of appreciation. “Would you? That’d be really great. I could call one of my brothers, but it’d be a while before anybody could get here.”

  “No problem. Let me just pull my car up. Pop your hood.”

  She nods, and I head off to my own car a few yards away. I hop in and drive over to her car, parking head to head so the jumper cables will reach. I pop my hood and my trunk and get out my cables.

  Kerri watches while I attach the cables to her battery and mine. I start my car, and we let it run for a few minutes.

  “Thanks, Connor. I’m glad you were here.” She smiles at me, leaning up against the side of the car. She’s fresh-faced, and her bright green eyes and brown freckles stand out against her milky skin. She’s cute in a way that makes me want to look out for her.

  I shrug. “It’s no big deal. But if you had to jump it this morning, you probably do need a new battery. If you want, I can follow you to a shop, just in case you have any trouble on the way.”

  “You don’t have to do that. I’m sure you’ve got things you need to do. I’m not your problem. I can take care of myself.”

  “I don’t mind, really.” It’s the truth. For some reason, I want to make sure she’s okay.

  “That’s really sweet of you.” She gives me another big smile and lays a hand on my arm. It surprises me, and I tense up a bit. Has a girl ever touched me before, besides my mom? Girls in general make me nervous, whether I like them or not, but Kerri doesn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable talking to me, or anyone, really.

  “You can try starting your car now,” I say to break the awkwardness.