***
Three months in and I
haven
’
t lost my sanity…yet. The
three
of us
are sitting at a
plain
table for
our typical routine
lunch. Megan is rambling on and on about the captain of the football team who quit at the beginning of the year, and how the lead cheerleader is endlessly begging for h
er boyfriend back, which coincidentally is the
same guy. Then someone was caught doing some random drug in the bathroom and she goes on with a list that seems never
-
ending. Closing the text book I was trying to read, I tell them
,
“
I will see you ladies after school.
”
I begin walking towards my next class
. Today
is definitely dragging. Finally
,
there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel. Tomorrow is Friday and my father is coming
back into town. We
plan
on opening the new track.
After school I meet
Megan
at my car,
walk
ing up to her
,
I ask
glancing around
,
“
Where’
s Lisa?
”
Megan throws
her hands up in exasperation.
“
She just got a call from
,
Dawson
,
who is waiting at her house for her. You know how she is about that man. She just can
’
t wait.
”
Megan and I talk a bit more trying to line up what we are doing next. We both decide at the same time, enough of Hutchington for one day. I get i
n my car and
I
get
a text from Lisa
…
“
Hey so sorry I left w/o
goodbye,
Dawson
is here, Yea
h
!
I also want 2 tell U we will be at the track tomorrow & David will be 2 Hugs
!
”
Well, can my day get any worse? I
’
m thinking about how much I want to crush my
cell
under my tires. Resting my head on the steering wheel in misery, when someone starts tapping on my window.
I jump in my seat as I turn to glare at the person who
’
s trying to give me a heart attack. I find myself looking at that same bewitching guy that startled me in the hall a couple of months ago.
Pressing the button and rolling the window down I glance at what
he is holding in his hand. It
’
s a red gas container. I never claim to be Einstein, but I could bet that he
needs
some help with fuel for his car.
“
Hey, could you ta
ke me to the gas station,
”
he says roguishly and then looks back at his car. See, I could be Einstein.
“
Sure, why not,
”
I tell him, thinking
this is just what I need
, a
distraction from running my
cell
over
. So without further adieu I hop out, popping the trunk for the gas container. Back in the car I glance at him amusingly and advise
,
“
The stock seatbelts are
still there
, you can use it if you
’
d like.
”
I point behind his headrest to the factory mounted seatbelt. I finis
h with a smile watching as he
intently studies the five point seatbelt. Finally
,
he straps himself in looking back at me with inquiringness.
“
Does your brother always let you drive his car?
”
I laugh
.
“
I don
’
t have a
brother;
you must have me confused with someone else.
”
He laughs
, but
continues,
“
Okay
, it
’
s your dad
’
s car.
”
I shake my head, smile and take off giving the car a quick shift lightly squealing tires. I keep driving out of the school parking lot thinking to myself.
Not only is he go
rgeous
,
but has a sense of humor, t
wo very great qualities in a guy. Too bad he
’
s not a witch.
I soon pull into the gas station next to
the
fuel pump
s
and wait for him
and
turn up my tunes
.
Closing my eyes I again appreciate the great sound of my stereo. I really need some down time from the news about David. Now, out of nowhere, again, comes...
I can see you while you
’
re cloaked
,
guy
.
Mental note to self:
talk to my father as soon as possible about this
.
I
’
m taught that we always keep in control of ourselves, with me having the abilities of
fire;
well things can get a bit…incinerated. Not a good thing. I take a couple of deep breaths and start centering myself, pulling my energy of fire back dow
n away from my finger
tips. My agitation
is
getting the best of me for a second.
Then suddenly the passenger door opens and he leans
in
. “
Can I get you anything from inside?
”
I nod my head and tell him jokingly,
“
Yeah
, a bottle of Bling
H2O
water and don
’
t come back without it or you walk back.
”
He laughs quietly, and walks away not quite sure if I am serious or not.
A couple of minutes later he sits down in the passengers seat,
while
strapping the seatbelt on he looks over at me with a slight grin,
and hands
me a bottle of S. Pellegrino mineral water, his br
illiant smile widens as he says,
“
Your Bling
H2O
is on order, hope this will do until then.
”
I give him my quirky smile back and think to myself
,
One
, I
’
m surprised you even know what it is, so for that, I
’
ll give you an
“
A
”
for effort
. As he takes a drink of his own bottled water,
and
tilts his head towards me
. “
What are you listening to? I think I
’
ve heard this before
, but
can
’
t remember the artist?
”
I
’
m assuming someone like him wouldn
’
t have a clue and so I tell him.
“
It
’
s Moratorium by Alanis Morissette.
”
I reach over to turn it off and he places his hand on mine and asks
,
“
Keep it on, if you don
’
t mind?
”
I shrug my shoulders entertained by his request and pull out of the gas station heading back to school.
“
So where are you from?
”
he inquires
and then quickly adds
,
“
I hear you moved here from
California
.
”
He shrugs coolly
. “
Small town syndrome, no secrets here.
”
I laugh skittishly,
if he only knew
.
With another hesitation I reply back
,
“
You heard correct.
”
I try to answer his questions with short and simple answers,
keep off the radar
I remind
myself.
We know that living in the mundane
world there are times we will have to deal directly with humans, but as far as I know we don
’
t socialize
anymore
than necessary. This guy sitting next to me in my car seems different s
omehow. I can
’
t put my little w
itchy finger on it though.
I soon realize just how dense I
’
m being. Witches still have manners and I didn
’
t introduce myself, but for all that, neither did he. I still have no clue what his name is. I
’
m not psychic by any means, and I didn
’
t want to ask him his name because now
, just
how would that look?
I
’
ve been attending Hutchington High for the past few months and I don
’
t know any of t
he human names in my classes.
They apparently seem to know me and are perfectly comfortable asking me for help.
I start running through my memory and all of Megan
’
s information and I still draw a blank. I pull my car next to his
, which is the only one left in the entire parking lot
and hope that he will just thank me and be on his way. He fills his car with t
he fuel and reaches inside his M
ustang grabbing a towel.
Wiping off his hands, he walks casually over to me. His face holds a confident smile that I am sure unnerves most women of any age. He holds his hand out towards me
. “
It
’
s
nice to finally meet you Alyssa, you can call me Marc,
it
’
s
what everyone calls me.
”
I return his hand
shake and add just a hint of heat, just enough to make him notice. I have no idea why I
’
m doing
this
;
I guess I want him to remember me.
Okay
, now I
’
m not keeping a low profile, if
he
knows my name on top of the handshake. He must
have
seen the look on my face, my
questioning expression. Placing
his hand over my window and leaning down, his face hovering just outside inches away. I smell his
enticing
cologne and that adds to my dilemma.
Running his other hand through his spiky golden hair, he hesitantly says,
“
I
’
ve seen you a couple of times in the halls, and then I had to switch a couple of classes around and did you know we have two classes together
,
a
rt history first hour and intermediate calculus
fourth
hour?
”
I just sit
here puzzled as he laughs
. “
Doesn
’
t ring any bells, huh?
”
I lean back in my seat and sigh
. “
I
’
m
sorry, I guess I
’
m not much on who
’
s who and I get a bit distracted with all the work.
”
It wasn
’
t an entirely
true statement;
I wasn
’
t sure what else to say to him.
He chuckle
s again
. “
Yeah
, it can get kind of crazy here
.
”
He walks back to his car and I catch myself admiring him. If Megan could see me right now, I would be so busted. He throws the towel
back
inside his car.
“
H
ey, w
hat
’
s your last name?
”
I call out, I guess just to keep the conversation going. I didn
’
t think it will hur
t in asking for his last name.