Crushing On The Geek (Crushing On You) (6 page)

      She dropped to the floor and stared at the mirror, examining it closely: running her fingers over the glass and around its edges. Not finding anything Tamara carefully removed it from the wall and lay it face down on her bed. She ran her fingers over the back of the glass, checking for anything that could project an image through the glass. Its surface was cold against her finger tips, but nothing more was there.

      Frustrated with the mirror that had played tricks on her two consecutive days, Tamara carried it into her closet, tucking it behind her clothes and shoes. Which she regretted. It was the following morning. Tamara had enough trouble getting started on Monday mornings without having to compete with her mom for time in front of the bathroom mirror. Giving up on doing her makeup, Tamara waited outside. With arms crossed she paced the drive.

      A rustling sounded to her left followed by the sharp echo of a twig snapping. Tamara swerved to face the sound. Leaves skittering across the pavement were her only companions. A frigid breeze carried distant laughter to her ears. Tamara shook her head and decided to wait for her mom in the car.

      The time in between leaving for school and lunch had blurred by, leaving Tamara feeling disoriented.

      “Come on,” someone said, tugging at the sleeve of her hoodie.

      Tamara looked up to see Hayden, “Come on, Greg and them are heading this way. Unless, of course, you want to hear them nag us about not feeding Sir Bedivere.”

      “Who's Sir Bedivere?” Amber asked.

      “I'll tell you later,” Tamara yawned, “Hayden's right. I don't want to hear Greg sound like my grandma. I haven't had enough sleep for this crap.”

      Tamara followed Hayden out of the cafeteria and into the hallway between the band room and the gym locker rooms.

      “What are we going to do?” Tamara asked when Hayden finally came to a stop.

      “Nothing. There's nothing we can do,” Hayden shrugged.

      “But….”

      “We just have to make Greg and the rest of the team sees that Sir Bedivere has nothing to do with their success or lack of, I should say.”

      “But….”

      “But what?”

      “More hand prints.”

      “What are you talking about, Tamara?” Hayden asked, “You're not making any sense.”

      “Sunday morning I woke up to find like a billion little hand prints on my bedroom mirror and someone was watching me this morning. Maybe not a someone, but a something.”

      “Do you know how crazy you're sounding?”

      “Yes! Yes, I do, Hayden. I haven't even told my best friend about any of this, because I'm afraid she'd think I've finally lost it!” Tamara stomped her foot. “Hayden, has anything weird happened to you?”

      “Outside of my younger brother tying all of my shoes together last night, no.”

      Tamara leaned against the walls and closed her eyes, “I think we should just leave an offering before the next tournament.”

      “What's up with you?”

      “What could it hurt? I mean, what could it hurt to just humor them? If it helps us get our dance, I'm all for it.”

      The end of lunch bell echoed through the empty hallway.

      “See you at practice,” Hayden said, leaving Tamara alone.

      By three-thirty Tamara's mood had soured even more. Her feet stomped with each step and her arms swung at her sides, matching her long hateful strides. She didn't stop by her locker to talk to Amber and ignored the questions buzzing from her volleyball teammates.

      “Can't you play chess?”

      “Are you happy that we lost the dance as well as volleyball, Tam?”

      “Are you sabotaging their team just to be a bitch?”

      “You can't even be a nerd, right!” one of them shouted as she dashed up the stairs on her way to room five eighty five.

      “Ignore them,” Hayden said, appearing on the stairs beside her.

      “What do you think I'm doing?” she snapped.

      “Are you?” Cindy said appearing on her other side.

      “Am I what?”

      “Trying to sabotage us, just because you lost your team?”

      “No! I told you all why I'm here! My mom's making me!”

      “Sounds like an excuse or an alibi!” Cindy said.

      “You can think whatever you want, four eyes, but I promise I wouldn't be part of your little Geekville team, if I had the choice!” Tamara said, taking the stairs two at a time trying to escape the screech of Cindy's voice.

      “Don't call my girlfriend, names!” Greg called after her.

      “Leave her alone, Greg!” Hayden said. Tamara could hear him pushing his way through the crowd trying to descend the stairs and leave for the day, but she kept pushing forward even though her final destination would offer her no sanctuary. Running stretched her muscles and allowed her a moment of solitude.

      “Tamara!” Hayden called after her.

      Tamara turned the corner and pushed open the door to room five eighty five and nearly tripped over a desk that lay on its side at her feet. She held tight to the door frame and caught her balance. Every desk in the classroom had been moved to awkward places and laid on their sides. Besides the entrance they blocked the bookcases, the teacher's desk, and a stack of them lay piled in front of the blackboard. One chair was still upright. It was on the table Sir Bedivere stood. The wooden knight statue had been placed atop of it, as if it were a throne. Did the knight now want to be king?

      “What the…?” Hayden asked, nearly colliding with Tamara.

      “That's what I was wondering,” Tamara said, righting the desk and scooting it out of the way.

      “What the hell did you do?” Cindy demanded, pulling away from Greg.

      “I didn't do anything! It was like this when I got here.”

      “Cindy, she wouldn't have had time to move all the desks,” Greg said, entering the room and beginning to right the rest of the desks. The rest of the club slowly filed into the room and began to help him.

      Tamara looked up at Hayden and began to speak, but he stopped her, “The statue couldn't have done this.”

      “But… Who else would have done it?”

      “I don't know,” he shook his head and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

      Tamara pulled away. He was cute, but given the circumstances she wasn't sure who to trust. Did Greg sneak into the room and rearrange it before the meeting? Would he do something like that just to prove his own theory? Perhaps, it was Hayden. He was angry at Greg and the others for blaming him for the team's defeat on Saturday. Tamara bit her lip. Neither of her suspects had committed the act in question anymore than they had put the hand prints on her mirror.

      “Let's just get started, guys,” Greg said once the room was more or less returned to its original condition.

      “Sorry, I’m late guys,” Mrs. Kelly said, upon entering the room.

      Tamara waited for Greg or one of the others to mention the prank, but no one spoke.

      “I'm not feeling well,” Tamara said, “I think I'm going to have to skip today's practice.”

      “Are you okay?” Mrs. Kelly asked.

      “Yeah, I just don't feel well, right now,” Tamara lied.

      “I'll excuse you from this meeting,” she said, “but if you find time this week try to practice on your own, okay?”

      “Okay,” Tamara nodded and left.

      Once out of Mrs. Kelly's sight she sprinted down the stairs and retrieved her cellphone from her back pocket. Her fingers moved quickly over the keypad, dialing Amber's number. Not that she believed her BFF had really cast a love spell last month, but Tamara had no one else to ask.

      “Hey, can you meet me?”

      “Aren't you at chess practice?”

      “Um… I was, but that's what I need to talk to you about.”

      “Did Hayden break your heart already?”

      “No. It's nothing like that. I just need to talk to you, like in person,” Tamara said, jogging out of the school, “Will you meet me or not,
BFF
?”

      “Of course, we'll meet you.”

      “No, 'we'. Just you. Okay?”

      “Is everything, okay, Tam?”

      “Yeah. I just need to talk to you.”

      “What if Josh and I pick you up and then he drops us off at my house? Will that work?”

      “Will your dad be home?”

      “Most likely not.”

      “Okay, then. See you soon, please.”

      “We'll be there ASAP, Tam.”

      “Thanks,” Tamara said and ended the call.

Chapter Six

      An hour later, Tamara sank onto the edge of Amber's bed and spilled her guts. She hadn't planned on telling Amber about her argument with Hayden after the tournament, but once she began Tamara found that she couldn't stop herself. After weeks of not talking privately with her BFF, the words poured out of her mouth before she could filter them. Her cheeks flushed as she spoke and her words became rapid, making it hard to know where one ended and the next one began.

      “I always knew Greg was weird,” Amber said, lying back against her pillows, “but I never thought he'd have a knight statue for an imaginary friend.”

      “What?”

      Amber broke into a fit of laughter and Tamara sighed, putting her head in her hands.

      “Amber, I really need some help here. This is your department.”

      “How so?” Amber asked, “How is someone pranking Geekville my department, Tam?”

      “I don't think it was a prank.”

      Amber frowned, “I hate to break it to you BFF, but a lot of people are mad at the chess club. You guys didn't win the tournament and now there's no Halloween dance.”

      “What about the hand prints and Hayden's shoes?”

      “He said his little brother tied his shoes together.”

      “We don't know that for sure though.”

      “No, but Tamara,” Amber said, sitting back up and taking her best friend's hand, “Don't you think it's more likely that Sir Bedivere striking back? He's a knight statue! He doesn't even have hands!”

      “That makes more sense, but come on, Amber, less than two months ago you were going on and on about how you cast a love spell.”

      “I did,” Amber nodded.

      “So....”

      Amber fell quiet for a moment and looked contemplative. Tamara avoided Amber's eyes and looked down at her lap. Now wasn't the time to interrupt her BFF. Tamara had seen that look before. If she interrupted Amber now, she might refuse to help her all together.

      “Okay, so I'm not sure what to think about it. It seems unlikely that it has anything to do with the statue, but unlikely doesn't mean impossible. Up until a few weeks ago I would have thought magic was impossible, it couldn't exist. It could have been anyone that moved the furniture, but if you really think it's something to do with the statue, go to the library. It's the hand prints that have me though. If it wasn't for them, I'd say we needed to find out who it was and get revenge. ” Amber finally said.

      “What good will it do to go the library?”

      “I'm not sure, but it's the best place to start.”

      “Can't we search it on the internet or something?”

      “This isn't a 'we',” Amber laughed, “Sorry, BFF, but I have things to do that don't include chasing around a immobile statue, bond and determined to make you miserable because you ate his apple.”

      “Okay, but why can't I search it?”

      “I never said you couldn't,” Amber said, “but you could have done that without dragging me away from my boyfriend, so, I figured you needed my advice. So that's it: 'Go to the library.”

      “And look for what, Amber?”

      “I don't know.”

      “Then why am I even talking to you?”

      “Because I'm the only one who won't call you crazy, BFF. Just go to the library. It's as good of a place to start as any, Tam. I was talking to some senior girls the other day and I'm not the first to find a book there that wasn't listed in the card catalog.”

      “What are you talking about?”

      “Just that other people have had similar experiences to me,” Amber said, “and that makes me think, that maybe, just maybe, our school library is some sort of special place.”

      Tamara laughed, “I doubt that BFF. It's more likely there's a gas leak or something at school making a lot of people hallucinate.”

      “Did you hallucinate the hand prints, Tam?”

      “No, but….”

      “No buts, Tam. Get going, Josh will be back to pick me up soon,” Amber laughed.

      “Do you think he'll drop me off at the library?”

      “Sure, why not,” Amber sighed.

      Tamara's phone vibrated in her back pocket and she sprang from the bed.

      “Damn it!” she cursed under her breath and answered it.

      “Hey, Mom.”

      “Where are you?”

      “Amber's house.”

      “Mrs. Kelly said you left because you didn't feel good.”

      “I didn't, but it was just girl issues.”

      “Oh, do you need anything?”

      “No, I'm fine now.”

      “Good, because I'm getting ready to go shopping,” Mrs. Page said, “Can Amber's dad give you a ride home?”

      “Amber and Josh will.”

      “Good, bye,” Mrs. Page said and ended the call.

      “She believed that?” Amber asked.

      “Of course, she did. She doesn't really care. As long as I'm not in trouble or costing her money. You know that, Amber.”

      “I guess so.”

      Outside a horn blew, cutting their conversation short.

      “That's Josh,” Amber said, picking up her purse, “Come on, let's go.”

      On the way to the library Amber explained the situation to Joshua.

      “So Tamara thinks Sir Bedivere is out to get her,” she giggled.”

      “I've heard that name before, but I think you're saying it wrong. I think it might be Sir
Bedwyr,”
Josh said.

      “I'm just saying it how Tam said it,” Amber said,