Enchanter (2 page)

“Well, I guess today is a good day to start moving on.”

Part of me needed to let go of the bad memories and create
new, much better ones. This being my twenty-first birthday after all, I decided
to give life a new chance.

“I’ll toast to that.” He grabbed his glass filled with
orange juice and lifted in the air. “To a new start.”

I raised mine and met his salute. “To a new start.”

We toasted and continued eating.

“You going to need a ride to campus today?”

Vanessa, one of my other best friends, usually picked me up
since I was not the proud owner of a car yet, but she had an early doctor
appointment she could not miss, so Matt would have to be my designated driver
for the day.

“Yes, please.”

He smiled. “Anything for you.”

“Thanks.”

“By the way, how’s Vanessa doing?”

“Good, she’s about six months along and very happy to know
she’s having a girl.” The excitement was clearly visible on my face. “We had a
lot of fun shopping for baby stuff. I mean, at first I only went with her
because she begged me to, but I ended up getting into it.”

“I’m glad you took time off from school and work to do
something fun. You never go out.”

 “You sound more like a parent than my friend,” I protested,
frowning as I stared at him.

“Well, somebody has to take care of you.”

I laughed at the tone he used. “Calm down there,
Mom
.
I promise to make time for fun if you stop overprotecting me.”

“Deal.” He stood and brought his plate into the kitchen. I
followed. “By the way, I’m sorry about insisting you tell me—”

“Don’t worry about it.” I shrugged. “It actually feels good
to have spoken to someone about it.”

Matt placed the dishes in the sink and turned to embrace me.

“Since it happened, I never mentioned it to anyone. Not even
Vanessa or Sonya.”

“I’m glad you confided in me.”

“I confide a lot of things to you.” Things I would not say
to others.

“Now, let’s get going before we’re late.” He planted a kiss
on my forehead before releasing me.

After taking care of the dishes, we hurried to start what
was supposed to be another monotonous day. Matt worked during the day and
attended college during the night, and my agenda was the opposite of his, but
we always found time to hang out together. Unfortunately, our usual hangout
place was our living room, since we were generally too tired to go anywhere
else.

As soon as he parked just a few feet in front of the main
gates, I shifted in my seat so that I could plant a kiss on his cheek.

“See you tonight?” he asked as he stopped the car.

“Yes, I’ll bring the movies.”

“I’ll make the popcorn.”

I smiled. “Thanks for the birthday breakfast feast.”

“It was hardly a feast.” He chuckled.

“Considering the fact that I hardly ever have time to sit
down and actually enjoy a meal, I’ll say it was a feast.”

“Have a good day.”

I started to open the door, but his hand over mine stopped
me. “And remember what I told you, don’t make this day about something sad.”

“I’ll try.”

He smiled, took my hand to his lips and planted a quick peck
on it before releasing me.

“See you later.”

He nodded before unlocking the door for me. I stepped out,
already feeling refreshed and somewhat at ease for having finally confessed my
deep, dark secret to my best friend.

Moments later, Matt waved as he drove off and I started for
my first class of the day.

Direct City Community College was not large, since the town itself
was small, but the building happened to be as packed as any large university in
any major city. The halls were as crowded as a nightclub during its peak hours,
and I practically had to fight my way to the first classroom as I marched down
the hallway. Arriving to class on time was important to me. However, it seemed
as if the day had other plans for me that did not include cutting me some slack.

Annoyed by the onslaught of bodies pushing against me, I
started to elbow people in order to get them to move out of my way. As I
walked, I took out my phone to make note of the time and kept it in my hand before
continuing on. What should have been a sixty-second march down the hallway
seemed to take forever, and I had to persistently shove girls, boys, and even a
teacher out of my way.

After a few more steps, the door I was so desperately
seeking came into view and I hurried to it before the two minutes I had left
ran out.

Unfortunately for me, one big brute bumped into me just as I
was about to reach the classroom doorway. I ended up stumbling and dropping my
phone, which slid over the floor as someone else kicked it. Angry to the point
of wanting to wring someone’s neck, I crouched and dashed for my cell before
someone else could step on it. Despite the many feet scurrying in front of me,
I had a good view of my phone, so I tried not to lose sight of it while I kept
reaching for it.

Please God, let me reach it before someone destroys it
and I end up having to work extra hours to be able to afford another one like
it.

A yelp of despair escaped my lips when a pair of high heels
tripped and nearly impaled my delicate and most cherished device. To my utter
relief, a hand emerged from the sea of young adults crowding the hallway and grabbed
my cell before that could happen.

Grateful for the unexpected interference, I glanced up to
find a pair of pale blue eyes staring down at me with little emotion behind
them. Startled by the intensity of those orbs and surprised to see who they
belonged to, I picked myself off the ground and waited in silence for him to
say something.

The six-foot-two male figure standing in front of me said
absolutely nothing.

“Thank you, Brandon.” Without a reply, he handed me my phone
back and stalked off as if I had not spoken at all. “Well, you’re welcome, Leah,”
I murmured, now beyond irritated by his odd behavior.

“I didn’t know speaking to yourself was one of your many
perks.”

I turned at the sound of Sonya Miller’s voice.

“I was just… oh, never mind.”

“Having a bad day?” she asked as she joined me on my short
commute to Behavioral Health class.

“You can say that.”

“Well, I’m sorry to say that it’s about to get worse.”

“What do you mean?” I did not like that hint of guilt in her
voice.

“Well, since you bailed out on class yesterday you don’t
know that Mr. Lynne gave us an assignment which he paired us up for.”

“A group assignment?”

“No. A pair – as in, two people.”

“What’s so bad about that?”

“For me it’s not a problem at all, since I was paired with Harry
Leonard, but you are not as lucky.”

We walked into class together and headed for our appointed
seats.

“Get to the point, Sonya.”

“The girls got to choose who we wanted to be paired up with
and since you weren’t here… you got last choice.”

“Which is?”

She glanced behind me and I automatically knew who she was
referring to.

“The one guy no one wanted,” she whispered and I could not help
but follow the direction of her eyes. There, sitting not five feet from us was
the rescuer of cellphones in distress, Brandon Morris.

“You’re kidding me,” I whispered back, unable to take my
eyes off of him.

“Sorry, but no. You know no one wants to pair up with that
weirdo.”

At the word weirdo, he lifted his head and glared at us. We
immediately turned our heads to the front of the class.

“Why not just scream it at his face!” I snapped.

“Gee, I didn’t know he had supersonic hearing.” She winced. “Besides,
he’s wearing his headphones. I thought he couldn’t hear me.”

“So, it’s official then. I’m stuck with him.”

“I’m afraid so, my friend.”

“Great.”

“Mr. Lynne told us to inform you about it.” She winked and I
nearly decked her.

“Yet here I am wondering why you didn’t call me to let me
know before.” The smile on her face made want to hurt her. “I’m glad you’re
amused.”

“I’m not amused. In fact, I feel for you.”

Sure, she did.

“Why does Mr. Lynne want us to work in groups, anyway?”

“Don’t know, and as long as I get to work alongside Harry
Leonard, I don’t give a damn.”

She might not give a damn, but I was furious. “This is the
punishment I get for skipping school to go baby shopping with Vanessa.”

Sonya laughed. “I wish I could help you, but you’re on your
own here.”

Just my luck, I miss one day of classes throughout the
whole semester and the world turns against me.
It was no wonder I wanted to
march toward the professor and have a few choice words with him.

“Isn’t there a way around this?”

“You can ask the professor if he’ll consider letting you
finish this assignment on your own.”

I opened my mouth to ask if that was possible but her next
words beat me to the punch, “But considering that you have to interview another
person and then write an essay about the information they give you, I don’t see
that happening.”

“Damn it.”

“The assignment is worth a quarter of your grade and it has
to be turned in two weeks before the end of the semester.”

“Fantastic.” I could not help but grit my teeth.

Interview Brandon Morris and then write an essay about him?
I did not see that happening, especially considering the fact that the guy was
completely allergic to people.

I chanced a glance back and noticed that Brandon was
following his usual routine of ignoring the world around him and behaving as if
it did not exist. With his head down, and the hood of his black sweatshirt over
his head, all I could see was his profile. Underneath that one garment however was
hair as black as midnight and possibly as long as mine.

It’s summer, why does he wear a sweatshirt?

Brandon was no stranger to me at all. In fact, I had known
him since we were both in elementary school. For many years, we went to the
same schools and even shared the same classrooms. But he was always a very
distant and completely isolated child. He never had any friends, always wore
black clothing that appeared to be two sizes too big, never spoke unless spoken
to, and hardly ever smiled. To be honest, I could not even recall a time when I
actually saw him smile.

As we grew into our middle school years he was often picked
on by the other boys. The girls did, too, some of whom I considered to be my
friends. The popular crowd, as people usually label groups such as my friends
and me, called Brandon weird, strange, a freak. The boys would make fun of how
he dressed, spoke, and even how he walked. They played pranks on him often,
which resulted in his humiliation and my friends laughing in amusement. Most of
the pranks they played on him were cruel; even I had to admit to that.

When Brandon took a special interest in heavy metal music
and gothic-like clothing, the intensity of the bullying grew. Even though the
bullies were my friends, I never participated in any of the pranks they pulled
on Brandon, mainly because I knew it was wrong. However, I never did anything
to stop it either.

Then came the day when Brandon started the first year of
high school after being away for the summer, and we all immediately noticed
that he was twice as tall as before and possibly twice as wide too. His
tormentors, aka my friends, were too afraid to mess with him after seeing such
a change. Something, in addition to his huge girth, unnerved them enough that
they never bothered him again.

I personally think that perhaps his biggest change was a
boost of confidence which was not there before. Maybe he realized that he was
big or strong enough to fight back.

Perhaps it was something more complex, but the reality of it
was that something about Brandon changed and it was motive enough for his daily
tormentors to back off. Unfortunately, by this time Brandon had his grim
personality pinned down, and I can’t say that I blame him. After so many years
of being labeled as the weird kid who had no friends and often spoke to
himself, he was pretty much an outsider.

At the age of twenty-two, he was still alone most of the
time, he still wore black clothing, although they were no longer as lose-fitting
as before, wore dark eyeliner around his pale blue eyes that made them appear darker
than what they really were, and when he happened to glance your way, for that
second or two he stared at you, it felt as if you were going to burn to a crisp
right on the spot.

And I have to complete an assignment with him that will
be worth a quarter of my grade for the semester? Might as well shoot myself
right now because there is no way this guy is ever going to cooperate with me
for this.

“Good luck,” Sonya whispered near my left ear.

“I’m going to need it,” I whispered back, my eyes still
focused on Brandon’s partially hidden face.

“Just don’t forget to ask the professor for a copy of the
assignment’s guidelines.”

“I won’t.” It was on that moment that Brandon lifted his
head and glanced my way. For a second or two he appeared startled to catch me
ogling him but then he shifted his unguarded stare into a full blown glare,
which nearly caused me to flinch. Unable to pretend as if I had not been gaping
at him, I returned his glare with one of my own. I swear his eyes, as
incredibly beautiful as they were, seemed to tear through my skin and flesh, as
if they were searching for my very soul.

Whoa! Incredibly beautiful eyes? Did that thought really
cross my mind just now? I must be really affected by the conversation I had
with Matt before class.

Unnerved, I turned my head away and ignored the goosebumps
breaking over the surface of my skin.