Enchantment (6 page)

So — she used an itty-bitty little seeking spell to find her classroom. The spell was so weak all traces of it would be gone before lunch.
 

Channie tried smiling at a couple of girls on her way to class, but they were too busy talking to each other to notice her. She had a little better luck with the boys, but when they did notice her, it activated Chastity’s energy. She didn’t want to curse anyone so she avoided eye-contact and hugged the wall on her way to class.
 

The teacher was already seated behind her desk when Channie walked in. The woman looked to be about a hundred years old. Channie handed the enrollment packet to her, tossed the pass into the trash and took a seat near the back of the room just as the second bell rang. The teacher pursed her lips, pushed her half-moon granny glasses higher up the bridge of her nose and opened the attendance book.
 

Oh lordy, here it comes. Channie took a deep breath and stared at an ink stain on top of her desk, tracing it with a fingertip.
 

“Abrim, Joshua?” The teacher spit out each syllable as if the boy’s name left a bitter taste in her mouth.
 

“Yo.”
 

Channie glanced over her left shoulder and nearly fell out of her chair. Her eyes felt as if they were going to pop out of her head. Joshua Abrim was none other than the boy she’d kissed last night in the park.
 

He looked up and caught Channie staring at him. She whipped her head around so fast it shot a needle of pain down the side of her neck.
 

She didn’t need magic to know that Joshua was still staring at her. She read his energy field to find out how angry he was, but all she found was lust, anxiety and guilt. She was not surprised by the lust, he was a boy after all. She’d cursed him when they kissed so she understood his anxiety. But why on earth was he so full of guilt and remorse?

The teacher cleared her throat and said, “I expect my students to respond to roll call with ‘present,’ but if any of you find the pronunciation of more than one syllable at a time beyond your capabilities, you may simply say, ‘here.’ This is an advanced placement English Literature course. Surely, you have a basic grasp of the language or you wouldn’t be in my classroom.”

Channie was willing to bet her miserable life that this dried up old prune would insist on calling her by the name printed on her records every day for the rest of the year.

Sure enough. The teacher looked right at her. The wrinkled corners of her mouth twitched as she stabbed Channie’s enrollment papers with the tip of her fountain pen. She sniffed twice, wrinkling her nose like a nervous rabbit. “Belks, Chastity?”

The old biddy completely ignored the snorts, giggles and fake coughs that filled the room. She didn’t even flinch when some jackass shouted, “No way!”
 

Channie gritted her teeth. “Please, ma’am, just call me Channie.”

“I’m sorry, Chastity, but I do not allow slang of any type in my classroom and that includes nicknames.”

Humiliation and anger raised Chastity’s energy to dangerous levels. Channie focused all her attention on controlling her powers. If she let anything slip, there was no telling what might happen to the old crone. But once she calmed down to a safe level, she zinged her tormentor with a tiny little curse. She didn’t give Old Prune Face hemorrhoids. She just inflamed the ones she already had.
 

~***~

Channie’s day went downhill from there. She spent the entire first period trying to think of something she could say to Joshua, but all she came up with was…
Sorry kissing me was such a horrible experience, but I needed a guinea pig to test out my new power-name.
 

She’d just decided to avoid him altogether when she found her locker.
 

Were the fates aligned against her? Had someone cursed her?
 
What were the odds that Joshua Abrim's locker would be right next to hers? At least he hadn’t spotted her yet.

Channie took two steps back, then spun around and ducked into the girls’ bathroom. She fled into one of the stalls when she heard someone come in. They were talking about her. She flinched when the door swung open and hit the wall with a bang.
 

“She has the most hickified, red-necked, southern accent I’ve ever heard.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Now stop interrupting.”

“Sorry.”

“Her name …” Channie squeezed her eyes shut. “…is Chastity!”

“No way!”

“Yes, way. But you are not going to believe this … Her last name is
Belks!”
 

Channie waited for the girl to burst into laughter, but there was only silence.

“I don’t get it.”

“Ug! You are so dense. Chastity
Belks
… ?” More silence. “Come on! You have to know what a chastity belt is!”

“Sorry, Kassie, I never heard of it.”

“You are so naive! A chastity belt is an old-fashioned device men used to put on their wives to be sure they didn’t cheat on them when they went off to war.”

“Well, why didn’t the women just take them off after the men left?”

“Because they
couldn’t
. The belts were made out of iron and had locks on them.”

“That’s horrible!”

“Ya think?”

“And this new girl? You’re not just making this up? Her name, really-truly, is Chastity Belks?”

“Yeah, but she goes by Channie. She even asked Old Lady Windsor to call her that. I wish you could have heard her. She sounded like Oliver Twist, only instead of ‘Please sir, may I have some more?’ She said, ‘Please ma’am, just call me Channie.’ And instead of a cute English accent, she sounded like an inbred hillbilly.”

Chastity’s magic clawed at Channie’s stomach, desperately wanting to curse both girls. She wanted to crawl out a window and run all the way home to Arkansas, or at least to her new house by the park, but there were no windows and the girls weren’t done talking about her.

“So, did Old Lady Windsor agree to use her nick-name?”
 

“Ha! You know better than that. I thought Chastity was going to break down and cry when she refused.”

“I would have!”

Kassie said, “Of course you would have. You’re such a baby. But Chastity seems pretty tough. She’s probably used to people making fun of her by now.”

“Who in their right mind would name their own kid something like that?”
 

“Inbred hillbillies.”
 

The girls left, but Channie could still hear their laughter echoing through the halls, even after the door swung shut behind them.

She spent all of second period locked inside the tiny stall; crying silently and wishing with all her heart she was back home with her friends and family where everybody talked the same way she did and nobody made fun of her or talked about her behind her back.
 

The only half-way nice thing Kassie had said about Channie was a lie. She wasn’t tough, not at all, but if she wanted to get through the rest of the day, much less the rest of the year — she’d better change. Enchantment wasn’t tough, but Chastity sure as hell would be.

She blotted her tears with toilet paper then splashed cold water on her face until all traces of her emotional breakdown were gone. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, dropped the pretentious speech patterns drilled into her at Wisdom Academy and said, “Screw ‘em. They ain’t nothing but ignorant Empties anyways,” then stomped out of the bathroom with her spine straight, shoulders back and her head held high.
 

Her newfound confidence lasted all of five seconds in the crowded hall. Whispered comments and low murmuring voices followed her everywhere.
 

“Hey. There’s that new girl, Chastity Belt.”

“Is that her real name?”

“It sounds like a name for a porn star, huh?”

“I wonder if she puts out?”

“With a name like that? She has to.”

Power buzzed and crackled under Channie’s skin. It was the same sensation she’d felt last night right before the curse struck Joshua — minus the pleasure of kissing. She hadn’t consciously called any power to the surface then and she sure as heck hadn’t called any up now. But there it was, a breath away from exploding and cursing everyone in sight. Trying to control Chastity’s magic was a lot like trying to rein in wild horses. The more she tried to restrain it, the harder it became.
 

When the final bell rang and signaled the end of classes, Channie fled the building and jerked her bicycle out of the rack. She dug the seat out of her backpack and jammed it on the post. It was a little crooked, but she’d work on it when she got home. Right now, all she wanted was to get as far away from Monarch High as fast as possible.

“Hey, Channie, wait up a minute.”

She instinctively bristled at the sound of a male voice behind her, but he’d called her Channie — not Chastity. So she fought the urge to curse him and turned around.
 

Joshua Abrim extended his hand and offered her a piece of paper folded into a triangle. Channie pinched a corner between her finger and thumb, carefully avoiding any skin-to-skin contact since Chastity’s energy was so volatile. She looked into his eyes to gauge his reaction to her strange behavior then couldn’t look away. She was mesmerized. From a distance, his eyes looked black. They weren’t. They were the deepest shade of blue Channie had ever seen.
 

He finally blinked and released her from his hypnotic gaze. Channie withdrew her hand and focused on the note he’d given her to keep from staring into his eyes again. She slid a finger under one flap, but before she could unfold it, Joshua said, “Don’t read it now,” and tried to snatch it out of her hands.
 

Channie didn’t dare let him touch her. She thrust her hands, and the note, behind her back.

Joshua blinked and stepped back, lowering his hand.

Channie didn’t need to read his energy field to sense his anxiety. His whole body was shaking. Beads of sweat formed on his upper lip and across his brow. He cleared his throat then said, “Call me … if you need any help with homework or anything … unless you still hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, Joshua. Why would you say that?”

Joshua must have been holding his breath. His chest deflated as he exhaled, curling his shoulders forward. He took another breath and said, “So … um … my friends call me Josh.”

“Okay … Josh.”
 

They stood there and grinned at each other for a few seconds, until Channie giggled.
 

Josh laughed, held his thumb to his ear and his pinkie finger below his chin and said, “call me,” as he backed away from her. He tripped over the bike rack and swore then apologized for swearing. He yanked the child-sized, junk-yard bike out of the rack and raced away. He was out of sight before Channie had even managed to buckle her helmet. She waited until most of the other kids were gone, then unfolded and read his note …

Hey Channie,

I was hoping I’d see you at school today so I could apologize, but when I saw you in class, I chickened out. I know it’s real middle-school to communicate by note, but since I don’t know your number, it’s all I could come up with.
 

Okay, so first things first. I’m so so so so sorry for coming on to you last night. I don’t know what came over me. I’m not usually so pushy with girls. In fact, I’m never pushy with girls, you can ask anyone, they’ll all tell you I’m a total tard around girls (which is why I’m writing this stupid note instead of talking to you face to face.)

For some odd reason, I thought you wanted me to kiss you last night. I was obviously wrong, but next time a guy misreads your signals, consider telling him instead of using a taser.
 

Anyway, if you want to call me for whatever reason … To yell at me and tell me what a jerk I am, or for help with Eng. Lit. My number is 303-555-4680. Or you can email me [email protected]

Josh

Channie felt guilty for distressing the poor boy, but she couldn’t exactly tell him it was all her fault. All she could do was assure him that she wasn’t upset about the kiss. She’d have to be careful though, she didn’t want to give him the impression that she was the kind of girl that enjoyed kissing strangers. She didn’t know what a taser was, but since it provided Josh with a logical explanation for getting cursed, she wasn’t about to ask him. She refolded the note, shoved it in her pocket and headed for home.

~***~

Channie’s second day at Monarch was worse than her first. Every single kid seemed to know her full name and enjoyed using it. The only one that was nice to her was Joshua Abrim and he was so shy, all he did was grin and wave at her from a distance — and stare at her during English Lit. when he thought she wasn’t looking. In the interest of keeping her life as uncomplicated as possible, Channie decided to avoid him. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop thinking about him … or that kiss.

By Friday, the note Josh had given her was as soft and wrinkled as crushed velvet. Channie read it at least a dozen times a day even though she’d memorized every word of it. She wanted to call him, but even if they’d had a telephone, and even if she pretended it was only to ask for help with homework, Daddy would never allow it. What was the big deal? It wasn’t like she was going to marry him.

Halfway through Biology, Channie decided to quit letting Momma and Daddy control every aspect of her life. The Chastity curse was bad enough, she’d be damned if she’d let them choose her friends too.
 
She ran to the cafeteria as soon as the bell rang, but Josh wasn’t there. She looked outside, but gave up after fifteen minutes of searching. Oh well, there was always tomorrow.
 

Channie climbed to the top row of the bleachers by the baseball field and sat down to enjoy her lunch. The sun felt wonderful, but she didn’t want
 
more freckles so she cast a protective spell on her bare skin before pulling her lunch sack out of her backpack.