Reckless Magic (5 page)

“
No,” Kiran sounded almost
as frustrated as I felt. The strangest thing was that they were
actually maintaining a straight face as though they really were
serious.

“
I’m neither,” I almost
laughed as I said it. “I am actually an elf, a Christmas elf. Santa
gave me some time off so that I could go to school. He’s such a
nice old man,” I rolled my eyes, not just at them, but at myself, I
couldn’t believe I was playing their games.

They both laughed a little nervously
and looked at each other. Kiran adjusted his sitting position and
our legs bumped each other. I couldn’t tell if he did it on purpose
or not, but as soon as there was contact between us I began to feel
the prickles and heat like before. It wasn’t as intense and my
pride told me I could handle it. There was no reason to panic and
flee from the room; at least not yet.

“
Where are the papers we are
supposed to grade?” I asked Talbott, seeing a large stack of loose
leaf notebook paper in his hand. “Can I have some, please?” I
choked out manners, trying to be the better person, although they
were making it extremely difficult.

“
Talbott will do it,” Kiran
answered quickly, without even looking at his friend.

“
I would rather grade my
share, thank you,” I suddenly felt sorry for Talbott, to have a
friend like Kiran, but I shook my head trying to rid myself of the
feeling. I needed to remember that he had been just as bad as
Kiran. Ok, well maybe not just as bad, but the mere fact that he
indulged Kiran put him in the same category.

“
Really, Talbott will do
them. He’s actually probably already finished,” Kiran insisted. I
looked to Talbott but he just smiled. I realized that Talbott was
going along with Kiran’s orders happily and really not going to
hand over any papers.

“
Ugh. Fine,” I
resigned.

“
Your last name is
Matthews?” Talbott asked out of the blue.

“
Yes,” I was getting tired
of this.

“
Nothing?” Kiran asked
cryptically to Talbott.

“
Nothing,” Talbott responded
just as cryptically.

“
Do you have any questions
for me?” I assumed Kiran was talking to Talbott, because I could
not think of any nice question that I would have wanted to ask him.
Any question I would have asked would surely get me into trouble.
“Eden.” He nudged my foot with his and there was instant
electricity shooting from my toes up through my leg. “Eden, do you
want to ask me anything?” he gave me another one of his impish
grins and looked at me with such intensity that I found myself
squirming.

“
What? No,” I said
surprised. “I don’t have any questions for you,” I let a little
venom slip into my tone, and rolled my eyes again. “Except maybe,
why you felt it necessary to act like such an ass before?” I said
it before I could stop myself…. I knew whatever I asked would not
be kind.

Kiran let out a small laugh, but
Talbott half stood up next to him. His body had become tense and he
was in a fighting position. I just stared at him completely
confused. I cringed a little and pulled my knees in tighter. The
last thing I was going to do was fight Talbott…. No sorry, the last
thing I was going to do was apologize to Kiran, maybe it would come
to fighting after all. Although I thought it was very strange that
Kiran’s friend would be so defensive over such a small thing. Maybe
they were gay.

“
It’s alright Talbott, sit
down,” Kiran was still amused, and I guessed it was at my
expense.

“
She can’t talk to you like
that,” Talbott growled. I was amazed at his devotion to Kiran. I
found their relationship strange, and felt more uncomfortable than
ever. Was he really going to fight me for calling his friend an
ass? Truthfully, I could have said a lot worse.

I sat their silently, sizing them up.
If they were gay, then the girls in this class were going to have
an unhappy surprise, not to mention poor Mrs. Woodsen. Other than
Talbott’s overprotective aggressiveness and his obvious devotion to
Kiran, they did not seem like lovers. Maybe Kiran was straight and
only Talbott was in love with him.

Kiran suddenly let out a roaring
laugh, nearly rolling over in hysteria. I continued to stare at
them, more confused than ever. Talbott sat back down, but his face
was suddenly bright red. I realized he was having a hard time
looking me in the eye.

“
If she is who she says she
is, of course she can. Now calm down, you’re not going to fight a
human girl just for speaking her mind. I was rude, and for that I
apologize,” his voice turned to liquid and he reached out to touch
my hand, resting on top of my knees.

I pulled it away quickly. Both boys
turned to look at each other and when Kiran returned his gaze to
mine, I could see that his smile was now carefully controlled. He
was frustrated with me. A wave of regret washed over me, and a
small tingling of fear ran down my back. I quickly shook it off, it
made no sense to actually be scared of these bullies; surely they
were just playing another game.

“
Don’t be silly Eden, let’s
put this all behind us and become great friends,” His voice
retained a smooth fluidity, frustrated with me or not.

“
You’re right. It is silly,”
I thought of a hundred snotty things to say, but in the end I lost
my nerve. “I accept your apology. Thank you.”

I could see that he wanted to say
more, but the bell rang, so I stood up quickly and started to
gather my things to leave. Before I could, he reached out his hand
to grab my arm gently. A sudden pulsating electricity overwhelmed
me; I willed myself to continue to stand, doing my best not to show
any signs of distress.

“
As long as you are who you
say you are Eden, I know we can be best friends,” he tightened his
grip on my arm as if to make a point; and as he did the electricity
became stronger. My ears started to ring and my vision blurred, but
somehow I managed to respond.

“
Let’s just try regular
friends first,” my voice was breathy and choked. He took his hand
off of me and I impulsively gasped for breath, steadying myself
with a hand on the partition.

“
Probably a good idea,” he
smiled widely and walked passed me, out of the oriental dividers.
Talbott followed behind him, carrying the large stack of papers
Mrs. Woodsen had asked us to grade.

I panicked slightly, not wanting her
first impression of me to be a disappointment. I prepared a small
apology in my head and followed the boys, hoping she’d believe my
explanation: they wouldn’t let me grade the papers, but I tried, I
promise! It was already sounding weak and I hadn’t even said it out
loud yet. But as I got closer I could see Talbott handing over the
papers already.

“
Thank you Mr. Kendrick, I
hope that I didn’t ask too much of you,” Mrs. Woodsen sounded
slightly nervous as she addressed Kiran, although Talbott was the
one who handed her the papers.

“
Oh, no. Talbott was able to
handle them just fine. I have to expect this sort of thing now that
I am Stateside, I suppose. I will grow used to it. This way of life
is just very unfamiliar to me,” Kiran smiled generously at Mrs.
Woodsen and then turned on his heel to leave.

I was shocked at his arrogance. His
behavior made my stomach turn and I forgot all about his good
looks. He was a completely despicable person. Who did he think he
was talking to a teacher like that? Or talking about us….Americans?
The Midwest might have been different than jolly old England, but
it was just fine for the rest of us, thank you very much. Clearly
he suffered from some sort of deranged classism. My only hope in
surviving the day was to somehow manage to avoid him
completely.

I searched out Lilly and saw her
waiting for me by the door. I rushed over to her, thankful again to
be in her calming presence. Her cheeks were flushed and she was
scrunching her hair nervously with one hand.

“
How was your One Act
practice?” I asked, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. I just
wanted to forget all about what my own hour of hell was
like.

“
Oh fine. I mean…. I am not
very good at this kind of thing, so I always get so nervous, even
in practice. I know I’ll just die when we get to the real
competition,” she laughed nervously, but I could tell that she was
seriously unnerved.

“
I’m sure you’re great.” I
said, trying to encourage her. I actually had no idea what she was
like but any compliment feels good. I hoped that she was great, she
deserved to be great.

“
Thank you,” she smiled,
slightly more confident. “What was your hour like?”

“
Ugh. Terrible. I cannot
stand those boys!” I vented, a little more frustrated and a little
louder than I would have liked. Her expression became instantly
strained and her eyes dropped to the floor.

“
Now, now Eden, you promised
we would be friends,” Kiran chided me softly. He walked closer to
stand next to us with Talbott following loyally behind. Maybe
Talbott was a dog in his former life.

I immediately turned and walked out of
the classroom. I had no idea where I was supposed to go next. But
that didn’t stop me from a quick escape. Thankfully, Lilly followed
quickly behind me, although I could tell she was embarrassed of my
behavior.

“
Do you know what your next
class is?” Lilly asked, a little out of breath from the quickness
of my step. I could hear the boys following closely, so I picked up
the pace even faster.

“
I think French. Is that in
this building too?” I needed a direction; I needed to get away from
the golden boy and his golden retriever.

“
No, it’s not, it’s in the
History and Language building across campus. But I can take you,
since I have Latin this hour,” I was so grateful for Lilly Mason at
that moment I could have just hugged her. I slowed down to a normal
walking pace when we reached the marble staircase.

As we descended the steps Kiran and
Talbott took places on either side of us. I could hear Talbott
introduce himself to Lilly and her respond back in a terribly shy
and shaky voice. I inwardly cringed, as I could imagine all of the
horribly rude things Talbott would say to her. But to my surprise,
he remained perfectly polite and sounded nearly as nervous as she
did. Their voices dropped in volume and I tilted my head to listen
in on their conversation.

“
Did you say you had French
next?” Kiran’s languid accent pulled me out of my eavesdropping and
I found myself relaxing a little.

“
Um, yes. Why? Don’t tell me
you have that next as well?” Was this school playing some kind of
sick joke on me?

“
Yes, I do actually. It
looks as if we are destined to be together,” his grin was back and
I hoped that he was only kidding. I replied with a forced smile of
my own.

“
Does everyone in our class
have French?” I realized that he was new too, but for some reason
everyone seemed to already know him.

“
No, I don’t think so. I
think that French is a last resort for us latecomers. The other
language classes must have been filled,” his accent was alluring to
listen to, and I had to forcibly remind myself what kind of person
he really was.

We exited the building and found
ourselves in the warm sunshine. I hadn’t realized how damp and
chilly the building was, until I could feel the sun on my skin. I
closed my eyes and breathed in the fresh air. I pulled my thick
hair off of my neck and let the gentle, but humid wind blow through
it.

I closed my eyes and hiding them from
brilliant light of the morning sun. Lilly had led us out of the
building through what appeared to be a back entrance. We were
standing in a courtyard surrounded by identical brick buildings on
every side. The campus was absolutely beautiful, but felt more
worthy of a university atmosphere than a horrible preparatory
school.

“
There you two are! I have
been looking all over for you,” a girl’s smooth and unfamiliar
voice forced me to open my eyes and meet yet another student of
Kingsley.

“
Hello Seraphina.” Kiran’s
voice was all honey again as he addressed the girl approaching us.
She was tall, even taller than me; probably 5’10. Her long, thick,
blonde hair bounced gently as she walked and her clear, unblemished
skin almost glistened in the sun light. Her cherry red lips were
pursed and cobalt blue eyes squinted, making a face that was less
than happy. If it wasn’t for the expression on her face, she could
have been a model walking down the runway.

“
Hello,” she said, careful
to pronounce each syllable. “What is taking you so long?” she gave
a disinterested look in my direction, and without waiting for an
answer from Kiran looked at me and declared, “You’re the girl who
fainted.”

“
Good memory,” I responded
sarcastically. I started to walk away, dragging Lilly with me when
Kiran interrupted our getaway.

“
These lovely girls were
just showing us to our next class,” we stopped moving and turned to
look at him. I noticed Lilly’s beestung lips formed in the exact
“Oh” formation mine were.

“
How nice of them,”
Seraphina slid her stick thin arm through Kiran’s, suggesting some
kind of claim she had on him. For the first time I noticed how
similar they looked; they could have almost been twins. And despite
my disgust for both Kiran and now Seraphina, I couldn’t ignore the
tightening in my stomach that felt something like
jealousy.