Strange Magic (4 page)

          I stared at myself in the mirror on Monday with a fierce determination to move on with my life.  I had felt like a fool for thinking that Duncan was going to kiss me.  My dream had brought on an infatuation with him, but it was over now.

          I squared my shoulders and went downstairs for breakfast.  Dad’s mouth dropped open.  He stared at me as if he had never seen me before.

          “Oh,” Mom gushed.  “You look adorable in that color.”

          Dad found his voice.  “That’s not the word I was going for.  Are you sure that’s appropriate for school?”

          “It’s fine,” Mom said.  “She looks lovely and feminine.”

          Caitlin had declared this look to be sexy sweet.  She had been thrilled when I had asked her to go shopping with me and change my image.  I was wearing a pink mini dress with a cinched waist and flared skirt.

          Dad continued to protest.  “I thought that you just bought school clothes.  How many outfits do you need?”

          “Don’t worry, Dad.  I paid for it with my babysitting money.”

          “Calm down, Jim,” Mom said.  “Suzy is smart and responsible.  What are you worried about?  Don’t you remember that I wore miniskirts when you met me?”

          Dad looked like he was going to say something but changed his mind.  With Mom on board, he realized that arguing further was futile.  I told myself that I wasn’t nervous.  I just wasn’t hungry.  I applied lip gloss and took one final look in the mirror before Caitlin arrived.

          “Wait until Duncan sees you.”  Caitlin admired her handiwork.  “You’re going to give Mandy a run for her money.”

          “This is not about Duncan.  I’m doing this for myself.”

          “You go girl,” Caitlin said.

          “Don’t mock me,” I snapped at her.

          “What?  I believe in girl power.  You need to relax.  There’s no reason to be nervous.  You look great.”

          All too soon, we had arrived at school.  As we walked to our lockers, I noticed that more guys than usual said hi to me.  Even Brad.  I couldn’t remember him ever speaking to me before.

          “Smile,” Caitlin said.  “The clothes are only one part of changing your image.  You can’t be looking at the floor all the time.”

          I opened my mouth to argue then closed it.  I had asked for her help, and I needed to listen to her advice.  It worked, too.  I found that when I smiled at people, they usually smiled back.  I began to feel more confident.

          My nervousness only returned when I was walking toward English.  I braced myself for seeing Duncan.  Stop it, I told myself.  He’s just another guy.  Who cares what he thinks?  I pointedly ignored him as I took my seat.  I could feel his eyes lingering on me, and I was angry at myself for being so aware of him.

          “I must say, Susannah.  You look like sugar and spice and everything nice.  What’s the occasion?  Is it your birthday?  No, that’s September twenty-first.”

          “Stop reading my mind,” I told him.  “And stop talking to me in my thoughts.  How do we put up those mental barriers that you were talking about?”

          Duncan continued our silent conversation after class began.  “Why do you continue to pretend to be ignorant of your powers?  I’ve made it clear that I’m onto you.”

          “And I’ve made it clear that this is all new to me.  Furthermore, if you have something to say then speak out loud like a normal person from now on.  Or better yet, don’t speak to me at all.  I’m going back to my regular life, and you’re not part of it.”

          “I see,” Duncan said.  “Throwing yourself at me didn’t work, so now you’re playing hard to get.”

          “Throwing myself!” I fumed.  “You’re unbelievable.  I’m not even interested in you.”

          “Really?  You gave me a different impression on Saturday.”

          “That was just a stupid dream.  It doesn’t mean anything.  I would appreciate it if you would just forget about the whole thing.”  I wished that I could keep from blushing.

          “Then you shouldn’t have put that image in my mind.”

          “An image,” I said, momentarily forgetting that I was annoyed with him.  “You mean that you could actually see it instead of just hearing my thoughts?  How does that work?”

          Duncan studied me.  “Do you really want to play this game with me?  I thought that you wanted to put an end to this.”

          “Yes, I do.  Let’s just pay attention to the teacher.”

          He complied, and this time I could feel a break in our connection.  I somehow knew that he was no longer listening to my thoughts.  Hopefully, this had been the last time.  Communicating that way was much too intimate.

          By the end of the day, I felt good about the progress I had made with my more outgoing image.  I put my books away in my locker.  Out of nowhere, an image came into my mind.  Duncan was there leaning over me with my back pressed up against my locker.  His hand came up to caress my cheek.  Then his lips descended upon mine in a kiss that took my breath away.

          I stood there with my hand still on my locker the way it had been when I closed the door.  My breathing was shallow.  I tried to remember what I was supposed to be doing.

          “That’s how it works,” Duncan whispered in my ear.

          My temperature soared as I turned around in expectation.  He wasn’t behind me.  I spotted him all the way down the hall, and our eyes locked.

          “Does that answer your question?”

          Caitlin came up beside me and broke the spell.  “Ready to go?  Oh, Suzy, you look flushed.”  She put a hand up to my forehead.  “You feel hot.  Are you sick again?”

          “I’m fine,” I muttered.  I saw Duncan’s amused expression.  I marched up to him with Caitlin following me.  “I told you to stop that!”

          “I was just answering your question,” Duncan replied smoothly.  “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

          I continued to glare at him.

          “So rude,” he said.  He turned toward Caitlin.  “I’m Duncan.”

          She took the hand he offered her.  “I’m Caitlin.  It’s nice to finally meet you.”

          “It’s nice to meet you, too.”  Duncan smiled warmly at her.

          “It’s great how you guys have that mind thing going on.”

          “Caitlin!”  I was aghast.

          Luckily, Mandy showed up then and prevented Caitlin from saying something even worse.  Duncan was apparently driving Mandy home.  As he left with her, he had a parting shot for me.

          “Now we’re even,” he said in a way only I could hear.

          “Just think about the possibilities!  Every time you get bored in class you can just go kiss Duncan.”  Caitlin couldn’t stop marveling over this new development.

          I was beginning to regret telling her about the trick Duncan had pulled on me yesterday.  “I wouldn’t really be kissing him.”

          “You said it felt real.  It’s way better than daydreaming, and it’s not like he minds.”

          “No,” I said.  “He was just messing with me.”

          “Because he likes you.”

          “He has a girlfriend,” I reminded her.

          Now Caitlin looked uncomfortable.  “Normally, I wouldn’t agree with going after another girl’s guy, but you two belong together.”

          “No,” I said with finality.  “We don’t.  He accused me of throwing myself at him, when I did no such thing.  I already decided to forget about him even before Brad asked me out.”

          “That’s actually a great idea,” Caitlin said.  “Make him jealous.”

          “Caitlin,” I said in frustration.  “Get it through your head.  This is not about Duncan.  Remember how many times you encouraged my impossible crush on Brad?  It’s finally happening.  I thought you would be happy for me.  Your plan for changing my image worked.”

          “I guess,” she said without enthusiasm.  “It’s just that you have so much in common with Duncan.  That reminds me.  Why didn’t you tell me that he lives on my street?”

          “Oh yeah,” I said.  “With everything that’s been going on, I forgot all about it.”

          “I’m telling you, Suzy, he’s interested in you.  Sure, he told me all about California.  He says he likes it here better, because it’s peaceful.  Can you believe that?  I’m thinking it has more to do with you.  He wanted to know all about you.”

          “He did?”  I couldn’t help being curious about this.  “Like what?”

          “He asked me how long I’ve known you.  He wanted to know how long I’ve known about your abilities.  We talked about your dream.  He was especially interested in your reaction.  How you went into shock the first time you saw him.  That was okay, right?  I mean, he already knew about the dream.”

          “That’s okay,” I said.  “He saw the dream for himself.  It can’t get anymore embarrassing than that.”

          “Suzy, you’re not looking at this the right way at all,” Caitlin began.

          “No,” I cut in.  “I need you to stop this.  I’m going out with Brad this weekend.  Duncan is dating Mandy.  End of story.”

          “Okay,” Caitlin relented.  “We’ll just see how it all plays out.”

          I left it at that.  Things were getting back to normal.  No more dreams about Duncan, and no more reading minds.  I would focus on school and my date with Brad.  I actually paid attention in English class the next day.

          “Cancel your date with Brad.”

          I refused to look at Duncan.  “I told you to stop talking to me this way.”

          “Do you really want the whole class to know your business?”

          I kept my eyes on the teacher.  “I don’t even want you to know my business.”

          “He’s not appropriate for you,” Duncan said.  “Pick someone else.”

          Now I did look at him.  “Excuse me?  You don’t even know him.”

          “I know his type,” Duncan said.

          “Just like you know my type?” I challenged.  “Make up your mind.  Either I’m conniving or I’m not.”

          “You’re not really interested in him,” he said without answering my question.

          “You know,” I said.  “You keep saying that you want me to stay away from you, but when I do, you don’t like it.  How do you even know about Brad asking me out?”

          “Caitlin told me.”

          “It’s great how you guys have become such good friends,” I said with false sweetness.  I was really annoyed now.  Despite everything I had said, Caitlin still thought that this was some elaborate plan to make Duncan jealous.

          “You can’t get from him what you want from me.”

          My cheeks burned.  “How dare you!”

          “Oh, Susannah,” Duncan said.  “As tempting as that thought is, you know that’s not what I mean.”

          “I have no idea what you mean, and at this point I don’t really care.  I’m tired of your cryptic accusations.”

          “Look, Susannah,” he began.

          “Enough!”  With the force of my thoughts, I suddenly slammed a barrier between us.  I could feel his thoughts fluttering against it like butterflies.  With a firm resolve, I turned my attention back to the teacher.  When class ended, I left without even glancing at Duncan.

          At the end of the day, he was waiting for me by my locker.  Caitlin said to meet her at her car and made a hasty exit.

          Since he couldn’t get past my barrier, Duncan had to resort to actual speech.  “So, you don’t know how barriers work, do you?  You must be one hell of a fast learner.  Are you going to admit now that I was right about you all along?”

          “No,” I said with rising anger.  “I’m not.  I don’t know what your problem is.  I’m sorry if your ex girlfriend broke your heart, but that has nothing to do with me.”

          “What do you know about my ex girlfriend?”  Duncan was almost shouting at me.

          “I know that if you weren’t such a jerk, maybe she wouldn’t have dumped you!”

          There was a dead silence.  He looked as if I had slapped him.

          “Maybe,” he said quietly.

          I tried to probe his mind.  Something ugly was seeping out toward me, and I shrank back from it in revulsion.

          “That’s right, Susannah,” Duncan said.  “It’s none of your business, and you’re none of my business.  I won’t bother you again.”