Strange Magic (7 page)

          “Remember,” I reminded him when he parked on the street in front of my house.  “My parents don’t know about the lightning strike, and I want to keep it that way.”

          “They won’t hear about it from me,” Duncan assured me.

          If only I had gotten the same promise from Caitlin.  Her eyes zeroed in on the necklace as soon as I came downstairs.  She had arrived sometime after I went upstairs to change after introducing Duncan to my parents.  Mom had smiled a knowing smile at me.  I had decided to wear the pink dress.  It wasn’t because of what Duncan had said, I told myself.

          “Oh my God!” Caitlin shrieked.  “Where did you get that necklace?  Was it a present from Duncan?”

          “From Mom and me,” Duncan explained.

          “That’s beauti—“

          Mom’s voice was drowned out by Caitlin.  “That’s kick-ass!  You’re like The Girl Who Lived.  Only Duncan is kind of like Harry Potter.  Yeah!  Show em you’re not afraid of lightning.”

          “Caitlin,” Dad said.  “Have you been drinking?”

          Mom cut to the chase.  “Why should she be afraid of lightning?”

          Caitlin realized her mistake.  “Um, I, well, um.”

          Mom wasn’t going to let go of this now.  “Out with it, Suzy.  What’s going on?”

          It was Duncan who spoke up.  “Susannah was almost struck by lightning a few weeks ago.”

          “What?” My parents cried out in unison.

          “Duncan pushed me out of the way.”  I was actually glad to tell them this.

          “Pushed you out of the way?” Dad asked.  “How could he push you out of the way?  Nobody knows when lightning is going to strike.”

          “Duncan does,” Caitlin said.  “He’s psychic.”

          “It was just a freak thing,” Duncan said smoothly.  “Really, I just happened to stumble into Susannah and knock her down at the right moment.  It was pure luck.  Caitlin has blown it out of proportion.”

          “Whatever.  Have it your way.”  Even as she said this, Caitlin couldn’t contain her smile.

          “Suzy!  How could you keep a thing like that from us?”

          “I’m fine, Mom.  I just got rained on.  Duncan’s mom dried my clothes and made me tea.”

          “Well, young man.  However it happened, you are a hero.”  Dad put a hand on Duncan’s shoulder.  “I’m glad that you were there to save Suzy.”

          Mom was having a delayed reaction.  “My God!  If Suzy had been killed…”

          Dad let go of Duncan and embraced Mom.  “We’re not going to think that way.  We’re going out to celebrate her birthday.”  He looked over her shoulder at us.  “You’ve got the right attitude kids.  Look it in the eye.”

          I walked up to Mom.  “See, I’m right here.”

          Dad succeeded in making Mom laugh.  “Look on the bright side.  At least Caitlin wasn’t drinking.”

          With that, we managed to get Mom out the door.  We all piled into Dad’s car, with me and Duncan in the backseat with Caitlin between us mouthing sorry.  As Dad drove to my favorite Italian restaurant, I felt like my wish had already come true.  It was a perfect birthday.         

          “Did you know that your Dad was going to die?” I blurted this out without preamble.  The words hung in the air between us, and I wished that I could take them back.  Duncan and I were walking in the park, and he had just remarked on the leaves changing color.

          “No,” Duncan answered.  “It was like any other day.  Dad went to work, and I went to school.  He had a massive heart attack.  By the time the ambulance arrived, it was already too late.”

          “How awful,” was all I could say.

          “Mom had to break the news to me,” he continued.  “I couldn’t believe it.  It didn’t seem real.”

          I was kicking myself now.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have asked you that.”

          “It’s okay,” Duncan said.  “I don’t mind talking about my dad.  I’ve been thinking about him a lot since you almost got hit by lightning.  I’m sure now that it was his time to go.”

          My startled gaze met his.  “You really believe that?”

          “Yes,” he said.  “Like I said, it was like any other day at first.  Not with you, though.  As soon as I woke up, I felt like something was wrong.”

          I nodded in agreement.  “That’s how I felt, too.”

          “Susannah, I’ve never had a premonition before in my life.  Not even when…”  Duncan’s voice faltered.

          I waited expectantly for him to continue, but he just kicked at the leaves on the path.  His suddenly tense mood made me suspect that this had something to do with his ex girlfriend.  I was very curious about her, but he had made it clear that he didn’t want to talk about her.  I wanted to get the conversation back on track.  “I’ve been wondering how you knew where to find me that day.”

          “I’ve been wondering that myself,” Duncan said.  “I don’t really know how.  It was like I was on autopilot, and I didn’t have to think.  I just drove to where you were.”

          “Like that time at school,” I mused, “when I was starting to faint.”

          “You called me that time,” he reminded me.

          This had caused an argument between us in the past, but now we were friends.  “Yeah, you told me that, but I honestly don’t remember doing that.”

          “Just like the thing with Caitlin.  My guess is that sometimes your abilities just take over without you even realizing it.  They are very strong.  Who knows what else you can do.”

          I stopped walking.  “What do you mean what else I can do?  What else is there?”

          Duncan’s cell phone rang.  “Hi, Mom.”  As he answered it, his smile and raised eyebrows told me that he was remembering our first encounter in the park.  “Okay, sounds great.  I’ll be right there.”  He hung up and widened his eyes at me in mock terror.  “Mom doesn’t want my dinner to get cold.  She’s all excited about her new recipe.  Wanna come over for dinner?”

          “Sorry,” I said, “but my parents are expecting me home for dinner, too.”

          “Chicken!  This time I think you’re the one who might need to save my life.”

          “Oh, stop!” I laughed.  “Don’t forget that your mom can read your mind.”

         “If she could, she would stop cooking.  Anyway, we’ll have to finish our talk another time.  Gotta go.  Bye, Susannah.”

          “Bye, Duncan.  Enjoy your dinner,” I called after him.

          That night before sleep overtook me, I thought about how much my relationship with Duncan had changed in the short time that I had known him.  I felt so close to him now.  For a brief moment, my dream kiss with him flashed in my mind.  Immediately, I willed myself to stop thinking of that.  I was happy with the way things were now, and I didn’t need to indulge in fantasies.

          The next day at school, I stopped in the bathroom before English class.  When I stepped out of the stall, Mandy and another girl were looking at themselves in the mirror.  Mandy applied lipstick while I washed my hands.  I struggled to remember the other girl’s name.  She was the one who had invited me and Brad to her party, yet she was still friends with Mandy.  Megan.  The name had finally come to me.  Mandy and Megan.  How cute, I thought.

          “I think Duncan’s gay,” Mandy announced.

          “No!” Megan protested.  “He’s so hot.”

          I stood frozen at the sink even though I had already finished washing my hands.

          “I know,” Mandy said, “but we’ve been going out for a month, and he still hasn’t tried to have sex with me.  At first it was sweet, but now it’s just weird.”

          “That is weird,” Megan agreed.  “Maybe he’s religious or something.  There might still be hope.”

          Mandy smirked at me knowingly.  “You sure don’t have that problem with Brad.  He’s always ready to go.”

          I wanted to be anywhere else except where I was at that moment.  Grabbing a paper towel, I prepared to flee.

          “Hey!  No hard feelings,” Mandy assured me.  “It’s not like I was gonna marry him.  I’m too young to be tied down like that.  It was time to move on.  You know?”

          The bell spared me from having to answer.  I was glad, despite it meaning that I was now late for English.  The teacher gave me a disapproving look when I hurried into class but didn’t say anything, probably because I had never been tardy before.  I felt Duncan’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him just yet.  He let me be for all of two minutes.

          “What are you so happy about?”

          Inexplicably, I was practically bursting with this emotion.  “Why does everybody ask me that?  Can’t I just be in a good mood?”

          “Sure you can.”  He continued to speak to me with his thoughts.  “Why won’t you look at me though?”

          I carefully composed my face into a neutral expression and turned my head in his direction.  “See, I’m looking at you.”  Something funny happened to my stomach when I looked into his pale blue eyes.  I was glad that I could speak to him silently, because I was pretty sure there would have been a nervous tremor in my voice if I had spoken aloud.  What was happening to me?  I had to get a hold of myself.  I grasped at the first thing that came to mind to change the subject.  “Are you going to Megan’s party?”

          Duncan made a face.  “Only because Mandy wants to go.  These things are usually full of drunken idiots.”

          “We’re going, too.  I’ve never been to a big party like that.”

          “You haven’t been missing anything,” he said.

          No matter what Duncan said, I was still excited to go.  Saturday evening found me standing before my closet and debating what to wear.  Brad had voiced his preference for the pink mini dress.

          “You look so hot in that dress, babe,” he had leered at me.

          That was exactly the reason that I definitely wasn’t going to wear that dress.  I didn’t want to encourage him.  I picked out a black skirt that fell to the knee and a red blouse.  My lightning bolt necklace and gold hoop earrings completed the look.  My shoes had a sensible heel.  I wouldn’t be turning any heads in this outfit.  I wasn’t going to the party to show off, but just to have a little fun.

          Brad actually walked up to the door when he picked me up.  He knew enough to be polite to my parents when he assured them that we wouldn’t be drinking.  I was not reassured, however, when he winked at me after we sat down in his car.  “What they don’t know won’t hurt em.  You look pretty, babe.  Still wish you would’ve worn the pink dress.”  He looked at my chest.  “Cool necklace.”

          “Thanks.”  I was glad that he had to keep his eyes on the road.  When we got to Megan’s house, I could hear the music from outside.  Inside, people had to shout to be heard.  Brad greeted people as I followed him through the crowd.  We found Megan in the kitchen where the noise was more tolerable.  She was even peppier than usual and actually hugged me.  I suspected that she had already started drinking.  Brad handed me a drink, which I held onto just so I wouldn’t look out of place.  I planned to set it down somewhere when no one was looking.  Luckily, Brad became distracted messing around with his buddies.

          The party wasn’t as much fun as I had expected it to be.  I felt like an observer rather than a participant.  It turned out that Megan’s parents were out of town, which was why she had picked this particular weekend to have the party.  Megan had been talking to me until Mandy appeared.  She informed us that we needed to go freshen our make up in the bathroom.  My mood had lifted when I saw Duncan, but I was dragged off by Megan and Mandy.

          Mandy wasted no time in telling us the real reason for our meeting in the bathroom.  “Tonight’s the night.  I’m going to have sex with Duncan.”

          Megan squealed excitedly, but I felt like Mandy had just punched me in the stomach.  She chattered on, but I didn’t hear anything else she said.  My hands gripped the cool porcelain sink.  Eventually, I realized that they were talking to me.

          “Earth to Suzy.”  Mandy snapped her fingers in front of my face.

          “Are you okay?” Megan asked.

          “Uh, yeah,” I finally responded.  “Guess I had too much to drink.”

          “Not used to it, huh?”  Mandy smiled at me.  “It takes time to build up tolerance.  Do you need to puke?”

          I couldn’t take anymore of this surreal conversation with Duncan’s girlfriend.  And Brad’s ex girlfriend, I reminded myself.  “No, I’ll be okay.  I’m gonna go find Brad.”  I escaped before they could say anything else.

          Downstairs, my eyes didn’t listen to my brain.  Instead of looking for Brad, my gaze sought Duncan.  He spotted me, too, and walked toward me.  I stood rooted to the spot, seemingly unable to move or look away.

          His expression was puzzled.  “What’s wrong, Susannah?”

          “She’s not feeling so great.  Gotta get a few more parties under her belt.”  Mandy answered for me as she wound her arm around Duncan.

          He scowled at me.  “You’ve been drinking?”

          “Yes,” I shouted.  “So what?  I can have fun, too.”

          “Hey, babe.”  Brad threw his arm over my shoulders.  “You need another drink.”

          I hadn’t even noticed his approach.  This time I took the drink that he offered me and took a defiant sip.  Duncan gave me one last disapproving look and allowed Mandy to lead him away.  They reached the corner of the room and she leaned in to kiss him.  With her high heels on, she was almost as tall as he was.  I took another sip of my drink and turned away.

          “I want to get out of here,” I told Brad.

          He smiled at me.  “Sure, babe.”

          We made our way toward the door and outside into the cool night air.

          “You gonna finish that, babe?”

          I realized that I was still holding my drink.  “No.”

          Brad took it from me and downed it.  “Okay, let’s go.”

          I leaned back in the car seat and stared out the window into the darkness as Brad drove.  The silence was a relief after the noise of the party.  I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t notice where we were going until Brad stopped the car and turned off the engine.

          “Where are we?”  I looked at Brad for the first time since we had left the party.

          “You can see the whole city from up here.”  He gestured toward the windshield.

          I glanced at the city lights.  It was an impressive view, but I was in no mood to enjoy it.  “I thought you were taking me home.”