Talisman (7 page)

Saturday is yours, honey

Naomi will cover your shift.

Have fun at the dance!

What made his scripted reply even worse was that I hadn’t given him a specific reason “why” I needed off from work. 
Crap!
  Paranoia is cruel bitch — especially in a small-town like Welch. 
He couldn’t possibly know that I’m going to the dance or “who” I’m going with…Could he?
  I let out a grunt, grabbed my stuff, slammed the door of my Charger, and headed straight for my homeroom.

I’ll do quick review for
my Geology test.  I’ve got plenty of time
.  It couldn’t hurt, and I desperately needed something to distract me from thinking about Mike and the dance or even the fateful meeting at 3 o’clock — pretty much anything and everything that was looming over my head like a dreary dark cloud.

There
was my best friend, Katie Stowell, already sitting at her desk when I entered the classroom.  She was flipping through a fashion magazine while she twisted the dainty diamond pendant on the end of her necklace.

Kati
e glanced up and threw me a sly grin, one that wasn’t sitting too well with my gut. 
Oh yeah
, I thought as I edged closer.  “Smug” would have been tolerable, but unfortunately it screamed what I affectionately called,
“
shit-
taé”
.

Not good
.

“
Well,
lookie there
…If it isn’t the
future
Mrs. Riverside,” Katie pronounced with the straightest of faces.  She almost looked disappointed that she didn’t have a trumpet to sound.

“How in the heck do you know about
THAT?
” I demanded, too flustered to be one-hundred percent discreet.

Katie shrugged her shoulders.  “I heard some of the cheerleaders talking about it in the hall,” my BFF replied, trying to pretend she wasn’t hurt that the proverbial “horse” didn’t
“whinny”
out the news to her first.  I mean seriously, we’ve been “best friends” since kindergarten.

“
Holy Hell
,” I groaned.  “The whole school will know by the end of the day.”

“If not by
lunch
,” Katie smirked.  “I just can’t believe you’re actually doing it.  You HATE Mike Riverside.”

“What can I say…They
guilted
me into it,” I shamefully proclaimed and proceeded to divulge a rendition of the terrible-twosome’s melodrama from last night to a T.  “Trust me,” I concluded.  “It’ll only be for a couple of hours.  I’m already planning a reason for Mike to
suddenly
have to take me home.”

“What did Mike
say?
” Katie probed.

“I have no idea…
and I couldn’t care less,” I answered as flung backpack under my desk.

“You
should
care,” Katie insisted.  “I don’t trust that sneaky bastard.  What if he tries…
something?
”

I laughed hysterically.
“That’s crazy! I’m
NOT
his ‘type’!  I think it’s a well-known fact around school that my legs are locked-at-the-knees.  He won’t
try
anything.  After all, he hasn’t messed with me since First Grade…in
any
respect.”  Mike Riverside had tried to steal my lunch once when we were little.  I picked up the first thing I could find and wailed him over the head with it.  Unfortunately for him, it was a bright-yellow
metal
Tonka truck someone had brought in for Show-and-Tell. 
Ouch!
  I had to sit in the corner during recess for two weeks — but after that, he
never
tried stealing my lunch again.

Katie giggled.  “Does he still have a scar on his head?”

“I’m not sure,” I pondered with a grin.  “
Possibly
…I’ll ask him when we’re out on our
date
.  That’ll be a great conversation starter.”

We had a little more fun laughing at Mike’s expense, but I honestly didn’t know if going to the dance with him was a sensible idea or not. 
Either way, I had a feeling it would be a
memorable
evening.

Katie scooted closer.  “Okay, e
nough about that.  Have you heard
ANYTHING
about the mine?”  It seemed my best friend was just as worried and rightfully so.  Even though her parents owned the local jewelry store, if half the town lost their jobs, their business would be drastically effected by its closing as well.

“There’s a meeting
today at 3 o’clock,” I replied. “I’m going to race over there after school.  Daddy said I could stop by.”

“Please remember to take your cell,” Katie pleaded.  “And I want updates every five minutes.”

“I’ll
try
,” I promised.

“Good,” Katie said with a nod as she turned back around.  My best friend leaned back in her chair, never giving me the slightest glance.  “So t
ell me, Shi. How are you going to break the news to Chloe about the inevitable nuptials this chance ‘date’ will bring forth, or even worse…how will you soften the sting to
Charlotte?
”

I gave Katie a good-natured whack on the back of her head.  “Oh, I think
I’ll just drop them a postcard while we’re on our
honeymoon
.”  We both giggled a bit at that ridiculous notion.

“Katie,
I don’t want to talk about Mike anymore…or anything to do with the mine.  Let’s just review for our Geology test,
okay?
”  I was being very adamant (and
maybe
a bit bossy) about the parameters of our homeroom time.

Katie whirled her head around in one dramatic and playfully offended huff. 
“Boy, you haven’t even been out with Mike yet, and you’re already acting as high & mighty as he does.  You’ll fit into the Riverside family
just fine
,” she insisted with a cutesy nod before turning back around. She just had to get in that last dig.

I tugged on the back of her necklace.  “I’ll be sure to tell him
not
to purchase my engagement ring from your parents’ shop.”  My tone let my BFF know that I’d had enough of her witty jabs.

Katie tilted her head as she leaned back.  “I really don’t see the point in me breaking my neck for an ‘A’ on this test…or
ANY
TEST,” she huffed.  “You know my parents are just humoring me with college.  All they want is for me to get a business degree so I can come back here and run
‘their’
store.”

Sadly, her claim wasn’t off-base.  Ron and Julia Stowell had affectionately teased on many occasions that Katie was their little “retirement plan”.

“Just think, Katie…That’s still
four
years of freedom,” I insisted, hoping to put a hint of a smile back on her perfectly-painted face.  “Six if you can talk them into Grad-School.”

“Maybe ten if I carry a light load and flunk a few courses,” Katie said with an artful laugh.

Well, at least she had a plan.

“I like your new do,” I whispered as I flipped the back of her hair. 
Katie had chopped off her long brunette locks to her shoulders and added a few fire-engine red streaks.  It was all shaggy, and the ends flipped up every which way.  It really complemented her oval face, and the highlights made her amber eyes sparkle.

“Thank you for noticing,”
Katie gushed as she ran her fingers through her hair and shook it playfully.

What a diva!
  Katie was always “in vogue”— from head to toe.  I was too comfortable and set in my ways to ever try a daring, new look.  I really admired my best friend’s courage when it came to changing up her style.  Everything she tried looked great on her — without fail — whether it was trendy or classic (or even an eclectic mix of both).  Katie was undeniably a “fashionista”, unlike me, who she affectionately referred to as “ponytail”.

T
he first period bell rang before long, kicking off yet another
normal
school day.  Mrs. Thompson, our Statistics teacher, gave us only one problem for our daily assignment.  The calculations, regrettably, took up the
entire
forty-five minutes and only a few of us finished.

During second period
Literature, we discussed
Hamlet
, which most of the class still hadn’t read.  Mr. Jackson didn’t seem that upset about it.  What he actually appeared to be was “fidgety” or possibly borderline “distracted”.

I suppose if the mine shuts down, a lot of our
teachers will lose their jobs, too — particularly if half the school’s student body is forced to relocate
.

We had a pop-quiz in third period Government.  I didn’t see that one
coming, but I did pretty well.  The substitute who was sitting in for our regular teacher, Mr. Connors, gave us the rest of the period, so I got a chance to review for my Geology exam.  I didn’t need much prep, mainly a speedy skim of the last two chapters on rocks and minerals.  I had to admit that learning about all the earth’s wonders was fascinating — with the notable exception of
coal
.  I couldn’t care less if I ever saw another hunk of the dirty black stuff for the rest of my life.  Coal was the only thing keeping this town afloat, but when you’ve grown up in a coalmining community your entire life, all you want is to get away from it —
as soon as possible
.  There was a big, clean coal-less world out there, and I wanted to experience as much of it as I could.

I didn’t want to be held prisoner here forever, like Katie. 
She’s probably right.  She’ll go off to college only to be ordered home by her parents after she graduates, inevitably to run their jewelry store.
 
At least she’ll be stuck here with a decent job
.  I found it equally upsetting that Charlotte’s grand plan for Chloe was marrying her off to Mike Riverside (the sooner the better).  I can see it now — a wedding band on her finger, her high school diploma in one hand, and
a baby diaper
in the other.  That vision caused a chill to run down my spine.

By the time fourth period arrived,
I felt a growing sense of angst starting to churn.  It wasn’t stemming from my pending Geology exam.  Not hardly.  I was bothered by the irksome fact that Mike Riverside’s assigned desk was right beside mine.  That alone made my normal gait to class slow to a reluctant creep. 
Ugh!
  And he was standing near the door talking to Kara Leighton too.  What a pair.  “Class Ass” with “Easy Piece of Ass”.

Fitting
.

I
paused in the doorway to hone my stare.  Unlike most of the school’s general population trapped under her charming “faux-angelic” spell,
I
didn’t see what was so fascinating about our school’s resident “mean girl”.  She wore entirely too much make-up, and all her clothes were at least one size too small (especially her uniform at the Drive-In).  My eyes rolled as I thought about the limits of her “mental capacity”.  How Kara even maintained a C average to stay on the cheerleading squad was beyond me.  There wasn’t room to fill her head with any knowledge — that vacuous
space
was already taken up by
air
.  She wasn’t what I’d call a “waitress” either.  Kara was more of a slutty hostess who made sure her male customers received a heaping side order of “tease”.  And right now, it was clear from the touchy-feely ass-pat she’d just given Mike exactly what kind of “job” she was dreaming of performing on him
.

Chloe needs to open up those big eyes of hers another notch…along with another person Kara claims is her “boyfriend”. 
I shook my head as I stepped into the classroom.  My snarl alone could’ve curdled dairy.

W
HATEVER…

Katie was chatting my ears off about a new movie she wanted to go see.  I couldn’t tell you the name of it or what it was about, not from the moment Tyler Smith glided into the room, straight off his billowy cloud.  I bit my lip before my smile became embarrassingly obvious.  Especially after I watched him sweep his hands through his dark locks and caught a brief sparkle dancing in those dreamy blue eyes of his. 
He
was the guy whom I’d had the biggest crush on for years, and in my opinion,
the hottest guy in school
.  His rock-hard physique was only out-shone by his brains.  Ty was the only player on the football team with an A average, and my closest competitor for graduating with top honors at our school.  He wasn’t vain like most of the jocks, and he
always
spoke to me.  I guessed I’d been focusing on my college aspirations so much lately that I’d forgotten how appealing he was.  This was an excellent reminder.