The Trouble With Spells (9 page)

Kurt pitched
again, and Brad got another good hit out toward center, which was also caught. The
process was repeated over and over, and he hit every single ball with ease,
giving the fielders a very good workout.

“Batter up,” he
said turning to Vance and handing him the bat when he was finished taking his
ten pitches.

Vance moved away
from the fence, taking the bat from Brad with a sigh and stepped into the
batter’s box.

“Just do the best
you can, son,” the coach called out to him.

“Okay,” I heard
Vance mutter under his breath.

Brad stepped back
from him to look at Kurt, who was positively grinning with anticipation. I knew
Kurt was going to give him a bad pitch.

Having watched a
lot of baseball with my dad, I recognized when Kurt threw a sinker, and I
rolled my eyes thinking Vance wasn’t going to stand a chance. I heard the crack
of the bat against the ball.

I watched in
amazement as the ball soared out over the far field fence. Homerun! I found
myself stifling a giggle with my hand, my heart pounding excitedly when all the
guys turned to look at Vance incredulously.

Kurt’s face
slipped to one of angered determination as he bent to pick up another ball. He threw
a curve ball this time. Vance hit the pitch with ease, the ball soaring over
the fence once again.

Coach and fielders
alike stood and watched in amazement as Kurt fed him everything he had in his
arsenal, while Vance ate him up like it was candy, knocking every single one
out of the park. On the last pitch, I heard the wooden bat crack, and it split
into two pieces as the ball left the field once again.

Vance walked out
of the batter’s box toward Brad.

“Sorry, bro,” he
said handing the bat back to Brad. “I guess I broke your bat.”

Brad just stared
at him in amazement, looking completely dumbfounded.

“I said I hadn’t
had time to play. I didn’t say I couldn’t,” Vance added, cocking an eyebrow at
him before he turned to walk over to the fence where he had left his jacket.

“How about going
out for the team, son?” the coach called out after Vance.

“Not a chance,”
Vance replied, and he walked out the field gates while we all just stood there
watching him.

My teacher didn’t
complain at all about my extreme tardiness when I handed him the note Mrs.
Parker had given me. I slid silently into my seat and dutifully did my class work,
but I was happy when the bell rang, signaling the end of the class period and
that it was time for lunch. I met Shelly out in the corridor next to her
locker.

“What do you want
to eat today?” she asked me, completely unaware of my current infatuation who
refused to leave my thoughts.

That was when I
saw him leaning casually against my locker farther down the hall. He gave me a
nod of invitation, casting his eyes toward the door.

“Um, Shelly?” I
said, not able to take my eyes off him. “Would you mind horribly if I skipped
lunch with you and Brad today?”

Shelly looked at
me puzzled for a second before turning to follow my gaze.

“Oh,” she said,
and then the realization hit her. “Oh! No, not at all. You go have fun!” she
said with the emphasis on the “you.” “And you better call me later,” she added
under her breath.

“Thanks, Shelly,”
I replied laughing. “You’re the greatest.”

I walked up to Vance
and was amazed when he popped my locker open, took my books from me, and placed
them inside.

“How’d you do
that?” I said, my eyes wide.

He leaned down to
whisper in my ear. “Magic, remember?” His soft breath caressed the side of my
face.

“Oh, yeah,” I
said, unable to keep myself from smiling up at him.

He reached down to
grab my hand, interlocking our fingers together, and I felt that ever-present
tingling at his touch. We began walking down the hallway. This action caused
quite a stir among our classmates, and many of them stopped to stare, some even
pointed. I could hear the whispers behind our backs as we passed.

“Silly, isn’t it?”
I said when we stepped out of the door into the bright sunshine.

“Not at all,” he
replied. “Now the whole school knows you’re my girl.”

My heart started
pounding in my chest, and I stopped dead on the sidewalk, squinting up into his
face through the sunlight.

“Is that what I
am?”

He turned to look
at me, moving so we were standing face to face. “That’s what you are,” he replied.
His voice was husky with some sort of emotion, his eyes holding mine with a
meaningful look. He lifted my face to his with both of his hands and proceeded
to kiss me full on the lips, claiming me as his own right there for the whole
world to see.

In retrospect, I
think I should’ve been mad at him for declaring me as his instead of asking me
if I wanted to belong to him first. But I couldn’t bring myself to care much,
as I sat across from him in the booth at one of the local fast food joints. He
was holding my hand across the tabletop, stroking the back of my fingers with
his thumb, while we waited for our order. Ever since we’d shared that kiss on
the sidewalk, we hadn’t been able to stop touching each other.

I sighed again,
unable to keep my thoughts from drifting back to that moment. I’d kissed my
fair share of boys, and some of those had been good kisses, but nothing had
ever been like what I’d experienced with Vance. I couldn’t decide if he kissed
like a god or the devil, or maybe even a bit of both. It was sweet and sensual,
soft at first and then deeper, tender and then rougher, heavenly and more than
slightly carnal too. There was most definitely something between us, and I for
one was eager to find out what it was.

My thoughts
drifted once again to his comment about it being like we were soul mates, and I
began to truly wonder if there was some validity to his statement. I was drawn
to him like a magnet, and I could already feel my heartstrings reaching out to
wrap around him. It was both scary and exhilarating. I’d never felt so easily
attached to someone before. Suddenly, everything about him was so important to
me—his welfare, his happiness, and his safety.

He sat here now
staring at our clasped hands. Watching where his thumb rubbed over my skin, I
wondered if he were maybe pondering the same things I was. He lifted his head,
casting me a meaningful look, and my breath caught. I tried to read what he was
communicating to me.

Then a slow, sly
smile crept across his face breaking my train of thought.

“What?” I asked
with a confused grin.

“Did you enjoy the
show this morning?” His eyes were twinkling in amusement.

“What show?” I was
totally bewildered.

“I knew you were
there, you know, hiding behind the dugout. What a sneaky little girl you are.”
He laughed, and I felt my face flush a crimson red.

“You knew?” I was
completely mortified he’d caught me spying on him. “Oh, this is so
embarrassing,” I groaned, lifting my other hand to cover my face.

He continued
chuckling at me. “Why don’t you tell me what you were doing there?”

I sighed deeply,
seeing no way to get out of this gracefully except to tell him the truth. I
dropped my hand but couldn’t manage to lift my gaze enough to look in his eyes,
so I settled it somewhere in the general vicinity of his chin instead.

“I was worried
about you,” I confessed.

“Worried?” he
said, seeming puzzled by my reply. “Why?”

“Well, you seemed
so melancholy when you left last night. I couldn’t get you or your story out of
my head. I had all these nauseating thoughts of what would happen if your…” I
dropped my voice to a whisper, glancing up to make sure no one was listening to
us, “ … if your dad were to suddenly find you. It terrified me to think I could
wake up one morning and you would just be gone—poof—like you’d never even been
here. Then I got to school this morning and you weren’t here. I couldn’t find
you after class either and …”

He cut me off. “And
you thought the worst happened, so you came looking for me. Oh, Portia. I’m so
sorry for worrying you. I had to help Marsha get her car to the shop, and it
didn’t open until right when school started. Then, when I did finally get here,
I had to go to a meeting and do some schedule changes with the counselor. I
didn’t even think you might be alarmed about it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well,
I feel completely foolish about it now,” I said, mentally kicking myself for
being such a busy body.

“Don’t be.” He
clasped my hand with both of his. “You have no idea how much it means to me to
know you cared enough to do something like that.” He got really quiet, looking
down at our hands. “I haven’t had anyone do something that sweet for me in a
long time.” He lifted his eyes back to me, and I could see something completely
unmasked in them.

Love,
I
thought.
Really?
I was shocked. But it couldn’t be, could it? Not this
soon.

The moment was
shattered when our order number was called and he released me, standing to go
get it, and I was left wondering if what I thought I’d seen had really been
there, or if I just imagined it.

Chapter 7

I walked in the
front door after school and was surprised to find my mom home.

“I got someone to
change shifts with me at work,” she explained excitedly. “Let’s go take your
driver’s test!”

Normally, I
would’ve been ecstatic at this idea, but now I knew having my license meant I
would soon have to debut my granny motorcycle.

“Oh, Mom,” I
complained. “I’m really tired right now.”

“Nonsense,” she
replied. “You’ve been excited about this for months! Now go get in the car.”

I tossed my
backpack on the nearest chair and rummaged through it for my wallet, checking
to make sure I had all the proper I.D. I might need. Then I followed her
dutifully out to the car. I looked at our silver Toyota Camry with its dark
tinted windows and sighed. I guessed I wouldn’t be driving it much like I’d previously
envisioned.

We took the drive
up through Oak Creek Canyon into Flagstaff
,
to the Department of Motor
Vehicles. Mom got me signed in, and soon I was sitting at a computer taking the
written test.

I finished it in
about twenty minutes, and it was graded. I’d missed only a couple of questions,
and the lady at the window explained the appropriate answers to me. Then I was
introduced to a man who took me out to a driving course that had been set up
with orange cones in a paved parking lot.

I got into our
car, did all the safety checks, and drove through the course with ease. When I
was finished, the man joined me in the vehicle with his clipboard in hand. We
left the lot to drive down the street and around the block before coming back
to the building.

Soon, I was the
proud owner of a new driver’s license. After running a few errands, Mom and I
headed back toward Sedona. Of course, she insisted on me being the one to drive
us home, and I had to admit I was a little bit excited. After all, getting a
driver’s license is a certain rite of passage for a teenager.

My excitement was
nearly extinguished, however, when my mom preached to me about how to drive all
the way home. Apparently, she’d conveniently forgotten I’d passed my Driver’s
Ed class with an A plus, as well as getting a note of commendation from my
teacher about my attention to safety. Instead she gasped at every corner we
took and hung onto the door handle like she was about to die, or she was
repeatedly running her fingers through her dark hair nervously. She kept
telling me to slow down even though I wasn’t going anywhere near the speed
limit.

I tried to be
patient with her and chalk it up to mothering nerves, but by the time we got
home I bounded out of the car, running into the house and up the stairs to my
room.

“Don’t you want to
practice riding your scooter now?” she called up to me from the ground floor.

“Later, Mom,” I
replied over my shoulder. “I really am tired now.”

It wasn’t even a
lie. I was completely exhausted mentally. I flopped myself onto my polished oak
bed and rolled up into the puffy purple patchwork quilt. I didn’t even know I’d
fallen asleep, until I felt Jinx nuzzling my face trying to alert me that
someone was coming up the stairs.

The door opened
quietly, and Shelly crept into my room
,
shutting the door softly behind
her.

“Hey,” I said
groggily, pushing myself to sit up a little more against the pillow behind me.

“Oh! You’re
awake!” she said, and happily climbed onto the bed where she sat cross-legged
next to me. “Your mom said you were probably still asleep. I was going to leave
you a note on your desk.”

“I was asleep
until a minute ago.” I reached out to scratch Jinx behind the ear. “Jinx woke
me up.”

“All right, so
start dishing,” Shelly said, petting Jinx also. “I feel like we haven’t talked
in ages, and I like your new cat, by the way.”

“She adopted me,”
I said as a way of explanation. “I just woke up one morning, and there she was.
She seemed content to stay awhile, so I figured why not?”

“How sweet. Now
tell me about Vance Mangum.” Shelly jumped right into what she was really
interested in knowing.

I shrugged,
pretending indifference just to make her suffer, even though the sound of his
name made my heart begin to race.

“What do you want
to know?” I asked innocently.

“Everything, duh!”
she said, grabbing a pillow and hitting me with it. I lifted my hands to ward
off her attack.

“I don’t know what
to say. We just sort of seemed interested in each other, and now we seem to be
hitting it off pretty good.”

“I’ll say!” Shelly
exclaimed, her eyes wide. “The whole school was buzzing about him kissing you
this afternoon!”