Stop! Stop! Oh, please…stop, stop, stop!
“What are you, a witch or something?” Cassie screeched, the sound echoing endlessly through my ears.
I couldn’t take any more. The yelling and the headache, the nausea and the light-headedness—this was too much. It wasn’t the hands on the clock or the glass or the plastic protecting the electronic devices that were about to explode, it was me. I was spinning and spinning and spinning.
Then it all stopped.
Silence.
What happened? Had I somehow made them disappear? Had I disappeared? No, that just wasn’t possible.
I raised my head to see Becca and Cassie pushing past a boy in order to escape the store.
The dark-haired boy stood there in the doorway, his deep, dark eyes boring into mine. His skin was a smooth, ivory color, slightly paler than mine. A light seemed to radiate from his body, immersing him in a blanket of golden sunshine.
But it wasn’t his physical features that made it impossible for me to look away. It wasn’t the warmth that surged through my body. No, it was the question of whether he had somehow managed to seize control of my emotions and balance them out. The one thing I had been trying to do for years, but had failed at miserably.
His lips took the shape of a crescent moon. Bright and wondrous and mysterious. He shifted his eyes away from mine and studied the room, releasing me from his visual grasp. I closed my eyes briefly, trying to gather my thoughts. But there was nothing to gather—my mind was empty. Serene.
How did he do that? I wondered. And could he really be responsible for what had happened?
“Are you still open?” he asked. His voice was soft and musical, almost hypnotic.
“Um…yes…I mean, no, the store’s closing,” I stammered.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” His eyes skipped to the books. “Looks like your friends made quite a mess.”
“They’re not my friends.” I purposely focused my attention on the scattered books on the floor and away from his eyes. I had to stay in control. I stepped out from behind the counter and walked over to the books, then knelt down and gathered them into my arms one by one.
“Let me help.” He bent down beside me.
We both reached for the same book, and my hand accidentally swiped across his. A warm, tingling sensation raced through my hand. A jolt of enticing energy. I jerked away quickly and placed my hand on a different book. I’m not sure if he saw my reaction. Either way, he said nothing. He just continued to stack the books in his hand, his expression unreadable.
I began placing the books back on the shelf, distancing myself from him so I wouldn’t touch him again. I knew I was overreacting. He was probably just some curious, normal guy, who happened across the shop while walking down the street. He couldn’t have been responsible for making the hands on the clock stop spinning, the electrical devices stop squealing, or the lights stop flickering. Or even for the subsiding of my headache and nausea. Could he?
No…it just wasn’t possible. Still, I couldn’t dismiss the feeling that swept through my hand when he touched me—the warm, tingly sensation that sent a burst of excitement through my veins. It gave me more reason to stay away from him.
After I placed the books back on the shelf, I wandered into the adjoining room, partially to see what Cassie had messed up, but more to escape the feelings of awkwardness I had around this boy. I had felt awkward on many occasions, but not like this. This was different. A kind of awkwardness I wasn’t used to.
My eyes swept around the room—everything appeared to be in its place. I locked the side door and walked back out into the main room. He was gone.
There were only a few minutes left before closing, and I spent those running a quick inventory and tidying up. When I stepped out of the store, the night air was cold and eerie. A dome street light, which cast a dim glow over the deserted road, caused shadows to appear in every corner. I locked the store up, then made my way to my car. I opened my car door and shoved my key into the ignition—desperate to trade in the isolation of the store for the safety of my bed. But my engine refused to turn over. The only sound I heard was a series of clicks.
“Come on!” I yelled. I tried a few more times. More clicks. I gave up and smashed my fists against the steering wheel. “Why can’t I get a break?” I flipped open my phone and scrolled down my contacts until Mom’s cell number highlighted the screen. After the call went to voicemail, I hung up and called home. No answer. I stepped out of the car into the frigid air, slamming the door behind me. Leaning up against my car, I tried Erica’s number. Nothing.
I swiftly turned around and planted my foot into the side of my car. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I kicked the door harder, imagining it was Becca and Cassie’s face. Why couldn’t they leave me the hell alone? I wanted to hurt both of them for what they had done, but I couldn’t. I was too much of a coward to do anything to them. Too much of a coward to confront my mother about her drinking. Too much of a coward to figure out what was wrong with me. So instead, I took it out on my car door.
“Hey, are you okay?” An already familiar voice came from behind me.
My body went rigid. The air got all jacked up halfway down my throat as I whipped around to see the boy from the store standing directly behind me. I quickly dropped my gaze to the asphalt. Not only did I feel like a moron knowing he had just witnessed me kicking the crap out of my car, but I couldn’t risk being incapacitated by his eyes again.
“No, I’m not okay. Two girls from school trashed my store, my mother won’t answer her phone, and my car won’t start. Now I’m stranded out here in the middle of the night…it’s dark…and I have no way to get home. Everything’s not okay!” Tears welled up in my eyes, but I forced them away—crying got you nowhere. It only showed how weak you were. My mother taught me that a long time ago.
“Mind if I take a look?” He didn’t wait for me to answer—he was already making his way toward me and my car.
“Sure. Knock yourself out.” I moved to the side and watched him as I folded my arms tightly against my chest to avoid any type of physical contact. The warm, tingly feeling from earlier was still fresh in my mind.
He opened the door and released the hood. Then he walked around to the front of my car.
I could have sworn I saw his lips twitch as he gracefully strode past me, almost like he was fighting a smile. I narrowed my eyes. I couldn’t believe he found humor in this. I plopped down in the front seat of my car, trying to gain control over my anger.
He shouted out from underneath the hood, “Turn it over and see what happens.”
The sound of his voice extinguished the fire inside and sent my heart into spasms. I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply—trying to slow my quickening pulse. When I turned the ignition, the car started.
I opened my eyes he was right there, leaning into my window, capturing and holding my eyes as they met his. I was unable to look away. The same warmth swept over my entire body as it had earlier. It felt as if he was peering into the depths of my soul, making me confused. Confused and wondering whether I should hate him for making me feel this way or hate myself for allowing something like this to happen. Either way, it had to stop.
Finally, he blinked, releasing me from his hold. His face was friendly, open, and he was smiling. And it wasn’t one of those dopey, lopsided grins either. It was straight and perfect and made my eyes want to melt from their sockets.
“Um…” I swallowed. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” His smile continued to light up the night.
“Well…I have to get going. My mom’s probably getting worried,” I lied. If Mom was worried, she would have called me by now. But I had to do something to get away from this situation—to get away from him. These feelings were too much. He was too much.
“Maybe I’ll see you around.” He took a step back, giving me the opportunity I’d been waiting for.
“Maybe.” I forced a smile as I shifted into drive and pulled away. I glanced i
nto the mirror and watched him disappear into the thick, black smoke from my exhaust, secretly wishing that I would see him again, but knowing I would be better off if I didn’t.
Chapter 2
The next day I was tired.
I’d stayed up half the night tending to my mother, who had mistaken our living room floor for the sofa. So when Coach Richardson, my PE teacher, announced that this day would be perfect for a game of basketball, I disagreed. Any sport which required me to huddle in a group of people was a no-go for me. I chose to stand in the far corner of the gymnasium, away from the whirlwind of energy gusting down the court, attempting to comprehend what had happened last night.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the guy in the shop. The biggest question plaguing my mind was how he’d managed to start my car. It had no power. He didn’t even use jumper cables. And as I thought about him, I realized that I didn’t even know his name. It’s okay, I told myself. It’s not like I was ever going to see him again.
I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn’t hear the chorus of people shouting, “Allie, look out!” until it was almost too late. I glanced up to see an orange streak sailing toward me.
My hands rose up instinctively, and my fingers wrapped around the basketball to protect my face. Before I could catch my breath, an ocean of my peers swept over me. Their energy surrounded me and pulled me under. I fell to the floor and hugged the ball to my chest, wishing for a paper bag to steady my breathing.
“Back up!” Marie’s voice boomed. “Give her some room!”
But her voice wasn’t what brought me back to the surface. It was the hand I felt brush up against my butt. My hands slipped away from the ball and I leapt to my feet, then whirled around, fists in the air. The lights above me grew brighter and then dimmed, but the crowd had split apart and was already swarming to the locker rooms.
“Allie, are you okay?” Marie grabbed my shoulders. “I tried to get them all off you, but they wouldn’t listen. Luckily Coach told them all to get dressed and go to lunch.”
“Yeah, I’m okay.” I managed to force a smile, even though my face continued to burn. I couldn’t believe someone had the audacity to touch me like that. Of course, the stupid coward couldn’t stick around. He had to run and hide among the shadows. Who would even do that?
“Come on. Let’s change and get to lunch,” Marie said, ripping me away from my thoughts. Her eyes drifted to the ceiling. “They really need to do something about the power in this building.”
”Yeah, right,” I mumbled.
After we changed, we headed for the cafeteria. Aaron passed us in the hall. He turned his head slightly and winked at me on the way by. I knew by that wink that he was probably the coward who’d touched me, but there was no way to prove it. And Marie was so wrapped up in her babbling that she didn’t even notice him. She was ranting about boys again. Actually, about one particular boy she’d bumped into in the office. She went on and on about how he was the dreamiest guy she had ever seen while I plotted a way to get even with Aaron. But every plan I devised would bring me too close to him. And that was the last thing I wanted.
Marie continued talking as we made our way through the lunch line. I nodded, smiled, and shook my head on cue while tossing a ham sandwich and a bottle of water onto my tray.
Erica had already eaten half her burger by the time we made it to the table. I sat down on the bench across from her while Marie scooted beside her and updated her on the new boy. I rolled my eyes and unwrapped my sandwich. The guy talk was getting old.
“What?” Marie asked me. “You’re just acting that way because you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him yet.”
“Whatever.” I twisted the cap off my water bottle and took a sip.
“Allie only acts that way because she hasn’t kissed a boy yet,” Erica teased. “So she has no idea what she’s missing.”
Erica was wrong. I did kiss a boy once. But it wasn’t because I loved him; it was for experimental purposes only. Jeremy was nine and I was eight, and we got curious one day. We had no idea what all the hype was about kissing. It was in the movies and in books and other kids talked about it in school. So we tried it while sitting on the back step behind my house. Even though our lips barely touched, we swore we would never tell anyone what we did. Kissing felt wrong to us since we were more like brother and sister than anything else. We both agreed that day that best friends shouldn’t kiss. But I could never tell Erica that.
“Get out of here,” Marie said, laughing.
“That’s because I never found a boy I wanted to kiss.” I glared at both of them, resisting the urge to stick out my tongue like a three-year-old.
Marie’s eyes lit up like a neon sign in front of one of those cheap, skuzzy motels—the kind that are missing the V or the C, the kind where you and your friends spend five minutes of your life laughing your butts off while trying to pronounce the word. “Oh, you’ll definitely want to kiss this one,” she said.
“I doubt it,” I mumbled, then bit into my sandwich, ignoring their sudden burst of laughter.
Then it happened, right in the middle of me stuffing my face full of sandwich. Marie’s high-pitched squeal set off the chain of events. She pointed behind me with one hand while the other nearly ripped Erica’s shoulder off, urging her to look.
“O-MI-GAWD! Look at him!” Erica gasped for air.
My friends had to have walked into their fair share of trashcans when they were little, because something was definitely shaking around up there, I thought as I raised my head.
Erica’s eyes were wide and she appeared to be holding her breath. I wasn’t sure if I should initiate CPR, but instead did the worst thing possible. I turned my head and followed her gaze.
“I told you! I told you!” Marie chanted from in front of me.
Her words and everything else faded into the distance as I watched the guy from the night before walk casually through the cafeteria. He was wearing a pair of khakis, a white tee, and a blue and white unbuttoned shirt, which gently lifted in the breeze. For a moment, I couldn’t take my eyes away from him. He was just as gorgeous, maybe even more, than he had been last night.
This was so not possible.
I spun my head back around and dropped my gaze to my sandwich. Tiny sparks danced through my veins, igniting a fire in the pit of my stomach that couldn’t be explained as I cursed him endlessly under my breath. Erica and Marie’s screeching switched to soft whispers as I attempted to slow my beating heart.
“He’s so hot.” Erica fanned herself with her hands. “I’m already taken. I’m already taken. I’m already taken.”
Marie giggled and said, “His name is Ethan Bradly—I asked the secretary.”
Erica slowly shook her head. “Oh, what I could do to him right—”
Marie placed her hand over Erica’s mouth and shushed her. “Ben’s coming.”
Erica got her jaw back into place before Ben made it to our table. He placed his tray on the table and sat down beside Erica. “Hey,” he said, running his fingers through his spiked brown hair.
“Hi,” she said, still trying to contain herself.
He glanced over to the other side of Erica. “Hey, Marie.”
“Hiya, Ben.” Marie bounced up and down in her chair like her lemonade had been spiked with an energy drink.
Ben turned his eyes to me and squinted. “Allie…right?”
Before I could answer, a tray slid in next to mine. “Yeah, it’s Allie. She’s in my gym class.” I glanced over to see Aaron take the seat next to me.
Oh, god, could it get any worse? I slowly scooted away from him to escape his creepiness and made a box of space around me. Even though there was quite a gap between us, he was still too close.
“Hey, look,” Marie said. “The new boy’s sitting by himself.” Her head turned in Ethan’s direction. He was sitting alone at a table three rows away, reading a book.
“We should invite him over,” Erica said. She tightened her lips t
o fight her smile. “There’s plenty of room.”
Yup, it was getting worse.
“Ethan!” Marie’s voice spanned out across the cafeteria. As he glanced up, along with about twenty other people, she waved him over. I looked down.
“Fudge,” I whispered under my breath.
“What was that?” Aaron asked, leaning way too far into my box.
I didn’t realize I said it loud enough for anyone to hear. “Nothing.” So please don’t talk to me again, I thought.
I kept my eyes focused on what was left of my sandwich, wishing I could crawl under the table and disappear from view like I used to when I was two. Ethan sat down beside me.
Nooooo! the little voice in my head screamed. He wasn’t close enough to touch me. But that didn’t matter. The small gap between us did nothing to shield me from the heat of his energy. The only thing I had going for me was that Ethan’s warmth seemed to wrap around me, protecting me from the full effects of Aaron’s murky energy.
My heart thumped like a pug panting on the hottest of days. I found myself caught between a fatal heart attack and a serious case of heebie-jeebies if I decided to shift my body either way. The mix of emotions should have caused a blackout, but the lights above our heads remained steady. Not even a blink.
“It is Ethan, right?” Marie asked. Her voice was shaky, but I could tell she was smiling.
Ethan nodded.
“I’m Marie,” she said. “And this is Erica, Ben, Aaron, and that’s Allie.”
He turned his head to me. Then back to Marie. “Allie and I have already met.”
Everyone at the table focused their energy on me. This is what I had been trying to avoid, besides Ethan, of course. I dreaded the spotlight, especially when it refused to go out.
Please, god, if you’re there…please let me die now. I didn’t think that was too much to ask. I would have chosen death over sitting here with my face on fire and not knowing what to say.
Other Side Of Forever (Other Side Of Forever Series Book 1) Page 2