by Alicia Rades
At the same time, I wanted so badly to share my abilities with Emma, and maybe even Derek, but I didn’t know what I should tell her. A wave of guilt rushed over me. I’d never hidden anything from Emma in the decade that I’d known her, so why did it seem like I was hiding so much lately?
***
My mind raced with thoughts of Emma and me during my morning classes, which left me little time to remember to worry about Olivia or Kelli. I was too busy day dreaming about what it would be like to share abilities with my best friend. I knew it was selfish of me, but it was hard to think of anything else when Emma kept throwing excited glances my way.
I wanted to talk about it with Emma in first period, but we were both smarter than to talk about it in front of people. I had told her to keep this to herself, and she had. On some level, I think she understood the importance.
When lunch rolled around, I met Emma and Derek at our usual spot. When my hair wouldn’t stay behind my shoulders and kept falling into my food, I had to excuse myself so I could get a hair tie from my locker and put it back.
The hallway was vacant when I got to my locker. I put in my combination and reached into my backpack for a hair tie and the travel brush I kept there. I looked into my small magnetic mirror as I pulled up my hair. When satisfied, I returned my brush to its proper position.
My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I closed my locker and found Nate Williams staring down at me, which was weird because he’d never talked to me before.
“Um . . . can I help you with something?” I asked. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t keep the nerves from my voice. What was he doing at my locker?
“I saw you talking to Kelli last night,” he said casually as if we had been friends forever. It was hard to not look into his handsome face, a masterpiece really, but something told me that his bright eyes and grin was just a façade.
“Yeah . . . I just thought she dropped some lotion.” My throat tightened, and my mouth dried as my pulse quickened at the encounter. I was not comfortable being in a hallway alone with him right now, no matter how friendly he was acting. A dark haze that I’d never noticed before surrounded his body as if warning me of danger. I considered running, but I decided to play it cool. Maybe I can talk my way out of this, I thought. Maybe he really is being friendly.
“She said you asked if she was okay.”
“Yeah, I did. I was just concerned—”
“Concerned about what?” His tone shifted accusingly.
I took a step back, distancing myself from him.
“She said she’s seen you talking to Justine. What did Justine tell you about me?”
“Nothing.” I could already feel my eyebrow twitching. At least he didn’t know that happened when I lied. “I was just trying to be a good friend.”
“Well don’t be,” he snapped.
I took another step back, larger this time, until I could feel the cool touch of my locker on my back.
Nate only came in closer, jabbing a finger in my direction. “You know, I’m so sick of people like you and Justine and Olivia getting their nose where it doesn’t belong, okay?” His voice was quiet, but it was full of enough fury to make me tremble.
“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Whatever you think you know,” he snarled, still pointing a finger at my chest, “you’re wrong. Kelli and I are fine.”
I didn’t need my psychic abilities to tell me that I wasn’t wrong. The way he advanced toward me with a threatening tone told me he was used to dominating. The way he spoke his words said he had something to hide. I glanced around the hallway, but no one was going to come to my rescue. Being all alone, I decided it was best to defend myself.
“You know what,” I said sternly, taking a stance. “I didn’t quite believe Justine at first, but maybe she was right about you.”
Crap. What did I just say? Why didn’t I just play it cool?
I didn’t see it coming. Suddenly, he lunged at me, pinning me against a locker. Its combination lock dug into my back. He wrapped a hand around my neck and held me in place, bending down so that his face was just inches from mine. The strange feeling I got this morning returned, and the roar rang loud in my ears, a sound that only I, a psychic, could hear.
He leaned in close so that I could feel his hot breath on the side of my face. He came in to whisper in my ear. “You mind your own fucking business, okay? Whatever happens between me and my girl doesn’t concern you, so I’d advise that you stay away. If you don’t,” he paused for dramatic effect, which successfully quickened my pulse, “there will be consequences.”
And then he dropped me, letting me fall into a ball at his feet. He glared down at me for a moment before walking away, a strut that showed his confidence from every angle.
I wrapped my own fingers around my neck and coughed, terrified by his threat. What was wrong with him? I pressed my head against the locker, calming my breath and slowing my heart rate. I knew I didn’t need proof anymore to believe Justine’s allegations toward him. But as much as I wanted it now than ever, I still didn’t have anything that could save Kelli. What if I continued searching for proof, spying on him with my abilities? Would he honestly seek revenge?
With little hesitation, I decided that I would do whatever I could to prove he was a dangerous guy. I rose from the floor, clenching my fists. My eyes narrowed down the hall at his retreating figure. Nate Williams, you just made this battle personal, and you’re not going to hurt this girl and get away with it!
16
I stayed silent when I got back to the lunch table, knowing full well that I couldn’t tell my friends what had just happened to me. I was lucky that Derek and Emma were so great at getting in heated conversation that they didn’t ask me to join in.
I only heard pieces of their discussion, but I didn’t fully process it. “A girl from the elementary school . . . they don’t know . . . just shouldn’t happen in a town like this.”
Instead, I tuned them out and stared at Kelli and Nate, intent on finding something that would prove he was a bad person.
But what could I do? Justine knew what was going on, yet she couldn’t successfully help Kelli. No one would believe any proof I could give them, except for maybe Teddy, but there’d be no case. What if there was proof somewhere? Maybe there was a photo of Kelli’s bruises. Wherever there was proof, I’d find it.
By the end of lunch, I still had nothing. I needed to find a quiet place to relax and open up my mind if I was going to find anything. I didn’t honestly know when I would have that opportunity.
“Hey,” Derek said as we rose from the lunch table when the bell rang. “Are we all still on for after school?”
“After school?” I asked.
“Yeah. Aren’t we going to go pick out costumes?”
I glanced at Emma. I totally forgot about that, and I was really hoping to talk to Emma about what she had read up on, especially now that I was more interested in getting dirt on Nate. I really had to learn how to channel my powers.
Emma and I exchanged a glance, both disappointed that we wouldn’t have the opportunity to talk about this issue for a while. I could tell she was excited to learn more about it, too.
“Yeah, I guess we all need costumes, don’t we?” Emma said. “We’ll head over after school, Derek.”
***
“Ooh, I really like this one.” Emma held up a sexy kitten costume.
“Emma,” I complained from behind my rack. “We’re supposed to be looking for something we can wear as a trio. I don’t think Derek would go for wearing a skirt.”
Derek turned from the rack he was looking at and eyed the costume. “Mm . . . I don’t know, Crystal. I think it would show off my legs well.”
I laughed at him. “If you say so.”
“Derek, if you want to go to the festival in that costume, I won’t be the one selling it to you,” Diane joked from behind the counter.
I knew my mother was somewhere
in the back, but I wished she was out here to help us find a great costume. We had already asked Diane for ideas, but she said Mom knew more about the costumes they had in stock.
“Maybe we could go as the three musketeers,” I suggested, which made Emma crinkle her nose at the idea.
Derek turned back to his rack of costumes and headed down the aisle.
Emma watched him go. Once he was out of ear shot, she started whispering to me. “I really think you should tell him.”
“Tell him what?” I asked, looking back over toward Derek.
“Tell him that you’re . . .” she glanced around at the other customers in the store, but none of them were paying attention to us. She lowered her voice further just in case. “Psychic.”
“I don’t know. What if he doesn’t believe me?” I glanced back at Derek. He was completely ignoring us. But he wouldn’t believe me, would he?
“Well, I believed you.”
“Yeah,” I argued, “but isn’t Derek’s family Christian? Don’t they, like, shun psychics or something?”
Emma giggled. “I don’t think Derek would shun you. Especially because he likes you.”
“What?” I squeaked, stealing another glance at him before lowering my voice again. “He does not.”
“He so does.”
“Oh, please,” I said. “Like I haven’t seen you batting your eyes at him. You can’t get enough of arguing with that boy. Besides, I couldn’t do that to either of you. I couldn’t risk our friendship.” I didn’t have to add that I meant mine and hers as well.
She turned to another costume, shaking off my statement. “I still think you should tell him.” I couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t argue with my accusations.
I took a deep breath. I really did want to tell Derek, but I was too nervous that he wouldn’t believe me.
“I’ll back you up,” Emma encouraged. “I just think it would be cool if he knew, too. We wouldn’t have to have secret conversations like this.”
I caved, unable to refuse her logic. “Okay, we’ll tell him.”
“Hey, Derek,” she called.
“What?” I hissed at her. “Right now?”
She shrugged. “Not necessarily. I’m just going to warm him up to the idea.”
Oh no. What did she have in mind?
“Yeah?” he asked when he made his way over to us.
Emma put on an innocent face. “You know all that stuff they have in the other room?”
They both glanced at the opposite end of the store.
“Yeah. They have crystal balls and tarot cards and stuff in there. What about it?”
Emma squinted an eye like she was thinking. “Do you believe in that kind of stuff? I mean, like for real. Do you think people can know things?”
“What? You mean, like, psychics?”
Emma nodded. “Yeah, like psychics, fortune tellers, astrologers, and whatnot.”
Derek shrugged then began flipping through the costumes where I left off. “I don’t know. I guess I’d have to meet one to believe it.”
I was getting nervous.
Emma glanced at me, and with reluctance, I gave her a look of approval back, allowing her to divulge my secret to Derek. “But you have met one.”
“Huh? I think I would remember that.”
Emma looked around at the other customers again and decided we were safe from ear shot. “Crystal’s a psychic, and I’m going to be one, too,” she said proudly.
Derek rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and I’m Clark Kent.”
That stung at my heart a little.
“I’m serious,” Emma insisted, and we both stared at him.
His eyes shifted back and forth between us, gauging our expressions. “You’re serious.”
I nodded.
Derek crossed his arms over his body and narrowed his eyes the same way Emma had when I told her. “Prove it.”
I smirked. “Challenge accepted.”
Emma and I walked to the back of the store and entered the break room so Derek could hide an object in private. He insisted that Emma come with me so that we couldn’t cheat.
“Make sure to hide it really hard,” Emma told him. “Crystal is really good at this game.”
Emma and I sat across each other on the table in the break room.
“I did not expect him to believe us,” I said.
“I don’t think he does,” Emma admitted. “Not quite yet. But when you find whatever he hid, he’ll have to. Derek was always good at hide and seek, but you were better. You know, now I understand how you always found us so fast.”
Looking back on it, I always was great at finding them.
Emma and I both jumped when the door to the break room swung open. My mother jumped back, too, and placed her hand across her heart.
“I’m sorry, girls,” she said as she entered the room. “I didn’t realize anyone was in here. I just need to grab a snack from my purse.”
“Hey, Andrea,” Emma greeted, but I knew there was more she wanted to say. “Crystal and I were thinking that sometime next week you could teach us more about being psychic.”
My mother didn’t miss a beat in her step. She wasn’t surprised that I’d told Emma.
“I want to learn, too,” Emma continued. “I did a bunch of research on different exercises you can do to enhance your abilities. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about this morning, Crystal. I wanted to tell you about all these different types of exercises I found and maybe do some together.” She turned her gaze toward my mother. “Crystal said that anyone can be psychic with practice. Is that true?”
“If you really want to, then yes,” my mom answered. “I mean, your abilities won’t be as strong as Crystal’s, but we can try.”
Emma fist pumped the air. Why was Emma more excited about this than I was? Was it because I’d already had a small taste of what it was like and I wasn’t too excited about all the responsibility? To Emma, it was just a game, but I knew it meant more than that.
“Why don’t you join us tomorrow night, Emma?” my mom offered.
“Mom!” I hadn’t told Emma anything about Olivia, and my mom had to go break it to her that I’d lied.
Emma glanced from me to my mom then back at me. “What’s happening tomorrow night? I thought you were having a girl’s night.”
My mom bit off a piece of her granola bar. “Yeah, just not the typical girl’s night.”
Emma looked at me for explanation.
“You didn’t tell her?” my mother asked in surprise.
“Mom!” I scolded again. I didn’t want her scaring off Emma, but now I was kind of stuck. I turned to Emma. “We’re holding a séance.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh. That would be so cool! Why didn’t you tell me, Crystal?” She swatted a hand at me like I was a puppy that had been bad. She looked at me expectantly.
A wave of guilt flooded over me. “I—I thought it would scare you away.”
“No, it sounds totally awesome. I might even see a ghost! A real ghost!”
She looked back toward my mom. “You don’t have to be psychic to join the séance?”
“Nope. The more believers, the merrier.”
“So who are you holding the séance for, and why?”
Before we had a chance to explain, Derek opened the door. “I hid it,” he announced.
***
If people kept playing this game with me, it wasn’t going to be fun for me for very long. Just one quick touch of Derek’s hand and I knew exactly where he’d hid it.
“You hid your pencil,” I announced to add to the show before I reached into his sweatshirt hood and pulled it out. “Sneaky little . . .” I muttered.
Derek’s eyes widened. “I thought that hiding place was genius. Now this explains why you were always so good at hide and seek.”
Emma and I exchanged a glance and giggled.
“I’m still not convinced, but I will say that I’m amazed. Were you guys spying on me?” Derek glan
ced at his watch. “We’ll have to try this again somewhere where you can’t spy on me.”
Figures, I thought. I knew he wouldn’t believe me.
“Andrea,” Derek said, “we don’t have much time until we have to get ready for the game. Do you have any suggestions on a trio costume we could wear to the festival?”
She thought about this for a moment, and then without saying anything, she led us to a rack of costumes we hadn’t made it to yet.
She handed us each a hanger. Derek held up a Cat in the Hat costume, Emma a Thing 1 costume, and me a Thing 2 costume. They were perfect.
“I’ll see you at your game,” my mom said after we purchased our costumes.
“Okay, love you, Mom,” I said, kissing her on the cheek.
“I love you, too, Crystal.” She glanced at my friends then back at me. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
My mom led me back to the break room.
“What is it?” I asked.
She sighed. “Look, Crystal. I really respect your decision about telling Emma. I trust Emma, too, which is why I don’t have a problem with it. I can sense something in her.” She paused for a moment as if thinking. “But Derek?” Her eyes looked at me for an explanation.
“Mom, he’s just as much my friend as Emma is.”
She stared at me seriously. “Men can be . . .” She paused to find the right word. “Different. I just don’t want to see you hurt. That’s all. I’m not saying that I think Derek is a bad guy. It’s just—“
I pulled her into an embrace and cut her off. “It’s okay, Mom.”
She hugged me back. “Okay. As long as you know what you’re doing.”
I smiled. “I hope so.”
17
We dropped off our costumes back at my house before heading out the door for our last game of the season.
After we made it to the school and Emma and I were finally alone before we had to warm up, we went back to the conversation I knew we were both dying to have.