by C. S Luis
“Ah! Claudia,” Michael said as he rose from behind his desk, catching sight of me by the door. He looked delighted to see me, happier than I had ever seen him. The normality he had been hoping for had finally come, I sensed him thinking.
“Jimmy tells me you are going to prom with him,” he joyfully stated. I immediately turned red. “I think that’s wonderful,” he added.
“I asked Dr. McClellan if I could take you home,” Jimmy explained, coming over and kissing me.
I pulled away and whispered, “Not in front of Michael.”
He smiled, and I heard Michael say, “It’s alright, Jimmy. Call me Michael.”
“Thank you, Dr— I mean Michael.”
You would think we were getting married, the way Michael was carrying on with Jimmy. Jimmy took my hand and I glared at Michael, as he smiled, shooing me away with his hand. Why was he acting so odd? And why was Jimmy okay? Wasn’t Michael worried?
Jimmy and I walked into the hallway and he pulled me near.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, knowing something was bothering me.
At first, I didn’t answer. After a pause, I said, “Why were you in there?”
He smiled as we continued walking; the halls were nearly deserted, only the occasional kid walked by for after school actives and those waiting on their rides.
“I wanted to make sure he knew about us. I wanted to do the right thing and introduce myself to him.”
“But he knows you,” I said foolishly.
He smiled, chuckling softly.
“Of course, but I wanted to assure him you were in safe hands. So he wouldn’t worry.”
I blinked at him. I don’t think I had ever met someone like him. Had he gone seeking Michael’s approval? Yes, he had…
“What if he hadn’t approved of us?” I challenged him. “What if he said you couldn’t go out with me or date me?”
Jimmy smiled warmly at me. Leaning forward, he kissed my cheek as we continued down the hall. I awaited his response with eagerness.
“Then I would have done whatever I could to make him see differently.” I wrinkled my brow as he pulled me alongside him toward the exist. ‘What does that mean?’ I thought.
We came out into the parking lot with him leading the way. The school buses were dispersing one by one. Somehow, I didn’t take him for a school bus passenger and I was right as we approached a vehicle in the parking lot. I thought only teachers parked here. We approached a new looking silver car, a Jaguar, and Jimmy lifted the car remote and deactivated the alarm.
“Is this yours?” I blurted out. He gazed back at me. “It looks new.”
He smiled and opened the door for me. “It is,” he merely said and ushered me into the passenger seat. I sat as he closed the door and climbed into the driver’s side.
I was speechless; the scent of new leather tickled my nose as I touched the fresh fabric and gazed at the beautiful interior.
“It’s nice,” I uttered as he took his seat next to me and gazed over at me. He hadn’t stopped smiling, nor had he stopped staring. “How can you afford something like this?” I inquired.
He grinned and started up the car; it roared as it awakened. “It was a gift for my birthday— my father works for a large corporation.”
Then I remembered his birthday. I didn’t even hear the rest of what he said. He noticed the look on my face.
“Your birthday? I can’t believe I—” Jimmy smiled, immediately leaning over the console and planting his mouth on mine, silencing what I meant to say.
He settled back into his seat and smiled once more, “I already got everything I want for my birthday— Claudia Belle,” he said with a wink.
He accelerated and we sped out of the parking lot. We must have gotten home 15 minutes earlier than we normally would. Michael hadn’t even arrived yet when we got to the house.
Jimmy insisted on keeping me company. I invited him inside, seeing as he was now my boyfriend. I was still a little reluctant, however. I thought that my nerves were merely towards the idea that we had just started dating and therefore all of this was fairly new to me. All of this was new to me; I had never had a boyfriend and didn’t know how to act or feel. I did like him and he was now my boyfriend but I hardly knew him. It felt strange, almost forced. But by who?
We ended up in my room because Jimmy wanted to see my artwork. I was a little hesitant, not only because I was shy about my drawings, but because we would be alone. In private. It wasn’t like I didn’t trust Jimmy but I didn’t trust myself. I was already questioning my reasons for being with him. I liked him but I doubted that those feelings were enough. Not only that, but he seemed different from the moment I agreed to date him. He seemed freer and far bolder. Like someone who took what he wanted or got what he wanted. And perhaps that’s also what I felt, he had me now and he felt powerful. Or maybe I just wanted to make excuses for whatever reason.
I left the door ajar as Jimmy walked around my room looking at the many pieces of artwork on my wall and art table. I was nervous watching him as he eyed me from the table, picking up a piece at a time and studying it with great interest.
“You did these?” he asked. He seemed so interested it was hard to take him seriously. I thought he was being nice to me. Seeing as I was now his girlfriend… god, that felt weird to say.
“These are amazing, Claudia. Are you in Ms. Eagers’s class?” he glanced back at me. I shook my head.
“Mr. Stewart?” Again, I shook my head. “The art club?” I came closer to the bed and shook my head no again.
He smiled. “Claudia, these are amazing. Any of those teachers would be thrilled to have you in their class. Why aren’t you in the art club?”
I dropped on the bed. I wasn’t sure. That was the same question Michael had asked me. He wanted me to get involved but I just didn’t see the point. I was already the ridicule of so many others. After what had happened to me, I was afraid to socialize.
“I’m not sure,” I simply said.
He put the drawings down and, as he came over to where I was sitting, he looked over at the few paintings displayed on the wall. I had managed to paint them over the time I had come to live here, one was of Michael, another was Mr. Vasquez, and Mr. Claypool and, yes, I had even done John Slater.
That was the one Jimmy studied very closely. I had the feeling he didn’t like Mr. Slater.
“You got him down,” he pointed over to the painting. I didn’t say anything as he came over. I rose from the bed to stand in front of him.
“I’m impressed,” he gazed at me. Really? I wondered.
“I didn’t know I had such a talented girlfriend.” And it was strange hearing the word ‘girlfriend’ again, especially from him. I had never been anyone’s girlfriend before.
“I mean, I knew you were talented but beautiful and talented? I feel so lucky.” He was nearly smothering his face in the side of my neck. Suddenly grabbing my face with his hands, he kissed me passionately. I welcomed his caress with little resistance. Our relationship felt alien to me, far more alien than what I had felt with Quentin or even Mr. Slater. Why was that? I tried to force those thoughts away; this was a normal, human relationship I kept telling myself. This was normal in comparison to what I had dealt with before. Why was it far more alien to me?
Caught in the moment, I felt his hand on my breast and almost immediately I recoiled and pushed it away, pulling back from his touch.
“Don’t—it’s too soon,” I said. He looked spellbound.
“I’m sorry; I don’t know what came over me. I just lost control…I couldn’t control myself for a minute. You do something to me, Claudia Belle. I can’t explain it.” He seemed to be out of breath as he took a step back.
I didn’t understand what he meant. Do something to him?
“I guess it doesn’t make any sense.” he tried to say; he looked delirious and confused by his own desires. Did he honestly not know what he was doing? “Forgive me.” Now he looked embarrassed.
“It’s okay,” I said in a whisper.
I took his hand. The same look clouded his eyes, the one of desire and confusion. He looked lost at my touch. He cupped my cheek suddenly.
I heard the door downstairs open and spun my head toward my bedroom door.
“It’s Michael,” I said nervously. “We had better go downstairs.”
Jimmy nodded in response.
I made a movement for the door and Jimmy unexpectedly grabbed my hand and pulled me near. I glanced at him; he looked dazed again.
“Jimmy, we should go, before Michael comes up.”
He nodded in agreement but didn’t move.
“I just want you to know, Claudia, that I meant what I said.”
I stared over at him, perplexed. But I already knew.
“I meant what I said, about spoiling you. You deserve only the best. And I plan to give you everything you deserve.”
Jimmy’s promise to spoil me was not what I expected. He became inseparable from me. Somehow, he talked Michael into letting him pick me up. One morning he was in the kitchen having breakfast with Michael as I came down. I was completely taken by surprise.
Michael had no problem with the entire situation. Of course, it was the normal he wanted for me after Quentin and Mr. Slater’s departure.
“Hi baby, I thought I’d start picking you up. Of course, I had to ask Michael first.”
Michael winked at me reassuringly.
It was strange. At school, Jimmy spent even more time walking me to class like a protective bodyguard. At lunch he was there again; he had changed his lunch period just so he could be with me. It soon became the biggest gossip of Milton: Jimmy Reinhardt and Claudia Belle were an item.
Jimmy couldn’t stop boasting to his friends about being the one to have snapped up Claudia Belle. He walked me to class like I was a trophy he had won. The girls in love with him became far more hostile to me.
While in class, I asked to be excused to go to the bathroom. As I went into the hallway I saw a group of cheerleaders in the hall heading to practice. I thought nothing of it even after I got a few ugly looks, including one from Rachel.
After finishing up, I went to the sink and washed my hands.
I was ready to head back to class when Rachel entered. She wasn’t alone; two of her cheerleader friends were with her. I didn’t pay much attention to them until they blocked my path to the door.
I tried to move around them but each time I did, they’d block me again. I glared at them. “Move,” I boldly said. I wasn’t in the mood for their insults. They could do it from afar where I couldn’t see them, even if I could hear them. Sometimes my anger would the get the best of me and they would trip on their shoes or some freshman would spill their dessert on them. Why did Rachel always find my eyes and suspect it was me? Maybe because it was. But she didn’t know that.
“I just wanted to talk to you,” Rachel smirked. The other two were standing beside her trying their best to look scary, while occasionally staring at the mirror and checking their lipstick and makeup. Rachel seemed to do the same. The thought “Mean girls” came to mind.
I took a deep breath; I really had no time for this.
“Talk?” I glared at them.
“You know have a chat regarding why you think you can hang around Jimmy.” Her girlfriends seemed to laugh. “You know he’s out of your league.”
Her friends nodded in agreement.
“Way out,” they added.
“Maybe he took an interest in you because he felt sorry for you. No friends, no parents, and no grandfather,” she made an attempt to display a sad expression. “You know, like someone who adopts a sick little puppy.”
“Move,” I beamed my angry eyes at her.
“You know he was going to ask me to prom before he set his pretty little eyes on your ugly mug. What did you do to him to change his mind? Did you put one of your weird spells on him?”
Her friends laughed in support.
“Strange, the same thing happened to our last principal. What did you do to him to get him so wrapped around your finger?” she sneered.
I blinked, shocked by her words.
“You’re not very much to look at. What is it these men see in you?” she glared at me, taking a step closer. “What did you do to them to make them like you?”
Her annoying friends began to giggle.
“You make me sick. You may have them all fooled but you can’t fool me.”
I wanted to cry but I bit my lip, as the voices started fluttering. ‘Not now,’ I was thinking, but I couldn’t silence them. I couldn’t concentrate on anything but Rachel’s cruel words. I didn’t want to lose control now; not in front of her. It would just confirm everything she had just said.
‘Get a grip,’ I was telling myself. But the voice chattered and chattered. I heard Quentin from afar.
“My pet, hear me. I know that you can…you must.” Then it became static and distorted and his voice sounded like radio static.
You are the answer I’ve been in search of…
“I said move!” I yelled. At that moment, the pipe above exploded and water began to pour all over them as I backed away. Rachel’s two companions started screaming in despair as they became soaked.
Rachel glared over at me with a fiery rage in her eyes, as her two friends raced out of the bathroom. Now completely soaked, she watched me, and her mouth parted slowly. The fire I had noticed in her eyes before had vanished; now there was fear and confusion in her look. She looked up at the pipe, then at me.
“You’re a freak!” she uttered and backed away, then ran out. The word ‘freak’ echoed as the bathroom door slammed shut. The stalls shuddered but it wasn’t from the slamming door. It was from my anger.
I stood there, glaring at the pipe above me. I knew what she had noticed that had frightened her. The water was cascading to the floor, but it had not touched me. In fact, the water was falling in an unnatural manner and seemed to completely try to avoid me. And she had seen it.
I should have been scared she would tell others but I wasn’t. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to hide who I was or what I could do any longer. I just wanted to be me. Normal was something I could never be, and quite honestly, I didn’t care.
I stared at the pipe for a mere moment and realized I could move it if I concentrated long enough. At first, it simply began to rattle a bit, then it moved slightly. I willed it, bending it back into shape, reconnecting it to the other end of the pipe. With that, the water suddenly stopped. I noticed there was a small puddle on the floor. I concentrated again, and the water began to spin into a small whirlpool. I lead the swirl into one of the stalls and into a toilet and flushed it.
With the water now gone, it was as if nothing had even happened. I was getting better at this. And I wondered how I had grown so good at controlling my abilities. Had it been my brief encounter with Quentin? Or was something in me changing? I didn’t know how to feel about that.
I came out of the bathroom and walked down the hallway. Above me the bell rang and the students suddenly scattered out of the classrooms; the hallways were busy again. I moved through the crowds with ease; my ability seemed to be taking control of me. I felt free and alive. In control for the first time. I could let it consume me.
“Yes, allow it through, let it flow from you, my love. This is who you are, this is who we are. Together we will be stronger than anything anyone has ever encountered. No one will ever oppose us.”
I continued moving past other students. Anyone that was in my way, I simply shifted them slightly and walked on.
They didn’t even understand what had just occurred; they thought they had tripped, or lost their balance. I heard the voices far clearer than before. Above, the bell rang again and the busy halls emptied and it became quiet again.
I continued down the hall toward the side doors, past the cafeteria. The doors leading to the parking lot opened for me without me so much as touching them. I stepped out as they slammed s
hut behind me. There I stood, the voice growing louder.
“My pet, I feel you—you’re growing stronger—” it rejoiced.
I closed my eyes tightly and felt light-headed. I felt alive and light as a feather, rising and rising.
“You’re growing stronger—” his voice said again. “I feel you—I feel you, but, I fear, so can he…”
I opened my eyes. I was now sitting on the edge of a building, gazing down onto Broadway St. below. The sky above me was clear, below, the yellow buses were starting to arrive and line up at the side of the building. I felt the air blowing through my hair.
“My pet—” I heard his voice again. “You are strong enough to open the portal and come to me—concentrate and come to me,” he beckoned.
Before me, a light began to slowly appear starting with a tiny spin, slowly growing and growing...a little at a time.
Jimmy came out the side doors and saw the buses had already arrived. He looked in each direction, wondering where Claudia was. He knew he could normally find her in Michael’s office, but she wasn’t there that day. Mrs. Wallace had not seen her and Michael hadn’t been in his office to ask.
He stepped over to his car and decided to put his backpack in the trunk before going back into the building to look for her. The sky above seemed to darken and he wondered if it would rain. A light flashed above, just over the building. For a split second, he thought the wall had been hit by a bolt of lightning, but when he looked again he caught sight of something or someone on the edge of the building. Only then did he realize what he was looking at.
The light spun faster, growing and growing; I watched it intently. It was hypnotic, glowing with purple hues and golden yellows, oranges and beautiful reds and greens. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life.
“My pet…walk into the light, come to me.”
I heard faint voices behind me, and yet all I could see were the lights drawing me closer and closer. I rose silently; now I could see the ground below, the buses were now ready to receive students. Distantly, I heard someone calling my name, the sound coming closer and closer.