by Isobel Bird
“It wasn’t just you,” said Annie. “Cooper and I were pressuring her, too.”
“I know,” Tyler replied. “But I feel like I pushed her away when she needed me to stick by her.”
“She still needs you,” said Cooper. “Now more than ever.”
“And just how am I supposed to do that?” Tyler asked. “I can’t see her. I can’t even call her.”
“Why not E-mail her?” T.J. said.
“Unless her parents are reading her E-mail, too,” Annie pointed out.
“It’s worth trying,” said Tyler. “I can’t get to her any other way except through you guys, and that’s just not the same.”
“I’ll write her address down for you,” said Cooper. “You can try it when you get home.”
“Sasha, that was a really cool letter that Thea wrote to the paper,” T.J. said as they continued to walk down the street.
“Thea wrote a letter?” Tyler asked.
“Yeah,” Sasha answered. “To the Tribune, in response to Amanda Barclay’s article. She talked about how she’s a witch and how she’s raising a teenager who is also into the Craft and how it has nothing to do with Satan worship or anything stupid like that. It was really a great letter.”
“It was certainly a lot better than the other seven they ran that all supported the ban on occult symbols in schools,” Annie remarked. “Some of those letters were really hostile.”
“My favorite was the one from the guy who said that if teenagers are allowed to learn about witchcraft they’ll get pregnant and do drugs,” said Cooper. “Where did that come from?”
“I just wish more people had written letters like Thea’s,” said Annie.
“I know,” Sasha agreed. “I have the coolest mom in the world.”
Cooper noticed Sasha’s use of the word mom in reference to Thea. She had never called her that before, and it made Cooper happy to hear it. It meant that Sasha really was thinking of Beecher Falls as her permanent home, and of Thea as her permanent family. At least one thing is going well, she thought.
They were almost to the bus stop when Cooper noticed the three guys watching them from across the street. They were standing in front of the Bull Pen, a sports bar popular with the jock crowd from nearby Jasper College. One was wearing a baseball cap, one had on a Jasper Bulldogs sweatshirt, and one of them was holding a big plastic cup in his hand.
“Hey,” the guy in the baseball cap called out. “Aren’t you that witch?”
“Just ignore him,” Annie said to Cooper.
The guy jogged across the road and stopped in front of the group. “Hey,” he said again. “I recognize your picture from the paper. You’re that witch girl, right?”
“Yeah,” Cooper said. “I am.”
The guy laughed and waved to his friends. “Hey, guys, I told you it was her.”
His friends crossed the street, too, and the three of them stood looking at Cooper and the others with grins on their faces.
“Is that the necklace?” the one holding the cup asked, nodding at the pentacle visible around Cooper’s neck.
Cooper nodded. She wondered what the three boys wanted. They seemed friendly enough, but something troubled her about the situation. She wished they would just get out of their way so she and her friends could keep walking.
“Let’s see that,” said the guy in the sweatshirt. He reached out his hand and lifted the pentacle.
“Hey!” Cooper said, swatting at his hand. “Do you mind?”
The guy pulled his hand away and glared at her. “I just wanted to see the thing,” he said. “Cool it.”
“Better watch out, Doug,” the guy with the cup told his buddy. “She might zap you or something.”
The three guys laughed, but Doug didn’t try to touch Cooper’s necklace again.
“Let’s go,” said T.J., starting to walk by the college guys.
“Wait, wait, wait,” said the one in the cap, putting his hand on T.J.’s chest. “We’re not done talking to witchgirl here.”
He pushed T.J. away and stood in front of Cooper. “So what kind of powers do you have?” he asked. “Can you make me fall in love with you?”
Cooper knew she should play it cool, but the guy’s attitude was really bugging her. “Why?” she asked. “Can’t you get a girl on your own?”
His friends hooted. “She told you, Wayne,” Doug said.
Wayne sneered at Cooper. “Who the hell do you think you are?” he asked her. “Some high school punk who thinks she’s hot stuff because she wears a stupid necklace?”
“And who the hell do you think you are?” Sasha asked, coming to stand beside Cooper. “Some college punk who thinks he’s hot stuff because he wears a stupid baseball cap?”
Wayne looked at her, then turned to his friends. “Get a load of this one,” he said, snickering.
The guy holding the cup approached Sasha. “I suppose you’re a witch, too?” he asked.
“Maybe I am,” Sasha said.
“Maybe you should give her the test, Todd,” Wayne told his friend. “What did they use to do to witches, burn them? Maybe you should see if she burns.”
“Maybe you should shut your mouth.”
Cooper turned and looked at Tyler, who had just spoken. He was glaring at the three college guys with an expression of pure anger on his face. Cooper could see he was shaking, and she knew he must be both frightened and furious.
“Who’s that?” Todd asked. “Your boyfriend?”
“No, I’m her boyfriend,” T.J. answered, moving closer to Todd.
Todd took a lighter out of his pocket and flicked it on. He moved the flame closer to Sasha’s face. “What do you think?” he said tauntingly. “Think you’ll burn?”
Sasha looked at him coldly. The next thing Cooper heard was a splash as the cup fell from his hand and its contents went everywhere. Then Todd was on the ground, holding his crotch and moaning loudly. The lighter clattered to the sidewalk beside him and sputtered out in a puddle of beer.
“She kicked me,” he gasped as his friends looked on in astonishment.
Wayne and Doug looked at Todd on the ground. Then they looked at Cooper and the others, their faces contorted in anger. Suddenly, Wayne leaped forward, trying to grab Sasha. But T.J. jumped between them and grabbed Wayne by the shirt, swinging him sideways.
Doug came at Cooper, bellowing, “You stupid witch.” She put her arms up to ward him off but not before he’d grabbed her by the throat and started to choke her. She felt his fingers pressing against her windpipe, cutting off the air. She tried to knee him, like Sasha had Todd, but she was thrown off balance and could only grab at his face, trying to push him away.
Everything seemed to move too quickly. She couldn’t get her bearings and she couldn’t think. Out of the corner of her eye she saw T.J. and Wayne swinging at each other. She also saw Todd rising to his knees behind Sasha, who wasn’t looking in his direction. She wanted to call out and warn her, but she couldn’t.
Then Doug was pulled backward and his grip on Cooper’s throat loosened. Cooper heard someone screaming and then looked up to see Annie hanging off Doug’s back. She was pounding his head with her free hand and yelling at him to leave them all alone. If she hadn’t been trying to gasp in air, Cooper would have laughed at the sight of the big college jock turning around and around as he tried to knock little Annie off.
Todd was almost standing again, and Cooper could see that his goal was to get to Sasha. “Behind you!” she called out just as Todd lurched forward.
Sasha turned and punched Todd square in the stomach. He doubled forward, clutching his gut, and she nailed him again in the face. Blood flew from his nose as he staggered back, crying out in pain before turning and running off into the darkness.
That took care of one guy, but there were still two left. Cooper looked at Doug and saw
that Tyler had come to Annie’s aid. But T.J. was still fighting Wayne all by himself. Both of them had blood on their faces, and they were screaming and swearing at one another as they continued to fight. Cooper knew that T.J.’s older brothers had taught him a thing or two about boxing, and even though he was smaller than the college guy he was holding his own. While this encouraged her, she also knew that it would enrage Wayne, who probably wasn’t too happy about having his butt kicked by a high school kid.
Before anyone could do anything else the sound of sirens filled the air and Cooper saw the flashing lights that signaled the arrival of a police car. Hearing it, Wayne and Doug took off, running after their already departed friend. Cooper ran over to T.J. and put her arm around him.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
T.J. wiped some blood from his lip, which had been split open. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m fine.”
“That eye is going to swell shut,” said Cooper, touching the puffy and already bruising skin over T.J.’s right eye.
The police car came to a stop and two officers jumped out.
“What’s going on?” asked one of the officers, a young woman with the name Watson on her tag.
“Those guys attacked us,” Annie told them.
“Do you know why?” asked the second officer, an older man whose name tag read Meers.
“Because of me,” Cooper informed them.
The officers looked at her closely. “You’re the girl from the paper,” said Officer Watson.
“That’s why they attacked us,” said Cooper. “They saw my picture. They were harassing me and my friends, and when we told them to knock it off they came at us.”
Officer Meers shook his head. “Is everyone all right?” he asked.
“A little bloody, but okay,” T.J. told him. “I think they got the worst of it, to tell you the truth. After all, there are five of us and only three of them.”
Officer Watson sniffed the air. “Were you drinking tonight?” she asked.
“That was their beer,” Sasha said. “That guy dropped it when I nailed him in the jewels. That’s his lighter, too.”
The officer looked at her inquisitively. “Excuse me?” she said.
“Sorry,” Sasha said. “When I kicked him in the . . . you know.”
The officer nodded, smiling slightly. “I see,” she said, bending down to pick up the lighter. “I’ll just take this as evidence in case we need it later.”
“Where did you learn to fight like that anyway?” Annie asked her. “You went all Charlie’s Angels on that guy.”
“Live on the streets for a while,” Sasha told her. “You learn some stuff.”
“You weren’t so bad yourself,” said Cooper to Annie.
“Please,” Annie said. “All I did was hang on for dear life.”
“You all seem to be okay,” Officer Meers said. “At least for the most part,” he added as he examined T.J.’s battered face. “Why don’t you let us drive you home? It’s probably safer than walking. Those guys might still be hanging around.”
Cooper hated the idea of needing a police escort home, but she agreed. The five of them managed to squeeze into the back of the patrol car, and they left. As they drove, Officer Watson asked them what they could tell her about the guys who had attacked them. Cooper told them their names and described what they were wearing.
“They shouldn’t be too hard to find if they go to Jasper,” Officer Meers remarked. “We’ll drive over there after we drop you off and see what we can find.”
They dropped T.J. off first. Officer Meers walked him to his front door, and Cooper saw the policeman talking to Mr. McAllister when he came to see why his son was being brought home by a cop. When they were done T.J. turned and waved to Cooper as he went inside.
Annie was next, and then Cooper, as Sasha and Tyler were in the opposite direction. As Cooper got out of the car she looked at her friends and said, “Sorry about this, you guys.”
“It’s okay,” said Tyler.
“Yeah,” Sasha added. “No problem.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Cooper told Sasha. “And I’ll talk to you later,” she said to Tyler as she shut the door.
Officer Watson walked her to the door. Before Cooper could even get her key out of her pocket the door swung open and her mother rushed out.
“What happened?” she said. “Is anyone dead?”
“No, Mrs. Rivers,” the officer said. “Your daughter was attacked by some college boys.”
“Oh, my God!” said Cooper’s mother, grabbing her and hugging her tightly. “Are you okay?”
“Except that now I can’t breathe, yeah,” said Cooper.
Her mother released her and looked at her face. “What happened to your neck?” she asked.
“One of them tried to choke me,” said Cooper. “He was trying to rip my pentacle off.”
“That damn necklace again!” Mrs. Rivers said angrily, surprising both Cooper and Officer Watson.
“Can we talk about this inside?” asked Cooper, nodding toward the police officer.
“Your daughter and her friends handled themselves very well, Mrs. Rivers,” said Officer Watson. “You should be proud of her. Cooper, I may need to talk to you again if we find those guys.”
“Okay,” Cooper said. “And thanks.”
The officer left, and Cooper followed her mother into the house. Her father, hearing the conversation, had come down from his upstairs office.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Cooper was almost killed,” said Mrs. Rivers.
“I wasn’t almost killed,” Cooper protested. “Some guys got in my face because of the newspaper article.”
Mr. Cooper sighed. “I have half a mind to file a lawsuit against Amanda Barclay,” he said.
“Why?” Mrs. Rivers snapped. “You and Cooper are the ones who talked to her in the first place. She’s just doing her job.”
Cooper turned to her mother. “Are you blaming me for this?” she asked.
“If you didn’t insist on wearing that, and talking about it every chance you get, then this kind of thing wouldn’t happen,” Mrs. Rivers answered.
“So you’d rather I just let people walk all over my rights?” Cooper said.
“I don’t think we should talk about this right now,” Mr. Rivers said calmly. “Everyone is upset.”
“I wasn’t upset until a second ago,” Cooper said. “Are you saying you think the school board is right, Mom?”
“I’ve told you before what I think,” answered Mrs. Rivers.
“So what you’re saying is you don’t support me in this,” Cooper said.
“Cooper—” her father said.
“I’m just trying to clarify things, Dad,” said Cooper.
Mrs. Rivers looked at her daughter. “No,” she said evenly. “I don’t support you.”
“Janet,” Mr. Rivers said. “Cooper was just attacked.”
“She asked me, Stephen,” said Cooper’s mother. “She asked me what I think. And what I think is that you and she are doing something very foolish. Look what kind of trouble it’s already caused. Cooper could have been killed.”
“But I wasn’t,” Cooper protested.
“But you could have been,” said Mrs. Rivers. “Easily. And this isn’t the first time. If your friends hadn’t been there, and if the police hadn’t come, we might be visiting you in a morgue right now. You might think that necklace is worth dying for, but I’m sorry, I don’t.”
Cooper turned away. “I’m going to bed,” she said.
She ran upstairs. She knew that she should stay and talk the matter out with her parents. That would be the mature thing to do. But she was tired and angry. She was angry at the three guys who had attacked her. She was angry at Amanda Barclay for writing such a biased article about her. And she wa
s angry at her mother for being unsupportive.
But mostly she was angry because what she feared the most was that her mother might be right.
CHAPTER 15
Kate clicked on the mail icon on her computer screen. It was Saturday morning. She’d been on-line, looking up information for an English assignment, when suddenly the little flag on the mailbox had gone up and the annoying chime indicating that she’d received an E-mail had sounded.
It’s probably just more junk mail, she thought as she opened her mail to see what it was. She’d only had her E-mail account for a little while, and she hadn’t given the address to very many people. So far the only E-mails she’d gotten had been from Cooper and Annie.
But when she saw the subject line her spirits immediately lifted. “Merry Meet!” it said. Seeing the familiar Wiccan greeting was like hearing from an old friend. But who had sent her such a thing? She checked the screen name. “RowanTree,” she said out loud. “Who could that be?”
Then it hit her—Rowan was Tyler’s mother’s name. But why would Rowan be E-mailing her? And how would she have gotten Kate’s E-mail address anyway?
She clicked on the E-mail and watched it open. Then she began reading.
Dear Kate: It’s me, Tyler—not my mom. I was afraid you’d delete the message if you saw it was from me. I had to write you—Cooper and Annie told me what happened with your parents. I can’t tell you how sorry I am, Kate. I guess having a mother who is into Wicca made me think that other parents would understand, too. I guess I should have known after what happened with my dad, but I really wanted things to be different for you.
I wish there was something I could do to help. I feel like this is all my fault. If I hadn’t pressured you then you could have told your parents in your own time.
I don’t really know what else to say. It’s kind of weird writing all this on a computer screen instead of saying it to your face. So I guess for now I’ll just say that I love you and I’m thinking about you. I hope everything works out. I really do.
Love,
Tyler