Now You See Me

by Debbie Viguié

  “Sounds like a good goal. Plus, I’m sure everything you’re taking looks great on your college applications.”

  “It doesn’t hurt.”

  “So, what magic trick are you going to do today at the audition?”

  “I’m going to-”

  “Hello, Opal. Are you doing okay?” a voice interrupted.

  Opal looked up and saw that Mrs. Jennings was standing next to her, her forehead wrinkled up in concern.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she said.

  “You doing okay, making friends?” the teacher asked, her eyes drifting to Mal.

  “Yes, fine, thank you.”

  “Good, because you know I’d be happy to walk around with you and introduce you to all the girls in your class. We could do that now,” she said, her voice taking on a nervous edge.

  “Thank you for the offer, Mrs. Jennings, but I’m good right now,” she said, smiling broadly.

  “Okay, well let me know if you need anything,” she said slowly, clearly reluctant to go.

  “It’s okay, Opal and I are neighbors. My dad knows her aunt. I’m just making sure she’s okay. It’s been a rough few weeks for her,” Mal said, his voice odd, very matter-of-fact.

  Mrs. Jennings nodded slowly and then pinned Opal with her gaze. “If you need to talk about anything my door is always open,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Opal said before Mrs. Jennings turned and walked away.

  “Is she all there?” Opal asked.

  “Yeah, Mrs. Jennings is also one of the counselors. Sometimes she thinks everyone else’s business is hers because of that.”

  “I’m surprised you told her we were neighbors given what you told Seth.”

  He grimaced. “She and some of the other teachers don’t like me very much. I didn’t want them to make assumptions about you before getting to know you.” He shook his head. “Truth is your life probably would have been a lot easier if I hadn’t been selfish and wanted to have lunch with you. I probably should have just steered clear of you at school.”

  “Yeah, but then who would have saved me from Seth?” she asked with a smile, not liking the brooding turn his thoughts were taking.

  He shrugged. “I could have done that a little less obnoxiously.”

  “You are the strangest guy I’ve ever met.”

  That got him to smile. “Oh come on, I bet there are lots of guys in L.A. stranger than me.”

  “No. Guys out there are pretty straight forward. Most of them are looking for sex, fame, money, or all of the above.”

  “Wow. Sounds like some real winners.”

  “There are a few nice guys, too, but they’re an endangered species.”

  Mal pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. “I was hoping to get in a couple of minutes of rehearsal in the auditorium before the auditions. If I’m going to do that, I have to go.”

  “Oh, okay. Can I come and watch?” she asked impulsively.

  He hesitated then shook his head. He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I don’t like people seeing me practice. I only want to show a trick when it’s ready. Besides, you wouldn’t want to see me palm the coins, would you?”

  “No, I wouldn’t. It would be too much of a disappointment after the butterflies,” she admitted.

  “See? And I’m making it my personal mission not to disappoint you.”

  “Good luck,” she said.

  “Thanks. Do you want me to walk you anywhere?”

  “No, I’ll just hang out here until lunch is over,” she said.

  He nodded and left, taking her trash and dumping it along with his. Once he was out of the room she could feel eyes on her. She turned and saw that quite a few people were staring at her. She squirmed, not enjoying being the center of attention.

  She saw Ginger, who’d she’d met in homeroom, sitting at one of the tables with some other girls. There was an empty space on the end of the bench. She got up and headed over.

  “Is this seat taken?” she asked.

  Only Ginger would look at her and she shook her head slightly.

  Opal sat down. School was going to be unbearable if she couldn’t break the ice with some people. It was one thing to be the new girl, it was quite another to be a pariah.

  “So, I’m new in town as you all know. Can anyone recommend a good coffee place?” she asked.

  “You drink coffee?” Amy asked, eyes wide.

  “Of course she does, she’s from L.A.,” a blonde girl said with a roll of her eyes. “There’s this great place in old town. It’s called Coffins. It sells coffee and muffins.”

  “It’s got a cool goth vibe to it,” Ginger said with a small smile.

  “And the muffins are to die for, especially the raspberry chocolate one. You bite into it and it’s like it’s bleeding raspberry jam,” a brunette girl said excitedly.

  “Coffins. Got it. Sounds fun. Anyone want to go after school? My treat,” she said.

  Silence met her invitation and she looked around at them and saw the hesitation on their faces. She could feel herself getting embarrassed. She hated asking people to do stuff and getting turned down.

  “Aren’t you going to be with Mal?” Ginger finally asked.

  “No, he’s auditioning for the talent show after school. He won’t be walking me home.”

  There was a few more seconds of silence and then they all started talking at once.

  “He walks you home? That’s so sweet. I never would have guessed that,” the brunette said.

  “He’s so handsome. He’s got those crazy intense eyes,” the blonde said.

  “Is he a good kisser?” one of the girls breathed.

  “I-I don’t know. He hasn’t kissed me,” Opal said.

  “I didn’t think he’d be the type to take anything slow. What a gentleman,” another girl said with a sigh.

  “How did you meet?” Ginger asked.

  “It was actually kind of funny. We met at a grocery store. He startled me because I actually thought he was stalking me,” Opal said.

  They all went still, staring at her with wide eyes.

  “But, he wasn’t,” she clarified.

  They began to laugh and talk over one another again.

  “So, coffee this afternoon?” she asked, trying again.

  “I’d like to go,” Ginger said.

  “Oh, me too,” the brunette said.

  The blonde girl pouted. “I can’t. I have cheerleading practice. It sucks.”

  “I have a dentist appointment,” Amy said, looking like she was on the verge of crying.

  “Well, we can do coffee on more than one day,” Opal said.

  The other two girls seemed to cheer up at that.

  “And the three of us can go today,” the brunette girl said eagerly. “And you can tell us all about you and Mal.”

  Opal smiled and felt herself relaxing slightly. She’d been warned that it would be different here than it was back in California. It turned out, though, that west coast, east coast, it didn’t matter. No matter where you were girls loved to talk about guys.

  After lunch she walked to history with the brunette girl whose name was Annabelle. She told Opal that everyone just called her Annie and that she should, too.

  Class turned out to be incredibly boring because the teacher spoke only in a monotone. At one point Opal could swear that he was actually sleep teaching because his eyes were closed and his head was rolled slightly to the side.

  She wasn’t looking forward to P.E. which was next. She shared the class with both Ginger and Annie. As she was in the locker room getting changed she heard a couple of other girls come in.

  “It was so weird!” one squealed.

  “What happened?” someone else asked.

  “Mr. Grossman never showed up for class last period,” the first speaker said. “No one knew where he went. The office didn’t even send anyone down to sit in the room until the last ten minutes. It was like they didn’t even know that he wasn’t there.”

  “He w
as at school this morning.”

  “Well, he isn’t now. I wonder what happened to him? I mean, whatever it is, he didn’t tell anyone he was going to be gone.”

  Opal turned and saw Ginger and Annie both staring at her.

  “Isn’t Mr. Grossman the one who hit on you this morning?” Annie asked.

  “Yes, but it wasn’t a big deal. I mean, I probably imagined it,” she said, feeling flustered.

  Ginger shook her head. “Amy saw it. She told Mal.”

  “Do you think that Mal did something to Mr. Grossman?” Annie asked, sounding a little breathless.

  “That’s crazy,” Opal said.

  “Is it?” Annie asked.

  “I mean, he said he’d take care of it, but I don’t know what anyone thinks he could do about it. I mean, I guess he could tell the principal.”

  “Not likely,” another girl said.

  “Shush,” Ginger said.

  The other girl hunched her shoulders. “I’m just saying what we’re all thinking,” she said defensively.

  “What are you all thinking?” Opal asked.

  There was an awkward silence punctuated by the bell ringing.

  “We need to get into the gym before we’re late and Mr. Duncan makes us run laps,” Annie said grimly.

  “I hate laps,” Ginger said, dressing faster.

  A minute later they were inside the gym waiting for class to start. Opal looked around and froze when she saw Seth. He was standing just a few feet away talking to another guy. He glanced over, saw her, and his eyes went wide. He turned a shade paler. His friend turned to look and gave her a wolf whistle.

  “Idiot!” Seth said, rounding on him. “That’s Mal’s girlfriend.”

  It was the other guy’s turn to look scared. “I’m sorry, Miss, I didn’t know. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  “Opal, do you want me to hit him?” Seth asked, refusing to meet her eyes.

  “What? No, no it’s fine,” she said.

  “Thank you,” the other guy said. Then he and Seth hurried away, putting several other people between them and her.

  “Did you see that?” Opal turned and asked Ginger.

  Ginger nodded.

  “What on earth was that all about?”

  “Mal told Seth he had to look out for you. If he hadn’t offered to punch Tony and it got back to Mal...well, no one wants that.”

  “No one wants what? What does everyone think Mal will do?”

  Ginger just shook her head, her lips pressed together tight.

  Opal sighed and continued to look around. Championship banners for different sports and different years decorated the upper walls of the gymnasium. Huge letters on one wall said Go Wizards! She looked at the different banners and tried to figure out what years her mom and aunt would have gone to the school. She realized she didn’t know much about either of them really. Had they been involved with sports? Were they cheerleaders? Or were they like her, just trying to get through it? She’d have to ask her aunt when she got home later.

  It turned out that the P.E. class was in the middle of doing their section on physical fitness testing so it was a lot of sit-ups, pull-ups, and those sorts of things. She was glad when it was over and she was able to get dressed and head to her last period.

  Study hall was held in the library. Outside the door to the library were display cases filled with pictures and trophies won for mental prowess. There were framed articles about a national spelling bee winner, a math genius, and others. She glanced at them as she walked toward the door.

  Suddenly she froze. There was a picture of a teenage magician levitating his scantily clad assistant. A caption above it read: First Annual Talent Show Winners. What had her heart pounding wildly in her chest, though, was the face of the assistant. It was her mother.

  She could feel tears burning her eyes as she stood there staring. She’d never seen a picture of her mom from high school. She was even more beautiful than Opal remembered and she had a euphoric grin on her face. Her eyes were squeezed tight shut.

  The bell rang and she forced herself to turn and hurry into the library. All she wanted to do was run to the bathroom and lock herself in a stall so she could cry without anyone seeing her. Seeing the picture of her mother made her miss her intensely but also brought all the grief over the loss of her father to the forefront.

  The teacher took roll quickly and then they were free to scatter throughout the library and read or do homework. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone so she found a quiet nook toward the back. She had her history book open, but the words kept blurring and she’d have to stop and blink back the tears again.

  She stood up, stretching, trying to get her mind off everything. She walked over to the bookcase closest to her and eyed the titles, trying to see if there was anything there that would provide a good distraction.

  Suddenly she heard soft footsteps. She looked up just as Mal rounded one of the bookcases. She blinked, surprised to see him.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, walking forward.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I’m here to check out a book, and to make sure that you’re okay.”

  “Oh.”

  It was an incredibly stupid thing to say, but she couldn’t think of anything else.

  He started toward her again and she backed up a step until her back was against the bookcase.

  “You’ve been crying. What’s wrong?”

  “I saw a picture of my mom in one of the trophy cases outside,” she blurted out.

  She couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks now. Pain twisted in her stomach like a knife and she was tired of feeling it. Tired of the loss. She tried to keep it all at bay, but it felt like all she ever was anymore was either sad or numb.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice soft, as he came to stand in front of her. He took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb gently over the back of it. That same electric feeling pulsed through her skin like the first time that he’d touched her hand. She could feel her heart begin to beat faster. She glanced down and saw that there was a nasty looking burn on his wrist. The skin was bright red and shiny. It hadn’t been there earlier.

  “What happened to you?” she asked.

  “It’s nothing, just an accident,” he said softly.

  She looked up and he was staring into her eyes. “It looks like it hurts,” she whispered.

  “Right now it doesn’t,” he said.

  “I’m tired of hurting,” she said. “I just want the pain to go away.”

  “I know,” he said, his voice breaking. “I can feel it.” The tingling in her hand grew stronger, more intense, and it cut through everything she was feeling.

  And she saw her pain suddenly mirrored in his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat. His face twisted in anguish and he brought up his other hand to cup her cheek. “I’d do anything to take away your pain,” he whispered.

  He stepped forward and kissed her, his lips touching hers feather soft. Warmth cascaded through her. He started to pull back, but she grabbed the back of his head and kept him there. She could feel his surprise as she kissed him.

  Electricity felt like it was arcing through her as her pain turned to longing. He stepped closer so that her body was pinned between him and the bookcase. She kissed him harder and he responded. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed closer, needing to feel his warmth. He groaned and wrapped his arms tight around her. Chills raced down her spine. For the first time in so long she felt alive.

  “Break it up, you two.”

  Opal gasped as Mal pulled quickly away. She stared into his eyes and saw desire burning there equal to her own. She blinked and it was as if a spell was broken. She turned and saw the librarian standing there, a disapproving frown in place.

  “I guess you got what you came for,” she said tartly to Mal before giving Opal a scathing look.

  “Can’t a guy kiss his girlfriend?” he asked with a cool smile. Opal noti
ced that his hands were shaking slightly, though. She herself felt like her knees were about to give way. She’d only ever kissed one guy before and it had never been anything like that.

  “That is completely inappropriate,” the librarian snapped.

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t stock such provocative books,” he said.

  “What?” she asked, sounding even angrier.

  Mal reached up and pulled a thin book off the shelf behind Opal’s head and handed it to the librarian. Opal saw the title Romeo and Juliet on the front cover. She bit her lip as the librarian sputtered angrily then turned and stormed off, the book still clutched in her hand.

  As soon as she was out of sight Mal wrapped his arms around Opal. She leaned her head against his chest as she struggled to deal with all the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her.

  Mal laughed softly.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I came here to tell you that you might want to give it a couple of days before you tell people that we aren’t dating.”

  “Is that what we’re doing?” she asked.

  “You tell me,” he said softly.

  “I think you’re crazy,” she said.

  “I’ve been called worse.”

  All she knew was that she had done entirely too much thinking for too long. The last thing she wanted was to over think what was happening with Mal.

  But she was pretty sure he was her boyfriend.

  5

  “I should probably go,” Mal said softly after a minute. “Before the warden comes back.”

  “I don’t want you to,” Opal said, breathing in the scent of him, enjoying the feel of his shirt against her cheek and the warmth of his arms around her.

  “Then I won’t,” he said.

  They stood for another minute and then she pulled away with a sigh. “You should go.”

  “Okay, but I’ll see you soon,” he said, bending down and kissing her. His lips lingered for a moment and she closed her eyes. Then he ended the kiss and turned to leave.

  Opal sat down in a chair, finding it hard to catch her breath.

  She had no idea what had just happened. She just knew that when he touched her it was like it ignited some kind of fire inside. As her head slowly cleared she found herself blushing. Sooner or later she was going to have to leave the library and face the librarian.