Cursed

Chapter Seventeen

I roll into the parking lot, groaning along with my car as I park. I'm not looking forward to school. Ever since Daniel got back, it's been a freak show with me being the main event. He's still ignoring me. It's been two days since he nearly attacked me. He hasn't said anything else. Yesterday, I tried to talk to him again, but he strode past me. All I want is to talk to him, so I can be sure it's over between us.

Everyone thinks I'm being stupid. They think that him ignoring me is enough closure I need. Erik is the only one that hasn't said anything about Daniel. I appreciate that. Although, it means that Erik and I haven't really been talking. Last night, I went home and passed out. I think it was Addie's shift, but I don't remember. When I woke up, Kate was back, sipping gluten-free tea and eating Gran's gluten-free pancakes. Apparently, the two of them are besties now.

The first thing I woke up to was that Kate had a finished anti-blocking spell. I should have been thrilled, but with all things considered I wasn't too excited. The last time they cast a spell on me, I was in a coma for ten days. Although, as bad as it sounded, I wouldn't have minded another coma. Yikes, that did sound bad. I couldn't help it, I was moppy. I was just hoping the day moved by fast.

"See you after school at Ivelyn's!" Kate calls over her shoulder, running (literally) to class. Since the spell was finished, Ivelyn wanted to do the ritual ASAP. Everyone was curious to see if it would work. No one would say it, but it was a test to see how powerful this cult was. Once again, I was the guinea pig.

Today was Thursday, which really was Monday 4.0.

I walked into History class and for the first time this week, people didn't gawk at me. Gellar smiled at me, but it looked strained. I knew my mom told him to look at for me. The last thing I turned in was barely passing, but he gave me a B+. I knew I didn't deserve it, so I was trying to try more in his class. I hated that he thought he had to bump my grade because he felt sorry for me.

I smiled back despite how much I was hurting inside.

"Today is the last week to work on your Ancestry projects. Please, PLEASE, have them in MLA format." I stopped listening after that. Daniel and I had finished our project before he left, but my heart twinged with pain. I remember all the times we worked on it. He had been there when I found out I was related to Sarah Good, except he had known what that meant. Still, we had to turn it in and then a small speech on what we wrote. I'm sure that was going to be tremendously awkward.

I couldn't help myself, I looked at him.

He was wearing a blue v-neck and blue jeans. The short hair made him look older. The trail of freckles from cheek to nose to cheek was noticeable even from a couple of rows back. He caught me looking, but didn't glare at me. His face was blank. I didn't breathe the whole time our eyes met. My stomach flipped, threatening to plop out onto the linoleum. It would be just my luck to have something bizarre like that happen.

His eyes melted into mine.

Then, like it had so many times before, time slowed. It felt like breathing underwater. He was breaking me into two, with one look. It broke my heart when he looked away. I couldn't describe it, but he had held my heart with one single gaze.

I felt out of breath, trying to composure myself.

The rest of the day I thought about those three seconds our eyes met. It sounded dramatic, but the feeling was irreplaceable. The way time slowed as I could physically see the seconds turn into minutes. I wanted to know if this was for just now or forever. It would make things so much easier. With each breath I took, it felt like I was drowning.

I was going to drive myself crazy. By lunchtime, I had convinced myself it meant nothing. So what if time paused when we looked at each other or sparks flew when we touched? A girl didn't need all that.