Cursed Waters

2

Somewhere behind me, Brandon let out a hacking cough "So lame."

Mrs. Teasdale looked up briefly from her book, shot Brandon the same darkly irritated look she'd been giving him all year long, and then let her eyes drop down. She was the only senior level English teacher Woodrove High had, and the second that bell rang, dismissing us from the last of our finals, we were no longer her responsibility. I had a feeling she was relishing in that.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I looked down at Millie's hand on my desk. Her middle finger was tapping a steady rhythm on top of a folded up piece of paper that hadn't been there before. When I glanced up at her face, her bottom lip was twitching. "I'll think about it."

I nodded. "That's —" but before I could finish, the bell went off, and the whole room seemed to surge. Students bolted from their seats and sped quickly down the aisles, some jumping over desks to get out.

Once it all had cleared, I looked next to me again for Millie. But she wasn't there, and when I glanced at the door, all I saw was a flash of blonde hair and the back of a tie-dye shirt, before she was gone.

"That was smooth," Brandon said as he came up behind me, his hand falling down on my shoulder. "Real smooth. I'm sure all that stuttering and stumbling really made her wet for you."

"You're an ass." I shoved his hand off my shoulder and stood up, grabbing the delicately folded paper off my desk. Mrs. Teasdale hadn't looked up from her book, and just barely wiggled her fingers in my direction as I slid into the hallway.

"Come on, man, I was kidding." Brandon laughed as he ran to catch up with me. "You kind of died in there, though, you have to admit it. What was with all the um, right, well, yeah, it would be, um, cool?"

I shook my head. "She makes me nervous."

"She's just a girl, Sam."

"She's not just a girl. She's the girl."

"Oh, my God," Brandon exclaimed as I pushed the double doors at the end of the hall open. "Are we on that again? She's your next door neighbor, dude, not your soulmate."

"I never said soulmate."

"But you were thinking it, weren't you?"

"No."

I didn't think Millie and I were soulmates, but I thought that if, maybe, she'd open herself up a little bit more, we could be friends. As far as I'd seen, she didn't really engage with anyone besides her family, and the same went for her sisters. They were all equally illusive and beautiful and mysterious, but Millie had definitely taken it to a whole different level.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen her really talk to anyone. Sometimes she'd make small talk with me like she had today, and I'd see her give someone a pencil when they asked, but it was all surface stuff. Every once in a while, a rumor would emerge about Millie. Something about seeing her with a guy, but I'd never been one to listen to rumors about the Clearwater family.

Secretly, I felt like I knew Millie. Maybe I didn't know her like I wanted to, but I felt like I was one of the few people that really saw her. Everyone stared, everyone looked, but did they really see her? Or just the pretty, mysterious girl?

Even when she was telling me the reason for her not going to the bluff party tonight, I'd seen something brewing beneath her gaze, even if I couldn't place exactly what it was. I wanted to say it was longing, but I wasn't that egotistical to think she returned my feelings.

"It's all about the chase," Brandon informed me, for what had to be the twentieth time, as we went down the stairs that led to the school parking lot. "The second Millie finally lets you catch her, you aren't going to want her."

"That's not true."

"How do you know? How do you know that she's as perfect as you think she is?"

I frowned. "Can we just drop this?"

"Sure, until the next time she says ten words to you and you get caught up in the magical bullshit that is Millie Clearwater."

"Brandon."

"I'm just trying to look out for you." He draped his arm over my shoulder, steering me in the direction of his car. 

I sighed, knowing my efforts to say anything pro-Millie were futile. Brandon had never had a high tolerance for the Clearwaters, for whatever reason, and I didn't like trying to argue with him about the whole mess.

Remembering the folded piece of paper in my hand, I glanced up at Brandon as he went around the side of the car to unlock it, careful to keep it out of his eye sight as I unfolded it.

As soon as I saw what was on the page, my breath caught in my throat.

There was a guy, looking at something the artist hadn't caught in the picture, eyes narrowed into slits behind thick, square glasses. His chin was in his hand, and his lips were pressed together in a thin, determined line. In the corner of the picture, there was a small bubble, like a rain drop, that encased the initials MC.

It took me a moment to realize that the guy in the picture was me.

"I just think you need to be careful. She's bad news, Sam," Brandon said as he yanked open the driver side door. I looked up as he gave me a small, apologetic look. "She's cursed, remember?"

Like I could ever forget.

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Also, make sure and check out the banner I made ON MY OWN. I know it may not seem like a lot, but I'm not great at that stuff, and it was sort've difficult for me to make it not look awful.