Monica's P.O.V.
Monday morning rolls around and instead of being disappointed at that, I'm actually pretty happy because I remembered we're on break, so I'm able to sleep in and enjoy the morning. My parents have already gone to work and since I'm an only child, it's nice to have some peace and quiet as I get ready for the day. I'm overly excited this morning too because Ashton and I are going to pick up Michael's guitar this afternoon before training, since one, I finally got the right amount of money, and two, I need to obtain it before the week is over, so why not today?
After showering and making myself look acceptable, I attempt to make some pancakes but I accidentally burn the first batch. Luckily no black smoke is visible, but the kitchen now smells horrible so I crack open a few windows to let some fresh air in. The doorbell rings as I'm finishing that task and yell, "It's open!" over my shoulder, knowing it's Ashton and also knowing it's noon.
"What did you do in here?" is the first thing out of his mouth as he appears in the kitchen. I look over and notice his scrunched up face, trying not to breathe in the burnt smell.
"Well, good morning to you, too, Ash," I sarcastically greet him, stepping back to the counter where my mixing bowl lies. Realizing I'm going to need to whip up more batter, I begin measuring out the pancake mix and adding it to my bowl. While doing so, a pair of arms snake around my waist and a chin rests on my shoulder from behind.
"Sorry, love, good morning," Ashton says in a hushed tone and kisses my now-reddened cheek. "Better?"
There's no way this small gesture can go without a smile and he releases me when he sees the bright grin on my face. Ashton takes a step to my left and watches as I continue mixing my breakfast.
"Okay, but seriously, what happened in here?" he asks again.
"I burned the pancakes before," I admit, finishing stirring the batter and now moving on to pouring it in the pan.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ashton shouts. He rushes to my other side and grabs the bowl away from the heat source, setting it back on the counter.
"What?" I question. "I want my breakfast!"
He returns to the stove and rotates the dial so the heat isn't as strong. "If you don't want to burn these next ones, you probably should turn down the heat." He glances at me with a small smirk that causes him to seem like a know-it-all.
"Well, thanks for that information," I sass, snagging the bowl again. Out of the corner of my eye, I see his hands fly up in defense.
"What did I do?" Ashton inquires.
Sighing, I answer, "Nothing. I'm sorry, Ash. I get crabby when I'm really hungry and it didn't help that I burned the first batch."
"Oh, thank God. I thought something major happened," he half-jokes. I roll my eyes at his attempt to cheer me up and I guess he noticed for he continues, "I think it would be a great idea if your boyfriend helped you, right?"
Smiling again, I hand him the bowl and watch him carefully spoon out perfect circles of batter into the hot pan. That's when I realize he doesn't have any bandages on his hands and they look so much better to the point where they're almost fully healed.
"Ashton!" I scream in excitement, causing him to almost drop the bowl.
"What?!" he shrieks back. He puts the spoon in the bowl and places it on the counter.
"Your hands!" I yell.
Ash grins at me and holds them out so I can really examine them now. They're still a little red, but there is no sign of blisters or anything else. "They're not completely healed yet and I'm not able to play my drums for a few more days, but I don't have to wear bandages anymore!"
"That's amazing!" I congratulate and throw myself onto him, hugging him close. I feel him tighten his grip before loosening up just enough to place his unbandaged hands on my waist, our bodies now facing each other and our eyes locked. Staring into his hazel eyes, I can sense that we both crave the same thing and within seconds, our lips meet and share another sweet kiss. Now it's a good morning.
We continue our small make out session for what seems like a long time when the smell of the pancakes return, this time a normal, good smell. Before I burn them again, I pull away and wink at him, turning around and grabbing a spatula to flip the golden brown pancakes. The other side takes shorter time to cook and soon, I've created the best pancakes I've ever made, with the help of my lovely boyfriend. Sitting down and eating, my stomach is finally relaxed again and after cleaning up, we're out the door and riding our bikes to the music store.
It doesn't take long to pick up Michael's guitar and I can't contain my happiness as we carry it outside. Michael's going to freak and I can't wait for him to open it. Just the thought of him squealing and jumping is enough to make me laugh and Ash looks at me, causing me to stop. I explain my thought to him and he giggles along.
"So are we going back to your house then?" he asks, carrying the guitar in the case with one hand and biking with the other.
"Are you sure you don't want me to carry it?" I question.
"Oh, it's fine. I've done this many times before," he answers, biking carefully on the cobblestones.
"You've carried a guitar on your bike before?" I inquire.
"Well, not a guitar, but I've had to lug other heavy stuff," Ash replies. "And you didn't answer my original question."
"Oh, sorry. Um, can you hide it at your house? Michael comes over to my house a lot and I don't want him seeing the guitar," I say, flashing him a cheesy smile.
"Yeah, yeah, that's fine," he chuckles.
Fifteen minutes later, we arrive at his house and I wait outside while he brings the guitar inside. He's actually pretty fast and races out the door in less than a minute, getting back on his bike and pedaling with me down the road.
"So where to now?" Ashton questions.
"Um, well I have a few hours until training, so whatever you wanna do," I shrug. The smile on Ashton's face is enough to tell me that he knows exactly what to do and before I can ask, he races down the street and I follow him.
Zooming through the city, I have no clue where he's taking me until he leads me into the parking lot of a small mini golf place. He maneuvers his bike in the bike rack and I do the same, letting him escort me up to the front desk once our contraptions are locked on the rack. After picking out a club and a golf ball, we head off and begin.
Ashton is damn good at mini golf and I'm, well, I suck. He got three holes in one and I was over par on every single hole. Mini golf isn't that hard but apparently for me, it is. Ashton didn't even know he could mini golf this well, either, and on each hole in one, I gave him a sweet surprise on the lips. But the scores didn't even matter because this was all about having fun and bonding with him. I feel like I've known him for years and I always wonder why he never came into my life until now, but I'm enjoying every minute of our time right now.
As we walk hand in hand down the path to the parking lot, my phone buzzes in my pocket. Taking it out, Michael's name appears on the screen, so I slide it open to reveal his entire text.
Where are you?!?!
I stare at the words trying to figure out why it seems so urgent that Mikey needs to know where I am and then I notice the time. I lost track of it when we were mini golfing that I totally forgot about training.
"Shit," I curse, tugging on Ashton's arm and running to our bikes.
"What? What's going on?" he questions.
"I'm gonna be late for training!" I yell. Yanking my bike out of the rack, I also forgot that Ashton put a lock around it and it doesn't move.
"Oh, damn, okay, don't panic," he responds and puts in the code to unlock the chain. "How much time do we have until it starts?"
"Um, about fifteen minutes," I reply, running a hand through my hair. "Michael and I usually walk to training and it takes about ten minutes."
Ashton mounts his bike and I realize I can now take mine out of the rack. Doing so, Ashton asks another question. "How far away is it from here?"
"I think it's about ten minutes by car, so if we hurry, we might make it," I say.
"Okay, and do you need to stop home for anything?"
"Except for my wand, but I can summon it from anywhere."
"Perfect! Tell Michael you'll meet him there and we'll bike while he walks," Ashton declares.
"Oh, my God, Ashton, you are a genius," I express, breathing a sigh of relief when it all makes sense.
Getting on my bike, I lead Ashton to the training building and we make it there in barely just enough time. But one more problem arises and I begin panicking again.
"Calm down, Monica! Everything is going to be alright! This isn't even that big of a deal! Here, take my chain and lock your bike up."
Ashton hands me his chain and I weave it around my bike and the rack, clicking the ends together until it locks. He tells me the code and I tap it in my phone, knowing I'm going to forget it if I don't write it down somewhere. Engulfing me in a hug, Ashton soothes me down and reminds me of all the fun we had today.
"I'll be fine on the ride home. I'm more worried for you because what I've heard so far, magic is far more dangerous than a bike ride!" he jokes, turning the corners of my mouth up. He mounts his bike again but before he can pedal off, I grab his face and kiss him quickly. After smiling at each other one more time, I watch as he speeds off down the road and I finally turn around to head into the building. But I can only make it one step for I meet Michael's eyes watching me from behind the glass doors, a look of disgust on his face. He snaps out of it and walks away, disappearing from my view and causing me to wonder what I did. Is it because I'm late? Is it because I lost track of time with Ashton? Is it because of Ashton?
I can't think about this right now. I have magic to perform.
.
"Are we going in that?" someone questions as soon as all of us are piled into the training room. Standing in the middle is a giant vertical machine and my stomach does a few flips.
"Precisely," Dr. Burnett answers, moving to stand right next to it. "This is a hurricane machine. I'm hoping all of you have heard of these before and maybe even experienced it yourself. You step inside and it generates wind to make you feel as if you're in a real hurricane. But for our purposes, this is not for fun. You will be expected to perform the spell in this machine to practice executing it in harsh winds, which is what you will be doing when it's time. We have placed a pillow much like the ones in your personal stations inside here for you to aim at, although it is much bigger because if you miss the pillow and hit the machine, several consequences will arise and the machine may even break and you could end up in critical condition. We will change the pillows and make them smaller as time goes on, so don't take this as a bit of fun because you are training, not goofing off with your friends."
I look around and notice that I'm not the only one who's scared, judging by the expressions I can see on everyone's faces.
"Now, you might be asking how the hell your wands are going to stay in your hand at all times through this machine and the actual mission," Dr. Jones adds, pulling out a bag with black felt. "We have designed these grippers for you to wear on your hands that have a small loop in them to slide your wand through. You are expected to wear these whenever it is your turn to enter the machine and do not lose them! You will need these for the mission!"
Dr. Jones passes out the grippers and once I have a pair, they're basically like sticky gloves. Pulling one on my right hand, it feels slightly big but the power of magic takes over and it shrinks to fit my hand perfectly. I take out my wand and slip it through the diagonal loop in the middle of my palm, the gripper working to keep it in my hand. Once it's snug, I put on the other gripper on my left hand and glance up to see that everyone else has done the same. After we're all set, the scientists get ready to show us the machine.
Swallowing hard, I watch as Dr. Burnett steps inside and Dr. Jones closes the heavy see-through door. Dr. Burnett gets situated and plants his feet on the duct taped line, pointing his wand at the pillow and giving Dr. Jones a thumbs up with his wand-free hand. Dr. Jones turns on the machine and sets it at a certain wind speed and slowly the wind begins churning. About ten seconds later, the wind fulfills its set speed and Dr. Burnett performs the spell, the light blue streak emerging and hitting the pillow right in the center. Dr. Jones lowers the speed until it's at zero and once the wind completely stops, the door unlocks and Dr. Burnett hops out, all of us clapping for him. It sounds really weird when we have our grippers on.
"And that's all you have to do!" Dr. Burnett shrugs. "So who wants to go first?"
No one jumps at the request and there's an awkward silence as the scientists glimpse at all of us. Suddenly, both of them look straight at me.
"How about you, Monica?" Dr. Jones declares. My heart starts pounding and my eyes get wide, but as everyone keeps staring at me, I take a deep breath. I'm going to have to do this eventually so why not get it over with now?
I walk over to them but before they open the door, Audrey, one of our helping trainers, rushes forward with a hair tie. "You might want this," she says, handing it to me.
"Thanks," I tell her and throw my hair up into a ponytail, wrapping the loaned hair tie around it. Once I'm finished, Dr. Burnett unlocks the door and motions for me to enter. I shuffle inside and he shuts the door behind me. It's a small little space, but not bad. I start to relax now that I'm in the atmosphere and position myself on the line, staring at the pillow about eight feet away from me. They were right: it's a lot larger than the ones we've been practicing on, so hopefully this shouldn't be too hard. A knock from the outside disrupts my thoughts and I turn my head to look at Dr. Jones, who mouths something along the lines of, "You ready?" I nod and he flips the switch.
The wind begins swirling around me, going in every direction. As it speeds up, I'm thankful for the hair tie because without it, my hair would have been whipping in my face. Through the door, I can see Audrey handing out more hair ties to the other girls, but the wind is becoming stronger and my eyelids slowly close to a squint. I grip my wand so hard that I'm positive my knuckles are turning white, afraid it's going to slip away, but then I remember my grippers. I don't loosen my clutch on it though and I focus and raise it. The power of the wind causes my arm to move quite a bit and I can't aim perfectly straight, but I try my best. Reciting the words of the spell, the white light bursts out and I'm praying I hit the pillow. It's hard to see when there's wind howling all around you. After a few seconds, I end the spell and as the wind calms down, I don't see anything unusual, which tells me I struck it. I let out a breath and mentally pat myself on the back for accomplishing this.
As the wind comes to a stop, Dr. Burnett unlocks the door and I scramble out, him holding up his hand for me to high five it. "Great job, Monica. That was perfect!"
Perfect? Me? Hell no.
"Thanks," I reply sheepishly and head back to where everyone else is standing, them also high fiving me and literally patting me on the back.
The rest of training is spent with everyone trying out the hurricane machine once and continuing to practice the spell. Not only am I proud of myself for the machine, but also my spell started turning blue! It's not as strong as Dr. Burnett's yet, but I saw a little sliver of blue the last couple of times I performed it. Yay!
After they release us, I don't see Michael anywhere and everyone else from other groups have been released too, so he couldn't still be stuck in training. I maneuver my way to the big glass doors and I can just see the top of his head walking away. Ramming into people, I run out the doors calling his name, but he doesn't turn around. Finally I catch up to him and grab him by his arm, stopping him.
"What is up with you?!" I ask. He shrugs and keeps moving. "Michael! Answer me!"
Michael turns around and responds, "Well, since your boyfriend rode with you and I had to walk alone to get here, I figured I'd walk back alone because he would probably be here waiting for you so you two would go home together." He twists around and begins striding away.
"Michael, wait!" I cry out and he halts. "Look, I'm sorry I was late and made you walk by yourself but you can't just assume things and not talk to me about it."
"You have your bike," he points out.
"So? I can walk it next to me. It's not that big of a deal," I say.
He sighs. "I'd rather be alone, anyways. I'll see you later." And with that, he spins around and sulks off, leaving me to wonder what the hell is going on. He's never acted like this, let alone never tell me what's wrong. Am I blind? Have I not been seeing something that's going on? Have I been a horrible best friend?
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I've been in a hurricane machine before in a science museum. It felt really weird... o.o
Rachel :)