I got to the school Monday morning after I knew everyone would already be there. The normally loud parking lot went silent as I stepped out of my car and everyone took a visible step back. I’d gone for the dangerous look one of my friends back in Ireland taught me how to do once: dark eye make up, dark clothes (even though I was limited on that), and an air one carries when you don’t want to be messed with.
My friend definitely knew what she was talking about. No one said anything as I walked by, a lot of them down casted their eyes. Not even Whitney said anything to me.
I was not to be messed with.
“Cass…what are you doing?”
Gwen came out of nowhere, matching my stride. I kept walking, trying to ignore her presence as much as possible.
“Cass.” She pulled me to a stop and I finally looked at her. “Talk to me. What’s…”
“Your brother broke up with me. Didn’t he tell you?”
“No.” She didn’t look surprised though. “He didn’t…men—mention it. Not really.”
I nodded. “You’re lying. You were before and you are again. You knew what was going on the whole time, didn’t you?” She shook her head vigorously. “Your brother is a complete bastard.”
“Cass…”
“Don’t talk to me. I don’t want to talk to you, or your brother, or anyone in your horrible family. You’re all a bunch of liars.”
“Cass…” I could see the tears form in her eyes. “You don’t mean…”
“I do.” A soft breeze came through, several of the students gasping. “All of you just leave me alone.”
I tugged my arm out of her grip and started forward, several pairs of eyes on me.
“Cass!” Gwen cried behind me. “Cass!”
But I kept walking.
“You’ve just turned yourself into a total badass, haven’t you?”
I looked up and smiled, probably my first real smile all day. I tugged out my ear buds so I could talk to him.
“Hey.”
Garin sat down next to me, dropping his bag on the floor. His eyes took a second to sweep over me, taking it all in including the black pantyhose and knee high boots.
“You know…I like this whole look. It definitely works for you.”
“I’m just making a point. I’ll be back to normal tomorrow.”
“That I totally get. So…off the record…how are you really doing?”
“How do you think?”
His eyes turned sympathetic. “I’d give you a hug but I’m afraid it would ruin your strong, sturdy image.”
I choked on my sip of soda and laughed. “You’re just on it today, aren’t you?”
“You know it…but I thought I should tell you, from a friend instead of a stranger…”
“They’re dating. I know. It’s kind of hard to miss the whispers.”
“You expected it?”
I shrugged. “What else did you think would happen? I didn’t give him what he wanted so he found someone else who would. He probably slinked off with her after the game. They almost certainly didn’t even wait to get home. He more than likely took her out back and bent her over the post.”
“Why Cassandra South,” he propped his head on his fist, “you have a dirty mouth.”
“I’m Irish. You’re lucky I’m not spouting off the f word.”
“Do Irish people really say fuck in every sentence?”
“Some…” I smiled. “But my mother washed my mouth out with soap the one time I tried. Left a bad taste and all…”
“Irish Spring?”
I laughed and smacked him. “You are horrible.”
“So, I propose practice after school, maybe a little magic training, homework, and then a movie marathon.”
“Um…no on the magic training and yes to everything else. I’m still a little…drained from last week.”
“I’d say.” The second that venomous voice hit my ears I felt like throwing up.
I looked at her, tucking my emotions away so she couldn’t see them. She was pretty much the same, even the bright, vomit inducing hair.
“Ah, the tramp rears her ugly head. What do you want? If it’s to gloat, please do it somewhere else. I don’t want to hear it. Or see it.”
“Of course you don’t.” She smiled sweetly. “Because who wants to know what their ex did right after breaking up with them.”
“You’re right.” I smiled. “No one wants to hear how you whored yourself out to my leftovers. You know what that says about you, right? Low self esteem. You should work on that. Talk to someone.”
“Why you little…”
“I’d watch myself if I were you,” I said coldly. “If you two talk as much as you fuck you’ll know what I’m capable of. And believe me when I say it’s worse than tagging a car and slashing tires.”
The group of girls that stood behind her went quiet, all of them paling and making their fake tans turn yellow.
“You don’t scare me, Cassandra South.”
I stood up and leaned over the table so she was the only one who could hear me.
“You should be. You got the guy, what you wanted. Leave me alone and I won’t make your worse nightmares come true.”
As to make my point, the ground below her shook violently. Her eyes widened and she stepped back.
“Be careful or the Earth might just swallow you whole.”
“Fine. But this isn’t over.”
“Oh I think it is.” I sat back down and continued to stare at her. “Now go away.”
She snarled at me one last time and left, her heels clicking on the linoleum. Bren caught my eye and he stared at me with an all knowing understanding that only we could share. I was still mad at him on some level but…he’d been where I was once. I wasn’t the only one to be screwed over by a Marks Twin.
“You ok?” Garin asked.
I blinked and looked at him. “I’m fine. Just getting some perspective.”
“So, this afternoon…?”
“Sure. But let’s do it here. I really don’t need my father giving me that look.”
“What look?”
“The one all parents get, like they know exactly what’s going on in your life and they’re just waiting for you to talk to them about it.”
“Are you going to talk to him about it?”
“No. I’m pretty sure someone else has already. There’s no need to tell both sides.”
“You think Mrs. Marks called and talked to him?”
“That would be the most logical scenario. He is Mommy’s precious…”
“Speaking of that,” Garin inclined his head towards the door, “he makes his great appearance.”
I looked over and watched as Peter walked in with various teammates. My heart started to hurt and I lost my appetite, not that I had one to begin with. I was forced to watch Amber frolic across the cafeteria and jump into his arms.
Where they proceeded to make out.
In front of everyone.
Half of which were looking from them to me and back.
“I’m going to go.”
“Do you want me to come with?”
“I don’t really care. I just have the overwhelming urge to throw up and I don’t feel like doing it in public.”
I grabbed my stuff and followed him out of the cafeteria, looking back just once to make sure what I was seeing was true.
It probably wasn’t my best idea since afterwards, I felt the need to go to the science lab and wash out my eyes.
The rest of the week went ok. I avoided Amber and Peter as much as possible but unfortunately I caught bits of them holding hands or in dark corners making out. Then of course I had class with Gwen. That was always tension filled and we only spoke when it had to do with class.
From what I heard, Amber and her mom were still staying at their house so the rumors ran unchecked and wild.
I ignored them the best I could but usually by the time I got home, my hard exterior crumbled and I was a crying mess.
My ghost was probably the best thing I had going. Besides Garin.
Even Darken had taken to giving me the cold shoulder. But I figured that had something to do with his uncle and not me. My ghost picked up his slack for the control lessons and by the end of the week I was just getting a handle on it.
Barely.
It was Friday night and while all of the student body was at the away game, Garin and I were in my backyard, stargazing.
“Do you think there’s anything out there?” I asked. “You know, like aliens or something?”
He chuckled. “I think it would be kind of hard for there not to be. Our sun isn’t the only one so any normal person would assume that there are other races and species out there somewhere.”
“Does that mean you believe in alien abduction?”
He snorted. “No.” He went quiet for a second. “They just scored again.”
He was listening to the game on the radio. He’d gone old school to do it, a walkman sat on his other side where I couldn’t see.
“I already know they’re going to win. You can stop giving me updates.”
“Every time I don’t, you get mad at me.”
“Well you can stop. Our team is going to win, it will reaffirm in everyone’s mind that Amber is good for him since they won last week. The only loss they had was when…yeah. I’ll fade into oblivion, another girl whose heart was broken by Peter Marks at Stitchman’s Academy for the rich and bitchy.”
“Can I say I told you so?”
I looked at him. “That’s insensitive so no. You can’t. Not until we graduate.”
“Guys!” my father yelled from the back door. “How much longer are you going to stay out there?”
“Game’s almost over, Mr. Kennedy!” Garin called back.
“Got it.”
When the door closed Garin turned to look at me.
“You have to have the nicest dad on the planet.”
“Eh. He’s ok. He’s just being nice to me right now because he knows Peter and I broke up.”
“How long do you think it will last?”
“Monday. Although if my uncle comes back and tries to kill me again, I think I can stretch it till Wednesday.”
Since giving back the amulet, my uncle showed up once a day, screaming the same things, doing the same things. Only the combined efforts of all the remaining people in my life made him go away. I probably had more bruises and cuts on my arms than I’d ever had as a child and my wrists at the moment were a permanent shade of eggplant. And they hurt, much like my heart.
“That’s a positive way of thinking about it.”
“He wants to take me to New York,” I said quietly. “He asked me about it this morning.”
Garin sat up and looked down at me. “What?”
“It’s only for a weekend but…I think it might turn into something else. He seems to think that my uncle’s ghost won’t be able to find me there. That it will be safer. So he wants to test it out.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think no matter where I go, that man will hunt me down and haunt me until he gets what he wants. Going to New York might give me a brief reprieve but eventually he’ll find me just like last time.”
He sighed and fell back down next to me.
“Are you going to go?”
“I don’t know. It’s a suggestion right now but…I think if he believes there’s nothing holding me here, us here, he’ll move me to New York. The only reason he agreed to let me stay in the first place was because I had friends, I’d put roots down. But now…”
“You have me…that counts for something right?”
“Yes but you’re just one person. He’s not going to let me stay just because one person wants me here. I have a feeling if this weekend goes the way he wants it to, he’ll move me to New York by the end of the month.”
“That…sucks.”
“Yeah…” I said meekly. “It does. But on the plus side, I’ll still be here for your performance thing.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
I looked over at him. “I’m sorry, Garin. About everything.”
He sighed and took out the ear bud. “Final score was 34-14.”
“Told you,” I whispered. Tears slipped down my face. “I just don’t know how this all happened. I feel like I’m in a dream or an alternate universe. None of it makes since.”
“If all of your dreams are this horrible, I wouldn’t want to be you.”
I closed my eyes and tried not to laugh. Or cry.
“Thank you for that, Garin. Really.”
“You know, if you do move, I’ll miss you.”
“Maybe he’ll let me come back during the summer. Or you could come visit me…you know there’s really no point in talking about this unless it actually happens.”
“You wouldn’t have brought it up if you didn’t think it was going to happen.”
“Garin…”
“You already know if he’s made up his mind or not, don’t you?” I nodded. “And?”
“Whether the weekend works out or not, it’s a good bet I’m moving. I would try to talk him out of it but…”
“I hate him.”
“Don’t hate him. He didn’t do anything wrong. He just wants what’s best for me.”
“I’m not talking about your dad.”