Spellbound

by Mr.DG

Take a little bit of Sweep and a little bit of Twilight, throw in some gay guys, and you have Spellbound. Love can be so complicated sometimes! Enjoy... :

Chapter 1

The New Boy

Long-chain amino acids have never been my strong point. Science itself has never been my strong point. Anything involving numbers or formulas or equations and I just don't get along.

"I'm so fucked." I sighed as I doodled all over the science test on my desk. Outside the plate glass window, dark gray storm clouds were roiling and swirling across the October sky, heavy with rain. In the distance, on the other side of the brown-and-green courtyard, a line of cars inched along, dropping off late students and heading off to work in the mid-morning gloom.

For just the slightest moment, I seriously thought about using my "gift", but immediately thought against it. My "gift" in this case was the ability to read people's minds (invasion of privacy much?). I'd been able to do it since age four or five, and had been doing it ever since. Nobody knew about it, though, not even my closest friends.

"Daniel." My best friend Paige Baxter whispered.

I turned to her. As usual, she wore heavy eye make-up that offset her bright brown eyes. She had on a yellow Bob Marley shirt, and a pair of polka-dotted gloves with the fingers cut off. Her blue jeans were faded and torn, and her toenails, visible through her flip-flops, were painted jet black. "Yes?" I whispered back.

"Interested in a little off-campus lunch?"

"Last time I checked, that was against the rules." I frowned.

"Aw D!" Her whisper grew in volume just a tad, and the Physics teacher Mr. Patterson looked up. "We'll just head to The Patty for a couple of burgers and be back in five minutes."

"What if we get caught?" I hissed, putting my name on my paper and giving up.

"Then we get three days of lunch detention." She shrugged. "It's really no big deal."

"But I've a clean slate." I looked her in the eye. "Do I really want to ruin that for a round of slaughtered livestock, carbohydrates, and sugar-loaded sodas?"

"If you really love me and Lenny, you would."

She had pulled out the big guns. My other best friend and fellow bisexual Lenny Mason could sometimes be very convincing, and the two of them together were quite the threat.

"Oh of course I love the two of you, but my spotless record is not something I'd like to tarnish, thank you."

"Pussy." She chuckled.

"You're missing yours." I said snippily, and she clapped her hand to her mouth to laugh.

"I would hate to interrupt your social gathering, Paige and Daniel, but this is a test, and talking is-"

"Social gathering officially disbanded, Mr. Patterson." Paige looked up and spoke, the last of her laughs clearing away.

He opened his mouth (probably to bitch and moan some more), but closed it when he realized that arguing against Paige's strong personality would be pointless.

Just for giggles, I connected myself with his thoughts and listened:

Little shits. Only a few more years of this and I'll get to retire. It'll be me and Martha and maybe when she's asleep I can call over Steve. Oh Steve, with his tight little-

"I'm finished with my test, sir." I stood up and waved my test paper. "You'll be pleased."

"I'm sure I will be, Mr. Garrett." He nodded pleasantly, his bitchy, horny other-half now sleeping. I walked up and placed it in the kitty litter box he used as the paper collecting tray.

I sat back down.

"You'll be pleased!" Paige made her voice high and nasally, a spot-on (unfortunately) imitation of me.

"Says the woman who is queen of the short bus." I blew a kiss at her and sat down. "Now, about lunch..."

"Oh! Yes. Will you please join Sir Lenny and me for a bite to eat at our favorite fast food joint? We can discuss our Halloween plans, too!"

"Halloween twenty-four days away, and their products can hardly be considered food." I replied. "They have been certified as radioactive."

"Will it make your vagina green?" She grinned at me widely, and I snickered and swatted her arm.

"Not only will it be green, but it'll glow, and I don't want that." I said, playing along. "Now, if I could get mine to look a bit like yours, like a spotted chow's tongue, I'll be all good."

She gasped, a smile tugging at her lips. "Bitch!"

The two of us laughed and continued to talk lowly for the next forty-five minutes. She told me about various things occupying her mind: her stalker, Danny, her crush, Josh, his band, her stepdad working in Houston, a good eight hours away from here, Heard, Texas.

I myself told her about new things in my life: my recent break-up with Alysha Garza, my need to stay the hell away from her, her inability to stop bothering me, my grades, my hating the single life, my car.

"It's gorgeous," I gabbed. "It's a dark gray, with shiny silver rims and-"

The bell rang at that moment, an annoying buzz.

"Well isn't that a bitch?" Paige asked rhetorically (and sarcastically). "I'm not gonna be able to listen to you drone on and on about your new car!"

"You won't get out of it that easily, woman." I shook my head.

The two of us stood up and filed out of the classroom.

"Hey ladies!" Lenny Mason stood outside the door of Patterson's room, his back against the lockers. Today he wore sand-blasted blue jeans, a brown Sean John shirt, and beige skater shoes.

Oh God he's wearing that hideous shit-colored shirt again. Paige thought. I looked at her and smirked.

Both he and Paige were so very trendy, and I felt drab and boring next to them in a pair of dark blue jeans, a grayish-blue plaid quarter sleeve shirt and gray Converse.

"Len, baby! I love your shirt!" Pareola wrapped her arms around his waist. She pulled back. "How was first period?"

"It was shit." He replied.

"Oh?" I asked. "Did Parker pee in her pants again?"

I wish! Lenny thought, and I did my best not to cringe in disgust.

"No, but she came close. Also, can chicks her age get her period? She was being a real bitch to us."

The three of us made our way to our lockers through the crowds of students congregating throughout the hallway (Heard High School only had about six hundred kids, but honestly).I was getting a headache from having so many thoughts being thrown around. It was like radio static:

What I wouldn't give to eat nachos off her tits-

-need to study hardcore-

I wonder if mom will be drunk again… I wonder if she'll be too drunk to notice the bumper on the car is missing-

What's for lunch today?

I need my history book, algebra book, biology book…

Fuck me until I die…

I closed myself off to everybody and got back to the conversation we were having.

"She's like, eight hundred years old." I replied. "I'm pretty sure she bleeds dust."

"Yeah!" Paige agreed. "As for the bitchiness, she probably forgot to take her meds this morning or something."

"Oh, you mean like her Viagra?" Lenny suggested.

"Don't you need a dick to take Viagra?" I asked.

"Exactly!"

The three of us laughed and made our first stop at my locker. Second period would be just as painful as first period, with US History being on the menu. I grabbed the appropriate book (which probably weighed no less than sixty pounds) and shoved it in my messenger bag. I slammed my locker shut and the three of us made our way down the 200 hall, where both Paige and Lenny's lockers were.

"So Len, which class do you have right now?" I asked.

"Biology with Schneider." He replied, raising his book to show me.

"Lucky you." Paige chuckled. "He's fucking awesome."

"I know, right?" Lenny nodded enthusiastically. "And his tight little ass isn't bad to look at either."

I wonder if he's got a big- Lenny thought, and I immediately closed off the connection to his mind, grinning.

Everybody knew that Mr. Schneider was young and hot, and often the fantasy of many teenage girls and Lenny. I myself didn't find anything particularly special about him.

"Len, is there ever a time when you aren't thinking of boning every good-looking guy you see?" I asked, grinning.

"Let me think." He pretended to think hard. "No."

"Well this is my stop, ladies." Paige said, coming to a halt in front of the Economics classroom. "See you gals later."

We waved and continued walking.

"Did Paige tell you our lunch plans?"

"Yes she did, and I'd like to say that I disagree with them."

"Aw Dick-O, please!" He begged, using the hideous nickname that he'd given me sophomore year. "We have a whole hour and a half, and it'll take us fifteen minutes to go and come back."

"Oh it isn't the time that worries me, it's the fact that we'll be sneaking off-campus."

"Oh you!" Lenny shook his head and slapped my back. "Look, just think it through during second period, alright? Me and Paige will get back to you."

I opened my mouth to argue, but closed it when Lenny waved and took off to class.

I smiled and shook my head. Then, I continued to walk through the thinning crowds, students running past me in desperate efforts to get to class before the second bell rang.

The tardy bell rang just as I was about to reach for the door handle.

"I'm here!" I cried.

Mrs. Davis, the teacher, is quite the conundrum. She has cankles. Her wild mane of curly brown and blonde hair is always pulled up into an awful bun and clipped in place with hideous, shiny barrettes. She wore boring outfits and always, always wore a thin, bright purple sweater over it. And usually, she was quite nice. Which is why it surprised me when:

"No, you aren't, Mr. Garrett." She said shortly. "You're tardy."

"Mrs. Davis, I was in the restroom!" I stammered.

"No excuses." She shook her head. "You need to go get a late pass from the front office. Nelda should give it to you."

"But my foot was in the doorway! That should count!"

"Well it doesn't. Stop trying. Go get your pass."

Behind her, I saw several students grinning widely and chuckling at the situation. The table that I sat at already had paper balls scattered over the top, and spit wads on the seat (luckily it was the unused of the two seats; mine was perfectly fine).

"But my record-"

"Do I need to write you up for arguing and refusing to take direction?"

"Mrs. Davis-!"

"GO."

And with that, I was sent the opposite direction like a dog with its tail between his legs. One final look back showed Mrs. Davis with an apologetic look on her face.

I squinted at her:

Oh, I've always wanted to do that! That felt wonderful! I'm the teacher, I am! She thought.

"Oh you bitch…" I whispered to myself, and continued walking.

Nelda Dawson, the secretary who does absolutely nothing at the front desk, was pregnant. Again. She was filled to the brim with a bunch of screaming, pooping little hellspawns and about ready to pop.

"Hi Nelda." I droned.

"Hey Mr. Garrett." She said brightly, her brown-and-blonde streaked hair tumbling across her shoulders as she turned to acknowledge me.

"Can I have a tardy slip? Davis is being a bi- really unpleasant today."

"She's been doing it a lot lately."

"Oh? Maybe she's pregnant?"

"Are you saying I'm bitchy, Daniel?" She grinned.

"Of course not, Nelda." I shook my head.

I may not be bitchy, but good God am I gassy. I can't wait to just give this kid his tardy slip, then I'll release- she thought.

"Have you got that pass ready?" I asked, biting back a laugh.

"Oh!" She nodded excitedly. "Here you go." She handed me a little blue piece of paper.

"Well off I go." I said. "Thanks, Nelda!"

"Here's your pass." I said dully, and handed the paper to Mrs. Davis. We stood at the entrance of the classroom, just outside the door. The halls were now completely empty.

"Thank you sir!" She cried gleefully. "Was that so hard?"

"Can I go in and sit down?"

"Yes you may, but first, I'd like to introduce our new student."

The two of us walked into the room, and my breath caught in my throat when I saw that there was a boy sitting at my (now clean) table. A dark brown leather backpack rested on the tabletop, and his brown leather jacket was hung on the back of his chair.

"This is Heard High School's newest student, Erick Marsh. He transferred here from his high school in Seattle, Washington."

I nodded and gave him a slight smile. He stared back at me like he stared at a tightly-coiled dog turd on his front lawn: in repulsion and disgust.

Despite the ugly expression on his face, I would have needed to be blind to ignore the boy's incredibly, unreal beauty: he was tanned, his skin nearly as tan as mine, and tall, with long, muscled legs that he had folded beneath the table. His muscled thighs gave the impression that they were about to bust through the fabric of his tight dark blue jeans. He had on a gray t-shirt that also was stretched to burst across his fantastic, muscled, broad shoulders and bulging chest and his lean, muscular arms were squeezed by his short sleeves. His face was relatively small, with a perfect sloped nose and thick, full lips. His jaw was sculpted and strong. His eyes were light brown, framed with long lashes and dark, thick eyebrows. He had a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose. His dark brown hair fell in a feathery swoop across his forehead, not obscuring any of his perfect features.

He's so hot-

-fuck me right now-

Garrett is so lucky he gets to sit next to that fine piece of-

-wouldn't give to sit next to him for the rest of they year-

SO delicious…

How does Davis expect us to concentrate on our lessons?!

All of the thoughts hit me like a wave of radio static, making the backs of my eyes sting and leaving me woozy and uncomfortable. Slowly, steadily, while taking deep breaths, I closed off my mind and relaxed as the barrage of thoughts dissipated.

I sat down and felt Erick's body tense up, but said nothing.

"Okay class, today we'll be reviewing the Reconstruction of America. As you may know…"

The period went for the next while without anything very interesting going on. At times, a joke would be cracked that would be mildly funny, but nothing to piss pants about. I would occasionally hide my cell phone beneath the desk and text message friends, but I spent most of the time wondering about the strange, beautiful boy next to me, who by the middle of the period, had moved his seat to the end of the table, as far away from me as possible.

Did I smell bad? Had I farted without realizing it? Was I really that ugly??

I turned my head just the tiniest millimeter so that I could look at him. I zoned out and felt my mind reach out to his so that I could hear his thoughts.

The connection suddenly faded out, very quickly, and it was as if I'd hit a brick wall. I jumped just slightly and felt a dull ache in the top of my head. Erick turned and looked at me with raw fury in his eyes.

The bell rang suddenly, and in one swift movement, he was up and out of the room, leaving behind a trail of his cologne and me wondering what the hell had just happened.

Lunchtime was spent with both Paige and Lenny and their little gang at the lunch table. I was there only physically, though, as if watching from a far away place. I vaguely paid attention to Lenny and how he planned on getting a new haircut soon, and Paige talking about how her mother had grounded her. Various people came and went from the table, none of them which I bothered to acknowledge.

"What's wrong, D?" Paige asked through a mouthful of school meatloaf.

"Nothing." I replied miserably. I only made enemies with a guy who hasn't even been here two hours. "Davis's history class was a bitch."

"Oh you can't even imagine Warden's! He…"

And so I got her started, like a car down a hill. She began talking about the books she had to read, all her homework, and a bunch of other stuff that I didn't pay attention to.

I didn't do anything to him. I thought to myself.

"I'm going to the snack bar!" Lenny announced, standing up. "Would any of you girls like something?"

"Get me a bottle of iced tea!" Paige looked up and took a dollar out of her wallet.

He nodded. "Dick-O?" He asked. I looked at him and shook my head no.

After Lenny left, I looked back at Paige. She continued on her rant about her own history class and how she was probably only going to pass the class with a B this year (oh the horror) and how she had some sort of book assignment due soon.

"Are you listening to me?" She snapped her fingers in front of my face and my eyes refocused back onto her.

"Of course I'm listening!" I frowned.

"Yeah?" She repeated questioningly. "What did I just say?"

"You said… I… That book assignment thing!" I'm so smooth. "Then something about dinner-"

"Dinner?" She shook her head. "Aw D, what's wrong?"

Then, it all came tumbling out. "So there's this new guy in my history class who is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and he's sitting at my table and when I sit down, he acts like he's repulsed! I don't know what I did to him! It's bullshit! And then, I tried to read his-"

She looked at me strangely.

"-test paper, and he totally flipped his shit! Like, he acted as if I'd tried to give him a forced hand job or something! It's fucking ridiculous! I just want to be his friend and-"

"Who is this kid?" Paige asked.

"His name is Erick something. I don't remember his last name, but it's impossible not to recognize him."

"Are you talking about that new guy?" She pointed to somewhere behind me.

I turned and my mouth dropped.

Chapter 2

Celestial Fists & Strange Looks

Lenny was standing there, holding a burrito, three Rice Krispy Treats and two bottles of iced tea…

…and talking to Erick. They were laughing and looking into one another's eyes. Something was said and Erick laughed, revealing a heartbreakingly beautiful smile. His gold-brown eyes crinkled at the edges when he smiled. Lenny was very obviously interested.

"Y-yeah. That's him." My voice came out in a weak whisper. My stomach was about to fall out of my ass. I felt like I had dry-swallowed a big pill. My hands and feet were numb. The room was spinning. "Oh God…"

Paige put a hand on my shoulder. "He's hot."

I nodded and immediately tried to zero in on Lenny's thoughts, but only got the faintest buzz. He was all the way across the lunchroom, and I'd never been able to read the mind of somebody more than ten or eleven feet away.

"Lenny is so into him." I said, a bit stronger this time.

"No." She shook her head as if it was the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard. "He's after that Sylvia girl, remember?"

Her thoughts said something entirely different: Lenny is hooked! Oh well. The early bird gets the worm. Poor D.

I turned to her, about to resort to violence, when I remembered she didn't know I'd read her thoughts, which meant that a breaking of the neck would come as a total surprised to her.

Sigh.

"Does Mr. Lenny need to be reminded of Sylvia?" Paige asked nobody in particular. I turned back and smiled faintly, feeling like I was about to throw up. I didn't turn back. I had seen enough.

As quickly as I could, I gathered all my stuff up into my bag and stood up.

"I'm going to the library."

"Dick-O! Paige!" Lenny chortled happily. He sat and tossed his goods (not those) onto the table. "I got you guys some snacks."

Though he was my best friend, I wanted nothing from anyone right now. "Hold mine until third period." I said. "We aren't allowed to eat in the library."

And with that, I was off.

By the following week, a week and a half after Erick's initial arrival, I was nearly used to seeing him. In addition to history, he had English class with me (and Lenny), as well as Spanish class and Theater Arts. Of course, he treated me like a leper every time I came within a twenty foot radius of him.

Don't get me wrong, I would still run the risk of mild hyperventilation and panic attacks, just, not as severe as the first day I'd seen him. Also, don't get me wrong, Lenny was still talking to him like an overzealous school girl but neither Paige nor I had led on that we knew about his pursuit of Erick, nor were we going to.

When I walked into History class that Wednesday, he was already seated, looking cold and pissed as always.

"Hey Erick." I said politely, and took my seat next to him. I turned to see his response, and nearly fainted when he gave me the faintest hint of acknowledgement by nodding just slightly.

"Okay class," Mrs. Davis called from the front of the room. "Today is the day of the assignment our first class project of the year."

Groans.

Moans.

Nobody was happy, and it didn't take any mind reading to figure that one out.

"It's barely the first six weeks of school!" Giovanna Medina called from the back of the classroom.

"Be chill, miss!" Ricky Coronado cried.

Utterances and murmurs of disagreement echoed around the room, but to no avail. Mrs. Davis simply put her hand up, and the chatter eventually stopped.

"As I was saying, you and your class partner will be teaming up to create a large political cartoon. You will put it on a poster board…"

That was all it took for me to transition from spastic, nervous, mostly-gay guy to full-on Queen. I was gonna have to work with Erick, whom I already knew as the Asshole God of Heard High School.

Double sigh.

And so Mrs. Davis sat down at her desk, content with herself and not realizing that the fate she had sealed for me was worse than a date with Satan himself.

Apparently, Erick realized the same thing. He stood up without a word and walked over to Mrs. Davis's desk. He bent over so that they were in closer proximity, and he gave me a perfect view of his tight, round, muscled butt (focus Daniel, focus!).

I looked back down at the blank sheet of paper in front of me and began doodling listlessly, wanting a Diet Coke and a warm bed. And maybe some nachos. I smiled to myself and continued to draw.

Someone was watching me.

My hand froze instinctively and it took all I had for my head not to snap up and scan the room. Instead, I looked up slowly and quickly looked behind me. I stretched, taking advantage of my act and popping my neck and shoulders. I turned, and was startled when I saw Erick looking at me (in my direction, really), with a sweet, gentle look on his face. His features were relaxed and happy, and for a moment, I melted.

Then, as if triggered by my awareness of him, the angry, "I just smelled poo" look on his face returned, and he spun back around to face the teacher.

I shook my head and went back to drawing, trying to ignore the fact that there was over an hour of class time left.

"- and so I told him, 'I'm no booty call, Danny!', just like that, I swear to you-" Paige was nearly yelling over the tumult of hungry teenagers in the cafeteria at lunch time. She was talking to her friends Ericka and Jorge. Lenny was texting with somebody, and I sat at the end of the table in my own little world.

The whole Erick thing was really irking me, and the fact that Lenny was making all of the moves only made it worse.

This is good, things are going perfectly! My eyes widened when I listened in to Lenny's thoughts. I looked up, directly at him, so that I could get a stronger reading. Erick isn't looking for a girl right now! Paige is shit out of luck…

Even I had to smile at that last one.

"Hey Lenny!" I called.

He looked up. "Yes, Dick-O?"

"How are things going with Sylvia?"

He smiled uncertainly. "Dick-O, I need to talk to you."

"Alright." I nodded cautiously. "What's going on?"

"Okay, so Sylvia is great and everything. She's pretty and she's nice and she's kinda into me."

"But…" I encouraged.

"But, I found someone better."

Oh shit.

"There's this guy, right? His name is-"

Oh shit.

"Erick Marsh."

I sighed numbly. "Go on."

"Alright, well, I have him for first period. He's a new kid here." He grinned excitedly. "New meat! Anyway, he's totally hot, and he's friendly and really cool."

"I have him for second period." I added pathetically.

"Yes well, we've been talking."

Oh shit.

"And he says that he isn't really into girls at the moment. So I asked him if he'd ever consider anybody from this school, and he told me, and I quote, 'I have my eye on somebody', and he was looking directly at me."

Aw…shit.

"That's great, Lu." I smiled weakly. "You should go for it."

"Yeah? You think I have a chance?" His eyes widened.

"Yeah." I nodded and looked down at my untouched plate of bizarre, venomous-looking lasagna, no longer listening and wanting to cry. This sucked.

I wanted Erick…

Lenny wasn't good enough for him.

I was good enough for Erick.

And yet, he hated me.

It was pointless and yet so very frustrating.

At that moment, I could have sworn I really did feel a single tear run down my cheek.

I was losing my chance, to my best friend of all people. Was that supposed to make it easier?

Third Period had become a regular torture session. Call me crazy, but watching Erick talk with Lenny with their faces so close together right in front of me was not my cup of tea. In fact, it made me want to throw myself in front of a moving bus.

"Have you decided how you want to interpret Hester Prynne's line in this part of the story?" My partner Ashlie Arroyo asked while we dissected The Scarlet Letter, throwing me out of my reverie.

"Um…what?" I looked at her like she was an alien.

"Daniel!" She cried, exasperated. "This line is half a page long! That's a lot to interpret! How can you be zoning out like that?! We can't afford that! Our grades can't afford…"

While Ashlie was ranting, I decided that at the very least, I would be Erick's friend. If I couldn't get closer than that, then friendship would just have to do. It was masochistic and stupid, but it made perfect sense in my head and I was stricken with a newfound sense of determination.

I stood up from my desk, leaving Ashlie with her mouth open, in the middle of her bitching. I grabbed my pen from my desk and balanced it precariously on top of my open notebook and began walking to the teacher's desk.

As I neared Erick's desk, I tipped my notebook to the side and watched as my pen dropped to the floor, just an inch away from his right foot.

"Damn." I muttered. "Erick, can you-" I pointed to the pen.

He nodded solemnly, and in the corner of my eye, I noticed Lenny watching me.

"Here" Erick said, and held the pen out to me.

It happened very fast at that moment.

My fingertips brushed against the tip of the pen and I felt as though somebody had blown a hole through me with a shotgun. Overwhelming anger and sadness hit me like a baseball, making me want to cry and taking my breath away with its intensity. Heat shot up and down my arms and legs and culminated in my throat, leaving it hot and uncomfortable, so much so that I bent over and gagged.

"Urgh!" I groaned, sweat shooting down my face like bullets. Something was very wrong. "Oh fuck…" I choked. I threw myself against a desk for balance.

"Daniel!" Mrs. Cabrera shouted in her nasal, weird voice.

"Fuck…" I shut my eyes against the overhead lights, which were suddenly excruciating to me.

My legs were made of gelatin, and I stumbled backwards, landing hard on my butt and falling onto my back helplessly. The room was spinning, with voices coming from every direction.

I was so angry… Red hot rage boiled in the pit of my stomach and threatened to come out in a surge of vomit and bile if I didn't downplay it. Fury coursed through my veins, making my head throb even more than it already was.

The sensations began to pass at that moment. Slowly, very slowly, the boiling anger inside me leashed and cooled. My arms and legs regained sensation. My sweat dried, and my stomach was no longer cramping like a pregnant lady in labor. The room was coming back into focus, and my head wasn't throbbing as badly. The temperature was falling back to the nice chill the room had been before my little attack.

"Oh fuck…" I breathed, opening my eyes.

Mrs. Cabrera and every student in the room was looking at me, as if expecting me to explode or melt or something.

"Did you go into labor or something, Dick-O?" Lenny screeched from the back of the room. Several students chuckled, but most were staring at me cautiously.

They're afraid. I thought.

I laughed lightly, still feeling woozy. "Mrs. Cabrera, may I go to the nurse?"

"She's out for the day, dear." She replied, her brows creasing. "Why don't you go to the library for the rest of the period? There's a little more than an hour left. You can go try to relax there and maybe work on your research project."

I nodded, taking deep, experimental breaths to make sure I was alright.

"Can I get a volunteer to go with Mr. Garrett?" She called as she wrote the pass.

I was about to protest when she looked up suddenly, robotically, and turned to Erick. "Mr. Marsh, will you accompany Daniel to the library?"

He looked at her and nodded silently, the movement barely noticeable.

I gathered my things and grabbed my pass before Erick could even stand up. The walk to the library was nearly a quarter of a mile, and I was not looking forward to it.

The empty hallways were a bit warmer than the classroom was, and it was greatly appreciated. I felt myself relaxing, my head clearing of its previous panicked inhabitants.

My footsteps echoed up and down the hall as I walked. My phone vibrated and I took it out, not stopping or slowing down.

It was a text message from Lenny:

Dick-O!

My plan is working!

I asked Erick if he wanted to hang out

*cough cough*

I'll have slept with him by this time next week! LOL 3

I shook my head, anger spiking again. Lenny had a lot of balls to be telling me those things. Then I remembered that he had no idea of the things I felt for Erick. He had no way of knowing.

He can't read minds. I thought to myself, and laughed.

It wasn't until I was about to exit through the big pair of double doors to the outside that I detected another set of footsteps behind me.

I looked behind me and saw Erick walking intently but keeping a distance of eight or nine feet behind me.

I stopped, and so did he.

I continued walking, and so did he.

I stopped.

He stopped.

"You know, I'm feeling really dandy about now." I spoke, annoyed. "Go back to class."

He walked closer to me, but still stood two or three feet away.

"Go back to class!" I cried, pointing back at the building.

I looked him in the eye, and he looked back at me.

"I've upset you." He spoke softly. It wasn't a question.

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out. I racked my brain, trying to remember how to say "yes", but I hit a blank.

He hadn't upset me.

He had scared me.

He was scaring me.

Again, no answer came to mind, so I turned and kept walking. This time, I heard his footsteps rush to catch up, but still keeping the two/three foot distance between us.

"Talk to me." He said. His voice was like a song. It was deep and rich, and even those three small words sent shivers up my spine. They sounded like a plea, a threat, a promise, and a question at the same time.

"Oh?" I repeated. "You want me to talk to you? Now, after nearly two weeks here, you want me to talk to you?"

"Yes." He replied, his voice still soft.

"I don't want to talk to you." I said. "But maybe I should do what you say, or else you'll pull a parlor trick like you did in the room."

"That's what made you ill back there?" Erick's voice was now edged with worry. "You actually felt that back there?"

I whirled around to face him, ready to bite his head off, when again, I was taken back by his intense, unreal perfection. His eyes pleaded with me to just talk to him, and his flawless, muscled body was projecting a message of openness, a willingness to talk, to discuss what had happened.

I said nothing.

"Please? Just please talk to me."

"Let's get to the library." I said stiffly. I turned to begin walking, but realized that he still wouldn't walk next to me.

"You can walk." He said.

"Aren't you-" I began, but he shook his head.

"Just walk. I'll follow you."

And so I walked, the large building that was the library looming closer and closer.

Chapter 3

Table for Two

Inside the cool library, I handed the head librarian, who was busy decorating for Halloween, my pass and proceeded to the back, behind the countless shelves of tomes, novels of fact and fiction, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses.

I tossed my bag onto one of the wide tables and turned.

"We can sit here-" I began, but quickly realized that Erick was no longer following me.

I turned back around and jumped a foot in the air when I saw that Erick was already sitting in one of the chairs, waiting patiently and still staring at me with his deep, thoughtful eyes.

"Sit." He said.

I sat. "What are we even doing here?" I asked him.

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Talk to me."

Gently, unthinking, I extended my mind so that it would fall into synch with his. I was eager to get a reading of his thoughts, and felt my mind break past the first layers of his consciousness.

A look of horror flashed across his face, and I felt the beginning of what I had felt back in the classroom.

I gasped and shut my eyes quickly, grasping the table. It was over quickly, within seconds of my having felt it.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

I wrenched my eyes open. "You're doing that? You did that back there?"

His eyes widened. "No!" He cried in outrage, but I could tell he was lying. "I- It's just- How do you-" But then he shut his mouth, his eyes on the table in shame.

I looked down at my hands, the two of us silent.

Then, my memory flashed back to the classroom, when I was overwhelmed by grief and anger and sadness and hurt.

"Is that what you feel every day?" I said, my voice in a near whisper, not looking at him.

"You understood what happened back there?" He sounded incredulous.

"That's why I'm asking you." I nodded. "Now, is that what you feel every day?" I repeated.

He stayed silent, though his face betrayed him. My question brought out his internal struggles, his torture.

"Why?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Erick." I said testily. "Please tell me."

"You can't help." He shook his head again. "Nobody can help."

"Can I try, please?" My stare was still on the table, on my hands.

"I almost killed you." He spoke, his voice like glass, about to break at any moment. "You nearly died because of me, and here you are, wanting to help me."

I said nothing.

"I can trust you." He wasn't asking me. He was telling me.

"I'm happy you think so." I nodded.

"That's exactly why I'm going to tell you the story, but later on. You deserve to know.

"I've treated you really badly." He said.

No shit. I thought to myself.

"I want to try to make up for my behavior."

His face was more relaxed now, though he still had his hands clasped tightly together on the table in front of him. My own hands were also on the table, just inches from his.

We were quiet, only this time it was a peaceful silence.

I sighed and took my glasses off. I rubbed my eyes. I was very tired.

"Do you have to wear glasses?" Erick asked.

I looked up at him. "Yeah. I mean, I kind of like being able to see, even if it means having these ugly things on my face." I smiled.

"Your eyes are…really nice…"

And I froze.

"T-thanks." I stammered. "But, um w-what?"

"I think you have beautiful eyes." He said, more strongly this time.

"They're brown." I nodded, and winced. There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the wit and smoothness of Daniel Garrett. No, I wasn't born with it.

He laughed and I smiled again.

"I'm sorry if I've been unpleasant in the past week."

"I suppose it's alright." I shrugged. "But, what did I do to you?"

His face became serious again. "If I tell you, you would never believe me."

"Try me." I looked at him, bored.

He squinted at me. "I'll tell you later."

"Later?" I repeated. "Aw, come on! Don't I deserve to know?"

"You do, but we have plenty of time."

The word "we" sounded like heaven on earth. I wanted Erick so badly at that moment. I was afraid that my inhibitions would take a backseat and I would have him on the library table.

I inched my hand toward his.

"Please, don't." He spoke quickly and pulled back his hand.

I frowned, stunned. "I-I'm sorry…"

A flash of pain crossed his face. "It isn't your fault. Really, it isn't. It's just-"

Then, the realization came crashing down on me. My own kind of sadness washed over me, the nonviolent kind.

"Lenny? You already told Lenny you liked him?"

He looked genuinely thrown-off. "Lenny?" He repeated. "The guy from our English class?"

"Yes." I nodded slowly.

"He is…very forceful."

I stared at him blankly.

"He talks to me every time he sees me-"

"For good reason!" I nodded enthusiastically, and immediately wanted to kick myself.

He smiled. "What is this reason?"

"I just meant like, I think- he thinks- you're new here-" My words were jumbled and stupid. I stopped and shut my mouth. I shrugged.

"Well, regardless, he, and a couple of other boys, and you wouldn't believe how many girls, just throw themselves at me. They seem to forget that I too, am human. I want more than a vapid hook-up."

"And Lenny doesn't meet your criteria?"

"That sounds bad." He shook his head. "But yes. He's so eager and annoying. He's a nice boy, but not for me."

I chuckled and looked out the window, my smile fading.

"You're unhappy." He said softly.

"No, actually." I shook my head. "I'm…surprised. I'm very surprised."

"How so?"

"Well, I mean, I just thought you were really into Lenny. I don't know… the fact that you aren't is quite… unexpected." I looked at him. "And you told him you had your eye on somebody. He thought you meant him."

"That isn't good!" He shook his head. "I've deceived the guy."

I nodded, admiring his strong jaw and the way it moved every time he talked.

"So, just out of curiosity, who are you interested in?" I asked, my eyes on the table.

He smiled a secretive smile. "This is going to be very unexpected for you."

I raised my eyebrow. "Go on."

"I find you intriguing."

I think I peed my pants at that moment.

"There's something about the way you carry yourself, the way you walk in the hallways, alone, absorbed by your thoughts, uncaring about the people surrounding you. You're strong, but at the same time, so very weak. You're sad a lot, but filled with a poignant light that I find so very interesting. You smile to yourself when you draw on a piece of paper. What was behind the smile?"

I said nothing, didn't answer, just listened.

"You're the type of boy who could survive without all these "friends", these excess people. You're self-sufficient, but you yearn to be listened to, to be showed affection and attention. You hide so much and reveal so little. You're a book waiting to be read."

"Um…" There goes my charm and wit again. "I…didn't know a person's walk could be so revealing."

He chuckled. "Oh but it is. You have my attention."

"I…don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything. Let's just sit, enjoy each other's presence."

"Erick…"

"Yeah?"

"Do people know?"

"What? That I'm a passionate person who likes who he likes, regardless of the other person's gender?"

I couldn't help smiling at that.

"I'm not a big fan of labels."

I shook my head. "Neither am I."

"So. Do people know about you?"

I sighed. "No. They don't."

"Why?" The question wasn't particularly probing, but I felt the need to give him my reasons.

"I…don't know. I've never been able to put myself out in the open about anything really, and I suppose the feelings I have toward another person are just one of those things I keep to myself. I'm not very bold, nor am I adventurous. I'm dull and kind of trite."

"You've never observed yourself, have you? You've never seen yourself for who and what you are?"

I shook my head.

Both of us got very quiet then. It was a nice quiet, very peaceful. He was relaxed, happy, and I myself was nearly dizzy with joy. My afternoon had turned into one right out of a wet dream.

Twenty blissful minutes later (yes, I'm aware all we did was sit in front of each other), he spoke.

"We should get back to class. The bell will ring soon."

"Alright." I nodded.

The two of us stood and he spoke again, very quickly.

"Um, can I-" He began, but seemed to give up. He reached out, slowly, cautiously, and gently stroked the side of my face with the back of his hand, leaving a trail of warmth beginning at my temple and ending at my chin.

He smiled. "Let's go."

As we walked outside, the day seemed warmer, nicer in a way. We walked close together, as close as we could without touching (very strange).

"How long have you been able to do that thing you do?" Erick asked as we walked.

"What are you talking about?"

"When we were in the library, I felt something in my head. I knew it was you, and it felt like you were getting into my head or something, and-"

"Oh! I've been doing it since I was little." I nodded in understanding. "I don't know how to explain it. If I let my mind wander, if I lose control, anybody within a few feet of me is an open book. Their mental walls just crumble and I have access to all of their thoughts."

He nodded quietly, his eyes on the ground.

"It's kind of weird when it does happen, and that's why I'm always guarded."

"Um, just please don't do it to me again." He said quietly.

I opened my mouth but found no words. My face burned with shame. "I-I'm sorry."

He looked back up at me, his eyes wide. "No!" He shook his head fervently. "I just meant, I don't want what happened to you in class today to happen to you again!"

I stopped walking abruptly. "Are you gonna tell me what that was?"

"I guess I was just in a bad mood, and when you did that mind trick thing, it affected you."

"But I hadn't done it-" I protested, when suddenly, the bell signaling the start of fourth period rang.

"I'll walk you to class." He offered.

And so the two of us walked, his pace a bit faster than mine.

I was surprised to see that I didn't even have to tell him which class I had fourth period. We were standing in front of Mrs. Garret's door within minutes

"I'll meet you here after class, yeah?" He asked, and I couldn't help but become giddy at the thought of seeing him in an hour and a half.

"Sure." I nodded. I looked down and extended my hand for his when he suddenly whirled around and left for class, leaving me mystified and slightly agitated.

What was so difficult about letting me touch him? What was he afraid of? Moreover, what was he hiding?

The bell rang then, and I went inside and took my seat.

Chapter 4

The Long Walk

At the end of fourth period, as it turns out, Erick did not show up. I stood outside of Mrs. Garret's door for nearly fifteen minutes before I decided to head to the bus by myself. The idea of being at home was very appealing, as I was disappointed and just the tiniest bit sad that I would have to wait until the next day to see him again.

"Ugh, what's wrong, Daniel?!" Paige asked on the bus. Today she wore a brown little sweater over a bright turquoise tank top, some faded, torn blue jeans, and a pair of bright red shoes. She was kneeling in her seat, in a backwards position so that she faced me. Lenny was nowhere to be found (although he had stayed after school for geometry tutoring.

I really hope it isn't Alysha, because if it is, I'm going to kill a bitch, and I don't know whether that means her or Daniel. She thought.

"Meh. I failed an algebra test, so I'm kinda bummed." I lied. For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to tell her about my very revelatory afternoon. I wanted to, but there was some sort of mental block that I couldn't move past. "But I'll be fine."

"An algebra test? Don't you have the girl Schneider? Her tests are really easy!"

"Not this one, no." I shook my head. "Then again, I don't have much to worry about. I'm passing her class with a 98, and that's all I can ask for."

She chuckled. "Why not strive for a 100?"

"That would put me on a level with the Asians, and I dunno, I'd just rather not."

She grinned. "Aw, now what do you have against the Asians?"

"Nothing. I quite like them. It's just, keeping up their grades would be far too hard for a small-minded guy like me. I'm quite the simpleton."

"Oh D!" She shook her head. "You don't give yourself enough credit. I think you're pretty smart. You're passing algebra after all."

"But, I'm taking the short-bus math class. It isn't AP or college preparatory, so it isn't as if the material should be that hard to begin with."

She sighed. "There is just no arguing with you is there, Daniel Garrett?"

I grinned. "I got it from my mama."

"Oh I'm so sure." She rolled her eyes.

The two of us spent the next fifteen minutes or so of the bus ride going over our days. She told me about how she had finally gotten a spot in the National Technical Honor Society or something, and how she was uber-excited, and how Daniel refused to leave her alone, no matter how big a bitch she was to him, and her parents were going to get hammered because it was her aunt's birthday, and they hadn't "let loose" in quite a while (though I think I would be mildly traumatized if I saw Paige's mother with a loose anything). I mainly listened while she talked very animatedly, which I was fine with. My thoughts were preoccupied mainly with Erick, and my disappointment at not seeing him.

I was being dumb, of course; I would see him at school the next day. There was really no reason for me to be so distressed. But I was. For some reason, I could not shake my need to see him, to be close to him like we had been at the library. The simple thought of Erick was so enticing, and it was then that I realized I had never felt as strongly for anybody as I did Erick.

It was quite refreshing.

When I arrived home, I found a note on the counter, written by my parents. It said that both of them would be working late, and were planning on dinner and a movie shortly after work.

"That's some kind of wonderful." I grinned to myself.

I kicked my shoes off and padded over to the fridge, where I grabbed a Diet Coke and a box of frozen ravioli. I set the pasta to boil and sunk onto my couch in the living room.

I was pooped.

"This is the life." I smiled to myself, and buried myself deeper in to the big, fluffy couch, my soda balancing precariously on my knee.

For the while, I did nothing but flip through the channels, stopping only to go get my pasta and another soda. There was nothing on besides your usual primetime, rush hour programming (a few talk shows and a bunch of legal dramas).

At 6:30, I was in the middle of Oprah when my cell phone began vibrating insistently.

The caller ID read: UNKNOWN.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Um, hey." For a second, I didn't recognize the voice.

"W-who is this?"

"It's Erick." And my face tore itself into a big stupid grin. I wanted to fall over and just roll around in bliss. This was monumental. And, he sounded just as sexy over the phone as he did in person.

"Hey you." I tried my best to make my voice sound nonchalant, even though I was pretty sure I had a big dump in my pants. "What's up?"

"I just arrived home."

"I've been home for a while."

This was kind of awkward.

"Hey, where were you this afternoon?" I asked, surprising myself with my boldness. "I missed you."

"That's right!" He cried. "I'm so sorry. I got caught up with Mrs. Hudler."

"It's alright." I said sincerely. "We'll see each other tomorrow anyway."

"That's what I called to ask you about." He said matter-of-factly.

"Oh? Do tell."

"I was wondering if maybe you- this is just an offer- but I was kind of in the mood for coffee, and-" He stammered.

I smiled.

"Do you want to go get coffee with me?" He asked finally.

"Of course I want to get coffee with you." I grinned widely.

"Really?" He sounded giddy, like a little kid. "Can you meet me at the mall coffee shop in twenty minutes?"

"Yes, for sure."

"I'll see you then."

The one and only shopping mall in Heard, Texas was tiny. It boasted four clothing stores (one of them being a plus-sized ladies' store), a small food court (three restaurants), a bookstore, and a tiny little Starbucks. The only other places that teenagers found to hang out at was the Wal-Mart down the street, the tiny movie theater, the library, and The Patty.

And so, as I walked down the main stretch of the musty, ancient shopping mall, I was unbelievably nervous. My eyes darted around, searching desperately for Erick and his gorgeousness.

And then…

"Dick-O!" My stomach filled with ice as I turned around and saw Lenny strolling over to me, a shopping bag in his hand and a big, dopey grin on his face.

"Hey Lu." I plastered a smile on my face and froze, not wanting to move any farther toward Starbucks for fear of seeing Erick. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm shopping." He said.

"By yourself?" I asked.

He nodded. "I need a new shirt for this party that I'm going to on Saturday."

There is no party! Lenny's thoughts sounded miserable. Stupid Erick turned me down! I offered him everything I had, and I got the cold shoulder! The next bitch that has their eye on Erick is getting a face full of my fists whether I-

"So you came shopping by yourself?" I asked him, trying to hide my horror.

"Yeah. It's really no big deal."

"No, it isn't." I shook my head. "Well I'll get going now."

"Wait!" He put his hand on my shoulder. "What are you gonna do here?"

"I-I'm meeting a friend of mine for coffee at Starbucks." I stammered. Fuck. I wasn't hiding anything very well. "Then I'm heading home."

"Mind if I join you?" He asked innocently.

"Oh! It's one of my friends from down in the valley. They're coming up to visit and I haven't seen them in a really long time."

"It's cool." He nodded. "Well I guess I'll get going."

"Alright Lu."

"Bye dude."

"See you."

And he was off, thankfully not spotting Erick, who walked toward me just as Lenny stalked out of sight.

I smiled at him, and he returned the gesture.

"You came." He breathed, coming to a stop just a couple of feet before me, not touching (I was getting used to this by now).

"I told you I would." I nodded.

"That was Lenny." He said.

"Why yes, that was."

We looked at each other silently. It wasn't awkward, just quiet.

I reached for his hand, when he suddenly whirled around. "Let's go get coffee!"

Flabbergasted, I followed him, now intent and determined to begin questioning him.

"So how was your day?" Erick asked when we'd sat down ten minutes later. "Tell me all about it."

"Well," I began. "My morning was just fine and dandy. I arrived at school and went through my morning routinely. Lunch time was uneventful. I had the toxic lasagna that I'm sure will make my fingers turn black or something. Afterwards, I had quite the shocking experience when I had that little attack. It got better from there." I smiled at him.

"Well I'm so happy it got better after that." He smiled back.

I reached for one of his hands, when he suddenly pulled back, his eyes on the table.

"Why do you do that?!" I cried. My voice was composed and actually rather calm given the circumstances, but on the inside, my annoyance was growing. "Why won't you let me like, hold your hand or anything?"

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, his hands wrapping around his steaming mug of fragrant hot tea.

"Is that the way we'll be?" I asked. "No hugs? No hand-holding? Nothing?"

"I-" He began, but stopped, as if looking for the words. "I know why you're angry. But just please give me time. One of these days, I will hold your hand and everything will be fantastic, but for right now, I have my reasons."

"I wish you would trust me enough to tell me your reasons." I said quietly. "That way I could understand."

"I do trust you." He said. "But I'm afraid my reason, or reasons, for everything will scare you away. I wouldn't want to lose you."

I looked up at him to see that his face was sad and distant.

"You won't lose me." I said, my voice nearly a whisper.

"How do I know that? There's so much behind my logic and what I do every day, and if I tell you, I don't know how you'd take it! Any normal person would probably be really weirded out."

"Erick, I can read minds. I hear thoughts. I am weird. Trust me, I won't leave."

He smiled at that and looked down at his tea.

"Just, please give me a little bit more time. That's all I want, or rather need, really. I need to find a way to tell you everything in the most appropriate way, and when I have more control."

"Control?" I repeated. "Control over what?"

He stayed silent. Then, he looked up. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Where?"

"The trail that runs next to the mall and into Heard Woods. The sun isn't out today. It'll be nice. And we can talk."

The walking trail next to Heard Mall ran for nearly four miles. The first quarter of a mile or so was quite brown and weedy (like the rest of Heard), but the path became lush with vegetation as you got farther and farther onto it.

"So." I said. "What's up?"

We began walking, him a couple of feet from me.

"Well I'm quite happy. I'm here with you."

I smiled. "You're a weird one."

"Admittedly, I'm weirder than you could possibly imagine. For more reasons that those presented. But tell me, why am I weird for you?"

"Well for one thing, you like me. Me, who has a slight belly, isn't very good-looking, and kind of a bitch most of the time. Mind explaining yourself, mister?"

"You…have no idea what you're talking about. You couldn't be more wrong."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. The first time I saw you, it was as if the world had been shaken. You stood there, tall, quiet, thoughtful, and quite disapproving that someone had taken the seat next to you because you loved being at a singles table."

I laughed. "Not true, but go on."

"So true! Anyway, I kind of continue to watch you over the next week or so, right up until we started talking-"

"Today." I provided matter-of-factly, taking a sip of my iced coffee.

"Right. There's just something about you that's so…enticing. You walk around, acting like you don't notice the world around, like you don't care, but it's all an act. You carry so much around with you, so many emotional burdens, most of which belong to your friends and your family."

I said nothing. We continued walking.

"You're quiet, but you hear everything. You're a listener, a watcher. But you're also surrounded by people, exceptions being your family, who don't really care. They're happy that they've someone to listen to all their problems."

I opened my mouth to protest, but realized with a quiet sadness that what he was saying was true, all of it.

"And you know this." That was a statement, not a question. "Yet, you never stop listening. You never stop watching out for them. You lead a double life: an uncaring, slightly cynical, "bitchy" teen during the day, but also an individual filled with endless love and light and even darkness."

"You see darkness when you look at me?"

"Not darkness." He shook his head. "Rather, I see sadness. It's in your eyes."

Note to self: buy happy eyes.

"Anyway, I digress. You're an incredibly interesting person. Interesting translates into someone that I want to get to know, someone that makes me happy, and someone I want to get closer to."

I was silent, contemplative.

"Do you really mean that?"

He nodded. "Yes. You've no idea how hard it was thinking that I'd made you hate me those first days that I was here."

"I didn't hate you." I sighed. "And I'm glad that we're able to be like this, just walking next to each other and talking. It's nice."

"It is nice." He agreed.

We walked some more, enjoying the silence between the two of us.

I stopped suddenly, dead in my tracks.

"What is it?" Erick asked.

"I-I-" I stammered, but couldn't put it into words. "Something's coming."

A wave of warmth passed over me then, calming me, but I pushed it off, resisted it. My brain felt as if it were vibrating. It didn't hurt, but something in the air signaled change was coming. I needed to be alert, fully functioning, not placid.

There he is, that-

It's the witch!

-needs Christ in his life-

We won't tolerate his shit in our neighborhood-

I turned just in time to shield my face from a flying beer bottle.

"What the fuck?!" I cried, and stumbled backwards as the bottle crashed next to my leg.

Out of the dark came a gang of kids: three boys and a girl, all of them about fourteen or fifteen, and armed with baseball bats and rods.

"It's the witch!" One of the boys, a redhead with the face of a rat, shouted. "Get the witch!"

"Erick, what's going-"

"Get out of our neighborhood, witch!" The little girl, with pale blond hair and a pointy face, called. She threw a rock that very narrowly missed the top of my head, but caught Erick right on the forehead.

"Argh!" He cried out in pain and clasped a hand to his eye.

"Erick!" I screamed. He turned to me and I saw that blood flowed out of the wound freely, staining the right half of his beautiful face with crimson blood.

"Get out of here!" He pushed me backwards just as the girl came running from behind me and slammed the bat into his shoulder. "Oof!" He moaned in pain and fell backwards.

"Leave him alone!" I shouted, swinging my fists at the girl but missing. She ducked backwards and rejoined her buddies. "Leave him the fuck alone you nasty little brats!"

The rat-faced boy came forward, pushed right past me, and kicked Erick hard in the face. I heard a tiny snick as his nose broke.

"Look at me! Look over here!" I cried, but they ignored me completely. The three other kids moved in to help their buddy. "Why won't you look at me?!" I waved my arms.

One of the other two boys, one who wore a clown mask came forward and slammed his foot into Erick's side, knocking him over and leaving him breathless.

I picked up a rock lying next to my foot and flung it at the kids as hard as I could. It clipped a boy in a pig mask in the shoulder, but he didn't seem to notice.

What the fuck was going on?

Then, the kids moved into a circle, blocking Erick from my view. I heard his screams and shouts of pain growing weaker and weaker. They were winning. They were beating him.

"Why do you practice devil worship?!" Pig screamed, stomping on Erick's muscular stomach. "Why do you wear that star around your neck?!"

"Yeah!" The little girl screamed. She pulled out a fresh glass bottle and slammed it into the top of Erick's head, leaving four angry scratch marks down the center of his face, in addition to the caked-on blood that was already there. "Why can't you just love Jesus like we do?!"

"Close to God there is no fear." The rat-boy said solemnly, and brought the baseball bat down onto Erick's throat. Erick gasped in horror and clutched his neck in agony. "Close to God there is no fear."

The four kids began chanting, their voices strangely melodic.

"Close to God there is no fear."

"Close to God there is no fear."

The baseball bat was lying on the ground behind the boy with the clown mask. I walked quietly behind the boy and grabbed the bat.

"Close to God there is no fear."

I stood directly behind the boy, reared my arm, and swung as hard as I could, taking his knee clean out. A loud crack resonated through the air and he collapsed backwards, screaming.

"Close to God there is no fear."

I walked up behind the girl and conked her in the head, knocking her unconscious.

The two remaining boys stopped chanting, their voices in their throat.

"Little bastards!" I screamed. And swung the bat in one wide arc. It caught both boys' faces, incapacitating them. They both crumpled to the floor and lay very still.

I dropped my baseball bat to the floor and walked over to the boy with the broken knee. I stood over him as he sobbed and whined. In the fading light, I could just barely make out the mask.

Fury was racing through my veins.

"What the fuck were you doing, huh?"

The boy sobbed and hid his masked face.

"ANSWER ME!" I roared.

"He needs God in his life." Came his voice.

"So you figured you could beat it into him? Huh?"

"We didn't even hurt him that bad!"

At that moment, the stupid child's ignorance and stupidity sent my boiling blood over the edge. I pointed my finger at his face and my eyes widened to the size of saucers when I saw a crackling ball of blue light leaving my fingertip. It hit the boy in his throat, and his agonized cries turned into scratchy moans and gags as he continued to roll around.

I stood there, stunned at what I had done. I flexed my open hand, wondering about what else I could possibly do.

"Daniel… please…" I whirled around, and Erick lay there, pathetic and just barely able to pull himself up into a crawling position.

I ran over to him and I felt he was about to open his mouth to protest when I wrapped my arms around his hard waist. I felt something like static shock, but I resisted it and helped lift him up. He was actually about three inches taller than I was, so it was quite the task.

"I can't breathe…" He said shallowly, his breaths coming out in pained wheezes.

Tears sprang to my eyes as I struggled to move as fast as I could without hurting him. I couldn't lose him, I refused to lose him.

Unfortunately, the two of us had walked nearly a mile and a half, it was getting dark, and I felt my strength fading as I adjusted Erick's body. I was practically carrying him on my back.

"I-fuck-just please hold on." Every word was spat out as I strained myself to keep moving, to keep going forward, to not stop and think about the pain in my legs and my back and my arms. "We're almost to the car." But we weren't almost to the car. In fact, my car lay nearly a mile ahead of us.

"Just leave me here." Erick whispered, his weak voice breaking. "I won't make it." He coughed, and I vaguely made out a spray of blood leave his mouth. He coughed again, and it sounded like water being gargled.

A sob escaped my throat. "Shut the fuck up! Shut up! Don't talk like that."

Every step was excruciating. I was dirty and sweaty and covered in Erick's blood. The pavement below my feet felt as if it were mud that held me back and made the travel even worse. My breath was coming out in wheezes.

"Erick!" I screamed. He said nothing. He didn't even stir.

I kept walking.

I couldn't see straight.

The world was spinning.

Keep moving… keep moving… keep moving...

Everything went black.

Chapter 5

Bedroom Talk

My eyes blinked open to the greeting of a bedside lamp that was far too bright and far too close to my face. I was quite sore. My back hurt. My neck hurt. I had pain that seemed to be emanating from behind my eyeballs. My head was pounding. My feet hurt.

"Ugh…" I moaned. Then, I realized my head lay against something that was quite hard: Erick's chest.

With mild horror, I realized that the two of us were lying in my bedroom!

However, my horror didn't stem from the fact that I lay in bed with Erick (I had no complaints about that). It was the fact that he was inside my bedroom, which still had decorations from when I was six. I had a queen-sized bed that was decked in a fluffy, navy blue comforter. A thick, moss-green area rug covered most of my polished wood floors. My dresser was covered in pictures from when I was a young boy, and was decked with various medals and trophies (not from athletics, I'm quite the fatass, but rather from academic accomplishments!), and my a childhood teddy bear I so fondly called Henry lay on the floor face-down.

And in my bed? A human god named Erick Marsh.

"Awake?" His voice and the vibrations of it in his chest made jump.

I nodded, not moving. He too lay peacefully still, and it took me a moment to register his fingers gently stroking my hair, running through the short, choppy brown strands.

Then, I leapt up.

"Aren't you hurt?!" I screeched. "We need to get you to a doctor's office."

Erick laughed and winced, putting a hand to his sore ribs. "Wake the house up, yeah?"

I squinted at the clock: 3:30 a.m.

"I-I-"

"Lay back down."

I lay my head back down onto his firm chest, where I could feel a sheath of hard muscle covered by his soft skin. I breathed in his scent, which surprisingly didn't smell of blood, sweat, and dirt (the way I probably did). Rather, he smelled very lightly of cologne, but I could just barely detect it.

It took me quite a little while to realize that the side of my face was wet. I was crying, and this realization made the tears flow harder. Erick's thin gray cotton t-shirt was steadily becoming wetter and wetter with my tears.

"What's wrong?" Erick asked, continuing to stroke my hair.

"I was so scared tonight." I whispered, my voice shaking. "I tried so hard not to be, but I was so scared. The only thing on my mind was that those kids were going to kill you."

"I was scared as well." He agreed.

"Don't ever do that to me ever again. Ever."

"Do what?"

"I-I thought I was gonna lose you tonight." A sob escaped my throat.

"Don't cry, my darling." He whispered, and my sobs became less intense. I was able to breathe more calmly, and I wasn't shaking so badly.

"Erick, please tell me what's going on!" I said. "Please tell me everything."

"I-" He sighed, defeated. "Fine." Then, with little to no effort at all, he pulled me into a sitting position right next to him, his heavy arm draped over my shoulder.

"My family and I have been practicing Wicca for ages now."

"Wicca?" I repeated.

"I suppose you can say it is witchcraft. We're witches." He said causally. "Anyway, many generations of Marshes have been practicing it, it's nothing new. The reason those kids attacked tonight was because they're parents are religious zealots and they live next door. They've seen us giving thanks to the Goddess and lighting incense and chanting for protection and positive influence and stuff. They've seen my aunt put a spell on her garden so that the flowers bloom faster. All Wicca, to them, is evil and unjust and satanic worship."

"I'm sorry, but isn't it?" I asked. I tensed, expecting him to get offended, but instead he stroked my hair again and continued.

"No. Wiccans don't believe in the devil. They worship the earth and the God and Goddess, the ones who give earth all of its energy and its bounty. We give thanks in the forms of food offerings, in chants and rituals and spells; my family practices only white magick. Dark magick is frowned upon."

I stayed silent, my head resting against his chest. I could hear his heart beating strongly.

"Anyway, I guess their parents pushed them nice and far over the line of sanity, and they came after me tonight."

"That's awful."

"It is, but I'm glad I had someone there tonight. I'm glad you saved me."

We were quiet, holding each other.

"Thank you for telling me." I whispered.

"Of course." He spoke. I felt his breath on the top of my head.

"Can I know why you were so sensitive about getting close earlier?"

He was quiet, and then spoke slowly. "First off, let me just say that Wicca isn't a joke for me and everyone in my family that practice it. It's very real for us, and it's helped us experience things that not everyday people wouldn't ordinarily be able to. For instance, being savagely beaten and healing to almost normal within a few hours."

I chuckled and nodded.

"Alright, so practicing it makes one more…emotionally open. Emotionally sensitive, if you will. We project our feelings, make other Wiccans more sensitive to them." He paused. "Today, in English class, I was in a particularly rotten mood."

"So you're saying that I picked up on those emotions?"

"Yes."

"But, I don't practice Wicca. I've never even heard of it before today, before talking to you."

"Well you're telepathic, right?"

"Yes." I said cautiously.

"I think that makes you more aware, more sensitive. With my emotional projections, and your openness to accept them, I guess it just wasn't the best combination."

I was silent, thoughtful. "Why are we able to be like this now? Why aren't we at a distance?"

"I'm holding back." He said. "I'm holding back all of my magick energies and my emotions because I want to be with you. I don't want to hurt you like I did in class. It's so difficult, harder than you could imagine. It's far too easy for me to hurt you."

I stayed quiet and loosened my grip around his waist. I pulled away from him, disentangled myself from him.

"Please don't." He said, taking my wrist gently. "I don't want to let you go. Just hold me."

I sat back down and wrapped my arms around him. I felt smaller in his incredibly strong arms.

"You should get to bed." He whispered in my ear.

I shook my head. "What are you talking about? I just woke up."

"It would be best. You're going to have to wake at seven."

"So do you!" I protested.

"No I don't." He shook his head. "I'm not going to school."

"What?!" I screeched. "Why not?"

"I may be a witch, but I'm not invincible." He said calmly, lifting his shirt up to reveal several nasty bruises, already multi-colored and spotted all over his gorgeous, muscled stomach.

"Erick…" I breathed. I pulled away and my eyes scanned over his injuries. I ran my fingers over them gently, tenderly, taking extra care not to put him in more pain than he was already in.

"You make it that much better." He said, his eyes shining in the dim light of my bedroom.

I yawned.

"Come here." He stretched out into a laying position, his head on the pillow. His strong hands pulled me back so that I was lying against him. "Hold me."

I draped my arm across his chest, feeling the delicate, round musculature of his body.

"Will you stay here until I'm asleep?" I asked, yawning again. I was very tired.

"I'm not going anywhere."

I nestled my head against him, once again taking in his sweet scent, so much like expensive cologne and the warmth of him. It was a peculiar combination, but it amazed me. I wanted to drink him in, to never let him go.

My eyes continued to droop.

"Are those kids gonna be okay?" I slurred. It was a random thought, but it popped up into my head and I was sleepy, so it was busting out.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Erick chuckled. "Now they know not to mess with you."

"They…they were messing with you…" I shook my head, the room darkening and becoming warmer, more comfortable. "I… don't know what I'm saying anymore…"

I yawned and fell asleep.

I woke up not wanting to open my eyes.

I was too afraid the night it would turn out I'd dreamt of the night before, when I was sitting in Erick's big strong arms and listening to his heart and talking to him and inhaling his scent.

The note on my pillow, however, suggested otherwise:

We'll see each other sooner than you think.

Have patience (easier said than done, believe me).

3

Mornings weren't usually my time of day, but I went downstairs beaming. I bounced around the kitchen, downed my cereal in just under a minute, and was out the door for school.

It was a relatively nice day outside: light clouds drifted across the morning sky lazily, and the weak sun wasn't doing much to break through them. A gentle breeze stirred the air and brought up a swirl of dead leaves. Birds hurriedly flew south (I think it was south), and the occasional squirrel darted across lawns, taking advantage of dew on the blades of grass.

I sighed pleasantly and continued walking along the surprisingly empty streets of early-morning Heard.

It was at that moment that I remembered the bolt of light I had shot from my finger the previous night. I could have been hallucinating, yes, but it certainly wasn't a hallucination if the stupid little kid I'd hit had reacted so strongly to it, right?

I put my bag on the ground.

My arm tingled, expectant. I raised my hand and flexed my open fingers, feeling energy surge through them at that instant. The air seemed to crackle with whatever was inside of me.

It was all around me.

I snapped my fingers-

-and screamed as a power line exploded with a loud snap and came falling onto the ground in front of me like a fiery, convulsing snake.

"Holy fuckballs!" I shouted, and took off running the rest of the way to school.

Chapter 6

Lunchtime Exchange

The courtyard at school was thick with kids grouped here and there. Discussions of evenings before littered the air, laughs over the previous day's gossip. Thoughts tore into my mind like the crowd at a musical concert, sending a searing pain into my forehead.

Paige and Lenny were nowhere to be spotted, and neither was Erick (no surprise), so I stalked off to sit beneath a large, barely living tree.

The day before had been fantastic and so, so scary.

I shut my eyes and smiled to myself as memories of Erick and I sipping coffee at the coffee shop played back in my head. His eyes, those deep, timber-colored pools, shone bright topaz when the sunlight flitting through the windows hit them. Other minute details about him were replaying: his finely-grained hands holding his mug of tea, his neatly cut fingernails, his broad forearms and biceps, the fine hairs running along the musculature of his arms. I thought of the way he tossed his head back when he laughed, and the strong, tanned column of throat that he exposed when he did so. I remembered his thoughtful, happy smile and his broad, thickly muscled chest and stomach.

And then, a cold anger grew over me.

We were walking. Everything was so fantastic. I was with him and the two of us were just together. Then those fucking kids popped out of nowhere, completely ambushed us. Tears sprang to my eyes as I remembered the baseball bat being bashed against his beautiful face, and the way that beautiful face contorted in agony. The sounds of the bat against his body rang in my ears. The image of his strong body crawling along the ground pathetically, trying to shield himself from the pain, from the strikes of the bat filled my mouth with a bitter taste. The bruises on his stomach, his black eye, his perfect nose broken, all of his suffering in those moments made me sick to my core, and I didn't need Erick in a bad mood to have the black fury rise up through my chest.

-just need to be direct with him, I can't beat around the bush-

Paige's panicked thoughts shook me from my reverie and I looked up to find her rushing toward me, a look of confusion and conflict displayed without much subtlety.

I stood. "Hey what's wrong?" I asked her.

She stopped dead in her tracks but said nothing.

"What's wrong?" I asked again.

Her eyes darted around, but finally she mumbled, "What did you do to Lenny?"

My mind hit a blank. "Lenny?" I repeated. "What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

Again, she said nothing.

"Paige!" I snapped.

She jumped slightly. "Who did you go to the coffee shop with yesterday?"

My stomach clenched. "I went with a friend of mine."

"Who was this friend?"

"Someone from another school. You wouldn't know him."

"Yeah?" She said skeptically. "That's not what Monica, Sally, and Giovanna are saying."

Fuck. I knew those three girls were some of the biggest gossipers at Heard High School. They were different from others though, because everything they said was the truth. They never allowed secrets to be kept.

"What are they saying exactly?"

"You and Erick Marsh were at Starbucks. Then you guys left and went into the woods." Her stare became piercing. "Alone."

"Anyway," She continued. "Lenny heard about this."

I kept my eyes glued to the grass. I couldn't bear to look her in the eye and I felt even worse about seeing Lenny.

"Has he said anything?" I asked quietly.

"I think you need to talk to him." She said solemnly. "You obviously need to clarify some things with him. He's hurting right now."

"Thanks." I whispered.

"See you later, dude." She said, waving her hand a little. She stalked off, leaving me stewing in rage, fury, sadness, disappointment, and most of all, an insatiable need to have Erick by my side, talking to me, holding me.

I sighed, near tears, and trudged inside.

I had Theatrical Arts for first period, which was just dandy because I sat behind the stage curtain for most of the period, my absence going mostly unnoticed by Mr. Smith.

Erick's smell was everywhere; it was just so gentle, and yet, very masculine. It was musky and sweet, yet light and tolerable, the kind of scent that wouldn't aggravate my asthma and leave me a wheezing mess. Sadly, it was not him that I was smelling, but rather, everything he'd touched and been touching in the days past.

Algebra went terribly, which was usually the case, but it had gone extra terribly. Mrs. Schneider had to ask me the same question three times before I answered it incorrectly, and my homework mysteriously disappeared from my backpack, earning me a zero for the day.

"Make sure you get this paper signed by your parents, Daniel." She told me as the bell rang. "They need to be aware that you failed an assignment."

"Mrs. Schneider! This is my first zero of the year!" I protested.

"And we aren't very far into the year, so that gets me concerned." She said. "Now, get that signed or I'll make a phone call. It's easy as that."

I opened my mouth but quickly closed it and stormed out of the room.

The cafeteria was packed quite densely by the time I'd entered the doors. Students pushed and shoved to get pizza at the snack bar and junk food at the "Emergency Room". Several kids took up a couple of tables and blasted rap music while attempting to break-dance (and failing miserably). The "Valley Girls" had their own make-up studio set up on the steps leading down into the pit where everyone ate. The occasional spoonful of mashed potatoes would fly through the air.

And I was in the thick of all of it, making my way to a table where one of my best friends hated me. I was smart enough to make sure that my mind was entirely sealed off. I wouldn't have been able to handle it had it not been closed.

Everybody at the table (Lenny, Paige, Fernie, Erica Medina, Ericka Mena, Jorge, Ashlie, and Chelly) looked at me as soon as I arrived. The only gaze that I detected a hint of anger from was Lenny's, and it was leashed.

"H-hey guys." I said, my mouth suddenly very dry.

Jorge and Paige nodded in acknowledgement, but everyone else continued eating.

I sat.

"I need to go finish some homework for Mr. Warden." Chelly said a little too loudly, standing up and surveying the table. "Would anybody like to come with me?"

Erica Medina stood up. "I'll go with you!"

Fernie nodded quickly. "Me too."

With that, the three of them left the table and exited the cafeteria.

"So what are they serving for lunch?" I asked stupidly.

"I'll go check." Jorge said.

"Me too!" Ashlie nodded.

Ericka and Paige rose from their seats to follow Jorge and Ashlie, leaving me alone at the table with Lenny, who was staring down at his "fettuccini", a blank expression on his face.

"Paige told me-" I began.

"Yeah, you and Erick went to Starbucks yesterday."

"That's true, but-"

"Did you guys go for a little romp in the woods afterwards?" He asked bitterly.

"Not exactly a romp-"

"But you guys went into the woods?! By yourselves?!" He exploded. "What the fuck did you guys do?"

My anger sparked. "Calm your ass down!" I shouted. "We fucking walked and talked for an hour, alright? That's all we did!"

"Oh? I know you, Daniel. I'm not fucking stupid."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"EVERY guy that I've been with: Emilio, Hunter, Edward, you've been after them all! You've had a secret thing for them behind my back and now that Erick so clearly wants me, you jump his bones when he asks you for coffee? That's so messed up! SO messed up!"

"Seriously?" My mouth dropped. "Are you serious?" I stood up, keeping my palms glued to the tabletop to avoid smashing Lenny in the face. "I never- I-" I snarled in frustration. "You're a stupid asshole!"

"Why? Why am I a stupid asshole, huh?" He jeered. "Tell me, Daniel! Is it because all of the guys that wanted me wouldn't dream of touching a guy like you, huh?!"

"STOP RIGHT FUCKING THERE!" I roared. "Erick never wanted you! He never fucking wanted you! He thinks you're annoying and needy and clingy and stupid!"

"And how do you know this, huh?! Do you really want him so badly that you're willing to make up shit like that?"

"Don't be so ignorant!" I spat. "You are annoying! You're stupid and most of all you're fuck-crazy! You throw yourself at anything with a penis and a pulse with your ass cheeks spread three feet open because you're nothing but a desperate dog!"

He was silent, and turning a deep shade of crimson.

My blood was boiling, and my arms felt as if a million ants were crawling up and down them. It was the same sensation that I'd gotten in the morning when I'd made the electric cables explode, and I dreaded what it would do to Lenny (assuming anything happened at all).

"That's the way shit's gonna go down?" He asked, forcing an angry calm into his voice. "You're really gonna go there?"

I contemplated this. My words had without a doubt crossed any line that ever existed between two "best friends". At the same time, it was he who was an asshole for thinking whatever Erick and I had was done intentionally (by me, anyway). I-

"Tell me again, why Erick would want a guy who is a FUCKING VIRGIN?!"

Silence spread throughout the cafeteria like wildfire as the words left Lenny's mouth. All eyes were on me.

My own mouth dropped. I felt as if I'd been kicked in the stomach. My head was spinning, and my mouth suddenly felt as if it were filled with cotton and sand.

Lenny, my "best friend", had revealed a secret that only he and Paige knew about. My dear, darling best friend had just revealed me to the world.

In my peripheral vision, I saw Paige shaking her head, hey eyes wide. Jorge stared in disbelief while Ericka simply stared at her feet. Even Lenny looked horrified at what he'd said.

My face burned red and I felt hot tears spring to my eyes but I wiped them away furiously with the back of my hand. I just shook my head and bolted out of the cafeteria, past all of the teasing grins and laughing faces.

Chapter 7

The Forest

I don't know how far I ran.

I ran out of the cafeteria.

I ran past the main building.

I ran into the woods, down the trail.

I ran until the underbrush became too thick and the trees became too dense to let the autumn sunlight in.

It was the darkness that made me stop.

Turning back and going to school and facing everybody that had been inside the cafeteria was always an option, though I would have had to have been missing three quarters of my brain to do that.

So I simply took out my cell phone and used it as a light so that I could continue walking.

Up ahead, about three hundred feet away, I spotted a narrow shaft of light that looked like a clearing. Since I had no plans that included returning to school anytime soon, I made the clearing my alternate choice.

The clearing was quiet; there were no excessive, outside thoughts to invade my head, there was no asshole Lenny, there was nobody I didn't want to see. There was also no Erick, though I'd gotten nearly used to it throughout the school day.

A large, fallen log lay almost straight across the clearing (about twenty feet). The bark was moist with fertile soil and dark with retained water, but it looked incredibly comfortable.

I sat and took a deep, calming breath and felt the cool, damp grass fill me with its serenity and earthy sweetness. I closed my eyes and sensed rather than heard the squirrels and bugs and birds around me. A gentle breeze flitted through forest and cooled my warm skin, drying the sweat on my forehead and face.

When I opened my eyes, I felt nearly normal again, my argument with Lenny nearly forgotten. It was my need to see Erick however that still burned strong.

"Erick, where are you?" I muttered. I began flipping my cell phone in my hands. "I can't call you, and I don't know where you live. What am I supposed to do?" I sighed. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"You could turn around." A voice behind me made me jump right off the log and land in an ungraceful pile in the grass.

Erick stood there wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a muted gray t-shirt. In the daylight I was able to see the faint outline of the bruises on his face, though it took away none of his brilliant beauty.

"Erick!" I gasped. I stood up and strode across the forest. I wrapped my arms around his waist as tightly as possible when I was near enough.

At first every muscle in his body was tense, unmoving. Very slowly, he loosened up and returned my embrace, hugging me hard as I buried my face in his chest.

"Today's been such shit." I whispered as I felt myself unwinding, loosening up.

"It has been." His words rumbled against my ear. "But we're together now. I'm hoping that makes it a little bit better?" The last sentence had a bit of humor in it.

I nodded. "Like you wouldn't believe. I missed you so much."

"Come." He said. "Let's sit." He took my hand and walked over to large, dryer tree and the two of us sank down against it, me sitting between his strong legs.

"It feels good here, back in your arms." I said quietly, taking both of his hands in mine.

"Lay your head back." He said.

I did, and was much more comfortable (even though his chest was rock-hard).

We were quiet, peaceful, enjoying each other's presence.

"I have a gift for you." He spoke softly. "I hope you like it."

I turned to look at him and raised my eyebrows expectantly. "Oh? What is this gift that you speak of?"

Erick pushed me forward slightly so that he could reach into the V of his t-shirt and hook his finger into a necklace that I noticed for the first time. He pulled it out, and I saw that it was a silver five-pointed star surrounded by a circle: a pentacle.

I gasped and took the little pendant in my hand. "Oh Erick… I can't."

"Why not?" He asked.

"This is yours. I don't want to take it."

"But I want you to have it. I want you to wear it so you'll take me everywhere with you."

I smiled at him and touched his cheek. "Thank you."

He grinned at me sweetly and pulled the necklace off. Then, he placed it over my head and around my neck. The charm was warm from his skin and it prickled for just a moment before settling under my shirt.

I laid back down

"How has your day been?" He asked me.

"It crashed and burned as soon as the first bell rang." I sighed. "It's been horrendous."

"Tell me about it." He said. "I want to listen to you."

And so I told him everything: how I'd nearly gotten killed by the power line (not really, but it sounded so much better), Paige's investigation and accusation, algebra class and how I'd sucked so badly, lunchtime, my fight with Lenny. The entire time was silent, thoughtful.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered.

"What for?" I asked, turning my head to look at him.

"Lenny is mad at you because of me." He sounded genuinely sorry. "I never meant for that to happen."

I shook my head. "None of this is your fault." I squeezed his hand and laid my head back again. "You have nothing to be sorry for, except maybe leaving me alone this morning." I chuckled.

"I apologize for that as well." He said.

"There you go." I nodded. "What have you been doing all day?"

"Getting a bit of rest and relaxation at home." He replied. "My injuries hurt more than I thought they would."

"Well you're a witch, aren't you? Certainly there's something you can do about it?"

He was quiet, and when he spoke, there was a hint of something; I couldn't put my finger on it. "You can talk about it so easily. It's as if I don't scare you at all."

"You don't." I replied.

"Don't say that." He whispered so quietly that I barely heard him.

"What?"

"I just meant I can be quite the monster sometimes." He chuckled, his tone lighter. "What time do you have to go back for class?"

I shook my head. "I'm not going back. Not for today, anyway."

"You can't miss school." Erick said quietly.

"Yes I can." I replied. "And I'm going to. I can't stand to face those people again. Besides, I want to stay with you."

Surprisingly, he didn't object. Instead, he nodded and stood up. He offered his hand and I took it, and the two of us walked back through the woods, back to the school, past the cafeteria and all of the buildings and to the parking lot, where his car, a gorgeous, pearl-colored Audi, was parked.

"Do you want to go to my house?" He asked as he put the key into the ignition. The motor turned over instantly and began its quiet purr.

Apprehension rolled around in my stomach. "Won't I… get in trouble for that?" I wanted to bite my tongue, but my naturally careful ways got the best of me.

"I'll make sure you won't." Erick's voice was so steady and sure that it was impossible to doubt him. "Would I get you into trouble?"

I thought it over and smiled at him. "Your house it is, then."

Chapter 8

First Circle

The car ride was quite nice.

We left the parking lot and took off toward the highway leading out of town.

"Where do you live exactly?" I asked.

"It's a magickal little place." He chuckled. "It's a little ways from here."

"That's alright." I nodded. "I too live out in the middle of nowhere."

"You're always somewhere." He chuckled. "It just depends how you look at it."

"Always somewhere?" I repeated. "How does that work?"

"Well," He explained. "You're never nowhere. You have to be somewhere, or else you don't exist. Well, not on this plane, anyway, but let's not get into ghosts and the sort." He laughed.

Five minutes passed, and by then we had gotten off of the highway and taken a turn onto an isolated country road with some of the most beautiful scenery: rolling brown hills, craggy, dead trees countered nicely by healthy green ones, cows and a couple of horses grazing, flocks of birds.

"It's so pretty out here." I marveled.

"My parents know how to pick living space. They would come out here all the time before they settled down and had me."

"Oh? What do your parents do?"

"My dad used to be the high priest of a coven up in Austin, and my mom was the high priestess. Now she's an author specializing in New Age literature. Not the cheesy stuff, but like, Wiccan and Pagan history and non-fiction pieces."

"That sounds like quite the lifestyle." I said.

"It's a lot of travel, but she seems to enjoy it."

We turned into a large subdivision called The Woods (appropriately named, as we were surrounded by woods) and drove a couple more miles. I noticed that as we drove, the houses were getting bigger and bigger and farther apart from one another.

Eventually the thick forest began thinning and I spotted a vast meadow (or was it a lawn?) that was the size of a miniature football field. The grass was a deep green, unlike many of the other houses I'd seen, in which the lawns were varying shades of green and brown. A path ran through the lawn/football field, onto which we turned and Erick's house came into view. My mouth dropped.

The house was enormous, two-storied and well-proportioned. It was painted a soft, faded yellow and its roof was made of dark shingles that contrasted stylishly. A porch lay on the side of the house, though it was made useless by the huge pecan tree that lent its shade. There must have been fifty windows, all of them overlooking the front yard and looking perfect with little shutters on either side. There were gables and dormers and decorative woodwork in the eaves.

"Wow." I muttered.

"Do you like it?" He asked, grinning.

"It's…amazing."

"Glad to hear it." He said. "Let's go inside."

The first floor of the house was, as expected, just as gorgeous as the outside. It was clear that there had been walls, but they were all knocked down to create one big, airy space with dark oak floorboards. Along the south wall of the first floor was a very modern, very large TV that hung on the wall. In front of it was a living room set of cream-colored leather. Along the west was a large fireplace that took up most of the wall. All along it were tens of photos and many candles both pillar and taper. On the east wall was the entrance to the kitchen and next to the entrance was a staircase leading to the second floor. Then, on the northern wall was a set of enormous sliding glass doors that led out to the backyard.

I walked around the room, admiring everything, and stopped at the fireplace. Erick stood next to me.

"My bedroom is upstairs." He whispered in my ear.

I looked at him and smiled, distracted, for I was unable to take my eyes off of a picture of a woman, smiling largely and surrounded by many people dressed strangely, in robes of various colors and styles, adorned with different designs and symbols.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"That's my mom." He said.

She was very beautiful, very youthful. She had dark hair that fell in waves across her face and was tall with a model's figure. Her dark eyes expressed joy as she held a sort of certificate in her hands.

"Where was this picture taken?"

"She was at a writer's convention in Wichita Falls. Those are some members of her coven."

"Oh yeah." I nodded. "She's a high priestess. What about your dad? You never mentioned what he did."

Erick looked at me and turned back to the fireplace, where he took another picture frame off of the ledge. This one was of him and his parents, and another little boy who I assumed was a younger brother.

"My dad was a high priest up until three years ago."

"What happened three years ago?" I asked, curious.

"Um, h-he died." He stammered slightly. "My younger brother Robert, too."

I was stone silent, mortified.

"The two of them went to visit my granddad in Breckenridge, Colorado one winter. My mom and I stayed because I had tonsillitis. They went skiing at the Lake Chutes and there was an avalanche. Neither of them made it out." He smiled sadly and touched the delicate glass of the picture frame. "The night before it happened, my dad had called us to tell us that Robert had won some kind of medal in a local competition. They were so happy." I looked into his eyes and saw tears welling up, threatening to spill over. "Robert talked to my mom and me because she had him on speakerphone. He threw a snowball at the phone and said that he would bring Colorado to us if we couldn't be there with him. He was so happy.

"When we didn't hear from them all day the next day we figured they were busy packing and saying some final goodbyes to my grandparents. It wasn't until late that night we found out about the avalanche. Goddess, he was only 14." That's when his voice broke.

I looked up at him and with barely contained horror, I realized I was crying. I quickly brushed away the tears so he wouldn't notice. Luckily, he had turned around to put the frame back where it was.

"I don't know why my mother keeps that picture." His voice was just slightly angry now.

"Erick." I whispered, and put my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me, and wiped at his eyes uselessly; the tears were flowing freely now. "Come here." I embraced him tightly. He rested his head on my chest and sobbed quietly. "Every time I look at that picture…"

"Shh…" I tried desperately to comfort him, to calm him, though I had no idea how to.

"I'm sorry." His broad shoulders shook with the effort the word took.

"Sorry for what?" I stroked his fine brown hair and held him tightly.

"You shouldn't have to deal with this." He coughed. "I-"

I lifted his head and held his face in my hands so that he was looking at me.

"Erick, listen to me." I spoke. "I care about you. I want to deal with this with you, I want to be here next to you when you're sad, or when you just need somebody to hold. I'm in this with my heart." My last words came out with some difficulty because of the ever-growing lump in my throat. "Please don't be afraid to let me in." I kissed his forehead gently.

"I'm afraid you'll leave if I let you in." He whispered.

"Never." I shook my head. "I'll never leave, but just please don't be afraid to tell me things, whatever's on your mind."

He nodded.

"After all, you are the only one with whom I'm illiterate."

Erick laughed and pulled me into a hug. He seemed happier, lighter now. I had succeeded, and that realization made me want to jump up and down (but I couldn't, because I was too busy being hugged by the human god).

"Can I show you something?" He pulled away and looked at me.

"Of course." I nodded.

As it turns out, the thing that Erick wanted to show me was a pair of ATVs in a shed (see WAREHOUSE) behind his mansion. They were huge vehicles, very intimidating, especially since I'm the kind of guy who trips on flat surfaces and gets nauseous just looking at a Ferris wheel. Large, powerful, fast-moving vehicles just were not my calling.

"These are fantastic, Erick!" I injected as much enthusiasm into my voice as I could, but it wasn't enough to fool him.

"You don't like them." He said, sounding more amused than disappointed. "You're scared of them."

"I am not scared." I protested.

He smirked.

"Fine." I huffed. "I'm terrified. Cars are the only fast-moving thing that I'm willing to board! All-terrain vehicles don't exactly call my name gently."

He laughed this time. "Remember when I said I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you?"

I looked at the ground, fighting back a smile.

"Now, will you get on with me if I let you ride piggyback?"

I looked up at him, about to protest, but his pleading eyes made me melt.

"Fine." I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Fine, I'll do it."

"You will?!" He cried excitedly, like a little kid.

"Yes." I ruffled his hair. "But where are we going?"

"That's the surprise."

He hopped onto one of the things and held his hand out to me. I took it and climbed on, wrapping my arms around his waist and marveling at how rock-hard his stomach was.

"Hold on tight." He chuckled.

Suddenly, the engine roared to life and we were off down a trail that lead into the woods behind his house.

"Oh my-" My words were cut off by the intense rush of air that made me feel as if I was about to fly off the seat. I clenched my legs around the main column firmly and tightened my grip on Erick.

"Hang on!" Erick shouted, his voice just barely audible.

It wasn't as if I was about to let go!

We rode on for nearly five minutes, with the path taking violent turns and going up and down a lot. Various branches smacked at the top of my head and fallen branches snapped beneath our wheels.

Then finally:

"We're here." Erick said in a singsong voice. He dismounted from the ATV gracefully and stretched his long limbs.

I, with my eyes still closed, stumbled off and landed in a heap. When I stood up, I had to double over with my hands on my knees.

"Let my internal organs catch up and we'll be good as gold." I whispered. I felt very queasy.

"Open your eyes." Erick's voice cut through my nausea and dizziness like a knife, filling me with coolness and a strange calm. I opened my eyes, blinked at the bright sunlight filtering down through the trees, and my mouth dropped in amazement.

We were in a circular forest clearing that was a good twenty feet in diameter. The dirt here was packed down so that it was nearly like hard floor. Within the large, main circle was another circle, this one about nine feet in diameter, drawn in faded chalk. Surrounding the smaller circle were several symbols, each of them drawn hundreds, even thousands of times. Within the smaller circle was the five-pointed star, just like the one on the necklace Erick had given me. There were four points plotted on the circle: at the northern point were several large gemstones and crystals (a chunk of malachite, some onyx, some topaz, a rosy-colored stone, bloodstone, and tiger eye). At the eastern point was a cauldron that had a large incense cone, partially burnt and fragrant even from where I stood. At the western point was a large aluminum bucket of water. At the southern point was a tall citronella candle (I think?) buried several inches into the ground.

"What is all this?" I breathed.

"You can call it my place of power." He replied. "It's where I come when I want to meditate, to be alone, and to call energy. I wanted to show it to you."

I walked into the clearing and was amazed to find that I felt each of the chalk symbols drawn into the dirt push up at the soles of my shoes, just a slight pressure but still detectable. My arms began to tingle, but not in a bad way. Instead, I felt myself opening up like a flower, absorbing all of the whatever-it-was in the air. I stopped just before I entered the smaller circle.

"Erick this is amazing." I said, my voice in a near whisper. "I can feel it all around me."

"I was hoping you would cast a circle with me, just the two of us."

I didn't know what he meant, and it sounded…weird. I looked at him and shrugged. "Um, what?"

"When you cast a circle, you call power to yourself." He explained patiently. "You get to work alongside the Goddess and the God for just a little bit. You become part of the earth, part of the elements."

I said nothing, just nodded.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes." I nodded.

He smiled his cute little smile again and walked back over to the ATV. He lifted up the seat and took out a slim beige candle, a silver metal chalice, a feather, and a long, dagger. I noticed the blade was made of glass and the handle had intricate carvings on it, though I couldn't quite see them clearly enough to make them out.

He handed me the chalice and candle.

"Fill the cup with some of the water from that bucket, and light the candle with this lighter." He handed me a black Zippo lighter. "Then go stand between the bucket and the citronella candle, between the western and southern points."

I did as I was told and watched as he continued to work: he went over the faint circle markings with a piece of white chalk, making the circle more pronounced, easier to see. He lit the citronella candle and the incense cone. He put the feather behind his ear. He took a bowl of white powder from the ATV seat compartment, and my stomach clenched.

Is that cocaine?! My mind was already racing when he suddenly spoke strongly and clearly:

"With this salt, I purify our circle." He walked clockwise around the circle and sprinkled every inch with a bit of salt. He stood between the cluster of gemstones and rocks and the cauldron with the incense in it.

Then, he began:

"I ask that the Goddess be with us on this October's noon. I ask that she aids us in the weaving of magick, of peace, of positivity. I ask that she lends us openness of mind and body and soul. I ask that she lends us her knowledge and power. Blessed be."

"Blessed be." I repeated. My eyes widened; I had no idea I was supposed to have done that, and yet, Erick nodded approvingly.

He raised his hands, one of them holding the dagger, up above his head; I followed.

"I call on the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the North, by the powers of Mother and Earth, be with us in our circle." He closed his eyes and I saw that the gemstones and rocks seemed to glow with the sunlight, displaying newfound clarity. "I call on the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the East, by the powers of Air and Intellect, be with us in our circle." The smoke rising from the cauldron became denser, heavier, more fragrant.

My mouth dropped when a gentle breeze blew over us, not strong enough to snuff out the candles and incense, but just potent enough for us to feel it.

Erick looked at me, and my mind was suddenly flooded with words.

"I-I call on the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the South, by the powers of Fire and Dare, be with us in our circle." The flame burning at the tip of the candle (both the taper in my hand and the citronella) grew bigger in size, burned brighter. "I call on the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the West, by the powers of Water and Will, be with us in our circle."

Then it was as if a cage had been dropped over our circle, enclosing us in a force field of power and energy.

"Come together with me." Erick whispered, though his voice was like a shout. Both of us walked to the center of the five pointed star and sat cross-legged, facing each other. "Focus on the power that's being raised, take it into you, make it part of you."

I closed my eyes. "I d-don't know how to!" I hissed.

Open your eyes. A voice, gentle and soft and sweet echoed in my head.

I opened them, and was awed by the sheer beauty of what was happening around me. White spores of light, subtle, like flecks of glitter in sunlight were emanating from the ground and suspending themselves above our circle; they were beauty in its purest form, these white lights. They swirled above us and were absorbed into the trees and the birds and the sky.

I saw the universe in every leaf, in every tree trunk, etched into my own skin. I heard it every time a cricket chirped: it was music and life and light.

"It's so beautiful." I whispered weakly.

"Touch your hands to mine." Erick's voice was very far away, insignificant in the vortex of light that we sat in. However, I was vaguely aware of a sense of urgency in his voice. He had his hands held out.

I touched my palms to his and just like that the magick was gone. I was floored by the sudden, overwhelming sense of wooziness that came over me.

"Ugh…" I moaned, and closed my eyes. "I don't feel well." I opened them and saw Erick was still on his knees, his chest heaving and his cheeks a hue of light pink. I collapsed sideways, my head landing in a pile of cool, moist leaves. "Erick…" I whispered.

He looked up as if just remembering my presence and crawled hurriedly over to me. He scooped my up so that he could put his legs beneath me, and he held me tight in his strong arms.

"What happened?" I asked, breathless.

"We made magick, darling." He replied, his voice just above a whisper. A smile spread across his face and he looked at me, ages of love and caring in his timeless golden eyes.

"It was so amazing…" I gasped.

"That it was." He nodded. Then, he took my face in my hands and brushed his lips against mine, leaving a trail of sweetness and warmth from one side of my mouth to the other.

I passed out at that moment, unconsciousness washing over me like a wave.

When I woke up, several things were made very clear to me: it was quite late in the afternoon, I was lying in Erick's bed, and somebody had given me superhuman contact lenses, a superhuman hearing aid, and surgery that had replaced all of my fat with muscle.

I sat up and felt amazing. I was shaking with power. I heard every dust particle in the air and land on the ground with the same noise of a shotgun blast. I literally saw various gases in the air, the oxygen emanating from an air vent in the ceiling, the carbon dioxide coming out of me. I felt lighter, stronger. In my head, I knew only one person was in the house, and that was Erick. Instinctively, I knew that it was 6:32 in the afternoon (give or take about 2 seconds).

"Wow." I breathed.

Erick was coming up the stairs.

He was just outside the door.

"Oh!" His eyebrows arched. "You're awake?"

I nodded.

"How are you feeling?"

"I…I'm amazing." I searched for words to describe how I felt. "I feel fantastic. I feel so different than I did this afternoon, so much stronger."

He grinned. "I'm happy you liked the circle."

"It was great." I nodded again. Then, I strode over to him. "Thank you for showing that to me."

"Of course." He said quietly, happily. Then, he pulled me into a tight hug against his pillar-like body, and I rested my head against his chest, listening to the beating of his heartbeat with my acute new senses.

"Are you hungry?" He asked, my ears dissecting each noise wave coming from his mouth, turning his voice into a color and a scent rather than just a sound.

"Actually, yes." I was surprised by this. "I could eat a horse."

"Let's not get carried away, eh?"

I smiled and took his hand. "Am I going to stay this way?"

"No." He said lightly. "This is just an after-effect of your first circle. You've never dealt with that kind of power before. It should be gone by tomorrow morning."

"I see." I nodded, slightly disappointed.

"Anyway, let's get some food in you." He said, wrapping his arm around my waist.

In the end, Erick and I ended up going for a coffee (he bought me an espresso drink that was incredibly strong and sweet). Afterwards, he dropped me off at my house.

We sat in the car, the engine turned off.

"Will you be in school tomorrow?" I asked. He held my hand but kept his other hand on the wheel.

"Of course I will." He nodded. "Why?"

"I don't think I'll be able to stand seeing everyone by myself, especially after what happened at lunch today."

"And I make it easier?" His eyes went wide with fake surprise.

"Oh hush." I smiled.

He smiled back, but his eyes were serious. "I won't let anybody mess with you. You're going to have a good day tomorrow. Well, it'll be better than today for sure."

I reached across the seat and wrapped my arms around him, my rock. He kissed my forehead gently and then ruffled my hair.

In my backpack somewhere in the backseat, my phone vibrated insistently.

"That must be the parentals calling."

"So I suppose this is where I say goodbye?" Erick asked.

"Not 'goodbye', but rather, 'I'll see you later'." I winked at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow it is then."

I got out of the car and grabbed my things from the backseat. Then, I was bathed in the red lights of his car as he drove off.

I've never been one to have nightmares. In fact, on most nights my sleep is dreamless, peaceful (even though I wake up looking like shit).

Not tonight.

I was walking in a forest. It was dense and green and smelled of moss and rainwater. It was familiar and yet so very unknown to me. Above me, light gray clouds blocked out any and all sunlight. I was barefoot and several branches and leaves were cutting into my feet.

"Hello!" I called, my voice echoing and reminding me of my isolation. "Is anybody out there?!"

Nothing.

I continued walking, seeing nothing but vast expanses of skinny trees and boulders covered in green and the occasional mushroom poking out of the ground.

I felt very alone, and yet, as if a pair of eyes was on me, watching every move that I made, waiting to see what I did to defend myself (if anything). A voice in my head reminded me that I had my magick, albeit very weak magick.

A flash of bright yellow caught my eye, and I whirled to the right. In my peripheral vision, I saw that it was a figure standing behind me. I turned around and glimpsed the yellow flash to my left. Then, I bolted, running as fast as my legs could carry me.

As I ran, I felt myself opening up to the energies in the air. I felt the familiar tingles in my arms and I was suddenly extremely energetic, running on a cloud, not on the rough ground of a forest in the middle of nowhere. I threw up as many "ward evil" spells I could think of, trying to keep whatever the fuck was chasing me at bay.

Whatever was chasing me, however, was not relenting. It didn't matter how fast I ran, how far, the bright yellow flash was just feet behind me.

I felt myself stumble and fall over a stupid rock, and I was suddenly in a clearing. I looked down and saw that I held in my hand a dagger with a glass blade and intricate carvings on the handle. The blade itself was covered in blood, much of it dried onto the sharp tip.

"Oh fuck…" I whispered.

Then, I looked up and saw the circle that Erick and I had made magick in, only this time, the white chalk that had been used to draw our circle was black and smelled of tar. Erick sat in the middle of it, wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and khaki shorts and chanting harsh, ugly words that made no sense to me.

"Erick!" I screamed. "Erick! What are you doing?!"

I watched as tendrils floated up from the ground and surrounded him, ate away at his perfection, turning his features into twisted, savage caricatures of what they originally were.

The awful words kept flowing, weaving around him like a web of darkness, hurting him and strengthening him at the same time.

Blood began flowing from his mouth and his eyes-

That's when I woke up screaming.

Chapter 9

Incidents

"Wow, D, you look like shit." Paige said.

"Thank you." I said sarcastically, slamming my locker door shut and turning to walk. "I happened to not sleep very well at all last night."

"Oh? What happened?"

"I drank too much water and my pee schedule got all funky." I lied. For some reason, I had no interest in telling Paige about my nightmare. "I was up at like, 2 then 2:30, then 3:15, then 4:00 and I didn't bother going back to sleep after that."

"That sucks, man!" She shook her head, and then her eyes widened. "Lenny is coming." She whispered, and I immediately tensed up. And surely, fifteen feet ahead of us, Lenny was walking down the hallway toward us.

I sighed and continued walking until we were within two feet of each other and I couldn't avoid his eyes anymore. I looked up and nearly jumped back from the hate radiating from them. He then slammed his shoulder into mine and continued walking, pretending he didn't notice.

Let's see if that bitch does anything. Lenny thought.

Anger nearly overwhelmed me. "HEY!" I shouted.

He kept walking.

Ignore him.

I followed him at a near-running pace.

"I said, 'hey'!" I shoved him against the wall.

Students stopped what they were doing and were now beginning to filter over toward us to form a circle.

"What the fuck?!" He yelled, turning to face me.

"Why the fuck did you push me, asshole?!" I screamed.

"I didn't push you! Your fat ass was in the way!" He pushed me again. "See? You keep getting in the way." He pushed me again.

My vision blurred with angry tears that I refused to let show. Instead, I found myself wanting to run away from this confrontation not for fear that I would lose, but rather because my arms were beginning to tingle, and if this time was like the other couple of times it had happened, that meant one thing: magick.

"No no no…" I whispered, as Lenny shoved me against the wall. I fell backwards and sunk to the floor, the tingling growing worse. "Get away from me, Lenny!" I cried.

"No!" He argued. "No, you started this, you'll finish it."

"I don't want to hurt you." I said. The tingling had stopped completely; now, the only thing I felt was lethal energy coursing through my veins. This magick was destructive. It wasn't weak or healing or defensive. It was made for hurting, for killing, and I had no idea where it had come from.

I stood up. "Get the fuck away from here, right now." I whispered.

The hate in Lenny's eyes faltered for a moment, and for the first time I sensed fear.

"If I touch you, you're gonna get hurt. You're gonna get hurt really badly, and I don't want that."

The students around us were dead quiet.

"I said GO!" I yelled, and I was suddenly terrified as my voice became a guttural roar, deep and throaty and sounding like three different voices at one time. I flung my arms out and watched with wide eyes as every single picture frame hanging in the hallway along the walls (eighteen or nineteen in total) dropped simultaneously, their glass shattering loudly. All of the magickal energy inside of me filtered out, renewing my superhuman senses and leaving me empty but safe.

Did he do that?

What the fuck?!

Where did Lenny go?

Would he have done that to Mason?

-mess with him.

"Calm down, Garrett." A voice from the crowd said.

"I-I didn't do it." I stammered, and ran off in the opposite direction, away from the faces and the staring.

As I turned the corner, Erick was approaching, looking windblown and beautiful (and not leaking blood!) from having just walked in. He smiled widely, but his smile faded as he saw me running toward him.

"What happened?" He asked, his mouth barely moving.

I didn't answer. Instead, I just threw myself into his arms, feeling his hard muscles surrounding me like a cage of safety and warmth.

"What happened?" He asked again, whispering it softly into my ear.

I just shook my head and cried softly, not trusting myself to speak. I wasn't crying out of anger, but rather deep frustration and I was scared of whatever the fuck was happening to me.

We stood like that for a minute or so before I pulled away and looked up at him. "There's something very wrong with me, Erick."

"What are you talking about?"

"I-I don't even know how to explain it." Frustration came over me again. "There's just something wrong. Last night, I had these horrible dreams and then just right now I was about to get into a fight with Lenny when I felt this magick-"

"Keep your voice down." Erick's eyes widened and he spoke with gritted teeth. His eyes were angry.

"I-I'm sorry." I stammered. "I-"

"Lenny gave you trouble?" He asked, the anger gone.

I nodded, and he began walking toward the hallway where I'd last seen Lenny. "Erick, no, we just- it wasn't his fault-"

"No! It's as if it isn't bad enough that he embarrassed you in front of the entire cafeteria yesterday but now he insists on starting fights with you? This is bull-"

I took his face in my hands and pressed my lips to his. When I pulled back, he looked relaxed, his previous frustration gone.

"Do you feel better?" I asked, surprised by my own boldness.

"Lenny just got very lucky." He breathed. I closed my eyes and inhaled his sweet breath. "But he has one more chance to leave you alone or else I'll force him."

I nodded and smirked.

"I'm not kidding!" He cried outrageously, but smiled. He lowered his voice. "Um, are you okay with me being around you in front of Lenny?"

I poked his hard stomach playfully. "You don't even have to ask."

In the distance, several galaxies away, the bell for first period rang.

"Get to class." He whispered in my ear. "I'll see you at lunchtime." He pulled me close to him and kissed my forehead gently.

I nodded and we parted, him taking off at a light run and me wondering what I had done to deserve someone like him.

I smiled and began walking.

For first period Physics class, Mr. Patterson assigned a very lengthy, very work-laden lab that allowed us to be partnered up with another person.

Naturally, I picked Paige because I knew she was smarter than half of the class and because she was the friend who wouldn't blab my secrets to most of the school (though that was completely irrelevant, as Lenny wasn't even in the class).

And so we set to work, setting up various beakers and pouring various chemicals and writing down numbers and equations that dealt with things I had no comprehension of. Paige did most of it while I watched, and once we had gotten three of the four parts of the experiment done, she brought up the dreaded subject:

"Dude, this thing with Lenny has gone too far." She kept her eyes to the paper because I think she knew my anger would spike. It did, and I found myself gripping the edge of the table, my palm sweating in my glove.

"You're telling me this why?" I asked, pretending to be very interested in my pencil. "I'm not the one who pushes in the hallway and betrays trust and falsely accuses."

She winced. "Yes, but-"

"But what? I think you should be having this talk with him, not me."

"I was going to say that I was hoping you'd be the more levelheaded one in this and not bite my head off, but that obviously isn't the case."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh shut up." I snapped. "I have every right to be angry at that bastard, you know it, and now you're attempting to restore peace between us but let me tell you one thing right now: it won't work!"

It was then that I became aware of the tingling in arms and hands. I hadn't felt the light, faint sensation that the tingling usually began as.

"Oh no." I whispered.

Oh God not again. Paige thought, rolling her eyes. Now he's gonna pull some dramatic stint to get out of the experiment and leave me here by my-

"Paige, run." I said.

"What?" She stared at me curiously.

"Run." I said, a bit more strongly this time. In my head, I went over what I had done in the morning. I had needed a way to let the energy out. My eyes darted around the room and spotted a window. I shut my eyes and waved my hands in that direction.

Behind me, several students screamed as the computer spontaneously combusted in a cloud of plastic and glass and smoke. To our right, a complex network of glass test tubes shattered, releasing deadly chemicals all over the counter and sending vapors into the air.

"Shit." I cursed, and shoved my hands in my pockets. My face was burning, though nobody knew it was me. I glanced around and saw students flipping out as they tried to take the fire extinguisher out of the cabinet without much success and Mr. Patterson attempting to the soak up the chemical spill with some sort of powder.

"Nobody panic, kids!" He yelled, though it was a little late. He stood up and ran into his storage room, accidentally slamming the door behind him.

I took that opportunity and ran out of the room, leaving a handful of freaked-out students, an annoyed, agitated Paige, and something I had no idea how I'd made happen.

"Erick, I need you." I whispered as I walked. "Erick, please come out and please just come see me. I need to see you."

I had no idea why I was saying this out loud, though the incident in the forest when I'd summoned him with my thoughts was quite encouraging, so I was attempting it again.

"Meet me in the bathroom." A voice rang in my head: his voice. I smiled a weak smile and ran to the boy's bathroom just down the hallway.

As I passed the door of Mrs. Vasquez, a science teacher who was very pregnant, a horrible, awful screaming filled my ears. It was the sound of someone in agony, in excruciating pain that was killing them. It was a woman's voice.

I stopped dead in my tracks and stumbled against a wall, my legs now made of Jell-O. Mrs. Vasquez was having her baby! I immediately turned on heel and threw her door open, ready to call for another teacher, or even possibly have to walk her to the nurse, and…

She sat at her desk, typing something out on the computer. She was calm, very relaxed-looking in fact, her red hair pulled back into a neat bun and her elbows resting on her big belly. She jumped slightly when she saw me.

"Yes sir?" She asked. I'd never had her as a teacher, so it didn't surprise me when she didn't know who I was.

"I-I-" My mind couldn't form any words. "I heard screaming." I said stupidly. "Are you having your kid already?"

She laughed. "As you can see, my kid is still very much inside my huge stomach."

I chuckled weakly.

"I'm not due for a couple more days."

"But I heard-" I shook my head. "I'm sorry for the interruption."

She shook her head. "Have a good day, sir." She said pleasantly.

I backed out of the room, stricken. A chilled band of sweat formed across my forehead and the room began spinning. The ceiling was closing in. I felt really hot, and claustrophobic.

I heard her. I shook my head to clear it. She was screaming.

My fingers began tingling.

Then, I took off running and didn't stop until I had shut and locked the bathroom door behind me.

Inside the restroom, it was darker and a bit cooler. The air was thick with sterile-smelling cleaning solvents and chilled by the large air conditioning vent in the ceiling. There was a sink a few feet ahead and to the right, and a stall just after that.

The stall was my target, and I stumbled over to the door. I threw it open, and-

-there stood Erick.

I looked up at him, and my inner turmoil lessened. It didn't fade away entirely, or even by half; it was far too strong today, but just the sight of Erick helped me. I felt every fiber of my being just extend forward, take in the sight of him, his body, his scent, his face, his clothing.

"Erick something is so wrong!" My face began to crumple, but I pulled myself together just as he pulled me into him, into his muscular body so similar to a wall of concrete. "I don't know what to do anymore, or what to think, and it's all so-"

"Shh." He whispered into my hair and kissed the top of my head. "Everything will be okay."

"Weird things have been happening to me." I spoke into his chest. When I took a breath to continue, his smell filled every inch of me, relaxing me. "Scary things are happening to me, powerful things. I see things in a new way. I see things that haven't happened yet, in my dreams and when I'm awake." I shook my head and continued. "I think I'm going crazy-"

Within seconds, Erick's lips were pressed against mine, sending a calm coolness throughout my body. He pulled me into him and I wrapped my arms around his narrow waist, relishing the feel of his muscles and enjoying the warmth of his arms.

He pulled back and rested his head on top of mine.

"You aren't going crazy." He said calmly, lovingly. "You felt power for the first time yesterday! It isn't out of the ordinary for someone to feel weird."

"I'm not feeling weird, Erick." I continued. "I'm making things explode, I'm seeing things that haven't happened, and it's scaring me!"

Erick's face became serious for a moment. "And this all started last night?"

I nodded, calmer this time. "Yes. Last night, I dreamt that- I dreamt-" Fuck! I forgot. "I don't remember what I dreamed about last night, but I know it wasn't good. Then, this morning, I made a computer explode and I 'heard' Mrs. Vasquez having her kid but she wasn't." My voice hit a higher note towards the end of my rant, but I kept my composure quite well.

Again, he was quiet, this time for a couple of minutes, before he spoke. "I think all of this stems from your telepathy."

I looked up at him questioningly.

"Like I said before, your telepathy makes you a thousand times more sensitive to otherworldly forces and energies than any other human being. Yesterday, the power you called on was amazing even for me. I would never have been able to call upon something like that my first time."

I pondered this, feeling like something similar to a science experiment or roadside show ("Come see Daniel, the uber-powerful uber-gay virginal witch call upon otherworldly forces!").

"My guess is that the residual effects of a circle that everybody feels are multiplied for you. You've developed powers that even witches who have been practicing the craft for years can just barely even tap into."

"Wow." I smirked at the genuinely amazed look on his face.

"But one thing worries me greatly."

A 10-pound weight dropped into my stomach.

"What's that?"

"I had told you yesterday that your newfound feelings and powers and perception should have been gone by this morning."

I nodded, a slight sense of dread growing in my stomach.

"All of this should be gone by now, or at least weakening, and it seems to be doing to the exact opposite, growing and expanding and getting stronger."

"Go on." My voice was nearly a whisper.

"These powers may last longer than I originally thought they were going to."

"How long?"

He shrugged his broad shoulders and looked down before speaking. "I really don't know."

My mouth dropped in horror and I made a weird little noise that came from the back of my throat. "I'm…staying this way? I'm gonna continue to blow shit up and see things and crack picture frames for the rest of my life?"

"I-" He began.

"NO!" I shouted. He jumped. "No no no no no! This can't be happening to me! I don't want this to happen to me! Please tell me you're kidding."

He shook his head slowly, watching me with his big brown eyes. "I can't." He whispered. "It's a very real possibility."

My mind was racing. "I'm a freak! Erick, I'm a fucking freak!" Tears rocketed down my face. "Why can you call a circle or whatever and be normal afterwards?! Why do you get to be normal but not me?! What makes me so special?"

Erick's lips were trembling and the innocence and hurt in his eyes made me cry harder.

"I don't want this, Erick! I don't want whatever I picked up from the circle!" I turned around and slammed my fist against the wall, leaving a scorch mark. This broke me down on a whole new level. "DO YOU SEE THAT?!" I roared.

"Please stop." He said, his voice strangled and barely above a whisper. "Please stop this."

I looked back at him, intending to lash out at him, but I found that all I held now were sadness and guilt; I was guilty because I seemed to really be hurting him and I was sad because if these "powers" really were permanent, then my days as a normal teenager were over.

"I- Oh, Erick, I'm sorry-"

He looked up at me, his face a bit calmer, but his body still tense.

"I didn't mean to take this out on you." I whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He shook his head. "I know how weird things like this can feel, how scary."

"It is scary." I nodded. "It's all so new to me, you know? I feel like I'm alone in dealing with this because nobody else knows what this feels like, except maybe you and your mother of course, but that's because it doesn't even touch-" I broke off because I was rambling. Then I felt miserable all over again.

"Shhh." He whispered, pulling me into his arms. "I know what we can do." His voice was very sure. "We can cast another circle, this one to weaken power, to nullify it. It might not feel so good, but nullification of magick spells almost always work."

I nodded, breathing deeply, taking in his scent and his breath and just all of him that I could; he was so comforting, especially at that moment.

"But if it nullifies magick, won't it affect you, since you'll be doing it with me?" I asked.

"I don't care." He shook his head.

"No." I said. "No, I don't want it to change you, too, to mess up this magickal life that you've made for yourself, that you and your mother have made."

"Hey," He said, his voice soft and intimate. "You are my life now."

At that moment, I shivered, and then let myself melt into him, to not care for just a moment.

I was going to get better.

I smiled.

Everything was gonna be okay.

Chapter 10

Return to the Woods

Saturday.

Erick pulled his car to a stop in his driveway, and the two of us sat, silent, with a strange sense of expectance in the air.

He reached over and took my hand.

"I'm nervous." I said quietly.

He smiled. "Don't be. The spells don't usually last that long." Then, the smile faded. "And I've been meaning to talk to you about the nullification spell."

I groaned. "Oh no- let me guess, it won't work?"

"Not exactly." He shook his head. "But I was talking to my mom about you, and-"

"You told your mum about me?" I gasped.

"Yes." He said slowly, as if I'd have trouble understanding. "Why?"

"Well I mean- it's just I- will she like me?!"

"Your boyfriend is a witch and you're worried that his mom will disapprove?" Erick smiled and ruffled my hair. "She's been wanting to see me happy for ages now, ever since my dad-" He cleared his throat and looked away for a second. Then, he turned back to face me. "You make me really happy. She'll love you."

I smiled, reassured, and nodded. "Now, continue about the nullification magick."

"Oh! Right, well, I spoke to her about using a nullification spell on you, and she said that it was an option but both of us knew that it wasn't exactly the most preferred among witches."

"I see." I nodded.

"So she suggested that we perform an inner exchange, sort of a witchy mind-meld type of thing that exchanges knowledge and magickal power and in your case, extremely exact and precise control over your magick. You'd know how to use it as if you've had it all your life."

I considered this.

Erick was very into Wicca, and obviously very strong in his powers (I'd seen him conjure up a cage made out of light, so yeah, he was pretty strong). The two of us together would be magnificent, unstoppable. We could be strong and madly, deeply in love, the poster couple for Wicca.

"I wouldn't have any more of these weird little outbursts?" I asked.

"Not one more." He smiled. "Please consider it."

"I trust you, Erick." I sighed. "Let's do this."

The two of us got out of the car, made our way to the back of the house, to where his ATVs were.

Erick's place of power was just as I'd remembered it the first time I'd visited it: peaceful, open, airy, light, with symbols of positivity and strength drawn in white chalk all over the hard-packed dirt floor. The incense, the water, the candles, and the rocks were in their appropriate places. A large, widely-drawn pentagram was drawn within the circle.

After setting up the basics, Erick took a pile of logs and set them in the very center of the pentagram.

"Oh shoot!" I smacked my forehead. "We didn't bring any kindling or lighter fluid."

He simply shook his head and laughed at me. "Fire." He muttered, and I watched as the logs burst into tall, merry flames in the center of our circle, ready to be used.

"You're amazing." I shook my head and watched as he stood up and walked over to me. He took me by the hand, looking like a strange, tropical masterpiece in his khaki shorts and bright yellow t-shirt.

We walked to the center of circle and sat on either sides of the fire, staring at each other quietly, intently, as if we knew we were about to share a very intimate experience, that we were about to get into each other's head, literally.

"S-so…what now?" I asked nervously.

"Just relax." He smiled. Then, he reached into his pocket and took out a brown leather satchel. "Try to breathe in as much of the smoke that comes up that you can, alright?"

I nodded.

He undid the strings to the little bag and dumped it over the fire. Instantly, I got a face full of thick, fragrant, herbal-smelling smoke. I opened my mouth and breathed in deeply. I cringed as I felt the smoke fill every inch of me (it seemed), but marveled at the sensation of my mind opening up, my telepathy being multiplied by thousands, my body now becoming something that simply kept my soul on the ground, nothing more.

"Oh my…" But I couldn't finish the sentence. Instead, I opened my eyes and saw that Erick was inhaling and seemingly feeling the exact same thing that I was feeling.

"Oh no." I could have sworn that I'd heard Erick utter these two words, his voice full of fear, but I paid no attention.

It was him and I, nobody else.

Suddenly, as if on cue, the two of us leaned over the fire, pressing our foreheads together. I vaguely felt the flames warming the bottom of my chin, the light sheen of sweat forming across my face. I only smelled Erick's sweet breath as it got heavier, felt his perfect face against mine.

The mind-meld started.

Wave after wave of intense, intense pressure came down on my brain, filling my head with images of light and spells being cast and potions being mixed on a stovetop, I saw Erick's mother, pregnant with him, casting fertility spells and spells of protection around her womb, drinking tincture after tincture to make sure her baby was healthy, to make sure no harm would come to it.

Fast forward a couple of years, Erick was being taught his runes, his baby food on a place mat that displayed the runic alphabet, him tracing the symbols through the air and charging them up in the air ("charging"? where'd that come from?).

Erick was now four or five years old, drawing a circle with a piece of chalk in his little, pale hand. He sat in it grinning widely as light emanated from the floor, confirming that his circle had worked. Erick was playing the piano now, and at the same time, symbols danced around in the air surrounding him. It was magick at its purest, at its best, making everybody happy and light.

Now he was ten years old, reading book after book to educate himself, to make himself stronger in the little magick that he knew. He was reading about weather control spells, mind-reading spells, ward evil spells, animal control spells, telekinesis, telepathy, elemental spells, spells to conjure light and banish darkness, to make things explode, to repair things, to make plants grow, to get rid of ants, to bring heat or coolness, to alleviate pain, to cause pain, to raise your energy, to help bring sleep. He was learning how to do what we did now, to help others by doing this.

And then, he was fourteen. I saw him on the phone, smiling as he spoke to his father. Cut to the next day, he was on the floor, crumpled in a ball and crying while his mother, also crying, attempted to comfort him, to hug and hold him.

His dad and brother died.

Then I saw a field, expansive and large and empty and quiet, surrounded by thick, dense trees. The only sounds were Erick's fitful, quiet groans in the distance, in a world outside of our connected minds.

Erick was walking through the field, carrying a backpack filled with stones and a book bound in black leather.

He sat down and made a circle with the stones, about three feet in diameter.

Erick's groans were suddenly more insistent.

I watched as Erick drew several runes in the air, these glowing a dark red in the air. Then, he let his head fall backwards, exposing his strong throat. He began singing, letting loose a barrage of dark, savage words that came together in a hideous but strangely beautiful chant. He continued the words until the area of field within the stones lit up with a bolt of purple-black lightning that ignited a whirl of smoke that filled up the air with the scent of tar.

"N-no…" Erick stammered. I was becoming extremely uncomfortable, almost scared as I watched the events unfold and listened to Erick's pleas become more desperate.

The events I watched began to haze over, becoming more and more difficult to see. I was a bit more aware of the noises around me, of the birds and the wind and ruffling of grass as the breeze flitted through.

For some reason, I refused to stop. I was suddenly determined to learn more, to discover Erick to the deepest extent.

Mentally, I pulled out a bit. I saw my mind and his mind as two different entities. They were separated by a small distance, only the slightest jump of a synapse would connect the two of us. I took my mind and plunged it into his.

Then it happened.

Erick pulled back, tearing down the connection between us. A sharp, stabbing pain erupted behind my eyes and I fell backwards. As quickly as the pain had appeared it had gone.

"Oh fuck." I breathed, rubbing my eyes. "Erick." I said. He said nothing, didn't even look up. "Erick." I said, a bit louder this time. I looked up to see him squirming on the floor, writhing in agony.

"ERICK!" I screamed, and ran over to him.

"Go away go away go AWAY!" Erick's voice was distorted and savage-sounding. There was a blackened, evil edge to it that sent shivers down my spine. "RUN!"

I threw myself backwards just as he unfolded himself, exposing a blackness to his skin that had started spreading across his neck and up the side of his cheek. His teeth, once so perfect and white, had become rows of sharp spikes, yellow and red. His fingers turned to claws and he continued to chant the evil, ugly words.

"Run right fucking now!" He shouted, his voice continuing to become more and more distorted.

And I ran.

I ran back out of the clearing and into the thicket of vegetation that obscured my view of the circle, of Erick's place of power. My feet crunched over dead, fallen leaves and snapped through twigs littered throughout the floor of the forest.

Behind me, Erick's voice echoed through the air, shouts of agony and anger and conflict.

Then, his thoughts hit me like waves, the concrete wall that once blocked off his mind now down.

"Kill… Need to… kill… Get him…"

I stopped dead in my tracks, tears rocketing down my face.

"Erick!" I screamed.

Silence.

"ERICK!" I screamed again. "Erick, please!"

Then, in the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of bright yellow, and a brick of ice dropped into my stomach as a horrific realization struck me: this was what I'd dreamt about. I'd seen this coming. And now, there was nothing I could do about it.

"Oh God…" I breathed. Then, I turned and positively sprinted toward the house, unaware of how much distance was between me and Erick's house, me and safety, me and salvation. Erick was coming after me, but it wasn't him. This was someone different, someone bad and dangerous. I-

"Oof!" I groaned as my foot slipped on a rock and I crashed to the floor, landing hard and feeling my breath knocked out of me. My ankle was pulsing with warm pain and I groaned again, digging my fingers into the semisoft earth and attempting to pull myself forward.

Behind me, the flashes of yellow were becoming more and more apparent as evil Erick got closer and closer.

"Keep going…" I muttered, grunting and groaning with effort. My head was pounding, my ankle was sprained, I was exhausted from the spell, I was out of breath from running.

I gasped when my hand wrapped around something that lay on the ground: Erick's dagger, with the glass blade and the complexly designed handle. I pulled it beneath me and raised myself into a crawling position, now able to move a bit faster.

"Where are you going, huh?!" Erick's demonic voice rang out behind me. "GET BACK HERE!"

I continued to crawl as fast as I could until I felt Erick press down on me. I collapsed beneath his weight and turned over to face him, what he'd become.

I screamed.

Erick was now a hulking, black-skinned creature with blood-red rubies where his beautiful brown eyes had once been. His mouth looked like an alligator's snout, with rows of his yellowed teeth gleaming through his smiling lips. Saliva fell from the fangs, falling onto my skin and burning me.

"Get off of me, Erick!" I cried. I brought my arm up in front of my face and felt several little burns appear.

Erick was laughing now, a sinister cackle that sent chills up my spine.

I took the knife from my waistband. "I said get the FUCK off of me!" I plunged the blade into his right shoulder.

"ARGH!" Erick reared back and roared angrily.

Then, I pushed forward, not even touching him, and watched as an invisible force threw him backwards off of me. After I was free, I slammed both of my hands into the ground and gasped as I propelled myself onto my feet. I turned and ran-

-right into Erick. Somehow he had managed to get in front of me.

"NO Er-!" He slammed a massive forearm into my stomach and I screamed as I flew backwards into a tight, small group of thick trees. My head slammed against the trees and I crumpled to the floor, dazed.

My vision faded in and out, and in the midst of it all, I saw Erick stand over me.

"Erick…" I whispered weakly.

I felt his hand wrap around my throat. He began constricting, applying more and more pressure until I was almost sure I was going to die.

Then, everything went black.

When I woke up, every inch of me was sore: my neck, my back, my arms and legs, my head. I was lying in Erick's bedroom (I knew it was him because it was so heavily permeated with his scent), on his bed, on my side facing the wall.

"Oh…" I groaned quietly and turned onto my back.

"H-hey." Erick's voice was raspy and weak and came from behind me.

Ignoring all of my aches and pains, I whirled around to face him, my heart beginning to race instantly, in terror. I threw the covers off of me, ready to run when-

"Please." He said. I looked at him, really looked at him: he wore nothing but a pair of black sweatpants and had a blood-soaked bandage on his right shoulder. His face was drawn and his eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, as if he'd been crying.

"Get away from me!" I shouted, throwing my hands in front of me. I gasped as there was a little pop and a short-bladed knife fell onto the sheets in front of me. I picked it up. "I'll stab you! I'll fucking stab you!"

Erick began to cry, and my bravado faded for just a moment. He sunk to his knees and spoke.

"I fucked up so badly." His voice was barely audible.

"Y-you tried to kill me, Eric." I said, my own voice breaking. It pained me so badly to see someone I cared for so much on the floor, begging for my forgiveness. "You hurt me."

He shook his head. "That wasn't me. You know that wasn't me."

"Oh? It looked like you when the two of us did that spell. It looked like you when you told me to run away. I'm not stupid. I heard your thoughts." I stood up onto my legs, which felt like Jell-o.

"Where are you going?" Erick asked, his voice suddenly panicked.

"I'm leaving. I'm going home."

"You can't walk home! It's too far."

"I'm not getting into a car with you." I said coldly. "I'll call someone."

"Please please please… Just stay. Please stay." He reached forward, but I recoiled.

"I said LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!" I screamed, and fell backwards.

This was the boy who had tried to kill me.

This was the boy who had choked me into unconsciousness.

This was the boy who had slammed me against a fucking tree.

"Don't do this, please don't do this." Erick said quietly, his tears falling to the floor and moistening the carpet beneath his bare feet. "I want you to stay here, with me."

"What will you do if I don't, huh?" I asked. "Will you kill me?"

He looked up at me, stung.

I bit down, clenched my jaw so that I wouldn't cry. "I just need some time to think, alright? I need to rethink everything."

"You…don't want to be with me?" Erick's voice was nearly a whisper now.

I said nothing.

"Is that what you're saying?"

Quiet.

"No." He shook his head. "No!" He sobbed. "Don't say yes, please don't say yes. I'll do whatever it takes, please Daniel, I'll do whatever it takes."

"Yeah?" I scoffed. "I need to get home."

I pushed past him and out of the bedroom. I walked down the stairs, pursing my lips to prevent a sob from escaping.

What was I walking away from?

I was walking away from this boy, this boy who'd shown me so much understanding and warmth and compassion and comfort when I cried. This boy who cared for me, cared about what I thought. This boy, who wanted me for me, for who I was.

A sob escaped my throat and I walked faster.

"Daniel!" I heard him scream from his bedroom.

Then, I broke into a run and willed myself not to look back at what I was about to leave behind, about whom.

I ran and ran and ran and cried the whole time.

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

My pain.

My numbness.

My longing.

All of it was still there.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Chapter 11

Monday

I hadn't eaten in four days.

So much had changed since I'd left Erick just over a week earlier. Lenny was still my sworn enemy apparently. Paige was…Paige. She was there for me on my bad days, on the days when I thought the pain would be too much to bear. I was failing nearly all of my classes, with the exception being Theater (the crying scenes we'd been practicing were coming along surprisingly well for me).

Erick had not gone to school in since the incident.

That meant eight days without his beautiful face, his beautiful eyes, his scent, his body, his hands, his hair.

Eight days without having felt the strength of his big heart.

Eight days without having seen him at all.

I wasn't mad anymore. I wasn't angry or bitter or scared anymore.

I just wanted him back. I just wanted him to walk next to me, to be himself, the kind, gentle Erick.

But he was gone.

We were over.