Geiney sat cross legged in the attic with the Book of Shadows in his lap. He had spent his evening reading the Book of shadows after rapidly finishing his homework. To say he was excited about the Book of Shadows was an understatement, in Luz's words; Geiney was thrilled to be around the book. He held the book open with one hand while the other held a cookie he nibbled on. When he finished the cookie, his hand travelled to the floor, where a small bag of cookies sat next to him, and grabbed a new cookie. He repeated this motion as he continued reading. He was reading the first chapter on Crystals and his eyes travelled to the image of the crystal after reading the name of each stone. His eyes absorbed every detail in the book, and soaked up the knowledge like a sponge.
He saw a word he knew all too well; agate. His eyes sailed to the end of the page where a square shaped rock, rounded on the edges, was drawn. The drawing showed the detail of the stone from its layers to its rings. Parts of the stone were light in comparison to the dark marks on a different part of the stone. His eyes travelled back to its original position.
Agate crystals, huh? Agate tones and strengthens the body and mind of an individual. Agate helps increase inner stability and maturity, and can help a person stay calm in tense situations. The stone can help with an individual's physical strength if it is worn around the wrist. For pregnant women, it is best to wear below their abdomen for a strong child and around their neck to help with lactation. For men wearing Agate around their neck can help boost their courage, and allows them to channel their inner strength. Because this stone helps an individual's inner stability, it helps stop material and luxurious desires and helps the mind focus on more important things such as commitments or jobs.
On a spiritual level, Agate is grounding, yet energetic. It helps promote marital fidelity and traps negative energy in the form of an unfaithful spouse. Depending on the crystal color, it can help with certain Chakras and attitudes, but colors and results may vary.
Geiney took two bites out of his cookie and reached down to fish for another cookie, then turned the page as he munched on the cookie in his mouth. Blue Lace Agate, a branch of the Agate family, read the subtitled text. Geiney located the image and studied its features. The stone was round and even for a drawing, the stone looked rather smooth. Geiney noted that someone spent a good amount of time drawing the detail on the image as it depicted the stone's layers and its blue color contrast which varied in combination from light to dark to light. Another bite, and as he was chewing, he reached down and grabbed another cookie from the bag.
Blue Lace Agate is used for Arthritic conditions, and can be used to break the barriers that hold an individual down. It helps clear the mind and allows the individual to see what's really important. If worn on the arms, it heals physical ailments such as arthritis or sore muscles. For women wearing the stone on both wrists well help with emotional ailments and stress, and for men, wearing the stone on their belts or buckles will help to bring emotional balance and clarity within them.
He heard his name being called and looked up to see Luz standing in the doorway, her arms crossed and an amused smile on her face.
"You know you have quite the repetition when you read. I wonder if you do that all the time."
"What do you mean?" He asked as he respectfully closed the book and tucked it underneath his arm.
"You bite, chew, read, grab a cookie, bite, chew read. I think I should make you my lab rat." She joked. Geiney playfully swatted her on the arm and rolled his eyes.
"So did you actually want something or did you just come here to bother me?"
"Sara is taking us to dinner; she seems a bit tired so I'm driving us to the restaurant." It took Geiney a moment to realize that today was the first day of her editing job for the new client. He looked at the clock, and read the time, seven-thirty.
"Woah! Did she just get home?" He asked, incredulously. She nodded and fiddled with her keys.
"She's going to tell us how everything went tonight. So get yourself ready we leave soon." She ruffled his hair and walked out. Geiney placed the book back on its stand and ran his fingers over the raised bump where the flat diamond symbol lay etched into the book. He smiled before he too walked out of the room and readied himself.
It wasn't until they sat down at a booth that Geiney got to really look at Sara's face. Her eyes looked droopy as if she had cried for a long time, but he knew it had to be because of her work. Her cheeks were a bit pale and her hair looked a little disheveled.
"Sara, you look tired." She flashed a smile, and nodded.
"I am tired. That's what thirteen hours of editing in a row does to you. My bosses were so happy with the editing and it looks like I am way ahead of schedule, so I don't have to work myself so hard now."
"What did you do today to the shots?" Luz asked as the hostess brought everyone a large glass of water. She took their drink orders and then Sara continued.
"I cropped every shot, every video to perfection and even got started piecing everything together. But, that's only the beginning. Then, we have to draw up a plan on how we want the video to look which includes sound, lighting, effects, even more cropping, music, and any additional effects that we think would fit the video. After that, we show the concept to the president of HealthyLife and he will be a very happy client." Their drinks arrived and Sara gulped half the glass before setting the glass down and picking up her menu, quickly scanning and folding the menu closed.
"It would've been faster if Troy had actually helped," She stressed the word with gritted teeth, "instead he kept sobbing over everything that went wrong with his shots."
"Isn't Troy the boss of the cinematography branch of Abstaks?" Ailyn asked. Sara nodded, giving out a small smile.
"He is the one. And when I didn't listen to his sobbing pleas he got mad. In the end, I reminded him that I was in charge of editing and to take his sobbing butt out of my office."
"Jeez, direct much?" Geiney questioned, raising an eyebrow. Sara gave a sheepish smile, and chuckled.
"Well, he got all offended, stormed out of my office and went straight to production where he yelled at the tech crew, hurt the actor's feelings, which caused him to get pushed to the floor. He came back crying over that when he returned to my office." Luz laughed.
"Oh, sister, it looks like in the end, women will rule the earth." Luz sighed.
"Hey, I'm right here!" Geiney threw his arms up.
"I don't know; he is still a boy, not a man." Geiney pouted. Their drinks arrived and it spared Luz a verbal battle of the sexes.
"But the shot is coming along nicely, and I hope to take a copy home. The shots were so beautiful, and the models they used, oh my god, Troy did the makeup himself and they turned out fabulous. They resembled goddesses in the take. It actually made me jealous, they were very beautiful women."
"But you're beautiful too." Luz said as she gave her sister a one armed hug.
"I think she looks like a frog." This time, Sara pouted, Luz glared and Ailyn spit out her drink.
"What?" He asked. The waiter arrived at the table and asked if everyone was ready to order, saving Geiney from death by his older sisters.
The night went on with Sara seeming to get visibly more tired until Luz called it a night and hauled everyone back to their home. Geiney wanted to rush back to the Book of Shadows but Ailyn stopped him and reminded him that he had school the next day. He trudged back to his bedroom, with his shoulders dramatically slumped as he tried his best to summon tears in his eyes, which clearly was not working. All it did was made him look angry; Ailyn rolled her eyes and pointed at his bedroom. He sighed, gave up and returned to his room where he closed the door and prepared to go to bed.
"Dude, I think she likes you!" Geiney's friend, Charlie, told him. Geiney, his best friend, Luke, and Charlie were crowded around his desk as they stared at his bewildered eyes.
"Oh, come on! What girl would ever like me?" He paused as he understood what he just said, "Wait, let me rephrase that."
"Well, that's just sad." Luke commented and Geiney rolled his eyes.
"Look, think about it," Charlie spoke, "A lot of people have said that she asks questions about you, you are one of the few people she talks to, and you don't make her gag, you don't gross her out—"
"Okay, what's your point?" He interrupted, clearly not liking where this conversation was going.
"I'm just saying that she has a thing for you. You should ask her out." Geiney, clearly flustered over this new knowledge, stuttered his next response.
"Let' s go over this again," He listed on his fingers, "She's a popular transfer student from England, she's hot, she's very smart, she gets along with everyone including the jocks, oh and did I mention that she is hot? Now look at her, then look at me, look at her, and then back to me... You see why I have a problem with that?" Luke opened his mouth to speak but Charlie had cut him off.
"Yes! That you are a lucky bastard! I wish she was my girlfriend!" He started beating Geiney in the chest and sobbing into his shoulder, "Why can't that be my girlfriend!"
Geiney sighed, "Guys, I'm telling you, she can't have a crush on me. I say this is a trap."
"Well, unless she is a guy dressed as a girl, I don't see any traps." Luke clapped Geiney on the shoulder. Before anything else could be said the bell rang and everyone started filing in from the outside. Just then, the topic of the conversation appeared and greeted her girlfriends at the back of the classroom.
"There's Alex." Charlie whispered.
"Good Luck!" Luke said.
"I hate you so much right now!" Charlie threatened, leaving a flustered Geiney to himself. The teacher appeared and called for everyone to be seated for roll call. When that was finished, he walked up to the front of the class and clapped his hands together.
"Now, class! Starting today we will be starting our literature on To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. So everyone pick a partner so we can head down to the library and check out a copy of the book." Their teacher said confidently. Geiney eyed the student he wanted to study with, Alice, but his two friends appeared from seemingly nowhere and pushed him to where Alex was sitting as the two boys walked out of the classroom. Alex was a recent transfer student from England. Her full name was Alexandria, but she preferred to be called Alex for short. She became a pretty popular subject around school and was pretty popular herself. It seemed all the guys were fighting amongst themselves to keep her as their prize; however Alex soon shot every boy down. Alex turned her head and pursed a smile, Geiney shyly approached her.
"Hey, Alex." He greeted. Her lips widened into a smile. Alex had silky blond hair, and a birthmark the shape of what looked like a tiger tooth near her right eye. The stained birthmark was olive compared to her porcelain complexion. She had a bright smile and rose lips. Her deep blue eyes seemed to be bright and full of life.
"Hi, Geiney!"
"Do you want to be my partner for this book?" He stuttered and Alex giggled at his nervousness. From the classroom window he could see his two friends nodding their heads and giving him thumbs up, while Charlie mouthed something that Geiney couldn't understand, but if he had to take a guess it was a promise that he would kill him.
"I would love to." Geiney rubbed the back of his head as the class's commotion died down, everyone heading down to the library to check out the classroom copy of the book they were assigned to read. He led the way as she read the summary aloud of what the book was about to Geiney.
Across the classroom, a lone girl held her pencil so tight in her hands that it snapped in half. She gritted her teeth together; she didn't like that girl at all. She was supposed to be partners with Geiney, as it had always been. Geiney and Alice; not Geiney and Alex. Alice snapped out of her anger when the teacher called out to her.
"Alice? Do you not have a partner?"
"No, everyone seems taken." The teacher flipped a folder open and quickly scanned its contents.
"That's right. Since Alex joined us, we are an uneven class." Alice clenched her fist in anger at hearing that girl's name again.
"Well, you're welcome to join someone and make a group of three. It's better to have a partner in this project, so see if you can find a group." Alice smiled, happy to hear that news. She would surely join Geiney's group for sure, and keep him from that "other" girl. She grabbed her handbag and started for the door, following the teacher out the classroom.
What is it about that girl that everyone likes? She may be pretty, but she is not smart! I'm much more intelligent than her, in any subject. Well, I guess, the reason why all the boys want to have her is cuz she's little miss England. Alice scoffed mentally, crossing her arms and following the hallways towards the library. Perfect little miss England, with her perfect looks and her weird accent and her snotty fashion, and that ugly face of hers. If she wants, I can fix up that ugly face for her. I can fix it so good that she'll look like a-"
"Alice! Where are you going?" The teacher called out to her, one eyebrow raised in confusion, his hand holding the library door open. Alice had missed the library and continued walking out. She coughed in embarrassment before returning, red faced to the library. She looked around and saw Geiney stand up from one of the tables in the library and head towards some shelves in the back of the library. She gritted her teeth and pulled a happy smile, as best as she could anyways.
"Hey, Alex!" She greeted happily, in a quiet voice.
"Yes, Alice?" She asked, with a smile on her face, in the same quiet voice Alice had displayed.
"I was going to join you're group because I'm by myself." Something in Alex's face flashed something which Alice could not quite catch.
"Oh, I'm sorry Alice, but it's just gonna be me and Geiney for this project. So you should look for someone else." She waved her hand to dismiss Alice away from her.
"But the teacher said it was okay." She frowned. Alex's eyes changed and she leaned in so that only the two of them could hear.
"You know what, Alice," She spit out her name in disgust, "I don't care what the teacher said. I don't want you to work with us. So why don't you take your butt out of our table and look for someone else, okay?" Alice clenched her fist and stormed out into the other side of the library. Geiney turned the corner and saw her walk towards the bookshelves on the other side of the tables.
"Hey, was that Alice?" Geiney questioned, sitting down and displaying two soft cover copies of the book they were assigned to read.
"Thank you, Geiney! And yeah, that was her. She just wanted to borrow a pencil from me, that's all." She shrugged happily and pulled her chair closer to his so that they could start on their assignment. Every now and then Geiney would try to catch a glimpse of Alice, but he didn't see her. Eventually he gave up and focused his attention to the questionnaire they were assigned to do.
On occasion his mind would wonder to the Book of Shadows, wishing he could read some more, but that would have to wait until school was out. He looked at the clock, and smiled happily. Another half hour and school would be over.
Good, I can wait another half hour, He thought to himself as he pulled his book open and started reading the first page to Alex. Every now and then Alex would purposefully brush her fingers against his arm, and Geiney would have to fight to stay focused on their assignment. He noted that her hands were really warm and her melon scented hair seemed to flood his nose. It was a battle of control for his mind to stay focused, and Alex seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. Geiney's cheeks flushed with color and Alex knew that snatching Geiney in her love spell would be easier than she thought it would be.
"Doctor Danson?" Luz knocked on the door to the head doctor's office, carrying a stack of folders in her hands. She wore her typical blue scrubs nursing uniform, with a pink handkerchief sticking out of her back pocket, "I thought we should review these insurance claims while you have a moment. This way we can make any last minute changes before we send them out." The Doctor yawned and beckoned Luz to come in.
"Sure, we can do it now. I don't have any patients for an hour." He muttered.
"John, are you okay? You don't sound too good." She asked as she took a chair next to him and his desk. He rubbed his eyes and sighed.
"No, it's my damn apartment. There's a god 'awful stench coming from somewhere and its keeping me awake. The worst part is I think it's the plumbing, where it's coming from who knows." He replied.
"Why don't you talk to the Supers of the apartment?"
"Don't you think I did that?!" He burst, Luz was not surprised, "That Damn lazy super from Germany, what was his name? Hansel or Gretel! I left him like seven messages over two weeks and he still won't call me back. I swear I just want to take that job of his and ram it down his throat!" He tried to write something but the pen he was using wouldn't work. He licked the tip and scratched on the document roughly, and finally he threw the pen across the room, hitting the wall behind him, "We need new pens!"
Not fazed by his outbursts, since he usually had several, every day, she sighed. "Calm yourself, Doctor. I'm sure he's very busy."
"No, yeah. He is very busy wasting his money on booze and hookers. No, I'm sorry for being so hard on Mr. Hansel, I should be more understanding. I don't know how hard it is to be drunk and lay with hookers all day. I'll tell you that it's a very difficult job to do. I couldn't imagine myself doing it." Luz rolled her eyes, at his sarcasm, having worked with him long enough to no longer be frightened by his outbursts.
"I'm sure if you talk to the manager, things will get fixed." She gasped, "Oh I forgot to tell you, Federal Care called about Mr. Meyers' claim and they sent you a fax to review the information and make sure it's correct. It's about his oral medication; they want to make sure the amount on the document is what he should take every day. I'll go bring it." She stood up and he nodded grabbing the first folder and reviewing his notes he wrote on their chart. He scribbled something down, and added his signature before closing the folder and grabbing a new one.
"Here you go." The doctor took the folder and reviewed the documents before scratching out something. "I'm glad I caught that." He sounded surprised, "I almost gave him a good flight instead of giving him pain medication." Luz nodded understanding, she knew they could not afford to make any mistakes, no matter how small, or someone might consider it neglect and the last thing the Doctor's practice needed was a malpractice case.
She opened the next folder and began explaining each insurance policy. While the doctor knew how each insurance policy worked, Luz was an expert in reading between the lines and saved not only the patients, but the practice from paying out of pocket. When they finished the Doctor gave an audible yawn and stood up.
"Doctor Danson, you should sleep earlier tonight. It might help you." She suggested.
"I might, unless that damn super decides to barge in into my apartment. The last time he barged in he caught me naked in the apartment. Luz groaned in disapproval, shaking the disgusting image from her mind.
"Too much info, doc." She rolled her eyes and picked up her stack of folders.
"I'm going to send these right away; I have Andy covering me in the reception."
"Good. Who's next?" He wrapped his stethoscope around his neck and walked alongside Luz.
"I believe it is little Timothy, you wanted to see how his hand was healing after two weeks in the cast." The Doctors face lit up, as he remembered.
"Yes, the boy who fell down from the tree. I remember. I swear kids should just keep to themselves and not be doing stupid things like climbing up trees. When I was little-" Luz turned sharply around the corner, avoiding the Doctor's painfully long and boring story.
"And I'm gone!" She whispered to herself as she took the folders to their supply room where a tower all in one printer lay. She checked her clip board and matched the folder to the name as she dialed the number for the fax. The door opened and a young female nurse stepped in, she looked startled by seeing Luz standing there in front of the copy machine.
"Oh, Luz, I was just looking for some blank paper, is all." She pulled on a smile but Luz raised her eyebrow, not believing the young woman.
"It's on the first cabinet to the left of the copy machine." It took a minute before the young woman realized Luz was not going to move.
"Sierra." Luz smirked, the young woman losing her smile for an instant before going back to the smile. She walked over to the cabinet, opened it and pulled out a half used box of blank printer paper. As she was going to walk out, she stopped and turned around.
" 'Kay here's the thing," She started and Luz let out a chuckling sigh.
"Yes, Sierra?"
"Can't we put a TV in the reception room?"
"No," was her simple reply.
"But, Luz!" She whined, "It's so boring and quiet in the reception room. And our clients can't read the same old boring magazines we supply. We don't even have a radio playing."
"We're not supposed to. This is a doctor's office, not a hotel lobby." Luz pushed a few buttons on the console and the fax resumed.
"Oh, come on, Luz! You are the only one who can talk to Doctor Danson and not get your butt chewed! Please, just ask him for me."
"I said no. Besides, Doctor Danson and I already had this chat a few years ago; he is not going to buy a TV. Need I remind you he is a penny pincher? Literally. He rounds down so he can save a penny for each paycheck he gives us." Sierra clasped her hands together and pulled on her puppy-dog eyes.
"Pretty please?" Luz sighed, as she stared at the sparkly puppy eyes being presented to her. How can she pull that look off?
"Oh, alright. I will bring it up to Doctor Danson the next time we speak. But if he says no, don't go crying your eyes out." Sierra jumped and hugged Luz who looked unamused by Sierra's reaction.
"Thank you, Luz! You're the best! I don't care what Doctor Danson says about you!" She ran out, giddy and almost ran into another receptionist on her way down the halls.
"I better not catch you watching the TV." She paused before she furrowed her eyes together and calling out into the hallways, "Wait! What has he been saying about me?" Sierra's hands just waved her off.
"Wait! Sierra! I need to know!" She groaned as she shut the door. She was going to have to talk to Sierra about what the Doctor had been saying about her.
The feminine man known as Troy Brooks clapped his hands giddy that the editing was going his way.
"Oh, Sara, darling. You do the best work in the whole world. And I mean that girl! No one could hold a candle to your name!"
"Thanks, Troy." She smiled and continued cropping images from the video file she was working on. Certain images needed a touch of this while others needed a touch of that. She would write down what she did to each video file and continued piecing together the puzzle that was to be, in Troy's words, their best work yet! Obviously Troy raised the bar, again, and now Sara had to pull a miracle to make this their actual best work yet. Not that she minded the challenge.
"Hm, Troy, do you think I should stiffen the scarf in this shot?" She asked and pointed to the looping video file. During the shot, the wind machine was set to a higher setting so the first two takes was ruined. This was the third take, but the wind machine kept whipping the scarf around the models neck. Troy watched the video loop for a minute then made a high pitched whine. After a moment of this, in Sara's words, annoying whine, he clapped his hands together.
"No, we can keep it, it has the appearance of natural wind and it makes it look like the scarf is licking her cheeks, not erratically, but enough to make the shot look beautiful. Well that was an accident that went well with the shot." He clapped his hands together and groaned, "I hope there are no other accidents." He sighed melodramatically, "What if our shots are ruined!?" Sara face palmed, the only thing she didn't like about Troy was his ability to over dramatize everything.
"Troy, sweetie." She took his hands in hers and rubbed them, providing comfort for a moment. Then she gripped his hands like a vice and he shrieked, trying to pull his hands away from her to no avail.
"If you start this all over again... I am going to shove that computer screen down your throat. Okay, pumpkin?" She said the last part sweetly, and he pulled his hands free.
"Ow... okay then. I'll leave you to you work. Damn, can't bother to listen to your boss vent?"
"No!" She said matter-of-factly. His shoulders slumped and the movement unsettled the colorful bangs covering his eyes.
"Very well then, I will be in my office. I don't want to be disturbed!" He waltzed over to his office door and slammed the door shut.
"Oh, thank god!" She muttered before stretching and writing down her latest notes for the video file she was in. She saved the project and pulled up another video file as she continued to work on the project. She looked at the clock and realized school just ended and Luz would pick him up. She glanced at the family picture she had on her desk and smiled. She picked up the picture frame and kissed it; placing it back on her desk she resumed working on her project.
After a while she heard a loud shriek come from Troy's office. She bolted upright and ran straight to his office, barging in and seeing Troy strangle a human sized teddy bear, very angrily.
"Uh, Troy?" She was very confused by his actions. He turned to her and she noticed his teary eyes, his anger lingered on his face before he bit his lip and dropped the bear, and sobbed into his hands.
"Sara! Alphie broke up with me!" He opened his arms and trudged over to Sara, embracing her into a hug. Sara didn't know what to do and she shuddered when she felt him wipe his nose on her blouse.
"Okay, Troy, get off me!" He reluctantly released her and she brought him to his desk where he kicked the teddy bear to the other side of the room.
"Now, tell me what happened." She sat across from him, keeping her distance because he was known to give bear hugs and she didn't feel like going home to a broken spine.
"He—he-he he said that he didn't want to hurt me and that he liked me but he thinks i-i-it's time to give each other some space," He sniffed and she handed him some tissues from her pocket. He audibly blew his nose before continuing, "All I wanted was to hear him—him say 'I love you'. That's all I needed, was just to hear him say that. But now he thinks-thinks we should give each other some space. I don't understand! What did I d—d-d-do t—t-t-to deserve this! Please, Sara, tell me what I did wrong?" He sobbed into his arms, and Sara had a very puzzled expression on her face. She took a moment to piece the subject together.
"So, you called him just to hear him say, 'I love you', but instead he comes out with 'we should see other people'. How was your relationship this week?"
"We—we-well we have been fighting a lot. But I thought we were just going through a—a-a r—r-rough patch. I loved him! I gave him my heart and soul! Why would he do this t—to m—me now? Oh, Alphie!" Sara groaned, and rubbed her temple, this was going to be yet another long day.
The bell to the school rang out and as expected, everyone caused a ruckus trying to get out of their scholarly prison. Geiney packed his bag and placed the work they had done together in his bag.
"You should come over sometime this week, so we can get ahead of everyone else." Alex said, as she handed him a note in perfect handwriting, using a pink pen, she wrote her phone number and home address. Geiney's cheeks turned as pink as her handwriting upon seeing the two little hearts next to his name.
"Call me anytime. I'll be expecting you." She walked out and Geiney cleared his throat as he memorized the information that she gave him. Upon leaving the library, daydreaming about Alex, he accidentally bumped into Alice, dropping the books she had cradled in her arm.
"Sorry, Alice." He picked up the fallen books and handed them to her, she looked thoughtful.
"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned for his friend.
"Yes. I mean no. Well... I don't think Alex is a good partner for you. You should get someone else." She bluntly put. Geiney recoiled at the idea of leaving Alex. He imagined her alone without a partner, and seeing her saddened face as she read the book by herself. Okay, Geiney had no idea where those thoughts came from but he focused his attention back to Alice.
"I can't do that to her. Then she won't have a partner. Besides I won't have a partner either."
"You'll have me." She blurted out.
"You?" Geiney questioned, "Don't you have a partner?"
"Not yet."
"Then you could join us, it'll be great." He said and flinched when Alice shouted her displeasure.
"No! I mean- Look, I'm the better partner here. Alex is mean and she'll just use you for her personal gain." Geiney furrowed his eyebrows, not believing that Alex could be mean to anyone.
"She is not mean. Maybe, you're just jealous. Isn't that right?" Alice scoffed.
"Jealous of what?"
"She is the most popular girl in school and everyone likes her." He defended her.
"Please, Geiney. That girl is nothing but trouble. Switch partners."
"No, I've already told you that I won't do that to Alex. I thought you were my friend, why are you picking on her?" For a moment, Alice stayed quiet and Geiney shook his head. He walked past her without saying another word. He felt betrayed that his childhood friend was against this girl. He let out a breath he was holding in and released it slowly. He absentmindedly put his hand in his pocket and felt something crinkle in his pants. He took the piece of paper out and realized it was Alex's number. He smiled and thought he would call her later that day. For now, Luz should be waiting for him outside by now.
He spotted the familiar car outside and waved at his oldest sister. He got in the car and buckled up.
"How was school?" She asked.
"It was good, but Alice is jealous of Alex, the new transfer student and wants me to switch with her instead of Alex."
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her I couldn't and that she should stop being so jealous."
"I haven't met Alex yet. What is she like?"
"Well she's a transfer student from England, and she has an awesome British accent. She's sweet," He smiled as he pictured her, "She's popular, she's very friendly and she has the prettiest blond hair I've ever seen." He turned to Luz and she smiled knowingly.
"Oh, and you're just friends right? You sound like you love her! Geiney and Alex sitting in a tree-" Geiney smacked her in the arm.
"Cut it out!" He blushed as red as a tomato, and she couldn't help but laugh at his shyness.
"No, I guess you're more than just friends if the way you described her was anything to go by."
"Are you done?" He asked rather annoyed.
"For now." She replied, "I was thinking we could go out to eat. I don't feel like cooking dinner tonight. What do you think?" Geiney shrugged and then smiled.
"Let's go to Wong's!" Geiney cried. Wong's was a popular Chinese restaurant in the center of town that the siblings rather enjoyed. The restaurant was run by a Chinese sorcerer, who knew Ailyn through their work and invited them over to eat when Geiney was still a young child. Ten years later, they ate regularly there, and became great friends of the family who ran the restaurant.
Luz smiled and nodded. "I'll call the others when we get to the house." She said.
When they arrived Geiney dropped off his bag in his room and lay down on the bed. He breathed out slowly and thought back to what Alice said. He shook his thoughts away, and frowned. Alex was sweet and amazing; he failed to see how she could be a bad person. Remembering he had her phone in his pocket, he decided to give her a call.
After dialing, the phone number he hesitated in pressing the call button, but when he did he noticed his heartbeat increased. He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt and each ring felt like it took an eternity. Finally on the third ring, a male voice picked up.
"Good afternoon. Taylor residence."
"Oh, uh. Hello. Is Alex at home?" He felt really nervous.
"Yes, she is. To whom am I speaking with?"
"Oh, my name is Geiney. I go to the same class as Alex." He was finding that his bedroom was getting hotter. Maybe, he thought, someone set the house on fire.
"Oh, that's right! She's told me quite a bit about you. Let me get her on the phone. Give me one minute." He chuckled.
"That's okay. Take all the time you need." He furrowed his eyebrows, why did he have to say that. He heard the man chuckle and set the phone down. It was one of the longest waits, Geiney ever had. What was only half a minute felt like it had dragged on for an eternity.
"Hello? This is Alex."
"Alex!" He cupped his mouth. That might have been a little too loud. She heard him giggle.
"Gee, couldn't wait an hour I see. That's okay. I told my dad about you and agreed to have you over."
"Really? Cool, so when do you want me to visit you. I mean, so we can get ahead in our reading project." He felt like he couldn't breathe. Or maybe, she was sucking the air through the telephone... yeah, that could be it.
"Well, how about tomorrow afternoon? It's Saturday and we can spend the day reading a chapter or two. What do you say?"
"Y-y-yeah that'll be great!" He stammered, and felt like the world was spinning, although his was from pure happiness. Being with a girl, in a girl's room, in a girl's house- wow, he sounded desperate. He shook his head of distracting thoughts for the umpteenth time that day.
"Great! How's three o'clock sound?"
"That sounds great. I'll see you then."
"Okay! Thanks for calling, Geiney. Bye-bye!" She said and hung up the phone. Geiney, in euphoria, said good bye, and went to put the phone on the dresser but completely missed and dropped the phone to the floor. He ignored the clattering sound and stumbled to the bed, where he laid face down. He fought with his body to control his being and get his breathing back to normal. He wiped some sweat off his forehead and breathed slowly.
"Tomorrow is gonna be great!" He sighed. A few minutes passed before he heard his older sisters calling him down.
"Geiney, come down, Ailyn will be here any minute!"
"Coming!" He called and put on his red wristbands with the black flat diamond etched into them. He picked up his phone from the floor, pondering why it was doing on the floor when he put it on top of the dresser.
"Hey, Geiney!" Sara greeted and gave him a hug.
"Hi, Sara!" He embraced her and stepped back.
"How was work?"
"Well, Troy is being Troy. Long story short he is having some personal boyfriend issues right now and he is venting it all to me... as I'm working on an important project. Even when I remind him, five minutes later, he is sobbing into a human sized teddy bear in his office crying out, "Alphie! Oh, Alphie! Please come back!" She blew a strand of hair out of her face,
"It took all my will power to calm him down, and then his boyfriend called and told him that he was taking his stuff with him. And that was when Luz called and asked if I wanted Chinese food. So I said yes."
"Oh! So that's what I heard in the background. I thought you had cats in the office."
"Well, he does sound like a cat when he cries, but that is not the point here!" At that moment they heard the door open and shut and Ailyn walked right passed them, deep in thought."
"Uh, Ailyn?" Luz called. Ailyn seemed to be so deep in thought that she missed the fridge twice, going to open it.
"Ailyn?" Sara tried, no response, if anything, it seemed Ailyn had not heard any one of them.
"Ailyn!" Luz shouted and clapped her hands. Ailyn's eyes flashed into focus once more and she saw everyone in the living room.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was thinking about something." She admitted sheepishly, completely embarrassed she had not seen them as she had passed.
"Yeah, you looked troubled. Is everything alright? Care to talk about it?" Sara questioned.
"No, no, it's quite alright now. Just thinking about an assignment for a future Whitelighter. That's all. Anyway, what are we having for dinner?
"Wong's!" Geiney blurted out, "How about it. Care to join us?"
Ailyn shrugged, "Sure. I was just in China by the way. The trees are beautiful and green this time of year." Maybe this would be a good distraction for me. She thought to herself.
"Well, great. Let's go." Luz ushered everyone to the car.
"What were you doing in China?" Geiney asked.
"Ah, I wanted some staves. Later tonight I will teach you how to defend yourself, Tyke." Ailyn talked about how she thought it would be a good idea for everyone to learn how to wield a staff, and it would be good for Geiney to learn how to physically defend himself. Geiney smiled widely, he couldn't wait for the training to begin.