The Club

Eighteen

My eyes are still glowing. I couldn’t find Craig yesterday, so I just went back to my dorm room. Luckily, Grimshaw and Hector weren’t there. I had just locked my doors and laid on my bed, defeated. I haven’t left since, and now it’s Monday. I didn’t want to go to school today. Especially since my eyes kept glowing and I’m not sure how everyone would react. Two people have already seen my eyes, and I’m not sure if Tynan did or not, but he acted like he did. I think it was a better choice to call in sick and stay lock in my dorm room. I hope my eyes will stop glowing by tomorrow, because I can’t miss school all week. I just laid in my bed practically all day, since I’m not sure what else to do in my room. If I leave, then I might run into someone and I don’t want anyone seeing my eyes. I couldn’t stop thinking about that nightmare, and the way it felt so real. The way I saw my dad in it. It felt strange, but real and I don’t like it. It has to be connected to my magic source because I had it the same night I tried to connect with my inner magic. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.
I sit up from my bed as I realized since then that I’ve also been feeling that warmth and coldness deep inside of me. It’s faint, but it’s there. Maybe I did successfully connect with my magic and just didn’t realize it. It still makes little sense why my eyes are glowing, though. Nobody else’s eyes glow, so why is mine? Is it just depend on the magic you have? If so, what kind of magic do I have? Will it be strong enough to protect me from Mr. Dubuik and Tynan? I let out a sigh as this is frustrating me, and the more I worry about them, the more I stress about it. I still couldn’t get what Mr. Dubuik told me about how my mom turned to him for help. I still didn’t think we were that low in the red. I feel like something is fishy about the whole thing.
I stood up and walked into the bathroom and glanced at myself in the mirror. My eyes widen when my eyes look different. They don’t look as blue as they were yesterday. They look like a pale blue now, but they are still glowing brightly. My skin is still pale, and my red hair looks like it got even darker. What’s happening to me? I thought, worried. This isn’t normal and I’m afraid that I’m going to get killed because my complexion keeps changing overnight. I don’t know what to do. What can I do from here? I jump when I heard rattling at my door, and it made me nervous about who would try to get into my room. Classes aren’t over with yet, so it shouldn’t be them, but then again, you never know. I peek out of my bathroom and can see that whoever it is. They are trying very hard to get inside.
The door then broke open, making me jump and let out a gasp. I didn’t bother checking to see who broke into my room. I slam my bathroom door closed before locking it. Please don’t come over here. Please don’t come over here. I thought repeatedly. I heard footsteps walking around my room until they stopped. I then heard a scoff before I heard footsteps coming closer to my bathroom. No, please don’t come over here! I thought, scared, as I felt my heart beating loudly. I heard my bathroom door rattle before I heard the person groan in frustration. I moved away from my door and hop into my shower before hiding behind my shower curtain. I heard the person breaking my bathroom door down before walking in. I held my breath as I hope they would just leave.
I screamed when the curtain got pulled back, and standing there was Grimshaw. I grabbed onto my chest from both fear and from calming down my fast beating heart. Grimshaw grabbed onto my wrist tightly before dragging me out of my safety of my tub. I struggled in his firm hold, but he’s a lot stronger than me. I’m then shoved back into my room where I stumbled on my feet and almost fell over, but luckily I didn’t. I steady myself before looking up and became afraid again. The whole club members are here. Why are they all in my room! I thought as I freak out about them being in here. Moxie and the silent guy stared at me in shock, while Hector looks shock my complexion changed again. I bet they all came here to kill me because of this. Why else would they willingly come into my room when classes are still going?
“Is this why you didn’t show up for classes? Your complexion changed again?” Grimshaw asks coldly.
“I-I well-” I try to explain myself but I didn’t know how to put it in words. Luckily, Moxie jumps in.
“Wait? It changed before?” Moxie asks, glaring at me skeptically. 
“Her complexion was more like how she looked before. But now? It looks like her eyes are turning lighter and her hair is turning darker.” Hector confirms.
“Don’t forget that her eyes are glowing.” The guy who I do not know his name is yet says.
“True. That’s-uh, very unusual.” Hector says, unsurely.
“Do you-do you guys know why this is happening to me?” I stammered as I rub my arm and hid my face with my hair.
“You mean, you don’t know?” Hector asks, widening his eyes.
“I-I have a theory, but it makes little sense to me.” I tell them, still hiding my face from them.
“What’s your theory?” Grimshaw asks, sounding annoyed and cold.
“Um, well, I’ve tried to connect with my inner magic on Saturday. I-well found something, but it didn’t make me feel too good. Ever since I tried to connect with my magic, my complexion has been changing.” I explain to them nervously.
“You we’re trying to connect with your inner magic?” Grimshaw asks, sounding angry.
“Y-yes?” I ask, confused by his anger.
“You can’t just go around and try to connect with your magic all by yourself! Don’t you know how dangerous that is? Your magic could’ve rejected you and killed you!” Grimshaw growled at me.
“But I wasn’t by myself!” I yelled at him, annoyed by his anger.
“What do you mean?” Hector asks as I glare down at Grimshaw, who is glaring back at me.
“I wasn’t by myself on Saturday. I was with someone to help me. He told me how to connect with my inner magic.” I tell them angrily and annoyed.
“Who?” Grimshaw growled.
“Why should I tell you?” I growled back, feeling my body becoming hot suddenly.
My body felt like it was trembling, almost like it’s buzzing. I kept clenching and unclenching my fists, as my fingers felt tingly. I felt my stomach get nauseous again, but I pushed it aside, thinking that I’m just nervous. A headache was forming, but I just pushed that aside, thinking that it was just because I hadn’t been sleeping well. I just focused on glaring down at Grimshaw as I felt more of my anger and annoyance bubble up. I saw Grimshaw step back as his eyes widen as he looks at me. I then notice that he shook his shoulders while moving his head like he was uncomfortable. I raise an eyebrow at him as he looks around the room, almost like he was looking for something, before looking back at me. 
“Uh, do you guys feel that?” The guy asks, suddenly.
I turn towards him, wondering what he’s talking about, but everyone was staring at me again. They all had wide shock eyes once more. Why do they keep looking at me like that? I wonder, becoming embarrassed as I look down, hiding my face from them. I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder and I flinched from it. I glanced over to see Grimshaw staring at me intently. I look away from him, but he grabs my face, forcing me to look back at him. I stare back into his gray eyes, not sure what he’s doing. I noticed he still looks slightly uncomfortable, and it’s weird seeing him look like this. What is going on? 
“I think you successfully connected with your magic, but somehow it’s powerful.” Grimshaw tells me as his mouth tightens in a thin line. 
“What? That’s not possible.” I tell him, shoving him away from me.
I took a step away from him and the others. I had a theory that I successfully connected with my magic, but how can it be powerful? I figured it would be weak since I never used magic before. This makes little sense, and he has to be playing a mean trick on me. Right? I mean, seriously, he has to be joking. This can’t be real. I never even knew that magic existed until I moved here. I thought it was only fake, just something people put in their stories to make it interesting or put in movies. There’s so much you could do with an idea of magic that I never thought of it being real. So how, may I ask again, how can I have powerful magic? It still makes little sense.
“Your lying to me.” I spoke up, glaring at Grimshaw again.
“Why the hell would I lie about this?” Grimshaw asks, insulted.
“Because it makes no sense!” I yell, feeling nauseous and hot again.
“Lonnie! Look at your damn eyes!” Grimshaw growls, furious.
I look at him, confused, as I already know that they glow. But I decide to humor him and go into the bathroom, anyway. I glance at myself in the mirror, but what I saw isn’t what I saw moments ago. My eyes are glowing even brighter now! Why are they doing that? I thought, scared. I step away from the mirror as I glance at everyone in my room. They seem to all be in deep thought. Grimshaw walks over and lets out a frustrated sigh as he looks over at me.
“Why is this happening to me!” I yell, afraid.
“We have a theory, but we don’t actually know.” Grimshaw tells me, trying to stay calm.
“This isn’t possible!” I yell again, freaking out.
“Calm down, we can figure this out for you.” Hector spoke up, joining us in the bathroom.
“Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down! This isn’t normal.” I tell him, feeling tears run down my face.
“Normally, yeah, it’s not normal, but somehow you have powerful magic inside of you. Maybe even stronger than Dubuik’s and Tynans, and you have awakened it.” Grimshaw tells me seriously.