Junior High

Chapter 6

Chris' hand suddenly gripped mine in that same death grip, fear in his ocean-blue eyes.

I looked over and saw that Isabella's hand was brushing closer. It would be a matter of seconds now until our secret was revealed forever.

Chris and I held our breath and waited for the worst as her hand touched the portal - but nothing happened.

We waited.

Still nothing happened.

In fact, Isabella was now already heading toward the door, throwing her hands up in the air exasperatedly as she gave up searching for her necklace.

Chris and I both let out a huge sigh of relief as she slammed the door shut and stomped away just as the bell rang. A few seconds later, my phone's timer went off with a buzz.

I turned it off, and Chris and I released our hands from each other's grasps. He blushed, and we both looked away.

Why was my heart beating this wildly?

Chris smiled at me and rose from our hiding spot. I did the same, and we quietly went back to the portal.

"I want you to try activating the portal with your hand," he said sternly. "If it doesn't work, that means you aren't . . . well . . . a descendant of magic."

Just hearing this made me tingle with anticipation. Would it work like it did on Chris?

I took a deep breath as Chris gave me an encouraging smile. I stepped forward and put my hand on the portal . . .

The bright beam of light shot out of it, shining brighter than ever. The biggest smile that I had ever had before in my life appeared on my face. I was a descendant of magic!

Suddenly, our bodies levitated into the air. My mouth gaped open as I looked at Chris - he, too, was clearly speechless.

A golden swirl of light surrounded us, spinning us around and around. A new sense of magic was now instilled in me - something that I could not see but feel entirely. As it gently set us back down on the ground, a silver mini iPod touch appeared in my hand, and a golden one appeared in Chris'. But instead of the Apple logos on the back of the phones, there was a silver musical note on mine and a golden one on his.

I looked at Chris. He looked at me.

"Wow," he said finally.

"Double wow," I breathed.

Was this actually happening? Was I in a dream?

I pinched myself just to make sure. Ouch. Yup. Not a dream.

Chris saw me and gave me a funny look. Then we both laughed.

When we came out of the auditorium, still dazed from the magical encounter that we had just experienced, we were relieved to see that nobody else was there in the halls.

At the same time, we looked at each other and stared. It was time to say goodbye and go to our next classes, but somehow, it didn't seem like we were able to. We didn't know when we would see each other again outside of our classes.

"Well, see you around, Chris," I said finally.

"Yeah, sure. When will we meet again? Y-you know, like, for the magic and all that," Chris said awkwardly.

I smiled a little.

"Maybe on Monday after school? I don't know, something will work out," I said.

"Sure! See you," he said as he walked away.