Spells and Cinders

Chapter 2

The bus ride to Greenbay High was beyond awful. Ruby wouldn't stop complaining about how dirty the inside of the bus was, while Emily kept flirting with an older man with salt and pepper hair, sitting across the aisle from us.

"How long do we have to continue riding this disgusting hunk-of-junk with you, Andi?" Ruby whined through gritted teeth while trying to keep warm from the frigid mid-February Connecticut weather.

Quit your griping and be grateful, goddamn!

The sound of her waterproof boots crunching against the snow-covered sidewalk filled my ears.

"One month, Ruby," I reminded her and glanced over at Emily. She held a crumpled piece of notebook paper in her hand, and before I could ask any questions, Ruby snatched the paper from her sister.

"Oh-em-gee, that creepy old man you kept flirting with gave you his phone number. What the hell is wrong with you? He could've been a rapist. Never accept numbers from random people. Even I know that," Ruby told Emily, her voice full of disdain.

Instead of responding with something snarky, Emily burst into sobs. "Tony broke up with me last night over text. He said he wanted that, sophomore bitch, Beatrice Soverall, to be his date to the Spring Formal instead!"

Tony Block, senior and captain of the basketball team, had a reputation for dumping girls after three months and getting together with someone new, leaving a trail of miserable and heartbroken girls like Emily behind.

"Why didn't you tell me, Em?" Ruby asked, pulling her sister into a hug. Her stone-cold demeanor melted away. "We could've keyed his Porsche, the one his father bought him for his seventeenth birthday last year. He adores that car and even named it."

Stepping away from Ruby, Emily wiped the tears from her baby-blue eyes and managed to smile. "I thought flirting with that man on the bus would help ease my heartache, but all I needed was my beloved sister. Tony is an idiot!"

Grinning, Ruby grabbed Emily's hand and began walking in front of me toward the direction of Greenbay. I followed silently behind them and allowed the blowing, cold wind to envelop me like a familiar blanket.

• • • •

Three more months till graduation, then you're home free, Andrea. You're strong. You got this.

I spun the combination lock on my bottom locker and grabbed my first-period AP French textbook.

Greenbay High senior lockers were in the school's east wing and kept separate from the Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior lockers. And since more Seniors were graduating this year than the previous one, there weren't enough top lockers for each Senior, so I was one of the unlucky students who got cursed with an annoyingly painful bottom locker.

Standing up too fast and not double-checking to see if the locker door above mine was closed, I banged the top of my head hard, feeling the cold metal collide with my scalp.

"Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't realize my locker door was still open."

Rubbing the top of my head, I turned and saw Graham Shaw, one of Greenbay's point guards for the basketball team. He was wearing a letterman jacket with Greenbay High's signature colors, green and gold. The school's mascot, Deevus the Dragon was stitched on the right side of the jacket.

"Are you okay?" Graham asked, waiting until I moved to close his locker door finally. "Do you need to go see the nurse? You hit your head pretty damn hard."

The top of my skull collided with pure metal. Am I okay? I wanted to scream. Would you be okay? Bitch, no.

Grabbing my French textbook off the floor, I stood up straight and met his brown-eyed stare. "I'm fine. Hitting the top of my head won't result in a concussion . . . hopefully."

"Since we're locker buddies, if you need anything–"

"Once again, I'm fine. I don't need to see the nurse. I'm not bleeding, nor do I have a concussion," I told Graham and jabbed my pointer finger at his chest. "Just remember to firmly shut your locker door from now on."

"Chill, Andrea. God, what's your damage? I won't forget to shut my locker door next time." He ran a hand through his hair.

Well, at least he didn't call me CinderElla, the horrid nickname Ruby and Emily graced me with.

The bell rang, signaling the start of first period, and the sound of metal doors closing, and shoes hitting the tile flooring, echoed throughout the building. I walked away from Graham and down the hallway in the direction of Madame Clément's French class. But not before snapping my fingers and making his locker door fling back open, hitting him smack dab in the face.

"Goddamn!" Graham hollered in agony. "Son of a bitch!"

A high-spirited cackle escaped from within me when Graham was out of view. I popped another white pill into my mouth.

Oops. My bad. Silly ol' me.