Every Witch Way: The Rueda Twins

Chapter 6

Diego left his house in such a hurry because he knew that he was about to blow. He felt his face flush and hands clench when he snapped at his sister. There was an itch in his palms that he always got before he conjured fire or ice or wind. He had to get out of there before he hurt his sister with his powers.

Diego knew Gigi would probably find out about his secret eventually. During the summer he was able to keep things under control because he was always with her, but now that school had started Gigi would be at home while Diego was at Sharks practice. That's a whole two hours minimum with the house to herself. She could prod around all she wanted. She could find out everything.

But Diego wasn't stupid. He had a whole plan laid out if something happened that revealed his kanay powers and couldn't think of a reasonable excuse. Everything was mapped out in his mind without a kink. He owed that to his OCD.

And his master plan involved Emma Alonso.

Since Daniel was covering Diego's shift at the 7, that meant he had time to talk to Emma while his twin was stuck at work.

Diego jogged to Emma's, working off all the anger at his sister as he did. And slowly the itch in his palms started to dull to nothingness and the kanay let out a sigh of relief.

He knocked on the door to the Alonso residence, hoping that it wasn't Mr. Alonso that opened the door. It was still pretty weird that his friend's dad was the principal. Diego didn't want to rub him the wrong way. Daniel's life was already miserable because of his rocky relationship with his girlfriend's dad.

Sadly, since Diego's life always seemed to go in the opposite direction from what he wanted, it was in fact the principal of Iridium High who answered the door.

"Diego?" Mr. Alonso said with an eyebrow raised when he saw the guest, "What's up?"

The kanay sighed. Of course it had to be him. The conversations between him and Emma's dad were few, far between, and quite awkward. But hiding magical powers was always good exercise for lying so Diego didn't miss a beat as he responded, "Hey Mr. Alonso! I'm just here to ask a homework question. Is Emma here?"

Mr. Alonso shook his head, "She's at Andi's, but she's due back in about five minutes. Come in, you're welcome to wait."

Diego remained cool on the outside, offering a half-smile and a quick "Thank you." But he was already beating himself up inside for not texting Emma before he knocked on the door to her house. Then he remembered- he had left home so fast that he had left his cell on the desk in his room. Right next to the photo of him and his sister.

He was sure Gigi thought he wouldn't notice a little crack in a stupid picture, but it was always the first thing that he looked at when he walked into his room.

Diego had messed up his entire room practically with powers gone astray, but he had always taken care not to ruin his trophies and schoolwork. The most important thing to keep perfect, and a surprise to Diego himself, was that photo. It was a time when Gigi was his best friend. Before all the Miss Information junk came between them (although Diego knew that being a kanay had something to do with the split too).

"So how's school going for you, Diego?" Mr. Alonso asked the kanay.

Diego turned back to his principal who sat down across from him on a couch.

"Pretty good." he said. He always worked hard to keep his grades to mostly A's and one or two B's. He didn't want to lose his scholarship.

"Great, great." Mr. Alonso nodded, "How about work? I see you at the 7 a lot."

"Work's good too." He mentally kicked himself for saying 'good' again, "It's my family's place."

"Oh really? I didn't know that. My family actually owned a painting business back in Texas." Emma's father continued, "It was always so fun. My dad and I used to have contests to see who could paint fastest. I'm sure you are your dad have good times too, cooking."