Stare

Nothing Lasts Forever

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The Next Day

One day till the poetry reading

I stood in front of my locker and listened to the people in the halls. Ever since my powers were taken away my hair changed from a deep brown color to my natural blonde color. I got a lot of compliments on it just through the course of this day. I looked to my left and I saw Jen in the corner staring me down. Normally a person would look away when caught staring but she didn't. Neither did I. I stood strong and didn't break eye contact. After a while she stopped and I looked away as well. Today was a half day due to a teachers convention. People were louder then usual since there were less then three weeks left of school. I grabbed my stuff and shoved it in my bag. The halls emptied quickly. Soon I was one of the last people to leave. Jen was gone too. Lauren was packing her things too. She smiled and waved.

"Hey Ellie."

"Hey." I said. I kept walking but then she stopped me.

"Do you mind if I walk home with you?" She asked.

"Of course not." I said.

"Great." We didn't have much to say to each other. So I tried to break the silence.

"So, have you talked to Jen recently?"

"No, her and I have drifted apart. Good thing I did. She been acting a little crazy lately."

"What do you mean?"

"Shes been really angry over nothing and really quiet too. If you ask her any questions she stays silent for a good forty seconds. Then she'll ask what you said again. Shes not okay, thats for sure."

Damn

"Has she said anything about me?" I asked.

"No, but she stares at you a lot."

"Yeah I just witnessed that."

"Did she look away?"

"Nope."

"Not a surprise." She shook her head. We both pushed open the metal doors to the school.

"Are you coming to the poetry reading tomorrow?"

"I might be coming later. I have a doctors appointment. I really want to go this year though." She fixed a piece of her hair and looked down at the pavement ground. The skys were grey and sad looking. Almost like there was going to be a down pour any second. When we reached the town I saw a man standing in the distance with a cart. Ive never seen him there before. He seemed to stare at me. His skin was leathery and his eyes were bloodshot. I tried not to make eye contact with him. We were about to pass him until he stopped us both.

"Voodoo charms, they will protect you from all kinds of things." His eyes were still locked onto me as he spoke. He had a light grey beard connected with a mustache. His stand was filled with ribbons with different charms hanging from it. "You two look like you both need a little protecting. Ill give you this one for free." He reached behind him and pulled out two blood red ribbons with feathers and black charms on them. One of which looked like a fly. He held out one to Lauren. She took it and thanked him. Then he looked at me and squinted a little. I scowled a bit.

"You need a special one." He grabbed another one. This one looked similar to it but had feathers on it too and purple charms added to it. He held it out to me but I refused to take it.

"No thanks Im good." I said.

"No please you don't understand. Your in gr-."

"Ill take it." Lauren said. He looked to her then back to me.