Spellbound

Chapter Nine

The weekend went by too fast for my liking. Because of my being grounded, I had plenty of time to finish up on homework and assignments that is almost due. I worked so hard, I didn't even have time to call Alice. Sure , I couldn't see her, but a phone call couldn't harm anyone. But I never even got around to that.

I know, what kind of best friend am I, right?

It seems like the weather caught up to my ongoing internal depression. On Monday, the sky was covered in unusual dark clouds, perfectly mirroring my emotions.

At school, Alice almost tackled me into a bear grip. It's only she who knows the perfect way of cutting off your air supply.

"Where have you been this whole weekend!?" she basically shouted at me.

"Alice! You're chocking me!" Immediately she lets go of me and I sucked in a good portion of oxygen. " Are you trying to kill me?" I asked her. She gave me the eyebrow.

" Well, I'm just waiting for you to tell me where you've been this weekend? I called you non-stop and you just ignored me." I could hear the accusation in her voice. I instantly felt guilty. My phone was off the whole time.

" You know, you're pretty hard to ignore, Alice. And I promise I didn't ignore you." I said.

" Well, what then?"

So here's the deal. Being grounded isn't such a big deal, right? But to Alice it pretty much is. I'm not the one who gets grounded. Like, at all. I debated whether I should tell her or not, but I just sighed and said, " I didn't ignore you..I was just grounded, that's all."

I so didn't want to see her expression, but it was quite the sight. Her mouth were frozen in a inaudible O and for a moment she didn't say anything. Until...

" Wait, what? You? Grounded? Since when in this lifetime?"

" Well...I sat detention and didn't bring the stupid slip back to school. The school took it upon themselves to casually inform my parents, and you can just imagine how that went." I rolled my eyes at that. Alice's O got even bigger, if that was possible.

"Since when did you become such a bad ass?" Trust me, that wasn't said with admiration. I just shrugged. Seriously, Alice makes it sounds like I did something scandalous, like slept with someone.

"It's no big deal, Alice. It's Monday now, the past is the past."

"No no no, you don't just sit detention and casually forget to give the slip to your parents. And you don't get grounded. What's happening to you these days?"

"What's happened to me? What's happened to you? You're the one who's been acting all kinds of strange these two weeks, not me." I admit, I got pretty defensive. I was already irritated and moody because I was basically awake all night. I know I should not take it out on her. It's not her fault I'm crazy.

"Leah, what's going on? I only care about you. And I really just want to help. Don't tell me you're fine, because I know you like I know myself. Plus you look like shit, no offense. It looks like you never slept." I couldn't tell her now. School was definitely not the right place to talk about it, anyways. The bell rang before I could say anything. Thank the gods. I didn't have the energy to face her now. Alice gave me a concerned glance before saying, " I trust you to trust me, please. You know I'm always here for you." With that she turned away and walked to homeroom. Quilt took over me like a storm. With a last glance up to the sky, I hurried on to homeroom, too.

The day dragged on minute by minute. It was complete torture. I managed to convince Alice that I was fine and just tired , which wasn't a lie. I just didn't tell her about the extant of my insanity. I knew she didn't believe me, but she didn't question me.