Inherited Magic
Authors: Jennifer Mccullah
Inherited Magic
Jennifer Mccullah
Inherited Magic ©
2013 Jennifer Mccullah
All Rights Reserved
For my mother, Glenna
Mccullah
You were the first
one to realize and support my love of writing.
Thanks to Jan
Sparkman for editing.
Table of Contents
Allison sat up in bed and rubbed
her eyes. She knew it was crazy, but she did feel different. It was almost as
if today, September 25th, had changed something inside her. She laughed at
herself for being dramatic.
The only real difference was now
she could begin trying for her drivers permit, and then her license. Allison smiled
when she thought about it. She could imagine driving around on her own, going
anywhere she wanted. It was an exciting prospect.
Allison got out of bed ready for
her day. In the kitchen, she found her grandmother making a large breakfast
with all of her favorites: homemade blueberry pancakes, biscuits and gravy,
country ham and scrambled eggs. There was more food than she could ever dream
of finishing, even with the help of Vinnie and her grandmother.
“Are you sure you made enough food,
Mamaw?” Allison asked Ruby James.
“I had to make sure you had
everything you wanted. You only turn sixteen once.”
What she wanted was a new car like
the one Jane Wallace had gotten for her birthday. Well, not exactly the one
Jane got. She could do without the blinding shade of pink. Allison assumed all
sixteen year olds wanted a car, but she knew her grandmother couldn’t afford
it. For this reason, Allison did not mention a car when Ruby asked what she
wanted. Instead, she requested DVDs, books, art supplies and clothes.
Allison was glad her birthday fell
on a Saturday, because she did not want to wake up early and spend the day in
class. She was happy to sleep in and enjoy a large breakfast with her favorite
people, Ruby and Vinnie Castillo, Allison’s best friend. After they ate and
relaxed a while, they spent the afternoon doing some of the things Allison
enjoyed. They watched a movie at the local theater and visited the large public
library in a neighboring town. Allison had been in need of some new reading
material and was satisfied with the books she found. Vinnie left with his typical
haul of graphic novels, which Allison made sure to refer to as comic books.
Later in the evening Josh Burke,
Samantha Croley and Samantha’s mother, Susan, gathered at Ruby’s home for a
small birthday celebration. They ate dinner and had birthday cake; then Allison
began opening her presents. She opened Vinnie’s first. He had gotten her three
tops and two pairs of pants.
“Thanks, I love them,” she said.
When Allison said she loved them,
she meant it. Vinnie always knew what type of clothes she liked, and she knew
he had taken the time to find just the right items. Vinnie could be the most
thoughtful person ever and she knew that he had given a lot of thought to
picking out her gifts. Whenever she heard people say, ‘it’s the thought that
counts,’ it sounded corny, but it must be true because the thought he put into
her presents made them mean so much more.
“See, I chose the same color scheme
so you can mix and match. This one here,” he said, pointing to a red and black
blouse, “will go perfect with your black hoops or the little studs Ruby gave
you for Christmas.”
Next, she opened gifts from Sam and
Susan. They gave her seasons 7 and 8 of
Charmed
on DVD, completing her
collection. They also gave her a nice collector’s edition of
The Hobbit
,
one of her favorite books. Then she opened her present from Josh. Allison
unwrapped the box and was surprised to see a silver charm bracelet just like
the one she had seen at the jewelry store in town one day when she, Sam and Josh
had been window shopping. Allison remembered mentioning that she thought the
bracelet was pretty. She also remembered the price; he shouldn’t have bought
her something so expensive.
There were oohs and ahs, everyone
commenting on how pretty it was. Allison was not sure what to say.
“Thank you Josh, but you shouldn’t
have spent that much money.”
He shrugged, “I knew you liked it,
and I thought it would look pretty on you.”
“It will.” Vinnie agreed.
Before she could say anything else,
Ruby stood up and handed Allison her last present. It was a small box. When she
pulled off the lid, she stared for a moment in confusion. Inside was a key,
but she knew better than to get her hopes up. Allison knew Ruby could not
afford to buy her a car.
“What does this go to?” she asked.
“Follow me and I’ll show you.”
Allison followed Ruby out the front
door, and there in the driveway was an unfamiliar car. She stared at the small,
squared vehicle.
“I know it isn’t much, but I wanted
you to have a car on your sixteenth birthday.”
“It’s mine?” she asked, a smile creeping
across her face.
“Yes. I know it isn’t new, actually
it’s a ’91 Ford Tempo, but it’s paid for and it’s all yours.”
“Thank you so much. Thank you,
thank you, and thank you,” she said, wrapping her arms around her grandmother’s
neck.
She ran down the steps to examine
her new car. It was a faint gold color, and it looked like it was in good
condition. The interior was nice except for a few cigarette burns and the
outside did not have any major dents. Allison could not stop smiling. Her
friends gathered around, admiring the new car.
“We can cause so much trouble in
this,” Josh said.
“Excuse me?” Asked Susan, who was
not only Sam’s mother, but also Josh’s aunt.
“I meant we can get to our prayer
group so much faster now,” Josh said.
Allison rubbed her hand across the
car. Something happened. It felt as though she had grabbed onto a live
electrical wire. She was no longer at home looking at her new car; she was
somewhere else that was just as familiar to her, Principal Napier’s office.
Allison was sitting in a seat next to Jane Wallace, whose hair was unusually
messy. Jane was crying as she spoke.
“I was telling her happy birthday
and congratulating her on getting a new car when she attacked me.”
“What do you have to say for
yourself?” Mr. Napier asked, turning to Allison.
Allison had no answer. She took a
deep breath, blinked and was surprised to see her family and friends staring at
her.
“Are you okay?” Vinnie asked.
“I’m fine,” she said, though it was
a lie.
She actually felt dizzy and shaken.
Her head ached and she was worried because she had no idea what had just
happened. The rest of the evening was enjoyable and she tried to have fun, but
her mind kept drifting back to that strange episode. Allison could not help
thinking about it.
The weekend went by too fast. It
was Monday before she knew it, which meant another five days in that special
type of hell known as High School. People always told her that she would miss
it one day, but she didn’t buy it. How bad would her life have to be in order
to miss being forced to spend day after day with these people? She thought
about it while walking through the crowd. Allison liked a few people but the
majority she could do without. She walked past Jane Wallace, one person she
would definitely be happy not to see again.
In Allison’s mind, Jane was a
walking cliché. She was the type of mean girl found in every coming of age teen
movie ever filmed. Jane was snobby, manipulative, rich, head cheerleader and of
course, blonde. She was everything Allison loved to hate all rolled up into one
obnoxious package.
They had gone to school together
since elementary, and they never liked one another. Jane always sought Allison
out; she always had something nasty to say. Allison honestly did not understand
why; there were plenty of other poor kids to harass. Maybe Jane just enjoyed
the reaction Allison gave her. She always took the bait, Allison always engaged
even though she knew the smart thing would be to walk away.
“Happy late birthday,” Jane said in
her fake nice voice.
Allison did not slow down, so Jane
walked faster to catch up.
“Thanks,” Allison said, without
stopping or looking in her direction.
“Sixteen. That’s a big one. Did
you know that I got a brand new car when I turned sixteen?”
“Well, you told the entire school
and I’m not deaf, so yeah, I heard that.”
“Too bad you’re poor and
everything. It must suck turning sixteen without getting a new car.”
Allison stopped. “My grandmother
bought me a car, thanks for the concern.”
Jane’s face was full of disappointment
upon hearing that information, but she recovered fast enough.
“If that’s even true it must be a
piece of junk.”
“It’s used, but it’s in good
condition.”
“What year?”
“91.”
“A car from the 90’s? Not just the
90’s, the early 90’s. I think I would prefer not to have a car at all, but what
else can you expect living in the dirt lot?”
As usual, Allison did not think
about anything before reacting. She was on top of Jane in an instant, throwing
punch after punch. This was not Allison’s first fight, and she was not one of
those girls who pulled hair. No, she wanted to draw blood. She focused on
Jane’s face, hoping to leave her with a black eye. School pictures were in
three days and it would be a major disaster to someone as shallow as Jane if
she were to have a bruise on her face.
It was over almost as quick as it
started. School officials were soon pulling them apart while advising onlookers
to go to class. Once they were both in Mr. Napier’s office, Allison had the
worst case of déjà vu ever. It was exactly how she had envisioned it on the
night of her birthday. The only difference was this time when Mr. Napier asked
her what she had to say for herself, she had plenty to say.
After hearing Allison’s side of
what happened, Mr. Napier spoke.
“Allison, I understand it is
frustrating when people insult you or where you live, but we’ve been here
before. You have to stop reacting; you’re letting people control you. Jane, you
have two days suspension for provoking Allison.”
“But I have practice after school
both days.”
“I don’t care. You’re lucky you
only have two days. Allison, since you admitted to hitting her first, you are
suspended for the rest of the week. I’ll call your grandmother to come pick you
up.”
“Don’t bother, she’s at work. I can
walk home.”
“That’s fine, but we are still
going to send a note home to let her know you’ve been suspended.”
Having to miss a week of school was
not punishment to Allison. She glanced at Jane before leaving Mr. Napier’s
office, and was happy to see the beginning of a black eye.
Allison and Vinnie were about to
leave for the comic book store when Allison stopped in her tracks and doubled
over. She was having another vision, or whatever it was that happened on her
birthday. These pictures Allison kept getting since her birthday were coming
more frequently and lasting longer, along with her headaches and the occasional
nosebleed.
This time she was in front of Jane
Wallace’s home. It was one of the largest and nicest houses in her town, but to
Allison, it just seemed pretentious. Why would a three-person household ever
need a home with six bedrooms? To her it was overkill, nothing more than a
pathetic attempt to say “Look at us, we have money! We matter, we’re rich!”
Allison watched Jane and her
parents get into her father’s Escalade. While they were pulling out of their
driveway, the Dad said something about going to Knoxville, which was over an
hour away from their town. As quick as the vision hit her, it was gone and she
was back in her living room, looking at Vinnie.
“What is it?” Vinnie asked.
“I just had the best idea,” Allison
said, “I know how I can get back at Jane.”
“Get back at her?”
“Yeah, she got me suspended.”
“You were suspended because you
beat her up. School officials do frown on that.”
“Well, they shouldn’t, because she
deserved it, and now we’re going to TP her house.”
“We?” Vinnie asked, following
Allison into her bedroom.
Inside Allison’s room there was no
Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber, instead on her walls, there were posters of The
Clash, Avenged Sevenfold and her personal favorite, Joan Jett.
