Strange Magic (12 page)

          Duncan looked miserable.  “Now you know.”

          Slowly, words came back to me.  “That’s.  That’s wonderful.  You know that I love you, too.”

           “When you told me that, it was wonderful.  I wanted to run away with you and keep you safe, but I can’t.  So, we can’t be together.”  He opened the car door and got out.  Then he walked over to my side and opened the door.  He took my hand and helped me out.

          Somehow, we were now at the door to my house.  Duncan looked at me for a long moment.  “One last time.”

          My heart was pounding wildly again as he leaned down to kiss me.  I think he meant it to be a quick kiss, but passion ignited between us again.  We were both breathing heavily when we finally managed to pull apart.  Duncan then kissed the top of my head and hurried back to his car.

          I watched him drive away and then opened the door and stepped into the house.  All my thoughts and emotions had been let loose now.  No matter what Duncan said, I knew we wouldn’t be able to contain what was between us.

          I suspected that my days of being able to concentrate in English class were over. The teacher’s voice might as well have been white noise for all the sense I could make of it.  I had always been aware of Duncan sitting beside me, but now he was my entire focus.  I couldn’t look at him without remembering our kisses the day before.  All I could think about was him kissing me and telling me that he loved me.

          When I looked at him, he would look away.  Then I would feel his eyes on me when I was trying to pay attention to Mr. Gates.  Duncan was the first one out of his seat when the bell rang.  He was nowhere to be seen at lunch.

          I was in such a state that I really wasn’t able to calm down the rest of the day.  I didn’t know what to do with all my nervous energy, so I decided to walk home even though the weather had turned chilly.  Barely ten minutes into my walk, Duncan pulled up beside me.  He didn’t have to say a word.  My pulse was already racing as I got into his car.  He drove silently to my house.  We still didn’t speak as we walked up the driveway, and Duncan followed me into the house.

          He looked at me in a way that made me feel weak with desire.  “I went to the office during lunch.  I’m transferring to another English class.”

          Then he was kissing me.  It was what I had been waiting for all day.  We found our way to the couch as we continued to kiss.  I couldn’t get enough of Duncan.  It had never been like this with anyone else.  He pulled back several times, but in the next instant he would go right back to kissing me.  Finally, he stood up and walked a few feet away from me.  It took both of us awhile to catch our breath.

          “Susannah,” he said in that husky voice that made me want to kiss him again.  “This is why I can’t be around you.  I can’t control myself.  I swore that I would go straight home, but here I am.”

          “I’m glad you’re here.”

          “It will be easier tomorrow when we don’t see each other,” he said.

           The only difference was that Duncan was no longer in English class with me.  Caitlin had rehearsals all week, because her play was on Friday.  Duncan once again found me during my walk and drove me home.  We started passionately kissing even before we entered the house.

          On Thursday, he left a note in my locker to meet him by his car after school.  There was no need for me to pretend that I was walking home.  I expected him to finally admit that he wasn’t going to stay away from me.

          “I got an after school job.  I start Monday.”

          “Why?” I asked.

          “It’s what I have to do.  We have to stop seeing each other.”

          “Duncan, this is ridiculous.  Nothing will happen if people know that we’re together.”

          Even as he was insisting that we couldn’t be together, he was leaning in to kiss me.  Nothing seemed to be able to get in the way of our passion for each other.  On Friday, it was only the arrival of my parents that ended our marathon kissing session.  Even if we hadn’t still been breathless when my mom walked into the living room, my flushed cheeks would have alerted her to what had been going on.

          “Duncan,” Mom said.  “We haven’t seen you here for awhile.”

          “Mom.  We, uh, we were just.  Uh, we’re going to Caitlin’s play tonight.”

          Mom looked at me in amusement.  “Oh, is Duncan staying for dinner?”

          “No, thank you.  I actually have to go now.  I’ll see you at the play, Susannah.”

          “See you later,” I said as Dad walked into the living room.

          “Bye Mrs. Hastings, Mr. Hastings.”  Duncan couldn’t leave fast enough.

          “Suzy,” Dad began.

          Mom stopped him.  “Remember that Duncan saved her life.”

          “Yes, and I’m grateful, but having a boy over when we’re not home—“

          “Let’s go make dinner.”  Mom pulled him out of the room.  “Remember when you were seventeen?”

          “Yes,” I heard Dad say.  “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

          Dad’s mood didn’t improve after dinner when I came downstairs wearing my pink mini dress, even though he’d seen me wear it before.  I was also wearing the necklace that Duncan and his mom had given me for my birthday.

          “Isn’t it a little cold to be wearing that?”

          “I have a coat, Dad.”

          “Okay, I’ll drive Suzy to the play.  You stay here and relax, and I’ll be right back.”

          The plan was for Caitlin and Alex to drive me home after the play.  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was hoping that Duncan would volunteer instead.  My locker was near the entrance to the school, so I left my coat in there.  Then I spotted Duncan in the hallway.  He muttered something under his breath as I approached him.

          “Hi,” I said.

          “You had to make this as difficult as possible, didn’t you?”

          “No, you’re the one who’s making things difficult.  This afternoon you couldn’t stop kissing me, and now I’m supposed to pretend like it never happened.”

          “Here they come.”

          “I guess it’s showtime,” I muttered sarcastically.

          “Susannah and Duncan, hello.”  Anna greeted us in her usual mature manner.

          “Hi.”  We both said to Anna and Brad.

          Brad looked me up and down, but he had apparently learned his lesson at the dance.  He didn’t say anything about my dress or my legs.  Alex had joined us by this time.

          Ben walked up to Duncan.  “Hey, man.  Where you been?  Were you sick?”

          “No, I transferred to another English class.”

          Anna raised her eyebrows at this news.  “Why would you do that?”

          “Gates gives too much homework.”

          “Really,” Anna said.  “I thought that you would find the curriculum here easy after you did so well at Briar Oak.”

          “I got a job,” Duncan explained without missing a beat.

          “Oh, is that why you haven’t been sitting with us at lunch?  Have you been taking naps in your car?” Anna asked.

          “I decided to leave you to your girl talk.”

          Anna turned to me.  “What an unusual necklace.  Is that a lightning bolt?”

          “I heard about that,” Alex exclaimed.  “Caitlin said that Duncan saved your life.”

          “It happened by accident.”  Duncan was clearly uncomfortable talking about it.

          “Yeah, Caitlin said that you tripped and knocked Suzy out of the way right when the lightning struck.  How lucky is that?”

          “Very lucky,” Anna agreed.

          “We should find some seats,” Duncan said.

          “Got it covered.”  Alex led us to a row of reserved seats.  “It helps to have connections.”

          Duncan tried to sit on the end, but Anna somehow maneuvered it that Brad ended up on the end with Anna next to him and Duncan next to her.  I was between Duncan and Alex.

          “Never been to a play before,” Brad said.

          “I hear that Caitlin is quite the actress.”  Anna leaned over Duncan to talk to me.  She seemed to be oblivious to the tension emanating from him.

          “Yes.  She’s always the lead.  She’s never wanted to be anything else besides an actress.”

          “I’ve always known what I want to do, too.”

          I waited for her to say what career she wanted, but she left it at that.  The lights began to dim, and we all looked toward the stage.  The curtain opened, and the play began.  For awhile, I got lost in the story and the performances.  It was fun to see my classmates acting out these parts.  Caitlin was just as good of an actress as I remembered from her last play.

          “So now you can predict when lightning is going to strike.”

          I sat perfectly still.  I knew from my past experiences with Duncan that Anna wasn’t speaking aloud.  I was hearing her voice in my head.

          “I know that you can hear me, Duncan.”

          “I’m trying to watch the play.”

          “When did you start having premonitions?  That’s new.”  Anna continued the conversation regardless of his objection.

          “I told you.  It was an accident.  It was just a coincidence that the lightning struck right then.”

          “You can tell that story to those who don’t know about our abilities.  I wonder if Susannah would believe you if you told her the truth.  You bought her that necklace, didn’t you?  Caitlin said that she had a birthday recently.”

          “Why would you assume that?” Duncan asked.

          “I’ve seen the way you look at her.  It’s the same way you used to look at me.”

          “You’re imagining things.”

          “Why are you denying it?” Anna asked.  “I’ve seen how she looks at you, too.  Why don’t you just go ahead and ask her out?”

          “What business is that of yours?”

          “I just want you to be happy,” Anna said.

          “Happy?  You want me to be happy?  Why don’t you tell that to someone who doesn’t know you?”

          “It’s true,” Anna insisted.

          “Is that why you followed me here?  To do your part to make me happy?  Or was it to finish what you started?”

          “I came to make amends.”

          “I feel better already.”  His sarcasm was not lost on Anna.

          “Look, Duncan.  I know that I can’t take back what I did, but I’m sorry I hurt you.  At the time, I didn’t know that it would be like that.  I realize now what a terrible thing I did.”

          “Do you really think that I’m going to fall for your lies again?  That I’m going to believe anything that you say?  If you really want to make amends, then go back where you came from and leave me alone.”

          They fell silent after that.  Neither one of them seemed to have realized that I had heard their entire conversation.  I wondered what Anna had done to make Duncan mistrust her so much.  She had sounded sincerely sorry, but he wouldn’t give her a chance to prove it.  I had heard no reason for Duncan’s secrecy about our relationship.  She had even encouraged him to ask me out.

          When the play ended, we all applauded enthusiastically.  As people began to file out of the auditorium, we went up to Caitlin to offer our personal congratulations on her performance.  She looked so happy and excited.

          It was the complete opposite of Duncan’s muted smile and withdrawn attitude.  After telling Caitlin that her performance was impressive, he said goodnight to us and left.  Caitlin and Alex drove me home.  All that weekend I wondered what I should do about Duncan.

          On Monday, I asked Caitlin if I could come over after school.  I waited until I thought that Duncan had left for his job, and then I told Caitlin that I needed to go talk to his mom for a little bit.

          “What’s going on?” Caitlin asked.

          “I’ll be right back.  This shouldn’t take long.”