Earth (8 page)

I pulled in my energy, careful to control the
speed, afraid of a backlash, and siphoned off some of the excess to
Jodi and Steven who still stood sentinel at my sides. Jodi was
wide-eyed, never taking her eyes off of Ian to see the damage he
was inflicting on Nick. I blinked finally, all our energy back in
place, and pulled out of the ground.

“Are you ok?” Ian’s rough voice was suddenly
warm and soft, as he placed a hand on Tracy’s shoulder and looked
at her face with genuine concern.

“Yeah… thank you.” She had tears streaking
down her face again, just like she had when I pulled her free of
the truck over the weekend. She cocked her head to the side to look
around Ian at Nick who was struggling to get back up.

“Don’t worry about him,” Ian said and turned
to look down at Nick. He walked over to Nick’s head and crouched
down, grabbing his shirt and yanking his shoulders off the ground.
Getting real close to his face, Ian said, “I’m taking Tracy home
from now on. If I ever see you anywhere near her, I’ll beat the
shit out of you again.” He didn’t bother to ask if he understood.
Ian simply stood up and held his hand out to Tracy with a smile and
she took it in her own and followed him away from Nick.

I turned to Jodi, who was already smiling
broadly. Saturday had worked out more quickly than we would’ve ever
dared ask for. We took a collective breath and Steven and Jodi
started back toward my locker to get the things we’d dropped. I
took one more moment before I followed, looking back over my
shoulder to where Nick was finally standing, dusting the gravel off
of his jeans with one hand, red faced and angry. I chuckled quietly
and turned to follow Steven and Jodi, but I stopped short, my
stomach knotting up against my spine. Jensen stood at the edge of
the sidewalk staring directly at me, one perfect eyebrow raised,
arms crossed over his chest. He looked down at my feet, where the
asphalt was newly cracked in a spider web of damage. Then he looked
back up to my face and nodded ever so slightly. He smirked a little
and turned to walk away.

I found Steven and Jodi at my locker. Steven
was just standing back up from scooping up the last few papers from
the ground. Jodi had my backpack by the straps in her right hand
while she shut my locker with her left. Neither had noticed my
approach.

“Whoa!” Steven yelled as he saw me seemingly
appear out of nowhere.

“Sorry,” I said quietly.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Steven furrowed his
brow at me and Jodi turned to look at me, worry etched in her
face.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost or
something,” she said, searching my face.

“Well, not exactly,” I stepped over to the
lockers and leaned my forehead against the cold metal and closed my
eyes.

“What then?” Steven urged.

“Jensen was in the parking lot just now,” I
muttered into the locker.

“So?” Jodi asked.

“He saw what I did.” My voice was failing me;
it sounded like a distant echo.

“What!” They both cried. I squeezed my eyes
shut against the noise.

“Well… at least… I think so.”

“Be more specific!” Jodi said sternly,
grabbing me by the shoulders and turning me around roughly. I
leaned back, my shoulders braced against the still cool wall of
lockers.

“I don’t know!” I threw my hands up in the
air before crossing my arms over my chest. “I stopped to watch and
make sure that Nick wasn’t going to go after Tracy. When I turned
back around to follow you I saw him standing there on the sidewalk.
He looked down at my feet and then back up at me and then he kinda
nodded and smirked and walked off.”

“He looked at your feet?” Steven asked,
clearly confused.

“Yeah, I, well we, cracked the asphalt under
my feet.”

“So?” Jodi continued to press. “Asphalt
cracks all the time. This is Southern California after all.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t just a crack under my
feet. It kinda looked like a really heavy boulder landed there and
left a circle of cracks that my feet fit into perfectly.” I shook
my head slowly, opening my eyes to the overcast sky. “I can’t
believe I was so careless!”

“Look,” Steven began, “Hey! Look!” He grabbed
me by the shoulders and pulled me straight to stare into his eyes.
“Just because he thinks he saw something doesn’t mean anything, you
get me?” He was speaking very sternly, sounding more masculine than
I had ever heard from him in two and a half years. He looked at
Jodi to make sure she was listening too and then back to me before
continuing. “We just don’t give credit to anything he thinks or
tries to say, ok? We act normal and people will think he’s crazy,
remember, he’s the new kid.”

“That’s right!” Jodi said excitedly, grabbing
hold of the alibi. “He is the new kid, people love us. If he tries
to say crazy things about us or you causing cracks in the asphalt
where you stood like The Incredible Hulk or something, he’ll be the
laughing stock of the whole school.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I consented, knowing that
much was true, but also knowing that he and I both knew what he saw
and I had no idea what he was planning on doing with that
information. After all, he didn’t look scared or surprised. The
more I thought about the look on his face the more I came to think
that it was like he had just seen something to confirm something he
already suspected of me.

We made it to my house about ten minutes
later. When I pulled into the driveway, I saw a huge red bow on the
garage door and my parents were waiting for us in the front yard,
both smiling broadly. I put the van into park and sat there for a
moment just staring at the bow, all thoughts of Jensen’s knowing
smirk suddenly erased from my mind. This had to be some sort of
sick joke. That was the only thing that made sense.

“Oh. My. God. Dude.” Jodi hit me on the
shoulder, bringing me back to myself, blinking away the shock. I
still stared at the bow in confusion.

“No,” I said, the corners of my mouth turning
down and my brows knitting together as I shook my head. “Not
possible.” My voice wasn’t stunned, just matter of fact. My dad had
to come over and open the driver’s door to get me to get out. My
mom was all smiles holding a small present in her hand.

“Hi honey!” She beamed and joined my dad at
his side. “We thought we’d give you an early birthday present!” She
held out the present to me. If she were any more excited, she’d be
dancing in place. Jodi and Steven ran around the van to stand
behind me in order to watch over my shoulders as I stared dumbly at
the little box in my hands.

“Duuuude!” Jodi whined, shaking me by the
shoulder. I lifted the lid off the box. Nestled inside was the
automatic garage door opener. Again I just stared at it. This had
to be some cruel joke, like when you wrap a tiny gift in a huge box
under thousands of Styrofoam peanuts. Steven grabbed me by the
shoulders and turned me to face the garage and Jodi grabbed my
right hand in hers and formed it into a point and pressed the
button on the remote.

The garage door shuttered momentarily and
then lifted smoothly away from the ground, the lights inside
spilling out onto the driveway. I watched, eyes growing round as
the hidden present was revealed inch by excruciating inch. The weak
light glinted off the polished, rounded fenders, sliding down the
streamlined body of the pure black 1969 Chevy Camaro. I was vaguely
aware of Jodi and Steven’s cries of joy and jumping up and down
next to me, occasionally reigning down blows on me.

“What… I don’t… but you said… What…” I
stuttered lamely. I knew this car well, having drooled over it for
weeks as it sat in a parking lot with a “For Sale” sign in its
window. I had convinced my dad to go see it with me with the owner
actually present to let us take a test drive once. It handled like
a dream. It was loud and beautiful and faster than anything I had
ever ridden in. The owner turned out to be some spoiled, rich,
seventeen-year-old boy who was selling it simply because his mom
had bought him a new jeep that he had put monster wheels on that
were as tall as me. He was only asking three thousand dollars for
it, and while that was a very reasonable price, my parents didn’t
have that kind of cash to drop.

“Happy birthday, baby!” My mom wrapped her
arms around my limp shoulders and kissed my cheek, followed by my
dad who kissed the top of my head, smiling more with his eyes than
anything else.

“I don’t understand…” I regained some ability
to speak. “Dad… you said you couldn’t afford it?” Bewildered, that
was a good word.

“I know, honey, but your mom and I did well
at the casino on Saturday, just like we told you, and we decided
you deserved it.” He squeezed my shoulder and rocked back on his
heels, looking very proud of himself.

“But… really?!”

“Yes, really! Go, look!” My mom pushed me
towards the garage. Jodi and Steven were already inside in the car,
waiting for me. My dad hurried over to the minivan and backed out
of the driveway to park it on the street. “Go ahead and take her
for a spin, honey!” My mom called to me as I finally slid into the
driver’s seat to find the keys waiting for me in the ignition.

“Oh my god…” I whispered, staring wide-eyed
at everything, including the new stereo they had obviously
installed before they brought the car home, complete with a CD
player. I was afraid to speak above a whisper, for fear that any
loud sound would cause this dream to come crashing down like an
avalanche.

“Let’s go!” Jodi nearly yelled in my ear,
bouncing in her seat against the strain of the seatbelt. I reached
out and wrapped my hand around the keys, savoring the cold bite of
metal against my fingers and turned the key eagerly. The engine
roared to life instantly, Jodi and Steven were cheering happily. No
more minivan for us; the minivan was dead to us.

I backed out of the driveway, revving the
engine a little more than necessary, and barely heard my mom call
out to me not to be too late before I threw it into gear and sped
down the road.

I drove Jodi home first, Steven hopping out
to switch to the front seat when Jodi got out. She turned and
leaned into the car, "Hey, remember, Band's going to that thing
tomorrow to play at the Government Center, so you don't need to
pick me up. We're gonna be gone all day."

Jodi pulled her backpack onto her back and
walked up to her front door. Since it was dark out, I idled by the
curb, Steven and I watching to make sure she made it into the house
before we pulled away.

"You know, I think I need a mental health day
tomorrow," Steven said casually, his breath fogging over the
passenger window as he watched Jodi close her front door behind
her. I revved the engine and tore away from the curb just for the
hell of it, a grin spreading across my face.

"A mental health day? Is one day really gonna
help?" I teased as I shifted quickly from second to third with
another growl of the engine.

"So witty tonight." Steven replied
acidly.

"Really, though, you're gonna leave me alone
all day?" It was rare that two of us missed the same day; it always
sucked for the third. We all had more friends than just us, but
none we were free to talk casually with. Awkward questions like
"What did you do over the weekend?" always come up and I rarely had
an easy answer for that.

"You’ll be ok," Steven said in a mock
sympathetic voice, patting me on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes at
him as I came to a smooth stop in front of his house, idling
loudly. "Besides," Steven began as he got out, taking his
bag with him, "then you can roll up tomorrow in your new car all by
yourself and Jodi and I won’t be there to steal any of the spot
light!"

"Oh gee, that's just what I wanted, more
attention!" I said in mock delight.

"Might as well get used to it!" He stood up,
ready to walk away.

"Hey," I called before he could shut the
door. Steven leaned down to look at me. "Don't forget, water from
the first rain. I think it'll be sometime tomorrow. Looks like late
afternoon, early evening at this point." Steven furrowed his brow
at me and started to open his mouth like he was going to ask me how
I knew that but seemed to think better of it. He closed his mouth
and shut his eyes tightly and shook his head.

"Dude... you are so much more than Jodi and I
will ever be." Steven shut the door too quickly for me to ask him
what that was supposed to mean and made his way to his front
door.

Chapter 5

The next morning dawned to a darkened sky; no
longer overcast, billowing clouds in shades of black, gray and
white rolled over the city. I hoped Steven wouldn't over sleep and
had already taken precautions to gather some of the rain that
was coming. I half dreaded getting to school just on the chance
people would ask about my car. Steven was wrong; I would've
preferred he and Jodi be there to answer any questions for
me. I dressed in layers, feeling the storm building faster and
knew it would hit by the time I was out of French class. I grabbed
an over-long green scarf and wrapped it around my neck before I
headed out. I was amazed how quickly the engine heated up, not
having to sit outside revving it for very long to get the heat
moving through the vents. I snuggled against the seat, reveling in
the soft leather as it hugged my shoulders.

School was unbearable from the moment I
parked my car until I finally pealed out of the parking lot in a
rush, kicking up loose gravel to the cheers of the muscle car gear
heads that had crowded my car and begged to see the engine despite
the rain. All day if people weren't asking about my car and
birthday, they were checking on me to make sure I was coping
alright with the absence of Jodi and Steven. Apparently I should've
been wandering the school halls aimlessly, weeping
uncontrollably.