Airel Read online

  Kim just grunted and smirked as she looked down at her nails, inspecting them, and looked up at me in little snatches of concern. “Well I think he’s ugly. Besides, what kind of a name is Michael Alexander?” she said in a mocking tone. “It’s like he has two first names.” She was pushing it now and her face was calm. Much too calm. She was totally messing with me.

  I smiled and his face filled my mind for a split second. I could feel the heat rising again. I thought of all the dumb 80’s song lyrics that my parents continually tortured me with. “Hey! You and I both know he’s gorgeous. I don’t know what came over me. The room was spinning and I lost track of time. It was weird.”

  I couldn’t make my mind stop. It was racing, replaying every second of our first meeting. The coffee, his hand, his smile. He looked at me, looked me right in the eyes and I could feel him searching, as if he knew me. My heart fluttered and I had this insane desire to cry and laugh all at the same time.

  Kim made a kissing sound and ran to grab me, but I brushed her off and locked myself in an empty stall. “Love, Airel! You so just went all googly-eyed over him.”

  I felt a pain shoot through my side, then a wave of warmth washed over me and I was instantly depressed. Hello, rollercoaster! Wow, what’s your name? Could it be Michael Alexander? Ugh. Or maybe it’s just barf. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “Loooove sick!” Kim was enjoying my discomfort, but I turned and instantly threw up, barely making it into the toilet. Oh, dear God. This is fun. I was totally heaving in the high school bathroom—not the best place to be sick. Kim snapped out of her taunting and rushed in to help me. After all, she was my best friend.

  As I lost my dinner and yesterday’s lunch and started to wonder if maybe I should have had breakfast after all—was that why I was all of a sudden so sick? Skipping breakfast? Kim held my hair and rubbed my back. I didn’t know I was crying until I saw a stream of tears escape and fall to the floor. I’m crying! Why am I crying?

  My stomach felt like a knife was plunged into it and my whole body convulsed as I stood up on shaking legs. Kim helped me to the nurse’s station and I was soon on my way home, but this time in the passenger seat. Trusty Kim was driving my trusty Civic. Good thing Mom was at work and Dad was, too. I hoped I would be feeling better by the time they came home. They had a tendency to go overboard when I got sick. I think it’s a parent thing.

  Kim was in the kitchen making some chicken noodle soup for me. My arms tingled and I was cold. I needed to get some sleep. Even though it was the middle of the day I went up to my room and laid down.

  Chapter III

  I woke up the next morning with a pounding headache and dried tears on my face. I couldn’t remember what had happened the rest of the previous day. I had a vague recollection of Kim putting me to bed, and Mom and Dad coming in at some point with that worried look passing between them.

  I remembered parts of a nightmare with a black figure, a horrible cloaked presence, walking toward me slowly, trailing black tar like some enormous, evil snail. I had to admit, that scared the crap out of me. Dreams could be weird, that much I knew from experience, but I had never had any that were quite so vivid.

  I lay in bed, processing, trying to wriggle out from the remains of yesterday. It had wrapped me up in a cocoon of thoughts and a tangle of blankets. I finally realized that I had swapped ends in the night; my head was at the foot of my bed and my feet were on my pillow. Whoa, I must have slept rough—rougher than usual, anyway. After a few minutes, I pulled myself up on my elbows and looked at the clock. Wonder of all wonders, I had time before school. I rolled my eyes and struggled out of bed—backwards—and trudged to the bathroom. Guess bad dreams have good points to them. At least I have time for a decent start to my day. Maybe today will be better.

  Inevitably, I thought about him. Michael Alexander fluttered into and around my thoughts and I started to blush. It was really weird, because I could see his face just as clear as if he was standing right in front of me. Normally I couldn’t do that with guys I liked. Come on Airel. Get a hold of yourself. What a moron!

  I turned on the shower to super hot and waited for it to kick in. I looked in the mirror and noticed that the dark circles under my eyes were surprisingly faint. Man, I would think after a night like that I would look like the corpse bride.

  I flashed a fake smile into the mirror and that made me smile for real. I didn’t really think that I was all that, but I knew I had a few good things going for me. In this case, I was going to use everything I had. Jeez, Airel, what are you thinking? What, now you’re going to ask him out? What if he didn’t even really notice you? You’re going to look like such an idiot when he turns you down, or worse…

  After a long hot shower I pulled on my blue jeans and my favorite t-shirt; the one with Bob Marley on it. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail. I always had to do that after a shower, otherwise it would get frizzy and curl like no one’s business. It would turn into a puffball or a fro.

  My house was like most houses. There were several bedrooms, a family room, and a kitchen. My dad liked to go overkill on everything though, so we had stone arches in between the living room and kitchen and the best, plushest, carpet money could buy. Upstairs was my room, my parents’ room, and two spare rooms: one for guests and one for Kim.

  Kim stayed the night at least three times a week. Mom had set up a room just for her, but most of the time she slept in my room. We would end up talking all night about boys, clothes, or whatever we happened to be thinking about at the time. So the spare room collected all her junk and turned out to be more of a storage room than anything else.

  I put two strawberry pop tarts in the toaster and noticed that it was raining outside. Great! One day of sunshine and I was sick all through it. I made a mental note to grab a light jacket before I left the house. I felt fine today, I noticed. Other than the bad dream, I felt good. I wanted to get out and do something after school, but that wouldn’t be happening, not with this weather.

  Boise, Idaho was like any other mid-sized town in the west. We thought we were a bigger city, but we still had that small, hometown feel. I liked that we got all four seasons; a good wet spring, a nice summer that would hit the dry hundreds for a few weeks, and a long fall with cool mornings, mild days, and changing leaves on some of the nicer drives, such as Warm Springs or Harrison Boulevard.

  The winter wasn’t ever unbearable. Snow in town would usually melt after a day or two, but would stick around on Shafer Butte from October to April. Up there, in the foothills, was Bogus Basin, named after an infamous gang of outlaws from the old West times. Bogus was also the closest ski resort to town, and it got a lot of use from the locals.

  I wasn’t much of a skier, though talking about it makes a girl look cool in the right crowd. I never really got into it. I liked it warmer, so summer and fall were my favorite times of the year. Stick me out by a pool with a good book and the warm sun rays and I would be a happy camper.

  I loved the energy the town had. Everyone seemed to always be doing something or planning events or trips to somewhere, whether it was out into the woods or off to Seattle or Portland for the weekend. It had this unexplained energy, as if something great was about to happen. Nothing ever did, but it still felt like it was just around the corner. Kim and I would practically live at the river in the summertime, or we’d be up hiking in the foothills.

  I ate a pop tart, which tasted good all the way down to my painfully empty stomach, and tried to banish Michael’s face from my mind. I had to squash any thought in my head that he would ever even look at me, let alone talk to me.

  What would he see in me? I don’t really stand out. Then again, why would I want him to notice me? Sure, he’s hot, but what else is there to the guy? He probably gets girls falling all over him everywhere he goes. Especially the rechargeable kind, the ones with perky, dumb personalities and nothing to say but nonsense. And guys are so stupid, anyway. Always falling for blonde hair and blue eyes and cheer
leader uniforms. He’s probably just like every other guy—just let it go. Ignore him, girl—he’s bad news.

  But the more I tried to convince myself about him, stop thinking of him, the more I couldn’t help myself. He was this force that wound its way into my subconscious and lodged there.

  What would happen if he did talk to me? Something dangerous? Hmm, sounds like fun. Aw, who am I kidding.

  I grabbed my jacket and started for the door, trying not to wake up Mom. She never slept in and today was her day off, so I knew she would want to. My mom was like most moms. Protective and a bit overbearing, but she meant well. She worked at a flower shop. Not that she had to, but she liked to keep busy.

  I was an only child, and since I was in school most of the day, she would climb the walls if she didn’t do something, so Dad told her to go find something she would enjoy. She had found a little shop called Just Flowers and started working there years ago. I teased her constantly about being so old-fashioned; such a stereotypical woman, working at a flower shop—but she loved all things plants. If it was nice out she could be found, without exception, in the yard planting, digging, or pulling weeds. We had the nicest yard in the neighborhood.

  As for Dad, well, I wasn’t not sure exactly what he did. And why should it matter? He was a quiet guy and didn’t talk about his job much at all. I thought it had something to do with sales, though. He got bonuses sometimes, which we always used to go on family vacations.

  Last summer was the best. Dad took us all to Disney World, and I even got to bring Kim along with us. Kim’s mom is cool with stuff like that. Her dad left when she was young, so we’re like sisters and do everything together.

  My dad was long gone for work by the time I was getting ready to leave. He had left the house at an ungodly hour. That was the usual, but he was always home with Mom and me in the evenings. I figured either Mom or Dad must have taken Kim home last night after I had gone to bed. I must have fallen asleep instantly, because I couldn’t remember anything. I figured I had caught a bug or something, because I was out for the night.

  I walked outside to the curb, where my Civic waited for me in the rain. My stomach felt better now that it had something in it, though I won’t go into the nutritional value of a breakfast that can be cooked in a toaster. I was still a little weak from yesterday and the wet weather made me feel it.

  I opened the driver’s door to my Honda and sat down. Before I could turn the key, I felt sharp pain running its claws up and down my arms and legs. “OWWW!” I cried out before I could stop myself, but just as fast as the pain had hit me—it was gone.

  What’s that supposed to be, some kind of growing pain? Am I seriously ill here, or what?

  Chapter IV

  I made it to school without any more bizarre episodes, but I still wondered why I was getting sick all of a sudden. It was irritating. True to form, the rain was just a light drizzle and it made the wipers chatter across my windshield, bdraaaap, flaaaap. So I walked the dangerous line between embarrassment and annoyance and the need to see where I was going. I was clicking them on and off all the way to school. Lame…

  I cringed when I pulled into the parking lot. Kim had told me that Michael Alexander drove a sweet, white Chevy truck, and there it sat gleaming, even in the rain. My heart stopped for a split second like everybody’s always does when they’re in love. Or when they think they are. Or when they are, but aren’t ready to be. My stomach did a flip and I sucked it in and found a parking space. Isn’t that great! Here I am... I haven’t even hardly met the guy and I’ve already had an entire relationship with him in my imagination. Just go in and get this over with. He’s just a dumb boy like all the others. Get a grip, Airel!

  I made it to my first class with no sign of the mysterious new boy. I was a little glad about that because I didn’t want to face him and risk the chance of a repeat of yesterday’s disaster. I felt off my game. My body was fighting this illness—no doubt brought on by my idiotic and uncontrollable feelings—and even the thought of him made me panicky, or worse, made me want to cry.

  I knew I would have to see him in the hall. We would probably have more classes together, too. I ran ideas through my mind about how to avoid him. That seemed to work for most of the morning.

  Kim found me in the hall on my way to lunch and wanted to know if I was feeling better. “Are you going to live?” She had that familiar smile on her face.

  “Yeah, I think I might make it today. You may want to stay away from me though. I could be contagious.” I coughed in my hand and felt my forehead as if I had a fever.

  “Ha! Only if you can catch the love bug.” Kim’s eyes sparkled and she had yet another dumb grin on her face.

  “Funny. He’s way out of my league. Besides, he doesn’t even know I exist.”

  Kim was silent—which should have been my first clue. She was looking past me with a blank stare on her face. Like an idiot, I turned around to see what she was looking at.

  There, standing two feet from me, was Michael Alexander. My heart jumped and—I swear—it stopped. Now he was right in front of me, with a slight smile on his face. He had the most gorgeous crystal blue eyes I had ever seen in my life. I didn’t know how I kept from fainting.

  Kim stepped into the middle of all of us, cutting in between us. Some other jock guy I hadn’t noticed was standing next to Michael. “Hi, I’m Kim…you new to town? How do you like it here?” I groaned, hiding my face behind my locker door, secretly peeking out, wondering what I did to deserve this. Kim and her big fat mouth.

  Michael looked at her, then around her, in my direction, and smiled. “Hey, I’m Michael Alexander.” Clearly, he was answering her politely, but not talking to her at all. I looked at him from behind my locker door and flushed.

  “Michael…” Kim said as if pondering his name for the first time. “Good to meet you! This is my friend Airel.” She pointed to me and I could see the wicked smirk on her face. I was going to kill her. Murder, kill—and then for sport—unfriend her on Facebook.

  “Hi…” I trailed off. Yep. I said, "hi," and probably sounded like I had some disease—which I wasn’t ruling out just yet. Nothing cool. Nothing memorable. Just, "hi." I tried to say my name but Kim had already spilled those beans, and besides, I couldn’t for the life of me remember what my name was. I flashed back to the coffee shop, blushing even more, which made Kim giggle. From the smirk on his face I could tell Michael was enjoying my discomfort. Boys are just evil.

  “You’re Airel? I heard you got sick yesterday.” The smirk took on just the slightest hint of compassion, which nearly killed me. “You okay today?” Great, he knew I was a sicko… that meant the whole school knew. Perfect.

  “Yeah, she’s doing better today. Her name is Airel, and she’s glad to meet you.” Kim jumped in to save me, which made me even more embarrassed. Say something. Get that mouth moving and stop gawking at him like he’s perfect.

  “Uh…” Nice start, stupid! “Yeah, much better. Must have been a… a twenty-four hour… sort of… thing. And yes, I am Airel, like she mentioned—this is Kim.” I deflected to her and hoped Michael would just go away and not notice that all the introductions had already been made. No wait—I wanted him to stay.

  He had this way about him. Something magnetic; I couldn’t place what it was. All I could think about was the way he looked at me. His eyes were like a deep pool of the bluest water I’d ever seen and there was something in them that moved me deeply, shook me. I liked it as much as I feared it.

  “Kim, nice to meet you... again.” The smirk once more, directed at me, God help me. “I guess I’ll see you around, yeah?” He smiled, looked at me, then Kim. He lifted his hand with a half wave, then turned and walked toward the cafeteria. His jock friend followed, and I could hear them laughing. I saw Michael hit the other guy in the arm.

  I didn’t realize until then that the hallway looked like a scene from a side show. Everyone had stopped to watch this new very gorgeous boy talk to the resident sicko
. Then, as he walked away, giggles from the girls filled the stifling air and a few football players rolled their eyes.

  “Hi? Way to go Airel!” Kim was a little beside herself. “Good thing I was here! You might have stood there just gawking at him.” Kim shoved her backpack into her locker and stood now, grinning from ear to ear, looking like a stupid cartoon character. What is it with her lately? It seemed she was full of dumb looks.

  “Whatever, Kim! I wasn’t ready for that. Thanks for totally setting me up! You could have warned me!” I stuffed my backpack into my locker glared at her. Great—now everyone will be talking. This was a bad start to a bad week. All I wanted to do was go home, curl up under the covers, and sleep the rain away.

  Chapter V

  So I made it to the weekend without embarrassing myself any further, thank God. The school was buzzing about the new guy on set, and it made me—well, I guess I’m not sure what it made me.

  I caught myself trying to be jealous, but I wasn’t! Then again, I had this thing: if I had a friend, felt like I had a small claim on someone, then they were mine—dibs.

  From what I hear, guys have this so-called "code" where they can’t date a girl if their buddy dated her. Well, we had our code as girls, too. If you put a claim on a guy, he was yours until you released him. Whether or not he liked you back had nothing to do with it.

  I went over to Kim’s house pretty early to pick her up. We were both up for a day of retail therapy, and since I had the money I decided that I needed a new pair of jeans. Okay, maybe "need" was too strong a word, but I wanted to go shopping.

  As I drove the Honda into town, Kim chatted up a storm. We were both so over all the lame and weird events of the past week and I had to admit that I was looking forward to a day of nothing but girl time.