Cursed (3 page)

Next time? She chided herself. There would be no next time. No more blue sparks. She swore off them. She was on a blue sparks diet. No more.

The first time was bad enough. A few weeks ago Sasha and Cady walked through Zilker Park. It was safe. She had no clue that stoners went there after dark to deal drugs.

Okay, maybe Cady knew but Sasha didn’t. So they cut across the field to Sasha’s house when this guy jumped out from behind a tree. He scared the crap out of her. Sasha almost peed her pants.

At first she was ticked off. Why was this guy scaring them? Then he demanded their phones and money and took out a knife, a freaking knife. Sasha saw the blade gleam in the moonlight and she didn’t doubt he was serious.

She couldn’t explain what happened next. She was drinking this milkshake that Cady makes at home for her. It had this unique taste that she loved. She was slurping it while they walked and still clutched the plastic cup when the guy threatened them.

As if her arm had a will of its own, she threw the cup at him instead of handing over the money and phone. She just tossed it, a weak overhand throw. It was nothing special. Out of nowhere, there were brilliant blue sparks like special effects in a movie.

The sparks surrounded the cup and made it pick up speed and density and clipped the guy on the head forcefully. He went down hard. He was out before he hit the ground. Sasha checked to make sure he wasn’t dead. He was breathing but unconscious.

Sasha and Cady ran. They barely talked about what happened. Cady said she must have smoked something strange because she saw blue sparks flying around the cup. Sasha hadn’t been sure whether she saw blue sparks until now, she knew she had.

Sasha walked to the front of the store and stood behind a display of maps. Evan stood behind her and they watched in silence the police work. Evan picked up her hand again, inspecting it as if he were seeing it for the first time. His hands were large compared to her small ones. His were soft and smelled of coffee.

“This wasn’t how I intended us to meet,” Evan said still watching the police. “I’m Evan.”

He let go of her hand as he turned toward her and cracked a small smile. Sasha felt a thrill but wasn’t sure if he was just joking around. She searched her mind for a witty answer. None came out. She grinned goofily.

“Sasha,” she whispered because she couldn’t find her voice.

“I know,” he said. “Nice to meet you.”

Sasha nodded back and before she could respond two policemen came through the Circle K doors. They introduced themselves and asked them to come outside.

A big burly policeman with a gut that spilled over his belt introduced himself as Sgt. Al Corey. The police put them in separate police cars and took their statements. Corey took notes and drew a diagram asking Sasha to mark where the robbers were when they shot at them.

The interviews were over quickly and Corey invited her to go to the police station the next day to analyze suspect pictures. Sasha reminded him the men were wearing masks.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said gruffly. “A picture might jog your memory. They might have cased the place before the robbery or maybe you saw them in the parking lot.”

The man from the insurance company showed up with boards to cover the broken window. Evan called his boss and went inside the café to finish closing it up. Sasha followed him because she had nothing else to do and she hoped he’d offer her a ride home. She was too afraid to walk and didn’t want to call her mother for a ride.

“You need a ride home?” She asked casually.

“Naw,” he said putting money from the cash register into a bank deposit bag. “My car’s out back.”

“Perfect,” she said. “You’ve got the wheels, I need the ride.”

Evan busted out laughing. “Sly, very sly.”

“I live close,” she said. “Normally I wouldn’t ask but I’m a little creeped out tonight.”

“No problem,” he said turning away moving to pour her hot chocolate down the drain.

“You still want it?” he asked raising the cup. “I can warm it up.”

She shook her head. “My craving is gone.”

“I get it,” he said. “Next time.”

She nodded. She was excited for the next time already. “Right.”

It was midnight when he got everything wrapped up. They walked to his 15-year-old car and Evan opened the door for her. A gentleman, she thought. Not having much dating experience, she wasn’t sure if all guys opened doors for girls. Knowing her friends didn’t do it, Evan did make her feel special. He closed it after she got settled in the seat.

Evan drove to the bank, put the car in park but kept it running while he ran to the deposit slot. He put the bag inside and ran back to the car. He moved quickly, scouting over his shoulder and peering into shadows. He seemed nervous. Maybe he was worried too.

He slipped into the car and put it in gear before he had his seatbelt secured.

“Are you always this nervous?” She asked.

“Only since I met you,” he said with a toothy smile and seemed to relax once they were driving again.

They didn’t talk much. She gave him directions and then closed her eyes exhausted. It wasn’t just the late hour. She felt spent as if she’d run a marathon.

He pulled up in front of her strange clapboard house with additions sticking out at every angle. The porch light illuminated half of the front lawn. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw no one was sitting on the porch.

Evan cleared his throat and took a moment to speak.

“I’m sorry about tonight,” he said not making eye contact. “I keep imagining horrible things. I hope you’re going to be alright.”

He winced with pain and she wanted to give him a hug. It wasn’t his fault. If anything, it was hers. She didn’t feel comfortable telling him that though.

“No worries,” she said putting her hand on the door knob. “Did it ever occur to you that it was my fault because I’m cursed?”

She gave him as friendly a smile, hoping the joke would lighten the mood. She wondered if he’d ask for her phone number and was disappointed when he didn’t.

“I’m glad you’re ok,” he said laying a hand on the gear shift. “Come by again. I owe you a hot chocolate.”

“Will do.” She stepped out of the car as the front door to the house opened. She could see her mother standing in the foyer. “Gotta go.”

She slammed the car door shut and ran up the walk.

CHAPTER THREE

Sasha’s freakiness was on full display last night. She had the misfortune of losing control in front of a cute guy too.

As she replayed the night’s events over in her mind, she realized that she may have convinced Evan that nothing unusual happened. He seemed to accept her reasoning that the bullet went off target because the robber had bad aim. She hoped that lie stuck.

Sasha was confident that he didn’t suspect anything freaky was going on. It was hard to explain what was happening when Sasha, herself, didn’t know.

She hoped she’d see him again. He was unlike anyone she knew. She wasn’t interested because he was good looking. There was something special about him. He was super brave last night and didn’t even know her, yet he risked his life for her. He could have taken off out the back of the café and left her with those thugs. He didn’t and that impressed her.

She liked to think she wasn’t shallow. She still had a crystal clear image of Evan in her head. He was working diligently behind the counter doing what baristas do. His light brown hair stood up in an almost military style haircut.

When he drove her home, he didn’t speed or do what other boys do to show off or pretend he was a race car driver. He just did what he had to do.

She had to tell Cady about last night. Cady had been with her when the man jumped them in the park and the blue sparks first appeared. Maybe she could help her figure out what was going on.

She dialed the number and it rang a dozen times before a sleepy voice said hello.

“Did I wake you?” Sasha spotted the clock. It was 10 a.m.

“Who is this?” Cady asked. Sasha frowned stunned.

“It’s Sasha,” she said uncertainly. Was Cady playing with her?

“Oh, right,” she said unapologetically. “Why are you calling me so early?”

Sasha cleared her throat nervously.

“Something happened last night,” she said and told Cady about the robbery. She decided to hold back talking about Evan. He was her secret right now. “So the blue sparks reappeared.”

“What sparks?” Cady said yawning.

“You know, the blue sparks that appeared when that guy jumped us in the park,” she said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cady said sounding unpleasant.

“You know, when the guy demanded our phones and wallets,” she said clarifying.

“I know a guy jumped us in the park,” Cady said sounding annoyed. “I kicked him and he ran off. What about it?”

Sasha didn’t know what to say. That wasn’t how she remembered the attack. She saw her cup fly at the guy with supersonic speed. She didn’t remember Cady kicking the guy.

“I don’t remember you kicking him,” Sasha said uncertain. How could they have recalled the night so differently? “I threw a cup at him and there were blue sparks.”

“And I don’t remember blue sparks,” Cady said. “Really, Sasha, blue sparks? What is that code for?”

“It’s not a code,” she said feeling tears of frustration fill her eyes. “Just forget it.”

Cady sighed. “Maybe that joint we smoked was laced,” she said.

Sasha remembered Cady smoking but she didn’t touch it. She didn’t answer for a minute, trying to figure out what was going on. Maybe Cady’s memory was cloudy. She should probably just drop it before Cady started to think she was crazy.

She’d been feeling that way a lot lately. Her insecurities were getting the best of her and she worried about losing Cady as a friend. It wasn’t like she had many friends other than Cady and Jenna, her next door neighbor. Jenna and Sasha used to be super close but grew apart when they got to high school. Sasha met Cady a few months ago and they became fast friends almost immediately.

Lately though Cady seemed to disagree with almost everything Sasha said and did. It was frustrating and Sasha didn’t know how to fix it.

“Moving on,” Sasha said. “Are you coming to my birthday dinner?”

Her birthday was in two days and her mother wanted to throw her a party. It wasn’t a party a 17-year-old would like. It was more of a party for her mother as most of the guests were her friends. Sasha hadn’t invited anyone yet.

“When is it?” Cady asked.

“Two days,” Sasha said. “I was thinking-.”

“No can do,” Cady cut in. “I’ve got a thing.”

“A thing?” Sasha said wondering what could be more important.

“I set it up weeks ago,” Cady said defensively. “Don’t jump over me because-.”

“Forget it,” Sasha cut her off.

There was silence on the line. Sasha tried to get beyond her hurt feelings. It was a struggle. She would do anything for Cady. Didn’t Cady feel the same way?

“Ok,” Cady said sounding defeated. “I’ll try and come and push back my thing.”

Sasha’s heart leaped in her chest. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” she said.

“You’re going to owe me.”

“I know.”

Sasha heard rustling on the other end of the phone and voices in the background.

“I gotta go,” Cady said in a rushed voice. “Later.”

Sasha leaned back onto her pillows relieved. At least she had one friend coming. Should she invite Evan?

“Sasha have you decided where you want to have your birthday dinner? I have to make reservations,” her mother said walking into her room. She pulled a gold tube out of her purse and applied a dark burgundy lipstick to thin lips while gazing at her reflection in the closet mirror. She took out a tissue and blotted.

Willow Bean and her daughter shared the same dark hair and brown eyes and little else. Sasha assumed she got most of her personality traits from her father, an organized and introverted engineer. He was the complete opposite of her mother.

Willow Bean was an awesome and frightening figure at times. She was strong-willed, and steely in her focus which made her a successful real estate agent. She had a dozen realtors working for her and was one of the top agents in the state. Sasha had no plans to follow in her footsteps. It was a career that required lots of smiling and cajoling, two things that Sasha wasn’t very good at.

“Have you invited your friends? You know you can’t wait too late. People have lives and make plans,” her mother said. She’d finished with her lips and moved to fluffing her hair.

Her mother thought she needed a friend for every occasion. She had several close friends who worked in her business. She’d never said how she met them. Sasha imagined they were from college, bonded over drinks and saved each other from letches. That didn’t explain how her mother knew Dominic, who had to be at least 80.

“Don’t worry about it mother,” she said. “I need your help with something else.”

Her mother turned from inspecting her reflection. “What’s that?”