Strange Magic by Suzana Thompson

There might still be hope.”
     
              Mandy smirked at me knowingly.  “You sure don’t have that problem with Brad.  He’s always ready to go.”
     
              I wanted to be anywhere else except where I was at that moment.  Grabbing a paper towel, I prepared to flee.
     
              “Hey!  No hard feelings,” Mandy assured me.  “It’s not like I was gonna marry him.  I’m too young to be tied down like that.  It was time to move on.  You know?”
     
              The bell spared me from having to answer.  I was glad, despite it meaning that I was now late for English.  The teacher gave me a disapproving look when I hurried into class but didn’t say anything, probably because I had never been tardy before.  I felt Duncan’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him just yet.  He let me be for all of two minutes.
     
              “What are you so happy about?”
     
              Inexplicably, I was practically bursting with this emotion.  “Why does everybody ask me that?  Can’t I just be in a good mood?”
     
              “Sure you can.”  He continued to speak to me with his thoughts.  “Why won’t you look at me though?”
     
              I carefully composed my face into a neutral expression and turned my head in his direction.  “See, I’m looking at you.”  Something funny happened to my stomach when I looked into his pale blue eyes.  I was glad that I could speak to him silently, because I was pretty sure there would have been a nervous tremor in my voice if I had spoken aloud.  What was happening to me?  I had to get a hold of myself.  I grasped at the first thing that came to mind to change the subject.  “Are you going to Megan’s party?”
     
              Duncan made a face.  “Only because Mandy wants to go.  These things are usually full of drunken idiots.”
     
              “We’re going, too.  I’ve never been to a big party like that.”
     
              “You haven’t been missing anything,” he said.
     
              No matter what Duncan said, I was still excited to go.  Saturday evening found me standing before my closet and debating what to wear.  Brad had voiced his preference for the pink mini dress.
              “You look so hot in that dress, babe,” he had leered at me.
     
              That was exactly the reason that I definitely wasn’t going to wear that dress.  I didn’t want to encourage him.  I picked out a black skirt that fell to the knee and a red blouse.  My lightning bolt necklace and gold hoop earrings completed the look.  My shoes had a sensible heel.  I wouldn’t be turning any heads in this outfit.  I wasn’t going to the party to show off, but just to have a little fun.
     
              Brad actually walked up to the door when he picked me up.  He knew enough to be polite to my parents when he assured them that we wouldn’t be drinking.  I was not reassured, however, when he winked at me after we sat down in his car.  “What they don’t know won’t hurt em.  You look pretty, babe.  Still wish you would’ve worn the pink dress.”  He looked at my chest.  “Cool necklace.”
     
              “Thanks.”  I was glad that he had to keep his eyes on the road.  When we got to Megan’s house, I could hear the music from outside.  Inside, people had to shout to be heard.  Brad greeted people as I followed him through the crowd.  We found Megan in the kitchen where the noise was more tolerable.  She was even peppier than usual and actually hugged me.  I suspected that she had already started drinking.  Brad handed me a drink, which I held onto just so I wouldn’t look out of place.  I planned to set it down somewhere when no one was looking.  Luckily, Brad became distracted messing around with his buddies.
     
              The party wasn’t