Mr. Right

The next morning I woke up with a headache and stomach pains. My mom thought that I had the flu or something, but I told her I was fine and took some pain killers as I walked out the door. When I arrived at school, I found Lorie standing and waiting for me next to the front doors.

“Are you okay?” she asked me, seeing me walk up to her with my big school team hoodie on to hide the pentagrams on my arms, my baggie jeans and my face as pale as a ghost. I was about to tell her I was fine, but just as I opened my mouth I burped and my face went sour. “Do I have to take you to the nurse?”

“No.” I gasped, trying not to choke on the gas that came up from my stomach. It had a nasty flavor to it---like if I took a few sips from my mom’s black coffee, and then one big drink from my left over Seven-Up. “I’m fine.” I smiled, fighting back another burp and tasting it again.

“You sure? It’s going to be hot today you have practice after school. I don’t want to call your mom to tell her to pick you up.”

“No I am fine. I just didn’t get a good night’s sleep; I will just sleep in homeroom.”

“What happened?” she asked as we heard the first bell rang for the day and headed towards our homeroom.

“I kept on seeing a face.” I told her. When I was able to sleep last night I had a nightmare and the face was in it. “I got only three hours of sleep.”

“A face? What kind of a face?”

“Like a really creepy demonic face. It seemed like it was watching me all night, piercing me with it’s blood red eyes. A few times it looked like it was even laughing at me.”

“Could it be the Devil?” Lorie laughed.

“No. He comes in the form of a goat, not a face in a cloud of black smoke.”

“What were you doing?”

Just then Sarah Jordon, both our friend and President of the Dark Art’s Club came up behind Lorie and interrupted my answer. “So, Spencer,” she said with a big smile on her face. “Did the potion work this time?”

“What potion?” Lorie asked, forgetting her own question.

“Spencer said he wanted to do that potion you and he did a few weeks ago.”

“You did that potion again…why?” she asked, a pained look in her eyes and she looked like she was going to cry.

“I felt bad that the potion didn’t work the first time.” I told her. “So, I asked Sarah for more of the ingredients we used and tried it again on my own.”

“But you don’t believe in magic. You have to believe for the potion to wor.”

I sighed and handed my backpack to Sarah to hold as I pulled off my hoodie, revealing to the two girls my faded symbols. Both of them were shocked, but it was Sarah that was really amazed and ran her fingers down my arms to see how detailed I drew them. “I put all my heart and soul to make the potion, I even drew these on my arms---and chest---to amp up the power. By the way, Sarah do you know how to get these off.”

“Sorry, I don’t.” Sarah replied. “But I will give you credit for using the symbols.” she smiled and headed into the classroom, her black gothic dress flapping in the wind as she walked quickly to her desk.

Lorie and I both followed after her and took our seats, but there was a problem with mine---someone was sitting in my assigned seat. I stood in front of the class and saw that the guy was obviously new, seeing that he had his head down and twirling his pencil in his hands. His dirty black hair covered his eyes, but his mouth was visible and I could see his mouth moving, but his voice was mute. The shirt that he was wearing was a basic black shirt, with ripped navy blue jeans with his right leg bouncing like some kind of coke addict. I thought he was, but my mom told me to never judge somebody by their looks--and yet she does that was Lorie. As I heard the second bell ring to tell us that class was starting, I walked up to my seat and kicked the chair leg. The guy quickly lifted his head and his golden tired eyes met my green one’s.

“You’re in my seat.” I told him calmly.

“Oh, Sorry.” the guy said, in an accent that I didn’t recognize, giving me a shy smile. “I didn’t know this was your seat, I’m new.” he quickly said, trying to find an excuse.

“I can see that.” I smiled back, giving him a toothless grin. “But like all high school’s…we have assigned seats. Just go tell the teacher you don’t have a seat and she will give you one.”

“Thank you.” he smiled bigger and grabbed his messenger bag as he walked up to the teacher’s desk.

“Spencer.” Lorie scolded, “You should have let that guy sit there.”

“Yeah, but this was my seat. I can’t really pay attention in any other seat.”

“You’re OCPD, right?”

I laughed. “Right.” I didn’t like that I had an Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, but I had gotten used to it. Over the years, my mom got me help so that now my OCPD was just nothing but a blip in my life.

As we talked, the teacher called attendance. Like usual, the teacher would have to say my name three times before I would raise my hand and check that I was here. After roll call, the teacher called for silence and we all sat and faced forward. “Now class,” Mrs. Marks, our homeroom teacher announced like we were a bunch of grade-schoolers. “We have a new student in our homeroom, so I would like to introduce you to Mr. James Moore.”

“Hi.” the guy who took my seat said, putting up his hand and giving us a smile and a short wave.

“James, why don’t you take the empty seat…behind Spencer over there.” Mrs. Marks said, looking around for an empty seat, which she spotted behind me.

“Thanks.” James said and headed back over to us and sat behind me. I gave out a frustrated sigh and glanced over at Lorie and Sarah, who both looked dreamy eyed at the new guy. He smiled at them and I heard Lorie swoon as I turned my head around and saw him wink at them. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I placed it down on the desk to get a little bit more sleep.

I was happy that Mrs. Mark’s allowed me to sleep in her class this time, though I knew she didn’t really like it. However, since today was Friday and we had no announcements to go over, she let us do anything we wanted. The bell to signal that class was over woke me an hour later and the three of us (Lorie, Sarah and I) headed for our next class.

“Do you know where your next class is?” Lorie asked James, who looked a bit confused as he came up behind us.

“No, I do not.” James replied, and I saw that he was holding his class schedule up-side-down.

“Let me help then.” Lorie said, and looked over James’s schedule. “Oh, you have math next with Spencer, he can show you where it is.”

‘WHAT?’ I screamed inside my head. I didn’t want James to shadow me all day, I could tell that this guy was a fake and a ladie’s man which I didn’t like. But I didn’t want to get Lorie upset, so I smiled and told her I would show him to the class. “What other classes do you have?” I asked, hoping that he didn’t have any other classes with me.

“Um…I have chemistry after math,” James said, looking over the small piece of paper he held in his hands . “Then I have government, Spanish II, English, and then art.”

I sighed as I heard his schedule; I had four classes with him. But that is what you get for going to school in such a small town. “That’s great.” I smiled at him. “I can show you to all your classes then.”

“Thank you, Spencer.” James said, his smile getting bigger.

I told him he was welcome and headed over to my seat as James went to get his seat assigned from the teacher---again I sighed as I found Mr. Rook, sat him next me. By lunch time I didn’t mind how James was following me, or that I had to show him the classes. I thought that I was just showing another new guy around school. By our third period we said our goodbyes and I didn’t see him till lunch time, along with Lorie and Sarah who seemed to be in high spirits.

“I have been thinking.” Lorie said, sitting down next to me outside in our usual spot near the back of the school doors.

“About what?” I asked, taking a bite out of my bean burrito.

“About James,” she replied. “I was thinking that he might be my Mr. Right.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Well, I remember what you wrote down for the potion, and last period I re-wrote it.” She handed me a piece of paper as she talked. “I think I have everything written down.”

I took it from her and read it over once, trying to remember myself what I wrote down. “Well, it looks like you have everything I wrote.” I sighed, giving her back the paper. I looked up to see James had come over and smiled at us.

“Can I join you guys?” he asked, looking right at me as if he wanted my permission to sit down.

“Sure.” Sarah replied, moving her bag so that he could sit down.

“Thanks.” James smiled brightly and sat right next to me against the wall.

I scooted over and took another bite out of my lunch, looking over at Lorie who checked off another thing on her list, (she already had the jet black hair and golden eyes checked off) I guess she must have checked off perfect smile on the list. I didn’t say anything throughout the lunch period; Sarah, Lorie, and James did all the talking. Also, while they talked, I noticed that Lorie was scoping out James, looking for features she could check off her list. I rolled my eyes and scuffed as she began to ask him what he did for fun.

“Lots of things.” James told her. “I really love to swim, that’s my big thing that I love.”

“You know the try-outs for the swim team are today, you should try out.” Sarah told him, also falling under his charm that he was giving off.

“Thanks I will do that.” he smiled bigger and turned over towards me. I turned my gaze over to him and he was giving me the same dreamy eyed look that he was giving the girls.

“What?” I asked, backing away from him. He was starting to scare me.

“Nothing.” James said softly and started to eat his lunch.

I thought that James was a bit weird at first, but as lunch continued, I found he was also creepy. All through lunch he stared at me, and every time I asked him why he was staring he would just reply with. “Nothing.” I knew something was up, and I didn’t like it. I couldn’t wait till the bell to signal that lunch was over, and when I heard it, I quickly stood up and bolted towards the door to get to my next class. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get rid of James if I even wanted to.

“Spencer!” I heard him call out my name over the crowded school halls. I tried to ignore him, but he kept calling out my name.

I finally got rid of him once I got to my class, but when I arrived I saw that I didn’t have my backpack. I let out a frustrated groan as I heard the second bell ring. I asked my teacher after roll call, if I could go get my bag. She allowed me and I headed out of class to go find it. Pushing the door open I noticed James standing next to the door, a smirk on his face. He was holding my backpack by one finger. I looked down at the floor and was kind of embarrassed about how I left in such a rush trying to get away from him. I had forgotten my bag and ignored him when he tried to tell me I had left it.

“Thanks.” I said to him, grabbing for my bag.

James didn’t say anything; all he did was smile at me. I gave him a small wave good-bye before I left, but I was pulled back hard and almost fell to the floor. Looking back to wonder what was holding me back, I saw James still had a hand on my bag. I was just about to ask him to let go, but just before I opened my mouth, James yanked my bag and brought me towards him. My eyes opened wide as James pressed his lips against mine and I froze on the spot. I heard him give out a small moan as he broke the kiss. It was only a few seconds, but to me it seemed like I just made out with a guy for an hour. I was speechless as he pulled away from me, letting go of my bag as he did.

“Thank you,” he whispered, his mouth brushing up against the side of my face. “For everything.” he then pecked me on the cheek before he left, giving me a quick wink and then ran off towards his class.

My mind drew a blank after he left, and the next thing I knew I was leaning up against the back of my classroom door. A voice coming from the front row woke me from my dreamless daydream, and I saw that most of the class were snickering or whispering to each other. I groaned as I sulked back over to my seat. I knew by their actions, that the class had saw James kissing me. When I slumped into my seat my head slammed into the desk, causing me to hiss in pain. “Ow.” I quietly said, so that no one in the class could hear me---though I think the people around me heard the big “BANG” when my head met my desk.

At the end of the school day, I went to the locker room and changed into my track uniform. Practice started at three-thirty, but I would hang out with Sarah and Lorie while I waited. I found my two friends sitting on the second benches of the bleachers of the football field, talking to one another about some random stuff in “girl code” (at least that is what Lorie called it).

“Hi, Spencer.” Sarah greeted me with a smile. “How was the rest of your school day?”

“Just fine.” I told her, leaning up on the front railing. “Oh, James,” I turned to Lorie who also had a big smile on her face and the list on top of her school books. “He is not your Mr. Right.”

“What?” Lorie gasped out, her smile fell. “Why do you say that?”

“Because he is gay.”

“You are lying. A beautiful guy like that is not gay.” she shook his head.

“Dude!” I gasped out with a scuff, “He kissed me.”

“What!” both girls yelled at once, their eyes wide and their mouths dropped open. “He kissed you…when?”

“Just after lunch.” I told them. “I forgot my backpack and James returned it to me. But that was only to make his move and plant a wet one right on my lips.”

“No way.” Sarah laughed, “He doesn’t look gay. Just look at him.”

All three of us turned our heads towards the swimming pool and saw that the tryouts for the swim team were going on. There were two rows of students; one row of boys and the other girls. All were dressed in different swimsuits, some were plain and black where others wore bright and colorful suits. Among the group of guys, we saw James with his back leaning up against the chain-link fence. He was wearing a pair of black Speedos swim jammers, and his hair was damp from being in the water. He was laughing and joking around with the two other people in front of him. If he didn’t kiss me I would guess that he was just hanging out with some of his team. However, he did kiss me and I recalled what Lorie had said.

‘All the good looking men…’ I heard her voice ring in my head, recalling a conversation we had before we did the first spell. ‘Are either taken, or they are gay.’ I sighed as I knew that Lorie would be disappointed when she would find out that her Mr. Right…was gay.

“Now does that look like a gay guy to you?” Sarah asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “Because I know he is.”

“I don’t believe it.” Lorie said, leaning back. “I know that James is my Mr. Right, he meets everything that you wrote down for me.”

“Everything but that big cock.” I told her, moving my gaze from James to Lorie.

“True, but you can find that out for me.”

“What?” I gasped, “No, I am not going to measure the guy’s dick.”

“I am not asking you to measure it.” Lorie smiled. “I am just asking you to look at it, and see if it looks like the right size.”

“No way.” I protested, raising my hand to stop the conversation. I then looked at my watch and saw that it was fifteen minutes till practice started, and I said goodbye to the girls and jogged down to the track.

A few other team members were stretching when I arrived at the track, and I started to stretch too once I placed my duffle bag on the sidelines. One by one other members started to trickled down onto the track and began to stretch. Coach March was the last one to arrive and brought the team into a huddle to have a pre-practice meeting. As my coach talked, I couldn’t help but to feel like I was being watched and I turned around. I shook my head as I stared up at the swimming pool that looked down from the track, and saw James pressed up against the fence. He was smiling down at me. I scuffed as he gave me a small wave and I turned my head back to hear the rest of my coach’s speech. After the speech, we all split up into our groups and began our afternoon practice. As practice wore on, I tried to ignore James’s beating eyes that stared down at me when he was not in the water. I tried to not look up at the swimming pool, but every so often I would and see James staring down at me. I hated the guy and every time I saw him, he would throw off my focus. In track I was in two different running events, and one relay race. During both my relay race and the four hundred meter races I came in third to last, which caused my coach to yell at me. Usually I was the fastest runner on the team, placing in the top three in most of my events. I had run the two races three times, becoming out of breath by the time I had to run the eight hundred meter race. I groaned as I looked up at to see if James was looking down at me---and he was---and got down in ready position.

I knew he was going to watch me run this meter, and I didn’t want him to. I couldn’t shake the idea that James was watching me, also what made it worse was that I still had the thought of him kissing me. Once as I heard the gun go off, I took off running and slowly slid into third. I kept my pace for the first lap, keeping my heart beat steady and trying not to look up to see if James was looking. I was happy that I got through the first lap, keeping my third place position and decided to step it up a bit. Rounding the corner, I picked up my speed and slowly moved into second place. I was tied now and somehow, I manage to pass my team member and tried to get in first place. With my goal in hand, I picked up the pace for the second time and started to sprint around the track. A big ass smile started to slide across my face as I caught up to my first place team mate, but something didn’t feel right. Knowing that James was looking at me again, I quickly looked up at the pool and saw him blow me a kiss. That caused me to lose focus again and I took a nose dive into the dirt. I had tripped over my own feet when I fell, rolling several times around as I skidded to a stop. I groaned as I laid in the dirt, my face covered with dirt and blood and I felt a sharp pain throb in my ankle.

“Spencer!” Coach March yelled as he and two of the assistant coaches came running over to me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I groaned , rolling myself up and revealing my face was filled with cuts and bruises. I even had a big chunk of my cheek missing on my left cheek. “OW!” I screamed out as I moved my left foot and saw it was bigger than my right.

“Don’t move it.” coach told me, and took off my left track shoe. By that time all of the track team was around me, trying to get a look to see if any of my bones were sticking out of my skin. “Let’s get a stretcher over here!” my coach then yelled, calling for the other coaches to get a stretcher for me. “Just lie down, Spencer. Everything is going to be fine.”

I smiled up at my coach and thought how I was going to be okay, but I didn’t feel okay. Lying down I felt like I was being poked by thousands of pins all over my body, and the worst part was James was staring down at me. The way that my coach had laid me down, I had a good view of the swimming pool. I groaned as I not only saw James clenching the chain fence, but everyone who was trying out for the team. I laid back down in the dirt and covered my eyes with my forearm. I was so embarrassed and I felt my face heat up and turn bright red. I didn’t want to be lifted away when the stretcher came. It was embarrassing enough to me that everyone from the two teams was staring down at me. As they lifted me up, I pushed everyone away and got up.

“I am fine.”, I told them, standing up and putting all my weight onto my good foot. “I don’t need a stretcher.” and I started hobbling off the track and back to the locker room.

Coach had told two of my teammates to help me to the locker room, but I told them I was fine and they left me alone to climb the small hill to get to the locker room. In the locker room, I grabbed the first aid kit and began to clean my scrapes and cuts. I hissed as I put hydrogen-peroxide on my knees, and I watched as the white foam bubbled out from them. I placed band-aids on them afterwards and started to place more over my other cuts. By the time I was done, there were no more band-aids in the kit, and almost everything else was gone. I groaned as I hobbled back over to my locker and slowly got undressed, it was hard for me to move so I couldn’t move that much. I also needed to take a shower. My mom didn’t like any mud tracked through the house and she didn’t want to see me dirty. I had to be clean all the time or else she would force me to take a bath. As I was getting undressed, I heard one of the locker doors open and I guessed that practice was over. I didn’t pay any attention to it though, I needed to focus on getting cleaned up and get out of there. Rounding the corner to the showers, I heard one of the showers was already running. Again I didn’t pay any attention to it, and lowered my head so I wouldn‘t see my naked teammate. Walking into the showers I lifted my head and frowned at who I saw in the showers.

“Hello.” James smiled as he saw me step into the group showers.

“Hi.” I replied, limping over to the first shower head. He was at the third, and I wanted to stay as far away from him as possible.

I hissed as the hot water hit against my skin in small bullets, hitting my fresh wounds and opening them up again. I kept my back turned away from James as much as possible, but out of habit I turned and faced his direction when I rinsed out the suds. When I opened my eyes I saw that James was staring down at me, and I quickly turned away so he wouldn’t see anything else. I heard him chuckle over the roar of both showers, which caused my face to turn red with anger. Suddenly he stopped laughing. He didn’t make any more noise; he just stopped. I then heard a loud “THUD” and I turned around to find James had fallen to the floor.

“James.” I scuffed, thinking that he was trying to find a way of kissing me again. “James?” I asked, now worried when he didn’t answer. I slowly walked over to him and saw his eyes were closed and his face was quickly turning blue. “Oh, no.” I gasped out, grabbing for my towel before I began doing CPR on him. I began to call for help as I tried to resuscitate him, hoping that my yells would be heard over the running shower water.