“You couldn’t have seen the clasp, Milayna,” she said as I caught up to her. “We weren’t even close to the woman when you called out to her the first time. There’s no way you saw it.” Muriel shook her head. Her strides were long and quick, and her glossy black hair shimmered as it swung with each step.
I stopped in the middle of the aisle. People moved around me—some knocked into my sides, others gave me a wide berth, and a few even tried to walk through me by barreling right into me. But I stood there anyway. At five foot nine, Muriel was taller than I was, and her stride was longer than mine, too. She also ran track, so she had the stamina to power walk the mall all night if she wanted.
“I’m not chasing you, Muriel,” I yelled over the din of voices. I walked to the benches in the center of the hall, leaned a knee on top of one, and waited. Muriel turned around, walked to me, and stood with her hands on her hips.
“You’re losing it. I was standing right next to her when I told her. I happened to look over, saw the bent clasp, and told her to watch it. Otherwise, that kid would be running around, touching people with booger-smeared hands.” I shuddered.
Muriel looked at the floor and shook her head. “Something’s wrong. What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” My voice came out at a higher pitch than normal, and I blew out a frustrated breath. How do I get her to drop this? “Come on, I need to get home for dinner. Abercrombie will have to wait for next time. I’ve done enough damage to my bank account—”
I glanced up, and the same blue-green eyes from calculus pulled me in. He sat a few benches away and watched us. I stared back at him until Muriel grabbed my arm and broke my gaze. I was too far away to say hello, so I gave him a small smile and a finger wave. He barely nodded his head in answer before he looked away.
****
Muriel drove us to my house. Thankfully, I didn’t have any more weird visions or whatever they were. I didn’t think I’d be able to explain away another one. Muriel was already suspicious. When we parked in my driveway, I grabbed my bags from the backseat and walked with Muriel to the front door where my mom waited. Her blonde hair, usually pinned up for work, hung loose in the same soft waves I had. Dressed in distressed jeans and an old Rolling Stones T-shirt, she looked like a teenager, not a mom of two.
“Hi, Aunt Rachael,” Muriel said to my mom as she stepped inside.
“Hi, Muriel. Have a good time at the mall?”
“Yeah. Milayna bought the place out again.”
My mom smiled, shaking her head at the bags I hauled inside. Then she looked at Muriel. “Do you want to stay over for dinner?”
“Yeah, stay and we can work on our calculus together.” I jerked the last bag inside and stood up, brushing a stray curl out of my eyes.
Muriel and I did everything together, especially since we were both on our school’s swim team and softball team. She was my best friend, too, and my cousin. That was why I had to be extra careful when she was around. I wasn’t ready to tell her about my visions, if that was what they were. I didn’t know if I’d ever tell anyone, but I knew I wouldn’t until I understood what was happening to me.
We were lying across my bed doing homework when she brought it up again. “What happened with you today?”
“What do you mean?” I shook my mechanical pencil, trying to get some lead out.
Just drop it already, Muriel. Geez, you’re like Ben and his annoying “but why” questions.
Muriel blew out a frustrated breath. “The car? The kid?”
“I already told you—” I was looking inside the hole of my pencil when Muriel swiped it out of my hand and dropped it on the bed.
“There was no way you saw that car, Milayna. It wasn’t there.”
“Yes it was! I saw it start to run the red light and yelled to you.” I reached for my pencil, but she covered it with a pillow. Tossing her own pencil onto her calculus book, she rolled over and glared at me.
“No, you said you saw it was coming too fast to stop, not that you saw it at the light.”
“What difference does it make? We’d have been toast if I hadn’t told you that it was coming. Who cares where it was when I saw it?” I flipped the page in my book and looked for another pencil in my bag.
“And what about the kid’s leash thingy?”
I sighed and dropped my head against the textbook.
I want to get the Duct Tape craft kit Grams got me and tape her mouth shut.
“What about it? We walked by, I saw the latch, and I turned to tell her it was breaking. It’s no big deal.”
“You didn’t turn.”
I raised my head and looked at her. “Huh?”
“You didn’t turn around and tell her. You called to her as we walked toward her. Milayna.” She paused and looked at me. Her big, hazel eyes were filled with emotion. “If there was something wrong, you’d tell me, right?”
“Yes.” I nodded and poked her side to get her to laugh. “But nothing’s wrong.”
Nothing much. Just that I’ve turned into a freak of nature.
“Okay,” Muriel said between giggles when I poked her again. “Just checking.”
“Can we finish our calculus now?” I pointed at my book.
“Yup.” She grabbed my pencil from where she held it hostage under the pillow and tossed it to me.
An hour later, Muriel had gone home. After I’d slipped into my favorite PJ bottoms and a soft hoodie, I went outside and sat on the swing on the back deck. With one leg curled under me, the toe on the other gently pushed the swing. I leaned my head back and looked at the expanse of the velvet sky and the twinkling dots spread across it. It made me feel small. Small and confused. The visions scared me. And I was scared to tell anyone about them. I didn’t want them to think I was a freak. Maybe I was. That scared me, too.
****
It was Thursday, two days after my last vision at the mall, and Muriel and I were at swim practice, getting ready for a big meet against a rival school. Everyone was there, even the boys’ team. Usually the girls’ and boys’ teams practiced on different days, but that day was different—and so was my vision.
I saw three boys walking behind Miranda. She was stuffing her hair into one of the horrendously ugly swim caps the school made us wear, and the boys were snickering about something, and then their thoughts slammed into me. Two of the boys were daring the third to reach out and undo the clasp on Miranda’s swimsuit. It wouldn’t have done much good since the swimsuit had another strap holding it in place, but just the thought of what he wanted to do, what he wanted to happen, made me angry and the feeling took over. It was almost like I was in a trance, but I was aware of what was happening. I just couldn’t stop it.
Do it, one boy urged, bumping his friend’s arm toward Miranda.
Are you a chicken shit? the second boy taunted.
I jumped. I was too far away to hear them whispering, so why could I hear them when Miranda couldn’t? It was like the way I’d just seen what was about to happen. Now I was hearing them, too. Great.
Walking faster, I passed the boy just as he reached out. I rammed my body into his before he was able to touch Miranda.
“What the heck!” he yelled. He started to get up, his hand slipped on a puddle of water, and he hit the floor a second time. His face turned tomato red. A thick vein pulsed down the side of his neck.
Miranda swung around, looking at the boy who was still on the floor.
I shrugged. “Sorry, I slipped.”
“Dude, she totally body checked you,” one of the stupid idiots said.
Darn straight I did. Just be thankful I didn’t break out and go all Tae Kwon Do on your ass.
Smiling, I glanced across the room. Muriel was watching me with an odd expression. Knowing she saw everything, I turned away quickly, hoping if I ignored it, she would too.
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