Chapter 21

A Chapter by Emi

Chapter 21

Life started going downhill for both of them after that day. Zach wasn’t talking to his family, he stayed in his room with his door locked and music blaring. They only caught glimpses of him as he came and went. Gwen was just as bad, she couldn’t look at him, her smile was gone and everyone seemed to notice she had turned gray. Katie tried her best to cheer up her friend, but other than her fake grins and giggles at work, Gwen just couldn’t be reached. She became more withdrawn at school then she was before, nearly silent during class and wouldn’t set foot in the cafeteria. Both students and teachers left her alone for the most part though one day soon after the break up Gwen walked into school and found Brent in front of her locker with a bucket and sponge.

“Oh,” he said when she approached. “I was hoping to have this cleaned before you saw.”

She glanced past him, though heavily smudged from his work the word painted across her locker door was still as clear as day.

‘Dumped’

“Don’t worry,” Gwen said numbly. “It doesn’t matter now.”

By Wednesday the combination of a second scrawling on her door and the teachers talking amongst their ranks had caught Ms. Laslow’s attention, she called Gwen to her office. She was kind enough to wait until just after first period, the chaos of rushing between classes meant no one saw Gwen take a different direction. She didn’t acknowledge Minn when she walked in, choosing instead to go straight to Ms. Laslow’s door and knock without so much as a glance in her direction.

“Come in.”

She opened the door and slid inside. Ms. Laslow had her back to Gwen, digging through a filing cabinet, but stiffened as she sensed Gwen.

“That’s one thing I never thought I’d get from you Gwen, a chill,” Ms. Laslow said closing the cabinet drawer before facing her. “Obviously, the situation is worse than I anticipated.”

Gwen said nothing, she simply took a seat in what was rapidly becoming her usual chair. Ms. Laslow raised an eyebrow enquiringly, then sat behind her desk and observed Gwen silently. Once again the room seemed dull, the lights flickered. The sky outside the window was cloudy and she didn’t lift her head enough to register more light.

“I’m curious,” Gwen said finally. “Who was the most concerned?”

“Everyone has been Gwen, including me, considering you’re blocking me,” Ms. Laslow said gently. “What’s going on with you?”

Gwen wasn’t about to relay everything it would take too long, instead she drew her knees up to her chin, wrapped her arms around them and said, “See for yourself.”

She opened her mind and replayed last Thursday’s events in detail. The memory still sharp, it caused the benign lump in her throat to swell tenfold. By the time she had finished her head and heart were pounding, she could hardly swallow and her eyes were brimming with tears.

“Oh Gwen, I’m so sorry,” Ms. Laslow said heavy-hearted.

‘Don’t be,’ Gwen conveyed, unable to speak for fear of crying. ‘I made my decision and I have to live with it.’

“What else could you do?” Ms. Laslow asked. “From where I’m sitting they didn’t give you a choice.”

Gwen’s eyes burned so much she couldn’t hold the tears back any longer.

‘No, they didn’t,’ she said tears drops sliding onto her jeans. ‘None that I could deal with anyway.’

“I understand, love can be a painful thing,” Ms. Laslow said softly.

‘No offence Ms. Laslow, but I don’t see how your experience will do me any good,’ Gwen said drying her eyes on her knee caps. ‘If his parents can’t accept me I can’t see Zach and so far I haven’t been able to come up with an idea to change their minds.’

Ms. Laslow stared at her with pity, it was true, however as a fellow Hex it was the last thing she wanted to believe.

“I really wish I could help, but you’re right, you have to cope with this on your own,” Ms. Laslow said wisely. “If there’s anything I can do to make your school life easier in the meantime, please tell me.”

“I . . . I will,” Gwen muttered hoarsely. “Thanks.”

She stood and turned toward the door silently saying she needed to get to class.

“Have Minn write your teacher a note,” Ms. Laslow advised, then after she left the room added. “Good luck.”

The next day was horrid for Zach, not long ago he had prayed for Thursday when he and Gwen could escape the world if only for a couple of hours. Now it was here and he was alone. Up in his room even with his stereo thumping in his ears Zach couldn’t clear Gwen completely from his mind. It had been the same all week, but it was worse today. There were times when he wished he could just forget everything, he would close his eyes and there was Gwen, skating, carrying trays, laughing. It pained him because looking at her now she was only a shadow of that person. She ignored him during class, even in gym her eyes seemed to look right through him, her expression was void of happiness. He lay on his back staring at the ceiling wondering how he was going to get through the night when a sound other than music edged into his consciousness. The music was still playing as Zach sat up and listened more closely. Knock, knock, knock. Annoyed he grabbed the remote and hit the mute button.

“What?” he asked curtly.

“It’s Julie, can you open the door I want to talk.”

He considered ignoring her, but she wasn’t the one he was angry with so he could at least listen. He jumped off the bed, trudged to the door and unbolted the lock.

“You have two minutes,” he said when his sister stepped inside. “Which will be drastically reduced if they sent you.”

“Mom and dad didn’t ask me to talk to you,” she said calmly.

“Fine,” he said cooling off. “What’s up?”

“What’s your problem?” Julie asked flatly.

The heat returned in a flash, he stared at her waiting for an explanation.

“Do you even realize what you’re doing to mom and dad?” she asked frowning.

Zach snorted, how present and future police officers could be so clueless was beyond him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I should be grateful that thanks to my idiot parents my girlfriend left me, I didn’t know that,” he said sarcastically.

“Don’t give me that,” Julie said crossing her arms. “They did what any good parents would do.”

“You mean any bigoted parents,” Zach retorted briskly. “Gwen’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Maybe, but do you think she feels the same?” she asked without raising her voice. “Wake up Zach, she was using you.”

Zach glared at his sister, checking for some clue this was a joke, when he couldn’t find one he laughed.

“God, you’re a bigger moron than they are,” he said still chuckling. “Use me for what? I gave up my ties to popularity at the beginning of the relationship, she makes her own money, has her own place and you honestly believe she was using me?”

He laughed even harder and sat on the corner of his bed as Julie looked at him stunned.

“Oh no, let me guess,” he continued, pointing at her. “It’s the cop thing right, she started dating me to find a way to erase any evidence of her crimes from the inside.”

“That’s not funny, Zach,” she said stiffly.

“You’re right, it’s not,” he said finally, done laughing. “This terrible mistake occurred because of one person’s big mouth, tell me just how did Kelli get in touch with you?”

“Huh?” his sister asked nervously.

“Please, it’s obvious,” Zach said standing. “She’s the one who elbowed Gwen in the face in front of the gym class. Manipulated the school’s top jock into attacking us. Grabbed me saying she’d break the spell. Sounds a lot like ‘using you’, don’t you think?”

Julie opened and closed her mouth unable to form words.

“Did it ever occur to you to talk to me first?” Zach asked when she kept silent. “That maybe your informant had a motive and wanted to cause this chaos for their own benefit?”

Julie’s face fell, clearly she wasn’t expecting a decent argument, but Zach had been holding onto this rage for days.

“I was trying to help,” she said her lower lip quivering.

Zach sighed and ran a hand through his thick hair.

“I didn’t need help sis, Gwen’s never hurt innocent people and she does more good during her nightlife than you or any of your class ever will,” he told her.

“What?” she asked baffled.

“You don’t get it, remember when I asked them if they had heard of a Hex who fought others to protect normal people? Who do you think I was talking about?” he asked, though it was a rhetorical question. “She saved me, then turned around later and rehabilitated the other Hex. She found him a job and enrolled his daughter into a school and Gwen’s done this before.”

“I . . . I don’t know what to say,” Julie said downcast.

“It doesn’t matter, Gwen made the call so unless something changes I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place,” he said softly his heart falling further with every word.

Julie moved to grip his shoulder sympathetically, but Zach pulled away.

“Just go,” he said miserably.

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