It's Magic --- PART I - Chapter 11

Transform.

Chapter 11

 

        The cool breeze of dawn wakes me up, and I feel another person’s warmth on my arms.

        At first, I’m surprised, but later on as I remember what happened last night; it makes me smile looking at Kevin’s face, a part illuminated by the light from the lanterns. He’s so peacefully asleep on my arms, his hand holding my right one all throughout our sleep, and his head on my lap.

        I notice his cold palm, and there I realize that his jacket is on me. I quickly break from the way we’re wrapped with each other that I guess leads him to consciousness. But he’s not waking up; instead, he turns and hugs my arms with both of his, his lips on it, and rubs his head against my lap, which keeps me close.

        Slowly, with only one hand functional, I unbutton his jacket and put it onto him. Then I gently move him and lean his head against the trunk of the tree, a part of his jacket pinned on his back for comfort. Then there is a motion in his face as I break my arm from both of his.

        He slowly opens his eyes and as he sees me, he smiles sweetly, with the sleepy-look on his eyes on. “Good morning, Kate.” He speaks in a deep voice of morning which sends a shock through me as I hear it.

        “Good morning, Kevin.” I say in return with a smile as well, and then I pinch his nose.

        “Hey…” he gasps.

        “Umm, Kevin. I think I need to go before the sun shows up. I haven’t asked mom and Camille’s permission when I left last night, you know…” I say.

        “Camille? Who’s that?” He asks.

        “It’s my older sister.” I introduce.

        “Oh, but you’re still my big sister, Kate, right?” he asks which is cute of him to do.

        Remembering where this “big sister-little brother” thing heads to, it makes me blush but smile at the thought.

        “Yup, Kevin.” I say, riding on. “And you’re my little brother.”

        “And we love each other.” He adds in a somewhat childish way. I hesitate for a moment, but then I speak, “Yes, we do…”

        “Bye, Kevin. I’d go…” I say as I fix his jacket on place then I stand up.

        I am about to leave when I hear him say, “Thank you, Kate. For last night…”

        I glance at him. He also does. We both smile, and I jog all the way to our house.

 

        I go to school early, as I wake up early with Kevin. About what happened when I reached our house hours ago? Nothing really, it’s as if I never left the house, and mom and Camille haven’t thought nor noticed about me going out last night.

        Well, our subjects to take for today are, one hour of Designing Class under Mrs. Philips; one hour of Arts Class under Prof. Collins; one hour of Music Class under Mrs. Angels. In the afternoon are, one hour of General Mathematics Class under Prof. Grouch; one hour of Health Class under Mrs. Silver; one hour of English Class under Prof. Small. Well, there will be an hour of emergency meeting in the Multimedia Club this afternoon right after the classes.

        In these subjects, my schedule is parallel with Lawrence. About Kevin, we’ll only be classmates in Designing Class, Arts Class, General Mathematics Class and English Class. About Mylene �" oh, I haven’t even known about her problem yet. Well, she seems to be untouchable and unreachable since yesterday. By the way, we’ll only be classmates in Designing Class, Arts Class and General Mathematics Class. But the four of us will all meet in the emergency meeting in the Multimedia Club.

        The classes went well, but when I pass by my locker, it reminds me of my abduction and my conditions. I should stay away from Lawrence and Kevin. So in the following subjects, I didn’t talk really much with Lawrence and Kevin. Well, Lawrence is kind of stubborn today, so I didn’t have much trouble with him. My greatest concern was Kevin, who tries to talk to me in all means, if he had time. Well, I can’t help it, so I gave in for some times, but as much as possible, I indulge myself with things that involve only me. I draw; I do lettering, and socialize with others as well, so it wouldn’t be so obvious to Kevin and Lawrence that I was trying to avoid them.

        With Mylene, I’m trying to get in touch with her, but she’s vain, she even swept my hand away when I reached for her shoulder. Something is really wrong. When I asked her, she would just tell me, “It’s none of your business.” And then she would roll her eyes. It is none of my business, though, but why did she involve us? She’s vain with almost everyone, even with our classmates, but I can feel the tension between the two of us. I can feel that she’s keeping things from me, from us. And I even see her smiling at Kevin and Lawrence, which she haven’t done with me the whole day. And what hurts to see the most, is when I see Mylene and Kevin holding hands together as they ran towards our General Mathematics Class, as they were late from the previous subject. They are having fun together, and I silently thought, “Are Kevin and I also that happy together?”

        That’s when I realized, I really must avoid Kevin. Because whatever this feeling I have for him, it will just cause me pain someday. Well it already did, and I can’t afford to bear more of this pain. So I must stop it while it’s not yet too late.

        I am now on my way to the Multimedia Club building, alone, to where we will be having our meeting. I notice someone trailing behind me, but I just let it be.

        “Hey, Kate…” and the voice is more than familiar upon hearing it.

        “Kevin…” I whisper, and I walk faster. Well, I don’t know why I do so.

        “Hey, Kate. Wait for me,” he says. I just continue walking faster, as if I didn’t hear him say anything. But his hand immediately finds my arm, and automatically, he locks his arm against mine, which stops me from moving. “I just figured out you can’t get away with this.” He says, moving his arm to indicate that it’s what he refers to. I see him smile.

        “Well, you have Mylene to go with!” I exclaim, I don’t even know why those words get out of my mouth, and I’m not looking straight into his eyes.

        “But I’d like to go with you.” He says with the expression in his eyes which is looks like he pleads. “Well, I just noticed that you have been avoiding me lately.”

        “It’s my choice.” I say with forced vanity in my voice.

        “But you don’t have a choice when it comes to me.”

        As his arm wraps mine tighter, his hand makes its way to mine and immediately, the spaces between my fingers are filled with his from atop, like what I did last night.

        “H-hey, Kevin!” I say. “Let go of me!”

        “I won’t.” Then he smiles, and sways both of our hands as he drags me towards where we are headed.

        “Yieeeeeee!” I hear the other students teasing us, and it’s… embarrassing. But Kevin just smiles at them. Trying to hide my blush, I just turn my head sideward down.

        We are being teased, in the corridors, in the hallway, and in the field. And I try my best to break away. I think I hate him, maybe because he held Mylene’s hand. And I’m bitter for it!

        “I can move, you know.” I say, trying to sound hollow. We’re almost on near the building. “So you can let me go now.”

        “No, I won’t.” he says with persistence.

        “Kevin…” I gasp his name, which is almost like a sigh in high intonation.

        “Unless you’d tell me what’s wrong.” He adds. Then, I stop. He also does.

        “Nothing’s wrong, Kevin!” I exclaim, and I almost burst into tears.

        “But there is!” he says. “And you can tell me about it…”

        “Well, there’s none.” I say, trying to keep my voice calm.

        “If there’s none, then why are you avoiding me?” he asks which surprises me. I shouldn’t tell him! “Tell me, Kate. It’s uneasy, you know.”

        But my denial prowess should be unbeatable, so I just avoid staring directly into his eyes, since those seem to weaken me as I say, “Promise. There’s nothing, really.”

        “Tell it straight into my eyes.” He says, pleading. “If nothing’s really wrong…”

        And I fixate my eyes into his, and for a moment of seeing my reflection in his eyes, I felt clearance. I felt magic. It’s like the conditions, the insecurity and whatever else is erased at once, which is magical. So I say in a soft tone, “Kevin, there’s nothing really wrong, okay? It’s just… I’m out of my mind.” Obviously, the reason is a lie, I just hope it managed.

        “Well, there is. It’s obvious, you know…” he says in a sad tone. “You don’t have to lie to me,” his eyes are still fixated on mine. “You only have to tell me.”

        “But… Okay, let’s make it easy this way,” I say as resolution, hoping this will end. I can’t take lying to Kevin anymore. “Tell me what I could do to make you believe that there’s nothing… Nothing really wrong, Kevin…”

        At first, he is silent, and I can see through his sleepy-looking hazel eyes that he is thinking. But later on, with his sad and worried look still on his face, he asks, “Would you hug me? That’s the only way I could think of, you know…” and one of his hand goes on the back of his neck. For a while, the thought makes me happy. I think, Kevin just wants closure… and I didn’t hesitate.

        I smile then I wrap my arms around him on his back, and I later feel his arms slowly wrapping on my back as well, tightly. I can feel his head leaning on my shoulder, and I also lean mine on his as he strokes my hair. From leaning his head on my shoulder, it goes like he lets me feel his head on my cheek, just above my neck as he turns. And all the while, I felt magic.

        What’s more magical is, when I’m about to break with the hug, he pulls me closer and embraces me again before finally letting me go.

        Lucky thing is, there are no people around, so there are no teases, since we are on the hallway to the building, as this is clear of people in the afternoon, and the other members in the multimedia club must be already there at the meeting room, or some might not there yet.

        “Okay, Kevin… Do you believe now?” I ask him with a smile. “There’s nothing really wrong. You’re just being paranoid.”

        “Y-Yeah, I think I am.” He says. “Thanks, anyway.” And then he pinches my nose.

        “H-hey!” I say, laughing… And I run to tickle his sides as he gets away laughing as well.

        We run until we get to the door of the meeting room, laughing, trying to catch each other. And right now, I can feel that there’s nothing really wrong if I just let what I feel for Kevin go on. Or am I just crazy myself? Maybe, I just miss his arms already. NONONO! Kate, stop being a maniac.

 

        “The play with the Acting Department has been so successful, specially mentioning the performance of the characters of the witch and Snow White herself.” Carla Ray, our multimedia club president, says. Well, the meeting is halfway through, since the first subject discussed with is the Chorale Department.

        “There you go, Kate. You’re shining again.” Mylene says with sarcasm. Well, she was forced to sit beside me, since she had no choice, she was late. All the while, we were just silent, as no one feels like starting a conversation.

        “Oh, Mylene, you spoke…” I also say with sarcasm but in a playful way.

        “Yeah, I did. Because I can.” She says.

        I look at her, and I notice one of her eyebrow which rises. And I’m worried with that.

        “Mylene, is something wrong?” I ask with concern. Of course, she’s my friend after all.

        “Yes, and please shut up. I’m listening to the discussion.” She says, rolling her eyes. I also roll my eyes and just listen on Carla instead.

        “The 3D Department was also very good, as their expertise were used much in Theater and Acting Department. While the Theater Department, they have done very well with their various presentations.”

        “Going back to the three aforementioned Departments, to make it clearer; the Theater, Acting and 3D Department, I would like to let you know that a film production have noticed your performance. Some of their crews were here observing last Monday, and they were greatly impressed by the Acting Department in their Snow White and The Seven Dwarves play.”

        We’re all surprised, some are shocked, even Mylene, that of all the plays to be noticed, ours got their attention.

        “And also with the Theater Department, they have quite an impression with your performances, too. Because of the success, fueled by the Acting Department, they are asking for recruits to be the stars in their new project.” I don’t get what she means, but I have a feeling that this is something you can never let go.

        “They want to film a love story in some places in Amsterdam and Paris, and the portrayer of the prince, Snow White and especially the witch are automatically cast as stars, as they said so.”

        My eyes are wide open, so is my mouth in surprise. Are we that good? As in!

        “Miss �"” I say, raising my hand, to ask questions.

        “Ms. McGraw, please let me finish first.” She says and gives me a glance with a smile.

        “Okay, of course, without the helping hands of the 3D Department, the Acting Department would not work well of course, so they are asking for at least three representatives from 3D Department to work with them as they are filming, and they would also like to get four outstanding actors and actresses from the Theater Department who could be ideal to fill in the missing characters in the film. Two boys and two girls… This is still pre-production, anyway. And to make it fair with everyone, I will open a poll of nominations and voting of those three representatives from 3D Department the next meeting and the Theater Department is of later concern as well. For now, questions and suggestions won’t be entertained and you are all dismissed. The next meeting will be set on schedule.”

        Then in silence, we prepare our things and as I go outside, some are congratulating me. And I thank them wholeheartedly. But not among them are Kevin, Mylene and Lawrence.

        Well, I shouldn’t mind that now. What’s important is, I’m going to Amsterdam and Paris.