Cursed (17 page)

My sister never came just left a message for our
dad saying that she was sleeping at Jamie’s house, her new bff
since Giselle had gotten sick. Jaime was another of the popular
crowd my sister insisted on being attached at the hip with. I
wondered if Aleks was going to the party. If my sister stopped him
from his destination with her tempting good looks he probably would
be going tonight. The thought of them kissing enraged me; I was
starting to feel like a crazed psycho. I started to twitch my foot
thinking about whether to go or not.

My phone made another noise; I looked at the
message from Shane now asking if I wanted to go the party or just
hang with him and watch a movie. That sounded pretty tempting at
that moment, my sister could have Aleks if he was dumb enough to
fall for her. My foot twitching reached a whole new level.

“Arggg.” I stood up and stormed to my sisters
bedroom to get a pretty outfit since my whole closet looked like it
belonged to Wednesday Adams. I messaged Shane and told him to pick
me up at nine. When I went into my sister’s room I picked only from
the closet selection. I assumed if it was hung she either cared for
it or it was clean.

I grabbed at the hangers looking for just the
right look.

I found it at the back of the closet and I knew
she loved this one. I smiled feeling an evil boil in my blood as I
stormed into my room. I put the dress on and looked at myself
frowning. Who was I kidding? My long dark blonde hair looked
slightly frizzy, my eyes had dark circles under them, my chapped
lips were still peeling, my thin long face was making my nose look
bird like and my grey eyes seemed to have a small amount of sparkle
but nothing to write home about. The only thing working for me was
that I had managed to gain back a bit of weight and I had breasts
again. The dress looked pretty good on my body but cutting off my
head was not an option.

I looked like an idiot I was certain.

I phoned Giselle.

“Hello.’ Her voice sounded weaker than
normal.

“Were you sleeping?” I felt bad.

She laughed, “God yes all I do is sleep. What’s
shaken bacon?”

I laughed at bacon, “I am going to a party
tonight stealing my sister’s clothes and I don’t know how to do my
makeup. I look bad still from being sick.” I regretted saying it to
her the minute I did but she ignored it.

She burst out laughing, “I have never been more
proud than I am in this moment. Which outfit?”

I looked down at the dress letting an evil grin
cross my lips, “The red one, it has the tags on it still. It’s from
the back of her closet.”

There was silence, “Oh my god, that’s the one
she got on harsh sale at Holt Renfrew in Vancouver. Ok you’re a
blond in a red dress, you really aren’t going to need much, is your
face clean?”

I laughed, “Give me a second.”

I used the makeup wipes I stole from my sisters'
room.

“Ok clean slate what do I do?”

“What kind of materials am I dealing with here?”
Giselle sounded very serious in all of this.

I looked down at the old kit my mom gave me a
year earlier and grimaced, “You know those kits you get that have
everything all in one?”

I heard a sigh, “dear god I knew it.” She
thought for a moment and started to speak again, “Ok this is what
you’re going to do.”

She led me through the makeup, the hair and the
shoes. When the doorbell rang and my dad called up at me I
whispered into the phone, “Thanks Giselle, see you next week
k?”

“Uh speaking of visits are you bringing the new
hottie in your life or just regular old Shane?” Her voice was full
of sarcasm.

I groaned, “Look I don’t know what’s going on
with either of them. Shane likes me and we kinda kissed but
Aleksander is the guy I was telling you about with the crazy blue
eyes. I’m lost.”

“Oh my god Aimee he could be the psycho.” She
sounded panicked.

I shook my head like she could see me, “No it’s
not him. His lips aren’t the same, at all. I think my sister has
her claws in him already anyway. So I guess Shane is the one for
me.”

“So he kissed you, is that your first kiss?”

“Yeah. It was nice.” I blushed smiling so hard I
looked at myself in mirror and new Shane made me happy. I could see
my face transform talking about him.

She moaned, “Awe I’m so bummed I’m missing your
first party with a boyfriend, sort of. Good luck tonight. Don’t
drink anything you didn’t open.”

I laughed, “Yeah lesson learned.” I hadn’t told
her or anyone about Alek's, beyond what our small town had said and
it seemed the news had traveled even to a children’s hospital in
the city. Sad really.

I hung up my phone and stuffed it down my top
off to the side of my boobs like always and started down the
staircase. I was one of those cheesy movies; I started down the
stairs, nerd transformed into hottie and my date at the bottom
staring at me the whole way down the stairs. I smiled at him, but
focused more on the stairs. The shoes Giselle picked were very high
heeled and I was feeling very unstable. The stairs actually hurt as
I realized my side cramps were back. I was feeling bloated and sort
of gross but I pushed it aside in hopes that Shane and I would have
fun and maybe I would see Aleksander again.

“Dear god what are you wearing. Go put something
on.” My dad groaned at me.

I laughed, “Dad Alise wears less to church.”

He rolled his eyes at me and sighed, “If Alise
went to a church it would light on fire instantly. Besides you’re
my jeans and t-shirt daughter, I expect certain things from you
just like I expect certain things from her, my high heel wearing
daughter. You’re not supposed to interchange like this.”

I kissed my dad on the cheek and looked at Shane
who smiled like he had just gotten his favorite new toy for
Christmas morning.

“You look amazing but your dad’s right. You look
a bit like your sister tonight. I like you better the other
way.”

“I like that you said that.” I smiled back at
him.

He gave me his arm and I laughed, “I’m going to
need your arm tonight, these shoes are death.”

“Night dad.” I waved back at him as we left out
the front door.

He shook his head and waved us off, “Please take
it easy and slow, drink nothing, Shane do not take your eyes off
her no matter what and for Christ sake please for the love of god
and all things holy do not go into any woods, no matter what
Aimee.”

Chapter Seven - JUST CALL
ME JESSICA FLETCHER, WITH A CRAMP

The party was at some girl’s house I didn’t
really know, I knew who she was but I had not spoken to her since
second grade. Her name was Michelle Mitchell and she had a party
every month when her parents left for the city. They had been
having a date night once a month since she got old enough to stay
home alone. My sister had been partying at their house for the last
two years. The Mitchell’s didn’t seem to mind the partying as long
as there was no mess. To me this was not responsible parenting.

As we pulled up to the house Shane leaned over
to me, “You look very pretty so I want you to stay glued to my side
all night okay.” He kiss me softly like he had before but I felt
his tongue slip into my mouth this time. It was an exciting
feeling, I kissed him back moving the way he did until his hand
moved up into my hair pulling me into him more.

“Not here okay?” I pushed against him.

He reached down and kissed the side of my throat
once. I didn’t know what to do to get the calm back. My pheromones
were going nuts on his.

He opened his door and came around to my side
and opened my door for me. He growled slightly as he helped me out
of the truck and kissed me once more, “That dress is driving me
nuts.”

“So that’s part of my sister’s beauty, the
wrapping.” I blurted it out before I could think about what I was
saying.

He laughed, “You are such a nerd. Stop thinking
about pheromones and what scientific results you will get when a
woman in wearing different outfits.”

I raised an eyebrow at him and he conceded, “Yes
the fact she is always dressed like a sex kitten helps her out in
the sex appeal department. I think that is common sense.”

I shook my head, “Only to people who look for
beauty on the outside.”

He took my hand, “Well you’re lucky then because
I don’t even think you’re that good looking I’m attracted to your
personality and maybe the small hope you’ll do my trig
homework.”

I hit him in the arm hurting my hand. We walked
up to the house but before we got to the door he stopped me and
looked at me intensely, “Aims I’m not trying to pressure you but I
just want to know what you’re thinking about us and
everything.”

I nodded, it was a fair request. “I am really
confused right now Shane, I went from nerd girl with no friends or
boys interested in me to dating you sort of and my best friend
being a girl in a hospital bed dying. I’m leaving for college in
four months and my mom died nine months ago. Some freak is stalking
me. This has all happened really quickly for me and I don’t feel
caught up. So right now I can offer you what we are now, dating
sort of.”

He kissed me again, I liked this kissing bit. “I
didn’t really think about how much you were coping with which is
really selfish but I will take anything I can get right now.”

I smiled at him and walked through the door he
opened for me.

The party was loud and annoying and I couldn’t
help but think about how much I was going to hate it. There were
drunk teenagers everywhere and loud music with people making out in
one corner and others doing shots in another.

I looked back at Shane as he glided me through
the door. His smile reassured me.

I looked around for my sister and hoped I
wouldn’t see Aleks with her.

I didn’t see her anywhere, which made me
concerned. Was she alone with him somewhere wrecking him for all
other girls?

I let Shane put his hand on my back through the
entry way and then step in front of me and take my hand to pull me
along through the mass of drunken teens.

The smell of smoke and pot filled my nostrils as
we walked one way; I looked over at the kids who were sitting in a
circle on the back deck with the screen door wide open. They were
passing joints and cigarettes after taking a hit. I felt my lips
twist into a look of severe disapproval.

Shane laughed at my face, “Okay lets walk this
way.” He pulled me away from the kitchen and the smell as I started
to rant, “Do they have any idea how many toxins and narcotics
they’re breathing in at that moment. There are four thousand
chemicals in a cigarette, forty-three of them are known
cancer-causing toxins like weed killer and bug spray. They could
just suck on the can of DDT. And don’t even get me started on the
marijuana, it can raise your heart rate any where from twenty to
one hundred percent and cause heart attacks. And it has more cancer
causing chemicals than a cigarette.”

Shane raised an eyebrow at me, “You’re really
fun at parties.”

I stuck my tongue out at him, “Cancer is a
serious problem not only for health reason but also on the costs it
presents to the economy. Did you know there is an increase in dogs
with cancer since smoking has become a national pastime?”

“I can dress you up like one but you will never
be one.” He smirked and looked around the party, “Wanna get out of
here?”

His eyes had a gleam to them, which told me he
had plans other than dropping me off. Like the releasing of the
hounds butterflies raced around my stomach. I shook my head, “Can
we stay for a couple minutes longer?” I felt guilty that I wanted
my hot new sort of boyfriend to stay at a party in hopes I would
get to see the one guy I couldn’t get out of my mind.

He nodded showing a minuscule amount of
disappointment in that request.

I didn’t know what I would find when I did
finally locate my sister. I sort of assumed she would be sitting on
the stairs somewhere dressed like a whore with Blake kissing her
neck from the back and Aleks kissing her hand kneeling before her
mesmerized by her beauty. She would sip from her drink and smile
that wicked step-mom grin she had mastered when we were little as
she always focused on the wrong part of the classics. I would stand
there watching my friends under her spell like everyone else
was.

I looked back at Shane feeling reassured he had
at least had crawled his way from the pit of despair and unrequited
love with my sister. He was not under her spell.

I stood beside Shane as he held my hand
protectively and chatted with Tommy, not my favorite person.

“Holy shit Aimee James is that you? Damn I
thought we had a new girl at the party and I was wondering how
Shane found her first. You wanna dance?” His wide smile and pointed
eyebrows reminded me of the bad guys on my Saturday morning
cartoons when I was younger.

I looked at Shane whose breath had started to
increase, “She doesn’t want to dance T.J.”

Tommy shrugged his filthy smile not reaching my
eyes, “When you get tired of this you know where to find me.” He
turned and walked away making a howl like a wolf, everyone at the
party howled with him. I felt like an outsider not initiated yet
and here on Crazy Island the ritual was going to be something I
wasn’t willing to bargain on.

Shane leaned into me, “Sorry, ignore him I think
most people do. I’m going to get a drink of water want one?”

I felt panicked, probably a side effect, “From
the tap and clean glass from the cupboard?”

He laughed, “Yeah.” I nodded.

Suddenly as he walked away I felt the warm wind
hit me. I looked around, as my sister walked through the front door
with Blake wearing her usual uppity self-indulgent smirk that was
full of the knowledge she could have any guy in the room and you
were lucky she let you keep yours. Blake looked uncomfortable but
true to form he wore a grey t-shirt with a symbol of an atom on it.
His dark hair seemed styled and without his glasses his blue eyes
were brighter than ever. He had on baggy cargo pants I didn’t
recognize and a watch that was most definitely not his NASA space
camp one. My sister had started to put her tastes on him, like a
puppet he wore what she wanted. He saw the look of distaste on my
face and slid his hand behind his back. He was ashamed of his new
watch which oddly was enough for me to feel satisfied that a small
amount of the person I had always adored was still inside of
him.