Enchanted Secrets (3 page)

My first class was “H
omeroom” and I quickly sat down towards the back of the room.

“Hey
, Kendra,” said Amy, who I was semi-friends with. She sat down next to me and took off her eyeglasses, then proceeded to clean them with a small cloth.

“
So, how was your summer?” I asked, relieved that I had at least one friend in Homeroom.

She
plopped her glasses back on and smiled. “It was great! I went to band camp for a couple of weeks and learned some new songs.”

Amy plays the clarinet
, and that’s all she talks about. I went over to her house one day last year after school, and she played “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” for me over and over. Now I can’t even sit through the “The Wizard of Oz” without wanting to throw the remote control at the television.

“Brenda!” squealed Amy
, waving her hand in the air.

I
also smiled at Brenda, who squeezed into the desk in front of me. Like me, she indulged in a little too much ice cream and pizza.

“Hi
, guys,” smiled Brenda, flashing a set of shiny new braces.

“Oh, wow,” said Amy. “When did you get those?”

Brenda blushed. “During the summer. I have to wear them for a couple of years.”

I nodded
, smiling sheepishly. “I had my braces taken off last month. It was the highlight of the summer.”

“Oh, I forgot
that you even wore braces,” said Amy, pushing her dark hair behind her ears.

“That’s because nobody notices Kendra,”
snickered Mark Davis, who was sitting a couple desks away, “unless she’s standing next to her hot sister with the perfect teeth.”

It was true, for some reason Ka
la hadn’t needed braces but my teeth had overlapped in the front so bad, I had to have them.

Some of the other kids laughed
as he continued to mock me. I wanted to curl up into a ball and roll away. Instead, I looked down at my hands and wished that I could vaporize into thin air. I seriously hated Mark and all of his jock friends who picked on me whenever they were bored and wanted to look cool.

“Che
ck out the new weirdo,” said Mark with an ugly smirk. He turned his body back towards the front of the class and folded his arms across his chest. “He looks like something out of a cheap horror movie.”

I looked up an
d my eyes locked with Tyler’s – rather, his dark sunglasses. He was standing at the front of the class and scanning the room for a place to sit. There was a desk next to mine that was vacant, and for some reason, I really wanted him in it.

“Wha
t? It’s too bright in here?” snorted Mark. “Nice shades, Dracula.”

Of course
, his friends only fueled his stupidity by laughing.

I
glared at Mark, who was still chuckling at his own lame jokes, and wished I had the guts to tell him off; although, something in Tyler’s expression told me that he didn’t need any help from me.

Ignoring everyone else,
Tyler removed his glasses and began walking towards me. Just when I thought he was going to sit at the desk next to mine, he took the seat behind me instead.

“Hey,” he said as I turned around.

“Hey,” I answered back, trying not to blush.

Some of the other girls in the classroom started checking him out
, and soon were staring with glazed expressions, as if he was some kind of celebrity. I couldn’t blame them, however. Not only was he cute, but his eyes were beautiful, magnetic, and more than a little… unnerving.

When the bell rang, the teacher, Mr. Henry, passed out the school’s handbook and we spent a half hour going over each boring rule. No fighting, no swearing, no running, no guns, no tank tops, no pets, no gum, and last
, but not least, no fun.  My head was spinning by the time class was over and I was almost afraid to breathe, in case that was also against school policy.

“Bring a book
to read tomorrow morning if you don’t have homework,” called Mr. Henry as we all shuffled out of the classroom.

I stepped into the hallway and started walking towards first period, which was my math class. I passed my sister along the way and she smiled
at me.

“Is that your sister?”

I turned to find Tyler walking next to me again and felt more butterflies tickling my stomach. “Uh, yes.”

“You must be twins?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but we don’t look anything alike.”

He smiled. “That’s okay, being different is much more interesting.”

I stared at him, wondering if he was from another planet.

“I don’t know about that. Sometimes I’d rather be more like her,” I said. “She’s got it made and nobody gives her any crap.”

He smiled. “She probably doesn’t
give anyone a chance to.”

My eyes narrowed
. “Well, I certainly don’t
let
anyone give me crap, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“I never said you did
. I was merely suggesting that confidence goes a long way.”

He had me there. Every time I saw myself next to my sister, my confidence went out the door.

“So, um, where are you going?” I asked, nearing my classroom.

“Math
,” he answered. “We’re in the same class. I hope you don’t mind if I walk with you?”

How did he know what class I had next
?

I blushed
. “No, of course you can walk with me.”

“K
endra has an admirer,” snorted Mark behind us.

Tyler turned to him and smiled
. “What’s wrong, jealous because you don’t have
any
admirers?”

Admirers
?

My jaw dropped. Not only had he hinted that he was my admirer, but
he’d also stood up to Mark, who was on the wrestling team and had muscles
on
his muscles.

Mark
dropped his books on the ground, and then shoved Tyler, hard. “Why would I be jealous of a cow and her hoser boy-toy?”

Tyler removed
his sunglasses and stared at him while several students gathered around anxiously to see what would happen next.

“Apologize for being an idiot,” said Tyler evenly.

There were snickers and giggles from the crowd. Everyone knew Mark would go gangbusters on the new kid. What came next, however, surprised us all. The expression on Mark’s face went from smug to friendly, almost to the point of being nerdy. “I’m sorry for being an idiot,” he answered pleasantly.

“You’ll never bother Kendra again,” said Tyler.

“I will never bother Kendra again,” answered Mark, still smiling at me like a guy who’d just met the girl of his dreams.

“Leave,” said Tyler.

The next thing I knew, Mark turned around and began walking in the opposite direction.

Stunned silence surrounded us
as we all watched Mark walk away without hesitation.

This definitely had to be a dream,
I thought.
No way would this happen in real life.

“Disbu
rse,” mumbled Tyler. Then everyone suddenly came to life and scattered.

I watched in awe as
Tyler put his sunglasses back on. “Uh, how did you do that?”

He smiled. “Let’s just say, when I talk, people listen.”

“
Are
you some kind of vampire or something?” I blurted out, the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up.

Tyler chuckled
and shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t be walking around during the day, now would I?”

“I don’t know. That popular movie with the vampires and werewolves competing for the girl, all of those guys did just fine in the daylight.”

He smiled. “That’s fiction, Kendra. I can assure you that if I was a real vampire, I’d disintegrate as soon as my skin was exposed to the sun.”

He was so matter-of-fact that
I was afraid to ask him any more questions. Either he was completely bonkers, or I was. Or, it really was just one big, fat, crazy-assed dream.

Sighing to myself,
I muddled these things through my mind as we walked into our math class and sat across from each other.

“My name is Ms. Byrd,” said the teacher after
calling the attendance. “I take this class very seriously, so there will be no talking when I’m talking, no passing notes around, and absolutely no cell phones allowed. If you have one, and I see it out of your pocket or purse, I will keep it until the end of the day.”

This really irritated some of the other students
who normally couldn’t keep their hands off of their phones. It did nothing for me, however, as I didn’t have a cell phone; my mom wouldn’t even allow them in the house, which really sucked being a senior in high school.

“Also, no sunglasses,” remarked Ms. B
yrd, staring directly at Tyler.

He
slipped them off, and I held my breath. When his eyes were exposed, the teacher paused for a moment, clearly unprepared for such an intense unveiling.

I smiled. It
was really starting to amuse me – everyone’s reaction to Tyler’s piercing green eyes. It also took any unwanted attention off of me.

“Um, well
then,” she said, clearing her throat after regaining her composure. “Everyone, open your math books to page five.”

During class, I no
ticed the teacher staring at Tyler curiously when she didn’t think anyone was paying much attention. I also sensed, without a doubt, that he was very much aware of her interest.

When class was over, Tyl
er sprang out of his seat and took off without a second glance.

Sighing,
I grabbed my stuff and followed the other students out the door, wondering if Tyler was actually going back to his home planet. The idea of him being an alien wasn’t too far off the grid, especially with that mind control thing of his.

“Hey,” said Tyler
when I stepped out of the classroom.

I was surprised
and slightly giddy to find him waiting for me in the hallway. His sunglasses were back and the warm vanilla scent engulfed me once again.

“Hey,” I answered
, biting my lip to keep from smiling like a dope.

Just then,
Ms. Byrd stepped out of the classroom and looked like she was about to approach us, which for some reason, didn’t seem to sit very well with him.

“Well,
” he said with a hint of irritation. “See you in English class.”

“Uh, okay,” I said, as he took off, obviously trying to avoid Ms. Byrd.

I glanced at the teacher and wondered why she’d freaked him out so much. She gave me a polite smile and then stepped back into the classroom without saying a word.

And how did he know we shared an English class at the end of the day?

I began to wonder if he’d somehow gotten ahold of my schedule.

“Is that your boyfriend?” asked Amy
breathlessly. She’d been in the classroom, too, and had stared at Tyler for most of the hour.

I shook my head. “No, I just met him today.”

“He’s a little different, but
… so cute,” gushed Amy with a dreamy expression on her face as she walked away.

My next period was a health class and I had to sit at a table with three other students.
I’d heard that we’d be starting a cooking series, and although I’d been really excited about it during the summer, when I saw who I was grouped with, my enthusiasm quickly died.

“Hi,
Kendra,” smiled Hailey Bates. She was also one of the most popular students in the eleventh grade as well as being one of the nastiest girls you could ever meet. Her cruelty to the other students was legendary.

“Hi,” I said,
praying she’d leave me alone.

When the other two students turned out to be
two of her friends and basically just as evil, I wanted to shrivel up and float away. The class which had sounded so promising was quickly taking a nosedive.

“This mus
t be your favorite class,” remarked Hailey with a sly smile. “You get to cook and eat. Looks like you did a lot of that last summer.”

T
he other girls started giggling but I ignored her, and instead stared at the teacher, who was beginning to take attendance.

During class we learned abou
t the importance of using measuring scales for insuring a healthy, balanced diet.

“
Obviously Kendra doesn’t measure,” whispered Hailey loud enough for me to hear.

The two other girls giggled again.

This time she really got to me and I don’t even know why.

“Oh, someone’s going to cry,” she whispered, a triumphant look on her face.

My eyes burned as I tried to hold back the tears and I raised my hand to escape to the bathroom.

“Are you okay?” asked
Miss Barnes, who seemed genuinely concerned.

I nodded
without meeting her eyes but fortunately, she let me go.

The
girl’s bathroom appeared empty when I slammed through the door. I hurried into a stall and let myself go.

“
Um, are you okay?” asked a soft voice in the next stall, surprising the crap out of me.

I
cleared my throat. “Oh, I’m fine.”

I wiped my face with
a tissue and then flushed the toilet, trying to compose myself. When I opened the door and walked to the faucet to wash my hands, the girl from the next stall stepped out and our eyes met in the mirror. Her blond hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and she was dressed in track pants and a hot pink T-shirt. She was also a heavier-set girl, like me.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m Julie.”

Embarrassed that I was caught crying, I smiled sheepishly. “I’m Kendra, sorry about the tears.”

She snorted. “Are you kidding? It’s not a big deal at all.”

Although I’d never actually talked to her, I’d seen her in the halls laughing with her friends. She usually hung out with the brainiacs in the school and I’d heard she had the I.Q. of a genius.  

“Still,” I mumbled.

“Listen,” she said, fumbling in her purse. “Everyone has their moments.”

I nodded
and watched as she applied some Chaptstick to her lips. “Maybe. I seem to have a lot these days and Hailey Bates isn’t making it easier.”

“Hailey
?” she said. “Eh, don’t let her get to you. She’s going to have a rude awakening after she graduates, and someday, she’ll regret being such a bitch to everyone.”

“
That’s nine months away and I have her in my class for at least one semester,” I mumbled, looking at my reflection in the mirror. “Sometimes I wish I could just drop out of school and be done with it.”

“Don’t,” said Julie. “I know
it sucks, but you can’t let people like her win.”

“They win no matter what,” I said. “
Popular girls are thin and pretty. They have nothing to worry about.”

She turned to me.
“Well, you can always lose weight but they’ll still be ugly inside.”

“
I’ve tried and it hasn’t helped me do anything but gain more weight from being depressed after I’ve failed.”

“
Well, don’t give up. I lost twenty pounds last summer and I only have thirty more to go,” she said with a proud smile. “It’s hard work and takes a lot of willpower, but my old baggy jeans are proof that, yes, it can be done.”

“I wish I had
your
willpower.”

She sighed
and wrote down something on a piece of paper. “You’re standing in your own way of losing weight with that attitude. Look, here’s my phone number. If you want a diet buddy to motivate you, give me a call.” Then she handed me her phone number.

It was nice of her to offer, but I doubted that I’d ever call her.
“Oh, well thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she answered with a smile. Then she
grabbed her purse and left.

I stared at myself
in the mirror again, and sighed. She was obviously right – I wanted to lose weight, but was putting up my own roadblocks. I just didn’t know how to knock them down.