Unordinary Chapters 13-16

 CHAPTER THIRTEEN



“Kennedy! Boys!” Alexa yelled up the stairs Saturday morning. Groggily, I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock. 7:22 am. I haven’t gotten up this early for school since freshman year. Why the hell did I have to get up this early today?

I got up, and didn’t even bother to fix my hair. Instead, I put on a pair of skinny jeans, my converse shoes, and a goldenrod-yellow Banana Republic shirt.

I applied spritzer to my hair and body, and knocked on the doors of my brothers’ room. Josef had his own room, but once he left for Jamaica, he barely ever used it. Mo’Quen and Laurence shared a room, and Narrien and Kemi shared a room, but once Josef moved out, Mo’Quen immediately took his room. Josef was going to a college in Jamaica. Mo’Quen and Laurence both went to Wisconsin State colleges, so they got to stay at home.

“Mo’Quen! Laurence! Narrien! Kemi!” I yelled, pounding on the doors. “Get up!”

“Shaddup Mama,” a muffled voice came from Narrien’s room.

“This ain’t Alexa, this’s Kennedy!” I yelled, kicking the door.

“Then screw you, Kennedy!” Narrien retorted. I was pissed. Angrily, I karate-kicked the door, sending it crashing off its hinges, and into Narrien’s room. Narrien was half asleep, wearing boxers and a muscle shirt. Little Kemi was half as bad, but he was wearing pajamas with trains on them.

“C’mon mon, you break my door!” Narrien said sleepily with a deep Jamaican accent.

“Yeah... brah...fix that door...” Kemi said, half-asleep.

“I ain't a brah, I wear a bra.” I muttered to myself, making a joke out of the Jamaican slang for “guy”. I glared at Narrien, aimed my hands at him, and a jet of icy water erupted, hitting Narrien square in the face.

“Dude! Not cool!” Narrien snarled, finally getting out of bed.

“I’m driving you to school.” I snapped. “Look at the time.”

“Shit!” Narrien swore. “It’s 7:40! We’re ten minutes late!”

“Oh no we aren’t.” I said.

“Yes we are!”

“It’s Saturday!” I yelled, slapping Narrien in the face. “Now get your clothes on. Alexa wants us.”

There was no point of even awakening Mo’Quen. He could sleep until one in the afternoon, and if you ever awoken him before noon on a Saturday, all hell broke loose. Brothers were impossible. Jessie was always complaining about JC. Big deal. She had one brother to take care of. I had five!

By the time everyone was dressed and downstairs, it was 7:55. Alexa was extremely disappointed, she wanted us downstairs by 7:30, and she still wasn’t satisfied over the fact that Mo’Quen wouldn’t get up.

“Kennedy McCarron. You currently have four brothers living in this household. Why do I only see three?”

“Alexa, I ain’t wishing a death sentence. I ain’t waking Mo’Quen up! And if I even did wake him up, I ain't facin’ the Mo’Quen the Grouch! And he really does live in a garbage can like Oscar, have you even seen his room?!”

“Kennedy, quit goofing around. Now I want you four to do me these errands. I’ve got lots of chores that need to be done, and I don’t got no time to do them with you bunch of kids. So hurry up and be back ‘fore noon.”

“But Alexa!” Narrien yelped, looking at the list. “This is three pages!”

“And I wann’um done!” Alexa snapped, “Before noon!”

“Way to ruin a Saturday.” Laurence grumbled.

“Laurence, I don’t wanna hear that talk.” Alexa called after us.

“Aw crap I didn’t want her to hear that.” Laurence mumbled.

“Laurence!” Alexa called again.

“C’mon.” I snapped. “Let’s just get these done.”

By the time we were out of ear shot of Alexa, Narrien looked at the list and groaned.“Aw, frig. We have to go to the library, the panadería, the Little Supermarket, Lites and Wines, and like ten other stores.”

“Let’s take two cars.” I suggested. I then realized that if we did that, I would have to take either Narrien or Kemi with me, and I didn’t want to bring either. But I also wanted to drive, and if I went with just Laurence, since he was older, he would get to drive.

“Sure.” Laurence said without objecting. “I get Narrien, you get Kemi.”

“No.” I said. “I get Narrien, you get Kemi.” Luckily, Kemi wasn’t even listening to the fact that neither of us wanted him.

“How about we let Kemi choose who he wants to go with.” Narrien said.

“Little K, get over here.” Laurence called. Kemi looked at us with wide ten-year-old eyes. “Do you want to ride in the ugly pickup truck with me, or the nice, shiny, fast car with Big K?”

“You!” Kemi said excitedly. Laurence’s plan failed.

“Narrien, get the hell over here. Enjoy your ride.” I said evilly.

Laurence glared at me, and stomped off as the ten year old scampered after him. It’s not that I hated Kemi, in fact I loved him very, very much. He was my little brother, and I would do anything for him, but there was no way I could spend all that time with a kid I’m seven, almost eight years older than. He was still in that annoying stage where he thought that girls were icky.

Thinking about it, riding with Narrien probably wasn’t much better. He was annoying, and a brat, but at least he was someone to talk to, and someone that I could understand.

Narrien, Kemi, and I were all aged that by the time we were seniors in high school, the sibling next-in-kin would be in eighth grade. Well, not exactly for me. Laurence was a senior when I was a sophomore. However, I was an eighth grader when Josef and Mo’Quen were seniors.

For the first time, Narrien was silent in the car. Well, at least for four minutes. By the time we were on the main road, he started talking about a dead skunk that he saw at basketball practice.

Not really listening, (I was being a good driver and concentrating on the road), Narrien suddenly shouted, “hey, ain't that your boyfriend?”

I stopped short, and Laurence, whose pickup truck was behind my car, almost collided with me.

“Where?”

I almost expected Narrien to say, “made you look”, but instead, he pointed to the other side of the street. There, in the Greenberg Plaza, Alexander was walking with a tall woman.

I pulled into the entrance of the Greenberg Plaza, deciding whether to go talk to Alexander or not. I finally made my decision, and pulled into a nearby parking space. I got out of the car and started walking towards Alexander and the woman were.

“Hi Alexander!” I shouted, walking over to them.

“Um, hi. Kennedy.” Alexander said. “Mom, this is my, um, friend, Kennedy. Kennedy, this is my mom, Sharron Temmero.”

“Hi Sharron.” I said, forgetting that normal humans call their friend’s parents Mrs. or Mr. I immediately remembered when Sharron gave me a look. “I’m sorry, um, Mrs. Temmero.” I shook her hand. She had dark auburn hair and very large stylish sunglasses. Mrs. Temmero didn’t say anything, but shook my hand back.

She was a very pretty woman, and I was almost surprised that she was Alexander’s mother. But as I thought about it, Alexander was absolutely gorgeous, and Sharron was beautiful too.

“I’m his girlfriend.” I included happily, the same way that Alexander had introduced himself to my family.

Alexander laughed nervously. “Uh, no she’s not. Just a friend. A friend that’s a girl.”

I stared at Alexander. Why was he acting weird, and why did he feel so uncomfortable around me? Maybe he was cheating on me with this Sharron Temmero! Nah, that sounded highly unlikely. Alex was eighteen years old. Sharron seemed to be in her late thirties or early forties.

“Kennedy and I don’t really know each other that well. She’s in my History, Trig and my Chem class.” Alexander explained to Sharron. She nodded, still not saying anything. I was appalled. Did he seriously forget to mention that he made out with me? Twice?

“There’s nothing serious going on between us?”

“Well,” Sharron said, speaking for the first time, “Kennedy sounds like a fine young woman.” Her voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t pinpoint where...

I was so pissed at Alexander I felt my skin boiling red. Which was very hard for me to do because I’m so dark. How could Alexander say that there was nothing serious going on between us when there definitely was! How could he say that we were just friends?! Had I somehow broken up with him? I’ll show him how serious I am about our relationship. I stormed off away from him and Sharron.

“Kennedy! Wait!” Alexander called. I ignored him, got into the front seat of my car, slammed the door shut, and angrily turned on the ignition. Narrien noticed my behavior.

“What’d he do, break up with you?”

“Worse.” I snarled, not even bothering to look back at where Alexander and Sharron were standing.

“What, did he break up with you, and then start making out with that hot broad?”

“Narrien! That’s his mom!”

“Well how am I supposed to know that?” Narrien snapped defiantly.

“Probably because she’s like thirty years older than him!” I yelled back.

“Well, sorry! He just don’t seem like a brah to be hanging out with his parientes!”

“‘Parents’ in Spanish is ‘padres’.” I snapped through gritted teeth.

“No it ain’t, that’s Dad.” Narrien said, confused.

“And parents.”

“No it ain’t.”

“You know what? I don’t even know why the hell we’re arguing in Spanish!” I yelled at Narrien. He shut up immediately, and for a long time. He could tell I was pissed.

We pulled into the parking lot of Little Supermarket. I saw Laurence’s truck sitting in the front row. Unfortunately, there were no other empty parking spaces left for me.

“Get out, and I’ll try to find a spot.” I said, dropping Narrien off. He gratefully climbed out of the car, and ran inside, trying to find Laurence and Kemi, and I finally found a parking spot waaaaay in the last row.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN



“Kennedy! Wait up!” I turned around. It was the next day at school, and I had just left homeroom. Wendy Bates ran after me, holding a notebook.

“Hey, Wendy.” I said.

“Have you been to your locker yet?” Wendy asked, worriedly.

“No, why?” Thinking about my locker, I suddenly thought of the wrap from Taco Bell that I had put in it... almost a week ago.

“Your lock was cut and everything was missing!”

“What the hell?!” I swore, furiously.

“The door was open, and I found this in your locker! I didn’t open it though.”

It was a sealed envelope. I sliced the top with my razor-sharp fingernails, and pulled out the letter inside.







Dear K –

I am absolutely sorry for my unexplained absence and my rudeness towards you before. But I assure you, I am safe and in no way harmed. But, I believe that you have forgotten who your real friends are. You’ve stopped treating us with respect, and you haven’t talked to us in days. Why are you behaving like this? I think everyone here knows the answer.

I can’t tell you to do anything. I am not the boss of you, and I, I rest to tell you, will not return to school for many more days. It’s a Sioux tradition that lasts the whole month of May. If you were Native American, you’d understand.

All I can tell you, is that you’re making a big mistake. And because I don’t know if you are going to get this (but if you do, you know WHO you are) I’ve ordered your locker cleaned out by a friend. Just look around, and you’ll find your stuff. You know who you are. You know who you are. Stop while you’re still ahead, and everything will soon be explained in the end.

Ps: I’m terrified I’m scared assure me // [don’t read, ITS NOT WHO I AM!!, and I’m not terrified, and I’m not scared, so don’t assure me.]



– JMC



I was so confused. Actually, confused wasn’t even the right word to describe how I was feeling. But I was happy that Jessie was safe. I would visit her right after school.

What was up with that PS?

What was up with my life?

I crumpled up the paper, and stuffed it in my pocket. And to make matters worse, guess who was coming down the hallway.

“Kennedy!”

I turned around sharply. “What, Alexander?”

He took my hand in his, and leaned in to kiss me. I spun away from him.

“Oh, so I guess I exist, now.” I snarled.

“What? Baby, what’s wrong?”

“You know what I’m talking about, so don’t freaking call me baby. So don’t even talk to me.”

“But I wanna talk to you.”

“Oh, go ahead, I won’t listen.”

“C’mon, Kennedy, I’m being serious.”

“We was serious, Alexander. We was serious. Why’d you tell Sharron that we weren’t, and why’d you do that to me? You acted like I don’t even exist!”

He stroked my face, still not getting the hint that I was furious at him, and didn’t want him to touch me. “Love, you do exist.”

“Well of course I exist! If I didn’t exist, I wouldn’t be standing here yelling in your face!”

“Kennedy, you don’t realize how much I love you.”

“Alexander, you don’t realize how much I’m pissed at you!”

He grabbed my arm, and pulled me through the door that we used when we skipped lunch and went to Taco Bell.

“Alexander! Let me go! You’re going to get us suspended, and if I’m suspended, you’re gonna be screwed!”

“Shh, sweetie. Keep yelling like that, you’re going to get us suspended.”

I quieted down, tears rolling down my cheeks. “Alexander, why’d you do that to me?”

He leaned down and softly kissed me. I kissed him back, realizing how much I needed him.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt you,” he said quietly, “I was trying to protect you.”

“Protect me?!” The words burned in my mouth.

“My mom’s the type of woman who’d sue whenever she saw you kiss me. She’d think you were raping me or something.”

I smiled, “you kissed me every time we kissed though.”

“Let’s go back inside. I really don’t want to get in trouble.”

We walked back inside the school, holding hands. However, our love escapade ended very quickly when we realized we weren’t alone in the hallway.

“Well, well, well, look who it is.” Dan smirked.

“Dan, shut up.” I snarled.

“I saw yous two cutting class, and kissing. Alexandra, you’re turning Kennedy into a bad, bad, bad little girl. You disgust me.”

“Dan get out of here.” I snapped. He wasn’t listening.

“And I suppose you’d do the same if you were with her.” Alexander snapped.

“You know what? I don’t like it when disgusting jerks steal my girl.” He took a step closer to Alexander, but Alexander didn’t back down. That just pissed Dan off. He shoved Alexander – hard, and sending him flying to the floor.

“What is wrong with you?!” I shouted.

“Kennedy, stay out of this!”

“Dan, you have no right to –”

“OUT OF THIS!”

Shocked, I took a step backwards. Alexander was on the ground, probably writhing in pain. No, he was a guy. He was all right. Dan walked up to him. “You okay? No. You need more.”

Alexander suddenly sat up, and kicked the legs out from underneath Dan. Dan went crashing to the floor, and I heard his head smack against the tile. Alexander rolled on top of him, and I closed my eyes and cringed as Alexander’s fist met Dan’s nose. Dan was surprisingly strong for being bloody and half-conscious. As Alexander hooked at him again, Dan grabbed Alexander’s wrist and I heard a crunch as he bent it backwards. By now, I was crying and screaming loudly.

“Kennedy!” I suddenly heard a loud and surprised voice. Chris was standing near the end of the hallway, holding a few books. He ran towards me, in pure shock. “Kennedy, are you okay? I heard you scream!”

I hugged Chris, glad to see him. “Dan’s trying to kill Alexander!”

“Oh no he’s not!” Chris hated Dan as much as I did. Dan was trying to pull Alexander to his feet oblivious to the fact that Chris and I were standing there, right behind him. Chris grabbed all three of his books, walked behind Dan, and hit him hard in the head with them, the books flying everywhere. Dan lurched forward, astonished, and suddenly spun around, punching Chris in the face, knocking him off his feet. Chris fell to the ground, and Dan turned to Alexander, who had fallen again when Chris hit Dan with the books.

I wasn’t going to see my best friend and my boyfriend get beat up by Dan Debrenski. Furiously, I jumped on top of his back, and put my hands over his eyes and whispered “Guess who?”

“Get off of me Kennedy!”

Instead, I did the opposite. I felt power surging through every vein in my body, electricity flowing to my fingertips. All the electricity exploded at once, right in Dan Debrenski’s eyes.

“What the hell?!” Dan roared. “I’m going to kill you, witch!”

He threw me off of him, and I landed by the wall near the window. Painfully, Chris got up and grabbed at Dan’s throat, but Dan elbowed him hard in the groin. Chris fell to the ground and Dan, blind with rage, (and burned by electricity) charged after me.

Dan grabbed my neck, pinning me against the wall. “I am going to kill you, Kennedy McCarron. I am going to kill you!” He was spitting as he was talking, and I felt the warm spray of saliva against my face.

There was only one thing I could do in a situation like this. A look of terror spread across my face, and I screamed, “OH MY GOD! WATCH OUT!”

“Huh?” Dan asked turning around. I twisted my body, slamming Dan. I heard glass shattering, and saw Dan’s limp, crumpled body crash right through the window. Aw man, I keep forgetting about my strength.

I looked down at Dan. Luckily, we were on the first floor, and he had landed in a grassy area. Dan wasn’t too broken from the fall, but his entire face was smashed up and bloody from the fight, and his arms and legs were bruised and scratched pretty badly from the glass. The back of his neck and the area around his eyes were also pretty badly burned.

I looked at the other two boys. Amazingly Alexander wasn’t too badly injured. He had a ever-growing ring of purple around his left eye, and his wrist was broken, and that was about it. Chris, however, was a different story. The way he was breathing, I could tell that his ribs were broken, and his ankle was twisted. His fingers were turning a dark blue, and I figured they were broken also. I looked down at my own hands, and nearly screamed. They were covered in blood! I calmed down when I realized it was Dan’s blood and not mine. Looking at the three guys, I realized Dan had suffered most of the damage, but Chris had suffered most of the injuries.

I ran. I needed to get help. And at that moment, I realized that I had broken the second rule of witch safety: using magic in school, and against a Witch Hunter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN



Alexander, Dan, and Chris were all suspended. I knew Jessie wouldn’t be in school, so I faked calling in “sick”. (Without telling Alexa).

After dropping Narrien off at the middle school and Kemi off at the elementary school, I drove around before thinking of something smart. My circles of driving ended up at 183 Mellowtree Drive. Jessie’s address.

JC opened the door. He looked oddly like Jessie: tall, handsome, with curly black hair and a chiseled face. All the years that I had known JC, he had had a crush on me. JC was cute, but I would never, ever, admit that to him. I had enough to deal with, with Alexander.

“Hi Kennedy,” he said, confused.

“Is Jessie here?” I asked.

“She’s up in her room. She’s real sick. How are you?”

“Fine.” I said.

“Do you want anything? I can get you a cup of hot chocolate, with the mini marshmallows in it.” JC said flirtatiously, putting his arm around my shoulder.

“JC, it’s May. I really don’t want hot chocolate. But thanks.” I removed his arm from mine, and before he could say anything else, I ran up the stairs to Jessie’s room.

Jessie was sitting cross-legged on her bed, playing solitaire on her laptop when I entered her room. Jessie’s room was a small, pink room with two windows on one of the walls. She had a TV on one wall, and a stereo on the end table in the corner. She had a closet, but most of her clothes were in piles on her floor. Most of the free space on her walls were taken up by pictures and posters of gorgeous actors and bands, among the following including Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan, Justin Timberlake, and Tom Cruise. She also had a fairly large poster of the characters from the “Twilight” series. On the same wall as her door and her TV, Jessie had had a CD rack that reached the ceiling. Jessie had her iPod headphones plugged into her ears, and was facing her walls, so she didn’t see or hear me enter. I snuck up behind her, suddenly put my hands over her eyes, and whispered, “Guess who?”

“Holy shit! You scared the hell out of me!” Jessie exclaimed, breathing heavily. I laughed and looked at the laptop screen.

“That’s a great Indian tradition ya got there. And JC said you’re sick.”

“Shh...” Jessie shushed. “I see you got my letter.” As happy as I was to see Jessie, my best friend didn’t seem so thrilled to see me back.

“That’s why I came here.” I said. “I was genuinely worried about you, Jessie. I thought you were smoking in the woods or something.”

Jessie completely ignored me. “You, you, skipped school?”

Not the first time, I thought to myself. “Well, I called in sick, and then have been driving around, and haven’t been home since. The school thinks I’m at home. Alexa thinks I’m at school.”

Jessie just glared at me.

I decided to ask her a perfectly normal question.

“Jessie, who trashed my locker?”

“Wendy Bates.”

That fiery feeling that I had been feeling a lot boiled inside me. “I trusted her. Why would you make her trash it?”

“I wanted for you to find the letter.”

“But Wendy found it, she, never mind.”

“I never said to come to my house, Kennedy.” Jessie suddenly said, coldly. I pretended I didn’t notice the coldness.

“Why? I’m your best friend! Today was the perfect day. Dan, Chris, and Alexander were all suspended for fighting –” I froze. Jessie stared at her feet in silence. I had just said the “A” word in front of her again. There was something about my boyfriend that was bugging her, and it would bug me too until I found out what it was. “What?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Jessie said.

“No.” I snapped. “Don’t tell me nothing. Don’t give me that bullshit. You’re my best friend. You can tell me anything. I’m your best friend.”

Jessie took a deep breath and sighed. “It’s about Alexander. I really didn’t want to tell you because I know you have a crush on him.”

I twiddled my fingers. “Um, Jessie, I don’t just have a crush on Alexander, he’s sorta my boyfriend.”

Jessie threw her hands to her head in agony. “No, no, no, no. This is worse than I thought.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because Alexander Margon is a horrible person. No, not person. Alexander Margon is a horrible thing. Kennedy, I know, believe me. I love Alexander.”

I took a sharp breath. “You’re in love with my boyfriend?”

“No.” Jessie said. “Not anymore.”

I stared at Jessie in shock. “What happened?”

“It’s a pretty long story.” Jessie said, closing the laptop. She leaned back and closed her eyes. “But I suppose that I can tell you. and warn you about the potential danger that you’re in right now.”

For a second, I wondered if Jessie was lying to me, and was trying to scare me into breaking up with Alexander so she could have him herself. But I knew Jessie Chakoroson. I knew she was my best friend.

“This all happened the summer before last year, our junior year. I worked at my Uncle Lewis’s beach resort in California, and Alexander was there too. He was a lifeguard, and I ... was a waitress.”

I thought about what Jessie said. I couldn’t imagine Alexander being a life guard. I knew Jessie’s uncle lived in California, so she was never in Wisconsin during the summer, except for the first two weeks. However, I didn’t know that Alexander was from California too. I thought that he lived in Washington. And again, I couldn’t picture him being a lifeguard at all. “Wait a second. Lifeguard? Alexander was a lifeguard?”

“No, excuse me. Ted Collins was the lifeguard. Alexander’s mom was a teacher at an elementary school in California, so Alexander mainly hung around the Upper Edge of the beach, near the sand dunes with two kids his age, Ross and Morgan. I always got them confused, because when they talked to each other, they would call Alexander by his last name, Margon, and Morgan by his first name, Morgan.

“My uncle kept receiving complaints from patrons that “teenagers had been lurking around by the dunes” so he sent me to investigate. That was when I met Alexander and the two other guys. I started yelling at them, telling them to get down from the dunes. They didn’t leave. I was dating Ted, the lifeguard, at the time, and he got them down. However, they acted weird about it, saying Ted was a cowardly, arrogant douche. Ted obviously flipped shit.” Jessie paused, smiling for the first time. “I didn’t see Alexander and the others for a long time, well for three days. I saw Alexander at the café I worked at.

“Ted was in Arizona to visit his grandmother for two days, so I was alone at the coffee ship. I didn’t recognize Alexander until I took his order. I still remember, Mocha Vanilla Bean Latte. When I got him his coffee, he smiled at me and we instantly clicked. He said hi to me, and apologized for what had happened three days before. He told me that we had gotten off to a bad start, and I sat down with him and we talked for two hours straight. I finally got to walking with him and hanging out by the beach. He then asked me if I was single. I said no, my boyfriend was the arrogant, cowardly douche at the dunes, and we both burst out laughing. He then invited me out to dinner and I accepted. After two weeks, I realized that I loved him. We were hanging out by the beach one day when we started making out. I don’t know what happened. It seemed as if he had cast a spell over me, and I needed him. And I loved him.”

I froze, solid. I knew that everything that Jessie was telling me was right. She wasn’t lying to me in any part of her story at all. Alexander wasn’t cheating on me with her. Jessie’s last sentence washed over me like a torrential flood. Alexander had lied. He had lied to me about everything in his life. He wasn’t a pretty English boy from Washington, he was a thug from California. And one word flashed out at me like a neon sign. Witch. Alexander Margon wasn’t just an ordinary witch like me, he was an Other one.

“Kennedy, are you even listening to me?” Jessie asked. I snapped out of it.

“Yeah, Jessie, yeah.”

“After that moment, Alexander and I had become inseparable. We seemed as if I spent every minute of my life with Alexander. I had even broken up with Ted just to get things going with Alexander. After our magical evening on the beach, we went back to my room at my uncle’s resort, and you know, did it with him. I was dangerously in love with him. He was all I could think about. I was almost obsessed. And then he broke my heart.” Jessie said sadly.

I felt sorry for Jessie, but I was a little deterred by the fact that Jessie had sex with him.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Alexander Margon showed his true colors: the stupid jerk that he is. He like, used me to unveil the pleasure of a woman that he never had had before, and even worse than that, I found the journal.”

“The journal?” I asked worriedly. It didn’t even take Jessie’s sad tone of voice to know that the journal wasn’t a good thing.

“It was a leather bound book full of pictures of his past girlfriends. I saw pictures of people that I had never met before. They were all beautiful woman, who had names like Margherita, Maggie, Denise, Flora, Sarah, Teresa, Brooke... I even saw a Mike, Kevin, and Adam. The book was labeled ‘Past Loves.’”

I was surprised. I never suspected Alexander of being gay. I let Jessie continue speaking.

“Each of Alexander’s past loves had a page reserved all for themselves. On every page, there was a man that the girl (or guy) was very close to, such as a friend, a brother, or an uncle. I took a closer look at the pictures of the males, and their names. All of their pictures were scribbled on, and the man was dead. I flipped towards the end of the book, where I found a picture of myself. He had written every single one of my flaws, such as my “small boobs” and my “stupid Indian heritage”. I was heartbroken, but I was mortified when I saw that the male for me was a picture of my Uncle Lewis. My uncle wasn’t dead. I realized immediately that Alexander was going to kill him.”

Jessie broke down sobbing, and I wanted to console her but I was frozen in pure terror. According to Jessie’s account, Alexander was a maniac. He was a maniac, and was going to kill someone in my life. I thought of Jessie’s note, the one in my locker, especially the PS. I’m terrified. I’m scared. Assure Me. The sentence kept repeating over and over in my head. What did it mean? And suddenly it all came together. I looked at the first letters of each word in the PS. I’m terrified. IT. I’m scared. IS. Assure Me. AM. IT IS AM. AM: Alexander Margon.



 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN



Alexander was supposed to come over my house. I could hardly wait. He was going to kill a male in my life that I was close to. There were a lot of males in my life. What was I supposed to do?

I frantically paced back and forth in my bedroom. I didn’t know what to say when Alexander got here. Would I accuse him outright of being a witch and a murderer? Or would I wait for the perfect chance? I decided to go along with that. I found myself concentrating so hard that I was crying. Furiously, I wiped the tears from my eyes. There was no point in crying over a guy I had been with for less than a month. People say that they don’t believe in love at first sight, but with Alexander, I truly did. I didn’t want to go this far and stop now. I was going to have to. The knock on my front door made me jump.

It wasn’t hard to believe, but Alexander was gorgeous with his cut hair. My heart pounded in my chest, and skipped a beat. I wanted to forgive him. I wanted to pretend that everything that Jessie had told me was a lie. Alexander was too cute to be bad. Dangerously cute. However, me pretending wouldn’t save that unlucky guy in my life.

“Hi Alexander.” I said, hugging him, and going along with my plan. He kissed me, and I had a hard time believing that it was a lie. He took my hand, and we walked up the stairs to my bedroom. We got into our usual positions: me on the bed, and him on the bean bag chair on the floor.

“Listen, Alexander, there’s something important that I have to tell you.”

He smiled at me. “There’s something important that I have to tell you.”

“You go first.”

Alexander took a deep breath. “I’m going to be leaving you. I’m going to California for a few days. My mom lives and works there.”

“Who do you live with here?” I asked, confused.

“My father.” Alexander replied. I thought about it. He had never mentioned anything about his father to me since we’d started dating. “And my aunt Sophie Kane.”

Who the hell was Sophie Kane? He had never mentioned anything about Sophie Kane either. Thinking about it, I had never even been to his house before.

“Alexander, you lied to me.” I said softly.

“How did I lie to you?”

“You said you lived in Washington, but you’ve been living in California your entire life. Why’d you say you were from Washington?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “Kennedy, do I seem like the type of guy that’d be from California? What do I seem like to you, Kennedy McCarron? What am I to you?”

A totally hot compulsive liar. I thought to myself, but didn’t say anything out loud. Alexander kept on talking. “Kennedy, your name is entirely Irish, but you y-you you’re from Jamaica! You’re not who I think that you are, Kennedy!” I didn’t say anything. We just stared at each other.

Alexander got up from the bean bag chair. I thought that he was going to leave, but instead he sat on the bed next to me, and put his arm around my shoulder the same way JC did. He leaned in and kissed me.

“Alexander, we can’t –” I protested, but my words were muffled by his lips.

“Baby, we’ve done a hell of a lot worse than this.”

I smiled, laughed sort of, and agreed with him. Even if he was a psychopathic killer, I liked knowing he was being affectionate towards me.

His lips met mine again. “Honey, you can trust me. I love you.”

“I do believe you, I trust you.” I lied. He rolled me over so I was underneath him, and he began undoing the buttons on my shirt, revealing my bra. “But you did lie though.”

“How did I lie?” He asked me, his voice deep and sexy.

“You told me... that you weren’t in a relationship with Jessie. But you were... in California.” I said. It was hard to speak, because Alexander kept interrupting me with his passionate kisses.

“Did she tell you that?” Alexander asked. He was shirtless, his chest defined, and his six-pack abs tan and rock hard, just as I remembered. He pulled the sheets of my bed over us, giving us a little bit of much-needed privacy. He fully pulled my shirt over my head, throwing it on the floor.

“Well, I was at her house yesterday, and she told me that you two met the summer before junior year, so almost two years ago. She told me that you two had sex. In California. She told me that you had sex with a lotta girls, Alexander.”

Alexander laughed and kissed me harder and more passionately than before. He suddenly sat up. “Kay, look at me. Just look at me. I’m gorgeous, ain’t I?”

“Yes, but –”

“I haven’t been having sex with everyone I go out with, Kay, in fact, I’ve only had sex with three different people. Jessie, Brooke, and now you.”

“You’re bi, Alexander. Jessie told me the three guys you dated. Mike, Kevin, Adam.”

His attitude suddenly changed. He sighed deeply and ran his fingers through his spiky hair. “I was hoping you wouldn’t find out about that. They were the first people I had ever officially dated. Mike was when I was fourteen. Adam and Kevin were both when I was fifteen. But by my sophomore year, I realized that I felt way more attracted to girls than I was to guys. I was fifteen when I first started dating Margherita Morales. She was nineteen, and the first girl I had ever kissed. My first kiss was with Mike in eighth grade. I haven’t been with a guy since. But my sexual orientation doesn’t matter, you’re not a homophobe, I hope. Are you, Kennedy?” He didn’t even give me a chance to answer. He began pulling down my pants, putting his body close to mine. I couldn’t believe that I wasn’t resisting him. When I first met Alexander, I wanted him to be the guy that I lost my virginity to. Now, he wasn’t that same guy, but I knew that I was definitely about to make love with him.

“You didn’t care about who you dated. You just wanted to kill those males in their lives!” I yelled. He just seemed to ignore me and kissed me harder. “Stop kissing me, Alexander, and tell me the truth. Who in my life are you going to kill?”

Alexander was having fun. He was in a pleasurable mood, stripping me, in an excited state of mind.

“I love you, Kennedy...” He mumbled.

“No you don’t!” I snarled.

“No, Kennedy, you don’t understand! I didn’t love those other girls! I love you...”

“Alexander...” tears began rolling down my cheeks again. “How can I believe you?”

He kissed me, and my cheeks, tasting the salt on my lips. “You told me you would always trust me and that you would always believe me.” Alexander said softly. It sounded like he was crying, but I knew he wasn’t.

“Alexander, I know you’re a witch.” He kissed me again, and I (ugh!) kissed him back. We were going to have sex, this wasn’t the time or the place to argue. He smiled at me and stared lovingly into my eyes. What if he was telling the truth, and what if he did love me? What if Jessie was lying and he didn’t murder all those people? I needed to get back to reality. No more what ifs. He had already confessed. “Alexander, you’re a witch and a morbidly compulsive liar.”

He laughed. “No I’m not.”

“See!” I yelled, furiously. “You’re lying right now!”

“I’m not lying, Kay.” His dreamy voice was cold and heartless. “I’m not the witch, you are. I’m the Witch Hunter. And right now, baby, you’re mine.”

I tried to scream, but Alexander cupped his hands over my mouth, and passion overcame us both. Even though I didn’t think so, getting it on with Alexander was very passionate. It was the same passion that Alexander had for me in the car on the highway after getting Taco Bell. It was the same passion that he had for me when we made out on my bedroom floor. It was the same passion that I had for him before I learned the truth about him, and it was the same passion that he had for murder.

This time, I knew the absolute truth about him, and he knew the absolute truth about me, and that passion Alexander had for me had just taken away my seventeen year old virginity. I was overwhelmed by all that passion, and by the fact that I had just screwed around with a Witch Hunter. I hadn’t even thought of the nerve to force Alexander out of my bed and out of my life.

“This is not over, Kennedy McCarron.” Alexander said ominously. “This is just the beginning.”

I stared at him in pure revulsion and shock, and he put his shirt back on. “Just the beginning.” He repeated.

At that moment, Darius walked in. Glass shattered all over my room, and just wearing a white polo shirt and boxers, Alexander crashed backwards through the window.

Darius stared at me, his jaw wide open, and not saying anything. I looked down at Alexander’s pants. On top of his faded jeans was a slip of paper with Alexander’s handwriting.

32 Cummins Road, San Diego, CA