Charm

"What would you like for your birthday, Elaine?"

"I'm not sure, but I've really been wanting a new charm for my bracelet."

"What charm do you want?"

"The one that comes from you, Warren!"

"That's really sweet of you, Elaine. I'll be sure to get you the best charm there is!"

"That would be wonderful."

Chapter 1: The Charming New Girl

"Hello, class! We have a new student here for 11th grade. I'm sure you've seen her walking through the hallways, so I hope you gave her a nice welcome. Would you like to come up here and introduce yourself, Elaine?"

The teacher was so cheerful that day. In such a small town, we hardly ever got a new student. The most students we had in a class was around 10. Even if we were a bigger school, we still would've been excited for her arrival. She changed everything for the better, and for the worse.

Elaine nodded, and stepped up to the teacher's stand, "Hello, everyone!" She began to introduce herself, "I'm Elaine Allard. I really hope we can all be friends!" She said with a sweet smile. She was so charming, no one suspected a thing.

As she walked down the aisle to a vacant seat, everyone noticed her sparkling bracelet. It was a large charm bracelet with five charms. After class, everyone asked her about it. She showed it to every student, and we were all amazed.

The first charm was a music note with the name 'Sprita Davis.' The second charm was a football with the name 'Sanford Norton.' The third charm was a paint pallet with the name 'Ezekiel Ayers.' The fourth charm was a baby with the name 'Robin Wallace.' The final charm was a book with the name 'Emmaline Gully.'

One girl asked where she got the charms, to which she replied, "They were given to me by some of my very special friends from my old school." She had a sad look on her face, and we all noticed.

While walking down the hallway, my close friend, Davy, pulled me over, making sure Elaine didn't see. "That girl, Elaine, there's something off about her," he said with an extremely serious look on his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Davy. She looks normal enough to me. There's even something about her that makes me want to be around her," It would appear that I had a crush on her at the time. This ended up being a bad decision on my part.

"Warren, you don't understand. Emmaline Gully was murdered the day before Elaine got here," he was still looking around cautiously to make sure Elaine wasn't within earshot.

"So? She could've died after she gave the charm to Elaine, that would explain why she looked so sad," I was trying to give a reason to everything he said.

"All five of those people were murdered in the past month," He looked worried, scared, even. That was unusual for him, at our school, everyone knew him as the bravest student in school.

"You're just being paranoid, I'm sure Elaine didn't have anything to do with it," I just shrugged off everything he said like it was no big deal. In reality, I should've believed every word.

I continued walking down the hallway, when I got pulled over again. Thinking it was Davy again, I yelled, "Go away, Davy! I don't want to hear any of your nonsense!" Only to find out that it was Elaine who pulled me over. I rubbed the back of my neck, "Sorry about that, Elaine."

"It's no big deal," she smiled her bittersweet smile once more, "I was just hoping to get to know you. I've been going around talking to everyone."

"Oh yeah, sure! For starters, I'm Warren Terres, it's nice to meet you," I foolishly put out my hand for her to shake.

She took my hand and shook it firmly, "It's nice to meet you, too!"

I blushed slightly, "W-would you like to go to the café? We can keep talking there."

She nodded her head, "That would be lovely."

Chapter 2: Her Lucky Charm

We made our way to the nearby café. I ordered gray tea, and Elaine ordered a biscuit and milk. "So Elaine? What do you like to do?"

"Well, I like to play card games. My favorite hobby would have to be collecting charms, though," she took a drink of her milk.

"The charms you have are really pretty," I smiled a goofy smile.

"Thanks," she said as she looked at her bracelet.

"Wh-when's your birthday? Mine's November 2nd, Scorpio," I took a sip of my tea.

"February 17. I'm an Aquarius," she smiles sweetly.

"That's tomorrow, isn't it?" I question as I sip my tea.

She nods and takes a bite out of her biscuit.

"Is there anything that you'd like?" I ask her, blushing slightly.

"I'm not sure, but I've really been wanting a new charm for my bracelet," she holds up her bracelet, and the charms jingle.

"What charm do you want?" I blush just a bit more.

The one that comes from you, Warren!" She laughs her bittersweet laugh.

"That's really sweet of you, Elaine. I'll be sure to get you the best charm there is!" I blush a lot now.

"That would be wonderful," she sips her last sip of milk.

Chapter 3: Getting the Charm

After our meeting, I ran straight to the jewelry store. I found a charm that was the letter 'E'. I got my name engraved on it, so it would match her other charms. It was kind of expensive, but if it was enough to impress her, I didn't care.

I was walking as if I were dazed. I was imagining my future with Elaine. Us talking, holding hands, even kissing! I knew it was just a silly daydream, but oh, how I wish it were real. I jumped into my highly decorated car. It was spray painted light blue, with silver streaks on each side.

Once I got home, my mom asked me about my day. As usual, I just said, "Good." She laughed, I now assume that she realized my star struck expression.

I walked up the stairs to my room. Inside, was my car-filled personal space. I've always been obsessed with cars. Even as a 17 year old, I had a race car bed, and several hot wheels. My walls were filled with car posters. I had always marveled at the engineering of cars.

I set Elaine's charm on my desk and continued to daydream. Suddenly, I hear the phone ring. It's an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Hi! Is this Warren?"

It's Elaine! "Hi, Elaine! Yes, this is Warren. How'd you get my number?"

"Phonebook."

That makes sense, "Oh, ok! Was there any reason in particular you wanted to call me?"

"I just wanted to hear your voice," she giggles.

I blush, "That's really sweet!"

She laughs again, "I was wondering if you could meet me after school at the café again tomorrow."

"Couldn't you have asked me at school tomorrow?" I'm kind of confused now.

"Well, I'll be made an official student tomorrow, so they have to do some stuff. I'm sure it'll be really boring, so I was hoping that you could cheer me up for my birthday."

I blush even harder, "Y-y-yeah! I'd be glad to meet you tomorrow! I could give you your birthday present then too!"

"That'd be great, I'll see you then!"

The phone clicks as she hangs up. I'm lying on my bed, daydreaming about tomorrow, when mom calls me and tells me that dinner's ready. I come down, and dad's already there. I must not have heard him come home.

"Hey dad," I say as I walk down the stairs.

"Hey there, son. How was school?" He looks up from his newspaper. He gets up early in the morning, so he doesn't get a chance to read it until later.

I give the same response I always give mom, "Good."

Mom whispers something in his ear and he laughs. I roll my eyes and sit down at the table. Mom brings back three plates of my favorite, fettuccini alfredo. We don't usually get to eat it, because my little sister, Raia, is lactose-intolerant. She's having a sleepover at her friend's house, so we get a special treat.

After we eat, I go to my room and lie on my bed. Most nights I would dream about race cars or something like that. Not tonight, though. Tonight I'm dreaming about the new girl that charmed her way into my heart.

Chapter 4: A Charming Ending

I wake up at my usual time, 6:30. I take a shower, gel my hair back, and eat some toast. By the time I finish my toast, it's time to head to school. I was loathing the day ahead, wishing it were Friday, until I realized my plans that night. I remember my phone call with Elaine, and am immediately cheered up, thinking about our 'date' tonight.

I'm halfway to school when I realize that I left Elaine's charm on my desk. "Crap!" I start speeding in the opposite direction so I won't be late. As soon as I get home, I run inside the door, not even bothering to reply to whatever mom said. I run up the stairs and almost trip. I grab the charm and I'm out of the door.

Surprisingly, I ended up making it to school on time. I get to homeroom right before the bell rings. I don't see Elaine, so I assume that she's already at the office.

During the day, I barely focused. All I could think about was tonight. I was thinking about what to say, wondering if I should try to find her and take her to the café in my car. There were so many things to think about, and algebra wasn't one of them.

Finally, school ended. I saw Elaine in the hallway, so I went up to her, "H-hi Elaine!"

"Hey there, Warren!" She smiles.

"I was wondering if you'd like me to take you to the café in my car?" I ask her nervously.

"That'd be great!" She laughs.

I take her hand, and lead her out the school doors to my car. She laughs as I pull her across the parking lot. I open her door for her and she gets in. I then run over to the other side and get in myself. I look over and she's smiling.

I start driving until we get to the café. I park in the small parking lot and look over at Elaine. She's blushing quite a bit, and I wasn't sure why.

"Warren," she looks nervous.

"Y-yeah?" I'm now nervous as well.

She looks right at me and unbuckles her seatbelt, I follow suit. She starts to lean over the arm rest, the only thing between us. She pulls me to her and kisses me. I was so excited and surprised, I didn't know what to do. I just sunk into it and kissed her back.

About a minute later, she pulls back. "We really shouldn't be doing this..." I have a sort of sad look on my face, "...in the car." I have a confused look now.

She gets out of the car, and I do the same. She motions for me to follow her, so I do. I didn't know what she was doing, but I really shouldn't have followed her. I didn't know any better at the time, so I did what she said.

Soon, we find ourselves in front of a shed. She opens the door, and it looks bright enough. That is, until she closed the door. It's pitch black, and I wasn't sure what she was going for. I'm extremely nervous now, the only light is a faint light from the window.

I can see something shining by what I assume was Elaine's hand. I just figured it was her bracelet.

I was wrong.

She came up to me, I can still see the shining object. She starts to kiss me again, when I feel a sharp pain in my back.

Elaine opens the door a crack, partly so she can see what she's doing, and partly so I can see what's going on.

She has a knife in her hand, which is what I now assume the shining object was.

There's now something else that's shining on the palm of her other hand.

It's a charm.

A car charm, with the name...

Warren Terres.