Chapter 3

THE BOOK

A shadow fell over me.

I was sitting on the cement bench that circled around one of the old oak trees on the school campus. I lowered the book I had in one hand and looked up, a plastic fork still in my mouth. I pulled it out, chewed the bite of baked potato, and swallowed it.

"Is that all you're having for lunch?" Magnus asked.

It had been a week since the talent show, and almost every time I looked at him in the middle of class he had been looking at me. I didn't know what to do about that, but it made my heart race every time.

And now he was standing right in front of me, a book clenched between his hands, its crisp edges advertising its newness, a direct contrast to the tattered edges of the smaller paperback I held in my hand. I bet if I put it to my nose it would smell like fresh ink and paper.

My brain took a moment to register his question.

I looked down at my half eaten baked potato and soda.

"It's only a dollar," I said. "If I get the meal it is five dollars."

"Your parents only give you a dollar for lunch a day?" he asked, his eyebrows creasing together.

I shook my head.

"They give me twenty a week," I said.

"So you eat the full lunch meal three times a week and a baked potato the rest?" he asked.

Why was he asking me so many questions about my lunch? We joked around in the after school board game club, especially when I was kicking his butt in a game of Risk, but he never asked me questions about myself. I spent more time glancing at him across classrooms than we did talking.

I shook my head again.

"I like baked potatoes," I said. "I keep the extra money. I needed it to buy stuff."

Like my camping gear so I could summon my familiar properly. I had to save for quite some time, but it was worth it. I was getting out of this shit place and going somewhere better.

I was going to school in a realm of magic.

Magnus thrust the book towards me.

I reached out and took it, admiring the smooth white cover. I lifted it to my nose. It smelled exactly the way I thought it would - the glorious smell of a new book straight from a bookstore.

"It's my favorite book," he said.

Then he walked off.

I ran my hand over the words on the cover - Catch 22.

I opened the front cover.

Inside was a handwritten note.

Dear Lumi,

Thank you for being my friend. I don't really know how to express what it meant to me when you invited me camping right after what happened. You are really special to me. I know we're going to college soon, and this chapter in our lives is coming to an end, but I wanted to give you my favorite book. I see you reading a lot, so I hope you like it.

With affection,

Magnus

I held the book to my chest and looked up to see if he was anywhere I could spot him.

But he wasn't.

He'd just given me a present with a heart smashing personal note that made me feel confused and flushed and hopeful, and then ran away.

Gia plopped down on the bench next to me, a half eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich in her hand.

"What did Magnus want?" she asked. "To ask you to prom?"

She giggled at that, and a flash of rage rushed through me.

I pressed my lips together and shook my head, clutching the book tighter against my chest.

"He is nice. You shouldn't make fun of him," I said.

"Ooooo, Lumi and Magnus, sitting in a tree," she sang out.

"Stop it Gia." I put the book in my lap and grabbed my potato. I'd eaten most of the inside, so now I took the shell of the skin and began taking bites out of it.

"I don't know why you eat the skin. It doesn't taste good." Gia wrinkled her nose.

"I'm hungry." I shrugged.

"If you're hungry you should get the full meal." Gia pinched my arm. "You're nothing but skin and bones."

"I'm fine," I said, grabbing the can of soda. The caffeine really helped me not fall asleep after lunch.

"Do you have any more doodles?" Gia asked. She leaned back towards the base of the tree and grabbed my backpack, pulling my notebook out of it. "I think you should send Nolan the one you made of his character."

I snatched it out of her hands.

I didn't want her to open it.

There were too many sketches of Magnus.

Instead, I flipped the pages, showing her only the drawing she wanted to see, making sure to keep the other pages firmly in my grip. If she found out I liked Magnus, she wouldn't let it go. She was the type to just run over and tell him. I knew she thought she was being helpful, but I didn't want that.

Though, maybe I did.

No. If she told him I liked him, he wouldn't go camping with me.

He would be creeped out by the weird girl in baggy clothing who invited him to spend the night together in the same sleeping bag. If he knew how much I thought about him, how every time he met my eyes it left a little thrill of something burning in me, like a breath of fresh air on a smoldering ember - if he knew all that, he wouldn't want me.

Would he?

Realization washed over me.

If I wasn't going to see him ever again, then it didn't matter.

I could tell him that I liked him, and if he rejected me, so what?

"Nolan's character is so hot." Gia sighed. "But he looks familiar."

I pulled the notebook back, looking down at the dashing looking fellow. I'd given the character Magnus's hair, but I had added a significant amount of bulk and shape to the body. Nolan had well defined shoulders and biceps, the long ninja pirate cloak floating open to both display and hide parts of his body. He had a broad chest, a little beard on just his chin, and two horns arching out of his forehead. His smile radiated a genuine warmth that touched his eyes.

I'd put too much of Magnus into the character drawing.

I closed the notebook.

"He's just familiar because you've read Nolan's character description," I said, trying to play it off.

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

"We're going prom dress shopping tomorrow," Gia said. "Your mom told my mom that you could go with us, but I thought you weren't going to prom."

"I'll go shopping." I flushed and shook my head at the same time. My parents didn't even know I went camping the first time - they thought I'd slept over at Gia's house. If my parents found out I was going camping with some guy I barely knew, my dad would shout and take away my camping gear.

He probably would break all of it like he did to everything that upset him.