Silvery-Edged Black Cloud

“Why isn’t she back yet?” I ask, pacing around her house in circles.

“She was in a deep one this time, Mel,” Martin says tiredly, looking like he hadn’t slept in days. “All we can do is wait.”

“Why don’t we just call up the Witches?! Maybe that Jake guy can get her out of it.”

“NO!!!” Martin yells, snapping awake. Looks like Alison told him.

“What’s wrong with Jake? He seems like a good kid,” Kevin says, shrugging. “I had that elective period with him. He speaks Greek.”

“Yes, your Italian-Greek-Romanian-Spanish-French-English-American ass is impressed by a warlock whose power matches Alison’s,” I say sarcastically. “He’s the most powerful warlock, Kevin, of course he knows Greek.”

“Still pretty imressive,” he grumbles. “What’s wrong with Jake?”

“Come here,” I say, standing on my tiptoes. Kevin leans his head down, and I whisper it in his ear.

“What?!” Kevin yells angrily. “I’m gonna kill him now.”

“You are aware that she’s pregnant, right?” I ask, hands on hips. “At least a month in, too.”

“How can you tell?”

“She’s been PMSing for the past month now. That, and she’s been crying. When was the last time Alison cried?”

“When Martin knocked her up with Mary and Alec.” He thought it over a moment, before realization finally hit him. “Oh.”

“There we go,” I say, rolling my eyes. “But, Jake’s probably been in a couple of trances. Maybe he’ll know what to do.”

“I don’t trust him,” Martin grumbles.

“Alison wasn’t lying when she said you get jealous easily,” I say teasingly. “But, Martin, she could be like this for who-knows-how-long. She has to eat.”

“Melody’s right. I’ll ask him about it at school tomorrow,” Kevin says, shrugging, “He won’t come anywhere near her.”

♠ ♣ ♠

My phone started ringing suddenly during lunch, my current obsession playing …

“I’ll do whatever you like
I’ll do whatever you like
I can do, I can do
I do, I do whatever you like …”

I quickly pull out my cell-phone, checking the collar ID to be sure it wasn’t Josh. Not that he calls me.

“Hello,” I say confusedly, not recognizing the number.

“Yeah, is this the slut?”

“Get a life,” I growl, ending the call quickly. Apparently Josh started a rumor about me being a whore. Things spread surprisingly fast. That’s the tenth time today.

“What was that about?” Dylan asks, obviously noticing my ticked expression.

“Nothing,” I snap angrily.

“You’ll be wishing you told them that Josh started a rumor saying that you had sex with him and Kevin later,” Sophie says, smirking. “You’ll love me for this.”

“What the hell is his problem?!” Dylan yells, standing up furiously. That’s my best friend for yah.

“I don’t give crap.”

“Who are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Melody I know doesn’t take crap from guys. She’d be thinking of ways to get back at Josh.”

“Alright, fine. Give me a second. This should be fun …” I say, looking around. “Now, who do I know here —”

“Go with Christian,” Sophie says, smiling. “He’s a close cousin.”

“Where’s he? Who’s he?” I ask, skeptical.

“I’ll go get him.” Sophie was gone before I got to protest, leaving me slumping in my seat.

“I’ve got the feeling that this wasn’t such a good idea.”

“Nah, Christian’s cool. He’s on the football team. He’s fast,” Dylan says.

“Good. Then I can kick his butt when I need to.”

“See, Christian! I told you Melody was beautiful!” Sophie says, making me jump in my seat. I turn around, seeing a tall blonde boy with pale blue eyes. He was tan, with a slender, but obviously muscled build. He definitely looked fast.

I stood up, smiling at him. I move strands of my hair behind my war, looking up at him in the friendliest way I could manage. “Hi, I’m Melody.”

“Christian. Are you sure you’re Rose’s sister?”

“Rose is what everyone calls Alison in our family. It refers to her gift,” Sophie says, rolling her eyes. “Like everyone calls me Angel.”

“Sooo … who’s Josh?” Christian asks uncomfortably.

“Don’t worry, you’ll find out,” I say, smirking.

♠ ♣ ♠

Christian was staying over at my house. We were just talking. But, right now, he was helping me with some of my homework. Is it just a witch-thing to be really smart?

“What’s your favorite color?” Christian asks. I was reading Call of the Wild by Jack London. It’s not that bad. A little old, but pretty good.

“Hot pink and neon blue. What about you?”

“Dark green. Favorite food?”

“Crab legs. What’s your full name?”

“Frederick Christian Longley. But, most people call me Christian. When were you born?”

“June 14th, 1996. Have you ever had a girlfriend?”

“Yep. Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

“Yep. Josh is my ex, actually. What do you wanna do someday?”

“I wanna be a doctor like my mom. Rosie’s aunt Maggie. What did you wanna do before you died?”

“I wanted to be in the Olympics someday. Then I just wanted to travel the world, helping people in need. How old were you when had your first kiss?”

“Thirteen. Rosie was visiting her mom when I bumped into her. Our lips managed to touch in the process. I know, stupid since she was dating my brother.”

“You kiss Alison?”

“Yeah, but it was by accident! I didn’t mean to! It happened before she dated Martin. How old were you during your first kiss?”

“Fourteen. Josh woke me up in the middle of the night.”

“You’ve been dating him since you were fourteen?”

“No. Then he kidnapped me. We started dating around the same time Alison and Martin did.”

“Oh.”

“Then four months later we broke up. Then ten years later we started dating again.”

“But, that would be recently, right? Martin and Rosie have been together for like, ten years.”

“Yeah. Everyone says I’m supposed to be with Kevin.”

“You two seem perfect for each other. Do you like him?” I stayed silent. I didn’t really want to answer this question. “I won’t tell anyone. I tend to keep to myself as it is.”

“Well … yeah. I like Kevin. But … he’s complicated. One minute, we could be having a full-blown make-out session. The next we’ll be going at each other’s throat. Then we’ll be laughing like bet friends. Usually we’re either arguing or acting like best friends.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t seem like the lovable type.”

“No, he’s really sweet. He’s just really …”

“Really what?”

“Look, Kevin’s just complicated. But, even though he seems really scary, he’s a really amazing guy underneath.”

“I bet someone’d have to dig pretty deep to find that out.”

Maybe, I think, but he’s worth it.