Forest Secrets

“What happened last night?” Andrea groaned from her bed on the other side of the room, I had a pounding headache and was really feeling the effects of last night.

“A good time apparently.” I muttered getting up and opening the fridge, I grabbed my orange juice and poured myself a glass and put it up to my forehead. The cool glass felt good against my throbbing headache.

“Did those guys ever text you back?”

I checked my phone and didn’t see a single text message, “Nope, thankfully. That Matt guy was a creep, and his friend Jordan was even worse.”

“Tell me about it, he wouldn’t leave me alone all night. The shit we do for free drinks.” She laughed checking her phone for any unwanted texts.

We had a blast at the party, there were so many people there and we got in for free because Andrea knew some people. As well as she was a natural flirt so we got free drinks most of the night as well, and got to play some pool and dance. My feet hurt, and every muscle in my body ached like I had just ran a marathon, but it was worth it.

“I am so hungry, let’s go down to the cafeteria for breakfast.” Andrea said putting on a sweater and brushing through her hair quickly.

“I’m not sure my stomach can handle food right now, but I’ll come down with you and munch on something small. My stomach doesn’t handle hangovers well.”

“My dad always told me that nothing cures a hangover better than a greasy breaky!”

I just groaned and laughed as we made our way down to the cafeteria still in our pajamas.

“Oh my, are those the guys from last night?” I questioned sneaking a glance at the two boys from last night standing ahead of us in line. “I knew I should have changed.”

“Oh shit, it is.”

As she said that they turned and looked our way and smiled big grins, we both looked at each other and rolled our eyes. One of the guys named Jordan walked up to us.

“Hey ladies, have a good night?” He had this obvious player attitude to him and Andrea and I both were not about to fall for it, he was well built and had brown hair that was short and spikey.

“You were there, were you not?” She remarked sassily.

He just made a face and went back and stood with his friend Matt who obviously whispered about us the entire time. Andrea ordered her food and we stood off to the side to wait for it.

“I’ll share my bacon and toast with you.”

“You are too kind.” I laughed as she collected her meal and we went and sat down at the side of the cafeteria only to be joined by the two boys.

“Seriously.” I muttered.

“Oh c’mon now you love the company.” Matt laughed taking a mouthful of a bacon and egg breakfast burrito.

“Look, just because we flirted with you last night does NOT mean we are interested in talking to you today. Where you born yesterday? Scram!” Andrea shoed them away and went back to eating her meal.

“Damn, I got a girlfriend anyway.” Jordan retorted as he walked away.

“Congradumafuckinglations, now get lost.” She rolled her eyes. “Men I swear.”

“Yup.”

“So, I think we should get some grocery shopping done today because classes start tomorrow and we probably won’t have time to this week.” She said pulling up a notepad on her phone to make a list of what we needed.

I was listening to her but I also felt someone’s at staring at the back of my head, I tried to ignore it but it felt like they were piercing through me.

“Joshua Parsons keeps staring at you; he’s sitting near the back. Don’t turn around but he hasn’t gotten his eyes off of you since we walked in here.” Andrea observed.

“What does he want from me, I accidently bumped into him one time now every time I see him I get nothing but glares from him.”

“Why don’t you….I don’t know, talk to him?” She suggested laughing.

“No way, like you said he keeps to himself. Besides, he’s a little weird.”

“I’m sure he’s just interested in you.” She shrugged finishing up the eggs on her plate. “I got the extra bacon for you, eat it.”

I took a piece of bacon off her plate and munched on it slowly while contemplating on what to do about Joshua Parsons, on one hand I wanted to talk to him to learn what his deal is but on the other he seemed menacing, like he had secrets. And I wasn’t certain if I wanted any part in that.

“We should get going, it’s almost noon. We should check the student site for our schedules.” I said getting up to leave the cafeteria.

**********************************************************

“Dammit, I have an 8:30 class on Monday mornings.” Andrea complained as she looked over her schedule. “But look, we have the same electives on Tuesdays at 3.”

“Would you look at that, we in fact do!” I excitedly replied as I compared our schedules, it would be nice having someone that I knew in one of my classes.

“But 8:30 though, please kill me.” She moaned making a fake gun with her fingers and pretending to shoot herself, I just laughed at her melodramatic show.

“I have two 8:30 classes, and on Friday I have the afternoon off.”

“Have you got your textbooks yet?” She asked looking over her textbook list.

“Yeah, I picked them up the other day. 400$ for three text books, and I still need to get my art supplies. It’s kind of ridiculous.”

“Oh dear, I don’t even want to know how much mine will cost.”

In that moment my head started to pound an unfathomable pain, it felt as if a thousand knives where going through my skull. I put my hand to my head and let out a short cry. Andrea looked at me concerned.

“Are you okay?”

“Yea, just a headache, I’m probably still hungover.” I laughed it off but she eyed me like she wasn’t too sure that was the truth.

“Okey dokey smokey!”

***********************************************

“Wow, I cannot believe I spent that much money on text books. Thankfully I still have enough left over for groceries.” Andrea said as we made our way outside to catch the bus to the downtown grocery store.

“Where are you ladies off too?” An annoying voice behind us probed; sure enough it was Jordan standing there all smug with his black baseball cap.

“A little place called noneofyabuisness.” Andrea muttered glaring at the boy.

“Well, I’m heading downtown if you wanted a ride.” He was clearly just trying to hit on us, and neither Andrea nor I was having it.

“No thanks; we have these things called legs that also take us places. Now if you excuse us we have a bus to be catching.” I said glaring at him wanting him to go away.

*Buzz Buzz* I heard my phone going off in my pocket; it was a text from Taylor.

‘Great news, your uncle is doing very good. He should be out of the hospital by tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest!’

‘That’s great! Thanks for the update.’ I replied a sigh of relief that my Uncle was finally out of the woods.

“Nice comeback, I hope he leaves us alone. He did say he had a girlfriend, I hope he wasn’t making that up.” Andrea stated sitting down on the bench and waiting for the bus.

I looked around and took in what I could see of the city, it was beautiful. Many trees covered the area and there was lakes in rivers close in sight, a small little boardwalk was surrounding the park. People riding their bikes and walking their dogs, it was an amazing sight.

Just then the bus pulled up and Andrea got on first and showed me how to put my bus pass in the little slot on the bus, I was new to everything so I messed up at first. My cheeks flushed from embarrassment but the bus driver seemed okay with it and just chuckled alongside with me.

“New here my dear?” He laughed as I finally got the hang of it.

“Yes, and new to busses as well.”

“It will come naturally, I hope you settle in.”

Andrea walked to the back of the bus and let me sit in the window seat to check out more of the city as we made our way to the store. The city got a lot larger and we reached the downtown area, but my eyes wandered to a small path off in the distance and it lead into a forest area which was covered in darkness.

“Hey, what’s that over there?”

“Oh that? Of all things in this city and that’s what catches your eye?” Andrea laughed at my curiosity and I pouted making her laugh harder. “That’s the West Forest. Legend has it that those who enter will be pulled in and have to stay forever. But that’s just silly because people go in there all the time and people come out so, obviously it’s just a Legend.”

I thought back to all the warnings and dreams and wondered if the legend was truly just a legend, and I had this longing to explore the forest.

“Oh, well who knows; anything could be real these days.” I muttered, and suddenly Andrea pressed a little button on the bus that made a ‘dinging’ sound.

“Almost our stop, that’s what the button is for.” She said sensing that I was confused.

“Oh.”

She led the way off the bus and we stepped out onto the sidewalk, she pointed out a few things to me like small shops and other things. We walked into a big grocery store and I grabbed a shopping cart and followed her around.

“Alright, what do we need?” She asked me hoping for suggestions.

We walked around and started picking up some of what we needed, but basic things like milk and bread for now. Once we finished we had a decent amount to bring to the checkout.

Once all of our stuff was paid for and bagged we went out to the front to catch the bus to the mall, we only had about a bag each to be carried.

We walked to the bus stop and noticed that Joshua Parsons was standing there waiting, he gave us both a glare as we walked up to him.

“Hey there!” Andrea easily showed her bubbly side.

He had his headphones in and was blasting music and pretended not to notice her, she just turned to me and rolled her eyes.

“Tough crowd tonight.”

He took off his headphones and glared at her, “Excuse me?”

“So he speaks!”

“I’m not stupid.”

“Did I say you were?”

“Okay children settle down.” I intervened not wanting them to start actually fighting.

“Tell her that.” He muttered slipping his headphones back on over his ears tapping his feet along to the music he was listening to. He was noticeably handsome, his blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight and his hair blew over his nose occasionally. He had secrets about him, and unlike everyone else I was unable to read his mind.
“What are you staring at princess?” He snarled at me rudely. I stepped back from him and glazed my eyes to the floor. I didn’t want him to hate me.

“No-nothing…”

“Keep it that way.” Just then the bus pulled up and he quickly jumped on it and made his way to the back and put his legs up on the seat.

“Please tell me you don’t have a crush on that boy.” Andrea snickered as we sat down on the bus.

“I don’t, he’s just different.” I replied turning around and glancing at him slightly, he looked up at me and made a face.

“A different kind of asshole maybe.” She said pulling her phone out. “Okay so, at the mall we need to meet up with a friend of mine in the food court for 2:30, he’s got something of mine that I need.”

“Do I want to know what?” I asked.

“It’s not drugs if that’s what you’re thinking.” She laughed.

“That’s what someone who was picking up drugs would say.”

“Oh you!”

Just then Joshua Parsons walked up and sat on the seat opposite to us and looked right at me, I wasn’t sure what he wanted but he didn’t seem happy.

“Stop trying to read my mind, you can’t. Give it up.” He then rang the bell and got off the bus at the next stop.

“Wait, what did he mean by that? There’s no way you can read minds.” I didn’t want to tell her the truth, for the fear of being judged and thinking I was nuts. But I told her anyway and held my breath waiting for the laughter.

‘Read my mind, I’m thinking about dogs wagging their tails.’ She thought to herself and I burst out laughing.

“Really, dogs?”

“Oh my goodness, that’s so cool!” She said. “But why can’t you read his? What’s stopping you?”

“I really don’t know, and that’s not all I can do. If I concentrate hard enough –usually when I’m angry- I can move things too.” The truth was coming out in bits and pieces, and she actually believed me which was a first.

“Neato, that’s so cool.”

“It can be, but it can be a real pain. Knowing peoples true thoughts about me, it can usually end badly.” I told her reflecting on the memory of getting my father killed, but I kept that too myself.

“I understand, I’ll try not to think badly about you.” She laughed reaching over me to ring the bell to get off the bus.

The mall we were at was huge and had three floors; there were so many stores in it that I wanted so badly to explore.

“What time is it?” She asked not bothering to pull out her own phone.

“1:45.” I replied looking at mine, seeing I had a text from Jordan.

‘Where throwing a party tonight, wanna come?’

‘Who throws a party on a Sunday? Oh yea, my grandma.’

“Did he seriously just ask that?” She laughed when I showed her the text.

“Well I am not partying with him. Ever again.”

We entered a small shoe store and Andrea started looking at some new sneakers, I tried on a few things as well. She ended buying almost five pairs of shoes, I laughed as she went to the checkout.

“I have an addiction.”

“I can see that.”

“Okay so, food court; I’m hungry and my friend should be there soon. He said to meet him at McDonalds.” She said making her way there.

“Hey you.” I heard someone say sitting next to us as we started munching on our McDonalds.

“Christopher! Great to see you again, this is my friend Jewel she’s my roommate too!” She introduced me to her friend Christopher who was tall and lanky, he had light blond hair and hazel eyes.

“Nice to meet you!” He shook my hand and smiled.

“Did you bring it?” She asked quietly.

“Of course of course.” He said pulling out a small bottle from his jacket that had red liquid inside of it; I had no idea what it was.

“Great, thanks I owe you big time!” She hugged him and he took off in the mall meeting up with a big group of guys.

“Not drugs.” She said putting the bottle into her purse. “Its liquid magic, I know sounds silly. But you have your secrets and I have mine. I make these… potions, which can do things. Some are for luck some for romance and some for revenge.” She explained to me as I grew more curious.

“How long have you been doing this for?”

“About five years now, I found this book in my grandmother’s attic that had all sorts of recipes for spells. I made one and now I’m addicted, but you’ve got to promise you won’t breathe a word of it to anyone.” She enlightened me.

“I promise.” I told her reaching out my pinky.

“Seriously, a pinky promise? Whatever, it works too.” She laughed as we locked pinkies and swore that both of our secrets where safe.