Summer always seemed to end so much faster than it was expected to. Mai couldn’t believe that for the past few weeks she had been at a ‘leaders in training’ summer camp up in the mountains with people she’d never met before. It was almost like taking a step back through time to experience all the joys of nature and the comradery of living without technology. Mai liked it, but it was nice to be getting back to the lifestyle that she had always been accustomed to, and talk to the friends she’d missed for the past three weeks. She looked out of the window of her father’s car as they began their decent back into the real world.

Sadly none of her friends had wanted to join her on her expedition into leadership development with a place that couldn’t get internet access. She couldn’t blame them though, she found herself bored with the majesty of the same lake day after day. Mai sighed and fumbled through her duffle bag to find her cell phone. She hadn’t been allowed to use it at camp, but since the cabins had electricity and her counselor didn’t mind Mai had charged it before her father came to pick her up.

She tried not to think about camp anymore as she looked down at her cell phone which finally had a signal. There were at least a dozen messages that she missed, and several voicemails. She was going to start listening to them until her brother, Roy, began kicking the back of her seat.

“So did you have a boyfriend?” Roy asked mockingly.

Mai turned around in her seat and glared at him for a long while, wondering how to answer his question. She hadn’t met anyone, but she worried that saying so may cause her younger brother to harass her further. The truth was that she still had a crush on Aaron Brodvick, but seeing as he had just graduated she knew her chances of seeing him again in the city were slim.

“Both of you be nice,” their father said keeping his eyes on the wheel. “No death glares from my little lady, and no inappropriate questions from my man, okay?”

“It wasn’t inappropriate,” Roy said looking at his father in the rear view mirror. “I just want to know if Mai finally got over herself and got a boyfriend.”

“Maybe I did,” Mai said turning her face back towards the winding road. “For all I know he’s already sent me a friend request and we can make it official when I get home. That’s why I have to check my phone, dumb one.”

Roy started laughing. “So that’s a big no then?” He asked as he kicked her chair again.

Mai’s face started to get red. He could always tell when she was lying to him. Instead of trying to defend herself any longer she began reading all of the texts that she missed.

“Is mom going to be home?” Mai asked after a few moments of silence.

“She’s still up in Belmont,” Her father replied. “She sends her love though, and she should be home before school starts, I know she wants to take you clothes shopping for your big year.”

Mai thought that her father sounded a bit depressed as he answered her.

“You could always take me shopping dad, junior year isn’t really that important. I’m sure mom would understand. I love getting to hang out with you. She can help me pick out a homecoming dress or something later.”

“I got a job while you were up at camp,” Patrick replied. “Not anything fancy like what your mom does, but something to keep me sane now that all you kids are getting so big.”

“Did we need the money?” Mai asked putting her phone down. “Do I have to get a job too?”

“No honey,” her father said reassuringly. “It’s just, with Roy going into high school, you almost finished with it, and Ava in college, I need to get myself involved in some other activities. I can’t coddle you all forever.”

Mai bit her lip for a moment. She didn’t like the idea of her father working; he hadn’t worked since she could remember. Part of her feared that he would become just like her mother and be away from home for weeks at a time, but she tried to plaster on a fake smile anyway.

“It’s been great,” Roy said. “He started last week and I had the whole house all to myself. It made me realize how sweet it’s going to be when you graduate and move off to a university like Ava.”

“Don’t worry,” Patrick said. “I’ll still be your dad, and once school starts it won’t even feel like I’m gone. I’ll be home right around the time you kids get done, I just can’t make you breakfast anymore.”

“But your breakfasts are the best,” Mai said into her chest as she brought her legs up onto the car seat.

“It’s already started Mai,” Patrick said sternly.

After a long sigh she took her phone out again. It had been on silent and she missed a new text from her friend Norah.

It read, “Are you back yet? I can’t stand another day dealing with my sister’s nagging. I think I’m going to punch her in the throat.”

Mai giggled and began to text her back. “Still about half an hour away. I need a shower.”

“Who are you talking to?” Roy asked as he kicked her chair again.

“Who do you think?” Mai asked.

“Is it your boyfriend from camp?” Roy asked sarcastically.

Another text came in from Norah, it read, “Once your clean come over to my place, we have so much nexflix to watch. There’s a new season of Hemlock and I’ve been waiting on you.”

Mai replied, “KK.”

She then turned back around and looked at her brother with pure hatred in her green eyes. He swallowed loudly and averted her stare.

“I was just joking, god,” Roy said and began to look out of his window. “Take a chill pill.”

Mai plugged her phone into the AUX outlet and turned on her music in an attempt to drown out her little brother. It worked rather well, since the remainder of the trip he refrained from speaking to her, although he did continue to kick her seat from time to time.

When they arrived in the carport Patrick took Mai’s bag and walked it to the laundry room as she darted for the bathroom up the stairs.

“I’m only washing your clothes this one time, Mai,” Patrick called up to her. “After today you have to do it on your own.”

“Thanks dad, love you!” Mai yelled down at him before she closed the door to the bathroom and turned the hot water on.

It had been too long since she had enjoyed a long hot shower. While up at summer camp all of the campers were permitted only five minute showers, and more often than not the water was only lukewarm. She took her time to wash the soap off before putting in a second round of conditioner into her long black hair.

As she stepped out she had to use her towel to wipe the mirror. It had been too long since she had seen her thin almond shaped eyes and her thin lips clearly. She hesitated with the thought of putting on makeup to go over to Norah’s house.

Norah didn’t believe in wearing any makeup, but Mai thought she looked better with a nice foundation and eyeliner on at least. She didn’t usually bother with mascara because her lashes were small to begin with and she never felt like it did anything. In the end she decided against the foundation but still put on the eyeliner and a soft pink lip gloss.

“Can I borrow the car to go to Norah’s house?” Mai asked as she put her hair into a pony tail and began walking down the stair.

“You just got home,” Her father said in a clearly disheartened voice. “I thought we could go out to dinner and celebrate your return as a family.”

“Is Ava going to be there?” Mai asked looking into his hazel eyes.

“She was planning on it,” Patrick began, “but one of her coworkers called out sick, so she has to work tonight.”

“Why don’t we go to her work?” Mai asked.

“It’s another hour drive,” He stated. “I don’t even know if Ava’s work serves food. It’s a bar pumpkin.”

“Most bars serve food,” Mai rebutted.

“But not the kind of food you really want to eat,” Patrick said as he patted her on the head. “Let me take us somewhere nice. Ava promised to come to dinner when your mom’s in town. So it won’t be more than a week from now.”

“Alright,” Mai started. “Can I invite Norah to come? I mean if Ava was going to be here that would be one thing, but I don’t want to be the only girl at the dinner table.”

“I’d call her first and see if she’s interested,” Patrick said. “I don’t have a problem with it though, so if she’s free I’m happy to have her along.”

Mai whipped out her cell phone and began to call Norah. The phone rang three times before she picked up.

“Hey lady,” Norah’s voice said into Mai’s ear. “Are you on your way over?”

“So my dad wants me to go to dinner with the fam, you want to come?” Mai asked in excitement.

“Oh,” Norah said. “I mean I guess I could, sure. Are you going to pick me up or should I ride my bike over?”

“We’ll pick you up,” Mai said and then looked at her father for approval.

He nodded.

“Totally, we can be there in like five minutes,” Mai said.

“Okay, let me just slap on some better clothes,” Norah said before hanging up.

“Thanks dad,” Mai said. “I told her five, is that alright?”

“Should be, though it’s going to be a pretty early dinner at four don’t you think?” Patrick asked.

Mai looked at the time on her phone; sure enough it was only twenty till four. She smiled up at him and he rolled his eyes.

“Roy,” Patrick called down. “We’re getting food. Come on down.”

“It’s like four,” Roy said as he walked down the stairs.

“Are you not interested?” Patrick asked.

“No, I like to eat,” Roy replied. “Can we go to that pizza place off fifth ave?”

“It’s up to your sister,” Patrick replied.

“Akor, sushi all the way,” Mai said. “I haven’t had sushi in three weeks. We had pizza at least once a week up at camp.”

“There you have it,” Patrick said as he shuffled the two of them back into the car.

Norah had been waiting outside of her house in a green dress which buttoned up from the front. Her auburn hair had been braided in an effort to make it look less curly but the tips still frizzed out of control.

She opened the passenger door and sat next to Mai.

“How was camp?” Norah asked.

“It was okay, I missed seeing everyone though,” Mai answered. “I think you would have liked the lake.”

“I bet,” Norah said. “When you said it would be like camping I thought it would really be more like camping in a tent. If you had told me you had a cabin I may have asked my mom about it a bit more intently.”

“It’s all good,” Mai replied. “You’re hair looks so short.”

“It’s because I braided it when it was dry,” Norah replied. “It’s really just about the same length from the last time you saw it.”

“I thought you were cutting it,” Mai said.

“Not yet,” Norah responded.

“So I was talking to Jeremy and it seems that he just got a job at the movie theater,” Norah continued. “I’m thinking we need him to let us in for free, what do you think?”

“Jeremy got a job too?” Mai asked.

“Who else got a job?” Norah asked.

“I did,” Patrick replied as they pulled into the parking lot.

“Good for you,” Norah said. “My mom wants me to think about getting one too, but maybe not till my little sister settles into her first year at Shadow Cliff. You’re going to be a freshmen this year too, right Roy?” she asked.

Roy nodded before he closed his car door. Patrick made his way to the restaurant first and continued to hold the door open for all of them. They entered the small restaurant and were lead to their table. The restaurant was one of only two in the city that sported a conveyor belt sushi line and Mai always enjoyed watching the chef’s create the rolls before they were placed out.

“So tell me about your classes for this year,” Norah said. “I have choir, algebra one, chemistry one, lunch, humanities two, Spanish three, art design, and finally history.”

“Nice,” Mai began. “I have PE, honors physics two, history and econ, lunch, calculus and trig, humanities two, Spanish two, and finally fashion.”

“What,” Norah said. “I didn’t think we had calc and trig at our school…and wasn’t your English grade so low you had to take humanities one over?”

“I got a C- after my mom talked to the teacher,” Mai replied. “And yeah, we don’t have calculus and trigonometry at the school, so I have to take a bus to the community college on Veterans way.”

“Well that’s cool,” Norah said. “I guess. I mean it’s going to be weird to go to Aura Community and then have to come back here.”

“I think I can do it,” Mai said.

“Hello,” Roy said. “There are other people that you’re eating with. Maybe stop being girls for a bit and let the rest of us get a word in.”

Norah looked at Roy with her cold blue eyes for a moment, narrowing them slowly before she turned back to Mai.

“He’s right though,” Patrick said. “I’m sure Roy has a few things he’d like to tell all of us about. Ladies lets share the conversation equally for the table. I don’t like side conversations.”

Mai and Norah allowed the two men to begin talking for only a short while before starting up again.

“Britney is going to be in town on Monday,” Norah said. “I think she’s going to want to go shopping with us.”

“I think I have to wait for my mom,” Mai said. “I don’t know when she’ll be back from out of town.”

“She leaves more often than the sun sets,” Norah said jokingly.

The joke felt like a knife in Mai’s side. She tried to smile but Norah must have noticed what she had done.

“I’m sorry,” Norah spat out. “I just mean that I haven’t seen her much. But my mom works all the time too, you know. The hospital never closes.”

“Yeah,” Mai said. “But you can visit her when she’s working.”

“But I don’t,” Norah rebutted.

“It’s nice to not have parents ruining things,” Roy interrupted.

Norah smiled and gave a soft laugh. “Totally agree with you there.”

Patrick took a long breath and placed his hand on Mai’s shoulder.

“If your mom isn’t home by the end of the weekend I guess you can go out with your friends for clothes shopping,” Patrick said kindly. “It’s not the end of the world. She can still take Roy.”

“I don’t need new clothes,” Roy said.

They all looked at him for a moment. Mai laughed at the state of his shirt which somehow had gotten soy sauce on it. He averted his hazel eyes from her green ones but gave a slight smirk.

They finished dinner quickly and Patrick was kind enough to drop Norah back off at her house.

“Can Mai come in for a while Mr. Hunt?” Norah asked before she closed her door. “I really wanted us to catch up on some missed shows.”

Patrick turned to Mai, who was now making a puppy dog face back at him.

“I was hoping to have her at home for a little longer,” Patrick said.

“Well it’s on Netflix, I could just as easily get it streaming at your place,” Norah began. “My sister is spending the night at one of her friends so it’s just me.”

After an extended period of uncomfortable door holding Patrick gave in. He nodded and Norah get back into the car.

Mai had now forgotten entirely about the past three weeks she had spent up in the wooded forest near Lake Jessie. She was now focused on enjoying the last week she would have before the start of her junior year.

Mai had convinced her friends to wait until Friday to go to the mall, in an attempt to give her mother a chance at getting home, but sadly Airi still hadn’t returned from her trip. Sometimes Mai couldn’t understand what could be so attractive about being away from home for such long periods of time. When she was little she used to think that she had done something wrong and that was the reason that her mother couldn’t be still and live the way her father did. Now that she was older the hoped there was some other reason behind it.

School would be starting in three days with or without Mai’s mom though, and there was no way she could convince Jenna, Britney, and Norah to continue waiting.

Mai stared up at her white ceiling for a while as she lay in her double bed. She missed the smell of pancakes that her father would usually have cooked for her. As she rolled to her side she reached out towards her night stand and grasped her phone. It had finished charging, and let her know that it was almost nine. She needed to start waking up earlier if she was going to be ready for school.

She took the phone with her into the bathroom and began to wash her face. Mai didn’t usually have any issues with clogged pores, but since getting back from camp she had noticed a few black heads she’d like to have disappear before the first day of class.

As she silently walked across the hall towards the stairs Mai took a moment to look into her brothers room; he was still sleeping. She knocked on the frame of the door.

“Get up lazy bones,” Mai said. “It’s getting late, and you’ll want to have a normal sleep cycle by Monday.”

Roy groaned from under his covers and put his pillow over his head.

“I mean it,” Mai stated. “And if we’re on our own for breakfast that’s going to mean we have to get up even earlier.”

Roy flipped himself onto his stomach and continued to hold the pillow over his head. Mai contemplated entering his filthy room. There were littered pieces of clothing strewn about the floor, in addition to gaming magazines and one that like a rather adult magazine which Mai kicked under his bed. She took a deep sigh before sitting down on the bed.

“Get up,” Mai complained as she began shaking his shoulders from side to side.

Roy began making a variety of unsettling noises in response before he finally turned back onto his back. He lifted the pillow up slightly and groggily glared at her with his hazel eyes.

“It’s not even noon yet,” Roy said finally.

“I want to have breakfast with someone,” Mai said looking at him cheerfully.

“Then have it with one of your friends,” Roy replied. “Leave me out of it. If it isn’t school I’m not getting up.”

Mai didn’t like the idea of anyone sleeping in, but usually she had her father to help her get her siblings out of bed in the morning. Without him she felt less persuasive. She continued to sit on the bed, but couldn’t think of anything to say.

Roy took the pillow and hit Mai on the head jokingly.

“You’re too happy to be alive at a time like this,” Roy said. “Get out of my room and let me sleep.”

Mai got up.

“I guess I can’t force you,” She said once she reached the door again. “You’re on your own for food though.”

Roy grunted and put his pillow back under his head.

After eating alone Mai went into her room again and got dressed. She chose to wear a simple white shirt with a pair of dark denim jeans and a pair of toms to go out for the day. It was a simple outfit, but she liked being able to throw something on in a hurry and not worry if it looked alright. As she looked for her phone on the night stand she remembered that she had taken it into the bathroom.

It was her way of reminding herself that she still needed to brush her teeth. And when she was finished she glanced down at the blinking light on her screen. She had two unread texts, one from Norah and one from Jena.

Norah’s read, “Hey, we’re planning to meet up around noon at the pretzel shop.”

Jena’s was a bit less casual and read, “Mai, mall, pretzels, noon, be there.”

She decided to group message them back, “Can’t wait.”

In the meantime Mai decided to look through her calculus book for a little while. She had asked her father to pick it up before she left for camp but he had only recently gone to the student store with her to grab it. She liked math, and science. Numbers always made sense; they couldn’t lie, or change their meaning the way words could. She had always seen the meaning behind mathematics so much easier than she did when she looked at something written.

She would rather take the hardest mechanics or engineering class instead of being forced to read a book and analyze the elements of the story. That was why she had had so much trouble in her English classes, and with foreign language. Mai just didn’t understand why either one was so important. It wasn’t like people even wrote the way they do in books in everyday life.

She lost herself in thought by the time it was nearly eleven thirty; thankfully it didn’t take more than ten minutes to get to the mall.

Mai checked the carport to see what vehicle her father had left her, hoping it was the newer model blue sedan. Sadly it was the older tan van, but it was nearly full of gas when she checked the meter. Mai took her phone out before backing out of the carport and called Norah.

“Hey lady,” Norah answered. “What’s up?”

“Do you need a ride?” Mai asked. “I have the van today.”

“…would you mind taking my sister too?” Norah asked. “I was going to just ride over there, but I think she’ll want to come if you pick me up.”

“Yeah,” Mai said. “I don’t mind Natalie. See you in five.”

As Mai pulled into the driveway she half expected Norah to be waiting outside with her little sister. She waited in the car for a few moments before walking to the door and ringing the bell.

Norah answered it wearing a pair of combat boots, leggings, plaid skirt, and a London flag printed shirt.

“Sorry, Natalie is taking her time,” Norah said as she began gathering her hair up into a ponytail. “Do you have an extra hair tie?”

Mai handed her the one that she had intended to put around her own hair once they reached the mall.

“That’s the only one you have,” Norah pointed out. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll just go upstairs and get my own.”

She returned shortly with half her hair pulled back and put in a bun, while the remaining auburn curls fell down past her shoulders. Following closely behind Norah was her younger sister, Natalie, but she looked completely different than Mai remembered.

Natalie was sporting straight blonde hair for the first time in her life, and a cream colored dress with a woven belt. She even had on small wedge sandals once Mai could make out her feet.

“You look so different,” Mai said looking at Natalie.

“I know,” Natalie replied. “Hey if you can, would you drop me off before you guys park? I don’t want to be seen with my sister.”

“Um,” Mai began. “Sure.”

The car ride was awkward and silent for most of the way, except for the music that Mai turned on and Norah changed. Natalie used to look very similar to her sister with the same auburn curls and indifferent clothing, so it was strange for Mai to see her resembling a Barbie doll.

Once Mai got close to the entrance she pulled over and Natalie got out.

“You can just text me when you’re ready to go,” Natalie said. “I’ll be right here.”

“Are you going to be shopping by yourself?” Mai asked.

Natalie laughed for a moment.

“No,” She replied as she closed the door.

“She’s become a prissy little freak,” Norah said once her sister was gone. “It’s driving me insane. Used to be she bugged me because she wanted to wear all my clothes. Now she’s telling me that I have no style. I can’t decide which was worse.”

“I used to wear all of Ava’s old cloths,” Mai said. “I think it’s just a phase.”

“Well I wish should would grow out of it,” Norah replied. “It cost my mom like a hundred dollars for her to do that to her head. She worked sixty hours that week at the hospital.”

“What are you going to get at the mall?” Mai asked, not knowing how to respond to Norah’s complaining any longer.

“New shoes,” Norah said. “and probably a new bag. I don’t think I really need anything else, it’s not like I’ve grown over the past year. What about you?”

“I think I’ll get at least a weeks-worth of new cloths, a skirt, dress, pants, shorts, some new tops to mix and match,” Mai began. “I’ll need a new backpack too, and probably two new pairs of shoes since I’ll have PE this year.”

“I can’t believe that’s your first class,” Norah said as they began walking to the food court. “You’re going to be all sweaty and gross for the rest of the day.”

“I didn’t really think about that,” Mai admitted. “Maybe I can take a shower after class.”

“They banned that,” Norah reminded her.

“I’ll figure something out,” Mai said reassuringly.

“There you guys are,” Jena said walking towards the two of them in her high-waisted shorts and t-shirt. “Where’s Britney?”

“I’m here!” Britney called out from across the food court. “I just wanted to check on Jeremy, see what he was up to today. It’s his last Friday afternoon shift till break.”

“I forgot he worked here,” Jena said. “We should all say hi once we’re done, maybe see a movie.”

“I’d ask him if he’d let us in for free,” Norah said. “I want to see that Anarchy film.”

“Yeah,” Jena said. “We’re not doing that.”

Jena and Norah didn’t get along very well and Mai could never understand why. They both liked Mai just fine, and they got along with Britney, but whenever they talked to each other it was always hostile.

“I’m down for whatever,” Mai said.

“Me too!” Whitney agreed.

“Isn’t Salem on tonight?” Jena asked. “I’m sure you’d hate to miss it.”

“It’s on Sundays, not Fridays,” Norah replied.

“I wouldn’t know,” Jena said. “I record all my favorite shows.”

“Where should we go first?” Mai asked. “I need to get some PE shoes, and I think Norah needs some shoes too.”

“I could use some new flats for school,” Britney said.

“Alright,” Jena replied. “I can agree to shoe shopping first.”

As they depart Mai gets a notice on her phone, it’s from her mother.

“Hey pumpkin,” it began, “I’m on my way home tonight. I’ll probably see you in the morning.”

Mai was suddenly conflicted; she couldn’t blow her friends off to go shopping with her mom the next day. She decided to pretend that she hadn’t gotten the text and enjoy the time she was going to have with Norah and the other girls.

Mai didn’t know if her mother was disappointed with her or not because at the end of the weekend Airi had already repacked her bags and was heading back out of town. Mai had hoped that she would have remained in town for at least a little while longer, but her arrival did lend enough time for Ava to come home on Saturday and the entire family to talk and act like a whole family. All in all it was a good conclusion to the summer break.

Mai’s first three classes had gone by easily enough; she had already decided that she would be getting an A in physics. She had taken a physics course her freshman year in school and the level two class seemed to cover all the same material.

What surprised Mai was how hungry she had been after finishing PE. She was glad to finally be walking down to lunch. As Mai began walking down the hall she bumped into a smaller girl in the hall who was looking at a class schedule.

“I’m sorry,” Mai said as she made sure the other girl wasn’t hurt.

MORE TO COME, Probably not before May Though. Thanks for the support! I love all you fellow writers! 

She seemed dazed and confused.

“Are you new here?” Mai asked.

The girl nodded.

“Do you know where I can find room A416?” The girl asked. She was taking turns looking at her schedule and looking back at Mai.

“Sure,” Mai replied. “A is the first floor, and four hundreds are the fourth hallway from the admittance building. You’ll want to go down that hall over there. Room sixteen should be almost all the way down the hall. Oh, if you have anything that’s in the BB building that means basement, not second floor, I found that out the hard way.”

The girl smiled.

“Thank you,” She said. “My name’s Sarah.”

“No problem,” Mai replied. “I’m Mai, if you need anything you can try finding me, but everyone’s pretty helpful. You’re a freshman?”

The girl shook her head.

“No,” Sarah replied. “I just transferred her. I’m a sophomore.”

“Oh,” Mai said. “We’ll I’ve got to go Sarah, it was nice meeting you. You better hurry though or you’ll be late.”

Mai couldn’t make out what Sarah was saying to her as she began walking down the steps to the cafeteria but she assumed it wasn’t important. From the look of the taken tables Mai wasn’t sure where she was going to eat, or where Norah was. Suddenly, as if on cue, Norah emerged from the crowd with Britney and Jeremy.

“Hey Mai,” Jeremy said first. He was holding onto a tray of food.

“How did you get through the line so fast?” Mai asked.

“That’s what I asked him,” Britney said.

“My last class was study hall,” Jeremy replied. “I bounced a few minutes before the bell, teacher didn’t really care.”

“Lucky,” Mai said.

“Well if you want I can pick up your food tomorrow,” Jeremy said smiling. “Both of you.”

“You’re so sweet Jeremy,” Britney said. “We should get in line now though Mai, it’s only going to get longer.”

“We’ll go sit down then,” Norah said. “I brought a lunch.”

“Alright,” Mai said as the two of them walked away from Jeremy and Norah towards the ever growing lunch line.

“Mai, Britney,” Jena called out to them from near the front. “I was holding your spot’s like I promised.”

It was looking like it was going to be a great new year already. With Jeremy getting their food before the line started Mai and her friends would be able to spend more time socializing and less time waiting in line.

“I don’t remember you holding my spot,” Britney said as she cut in front of the person Jena was standing in front of.

“Well it happened,” Jena said as she stared down the girl behind them with her dark brown eyes. They were particularly intimidating because of how Large they were, like doe eyes.

“Ew,” Jena went on. “Mai you stink. What, did you forget to shower today?”

Mai’s face got hot and she could feel herself blushing.

“No,” Mai started. “I have PE first hour.”

“Oh,” Jena replied. “You should carry around some body spray or something.”

“Do you have any?” Mai asked.

“I do,” Britney replied as she began rummaging through her bag until she took out a small bottle of perfume. “You can just give it back to me tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Mai said as she took it from the redheaded girl. “This means a lot. I’d hate to go to the community college smelling like BO.”

“Oh yeah,” Jena replied. “Not a good first impression on all those college boys at all.”

“That’s now why I’m taking a college level class,” Mai said after she spritzed herself and put the bottle into her backpack. “It’s because I’m smart.”

“Suit yourself,” Jena said.

The three of them wandered around the cafeteria for a little while before Jeremy finally found them once they got their food.

“It’s this way,” Jeremy said as he lead them out of the cafeteria and down the arts hall in the basement.

Norah was sitting by herself against a row of lockers with a sandwich in her hand. Jeremy’s food was lying next to hers with his backpack against another locker.

“I didn’t wait for you guys,” Norah began with her mouth full of some sort of peanut butter jelly combination. “But I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

“That’s fine,” Britney said as she too sat down on the floor of the hallway.

“I need a chair,” Jena said flatly. “I’m wearing white, if I sit on the ground there’ll be a stain on my pants.”

“I’ll ask Mrs. M if she has a chair we can use,” Jeremy said as he darted off further down the hall.

“Which one is Mrs. M?” Mai asked.

“Theatre teacher,” Norah replied. “I think Jeremy had her last year.”

“I hear she’s really nice,” Britney said as she started pulling apart her cheese sticks to dunk in marinara. “I think I’ll take her next year, easy A.”

“Can seniors even take theatre?” Jena asked as she slipped her bag off and laid it against the wall, hitting Norah’s side ever so slightly.

Norah looked up at her for a moment, and the two of them exchanged scowls.

Mai decided to sit in between the two of them to try and alleviate the tension. It didn’t help.

“I hear anyone can take the class,” Britney said. “We should do it together.”

“If it’s an easy A, I guess there’s no reason not to,” Jena replied.

By this time Jeremy was coming back from down the hall, with a chair in his hand.

“Sorry it took so long,” He said placing it down gently in front of Jena.

“It’s fine,” Jena responded. “So what are everyone’s classes? I just had Hebrew three, before that was Biology with Britney and first hour was algebra one. After this I’ve got history, home ec, art design and humanities two.”

“I’ve got humanities with you then,” Jeremy said smiling.

“You already know my schedule,” Mai said.

“Ditto,” Britney replied.

“Looks like we have art design together,” Norah said casually.

“That’s cool,” Jena said as she looked at Jeremy. “You’ll wake me up if I fall asleep right?”

“Only if you wake me up too,” He said laughing.

“Will you take notes for me Britney if I’m late to humanities?” Mai asked trying not to listen to anymore of the conversation between Jena and Jeremy.

“Sure,” Britney said. “Do you think you’ll be late very often?”

“I don’t know,” Mai confessed. “Aura isn’t too far away, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to get there and back in an hour and a half.”

“Yeah,” Britney started. “I don’t think I would want to come back to school after leaving.”

“Homecoming is next month right?” Jena asked laud enough for everyone to hear.

“Yeah,” Mai said. “It’s on the thirteenth this year.”

“Halloween is on a Friday,” Norah mentioned as well.

“Halloween is like two months from now,” Jena responded. “Nobody cares about that silly kids holiday anyway. I want us to go dress shopping before all the really hideous dresses are the only ones left.”

“I promised my mom I’d go shopping with her for homecoming,” Mai said.

There was a moment of silence from the rest of the girls.

“That’s fair,” Britney said.

“She’ll blow you off till right before the dance,” Jena rebutted.

Mai wanted to keep talking about it but the bell had started.

“I’ll see you after math Britney,” Mai said as she grabbed her bag and walked towards the trash with what remained from lunch.

“Britney,” Jena called out, “We should go dress shopping, just the two of us then.”

“Alright,” Britney said as she moved closer to Jena.

It had felt like the two of them were getting closer and closer and Mai and Norah were being left to the side more and more. Mai didn’t like it. She wanted to say something to Jena about it, but she feared what her friend may say in retaliation to her remarks. Mia knew she wasn’t as strong willed as Jena was, but she didn’t want to lose her friendship.

Mai hurried herself to a duty aid to ask how she should get to the community college.

“Excuse me,” She began. “I have a class at Aura, and my mom told me the school had a shuttle to get there and back.”

The aid looked at her puzzled.

“I’m in an upper division math class,” Mai went on. “There aren’t enough kids to have it at the school, so I have to go to Aura.”

The aid continued to stare down at her.

“Miss, we don’t have any kind of public transportation,” He finally said. “If we did, I’d be taking it every day. What kind of privileged prissy school do you think you go to?”

Mai turned around and began walking towards the administration’s office. She thought that if the aid didn’t know anything about transportation to the other school at least someone in the office would.

The walk took her longer than she thought it would, but she still had ten minutes before the calculus class would start.

“Excuse me,” Mai began at the office secretary.

The woman behind the counter was typing something very quickly and didn’t bother to look up at her.

“Can I help you?” she asked Mai.

“Yes,” Mai began. “My mother told me you had a shuttle service to take me over to Aura for my math class.”

“It leaves before junior lunch,” She said still not looking up.

“But I have to be there in ten minutes,” Mai said dumbfounded.

“It’s a free service,” The woman continued. “It doesn’t run all day. It takes students down before lunch, takes them back two hours later.”

“But I didn’t know that,” Mai said.

“Now you do,” She said as she finished typing and looked up at Mai. “I’ll write you a parking pass for your car today, but moving forward you have to be prepared.”

Mai nodded as she took the pass from the woman and rushed out to her car. She knew she was going to be late. There was no way she could make it to class on time in six minutes at a different school. She hadn’t even been to Aura to see where the class was.

Mai ran a stop sign near the school as she got going, and luckily there wasn’t an officer waiting to ticket her. Her mind was on one thing, getting to Aura as fast as she could.

There weren’t any parking spaces nearby, and she ran as fast as she could to a directory to find her class. Once she opened the door she could tell that the teacher had already taken roll and began the lecture. She tried her best to find a seat away from the front where she would make a scene, and slouched down next to a man with a Shadow Cliff jacket.

“You’re late,” The teacher said without turning around. “That’s grounds for me to drop you from this class.”

“I’m sorry,” Mai said quickly. “I had to ask my school about the shuttle, and it turned out that I missed it, so I drove here.”

“Excuses are not excepted in a math class,” The teacher went on. “What’s your last name?”

“Hunt,” Mai said.

The teacher finally turned from the white board and looked at her with his dark eyes.

He glanced at his computer for a moment before looking back at her. There was a thin smile on his face that faded back into seriousness as quickly as it had arisen.

“Don’t let it happen again,” He said getting back to the white board.

His dark skin matched his eyes almost exactly, and it was clear to Mai that he took a lot of pride in his job. College professors usually did in her opinion.

Mai fumbled through her bag looking for her text book and a pencil. She tried to glance at the person’s book she was sitting next to in an attempt to find the page they were on, but his book was closed. She looked behind her instead.

“What page?” She whispered.

“Twenty three,” The girl replied.

Mai frantically began fumbling through the pages until she reached it. Finally her anxiety had gone down.

“Hunt, right?” The man sitting next to her asked.

“Mmmhmm,” Mai answered looking forward.

“Did we go to high school together?” He asked.

Mai glanced at him for a moment, and her mouth dropped. It was almost as though she had been dreaming, since the man sitting next to her was none other than Aaron Brodvick.

Mai didn’t know what to do, or what to say. She had secretly been in love with Aaron since the day she had seen him play against Mountain Heights high school two years ago. He had been a wide receiver and after the game she had bumped into him. He was the nicest person she had ever met, and by far the most physically fit.

Even though his padding had prevented her from seeing the true shape of his body, she could tell that he worked out by the condition of his thick arms. His smile stuck out more than his arms did though, and the care that seemed to be shining from them. Mai sighed as she remembered the first time they met.

She nodded realizing that she had been lost in thought staring at Aaron this whole time without speaking to him.

He stuck his hand out for her to shake. Mai almost melted as she felt his fingertips around her.

“It’s Ava right?” Aaron asked.

That rush of joy that she had first felt turned into a raging sting of sadness. Mai tried her best to cover it up so that he couldn’t tell as she released his hand.

“My sister,” She said.

“No talking,” The professor said as he continued to write on the board.

“You’re Ava’s sister?” Aaron asked ignoring the teacher.

Mai nodded.

“Didn’t know she had one,” Aaron said.

Mai wanted to continue to speak with Aaron, but she felt that she had lost any kind of ground to form a decent conversation. She wanted to ask him if he had known her sister, or if he had liked her, but it was the first day of classes. Mai was still thinking like a high school student, and she wanted to have Aaron think of her as an adult, like her sister. Then he could talk to her again.

The rest of the class went on in agonizing silence until the teacher concluded the lesson. Aaron got up and began heading out. Mai went to tap him on the shoulder.

“Miss Hunt,” The teacher called out just before she reached Aaron.

“Yes,” She said startled as she looked back at him.

“I have something for you,” He said extending a piece of paper out to her with his strong hand.

She sighed.

“It’s not detention is it?” Mai asked. “I’ve never had detention.”

“No,” He said laughing. “That doesn’t really happen in college. This is a semester parking pass, have it in your rear view when you come here and you can park in lot C, it’s the closest to the building.”

“Oh,” She said smiling. “Thank you.”

“I don’t want you to be late again,” He said. “Is that clear? This is a college class for college credit. You can’t blow it off just because you’re smart.”

“I wouldn’t,” Mai said.

He looked her down with his deep dark eyes for a long moment.

“I have office hours if you get lost,” He went on.

Mai looked down at his desk and found his name plate.

“Thank you professor Cox,” Mai said.

“You can call me Peter,” he said.

“That’s not very formal,” Mia replied.

“Then you can call me Dr. Cox,” He said to her with a sly smile. “I like that better anyway.”

“Okay, Dr. Cox,” Mai said. “I have to go though; I’ll be late for my English class.”

He nodded as she placed the pass into her backpack and went off to the parking lot again. It was equally hard to find a place to put her van at the high school, since some time in the past hour and a half someone took up her old parking spot near the front. Mai wasn’t nearly as late for humanities as she was for calculus though.

The teacher had only just started going through the role call.

“Freeheart,” The teacher said in a nasally voice over the class.

Britney raised her hand. “Present,” she said.

Mai walked toward her friend and sat down.

“Guess who I have class with at Aura?” Mai asked as the teacher went on.

“Who?” Britney asked quietly.

“Aaron,” Mai said.

Britney jerked her head to look at Mai.

“No,” Britney said.

“Yeah,” Mai replied. “I sat right next to him.”

“Hunt,” The teacher said loudly.

“Here,” Mai replied as she raised her hand.

“Was he gorgeous?” Britney asked.

“Totally,” Mai replied.

“Did you talk to him?” Britney asked more excitedly.

Mai paused for a moment.

“He asked if we went to school together,” She answered not wanting to lie to her friend.

“Oh my god,” Britney said. “He knows you exist. This is going to be the best year of your life. You have to get him to ask you to homecoming.”

“Do you think?” Mai asked.

“Definitely,” Britney replied.

“Ladies!” The teacher said standing right in front of their desks. “We are going to be discussing the assigned books for this year, if you care to join us.”

“Sorry professor,” Mai said as her cheeks turned red.

“We’re reading Frankenstein this year right?” Britney asked. “I love that book.”

“Not until after fall break,” She said in her noisily voice. “This quarter we will be reading To Kill a Mockingbird.”

“My dad said it’s not humane to kill mockingbirds,” Britney said jokingly. “Why can’t we read Hunger Games?”

“Modern fiction isn’t historical fiction,” She said back to Britney as seriously as she could without trying to sound agitated.

“Well it’s all fake to me,” Britney said casually.

“Do you want to discuss this with me during Saturday school?” The teacher asked sharply.

Britney shook her head.

“Then lets continue,” She said walking back to the front of the class.

“Ms. Carter is kind of a bitch huh?” Britney asked.

“Don’t say that,” Mai corrected. “She’s just sour.”

“Well the rest of my day is going to be sour now too,” Britney replied.

Mai laughed quietly enough to not draw the teachers attention.

Mai was glad that the rest of her classes went by quickly and she was greeted by Norah at the end of the day.

“Thanks for driving me,” Norah said as she opened the passenger door.

“No problem,” Mai said. “We just need to wait for Roy. I hope his first day went by alright.”

“Looks like he made a friend,” Norah mentioned as Roy came towards the van with another boy about his age, sporting a small curly afro and a Rise Against Humanity shirt.

“Carl’s coming home with me,” Roy said.

“Does dad know?” Mai asked.

“I didn’t know you had a hot sister,” Carl said looking at Norah.

“That’s not my sister,” Roy said. “I’ll text him when he’s done at work.” Roy finished, looking at Mai.

“You should let him know now,” Mai said.

“What’s your name?” Carl asked Norah through the car door.

“Not interested,” Norah said.

“What’s her name?” Carl asked Roy.

“Norah,” Roy replied to his friend. He took out his phone and began to write a text.

“Noah, do you have a boyfriend?” Carl asked.

“You’re my sisters age, why don’t you ask her out?” Norah asked avoiding eye contact with the boys pale face.

“Is your sister as fiery as you are?” Carl asked.

“Mai,” Norah began. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want people thinking this little guy is really trying to pick me up.”

“Come on,” Mai said as she opened the door for her brother.

He grinned as the two of them got into the back seat and Mai took all of them to her house.

4

“Mai!” Jena yelled out from the hallway above the cafeteria.

“I’m coming,” Mai called back as she bumped her way through the crowd towards her friend.

It felt like there were more students in September than there had been on the first day of school. Mai was grateful that she didn’t get claustrophobic or she would have started a panic attack for the lack of her personal bubble.

“Jeremy is downstairs with everything,” Jena said as Mai finally made it close enough for her to speak naturally. “He brought a buddy of his to eat with us today.”

“That’s cool,” Mai said as they began their descent into the noise filled cafeteria.

“I like him,” Jena said.

“Jeremy?” Mai asked.

“No,” Jena replied. “His friend. He’s really cute. Check out his butt if you can, it’s perfectly shaped, and his face has great symmetry.”

Mai giggled.

“I can’t believe you want me to check out his butt,” Mai said once she finished laughing.

“I can’t help that it’s perfectly shaped,” Jena stated.

“What’s his friends name?” Mai asked.

“I don’t remember,” Jena said looking flustered. “Ask him when you introduce yourself.”

Mai and Jena made it to the now typical lunch spot to find Norah and Jeremy chatting while Britney and the new boy were exchanging phone numbers.

“Hey,” Mai said as she sat down. “I’m Mai, what’s your name?”

The boy had already been seated but he glanced up at Mai and she understood what Jena had meant about his face. It had masculine features, but each side mirrored the other almost perfectly. At first his eyes looked to be almost black, but as the light hit them more Mai could make out the flecks of blue along the inside that revealed their true nature. He wasn’t nearly as attractive as Aaron, but he was a close enough second that Mai was impressed.

“I’m Zach,” He replied in a soft voice. “It’s a pleasure.”

He reached his hand out and shook Mai’s gently for a moment.

“I have study hall with Jeremy,” Zach went on. “He’s a nice guy.”

“Totally,” Jena said. “So Zach, are you a junior then?”

“I’m a senior actually,” Zach said. “You have physics two second hour don’t you?” He asked Mai.

Mai nodded.

“I sit behind you,” He said. “You’re hair always smells so fresh.”

Mai laughed for a moment.

“I try to wash it after PE,” She said. “I’ll use a water bottle and about a dime of shampoo over the drain.”

“That’s so smart,” He said as he looked at her tan skin. “Are you Mexican? You look like it from behind, but up close I’m thinking Asian.”

“Philippines’,” Mai replied. “My grandmother came from overseas when she met my grandfather.

“Was she a mail order bride?” Zach asked. “Was that rude to ask that? I’m sorry. I think that was rude. You don’t have to answer. Why don’t you let your hair down ever?”

Mai looked at Jena before answering him. The look on her friends face seemed to be one of jealousy, which was something Mai didn’t see very often.

“I like it up,” Mai said.

“Put it down,” Zach said. “I mean could you?”

Mai smiled awkwardly but took her hair tie out and let her long black hair fall down from where it had been securely kept.

“You don’t have good layers,” Jena said.

“I was going to say the same thing,” Zach replied as he looked up at Jena from her chair.

Jena smiled.

“I thought I saw you giving your number to Britney,” Jena said. “I may need it too.”

“Do you play the violin?” Zach asked. “She asked because I give lessons at my house.”

“I just started,” Jena said. “Probably the same time that Britney did.”

She shot Britney a judgmental glare which caused her face to flush.

“You must be the queen bee,” Zach said. “That’s so cute.”

“I’m super cute,” Jena said.

“I thought so,” Jeremy said.

Norah nudged him on the shoulder for a moment. It caused him to give her a half smile. She then leaned in and whispered something to Jeremy which made him laugh out loud.

“What is it?” Jena asked.

“Nothing,” Norah replied. “I was just telling Jeremy how swell it would be if you and Zach went to homecoming together.”

“That would be swell,” Jena said. “Would you go with me?”

Zach crinkled his eyebrows for a moment and looked between all of the girls.

“I don’t know,” He said. “We just met.”

“Yeah,” Jena said. “But it’s this weekend. Do you have a date or something?”

“Well no,” Zach said. “I didn’t have a chance to ask the person that I wanted.”

He bit his lip and cast an awkward glance at Jeremy.

“But I guess I can go with you,” Zach continued. “It’ll be a group thing then right?”

“I have a boyfriend,” Britney said quietly.

“He lives in another state,” Mai said.

“That doesn’t change the fact that I have one,” Britney said.

“I have a date too,” Norah said.

“Is it Jeremy?” Jena asked coyly.

“Nope,” Norah replied.

“So it would be like a group thing then?” Zach asked.

“Looks like it,” Jeremy said. “I don’t have a date.”

Zach perked up.

“Alrighty,” Zach said. “I guess I could do this dance. I have a nice tuxedo from last years prom, and I could probably get a really nice corsage. Sounds like fun.”

“I can’t wait,” Jena said.

“Oh,” Mai said. “I have to go. I don’t want to be late to calculus.”

“That’s gross that you’re taking calculus,” Zach said flatly. “But maybe we could do homework together since your obviously stupid smart.”

“Maybe,” Mai said as she got up from the hard floor.

She was determined to make it to class on time every day since her first class hadn’t gone by as smoothly as she had hoped at Aura community. Mai didn’t want to blow any opportunities to try and talk to Aaron. She was fortunate that her assigned seat had been the same as the spot she had taken on the first day of class, and she was determined to make a good impression on the most perfect man in her life.

Today was one of many days that Mai got to class before Aaron had sat down, and she hoped that he wouldn’t wait until the class began to enter the room. She found herself turning around to look at the clock, two, three, four times before the rest of the class slowly began trickling in. Finally, one minute before the class began Aaron come in and sat himself down next to her.

Mai could feel her heat beating faster just knowing that he was beside her. She cleared her throat for a moment and a piece of saliva got stuck, causing her to choke.

“Are you alright?” Dr. Cox asked as he turned around from the board.

Mai nodded as she continued to cough.

“Well,” Dr. Cox continued. “You’re disturbing the class, would you step outside and get a drink? Come back when you aren’t making so much noise.”

Mai raised herself from her chair and nodded. As she tried to get around Aaron’s backpack on the floor her foot got stuck on the strap and she began tugging it along with her.

Aaron noticed and grabbed the bag, causing Mai to fall onto the floor. Her face was so warm she didn’t want to return to class at all that day. She ran towards the restroom and sat down on one of the stalls to cry.

“That was the most embarrassing moment of my life,” Mai sobbed to herself.

It took her almost fifteen minutes to collect herself enough to attempt to reenter the room.

After a deep sight Mai creaked the door open and proceeded to enter the room. There were very few people looking at her as she made her way back to her seat.

“Sorry about your bag,” Mai whispered to Aaron.

He was writing something on his paper and Mai couldn’t tell what. She assumed it was the equation that was on the board.

She made another sigh and followed the lecture for the rest of the class.

“Mr. Brodvick,” Dr. Cox called out as the class concluded.

Aaron didn’t seem to notice him as he got up and began walking towards the door.

Mai reached out and touched his shoulder.

As Aaron moved to face Mai she could now see that he was wearing headphones. His big light blue eyes looked into her smaller green ones with curiosity as he took the headphone out of one of his ears.

“Mr. Brodvick,” Dr. Cox said again. “The use of headphones in class is strictly prohibited. I don’t want to see them again.”

Aaron turned his curious gaze to the professor.

“Sorry man,” Aaron began. “It’s a really good podcast. Gets my mind into doing calc, ya know?”

Dr. Cox shook his head.

“Save it for when you’re doing homework,” Dr. Cox said.

“Alright Peter,” Aaron said walking back towards the door.

Mai wanted to say something to him now that she realized that he simply hadn’t heard her before.

“Sorry about my bag little Hunt,” Aaron said as he opened the door. “My bad leaving it on the floor.”

He had walked out before Mai could think of how to respond to him. She grinned from ear to ear as she thought about what had just happened. He may not have used her name, and he may not have known it to begin with, but this was the first time that he had said more than just hello to her since the first day of school.

Mai felt like she may be able to have a full on conversation with Aaron before the end of the semester. She knew there was no way to coax him into going to homecoming, but the door still wasn’t closed on the possibility of him feeling something for her, after all, he had a nickname for her now.

5

“You look beautiful,” Airi said as she finished zipping Mai into her homecoming dress. “If you take your shoes off, remember where you put them. We don’t want a repeat of what happened sophomore year.”

“I’m not going to lose my shoes,” Mia said as she secretly enjoyed her mother’s warning.

Airi had made sure to fly in before the dance that Saturday night to make sure that everything fit Mai just right.

“Close your eyes,” Airi said.

“Aren’t I a little old for you to do my makeup?” Mai asked.

Her mother scoffed at her.

“Never,” Airi replied. “Now close your eyes.”

Mai smiled slightly as her mother tenderly applied a gold eye shadow to her lids. It reminded Mai of all the times that her mother had dressed her and her sister up for weddings, and corporate dinners.

“I’m glad you came,” Mai said, keeping her eyes closed.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Airi said.

“I need pictures when you’re all done,” Patrick said. “Roy get in there with your sister and mom.”

“Not yet dear,” Airi said.

“Can I be in the picture too?” Carl asked.

“Remind me how you know this one, Roy,” Airi said as Roy inched himself closer and closer to the two women.

“He’s my friend from school,” Roy answered. “Carl.”

She took a small sigh.

“Carl, I think we’d rather have a shot with just our kids in it,” She began. “if you don’t mind.”

“Oh,” Carl said. “That’s fine.”

He walked back towards Patrick and patted him on the shoulder.

“We solitary types don’t mind when we’re not in pictures,” Carl said in as deep a voice as he could muster.

“Why aren’t you two boys meeting at the dance with your dates?” Patrick asked.

“You’re picking up my date,” Carl said.

Mai jerked her head.

“Watch it,” Airi said.

“Norah isn’t going with you is she?” Mai asked.

Carl was beaming. It was obvious what his answer was going to be but he took his time to reply.

“I’ll have you know I only had to ask her five times,” Carl began. “And she cracked. That’s the great thing about girls don’t know how pretty they are, they always crack eventually.”

Mai wanted to yell something at him but her mother had moved to sculpting her lips.

“I even got this tie to match her dress,” Carl said as he flashed his navy tie at Mai. “She said she would be wearing Navy, so I decided I should do the same. That way people we know we’re a couple.”

“You’re not a couple,” Mai said once her lips were free. “You’re just going to the dance with her. It’s probably a pity date.”

“I don’t think so,” Carl said.

“Alright,” Airi said. “All done.”

“Smile,” Patrick said as he readied his camera on the three of them.

“Do you want me to take a picture of all four you?” Carl asked.

“Would you?” Patrick asked as he handed over the camera.

“Sure,” Carl replied. “Just point and click right?”

“Right,” Patrick replied.

There was a knock at the door. Mai quickly separated herself from the rest of the family to answer it. Standing in a floor length navy dress was Norah, with her hair teased into a giant curly wonder behind her ears. It almost looked as big as the afro which Carl usually sported, but had slicked down into manageable curls for the event.

“This was my mom’s dress,” Norah said as she walked in the door. “Hey Carl, you look put together.”

“I went out of my way for you baby,” Carl said as he wrapped his arms around her thin waist.

“You’re way to close to me right now,” Norah said. “I don’t really like touching.”

“I still get to dance with you right?” Carl asked. “And we get to make-out after right?”

“We’ll see where the night takes us,” Norah said, flashing a devilish smile.

Mai couldn’t tell what she was up to, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to know. She was hoping that Norah would let her in the loop by the end of the evening though.

“I thought you were going with Jeremy,” Mai said as they all walked to the car. “It seemed that way on Tuesday.”

“Nah,” Norah replied. “You need to stay for lunch more often. I dared him to ask Tess, Aaron’s little sister.”

“I forgot he had a little sister,” Mai mentioned. “And I would stay for lunch if my mom didn’t want me to take that stupid shuttle to Aura. She hates how many miles I’m putting on the van.”

“Anyway,” Norah continued. “She said yes, and we were thinking that if she gets in with us and our group, maybe she’ll invite her brother around. Win Win, and you can spend more time with your super crush.”

“Did Jeremy dare you to go with Carl?” Mai asked as soon as they left the confinement of the car.

Norah cracked a smile for a moment before she took Mai’s hand and began leading her into the gym.

The theme for this year’s homecoming was “Under the Stars” and the thousands of glittering lights overhead didn’t disappoint. Mai felt that she could see more stars inside the gym than she had ever known in the city. It reminded her of the nights up at summer camp for a fleeting moment.

“Who the hell is that?” Jena asked as Carl placed his hand on Norah’s shoulder. “You’re brother?”

“I don’t have a brother,” Norah said. “This is my date.”

Jena laughed for a moment before she put her hand up over her face.

“Is he even old enough to drive?” Jena asked sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, where’s your date?” Norah asked harshly.

Jena placed her hand around her neck and looked around the dance floor.

“I think he’s with Jeremy and his date right now,” Jena replied.

Mai glanced at the dance floor and the hundreds of students who were enjoying this year’s homecoming. She was somewhat glad that she didn’t have to be distracted by a date, she was glad to have this time to spend with her friends.

“Where’s Britney?” Mai asked over the music.

“Around,” Jena said. “I think I saw her on her cell phone. I bet she’s talking to Troy.”

“Why doesn’t she just break up with that guy?” Norah asked. “He’s only ever seen her once.”

“I don’t know,” Mai said. “I like that they try and keep their long distance relationship going.”

“Let’s dance,” Jena said as she started walking towards the rest of the group.

Mai’s kitten heels made it hard to walk, and even harder to dance. She felt like everyone was watching her move awkwardly by herself to the beat of a song she had never heard before. The only comfort she had was that Britney was also dancing, and dancing much more boisterously.

“Mai,” Zach called out as he motioned with his long arms. “Come here and dance with Jena and Tess.”

Mai moved towards them cautiously.

“Can I talk to you?” Zach asked Jeremy once Mai was close enough to Tess.

“Sure,” Jeremy said.

“Not here,” Zach stated as he took Jeremy by the hand. “We’ll be back ladies.”

Mai caught Jena looking at Zach’s butt until it became lost in the crowd.

“He’s so hot,” Jena called out.

“I think my brother knows him,” Tess said in her high pitched voice.

“I have a class with your brother,” Mai said trying to be social.

“He may have mentioned you,” Tess said. “What’s your name?”

“Mai,” Jena said. “She takes calculus with him.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Tess said. “But he has a lot of classes. He wants to get all the basics out of the way at community college before transfers to a university.”

“That’s smart,” Mai said.

“Yeah,” Tess replied. “That’s why he’s doing it.”

There was something in the way that Tess had said that which rubbed Mai the wrong way.

Mai’s feet were beginning to throb, and she was more and more aware of the fact that her dress only just covered her thigh. She wanted to stop dancing. She had thought that a break might aid her undeniably blistering feet.

“Do we have to keep dancing?” Mai asked.

“What else are we going to do?” Tess replied.

“Let’s find a bathroom,” Jena said. “I need to reapply my makeup.”

“Have you seen Norah?” Mai asked as she realized that her best friend had vanished with her date.

“Who needs her?” Jena asked. “We’ll meet up with the boys later, make them sweat.”

“Why would they do that?” Tess asked. ‘

“Because we’ll be gone,” Jena answered. “Guys like it better if a girl just stays put when he’s gone, but it’ll get him all worked up if he shows up and we’re not here to greet them.”

“That’s devious,” Tess said. “I love it.”

Mai left them to find Britney.

“I don’t care what you think,” Britney was screaming over the phone. “I’m not cheating on you. You need to trust me more.”

“We’re going to the bathroom Brit,” Mai said.

Britney nodded and began walking with Mai.

“I told you I was going to this dance for a whole month,” Britney said. “I don’t have a date but I’m going to look nice.”

“He’s upset because he thinks my dress is slutty,” Britney said to Mai with her hand over the mouthpiece. “He’s so jealous that he can’t be here.”

“How does he know what your dress looks like?” Mai asked.

“Facebook,” Britney replied. “He practically stalks me.”

“Honey let me talk,” Britney said as she took her hand off the piece. “I’m not wearing anything that everyone else isn’t wearing….no, I’m not trying to see other people.”

“Get off you phone,” Jena said when the two of them walked in. “I’ll take it if I have to.”

“Look babe,” Britney said. “I’ve got to go, I love you. We can talk more about it when I’m back home.”

Britney sighed as she put her phone into her small clutch.

“It’s cute that he worries, but sometimes I wish I could just go out and do my thing without him getting so upset,” Britney said.

“I need my eyeliner,” Jena said to Britney.

“Sure,” Britney replied, handing it over to her without thinking. “You guys know I’m not looking for a different boyfriend. I love Troy.”

“I know,” Mai said.

“Sure,” Jena said. “But you like to look around.”

“Well what’s wrong with that?” Britney asked. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere. It’s not like he’s going to come and see me before schools out either.”

“I would dump him,” Tess said. “I don’t even know the guy but he sounds like a tool.”

“He is a tool,” Jena said.

“Stop it,” Britney said.

The lights began to flicker in the bathroom. Mai looked up at them, and noticed that the other three girls were doing the same.

“I hope the power doesn’t go out,” Mai said.

“Way to jinx it,” Jena said.

The lights continued to flicker. Suddenly they went dark. Mai waited a moment before getting worried.

“Let’s get out of here,” Britney said.

“They’ll come back on,” Jena said.

Mai looked around for a light switch to try to turn it off and then back on. She hoped that would be all that the room needed. Sadly the switch needed a key to operate. It was still black inside when she thought of something.

“Britney, take your phone out,” Mai said. “The light can work like a candle.”

“I think this place is haunted,” Britney said.

“You’re being ridiculous,” Jena said. “It’s not haunted; it’s just a bad electric. This place wasn’t meant to have all those sparkling lights out in the gym. Take out your phone.”

Mai squinted as the bright light came on and shifted between the four girls as Britney moved it.

“Why didn’t we just go back to the party?” Britney asked.

“Because I only have one eye made up, and I don’t want to look stupid,” Jena said.

“You always look stupid,” Norah’s voice came out from behind them.

Even though it was a familiar sound it didn’t stop the four of them from screaming and running out of the bathroom. Mai and the others waited a moment until Norah finally stepped out to join them. She was laughing as she did so.

“I thought you were a ghost,” Britney said.

“That would be awesome,” Norah replied. “I’d be the most powerful spirit in existence I’m sure.”

“Were you in there the whole time?” Jena asked.

“Maybe,” Norah replied. “If you guys really want to be scared though we should watch the poltergeist film that’s coming out on Halloween. It should be so good.”

“What were you doing in there?” Jena asked.

“You know I’m superstitious,” Britney said.

“So am I,” Norah replied. “But Hollywood always dramatizes that stuff, it’s nothing like an actual haunting. You know that right?”

“Yeah,” Britney said. “I guess.”

“You didn’t answer me,” Jena interrupted.

“Mai, you’re in right?” Norah asked.

“Sure,” Mai answered quickly. She liked the scary movies, and Norah usually had good taste in what was horrifying, and supernatural.

“You’ll probably curse me if I say no,” Mai said jokingly.

“I haven’t tried to curse anyone since we were in grade school,” Norah answered.

“Hello?!” Jena said, clearly agitated that Norah was ignoring her.

“Hello,” Jeremy said as he joined the rest of the group.

Mai noticed that he had returned alone.

“Where’s Zach?” Jena asked, suddenly not caring about Norah.

“He uh,” Jeremy began. “He decided that he had to leave. I guess he had something better to take care at home.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jena asked. “You just ruined my homecoming.”

Jena started walking off, Britney following her close behind. Jeremy sighed and took Tess by the hand.

“I’m sorry,” Jeremy said. “I hope I didn’t ruing your homecoming too.”

“You didn’t,” Tess said. “I bet we could still find a nice slow song to dance to before the night’s over.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Jeremy said as he offered her his hand.

Mai watched the two of them walk off back onto the dance floor. It was now just her and Norah. Mai turned her head to look at her best friend, but Norah had moved to the bathroom door and opened it.

“You can come out now,” She called into the darkness.

“Who are you talking to?” Mai asked.

“You’ll see,” Norah answered. “You don’t get to tell Jena any of this, alright?”

Mai nodded as she watched Carl slip out from behind the door.

“Whatever it is your thinking,” Carl began, “is exactly what we were doing.”

“Oh shut up,” Norah said. “You didn’t even know what you were doing.”

Mai watched Carl’s face turn bright red. She hadn’t thought that Norah had ever had sex before, but after saying something like that she had to reconsider.

Norah walked over to Mai and whispered in her ear, “He had never kissed a girl before.”

Mai didn’t mean to laugh, but she could hear herself giggling as Norah said that. Of course that’s what she was talking about, Norah would never sleep with someone at a school dance. Mai knew that, and she was kicking herself for ever thinking otherwise.

“You had me worried sick,” Mai said. “I had no idea where you had gone.”

“You could have texted me,” Norah said. “My phone’s on me.”

“I don’t have mine,” Mai confessed. “I didn’t think I would need it.”

Mai waited a moment.

“Did you do that with the lights?” she asked Norah finally.

Norah laughed. “No. That was just good timing.”

“Why would Norah be able to do that?” Carl asked.

“I’m supernatural,” Norah said as she lifted her hands and began wiggling her fingers at him. “I happen to have magical powers given to me by Persephone.”

“You’re joking,” Carl said.

Norah began laughing hysterically.

“Yeah,” Norah said. “But I told that to Mai one day when we were in second grade, and she totally thought I was serious.”

“You sounded serious,” Mai said.

“I was nine,” Norah replied. “How serious is a nine year old?”

Mai was beginning to feel flustered.

“It’s alright,” Norah said. “I was a weird kid. You really helped bring me out of the fantasy genre and into reality. I would have probably turned out a lot stranger if it wasn’t for you.”

“Well I probably would have been an even bigger science nerd if it wasn’t for you,” Mai said.

“I love your dress by the way,” Norah said as she began walking around Mai like a vulture. “The little bit of green matches your eyes. They look like stars almost too.”

“That’s what I was hoping for,” Mai said. “Not that you can’t go wrong with a floor length dress either. That is truly beautiful.”

Norah shrugged.

“I think you look great babe,” Carl said.

“I don’t like to be called that,” Norah said.

Mai took a moment to look at the two of them again. Even though it was clear that Norah and Carl didn’t have much in common they looked like a good couple. Norah had a young face, and Carl had signs of facial hair coming in already, so it wasn’t obvious that she was older than him. Even though Norah was taller than Carl at the dance Mai knew it was because of her shoes, since she had seen him on the first day of class when he was at least an inch taller. She smiled at them.

“You two look good together,” Mai said.

“I know,” Carl said.

“Don’t worry,” Norah said. “You’ll look good next to someone before winter break.”

Mai took in a deep breath.

“I hope so,” She said to her friend.

6

Mai looked down at her blank word document as she wished she had read To Kill a Mockingbird. Break was already over and her teacher had given her an extension on the paper she needed to write…but rather than using the time on reading the book and finishing the paper Mai chose to put all of her time into working on limits in calculus. She hadn’t had a particularly hard time learning how limits worked, but the gratification she got from knowing all of the answers surpassed her need to read and comprehend the old book.

She took shifts between glancing through the pages and looking at her tan walls with their delicate gold leaf pattern she had designed. There were a hundred and forty four leaves distributed evenly between the four walls. It was one of the first math problems she had applied to real life, and she smiled to think about how proud her parents had been when she explained her reasoning behind the design.

She had chosen the number twelve because that was the number of walls multiplied by the number of children her parents had. Next she took the number twelve squared, one hundred and forty four, to once again symbolize the fact that she lived in a square room. For only being ten years old at the time her parents were very pleased with the way she had come up with the concept. Finally she had chosen gold leafs to symbolize the everlasting beauty of the changing world around them.

Mai wished that she could find reasoning for the stupid book in the same way that she could find it for the math that she used and applied to her life every single day. Sadly when she looked at words the only thing she saw were convoluted intentions never properly expressed by authors who preferred to be drunk than sober.

She let out deep sigh as she began looking up the spark notes online for the book. If she had to write a detailed essay about what the author was trying to convey the best place to look was on the internet. She began copying and pasting exerts she thought might help her into her word document, convincing herself that she would make them her own once she had finished compiling everything that she needed. She was nearly halfway finished when her phone began to vibrate in her pocket.

She took it out and glanced at the message that Norah had sent her.

It read, “Did you forget about the movie today?”

Mai’s eyes widened as she realized this Friday was Halloween, and the day that she promised Norah she would watch the newest poltergeist film that had come out.

“What time was it again?” Mai typed back as fast as she could.

She waited for nearly two minutes before calling her friend.

“Hey girl,” Norah said. “I’m riding over to the mall, I don’t want to blow off Britney and Jena…well I wouldn’t mind blowing off Jena, but I like Britney.”

“I’m so sorry,” Mai started. “I’ve been working on my essay for humanities for the past two hours.”

“Wasn’t that thing due before break?” Norah asked.

“Yeah,” Mai replied. “But my mom talked to Mrs. Quick, and it got me an extension.”

“Lucky,” Norah answered back. “Well if you’re busy I get it, but the flick starts at seven.”

Mai lowered her phone to see what time it was, nearly six forty.

“It’s okay,” Mai said. “I can make it to the theater. I’m just sorry I didn’t get you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Norah said out of breath. “I know it sucks that I don’t have a car, but you’re not my shofar.”

“You know I don’t think of you that way,” Mai said as she started looking around her room for something nicer to put on. “I’ll see you at the theater, okay?”

“Alright, bye,” Norah said as the line went dead.

Mai picked up a black dress from her closet and threw it on quickly before going to the mirror to apply a thin layer of eyeliner. This time she chose purple, which was a bold move for her since she typically wore more natural tones. She even put a more noticeable pink lipstick on her thin lips.

It was just after seven when she raced up to her friends in front of the theater at the mall.

“Sorry I’m late,” Mai called out slightly winded from running the whole way in her tan flats. “I totally lost track of time.”

“We’re only missing previews,” Britney said as she embraced Mai with a hug. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too,” Mai replied. “Where’s Jena?”

Mai just realized that Jena was missing from the group.

“Her and her little protégé took a seat already,” Norah replied.

Mai couldn’t hide the puzzled look on her face.

“Tess?” Norah asked. “Jeremy’s girlfriend? She and Jena are practically best friends.”

“Jena told me she thinks of Tess more like a little sister than a friend,” Britney said.

“Let’s meet up with them before we miss the whole show,” Mai said. “I just need to buy a ticket.”

“No you don’t,” Norah said. “Jeremy’s working and he said he’d let us in free for this.”

“He could get fired for doing that,” Mai said feeling guilty. “I think I’ll just get a ticket anyway.”

Norah put her hand around Mai’s arm and lead her to the front of the theater. Jeremy wasn’t working the ticket booth, but he saw them as they came in.

“Hey,” Norah said. “She left her cell phone in the bathroom earlier, or maybe in the theater. She doesn’t know. Can we go looking for it?”

The older man at the ticket booth looked at her with disbelief.

“Do you have your ticket stubs?” He asked in a serious and harsh voice.

“It’s alright,” Jeremy said. “I remember seeing them earlier.”

“They should have their tickets to get in,” The older man replied.

“Seriously?” Norah asked in a similarly harsh voice. “It’s like a six hundred dollar phone. The least you can do is get out of our way so we can look for it.”

“She can go,” The man said. “But you two have to stay outside.”

Norah paused for a moment, but only for a moment.

“Fine,” She said. “We’ll wait, but it’s going to take three times longer for her to find it.”

Mai didn’t like it when Norah lied, but she was willing to play along. She walked into the theater alone and began heading toward the bathroom.

“Mai,” Jeremy said. “This way.”

He took her towards the back of the theater to an emergency exit door and opened it. The two of them waited for a little bit, but within a few moments Norah and Britney emerged through the door.

“Thanks for that,” Norah said, placing her hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. “You’re the best. Sorry it didn’t work out like I planned.”

“I told you he was a hard ass,” Jeremy said. “You’re looking for theater four, it’s just down there.” He pointed down the hall and to the right. “I would watch it with you guys but my shift doesn’t end till nine.”

“No worries,” Norah said. “We won’t ruin it for you.”

“I might,” Britney jokingly replied.

It looked to Mai that Jeremy was upset that they hadn’t included him. She figured that he had wanted to see the movie with Tess, and maybe that had hurt him more than the fact that the rest of the girls hadn’t included him.

“The next movie we see we’ll have to make sure you can come too,” Mai said softly.

“That would be nice,” Jeremy replied with a half-smile on his face.

“We can do something after the movie too,” Britney mentioned.

“I’m taking Tess to get ice cream after,” Jeremy said.

“I like ice cream,” Britney said.

“It’s kind of a date,” Jeremy replied. “Some other time though, we all need to hang at my place.”

“We’re going to be so late for this awesome movie,” Norah said. “Thanks again for all your help, but we have to get going.”

It was now just after seven twenty when the three girls walked into theater four and looked for the other two girls. It was clear that the movie had already began, and Mai hoped that she hadn’t missed too much of the useful exposition. She sat closest to Jena, who happened to be smart enough to buy a box of popcorn, and she thankfully shared it with everyone throughout the film.

“That was the worst piece of crap I’ve ever seen,” Jena said as they finally departed the theater. “I thought you said it was going to be scary, or good.” She was of course talking to Norah.

Norah crinkled her lips for a moment before she began, “It was supposed to be better than that. That director was praised for his cinematic eye and ability to create suspense. I don’t know what happened.”

“So you both agree that the movie was a bust then?” Britney asked. “I thought it was just me. I usually like horror movies, but that wasn’t really scary at all.”

“I’m going to go,” Tess said.

“What did you think of it?” Mai asked politely.

“I,” Tess started, “I thought it was...lame, yeah.” There was a hesitance in her voice. “I’ve got to meet up with Jeremy though, so I can’t stay and trash talk it more, but I would.”

Mai thought that it sounded like Tess was actually afraid.

“Have fun then,” Jena said. “Al least one of us still has their BF from homecoming.”

“Come on,” Norah interrupted as Tess ran off towards the exit. “If you couldn’t tell that Zach was gay that’s totally your own fault.”

“He seemed interested in me,” Jena said sharply.

“He seemed interested in Jeremy,” Norah said laughing. “It was so funny that he bounced at the dance after-“

“Don’t even remind me what he said to Jeremy,” Jena said.

Mai had heard about the homecoming incident almost a week after it had happened from Zach in her physics class.

“I thought he knew that I was into him,” Zach had said in the back of Mai’s ear the Monday after the dance. “That’s why I was sitting with you guys at lunch. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like you little diva’s but I’m a senior, I don’t need to be around after third hour. I could have gone home after study hall. I took way too many credits my first three years. But he seemed gay to me, and I like his little smile…I guess I just wanted him to be.”

Mai laughed at the sincerity and simplicity of Zach’s words back then. The laughter caused Norah and Jena to both glance at her though.

“I was just thinking about how lame the movie was,” Mai said smiling.

“Well let’s do something fun,” Norah said. “Since the movie was such a horrible waste of time why don’t we go to my house and put on a real séance?”

“Like with a Ouija board?” Britney asked.

“Yeah,” Norah replied. “I have one at my house. It’s in the garage but I know where to get it.”

“Why is it in your garage?” Jena asked.

“My mom doesn’t like me keeping it in the house,” Norah said honestly for the first time in her life to Jena. “She says it can cause all kinds of messed up juju to enter a home and she won’t let me have it in my room anymore.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Britney said. “I’m all for watching another movie, but trying to summon a spirit sounds bad to me too.”

“Don’t be such a baby,” Jena said. “Those things don’t really work.”

“Sure they do,” Norah said mockingly. “I think you’re just scared of what might happen.”

“As if,” Jena said. “I’m totally down for proving you wrong.”

Mai sighed as she knew now what she would be spending the remainder of her night doing.

“You can put your bike in my car if you want Norah,” Mai said. “We should probably get going.”

“Would you drive me too?” Jena asked.

Mai frowned for an instant before she placed a plastic smile on.

“Sure,” Mai replied through her teeth.

“You don’t have to drive me,” Britney said. “I know where you live so I’ll just meet you guys there.” She finished as she looked at Norah.

Britney was already parked on the street and standing outside her car when the three of them arrived. Mai noticed her perk up and wave when she saw the minivan roll in, but it looked like she was on her phone. When Mai got out she could hear Britney talking rather loudly.

“Babe, I can’t talk any longer.” She said in a hurried voice. “I’ll skype with you when I get home…well then stay up.”

It was obvious that they were having another fight. It seemed to be the norm for Britney to be in little spats with her boyfriend. She hadn’t been with a different guy since she started high school, but Mai doubted that Britney was really happy.

“Wrap it up,” Jena said once she reached the front door. “The sooner we’re done with this the sooner I can leave this dump.”

“I’m sorry we can’t all live on a five acre estate,” Norah said, unlocking the humble white door to let them all into her home.

“That’s cute,” Jena said. “But it’s only a two acre estate. And I don’t care that your house is tiny and dirty, I care that it’s in a bad part of town. I might get shot here.”

“Sure,” Norah said. “In an area with a fifteen percent crime rate you’re going to get shot. Hell, I’d shoot you if I thought I’d get away with it.”

“Would you two stop it?” Britney asked now that her conversation was finally finished. “I hope you weren’t this bad in the car.”

“They weren’t,” Mai said, stepping into the house last. “It turns out that Norah and Jena like the same music. We didn’t talk at all on the way over.”

“Well that’s interesting,” Britney said as she looked around. “I like the Halloween decorations.”

Norah’s house was filled with cobwebs, and witch pillows. There was a bowl of candy close to the door.

“My sister thought it looked stupid,” Norah said. “But she’s been passing out candy all day.”

“Doesn’t look like it,” Jena said. “The candy’s still full.”

“Natalie!” Norah called out throughout the house, and the sound of her voice echoed slightly.

The three of them waited for a long moment before Norah let out a small grunt.

“That little brat left without saying anything,” Norah said under her breath. “I’m gonna kill her when she gets home.”

“Was she supposed to be here all night?” Mai asked, knowing that she was.

“Yeah,” Norah said. “I hope she gets hit by a car. I bet you anything she went trick or treating, even after she told me it was stupid. She’s such a brat.”

Norah was still talking more to herself than to anyone else as she rounded a corner out of the living room towards the kitchen and eventually the garage. She was turning on lights as she moved and mumbled to herself, and for a moment Mai thought about going after her. The inclination had died shortly after though and she remained with her other two friends.

“I’m a little nervous,” Britney admitted. “Isn’t Halloween supposed to be one of the most haunted nights of the year?”

“Yeah,” Mai said. “But that’s only if you believe in spirits and stuff like that.”

“I do,” Britney said softly.

“What a bunch of crap,” Jena said. “If anything this is going to be as big a bust as the movie we just watched.”

“I don’t know,” Mai said. “It’s nice to keep an open mind. It would be pretty cool if something did happen.”

“Well it would,” Jena started. “But it’s a Ouija board, someone has to be moving it. It’s not like we’re going to be holding a séance in a haunted hotel or something.”

“I found it,” Norah said over the sound of the garage door opening.

The noise gave Mai a bit of a fright. She wasn’t the only one, since both Jena and Britney also made small sounds of their surprise.

Norah placed the wooden board on the coffee table in the living room and began fetching candles to place around it. She had three white candles, three red candles, and one black candle near the front of the board.

“There, that should give us enough light,” Norah began. “In order to make this a really authentic séance we need to have the lights off and the candles burning. When the black candle starts to flare up that will indicate that we have a spirit among us.”

“You’re making that up,” Jena said.

“Sit down and be quiet,” Norah snipped back at her. “Mai, would you light the three white candles before I turn out the lights?”

Mai looked down for a lighter, and Norah slapped her palm against her face. She ran into the kitchen and returned with a matchbook. Mai struck the match and began lighting the candles. She took a deep breath before Norah began turning the lights off.

It was slightly more eerie now that the dim light from the three candles barely illuminated the board. Mai could feel her heart quickening and she swallowed to try and relieve the anxiety.

Norah sat down next to Mai. “Sit down,” She said.

Britney sat beside Norah as well and raised her hand for Jena to take. Jena refused it, but none the less sat down with the other girls.

“This is going to be stupid,” Jena said.

“You get to light the red candles,” Norah said once Jena finally sat.

“I don’t want to,” Jena replied.

“Scared?” Norah asked mockingly.

“Shut up and give me the matches,” Jena said hastily.

She struck it and proceeded to light the three red candles. Mai’s heart was continuing to pound in her chest as the light became better. She was glad for the extra light, but the new shadows being cast from them was beginning to frighten her. They looked like figures moving from wall to wall.

“I don’t know if we should do this,” Mai said. “We can still watch another movie right?”

Norah shook her head.

“I’ve already started,” She began. “It would be more dangerous for us to stop now than for us to just keep going until the séance is finished.”

Norah took the matches from Jena and stuck the last match to light the black candle which laid in front of the board. While the candle first glared orange and yellow it quickly turned to a dim blue flame.

“Alright,” Norah began. “We need to grab hands so I can get us started.”

The four girls linked their hands together and Norah began to chant something Mai had never heard.

“Is that even English?” Jena asked, but then lurched backwards as all the girls watched the black candles flame grow larger and larger while it maintained its blue hue.

"It's not," Norah replied. "It's an ancient tongue that my mother taught me. She's hard core into the teachings of paganism."

Mai searched all the girls faces for a moment, having heard a faint whisper of a boy she could not find.

"I'm getting nervous, what if we summon someone we didn't mean to?" Britney asked. "I mean, what if we mean to summon a person be we get stuck with a demon instead?"

"This is a summoning chant for people," Norah replied flatly. "Not for demons. I don't think my mom knows one for demons."

"Does anyone else hear that?" Mai asked quietly.

"Hear what?" Jena asked. "Norah trying to scare all of us on Halloween, yeah I hear that."

"No..." Mai swallowed. "There's like this whispering.

The girls turned their heads down to the board, unknowing they had moved the eye of the piece towards the YES.

"Oh, we have a spirit," Norah said excitedly.

"Are you sure?" Mai asked. "I thought I head whispering."

"I didn't hear anything," Jena said coldly. "I think it's just a bunch of bull."

I'm here.

There was a faint moan of a boy, and Mai was sure it was a boy, though she knew there was no one there. Simply the four of them, and Norah pushing them to go further down.