Paxton stared at the clock on the wall with anxious intensity, willing time to move both faster and slower at the same time. Today was the day he was finally going to face his fears by asking Emily White out on a date, and he was a nervous wreck. He barely even spoke to the regular girls in his grade, but now here he was, trying to win the attention of the most popular one in school. It was a stupidly bold move, but it was his last chance to try. It was their senior year. They would all be graduating in a matter of months, and Emily might not be single again until after they moved on to college. He couldn’t pass up this window of opportunity.
The clock struck noon and the class was dismissed. Paxton felt a flutter of excitement —or perhaps it was dread?— in the pit of his stomach as he collected his books and headed for the door. Dozens of questions flitted through his mind. What would Emily say? What if she turned him down? Would she even recognize him? They had three classes together, but she always seemed to forget the faces of anyone who wasn’t part of her clique. She might not even remember his first name.
“Hey, Pax,” a voice said from behind him, distracting him from his thoughts. He turned around to see his friend, Zachary Scott, standing there with a hand raised in greeting. Among all of the students in Paxton’s grade, Zach was the only one who really talked with him. In fact, the boy talked so much that Paxton had a hard time getting rid of him sometimes. He still didn’t understand why Zach was so drawn to hanging around him. He was more popular than Paxton was, being socially active and sporty, and yet he preferred his company over the other jocks at the school.
“Hey, Zach,” Paxton nodded at him and kept walking. Part of him hoped that the boy would just continue on his way, too, since he didn’t have time to stay and talk. He had to find Emily before the end of their lunch break. The passing periods in between their classes were too short for him to look for her, and she went to cheerleading practice right after school ended. The lunch hour was the only time he even had a shot at asking her.
Unfortunately, Zach wasn’t so easily shaken off.
“Where are you headed in such a hurry?” Zach said, moving to stand in front of him.
“The cafeteria,” Paxton replied vaguely as he attempted to step around his friend.
“Relax,” Zach rolled his eyes. “The food’s not going anywhere. You have plenty of time.” He smirked when another thought seemed to come to him. “Or… are you going there for another reason?” He laughed as Paxton shot him an indignant look. “Don’t think I haven’t heard the rumors, Pax. News spreads like wildfire whenever Emily’s single again, and I’ve seen the way you look at her. It’s obvious that siren’s got you snared with her song.”
“Just let me through,” Paxton said noncommittally.
“Honestly, man,” Zach sighed, stepping in front of Paxton when he tried to move around him again. “I don’t see why you bother. She’s so shallow. She just uses guys and throws ‘em away when she’s done. Why would you want to get involved with that?”
“She’s the hottest girl in school. Besides, I think you’re not giving her enough credit. I think there’s more to her than meets the eye.”
“I think you’re giving her
too much credit. You haven’t even talked to her before. I tried it once, and it wasn’t one of my better decisions in life. Trust me; you’re better off with someone like Madison or Riley. Riley’s pretty cute. How about you forget this pointless mission of yours and go ask her out?”
“Don’t waste your breath, Zach. I’m going to do this. I’ve waited three years, and I am not going to pass up this chance.”
“Fine, fine,” Zach shook his head. “Just don’t get your hopes up, friend. No offense, but she doesn’t look twice at guys like you, let alone
date them.” On that positive note, he let Paxton go and continued on down the hallway.
Paxton scoffed and kept walking towards the cafeteria. What did Zach know? He could have his pick of any of the girls in the school. He didn’t know what it was like to be one of the average students, who were lucky to even talk to a popular girl like Emily. Now, Paxton finally had a chance to land a gorgeous girlfriend before he graduated from high school. He just couldn’t let this opportunity slip by while it was available. Zach didn’t understand that.
When he reached the cafeteria, Paxton did a quick sweep of the room for Emily. He found her at a table with a group of girls from the cheerleading squad, along with a couple of guys that he recognized as members of the lacrosse team. He hesitated by the doorway. He knew he shouldn’t have expected Emily to sit alone, but now he had to face the added pressure of an audience when he asked her out. On top of that, the students who would be watching him were all popular, too.
Wonderful.
Paxton swallowed the lump in his throat and made his way towards the table. A few of the other girls glanced his way, but they quickly lost interest and went back to their conversation with Emily. The group only turned towards him again when he stopped and stood beside their table. A few of them smirked knowingly at Emily, guessing Paxton’s intentions before he even said a word. Their smug expressions seemed to say: “Oh look, here comes the next reject.”
Then Emily turned to face him, and Paxton lost himself in the depths of her eyes. He found himself staring at her so intently that he almost missed her question: “Yes? Can I help you?”
“Um,” Paxton said, using one of his best oh-so-charming and witty one-liners.
“‘Um’ what?” Emily quirked a perfectly manicured brow at him.
“I-I was wondering if you might want to go catch a movie with me sometime.”
“Sure.”
“Wait… really?” Paxton’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Of course not,” Emily rolled her eyes and the other girls broke out in hysterical giggles. A smile tugged at the corner of her lip as well. She was clearly enjoying herself. “I just love seeing the looks on the faces of guys like you when you think you have a shot at going out with
me. I mean, come on. Do I look like the type of girl to date a guy who wears glasses? It would take an act of magic for a nobody like you to get a somebody like me to even consider you for a boyfriend. Go find someone in your own league.” She waved a hand, casually dismissing him, and went back to her conversation with the others as if he had never said a word.
Paxton left the cafeteria in defeat, his chest tight with anger and embarrassment. He should have just set his pride aside and taken Zach’s advice. No matter how badly he wanted to win her over, Emily would never feel the same way about him. And why should she? There were plenty of guys at the school who were better suited for her than him. He was just another forgettable face in the classroom: a nobody. He sighed. Why did he think she would ever say yes to a date with him? It had been a stupid idea to even bother asking her in the first place.
--
The rest of the school day passed by in a blur. Paxton hardly paid attention to the lectures in his afternoon classes. He just wanted to go home and forget about the scene in the cafeteria. So when the final bell rang to dismiss the students, he went straight to his car and headed off campus. Unfortunately, it seemed as if fate itself was against him, because the route he took to get home from the school was blocked off for construction. He was forced to take a long detour through an old, rundown section of the city, affectionately known as “the slums” by those who didn’t live in it.
Paxton slowed his car to a sluggish fifteen miles-per-hour, as the roads were severely neglected in the slums. They were filled with treacherous potholes and bumps that could blow out a tire if he hit one too roughly. Paxton’s day had already gone poorly enough. He didn’t want to have to deal with fixing a flat on top of everything else that had happened.
As he drove along the sun-bleached old road, Paxton let his eyes wander along the buildings that lined the streets. There were many odd shops that he had never seen in his part of town, but one of them caught his eye in particular. It was a little store that was almost completely hidden in the corner between a pet shop and an out-of-business Mongolian restaurant. He had almost missed it as he went by, but the faded sign above the door made him slow down and take a second look.
JOE’S MAGIC TRICKS
THE SECRETS OF THE WORLD CAN BE YOURS
Emily’s words echoed in the back of Paxton’s mind:
It would take an act of magic for a nobody like you to get a somebody like me to even consider you for a boyfriend. He glanced at the store and then shook his head. It was completely ridiculous that he would even consider such a thing, but then again… he did have some time to kill, and there was no harm in browsing. It wasn’t like he was actually going to buy anything from the strange little shop.
Paxton pulled into the parking lot and got out of his car. He walked up to the entrance of the magic shop. There were no windows and the door was closed, but there was a sign nailed to it that read: ‘always open.’ He reached for the handle and, sure enough, it was unlocked. He turned it and stepped inside.
The interior was almost completely dark. For a moment, Paxton was worried that the sign was a hoax and the store really was closed. However, he relaxed when he saw a few lanterns flickering in the back of the room. He decided that the darkness must just be part of the creepy ambiance of the magic shop, so he put it out of his mind and went to browse the merchandise in the shelves that lined the walls.
There were hundreds of strange looking devices that Paxton had neither seen nor heard of before. He couldn’t even begin to guess what their purposes were. On the top of one shelf, he found something that made him smile, though. There was a dusty top-hat like the ones he had seen in cheesy magic shows as a young child. He reached up and took it down, peering inside to see if there was a rabbit. Of course, the hat was empty, so he put it back. This magic shop was a joke, just like he had expected it to be.
Paxton was about to head for the door when he saw something in the corner of his eye that made him turn around again. A golden handle poked out from behind a cluster of black boxes on one of the shelves in the back of the room. He stepped over to it curiously and picked it up, discovering that the handle was attached to an
Arabian oil lamp. It was heavy and looked like it was made of solid gold. The lamp had to be worth a small fortune, but when Paxton turned it over to see the price tag on the bottom, it only read twenty-five dollars. His eyes widened in disbelief. What a steal! There was no way he could pass this up. He took the lamp to the desk at the back of the room, but the store owner was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was a piece of paper taped to the top of the table:
Thank you for shopping at JOE’S MAGIC TRICKS! If you wish to purchase something, leave your money in the box at the right-hand corner of the table. We accept cash only. Be warned: all of our merchandise is cursed. If you try to leave without paying the proper amount, you will face terrible misfortune in the near future. Oh, and remember: All magic comes with a price!
—Joe
Paxton rolled his eyes as he fished in his pocket for his wallet. The owner was a foolishly trusting person to leave his shop unattended like this, especially when he was selling something as valuable as a solid gold lamp. Adding a fake ‘curse’ wasn’t going to stop a thief from taking something. Luckily for the owner, Paxton was not a thief. He dropped the twenty-five dollars into the box as the note had instructed and left the shop with the gold lamp.
--
Back at his house, Paxton dumped his book bag on his bed and sat down at his desk with the lamp. He turned it over in his hands, inspecting it for blemishes. In spite of its age, it looked brand new. He wondered how much money he could make by selling the lamp. It was definitely worth a few thousand dollars at the least. And who knew? Maybe if he became rich, Emily would be willing to go on that date with him. The thought made him smile.
“Oh?” Paxton narrowed his eyes, spotting a small black mark on the side of the lamp. It appeared that it was just a smudge, so he licked a thumb and rubbed it off. He set it down of the desk and grinned, “There. Good as new.”
Vaunivor
Tlazolteotl
Syrenrei
AHeartlessNobody
nachonacho
Vampiretwilight
