Enchanted by a Siren

Chapter 11: Reputation

After their slightly heated conversation the rest of the night was actually quite fun. They watched movies and just chatted about normal things. Things that Zen realized, to her dismay, she never really had the chance to discuss with anyone. She's always kept to herself, her strange heritage wrapping her in a blanket of solitude that she enforced, rather than allow someone close enough to learn the truth. 

But with Calum... It all felt very comfortable. He even had her laughing until her stomach hurt, she didn't remember the last time she felt so at ease around someone.

The next morning they walked to school together and the conversation never stopped flowing. Once they put aside the strangeness of their attraction to one another it turned out they enjoyed each other’s company a great deal. Their mood turned a bit sullen when they saw Toby get out of his Mother’s car and look them over once, twice... A scarf wrapped tightly around his neck.

Zen jumped as Calum called to him. “Toby, hey!” He ran over to Toby, but she remained where she was.

“What’s with the scarf?” Calum asked when he reached his friend and Toby pulled it down, displaying dark purple bruises in perfect lines on his neck. Calum let out a pained, “Ouch, I didn’t realize it would look so bad.” Before Calum could apologize Toby gave him a seething look.

“Yeah, rub it in, why don’t you.” Toby retorted in annoyance.

“Toby, I’m really sorry. I’ll keep saying it like a million times.” Calum apologized, and he meant it, every single word. He really hadn't meant to hurt his friend, not in a million years.

“Yeah, well, looks like you got what you wanted.” Toby gestured to Zen who was just standing there looking extremely uncomfortable.

“Hey, that’s not fair.” Calum tried to defend himself.

“No, what isn’t fair is that you strangled me over some girl and she still chose you…” Toby looked him dead in the eyes as he said it.

“Toby, come on.” Calum begged.

“No, my Mom’s right, I think it’s best if you stay away from me.” Toby stated before turning on his heal and merging with the crowd headed for the school.

Calum rushed after him, grabbing him by the arm, but Toby pulled away from him just as someone hooted from the driveway. Both their heads snapped to the sound instinctively. It was Toby’s Mom, sitting in the car, watching them. Calum’s face drained of color at her hate filled expression.

“Seriously, Dude. Leave me alone.” Toby exclaimed before almost running to get away from him. 

Calum felt lost, he looked back to where Zen had been and once again she was gone, disappeared to God knows where. He hadn’t even seen her leave. 

The rest of the school day was painful. Everyone who usually greeted Calum just stared at him as he passed. Clearly, news of him and Toby’s fallout had gotten around. To make things even worse Toby was avoiding him like the plague and Zen wasn’t in any of his classes. To top everything off Zen skipped swim practice and he was itching to talk to her.

He asked his Mom to drop him off at his usual surf spot, just needing to clear his head.

Zen decided to ditch swim practice after Kayla teased her saying. “Wow, Zen. You’ve hardly been here a week and already the boys are fighting over you.” The words were said with a playful tone, but Zen could hear the disapproval simmering in them. “First with the boys, fastest in the pool. That blue hair really must be magical.” Kayla said it with a mocking smile that didn't do much to hide the bitterness in her voice.

Zen had been looking forward to going into the water and swimming her little heart out, but she wasn’t in the mood to deal with Kayla… or Calum, for that matter, and least of all Toby. She needed to release her magic urgently. It felt like it was crawling under her skin and her bright blue hair was already going a strange shade of dark blue. It was happening much quicker than usual and it concerned her, but she reminded herself that she has never used her power as much as she had been lately, trying to keep the situation with Calum under control.

She had no choice, she needed to let it out. She’d use the beach Calum showed her the previous day, it wasn’t ideal, but it was walking distance and she really didn’t have any other choice. The safest option would've been to go in the dead of night, but she didn’t like the idea of being in the ocean at night. It was a pit of endless black oblivion that made her skin crawl, but she could go now, if she stayed close to the bottom she shouldn’t be noticed. The Pattersons weren’t expecting her until after swim practice, so it was the perfect time.

As Calum pulled on his swimming trunks his phone rang and he saw that it was none other than his best friend Ryan, who was a million miles away. His heart ached a little as he saw the caller ID. He missed his friend, but he reminded himself that if it wasn’t for Ryan he wouldn’t have met Zen.

“Hi, stranger.” He said as he answered the phone.

“Oh my gosh, I am gone for a week and already you’ve tried to kill Toby.” Ryan’s amused voice came through the phone.

“He told you, huh?” Calum asked, sitting down on the bed.

“Yeah, I pulled it out of him. So, what did he do?” He said it so casually, as if he understood how Toby could be and it just reminded Calum why Ryan was his closest friend.

“You’re going to laugh.” Calum said in frustration.

“Tell me anyway.” Ryan pressed, that familiar confident tone sending a dull ache through Calum, he missed his friend.

“It was about a girl and honestly, I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean to do it.” Calum replied, hoping Ryan would hear the senserity in his voice.

“A girl? Are you kidding me! I’ve tried to get you to show interest in those since middle school and you choose the week I leave to finally like one?” Ryan exclaimed.

“Yeah… I guess.” Calum admitted with a soft chuckle.

“So, who is it?” Ryan pushed.

“It’s the exchange student who swapped places with you.” Calum told him.

“No way! I’ve seen some pictures of her around the School here. Really did not peg you for a blue hair kind of guy.” Ryan retorted.

“Yeah, well. It’s just a color, right? She’ll probably change it again anyway.” Calum replied dismissively.

“Actually… Part of me thinks it’s kind of permanent. There isn’t one single picture that I’ve seen where it isn’t blue.” Ryan offered, curiosity sparking in his words.

Calum found it strange, but decided to push it to the back of his mind for now. He had much bigger fish to fry. “That’s weird.”

“Yeah… But listen, don’t let some girl come between my two pals. I told him the same thing and I think you should let him cool off for a few days and then apologize again until he forgives you. I’m not saying who should get the girl, but you did choke him and I get it, he threw the first punch, but as much as I have wanted to do it in the past, I would never actually do it.” Ryan said, a little more serious now.

"Wow, he actually told you that?" Calum asked in surprise.

"What, that he threw the first punch? Yeah, he feels bad about it. You both just need to forget it and move on, and before I come home, please." Ryan commanded in that playful, yet serious tone he used when addressing problematic situations.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ve been feeling very out of it. I've been doing things I know I wouldn’t normally do. I don’t know what’s going on with me.” Calum admitted, sighing into the phone.

“Don’t worry man, being in love can make you do stupid things. Just remember… She is leaving again in six months.” Ryan said it softly, as if hating that he had to say it at all, to give Calum that reminder of the expiration date of his new love interest, but he knew his friend needed to hear it.

There was a silence that stretched on for a while before Calum finally answered. “I know.” He did know. There was an expiration date on him and Zen’s relationship. If there was even one, but he wasn’t ready to let it go, and if six months was all he got he was going to make it the best six months of their lives.

He said goodbye to Ryan and hung up the phone. Rushing out of the room to go strap his surfboard to the roof of the SUV. 

Zen grabbed her things from her locker and dug underneath all her stuff for what she needed, a nude sand colored summer dress. She couldn’t go into the ocean wearing her current clothes and she couldn’t very well go n***d. She found this dress at a thrift shop a few years ago and it worked perfectly on occasions like this. Allowing her magic the space it needed to release.

She shoved it in her bag and hesitated, eyeing a small hand mirror that was given to her on one of her birthdays. She'd never seen what she looked like when her magic was free, when she was free, and she felt it was high time she did. She grabbed it and shoved it in her bag alongside the dress. Swinging the locker door shut she turned to leave and gave a small yelp as she bumped right into Toby.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.” Zen apologized, her cheeks flushing a deep red as she beheld the scarf around his neck.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Toby offered with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. They stood there for an awkward moment before Zen finally said. “See you, Toby.” She turned to leave, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Zen, wait.” She turned back to him expectantly.

“I’m really sorry about yesterday. If we, I don’t know, scared you off or something.” Toby apologized, fidgeting nervously with his scarf.

“It wasn’t anyone’s fault, I'm sorry too. Let's just forget about it, okay?” Zen said dismissively.

“No more fighting in front of pretty girls, got it.” He said jokingly before looking at her as if he just gave her the biggest compliment in the world, and honestly, he was a little confused. Most girls would giggle nervously at him calling them pretty or beautiful or anything along those lines, but Zen just gave him a polite smile. 

“How about just… No more fighting.” Zen corrected.

“Yes, of course.” Toby replied quickly, feeling a bit like he'd just been reprimanded. 

“Bye, Toby.” Zen turned to leave again, but he opened his mouth to stop her. “Wait.” Was all that came out.

She half turned, a few steps away already. “Yes?” She asked, a little bit annoyed now.

“I was just wondering if you would like to hang out sometime?” He inquired nervously.

Zen pursed her lips and stared at him for a moment, as if deciding something. Then she turned and closed the distance between them. “Toby, I’m really sorry for what happened yesterday, but I’ll tell you what I told Calum. I’m not interested in dating anyone right now.” She hadn’t said those exact words to Calum, but she figured her refusal to kiss him definitely conveyed the message.

“Calum asked you out?” Toby demanded, a frown knitting across his brow. Of everything she said of course that was what he latched onto.

“Not in so many words, no.” She replied, not wanting to make things worse for Calum.

“Oh, alright. Well, you seem like a fun girl. So, if you do want to just hang out, let me know.” He offered with a smile and that was one offer that she did actually appreciate. She didn’t really know anyone around here yet and she liked knowing there was someone she could go to, besides Calum, of course. Even if she still wasn't convinced of his platonic offer.

“Thanks, Toby. That’s really nice of you. I’m in a bit of a hurry though. So, we’ll talk.” She smiled at him before turning with a quick. “Bye.”