Jenna's Spellbook Chapter 2

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Chapter Two: Playing Hooky

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I sit crying on the warm asphalt of the school parking lot with Stacy wrapped around me for I don't know how long. When I'm mostly cried out, I sniffle and wipe my face with my now-much-rougher hands. Snot gets on them, but I honestly don't care at this point. Snot is far from my biggest problem. I wipe my hands on my pants, and take a deep breath. Okay Jenna.. Calm down...

Stacy hugs harder, then lets me go. "Alright. Do you want to get out of here? Figure this out somewhere else?"

I sniffle, "Yeah. Let's go." I stand and climb into my car, and start the engine. I wait for Stacy to buckle up, then pull out of the parking lot, half expecting somebody to run out and tell us to get back in class. Nobody does, the teachers are pretty cool sometimes. The rules are stupid, but the teachers don't pay attention to them. I have Stacy text my mom to have her excuse me and Stacy from class, making up some excuse for having to leave.

"Hey, I'm still not one hundred percent that you're Jenna, so can you go to our spot?" I glance over at Stacy, and see that she's activated her panic app. It tracks location, so if she isn't in a specific spot by the set time, it'll call 911 and tell them where she is. Our parents made us download the apps onto our phones. I'm the only other person who knows what location she's entered, so I start heading into town.

I sigh, "Yeah Stacy. No problem."

"Sooo...what happened?" She's looking over at me from the passenger seat with a neutral expression on her face.

"You won't believe me, but I opened a book. The next thing I knew, I looked like...well, this. I called you as soon as I was outside." I shrug, "If you want, I took the book. It's in my bag."

She turns to dig through the pile of crap in my back seat, and drags my bag into her lap. She opens it, and pulls out the big, heavy book. "This it?" She starts to open it, but I put my hand over hers.

"Yeah, but don't open it. I don't know what'll happen if you do."

Stacy shuts the book, and sneezes as a cloud of dust ends up in her face. "Whew! That's fucking old."

"Yup." We drive in silence for about five minutes before I pull into the parking lot of an abandoned theater. Stacy's phone beeps, and tells her that the app has disarmed. "We're here."

"Well, I'm still not completely convinced, but if you aren't Jenna, then you've at least talked to her. And she trusts you, or she wouldn't have given you the address to this place."

I shake my head, "Stacy.. For being so impulsive, you're awfully paranoid."

She glares at me, "Let's just head inside, and then we'll see if the book is magic or not."

I grab my bag from where Stacy's dumped it back into the back seat, turn off the car, slide my phone and keys into my pocket, then get out. I nod my head, going down my checklist before I remember the emergency brake. I poke my head back in the car, set it, then lock the doors. The air feels humid and muggy, and I look up to see stormclouds rolling in. I unlock the car, grab an umbrella from the backseat, then lock the car back up.

I turn to Stacy, whose leaning on the white VW bug, watching me with her eyebrow raised. "Yep. You're definitely Jenna."

I glare at her, "Shut up Stacy. Let's just get inside before we get soaked." This time of year, the rainclouds come often, and they don't leave for days. We'll get maybe one or two clear days per week for the next month or so.

Stacy and I head inside through the broken links in the fence with the faded, "No Trespassing" sign. The back door can be jimmied to open if you've got a pry bar, which we do. We head inside, shutting the door behind us. It closes smoothly and quietly; last summer we oiled the hinges. Before that, it squealed like a dying pig when we opened or closed it. Now it barely makes a sound. We set a chunk of wood through the door handle to prevent anybody from coming in after us, then turn around and head into the larger theater, navigating by touch since we can't see anything.

We emerge from under the burnt out "exit" sign beside the stage with ratty, old curtains hanging loosely from the drawstrings that kept them pulled. By now our eyes have adjusted to the extremely dim light in the theater, light let in by the hole in the stage roof. A few rows of level seats lead back away from the stage before they ramp sharply upwards to street level and fade into the gloom of the abandoned theater. The theater was built on the side of a hill, which meant that they didn't have to excavate as much for it. The old ornate balcony is close to the ceiling, and the only useful source of light in the theater, beyond the stage that is, is what we bring with us, so it's absurdly dark in the balcony.

We pull out our phones, and turn the flashlights on, then head to the balcony where we've got a lantern and a stash of stuff. Stacy lets me lead the way, either because she still doesn't trust me, or because she hates going first. Either way, I don't mind. We haven't been here in a while, so I'm excited to see if our most recent attempt at keeping animals out of our food has proved successful.

We go up the rows to the lobby, where there is a short wooden door that leads to the spiral staircase we take to get to the balcony. The only other way to get up to the balcony is through the emergency exit that leads out to a fire escape, and it's visible from the street, so we usually don't go that way. I open the short door, and duck my head to get through the squat doorway to the old wooden staircase. It smells vaguely of dust and popcorn grease, the staircase is tight and uncomfortable. It's enclosed, and I used to be afraid to go in because it's so claustrophobic. Back then, Stacy and I usually hung out on the stage.

We get to the balcony, and sit in the hollow we've created by removing a few of the seats, and light our electric lantern. It flickers for a few seconds, then shines brightly. "We'll need to bring new batteries next time." I observe, then put my phone away. Stacy does the same.

Then I check the plastic cooler we keep our food in. We ended up having to wrap bungee cords around it to keep raccoons out. I unwrap the cooler, and check our food. Yep, it's all there. I pull out a bag of chips for me, and a pack of Oreos for Stacy.

Stacy frowns and looks over my shoulder, "We're running low on food too. Maybe bring some of that next time?"

"Yeah, sounds good to me." Stacy seems to have somewhat accepted that it's me in this weird-ass male body.

"Sooo..." Stacy opens the pack of Oreos, then continues, "Gonna pull that book out?"

"Yeah." I pull the book out of my bag, and a tampon falls out with it. I quickly grab it, and toss it back in, while Stacy coughs to cover up a laugh. I glare at her, and pull my phone back out to look at the cover. It hasn't changed, "Jenna's Spellbook" reads in large, ornate lettering across the cover. There isn't anything else on the entire cover; front, back, or spine.

I open the book, and the binding cracks ominously. The first page just says the same thing as the cover. "Well, apparently it's your spellbook." Stacy observes.

"Thanks for that astute observation, Captain Obvious." I reply.

I turn the page, and see nothing on it. A brilliant violet light envelopes my body, and I feel my body cracking and reforming, then I pass out out from the pain.

When I come to, Stacy is about to slap me, and has her eyes shut tightly, "God damn it, Jenna! This better wake you up, because I'm not dragging your ass out of here!" Before I can get my hands up to stop her, she slaps me, and holy shit that girl has a strong arm.

"OW!" I scream at her, "What the fuck Stacy?!"

She grins sheepishly at me, "Sorry..."

I glare at her, and don't say anything.

"Hey, at least your boobs are back?"

I look down, and sure enough, my boobs are back. I reach down, and...yep...flat as a pancake. I grin at Stacy, and she visibly relaxes. Then I slap her, "Payback," I tell her. I sit up, and regain my bearings.

Stacy rubs her face, frowning at me, "Bitch.. That hurt..." I stick my tongue out, then look around for the book. I find it shoved under a seat, and slide it back into the light.

I look at the spellbook. It's still open to the page I had it on, and now there's writing. I peer at it, and it looks like instructions. Before I can begin to read it, Stacy closes the book in my face, "Okay! That's enough of that! Can we please burn this now that you're back to normal?"

I snatch the book back, and shove it into my bag. "No. But I need ice cream, so we're not gonna screw with it until after I have a giant waffle cone of vanilla. Let's celebrate me getting back to normal."

"Fine." Stacy glares at me, "But I still say we should burn that thing." Then we head back outside to go get ice cream, locking everything up behind us.

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Comments

Slow starting, but definitely

Slow starting, but definitely seems to be interesting, as I do want to know what Jenna and Stacy find what things or powers they might have and can do with the book.

Mischief

Podracer's picture

I foresee.. (Let me peer in my spellbook a mo) Ah yes, teen foolishness and prankery in the near future, and a new dynamic between the besties.
I'm not sure I like the historic present tense of the writing, but the story is framing Ok for me :)

"Reach for the sun."