Enchant Me

Enchant Me 

By Anne Violet

Copyright 2011 by Anne Violet

Smashwords Edition

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you. Copyright 2011 All rights are reserved. No parts of
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without permission of the author, except for brief quotations for
review purposes.

 This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents are either the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events
or locales is entirely coincidental.   

Dedication

To my father, stepmother Liz and sister
Issabelle, I can never thank you enough for believing in me and for
being there for me in good times and bad. Thank you for any editing
you did and all the endless support that you gave in myriad ways. I
love you guys. 

To Zaneta, I introduce you as my best friend,
because you are the best. I could say you are the wind beneath my
wings but that would be inadequate. Rather you are by my side or
more often than not, you are above me grabbing my wings and forcing
me to soar to the next level. Thank you for believing in me and
keeping me positive. Much love to you. 

To RWA and more specifically Oly RWA, you are
the most amazing organization of writers who support and help each
other so selflessly. Thank you for all the great advice and
critiques. Janette thank you for your great editing. If there any
errors left it’s my fault. 

To the p. patrol girls, you know who you are.
Thanks for your inspirational fearlessness in life. 

To Grandma Vi and Grandma Annabelle, thank
you for helping to raise me. My sense of honor, kindness, honesty,
and caring for the environment come from you. 

To Mother Jackson, thank you for your love,
kindness and pushing me to not give up on my writing.

To all other family and friends, new and old,
whether we talk every day or lost touch, you have enriched my life.
Thank you. 

To L.R., may your every step in life be
filled with love and happiness. 

Last but not least to my readers, I hope you
love Alexis and Christian’s story as much as I did. 

CHAPTER 1

As if I needed another reason to hate school;
the last couple weeks had been particularly hellish. Crescent Point
High had become my prison and most of the senior class the evil
guards that I did my best to avoid. There are times like today--
that it was impossible.

I had the dubious distinction of being the
most hated junior of 2009, courtesy of my ex-boyfriend Nicolas
Devereux. At this very moment, two of his best friends, Jenny
Slater and Tanya Brown were already bearing down on me from the
other end of the locker filled hall. They were both cheerleader
wannabees but without a high enough GPA to qualify for the team. I
sincerely hoped they’d work on that because I really didn’t want to
have to deal with them for another year until I graduated. I
fought the urge not to laugh--and won, at their fried, bleached
blonde hair, high heels and short skirts that even a call girl
would hesitate to wear. As they got close I ignored their hostile
looks and squared my shoulders preparing for the inevitable impact
when they accidentally bumped into me. But without warning the door
to my sixth period yearbook class suddenly swung wide open and they
smacked right into it-- hard.

I don’t know what was funnier, the surprised
look on Mr. Agostini’s face or the two girls wheeling their arms
like a pinwheel trying to stay upright and ultimately
failing. I was laughing so hard that I could barely walk into
the classroom. Mr. Agostini gave me a harsh look for laughing while
two students were laid out on the cold tile floor with bloody noses
and potentially a black eye or two, but I let the door close behind
me. He could take them to the nurse himself. 

Making my way through the desks to mine, I
tried to contain the laughter still bubbling up inside of me. I
could feel everyone’s eyes on me waiting to be let in on the joke.
We were a close group and everyone here, seniors included, I would
call a friend. Unlike Mr. Agostini and the rest of the teachers,
they all knew the drama my life had become. Looking around at
my friends’ expectant faces, I smiled. “A couple of girls were
about to accidentally bump into me but rammed into our door
instead.”

Everyone laughed with me but Jim Johnson, a
senior, who for the better part of a year had been nursing a crush
on me. I could tell it bothered him that I was still being
ostracized. I hate to admit I was surprised that everything hadn’t
blown over yet too.

 Jim was sweet and smart with a blonde
Zac Efron-ish look. Unfortunately I couldn’t dredge up any emotion
but friendship towards him and luckily he wasn’t the pushy
type. It would probably make my mom crazy happy if I brought
Mr. Cute, 4.0 GPA, quarterback, home with me, although his
traditional, conservative parents would call the cops if I showed
up at their door. All they would see is my freakishly dark reddish
hair, nose piercing, motorcycle riding and liberal
attitudes. He looked at me with eyes filled with concern.
“Maybe there is such a thing as karma after all.” He started
to lean towards me, like he was feeling the urge to touch me in
comfort, so I put my hands underneath my desk and looked at
Michelle, my friend and our team leader. She divided us up as
usual, the writers, photographers etc. and I was glad that Jim was
part of another group, I didn’t want to even consider another
boyfriend right now. 

After class, Michelle caught up with me. She
was tall and gorgeous but was also one of the kindest people I
knew. She looked at me with big, blue, worried eyes. “You
know, I really think you should confront the rumors. There is no
reason you should have to deal with this for the last two months of
school, or one and a half. Whatever,” she said, shaking her head as
if that would help her to speak clearer.

I had no intention to spill my guts to the
whole student body, so I ignored her plea and considered that she
and Jim would make a good couple, attractive, kind and successful.
Hmm…

When we stepped outside I couldn’t help but
smile. It was one of those rare beautiful, sunny spring days in
Washington. Even so, the cold breeze gave me an excuse to avoid her
worried gaze and zip up my leather jacket. “Have you ever
considered going out with Jim?” I asked without looking
up. 

When she didn’t respond, I glanced up at her.
Her gaze had transformed into the penetrating gaze of the
investigative reporter she was aspiring to be. I didn’t know which
was worse. I inwardly groaned.  “You will not distract me.
Seriously, why won’t you defend yourself?”

I sighed and made a beeline for my
motorcycle, my pride and joy, a Suzuki Hayabusa, one of the fastest
motorcycles on the planet. After many years of babysitting and
saving all the money I would get at the holidays, I was able to pay
the small fortune that it cost, and all the excitement and freedom
I got from it made it all worth it. Except as fast as it was, I
doubt even my Suzuki was fast enough to escape my troubles. But
maybe I could get away from Michelle--or not. She was right on my
heels and apparently evasion wasn’t going to work. Just then
my best friend Tina walked up and I tried to keep my expression
from saying saved by the Tina but by Michelle’s raised brows, I
hadn’t succeeded.  “Tina, convince her to get off her high
horse and deal with this.”

I looked over at Tina. I could read nothing
from her expression but then neither could Michelle. “I’ll see
what I can do.”

“Argh, fine, but I am not letting this go.”
Michelle tried to stomp off in frustration but she really was too
graceful to pull that off. 

“Alexis, did you want to come over and have
dinner with my mom and me tonight? Your mom’s going to be out man
hunting tonight anyways.” She referred to my mom’s newest
crush on a local singer who had a concert tonight. While Tina was
like a sister to me and I felt closer to her mom than my own, I had
a feeling that I would be walking into a rumor intervention. Tina
wanted me to deal with the rumors too. I wondered what had made her
change her mind and then decided I didn’t want to know. All the
sudden I could see Michelle running back up to us. Was I ever going
to be able to leave the parking lot?

“Hey, I almost forgot. Could you go to the
art show at Pierce College tonight and take some shots for Yearbook
and the school paper? Crescent Point High has a couple of students
that got top honors and are being presented with awards
tonight.”

I nodded my head. “Sure, that sounds kind of
cool. What time?”

“You should probably get there around 6:30,
so you can find parking and the auditorium.” “No problem, see
you tomorrow in class.”

“Thanks Lex, you’re a lifesaver. When I
become the editor for the New York Times I’ll make you my head
photographer.” I smiled at her confidence and watched as she
loped through the parking lot back to her bus. Reluctantly I turned
back to Tina.

As close as we were, Tina hadn’t missed my
eagerness to miss dinner but she also knew that it was nothing
negative towards her or her mom Tracy. “Alright, you’re safe for
the night but tomorrow you’re spending the night so we can
talk.”

“Alright,” I sighed as I put on my
helmet. “Promise?” She demanded.

“Yes, you have my word of honor. Now hurry
up, you’re going to miss your bus and I know you don’t want to ride
with me.” Tina still hadn’t gotten over her last ride with me
going 150mph down an empty, back road. Her look of horror was
comical even on her exotic model-like face. Her half black, half
Japanese heritage had given her a look that I was sure could sell
millions of beauty products all over the world but she was
completely unaware of it and probably couldn’t care less. She was
going to be a doctor and had already picked out her college, her
specialty and where she would intern. It seemed weird that she was
still single. Tina was a little shy with guys but surely one of
them should’ve snatched her up by now.

I watched to make sure she caught her bus and
then rode off towards home. Men were idiots. It seemed almost
a sacrilege to have a bike like mine and drive at the snail pace
required in Steilacoom but one of the reasons my mom and I chose
Steilacoom was because of how safe it was. Unfortunately that also
meant the cops had way too much time on their hands and were
eagerly awaiting the unwary driver-- or rider. While driving
down the hill I decided to skip going home right away. Quaint,
waterfront Steilacoom was showing off. This was definitely one of
those days that Washington State outshined any other state in the
nation. Steilacoom was situated on a hillside facing the south
Puget Sound, which was a gorgeous blue, reflecting the sky with
just a few white fluffy clouds in it. Even more stunning was the
Olympic Mountain range. It was crystal clear today, snow still
stubbornly cradling its caps. I never got tired of taking pictures
of this view. 

But today I was more in the mood for
seclusion, so I rode towards a small beach called Saltar’s Point.
It didn’t disappoint; no one was there. I parked in one of the few
public parking spaces, grabbed my camera and crossed the small
bridge down to the beach. I walked until I found an area where
I couldn’t readily be seen, sat down on the gravelly ground and
leaned back on the driftwood behind me. It was days like this I
wish I lived in California; only because I loved the sun so much.
If only there was a way I could transport Steilacoom to somewhere
near Santa Barbara or San Diego. It was so quiet and peaceful
here and the sun felt so good, lightly warming my face. I closed my
eyes, feeling the wind gently lift and play with my hair, just
luxuriating in the moment. I loved my hair being played with; it
could be innocent or romantic. The very thought made me open my
eyes and jerk upright. I needed to remember--I was boyfriend-less;
there would be no hair playing or anything else for that
matter.

Sometimes it was hard to believe how much had
changed. Almost against my will, my mind drifted back to the
beginning of the school year on that unfortunate day when it had
all began. I had just finished developing my last picture for the
day and was gathering my stuff to leave the darkroom when I felt a
presence behind me, blocking what little light was in the
room. Glancing up, my eyes connected with almost eerily light
eyes. Ignoring the shiver