Talisman (33 page)

“Shiloh, there’s
no snow
.”  Mike shook his head and slapped his hands on his legs.  “You’re
drunk!
”

I turned and sto
rmed off.  “I know what I saw…and I’m
NOT drunk,
” I called back as I hurried towards the brown and gold gymnasium doors.  He was right on my tail.

Mike caught up with me,
just as I was about to enter the building.  He placed his hand over mine, pressing it against the door handle.

“Don’t run off, Shiloh.  You have to stay focused.  My mom is on the other side of this door.  If she finds out
that her
underage
son stole his dad’s whiskey and got his
underage
date drunk at a school dance, I won’t have to worry about the school suspending me.  I’ll be at McDowell County Hospital having her foot removed from my ass!  Then, when I get out of the hospital, she’ll take that Camaro she allowed my father to buy me and run over me with it — for humiliating her!”

I glared back at him.
“I told you Mike.  I’m not drunk!  I’ve gotten a buzz off a few beers before, and I know what it feels like. 
This is different!
I’m not going to say it again. 
So
, shut up and
open the door!”
  As mad as I was at him for not listening to me, I took pleasure in the fact that there was someone Mike Riverside feared more than anything — his mother — and with good reason.

Mike
released my hand and leaned closer.  “We’ll see.  But remember, Miss Honor Roll…You’ll be in as much trouble as I will.  Tell me, Shi…Do you list suspended for drunkenness at a school function as an ‘achievement’ or under ‘extracurricular activities’ on a college application?”

That was a cold slap of r
eality. 
That’s true…Something like that would look pretty damning if it found its way into my school records, but there’s one tiny fact he’s forgetting — I’M NOT DRUNK!
   Though Mike was standing right in front of me, I leaned closer.

“Open
.  The.  Door. 
NOW!”
I demanded in a surly voice.

“FINE!”
Mike grumbled.

I
stepped back to clear the door’s path.  I watched it swing open, but oddly enough, the same door that had always been painted in our brown & gold school colors appeared to mysteriously turn
red
— right before my disbelieving eyes.  Baffled by the door’s crazy change in color, I turned towards Mike, who was staring right back at me with a foreboding look on his face.  Once I’d realized he was probably standing there thinking I was about to do something stupid, I shot him a glare and turned to face the entrance.  I started to head inside when a couple of gold crepe streamers floated out the door, forcing me to take pause.

“Any day now,”
Mike scoffed.

Disgusted, I attempte
d my entry again as another long streamer flew out the door. 
However
, this one swiftly changed into something else —
A RATTLESNAKE —
and it looked even more menacing than the one at Ms. Sutherland’s house!  Startled, I gasped and deftly ducked out of its path.  Hunched on the ground, I whipped around to see nothing more than a scrap piece of streamer lying on the concrete walkway.

My mouth fell open. 
WHAT THE HECK?
I thought as I stared at the harmless wad of crepe paper.  Mike hastily scooped me up and yanked me into the gym.

“Come on, Honor Roll.  I don’t
think it got you,” he cracked.

My head remained turned, never breaking eye contact with the gold stream
er as we entered the building. 
What’s going on?  Didn’t he SEE that thing?  He sure didn’t act like it
…

Still
locked in a haze of confusion, Mike led me through a maze of decorations and numerous couples standing around.  I twitched every time a streamer scraped my arm.  He gave me a firm nudge and pointed to a set of wooden doors that led to the gym floor.

“Time to put your game face on, Shi
,” Mike advised.  His mom, Elisa Riverside, was standing there greeting all the students before they entered the gym.

“Come here,”
Mike ordered and pulled me towards him.  In fact, a little
too close
.  My brow rose, and I pushed him away without hesitating.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I
grilled suspiciously.

“
Relax
.  I’m trying to smell you…
your breath
, to see if you smell like an Irish pub,” he clarified.

That
sounded
reasonable.  I did just throw back a whole flask of whiskey.  It had to have left some sort of scent on me, though I couldn’t smell it.  Like a bloodhound, Mike inhaled a deep breath from where he stood to see if he detected anything.  Then, he leaned in to smell the air flowing from my lips.  Mike hovered in front of me while he took a few more inconspicuous sniffs.  I was feeling extremely uneasy about his actions.  There were too many people staring at us.  It sure-fire looked like Mike Riverside was trying to kiss his girlfriend’s sister.

“
Hurry up
,” I whispered.

As he lingered around my lips,
I noticed Tia Bentley pointing us out to her boyfriend, Chris Bell, one of Mike’s teammates.  The more looks we got, the more frazzled my nerves became.  It seemed like it was taking an eternity.  The next thing I knew, Mike started descending inch-by-inch down my neck.  I stepped back right before he reached my bosom.

“Do you
smell
anything?” I asked gruffly under my breath.

Mike
gazed into my eyes, almost like he was in a trance.  “Yeah,” he replied in a slow, strange voice.  “
Um
, I smell…
you
.”

Oddly, Mike
’s bewildered stare had shifted into a weird, aching-look.  I snapped my fingers in front of his face.

“Hey,
jock
.  Do you smell anything else?” I asked sternly.

Mike
looked down at the floor and then shifted his gaze back to me.  “
Nothing
.  I can’t smell an ounce of alcohol on you —
not anywhere
,” he mumbled.

“That’s a relief,” I replied.  As we moved closer to the entrance, I began to wonder
why
I didn’t reek of liquor?  I didn’t smell like it, and I didn’t feel the slightest bit drunk.

Maybe it wasn’t liquor at all?  But if it wasn’t whiskey, then what the heck did I drink?  And why
am I “seeing things” that aren’t there…or are they?
  I hadn’t connected those dots.  I figured it was simply one more “crazy thing” to add to my list, which seemed to be growing at an alarming rate.

Mike squeezed my hand to get my attention.  We were next in line to
enter and there was his mom, Elisa Riverside, looking quite the epitome of style herself.  I wasn’t a fashion guru, but I did know Chanel when I saw it.  Elisa Riverside was model tall and very svelte.  Her ivory-colored, classic bouclé chenille suit hugged every curve of her perfect figure while all those strategically placed, swanky double “C” golden closures screamed, “Kiss my buttons!”  She didn’t look her age, not by her face anyway.  Her hair was another story.  Elisa Riverside’s sleek black tresses were subtly kissed with several grey strands that honestly appeared rather striking.  I’d heard that she originally hailed from Boston.  Mike’s father had met her on a trip to Massachusetts.  They married and she moved to Welch within a few months, so the story goes (and
yes,
Mike came along five months later).  Regardless of her small-town surroundings now, Elisa Riverside exuded sophistication.  Normally, I wasn’t the slightest bit intimidated by someone like that, but tonight was a different story.  I was already unhinged from the imaginary “streamer snake”, and I could’ve sworn that I’d seen it snowing outside.  I’d also begun to wrap my head around the idea that I may not be drunk — but I quite possibly could have been
drugged
.  I just hoped my “condition” wouldn’t be that obvious.

Elisa Riverside
hugged Mike and then turned to me with a glowing smile.  “
Oh, darling
.  She is
so lovely
.  What’s your name, dear?  Michael didn’t tell me who he was bringing.”

I’ve lived in this town for
eighteen daggone years (as of tomorrow), and seen Mrs. Riverside at countless town and school functions, not to mention, at every company Christmas Party since I was five. 
But clearly
, she didn’t recognize me.

Offended, and yet slightly flatter
ed, I replied “Shiloh Wa—”

Mike interrupted, “
Washington
…
Shyla Washington
.”  He squeezed my hand, blatantly signaling for me to comply with his fabrication.

Now
I
was ticked. 
What’s wrong with my name?
(Ironic, me asking
that
question). 
I have to admit, “Shyla” doesn’t remind me of Shiloh Ridge, but ‘Washington’? What gives?

Elisa
Riverside leaned in to whisper, “I think you have the most beautiful date here, darling.  You two make a charming couple.”

I looked at Mike, who was beaming from his mother’s praises.  I could’ve thrown up in my own mouth at that moment.

“
See
, everything worked out for the best,” Elisa Riverside insisted to her son in a low whisper.  “Now aren’t you glad you didn’t have to take that little tramp you’ve been running around with?” she added with a haughty nod.

And there it was — a
typical case of “wealthy parents thinking no one is good enough for their son”.  Mike gulped so hard I thought he’d swallowed his tongue.  He didn’t know what to say, especially when I turned to stare at him, wide-eyed, waiting for his response.  Granted, Chloe had always been a little brat to me — but she was still
my
kin.

I laughed
away any anxiety I had about Mrs. Riverside as I suppressed all traces of my native West Virginia dialect and mustered up my finest uppity accent.

“He is Mrs. Riverside!  We’ve been having the most
divine
time!  Your son is so fortunate to have you for a mother.”  I batted my eyes over to Mike, who was starting to break out into a cold sweat.  “I just wish I had a mother half as
wonderful
as you.”

I thought quietly,
Maybe Mike and I have more in common than I thought?  I bet we could sell Charlotte and Elisa as a set
…

We were being motioned forward by one of the teachers.  “It was a pleasure to meet you!” I calle
d back to her.  “And I promise…as long as we’re together, I’ll make sure girls like that Chloe Wallace keep their trashy little paws off him.”  I felt Mike tugging my arm, but I pulled away from him and leaned closer to Mrs. Riverside.

“They’re always looking to land someone rich by getting knocked up. 
You know
how hard it is to plan for a
shotgun wedding
,” I whispered and threw her a sly wink.  I could tell I’d struck a nerve by the tense look in her eyes.

“We’re holding up the line,
Shyla.
  Come on,” Mike urged, desperate to shut me up.

I smiled and patted his cheek as he yanked me towards the entrance.  I discreetly slammed my heel on his foot and turned back t
o his mother.

“If you ask me, whether they get married or not — they’re still
bastards
,” I added as I turned away from a stunned Elisa Riverside and gave Mike a quick nod.

“
Trust me
.  That wasn’t the whiskey talking,” I grunted as we entered the gym.

Serves her right
, I thought.  I couldn’t care less if Mike was mad or not.  If he felt anything, it should’ve been “shame”.

“I’m so
rry, Shiloh.  That’s how she is… No one’s ever good enough, and no one meets her expectations.  But I was surprised…”

“About what?” I questioned in a snarky tone.  “That she didn’t recognize
me as one of those gold-digging
Wallace
-girls?”

“No, Honor Roll.  That she seemed to
like you
.  She’s never acted like that before — not towards any girl I’ve ever introduced to her.”

We
soon found ourselves standing in front of a brown and gold balloon-covered archway where our principal was announcing the attending couples names.  Arm in arm, we passed through the showy canopy.  My senses stirred at the sight of our run-of-the-mill gymnasium that had been miraculously transformed into an impressive and festive space. Tons of balloons had been attached to the walls and columns, while miles of crepe streamers blanketed the room in perfectly placed patterns.  Miniature white lights adorned anything that was standing still.  The tables were elegantly draped in white linens accented with brown and gold satin trim, and they were all topped with floral arrangements that coordinated with the room’s color scheme.  And for a finishing touch, various decorative accents had been strategically positioned around the gym that featured banners, pompoms, and of course, loads of footballs.