The Dark Ice Chronicles - The Magi

Chapter 5 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

I stay up late Saturday night, trying out my new Ice powers a little more. My way of practicing involves taking these old toys from my childhood - basically, these light-up saucer things that I would push off a spiral-shaped plastic stick - and freezing them in midair after they’re launched. It’s a hell of a lot of fun. A little too much fun, it turns out - eventually, I tire myself out, and the ice-covered plastic saucers land on the floor, just sitting there while I crash.

Sadly, when I wake up in the morning, my Ice powers have mostly faded away - all I can make with my left hand now is a couple of little mini-snowballs. Which is really disappointing - I was hoping to show Jeremy, see if I could really wow him.

My guess is that, even as more contact with Evan gives me a longer window to use the Ice power, I can still use it up very quickly. Of course, I’ve barely even held hands with the girl. I wonder, would being closer to her on a more full-time basis help?

This is so very weird - not to mention a bit disturbing. I want to form a relationship with a girl because I think I can use her to enhance my power. But I really do like her, too. Isn’t that good enough?

That’s what I spend Sunday thinking about, bouncing my worries and second-guessing off the walls of my own skull. So, in other words, totally normal behavior for Jason Cross.

Finally, Monday comes along. For once, I’m not going to school feeling like crap - or like pissing off Lights. Evan and I have arranged to meet up at lunchtime to practice the balcony scene again - even though we’ve both pretty much agreed that there’s not much point being prepared for this assignment, I’m sure as hell not going to pass up a chance to see her.

But I’m not going to be alone with her today. Harris spots me and joins me at my usual table outside, zipping up his jacket as he emerges from the cafeteria. “Tits, it’s cold out here,” he mutters, unwrapping the large slice of pizza he just bought for lunch.

“Which is only cool ‘cause I don’t even need to refrigerate this,” I say, pulling my usual green apple out from my backpack. “The weather does it for me.”

Harris looks across the table at the apple. “I’ve seen Evan eat those too. Didn’t know anyone else liked ‘em.”

“They’re really good,” I say, taking a bite.

Evan joins us at this point, asking, “What’d I miss?”

“Nothing much,” I say. “Just talkin’ ‘bout the weather.”

“The weather?” Evan laughs and takes her seat next to me. “You boys really need to find something else to talk about if you’re gonna be friends.”

“Who says we’re gonna be friends?” Harris asks.

“I do,” Evan says firmly. “So start finding something in common, or else!”

She opens her paper bag and pulls out her lunch - sandwich, Ziploc bag of Chips Ahoy, red apple...wait, red apple? What’s with the sudden switch?

I could ask Evan why she’s not eating her usual green apple today, but we’ve never actually had lunch together before, so she’d want to know how I know her habits like that. Which is precisely what I’m trying to avoid, that sort of stalker-y behavior only being allowed in rom-coms, not in real life.

However, I do make a note to self: Pick up red apples later. A little subtle message to show that I’m paying attention shouldn’t hurt.

“You wanna eat first, or do lines first?” Evan asks me.

“I dunno,” I say. “Eat? M-Maybe we’d do lines better after we’ve fueled up.”

“You mean, corpse a bit less?” Evan asks, raising her eyebrow.