The Magical Diary

The next day was Thursday, and so far, I hadn’t gained back my zapping powers, so I knew I was in the clear for now. Nikki promised to help me create a WordPress profile after school today, and I couldn’t have been more excited to have her show me the ropes. I brought my diary with me, and it was large enough to fit in my purse so no one would ever know. Nikki was the only person who knew that my diary was in my purse, and I trusted her to not let anyone else know about it. This was our own little secret, and we didn’t want anyone else to know.

Of course, when we got to school, I wasn’t prepared for the fact that this was going to be an everyday thing: people would always come up to me and ask me about my powers, or what I did to Jesse. This was one of those things that no one would ever stop talking about. One of the most unforgettable moments at Demarest High.

Nikki and I went to the bathroom to freshen up before going to Homeroom, and in walked a pretty girl with dark red hair. She asked me, “Hey, are you Alia Newhart?”

“Y-yeah, I am.” I wasn’t sure who she was, and neither was Nikki.

“Hi. Jolene Burkett.” She introduced herself, and we shook hands. “I’m a junior who’s part of the Raven Chronicles.” That’s our school Newspaper club. That’s when it hit me that she was the Newspaper’s Feature Writer, writing feature articles on other students or teachers at school with interesting or unique backgrounds. I guess she must have found me fascinating enough because of my magical powers.

Nikki introduced herself, too. “I’m Nikki Willis.”

“Nice to meet you.” Jolene shook hands with her, then turned to me. “So, as a Feature Writer, I’d like to do a full profile on you, Alia. I know I’m supposed to be objective when it comes to reporting on this stuff, but as a student, I couldn’t help being fascinated by what you did to Jesse the other day. I was just gonna ask: how did you do that? How do you explain what you did? I think it’s pretty incredible. I’m not even joking or being sarcastic. I’m genuinely curious and I want to know, and only you can tell me what I should put in the article or not.”

There’s no way in hell I was going to let this girl write an article about me in the newspaper, especially about my superpowers. No, thank you! I wasn’t willing to make myself look like a bigger freak in front of the whole school. Besides, I didn’t have those powers anymore. Since I flushed the paper down the toilet, it removed my zapping powers completely. So, there was nothing else to explain, really.

“I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what I did, and I’m still trying to figure that out myself. I’d rather not talk about this for the newspaper. Hopefully, you understand.” I gave her a friendly smile.

“No worries. But you have to admit… That was pretty cool what you did, don’t you think? Although I’m sure Jesse was upset. We all saw it in his face the other day.”

“I never meant to hurt him like that,” I said. “It just came from nowhere, so suddenly. I couldn’t even control it. I have no idea why it happened, or how.”

“How about you tell me personally?” she suggested. “I won’t put it in the newspaper if you don’t want me to. You can talk to me about it, off-the-record. If it’s a personal secret, then I won’t…”

“Yeah, it’s a personal secret, Jolene.” I nodded. “I don’t feel comfortable sharing it with everyone. I don’t think anyone will really understand. Not even you. You’re probably one of Carla and Scarlett’s friends who’s pretending to be a part of the Newspaper to lure this information out of me so that they can embarrass me with it, so for that reason, I’m not sure if I can trust you. No offense.”

She smirked. “None taken, Newhart. And no, for your information… I’m not friends with Carla and Scarlett. I have nothing to do with them. I’m as popular as they are, but I’m on the Newspaper team. I don’t hang with them, so nothing you and I say to each other will get out to them. That I can assure you.”

Nikki and I glanced at each other, trying to see if we believed her, then I shrugged and said, “Well, thanks, I appreciate you saying that, Jolene. I still don’t feel comfortable talking about this or sharing it with you, personally or for the Newspaper. It’s a personal secret of mine that’s also hard to explain, so I don’t want to say anything about it right now. Maybe somewhere down the line, if I ever feel more comfortable, I’ll let you know… But for now, I’d rather keep this under wraps.”

“Yeah… No problem. I totally understand.” She nodded, although there was a hint of skepticism in her voice. “I’m glad to hear that you’ll be open to sharing this with me someday, and I totally understand, so I won’t pressure you into telling me something you don’t feel comfortable talking about.”

I liked how kind and understanding she was. “Thanks, Jolene,” I said.

“No problem.” She shrugged. “No need to thank me. I just find you so fascinating, Alia, that’s all.”

“Well, who isn’t?” I chuckled.

Then Nikki offered. “You can do a feature on me, Jolene.”

“Okay, Nikki… Aren’t you a part of the Dance team?”

Nikki grinned. “I am, certainly.”

“Cool. My friend Laycee is also on the Dance team. You know her?”

“Yeah, I do. She’s a bit annoying but the most dedicated.”

“Awesome.” Jolene grinned. “You can meet up with me… Hmm… Actually, we’ll have a Zoom meeting instead. I’ll let you know. Just give me your email, phone number and whatever else you wanna give me, and we’ll talk.”

“Will do, Jolene. Later, though. We’ve all gotta get to Homeroom now.”

“Yep, let’s go,” I said, and the three of us left the ladies’ room. Nikki and I went back to her locker so that she could get her notebook for Drama class. Then we saw Jolene going up to Carla, Scarlett, and a few girls who I assumed were part of their crew.

“Is she…?” Nikki asked me, referring to Jolene.

“Yeah, I think.” I replied as we saw Jolene chatting and laughing with Carla and Scarlett.

We moved up a little closer to the garbage bin where we could overhear a little more of their conversation. I knew it. I freaking knew it: Jolene Burkett was another friend of Carla and Scarlett’s. She was a part of their crew.

I heard Carla telling Jolene, “So, you did a great job convincing her to be featured in your article for the Newspaper, and of course as usual, she thought she was smart enough to turn you down by saying nothing. Typical Newhart. Always the self-absorbed one.” The three of them laughed, along with the other three girls who were also in their crew.

“Yeah, I am a part of the Newspaper,” I heard Jolene say. “I just hoped it would be great to feature her in the article because of her powers, but like I said, I totally understand if she didn’t feel comfortable saying anything.”

Scarlett scoffed. “That girl’s got to be living in a dream world if she thinks she has all these ‘superpowers’, making her think she can do anything to anyone without any consequences. Like zapping Jesse. That’s taking it too far. She’s lucky he didn’t report her for assault.”

“Yeah, one of us has to burst Newhart’s bubble by letting her know that having ‘superpowers’ doesn’t make you invincible to other people,” Carla said. “Magic isn’t real, and neither are superpowers, so this Newhart girl’s got to get her head out of her ass and start living in the real world for once. If she doesn’t tell us about these amazing powers of hers, we’ll make her tell us and dig up answers from her soon enough.” They laughed again, as if it was that amusing.

Then Nikki and I came up to them, my hands on my hips. “Not on my watch you won’t, Rosenthal,” I challenged her.

She scoffed. “Really? You’re challenging me about calling you out on your supernatural fantasy BS? Wake up and smell the coffee, Newhart. Like I just said, you’re not invincible just because you think you can get away with zapping other people like you did to your own boyfriend.”

And just what we needed: an audience. Everyone else was watching us, even Jesse. I could only imagine what he thought of me now. I already knew what he thought about me before; I just wanted to know the thoughts currently running through his mind.

“I never said I was invincible,” I said. “I just don’t feel like telling other people my personal business.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, technically, your powers aren’t ‘personal business.’” She put air quotes around the words. “You made it everyone else’s business when you did what you did in a public place. The school hallway,” she cleared her throat for emphasis. “A public place. So, yeah, that’s other people’s business now, not just your own.”

Then Nikki stepped in for me. “Well, no one else asked you guys to get involved, so…”

Carla mimicked her. “‘Well, no one else asked you guys to get involved.’ Please.” She scoffed. “We’re involved now. So, you might as well spill the truth about how you came to gain these magic powers in the first place, Newhart.”

The entire hallway fell silent, with everyone standing in suspense, waiting for me to say something, anything. What was I supposed to say? I still kept my ground. “I’m not saying anything.”

Then Scarlett said, “You don’t want to say anything or you just choose not to?”

I didn’t get the difference. “Both,” I replied. “I don’t want to say anything, and I choose to remain silent. I plead the fifth,” I added, as if I were in a courtroom.

The girls laughed again, then Carla said, “You plead the fifth? What is this, law school or something? What exactly are you hiding, Newhart?”

Nikki spoke up for me again. “She’s not hiding anything, Rosenthal. It’s her own personal secret. She doesn’t have to feel obligated to answer to you.”

“Exactly,” I snapped. “I’m not hiding anything, and I don’t have anything to say to you or anybody else.”

Then Carla called out to Jesse, “Hey, Harmon, aren’t you the least bit curious to know how Alia did what she did to you?”

“Uh…” Jesse hesitated to reply, then I shook my head out to him in response, telling him to stay quiet. Besides Nikki, he was the only other person who knew about the magical diary, being that he and I had been in the office with Mom and Mr. Harvey the other day. Of course, Mr. Harvey also knew. But as the principal, I’m sure that he trusted me to be on my best behavior because I was still on probation with him, and I had four more strikes to blow. So, for now, it’s one down, four more to go before I was officially suspended or expelled from Demarest High.

Jesse cleared his throat, then said with a shrug, “It really doesn’t matter, at this point. I mean, as long as I’m still alive–thankfully–and Alia didn’t hurt me that seriously… I should be good for now. It’s really not that huge a deal to me.” He sounded casual, and I liked that. He was willing to keep quiet for me because this was meant to be a secret between us… And Mom, and Mr. Harvey. And Nikki, too. Just the five of us. No one else had any right to know, certainly not the school’s biggest busybodies like Carla, Scarlett, and the rest of their crew, whoever the hell they were at this point.

Carla scoffed. “Not surprising, Harmon. You’re choosing to cover up for Newhart, despite what she’s done to you. How do you do that? She could’ve easily killed you. It’s like she was trying to prove a point or something.”

I loved it when she was talking about me, almost as if I wasn’t even right there in front of her. “But I didn’t kill him, though.” I smirked. “And Jesse isn’t obligated to tell you anything.”

“Well, lucky you,” she said mockingly. “I’m sure he’s dumped your ass at this point. You totally deserve it. I’d hate to stay with a guy who did the same thing to me.” Good luck to her–or Scarlett–getting any guy at all.

Nikki then clapped back with an equally clever remark. “Well, I’d hate to be any guy stuck with you.”

Everyone “oohed” at that, apparently finding it fascinating. This was the first time Carla Rosenthal was publicly mocked about a guy’s possible interest in her. Like other members of their crew, they would try to impress guys with whatever shtick they had up their alley, but no one actually dated them, the way Jesse and I had gone out. There’s a difference, a huge one, really.

“No.” Carla scoffed, shaking her head. “Uh-huh. You don’t get to say that like it’s normal. Just like no normal person wakes up one day with a magical ability to zap other people, Newhart. You better spill. You know that we live in an era where information gets out pretty quickly, whether you like it or not. So, even if you don’t tell us, we’ll still find a way of digging up the truth ourselves.”

I shook my head; they were unbelievable. “What, so you’ll Google my name and write ‘magical powers’? Is that how you plan to dig up the truth, Nancy Drew?”

Then Scarlett interjected, “Yeah, that’s exactly how we’ll do it. We might even send a P.I. over to your house to spy on you and everything. Watch over your every move, what you do, what you eat, all that fabulous stuff. You’ll have nothing to hide then, Newhart. You’ll have no choice but to expose yourself so that we can use it against you.”

Send a P.I. over… What, were they professional detectives or what?

Carla then said, “You know, Newhart… Given what you did to Jesse, it seems like your so-called ‘powers’ were activated when he was pissing the hell out of you. He wanted to talk to you, but you didn’t want to talk to him. Thus, you lost your temper–just as you always do–and in the heat of the moment, you snapped. By zapping him.” She scowled at me. “Isn’t that right? Scarlett and I have been mulling over that for days now. Tell me that I, Carla Rosenthal, am right about something for once.”

She wasn’t wrong, that’s for sure. Her pretentious way of trying to sound smart was a little annoying to me, using words such as “thus” and “mull.” Neither of these girls were really all that smart, especially Scarlett, who was the typical dumb blonde when she wanted to be, which was pretty much all the damn time.

I glanced at Nikki, hoping that she’d help me answer this, but she just shook her head as if to tell me not to say anything that gave myself away. It’s true that I was angry with Jesse when I zapped him, so the powers must have been triggered by my strong emotion. In the diary, I did say that I wanted to zap other people who pissed me off, annoyed me, or did anything to get in my way, just like Carla and Scarlett were doing now. But I didn’t have the powers anymore, so thankfully, I couldn’t zap them right now. It was only at the time when I’d written it down in my diary–using a pen–I had the magical ability to zap others, and Jesse was the unfortunate victim.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, Rosenthal.” I sighed. I wanted to play her game for once.

She smirked. “Knew it all along. What happened? Did you just happen to wake up one day and wish that you had magic powers? How did that come about?”

“I am not telling you anything,” I snapped.

Scarlett jumped in, smirking. “What’s the matter, Newhart? Are you getting pissed? Are we pissing you off now? You wanna zap us, don’t you? We’re pissing you off that much, aren’t we? I dare you to zap us, if you still can.”

Was she actually challenging me? Too bad I didn’t have the powers anymore, so there wasn’t anything I could do at this point.

For a moment, I just stood there. Then I used my hands to see if anything came out, but as I figured… Nothing. Nada. The powers were gone for good. I guess flushing that paper down the toilet really did the trick after all. But if I wanted to gain back those powers–temporarily, of course–I’d write it down with a pencil instead. It would only be for twenty-four hours, and by the next day, the powers should be gone.