Lucas

I can feel my muscles relaxing as I lean back in the padded dining chair. I don't know about Cooper, but my entire body hurts from crawling around on the floor and tightening straps for the last week. I glance over at Rachel as everyone finishes taking their seats. She looks incredible in the emerald silk that covers her body. It's one of my favorite colors, and my heart fills with joy as I think about her choosing it because she knows that.

She crosses her right leg over her left, and the fabric of her dress falls down at the side of her chair, revealing her long, perfect legs. I reach my hand out and set it on her knee. She turns to me and blushes before quickly glancing down at her lap. Her pink lips curve into a sweet smile as she rests her hand on top of mine.

The audience begins to clap and cheer loudly, and I turn my attention to the back of the room. Our table is right in front of the dance floor, so we have a clear view of the stage. A tall, blondish looking man walks out and waves to the room. He must have bright white teeth because I can see them from her as he smiles. He steps up to the podium in the center of the stage, and the lights from the floral archway above him make him look like he's glowing because he's so tan.

There is a large TV on the right side of the stage that comes on, giving us a close up of the man's face.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for coming out to Vanguard Preparatory's annual fundraising event tonight." He nods to the crowd and there's a light cheering. "For those of you who do not already know me," he pauses and looks around the room for a moment before his eyes stop on our table. It felt like he looked right at me, but I can't really tell from this distance. I feel Rachel shift under my hand, as he clears his throat before starting again. "I am Acting Principal Marconi, taking over for Principal Jeffreys while she is out on maternity leave."

Rachel mentioned this last week as we were heading to the first test of the space habitat. I don't remember her giving me any details about it, however.

"Principal Jeffreys put a tremendous amount of work into planning tonight's event, but there was still a lot left to be finished." He nods at the crowd again, smiling.

His accent is similar to Cooper's in terms of how he pronounces words, but his pace is much slower. Cooper tends to talk faster than most people, however.

"I was left with specific instructions for who should be put in charge of ensuring that tonight's event was perfect in Principal Jeffreys' absence." His eyes land on our table again. "Over the past week, Mrs. Clarke and Mrs. Finnegan have worked tirelessly every day after school ended; making phone calls, picking food, and arguing over how much alcohol is appropriate to have at a social gathering."

The crowd begins to laugh along with Principal Marconi, and I glance over at Rachel and Artemis. They're giggling at each other as Rachel points at her accusingly across the table.

"Tonight would not have been possible without the two of them, so please give them a round of applause." The room is filled with clapping and shouting as people turn to smile at our table.

Rachel's cheeks turn bright red and she waves politely around the room. She always looks adorable when she gets embarrassed. She's never been good at taking a compliment, she always responds with something silly or self deprecating to try and deflect it.

"I would also like to thank all of the staff who are helping us make this a fantastic evening for you."

The crowd cheers again as Principal Marconi flashes a wide smile. He's a very good looking guy, and his voice is definitely captivating. Cooper's voice usually gives me instant stress, but that's because he's always messing with me.

"A friend of mine, who is also my boss," he glances to his right and points at a man who looks like he's nearly bald. "Will be leading the silent auction event later tonight. I hope you all have a wonderful evening." Principal Marconi smiles and waves as he begins to head off the stage.

"What? No magic trick?" The bald man's voice is quite powerful, stopping Principal Marconi in his tracks.

The crowd begins to erupt into a loud applause as they encourage him. I glance over at Rachel, but she isn't cheering. Her face looks like she's just seen a ghost.

"Ooh, me! Me! Me!" Cooper starts yelling as he throws his hand up in the air. Principal Marconi looks slightly uneasy as he watches our table, but the crowd isn't letting up and Cooper is definitely not going to settle down.

"Alright, I suppose I could do a quick one," Principal Marconi smirks while still staring at our table. "I think that I have to pick a different volunteer this time, and go with the very enthusiastic gentleman at Rachel's table."

Cooper shoots up from his chair like a rocket and doesn't say goodbye to us as he runs up to the stage. There's something about the way Principal Marconi used Rachel's name that catches my attention. Earlier, when he thanked her for her hard work on the fundraiser, he called her Mrs. Clarke.

And what did he mean when he said he was picking a different volunteer this time?

"I'm assuming that your name is Cooper?" Principal Marconi asks as he holds his hand out.

How does he already know Cooper?

I'm assuming that Rachel has probably just talked about her friends at work a lot. Cooper is quite the character, so it isn't hard to pick him out of a crowd.

"Yessir!" Cooper replies enthusiastically as he shakes Principal Marconi's entire arm. The crowd chuckles as he tries to escape Cooper's iron fist.

"Could someone please bring me a chair and a small table?" Principal Marconi asks as he looks off stage to someone.

They bring out what he asked for and set it in the center of the stage before carrying the podium away. He pulls a small red envelope out of his jacket pocket and props it up on the table for us to see. He then takes a deck of cards out of his jacket pocket and the crowd starts cheering again.

Why did he have a letter and a deck of cards on him if he wasn't planning to do a magic trick?

There are a few chuckles that spread across the room as Cooper plops down on the chair before he's instructed to and bounces his legs up and down. The camera gets close to the table as Principal Marconi fans the deck of cards out in front of Cooper on the table.

"I want you to pick a card from the deck and hold it up for everyone to see." Principal Marconi gestures to the arch of red and white in front of Cooper. He quickly grabs one from the right, almost spilling the cards onto the floor. He holds it up to reveal the Queen of Spades.

"Excellent work, Cooper," Principal Marconi laughs lightly as he puts the cards back in place."Now, I need you to autograph it." He pulls a black marker out of his jacket pocket and hands it to Cooper.

Okay, he also had a marker ready to go for this trick. Rachel always has pens and pencils on her, but there's no way he just carries around a giant black marker all day. Unless, that's a principal thing I don't understand.

Cooper signs his name in giant sloppy letters across the Queen.

"Perfect, thank you. Now, you can place it back in the deck anywhere you'd like," Principal Marconi instructs Cooper as he flashes him a wide grin.

Cooper listens without knocking the cards onto the floor and Principal Marconi picks up the arch, collapsing it back into a stack.

"Okay, please watch closely," Principal Marconi says in a hushed tone as he fans the deck out vertically, revealing Cooper's signature card in the middle. He slides the cards back together and holds them in his hand for a moment. He waves his hand over the top of the stack slowly, and all of a sudden Cooper's card is on top. The audience gasps and a few tables begin cheering.

I glance over at Rachel and see that her mouth is wide open with amazement. She's always loved magic. We even had someone perform tricks at our wedding. It was cheaper than a band and way more interesting.

I quickly turn my attention back to the TV screen, not wanting to miss anything. Cooper is leaning all the way back in his chair, completely frozen. I don't think I've ever seen him so still. Principal Marconi picks Cooper's card up and flips it around, showing us that it is in fact a card from the deck. He brings it up to his chest slowly and unbuttons the top two buttons of his dress shirt. Women in the crowd begin cheering loudly, as well as the two men who are standing off to the right of the stage. The bald man is whistling.

Principal Marconi glances out at the crowd and at our table.

I wonder why he keeps looking at us?

He slides the card underneath his dress shirt with the backside showing. He pulls it back out a few times to show us that he hasn't let go of it. He slowly brings the card out into the open and flips it around; Cooper's signature over the Queen of Spades is gone, the card is completely blank.

I gasp along with the rest of the crowd and join in on the clapping this time. I can hear Rachel clapping as well. Cooper has gotten up out of his seat and is now leaning forward with his hands on his knees, focusing on Principal Marconi. He gazes out towards our table again and slowly pulls his dress shirt to the side, revealing what looks like a tattoo of the Queen of Spades.

Cooper slaps his knees and spins around, and the audience goes wild. I can feel my heart racing as I scoot towards the edge of my seat and watch him continue the trick.

Principal Marconi sets the blank card down on the table and starts slowly moving his hands around in the air over his chest. He shows us his palms, and they appear to be empty. Then, he quickly waves his hands in a downward motion in front of his face and a card appears, sticking half out of his mouth. You can clearly see Cooper's sloppy ink scribbled on the Queen of Spades.

The audience erupts into a loud applause and Cooper looks like he's going to jump off the stage, but Principal Marconi holds his index finger up and everyone quiets down again. Rachel is leaning forward on the table next to me, her eyes wide.

Principal Marconi slides Cooper's card back into the middle of the deck and waves his hand over the top. It turns into a solid red card, instead of the patterned red and white back it started with. Principal Marconi holds up his finger again and spreads the deck of cards back out across the table. An arch of solid red is revealed, with one card in the middle that has the original pattern.

Cooper is back at the table now, leaning over it to watch Principal Marconi closely. He grabs the patterned card and flips it over, revealing Cooper's signature. He quickly turns and instructs Cooper to sit down in his chair. Principal Marconi puts the card face down in the palm of Cooper's hand and moves his other hand to enclose it in his palms.

"Okay, I want you to hold it tight." Principal Marconi smiles at Cooper, who is as still as a statue. He picks up the blank card from the table and starts waving it around in front of his chest. He keeps flipping it back and forth until all of a sudden, Cooper's signature reappears. He taps on Cooper's hands, gesturing for him to open them up.

Cooper slowly lifts his hand up, revealing the blank card underneath. The room is booming with applause, but Principal Marconi holds up his finger once again to get us to quiet down. I thought he said he was going to do a small trick.

He takes the blank card and Cooper's card and sets them face up on the table. He fans out the deck in his hands, showing us all of the regular cards. He pushes them back together into a stack and fans them out again, but this time they're all blank. He quickly slides the original blank card over Cooper's card and then flips them both over. Cooper's signature is gone and all of the cards on the table are white.

This is absolutely incredible. Why isn't this guy a professional magician?

Principal Marconi slowly reaches for the red envelope that has been sitting on the front of the table, untouched. The crowd starts to mumble in anticipation.

"There's absolutely no way my card is in there, man," Cooper shouts as he holds his cheeks with his hands.

Principal Marconi picks up the envelope and smiles mischievously. He has to actually tear open the envelope because it is sealed shut. His card can't be in there.

Sure enough, Principal Marconi pulls out a card and flips it over, revealing Cooper's signature. He nods and bows slightly, signaling to the room that it is the end of the trick. I stand up immediately and begin clapping and cheering. The volume in the room is almost deafening.

Cooper looks like he is about to pee his pants. He's laughing so hard on stage that his face is bright red and he's holding his stomach. He moves to shake Principal Marconi's hand aggressively as he can't contain his disbelief and amazement over what he was just a part of.

I turn to look at Rachel. She is smiling and clapping politely, but doesn't look as bewildered as everyone else. That was exhilarating to be a part of as an audience member, so Rachel must have been elated after she got to be on stage for the sleight of hand trick she described to me from her conference.

My heart drops for a moment when I remember that the magician who did the trick for her was Sam. The cheering in the room becomes muffled as I stare at Principal Marconi.

When I have imagined Sam through Rachel's storytelling, I always pictured someone more...rugged. Principal Marconi has a clean shaven face and neatly slicked back hair. His suit is clearly expensive and tailored to him.

There's no way that's Sam. Rachel would have told me if he made any kind of contact with her since she ended things.

I rest my hand on the back of Rachel's chair as my breathing begins to speed up. I close my eyes for a moment and take a slow, deep breath. When I open them back up I see Rachel looking right at me.

"Lucas, are you alright?" she asks as she places her hand on my arm that's resting on her chair.

I almost forget why I'm freaking out when I see her chestnut brown eyes, full of worry and care for me. I smile at her as normally as I can and hold her arm in my hand.

"Yes, I'm just really tired." I shouldn't have lied to her, but I'm not done processing everything yet. I turn my head back towards the stage and see that Principal Marconi has gotten down. Staff are starting to move around the room with trays of food, and the smell of parmesan and chicken fill the room.

"I'm sorry, we can go home right after dinner if you'd like." Rachel rubs my arm and gazes at me sympathetically.

I place my free hand on her waist and pull her in for a kiss. I can feel her smiling against my mouth. I pull away from her and study her face.

"No, that's okay. You worked hard to help put together this event, I want to stay." My tone is genuine, even though I'm truly exhausted.

Rachel presses her lips together and smiles appreciatively. She kisses me on the cheek and goes to sit back down.

I watch her move attentively. She arches her back slightly as she sits and swings her legs around to the front of the chair before crossing them again. Rachel catches my leering eyes and blushes. Her lips curve into a seductive smile, making me wish we weren't in a room full of people right now. I'm about to join her when someone slaps me hard on the back.

"Did you see me up there?" Cooper yells into my ear and shakes me around. He always manages to ruin a moment. "I think he's a real life wizard!"

Everyone at our table starts laughing, and Anne comes over to free me from Cooper's grasp. He wraps her up into a bear hug, rocking her side to side on her heels.

"Baby, he has actual magical powers, I was right there," Cooper defends.

Anne and Rachel burst into laughter. Cooper gives Anne a quick kiss before they come and sit back down. Plates of delicious looking chicken and pasta are set down in front of us, followed by side salads and bowls of fruit. The waiter begins filling everyone's wine glasses.

"No thank you, I'm alright," I say as I hold my hand up to stop him. He nods and moves on to Rachel. She doesn't notice that I don't get any until after the glass is filled.

"Oh, Lucas, I'm sorry," she says as she starts to slide her glass towards the center of the table.

"It's fine, Rachel." I set my hand on hers. "Really." I look at her intensely so she knows that I mean it.

She studies my face for a few seconds before smiling. She rubs my thumb with hers, giving me goosebumps on my arms.

"We ought to invite that man over for dinner," Cooper exclaims as he turns to Anne with a mouthful of food.

She giggles at him and shakes her head.

"I'm sure he has better things to do than watch you eat like a wild animal,' Anne teases him.

Rachel giggles next to me and covers her mouth with the back of her hand. Cooper swallows what's in his mouth dramatically.

"I won't chew like that in front of a wizard, he might turn my food into a frog or somethin'," Cooper shoves another spoonful into his mouth.

I almost spit out my water as I laugh at Cooper. His childlike wonder when it comes to things like this fills everyone's hearts with joy. We continue eating as we discuss the magic trick. I think everyone in the room is still buzzing about it. I look around and try to see where Principal Marconi is sitting, but I can't see him. I don't want to make it obvious that I'm looking for someone, so I turn my attention back to the table.

"Man, where do you think he learned to do magic like that?" Cooper asks before shoving another spoonful of chicken into his mouth.

"He performed on the beaches in college to make money!" Erika answers excitedly.

I wonder how she knows this. Perhaps Principal Marconi has shared a lot about himself with his staff, however, it's only been a week since he started. Rachel shifts around in her seat uncomfortably, uncrossing her legs. She's raising an eyebrow at Erika.

I hesitate for a moment, trying not to let my curiosity get the better of me.

"When did you find that out?" I ask Erika, failing.

She glances over at Rachel before answering me.

"Oh, he told us at a meeting," her tone is wobbly, and I can tell that she's lying.

I nod at her and smile politely before peering over at Rachel. Her cheeks are pink and she's moving around a strawberry in her bowl of fruit. She's acting weird, like she's hiding something. I know that she wants to talk about something, but her behavior shift seems sudden. We chat and share stories with each other until everyone has finished eating.

"Oh man, I am stuffed!" Cooper exclaims as he leans back in his chair and pats his belly.

Anne reaches over and pats it hard, making Cooper grunt. They're funny together; Anne is usually very quiet on her own, but when she's around Cooper, there's a whole new side to her that you get to see. I don't know if Cooper has ever been quiet for more than a few minutes at a time in his life.

"It's time to hit the dance floor, brother!" Tyler grabs Cooper's hand and yanks him up out of his chair.

I never understood why Tyler calls everyone 'brother', but Rachel has always found it endearing. Tyler and I didn't get along when we first met, but I also didn't like Cooper in the beginning, either. They're both very physical people and grew up on a farm, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Cooper groans and holds his stomach. Anne jumps up next to him and wraps her arms around his waist, gently patting his belly this time.

"I'll dance with you, Coop."

He smiles at her lovingly and drags her out to the open section in the ballroom. It's starting to fill up with people, as the orchestra is playing some sort of pop song. I glance over at Rachel and take her hand. She turns to me quickly and smiles.

"Would you like to dance?" I ask her.

She hesitates at first, glancing around the room nervously. I squeeze her hand, and her face lights up. I take that as a 'yes', and stand.

"Let's go, gorgeous," I say as I gently pull her up and interlock my fingers with hers.

She blinks at me slowly and tilts her head up to kiss me on my jaw. I'm about to kiss her back, but she spins around and starts pulling me towards Cooper and Anne.

Her verdurous skirt is flowing behind her elegantly, and I watch her hips sway with it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to have a full conversation with her when we get home when she looks like this. Rachel turns back to face me, running her hands along my arms and up onto my shoulders. I slide my hands onto her waist and pull her close. She gives me a quick kiss on the lips and giggles.

"We're going to have to keep it PG while we are out here," she teases.

I chuckle with her and move my hands so I'm holding hers again. I spin her around a few times, watching her dress fan out.

"I'm sorry, I just find you irresistible in this color," I say to her in a low tone. She stops dancing and walks towards me slowly.

"What if I didn't have any color on?" Her lips part slightly as they curve into a smirk.

She gazes at me seductively, causing a knot to form in my abdomen. I dart my eyes between hers, adoring her beautiful face. Her long, dark curls are braided back, and strands of hair decorate the sides of her face. The white opals in her jewelry look like tiny spotlights, illuminating her collarbone and her neck. Her blush pink lips appear darker when coupled with her deep brown eyes, hair, and her emerald dress.

Cooper and Anne are bouncing around together behind Rachel. I'm not entirely sure if they're doing actual dance moves or not, but they look like they're having fun. Cooper makes eye contact with me and his eyes widen.

"Clarke! Let's go get a soda!" he shouts as he walks over to us. "I need to rehydrate to keep up with this one." He fans his face dramatically, making Anne giggle.

"Sure, but you should probably just drink some water," I tease him as he drags me off the dance floor. I shoot Rachel an apologetic look, but she just waves at me and starts dancing with Anne.

Cooper orders us two Shirley Temples, but knocks one of them over as soon as the bartender sets the drinks on the counter. I'm about to make fun of him when I see Principal Marconi out of the corner of my eye. He's standing with the bald man and a few other guests by the silent auction table. It's right around the corner and his back is to us. Cooper sees him and is about to yell something, but I grab his arm hard.

"Don't," I hiss at him. "Just wait a second." I look at him as seriously as I can.

His expression is utter shock that I grabbed him, but he keeps his mouth shut.

"So, how does this work?" a woman in a plain black dress asks as she leans over the table.

Principal Marconi clears his throat. He seems uncomfortable by her closeness.

"Well, if you see somethin' you like, you bid on it on the paper. You keep coming back to check if someone has outbid you, and whoever has the highest bid wins the item," he explains to her.

"Mind tellin' me what we're doin'?" Cooper whispers to me.

"I need to check something out," I try to explain it to him simply so that I can focus on their conversation.

"Oh, I see," the woman giggles. "Well, could I bid on you, then?"

Cooper scoffs at her forwardness as he stares at the bar. Principal Marconi scratches the back of his head.

"What's your name, handsome?" she continues, not letting up.

He clears his throat again and glances around the ballroom, as if he's looking for someone before answering her.

"It's Sam." His words feel like they slap me across the face.

There's no way that's him. Rachel would've told me.

My heart stops as I really think about the past week. She wanted to talk to me about something on Friday, but the explosion took precedence. We were both swamped with work the entire week and hardly had a moment alone together. She also tried to talk to me this morning and before dinner tonight.

"Hey, man, what's wrong?" Cooper whispers to me.

I can hardly breathe, but I manage to respond.

"That's him," I say quietly, my voice filled with silent anger.

"Who's what?" Cooper asks again, following my glare.

"That's the guy Rachel was with, Sam."

Cooper jerks his head back and stares at me. For once, he's so shocked that he doesn't even exhale.

Everything from tonight is starting to make sense. Rachel's behavior, his accent, his charming demeanor, the magic tricks. It's Sam. All of the glances at our table were at Rachel. I can feel my skin starting to crawl as I think about how he was looking at her during his performance. He's trying to get her back. He wasn't even going to do the magic trick until he saw that I was here.

He probably filled Rachel's head with doubts about me all week to convince her to choose him. I hope she didn't listen to him. My temper is rising as my mind drifts to imagining them working together all day. They were even together privately after work to prepare for the fundraiser. Artemis was always there too, but Rachel must have been within inches of him at times.

He got to see her more than I did this week. My heart sinks to the bottom of my stomach as guilt begins to overcome my anger. I'm so focused on my breathing that I don't notice Cooper has started to walk over to Sam. I quickly follow him and try to grab his arm, but he's already almost at the table.

"Hey, man, that was some trick you did up there!" Cooper shouts cheerfully as he shakes Sam's hand.

As he turns to greet Cooper, his eyes meet mine and his face drops.

"Uhh, thank you, you were a very enthusiastic volunteer," his expression returns to its natural charming state as he addresses Cooper.

The woman who was flirting with him looks irritated that we've interrupted. I ignore her glares and keep staring back at Sam. I can't believe that he's standing in front of me right now. I'm still trying to convince myself that it's just a bunch of really specific coincidences, and that it's not really him.

"What did you say your first name was?" I can't help myself as the words fly out of my mouth.

His expression is apprehensive at first, but then he collects himself and smiles.

"My name is Sam," he says his name proudly, as if he's throwing it in my face.

He knows exactly who I am.

"Sam," I repeat quietly as I nod my head. "You're Sam?" I point at him and he straightens out his shoulders.

"The one and only," he smirks at me, and I can feel my blood beginning to boil.

His accent has lost all of its appeal and is just infuriating now.

"So, what's your big plan?" I ask him, trying to steady my voice. "Perform another magic trick to try and get her to fall for you again?"

He clenches his jaw and looks away from me for a moment and out at the dance floor. Rachel is twirling around with Anne, and doesn't seem to have noticed us.

"I don't really have to do anything in particular," he states, still looking at Rachel.

I tap on my hip with my index finger, trying to channel some of my anger as he gazes at my wife.

"All I need to do is wait." He turns to look at me, his eyes mocking me.

"Wait for what, exactly?" I think I know what he's going to say, but I want to hear the words come out of his mouth.

He moves his jaw back and forth a few times before saying, "Wait for you to go back to your old ways of leaving her behind and breaking her heart." He stands with so much confidence; he's convinced himself that I'm going to mess up again. He's probably tried to convince Rachel, too.

"I keep telling her how unreliable you are, but you've done a decent job of proving that to her this past week on your own." He tilts his head down and puts a hand on his hip. My chest feels like it's going to explode with rage.

"I've been there for her when you weren't, and she will realize that you're never going to change soon enough." His words fall flat onto the ground, and I can't stop myself from imagining him and Rachel together. The thought of his hands on her sets me over the edge, and I can't hold back any longer.

I take a step forward and throw my right fist at Sam. I feel his jaw make contact with my hand, causing a blunt pain to spread across my knuckles. He stumbles back, but quickly turns and hits me square in the mouth. I start to throw another punch when I feel Cooper grab my arms from behind.

"Alright, that's enough!" he shouts as he pulls me back.

The bald man has Sam's arms pinned behind his back as well. I glare at him, my eyes filled with anger and frustration, until I see Rachel. She's standing on the edge of the dance floor holding onto Anne's arm. The looks she's giving me breaks my heart, and all of my anger becomes clouded with shame. She and Anne start to walk over to us, and I don't glance away from Rachel.

She avoids my gaze and looks at the floor as she approaches. Her eyes are full of sadness and deja vu as she glares at Sam.

"One of you need to leave," an employee scolds us from my right.

"We'll go," Rachel says quietly.

My heart feels like it's being stabbed as Rachel starts to walk right past me.

"Rach, I'm sorry," I start to call out to her.

I hear Sam scoff behind me, and I turn, ready to hit him again but Cooper is still holding my arms.

"Hey, it's done, man," he says sternly into my ear.

I see Rachel look back out of the corner of my eye, but she's not looking at me.

"I'm sorry too, Rach," Sam mumbles.

Hearing him say her name like that sends me into a new level of rage.

"You don't get to call her that!" I yell at him, pulling against Cooper's restraint.

"Lucas!" Rachel's voice echoes through the entryway of the ballroom. Her eyes are like daggers. "Let's go," she hisses as she turns on her heels and quickly walks out the door.

I feel Cooper let go of me and I run out after her.