The next day, Hannah kept a lookout for Eddie, hoping to see him. She wanted to confirm the spell had been broken. As usual, Eddie spent his Sunday mornings at church, followed by brunch with his family. Through her living room window, she saw him and his parents walk into their house after they had returned. He wasn't there long, as, within minutes, he headed back out, driving off in his car.

Hannah texted Tina, "Hey, girl! Wanna hang out? I'm so bored at home." She made sure it sounded casual.

After thirty minutes had passed, Tina still hadn't responded, and Hannah knew that it wasn't like her friend.

Hannah texted Jennifer, wanting to know if she had heard from Tina at all. Jennifer hadn't and wanted to know if everything was okay. Hannah informed Jennifer that she was able to get the love spell reversed.

Jennifer messaged, "How is that possible? I thought the spell was going to last until the Winter Formal."

Having become a recent master at thinking on her toes, Hannah responded that she found an undoing spell that would override any spell, which wasn't really a lie. Luckily, Jennifer didn't ask for more details.

Jennifer insisted that Tina was probably fine. Hannah knew she shouldn't be worried, especially since Spencer was very confident that the spell was broken. However, Hannah wanted to confirm it with her own eyes before she relaxed.

"Let's go see Tina then," Spencer urged, responding to Hannah's doubtful thoughts.

"Normally, I'd scold you for reading my thoughts, again," she said, pointing her finger at him as if telling him off. "But you said what I wanted to hear. So you're forgiven this time."

Hannah's parents were busy unloading their weekly groceries, as she put on her sneakers by the front door. "Mom! Dad! I'm leaving!" she said, poking her head into the kitchen.

"Where are you headed?" Hannah's mother asked casually, as she was storing items into the fridge.

"I'm just going to go hang out at Tina's," Hannah responded, trying not to appear anxious or fidgety in any way. "I'll be back before dinner."

"Okay," her parents said in unison.

"Jinx! You owe me a Coke, Mary," Hannah's father teased.

Her mother laughed and tossed him a can of Coke from the fridge. All three of them laugh at their mother's quick reaction, and their father's even quicker reflexes to catching the soda can. Hannah said goodbye and made her way to her car.

Spencer appeared next to her, once she drove away from her house and was heading to Tina's.

"I see where you get your sense of humor," Spencer stated pleasantly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Your parents are amazing. I hope you know that."

"They are, aren't they?" Hannah responded thoughtfully.

Spencer turned on the radio and scanned through the different stations. He stopped on the alternative rock station and nodded his head to the rhythm of the latest Natural Dragons song that was playing. It was a song that had been many times over the past few weeks. Even Spencer knew the words and started singing along to the chorus. Hannah thought that his singing voice was as pleasant as his speaking voice.

"Thank you for the compliment," Spencer beamed over at Hannah, giving it away that he heard her thoughts.

Hannah blushed. "I really need to learn to control my thoughts around you," speaking to herself more than Spencer.

He didn't respond but continued singing along with the song. Once the song had ended and went to commercial, he turned the volume down a little. Looking over at Hannah, he said in a stern tone, "Speaking of thoughts. I think it's time we had that talk you've been dreading all week."

"Can we talk after we check on Tina?" Hannah asked, feeling the tension in her neck build as she tried to avoid the topic once more. Hannah pressed on the gas pedal a little more, hoping that increasing the speed would get her to Tina's faster. It appeared that the universe was working against her, though, as she soon came up to a red light.

"No, Hannah. I've tried being patient. I hoped you would have come to me about what's been going on with you. Since you haven't, I'm going to talk. I think you've been upset with me this last week because of what you think I did with Peggy-Sue. I can assure you that nothing happened between us at the party," Spencer insisted.

"I know I may have been tipsy or whatever, but I'm pretty sure I saw you two kissing in the hot rod in Eddie's garage," Hannah snapped back, wishing the light would change. She started wondering if Spencer was the one keeping the light red. Just as she thought that, the light turned green. It made her wonder if it was a coincidence or if Spencer heard her thoughts.

"I shouldn't need to defend myself to you at all. But because I like you, I want you to know, Peggy-Sue kissed me. When we were in the hot rod, I was talking about the car and the craftsmanship it took to make cars like that in the 1950s. I didn't realize until it was too late that she had moved closer to me. By the time I realized it, she had pinned me to the door and kissed me. I guess that was the moment you came in and left because I was pushing her off me as I heard the garage door slam.

"When I was able to get out of the car and come find you, some guy who was sitting on the stairwell mentioned you had left. That's when I opened the door and saw you walking to your house. I shouted for you, but you either weren't listening or couldn't hear me.

"I was about to run after you, but then Peggy-Sue came out and stopped me. She apologized for being forward with me and urged that she still wanted me to be friends with her. I told her, of course, we could be friends. I love having friends.

"She begged me to stay a little longer. So I went back into the party and hung out with everyone, instead of coming to find you," Spencer concluded his explanation.

"You like me?" Hannah asked. Having heard his whole defense speech, that was the key phrase that stood out to her at that moment.

"What?"

"You said, 'because I like you.' What did you mean by that?" Hannah questioned.

"Really?" Spencer asked with a huff in disbelief. "After all that I just told you, you're asking me what I meant when I mentioned that I like you?"

Hannah turned onto Tina's road and could see her house coming into view. Then she noticed Eddie's car, parked on the curb outside Tina's house.

"Look. Eddie's here," Hannah pointed, not meaning to change the subject, but was relieved to at the same time.

"This conversation isn't over," Spencer commanded as Hannah pulled her car up behind Eddie's.

"I know," Hannah admitted. "But right now, Tina and Eddie are my main concern. We'll talk more about this on the ride home, okay?" Hannah said as she turned off the engine.

Hannah rang the doorbell, feeling nervous. Moments later, Tina's older brother, Todd, answered the door. He looked like the male version of his sister. Especially his face. They shared the same dark, but caring eyes and flawless, mahogany skin. He was slightly larger than Tina but much taller though his size was related to having more muscle than fat.

"Hannah! Hey! Come on in," he greeted her with a big bear hug. She recalled that she always loved his hugs.

"Hi, Todd! We miss seeing you at school. How's college life?" Hannah said as he led the way into the house.

"It's tough. Coach has us training hard for our next game, whenever we're not studying," Todd admitted. "I'm sorry, where are my manners? Hi, I'm Todd, Tina's brother," Todd greeted Spencer holding out his hand.

Spencer shook it and politely said, "I'm Spencer. I go to school with Tina and Hannah."

"You must be new?"

"He's only here temporarily," Hannah answered for Spencer. "He's helping his grandma for a month. He'll be heading home in a few weeks."

"Oh, okay," Todd nodded. "Well, Tina's upstairs in her room with Eddie. Speaking of which, I can't believe they're finally dating. Tina's been crazy about him since junior high. I'm glad he finally noticed her," Todd said with a smile.

Hannah awkwardly giggled, "Yeah, we're all glad about that too. Do you think it'd be okay to go up to see her? I mean them?"

"I don't see why not," Todd shrugged and gestured to the stairs as if granting them access.

Hannah thanked Todd and made her way to the second floor, with Spencer in tow. As Hannah approached Tina's door, she could hear her muffled voice say something and Eddie's muffled voice saying something in return. She couldn't quite sense the vibe and was nervous about knocking. Spencer must have sensed Hannah's hesitation and knocked on the door for her.

"Thanks," Hannah said with a mixture of gratitude and annoyance for Spencer's action.

"Go away, Todd!" Tina's voice yelled through the door.

"It's Hannah!"

"And, Spencer!" Spencer added.

Moments later, Tina swung her door open. Hannah could instantly see that she had been crying. She looked passed Tina, into the room, and saw Eddie sitting at the end of her bed with his head in his hands. Without saying anything, Tina gestured for Hannah and Spencer to enter. She closed the door behind them.

"Hannah. Thank goodness you're here!" Tina said with a raspy voice. She sat back down on her bed and held her pillow in her lap. "Will you please explain the love spell to Eddie?"

Hannah froze. Her face and neck flushed red. Feeling like she was caught cheating on a test, she didn't know what to say. She looked over at Spencer, who had taken a seat on Tina's bay window couch. He looked back at her with a blank stare.

"What are you talking about?" Hannah tried to sound confused.

"Tina told me everything," Eddie said, finally lifting his head to look at Hannah. She could see his hazel eyes expressing anger and hurt. "She told me that you used the shirt I gave her on Halloween, for some sort of love spell? Is that why I haven't been able to live a day without her near me since then?"

For a moment, she just let his words hang in the air. Then Hannah dropped her gaze to the floor and admitted, "Yes."

"What the hell, Hannah! Why would you do something like that? I thought you were my friend?" Eddie said with his voice growing louder and angrier with every question.

Hannah looked back up at Eddie. "I am! I didn't know it would work! My spells hardly ever work," Hannah said, defensively. Tears started to surface in her eyes, blurring her vision slightly, before trailing down her cheeks.

"For as long as I've known you, I knew you did crazy witchcraft stuff. But I never imagined you would do anything to me."

"In her defense," Tina interjected. "It was my idea, not hers."

"I know you already told me that. Trust me, right now, I don't know what to think of either of you," Eddie responded. He stood up and walked towards Hannah, who was still standing near the door. Hannah backed up a step, unsure of what Eddie was going to do. She knew he wouldn't hit her, but she thought he might yell in her face. Which she figured she'd deserve at that moment.

He stopped a foot away from her and said, "I don't want to talk to you or see you again. If you see me through your window, ignore me. Better yet, keep your blinds down. If you see me in school, just keep walking. To you, I no longer exist. Do you understand me?"

Hannah nodded and said with a quivering voice, "Yes."

Eddie walked past Hannah and opened the door to leave. He paused for a moment and turned back to look at Tina. "As for you. Had you just paid attention, you would have seen that I liked you, without the need for a spell. I was even going to ask you to the Winter Formal before all this. I just was waiting for the right time," Eddie paused for a moment and brushed his brown hair with his fingers. "But now, I don't want anything to do with you."

With that, he walked down the hall to the stairs. They heard him say goodbye to Todd and walk out the front door. As his car roared to life, Tina collapsed her face into her pillow and cried.

_________________________________________

Author Note:

Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you continue reading further. I would be ever so grateful for feedback/comments on anything that stood out to you.

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