One More Time

[ElTejon†]

"Now... Watch this."

With her customary Cheshire Cat-grin splitting her elvish features from ear to ear, Claire McGowan flicked her thumb and forefinger together, producing an audible snap that was accompanied by a small yet startling flash of bright light. In an instant, a flame licked up from the air and wrapped itself around her thumb, prompting some of the girls in the small audience of students crowded around her table to let loose with barely constrained squeals that were quickly shushed by the other students. Without turning her head, Claire made a show of looking around the cafeteria, not even paying attention to her flaming digit, now enshrouded in an orange brilliance that seemed to climb higher and higher into the air, sending up black tendrils of greasy smoke that, to the surprise of the onlookers, carried no scent of burning hair or scorched flesh.

"Come on... Don't you even feel that?" Whispered the girl sitting next to her, some stranger she'd found herself sitting down with after an idle, random wander around the cafeteria. Still, she told herself, it never hurt to...

Oh yeah, now it was starting to hurt.

Quickly -- but not too quickly, wouldn't want to spoil the illusion -- Claire tucked her burning thumb under her palm and made a tight fist around the digit. Never letting the smile fade for an instant, she pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and blew into her hand. Of course, the flame was already out long before she did that, but none of them would've had any idea about that little detail. And besides, wasn't that the point of magic? To keep them guessing at what was on the surface while everything else went on under the table and out of sight?

Of course, after she unfurled her clenched fist, drawing a few startled gasps as her thumb was revealed, whole and unharmed despite being roasted like a hot dog a few seconds ago, the usual barrage of questions she'd heard a million times before started to come in.

How did you do it?

How was that even possible?

Wow, I can't believe you did that without even --

-- should've at least turned out a little pink

Look at it, not a scratch on her...

All those questions, all the same. Shaking her head, she waved them all away in a shooing motion that prompted a litany of disappointed awwws from the crowd.

"Go on," she said, shaking her head as she waved them away. "I've got a whole bunch of stuff on YouTube. I'll be posting that later tonight, promise."

After the last of them had gone back to their respective tables, Claire suddenly remembered her lunch, sitting and steaming in her tray, mostly uneaten and forgotten until now. Plucking an bright red apple off her lunch tray, she took a deep bite and was rewarded with a satisfying crunch that was music to her ears. With a deep sigh of satisfaction and a huge, friendly smile plastered on her face, she turned to the girl next to her, swallowing back the chunks of apple in her mouth as she began to rustle through the mental catalog of tricks she had stored away inside her head.

"So, did you like it?'

[KingKamor†]

With a smile, Jackie bit off half of a celery stick and crunched on it for a little bit before answering, "You're pretty good. Nice showmanship, too. Who taught you all of these? Because I doubt that you learned all of this stuff on your own and got this good."

The theatre program had died somewhat, what with the upperclassmen going off the college and leaving her with the bratty freshmen and sophomores, and they needed some new blood on the stage. Jackie was able to tell that the girl in front of her was born to perform in front of people, and decided to take a chance.

"By the way, Have you ever thought of being part of Drama Club?" She asked. "It's a lot of fun, and I think that you'll fit right in... not that you don't already do, of course, but you get the point." She finished off her celery stick and smiled.

[ElTejon†]

"Drama Club?" Claire repeated, watching as the other girl chowed down on her celery stick. Thoughts of any future performances left her mind as she began to consider the offer. True, she'd enjoyed doing a few small performances for her friends every now and then, but there were other things that came into play when you were doing a theater production.

Licking her lips in a reflexive motion, she mustered up a half smile and met the other girl's stare. "It's something I've thought about," she admitted. "Still, acting. That's..." Claire struggled for the right word. "That's just a little too big a jump for me. I do card tricks, that doesn't make me an actress."

Realizing that she had forgotten to ask the girl her name, she stopped and held out her hand. "I'm sorry, I never got your name."

[KingKamor†]

((I don't usually see people writing another character's dialogue. I'd rather that I did it myself, if that's okay.))

Jackie continued to nod her head and consider what the girl was saying. No experience with a real audience, yet she seemed to be able to work the crowd well enough despite that. Stage fright, perhaps?

Upon hearing her asking for her name, Jackie announced, "I... am Jacqueline Maxwell, member of the Drama Club!" in as hammy a voice she could. "And I heard some of the kids in the crowd say your name. Claire, right?" She thought of calling her 'Claire the Magician,' but decided against it. She didn't want to scare the poor girl away too quickly just because she wanted to be friendly.

[ElTejon†]

She couldn't help but laugh -- she barely knew the girl, but she could already tell that she wasn't like most of the other Drama students she occasionally bumped into. No, this girl wasn't afraid to poke fun of herself a little, and from the masked intensity in her eyes Claire could tell that she was hiding a pretty sharp mind behind that friendly smile. Either way, this was as good an opportunity as ever to expand her horizons a little.

Wiping a bit of apple juice from the corner of her mouth, Claire gave a nod to the girl's question. "Yes, that's right. Claire McGowan. So do you go by Jacqueline all the time, or should I call you something else?"

[KingKamor†]

"Being called Jacqueline makes me feel important, but people just call me Jackie. And you can, too, if you want." She let out a soft chuckle. At least Claire was easy to talk to. That just made Jackie's job that much easier.

"Anyway, what is it that gives you such a phobia to the stage? You get scared being in front of people? I think you'd do well, personally." But not as good as me, of course, Jackie added mentally. Jackie didn't need anyone to literally steal her spotlight at the moment, but the club needed members one way or another, so she really didn't mind this time.

[ElTejon†]

"Phobia?" Claire repeated in a disbelieving tone. With a flick of her wrist, a playing card appeared in her hand --- the Ace of Spades, this one marked by a small red star that had been drawn in marker on the upper right hand corner. Never taking her eyes off Jackie, Claire's fingers began to work their magic, nimbly shuffling the card across the width of her hand with a skill and dexterity that had come from weeks of practice under her uncle's watchful eye.

"Look, Jackie, I'll be honest with you. The spotlight is something I've never been one to shy away from. But there's a difference between something like this --"

A sudden flourish that would've normally sent the card flying into the air instead made it seem to vanish in mid-flight. Without missing a beat, Claire brought her other hand up and, with a snap of her fingers, made the missing card reappear between her index and middle fingers.

"-- and doing Romeo & Juliet up on the stage. Acting is an important part of any act, sure, but it's mostly improvisation that keep the whole thing fresh and entertaining."

Watching Jackie's face for a reaction, Claire was alarmed to see a look of disappointment come over her newfound friend's features. She actually kinda liked this girl, even though they'd only known each other for a few minutes now, and she always hated to burn bridges. Thinking quickly, she put on her best smile and leaned back a little, quietly slipping the card back up into the sleeve of her jacket as she gave a shrug of her shoulders to put Jackie at ease. "Still, I guess I could give it a try. What I'd really like, though, is to meet up with you some time later and hang out for a while."

[KingKamor†]

While Jackie was still smiling and contemplating how Claire could have pulled off the card trick on the fly like that, she found herself delighted at the thought of being able to hang out with her. Perhaps she would change her mind if she hung out with her? That sounded like as good a plan as any to Jackie. Hell, they may even become friends in the process.

"Hanging out sounds like a great idea! So, where to? The mall?" She hadn't had to go to the mall in ages, and she was past overdue to grab another DVD for a play from the video store or something to that effect. Either way, it all seemed to profit Jackie in one way or another.

[ElTejon†]

Jackie's suggestion was nothing short of music to her ears. She still had some birthday money left over from what her grandparents had mailed to her three weeks ago. She was lucky like that, having grandparents who preferred to send cash instead of buying some discount trinket that'd inevitably find its way to the attic or the trash. Of course it would have been better if they'd been able to make it to the party, but she was never one to complain about free money.

"Cool! The mall it is!" She replied with an unmistakable enthusiasm. The girl's suggestions hadn't won her over completely, but it was enough to get her imagination going. Drama club could help earn her a little notoriety with some of the kids at school, and introduce her to a new crowd. Besides, she seemed to recall there being a few cute boys in the Drama Club: not exactly her type, per se, but it always helped to keep an open mind.

"So, what time's good for you? I'll be free pretty much all afternoon."

[KingKamor†]

Jackie couldn't help but smile. She felt a feeling of success in that she managed to become a friend of their school's best stage magician to-be, and said, "Alright, cool. I'm free right after school. How 'bout you?"

Now that she thought about it, however, Jackie realized that she didn't have any money on her. She didn't panic, but she fidgeted a little bit at the thought of not being able to fully participate in their hanging out at the mall. In her pocket was some change from the lunch line, but that was about it. The thought of asking Claire for some cash crossed her mind, but mentally slapped herself for thinking that it was an acceptable idea to do so.

"Also, can we take your car? Mine... uh, doesn't have much gas left in it." It had enough gas to drive to the mall and back ten times, but it was a beat-up old white car from the nineties that hadn't aged well at all. The paint was peeling off, the air conditioning didn't work, and the doors didn't latch correctly, so she wasn't about to suggest that they take it.

[ElTejon†]

Just the thought of her car was enough to make Claire cringe. The old dark green Ford sedan was not something she enjoyed taking out for a drive around town. Sure, it ran pretty well and was in decent enough shape, but she hadn't cleaned the inside of it out in months, and it showed. She and her friends had taken the old jalopy on a few night rides here and there, and the remnants of their escapades -- old fast food wrappers, wadded up bras and T-shirts, and the pungent aroma of cigarettes -- were still piled high on the backseat.

Giving it a little thought, she decided not to worry about it, and answered "Sure, we can take my --"

At that moment, the lunch bell rang. Rolling her eyes, she leaned in closer to give Jackie a better chance of hearing her over all the other kids. Reaching into her pocket, she whipped out an old, crumpled index card and a small black ink pen. After smoothing the card out on her leg, she hastily scribbled her cell phone number down on the back before handing it over to Jackie. "Just give me a call when school lets out," she said as she got up to leave, slinging her backpack over her shoulders before turning away and walking into the crowd.

((Claire McGowan continued in Good Start))