Auracle by Gina Rosati

just…” I look up at the signs on the windows that advertise so many good and healthy things within. I know Rei is only looking out for me, trying to protect me, just like he always does. I just feel that sometimes he’s trying to protect me from … me.

 
    CHAPTER 7
    Rei would leap over tall buildings to get me to eat healthy stuff, so my brilliant plan to change the subject is to suggest we get some fruit salad from his parents’ store. Yumi is at the cash register ringing up one of her infamous Bento boxes for a girl named Chelsea, who is in my chemistry class. “Hey, you two!” she calls out to us in her singsong voice that’s laced with only a trace of an accent.
    Yumi’s store is a gold mine. Not only is it an easy walk from the high school, but Yumi is a fantastic cook, she’s very artistic, and she knows what kids like to eat. We like to eat food that is kawaii . Even I will eat raw fish as long as it’s cute. Yumi makes these adorable Bento boxes where she shapes rice, chopped vegetables, nori, fish, all kinds of things, into adorable little animal faces. Who wouldn’t want to eat a happy panda rice ball?
    “That’s three dollars and twenty-nine cents,” Yumi tells Chelsea, “from five.” Cha-ching!
    Rei immediately heads around the counter and helps himself to a disposable but still environmentally safe bowl, then fills it with fruit salad.
    “You want chopsticks or a fork?” he asks me.
    “Surprise me,” I tell him.
    He grins and reaches for the chopsticks.
    We have successfully changed the subject. During the ride home, Rei plugs his iPod into the car speakers and we crank up the volume. Yumi does make the best fruit salad. While Rei drives, I chopstick up chunks of pineapple and honeydew and feed them to him because those are his favorites.
    “I’ll call you tonight,” he tells me when he drops me off in my driveway.
    “Okay, thanks. Have fun in class.”
    *   *   *
    My father is on his recliner, collecting dust. The bottle is down about six inches, which means that he’s still fairly sober by my standards, but I know better than to tickle the dragon. I slip past him, unnoticed, grab a can of soda from the fridge, and lock myself in my bedroom. It’s three-thirty. I’m pretty sure the note said she’d meet him at four o’clock.
    I didn’t tell Rei I wouldn’t go. There were no promises requested and no promises offered. He just didn’t think it was a good idea. Okay, so maybe he said it was a bad idea. But still …
    I change into a pair of gym shorts and my favorite black T-shirt, the one with the puddle bunny on it, and I pull out the hair tie that holds my ponytail. My door is locked, and I push the desk chair up under the knob. My alarm clock is set just loud enough to remind me that I need to return before my mom gets home from her business trip, but not so loud it would draw my father’s attention. The entire conversation with Rei has sucked away the joy that usually accompanies me on my trips. I punch at my pillow to get it just right, and shimmy around until I’m comfortable. There’s a water stain on my ceiling that’s shaped like a turtle. I stare at it for a while to relax.
    Within about ten minutes, the tingle has spread from my bare toes up through my legs and into my back. As soon as I hear a slight buzzing sound, I know I’m ready. I feel myself detaching, releasing, lifting, and I’m free, floating over my body. If anyone ever walked in on me, it looks like I’m peacefully sleeping. Before I leave, I check around my house: the stove is off, and my father is in his usual catatonic state. Rei’s just got me paranoid, I remind myself. Everything will be fine. It’s time to see what Taylor’s up to.
    Scientists claim that the fastest thing in the universe is light, which travels at about 186,282 miles per second. I’ve never clocked myself, but I know I’m faster. All I really have to do is think of a place and I’m there. The waterfalls are still