To Love A Witch

Chapter 4

  

Romy pulled her station wagon up in front of the Center and grabbed her bag off the seat. She was perilously close to being late, and with all the grief she gave her kids about being on time, that wasn’t an option.
Rehearsal had run overtime, thanks to her director’s delusions of grandeur. She loved doing community theater, but the few people in it for the dubious glory could be really annoying. Mental note—don’t be one of those directors. Not that her kids would let her get away with that kind of crap.
She ran down the detention-wing hall and into the drama room. The last thing she expected to see was the guy who’d tried to snatch her yesterday slouched in a chair next to Skate.
She skidded to a halt and glared. “What are you doing here?”
He reached out a hand. “Hey, I’m Jake. I’m hoping to start a drama program for teens up in Albuquerque, and I heard you were the best. I came to check things out.”
Liar. “Who let you in?” Romy could see Skate’s posture shifting to alert. She tried to ratchet down her body language; no point getting Skate in trouble.
Jake nodded toward Darlene, in her usual post by the door. Darlene waved and wiggled her eyebrows at Romy.
He’d smooth-talked Darlene? Romy was pretty sure no one had accomplished that in the last decade.
“The dude says he can act, Romy,” said Skate. “Mostly action stuff. Maybe he can help us out with the rumble scene.”
Romy tried not to laugh. Fine. If the kids wanted to put Jake through their own special brand of hazing, she wasn’t going to get in their way. She looked at Jake. “You know the basic plot for West Side Story? This is the big gang fight in Act One.”
“Manny’s out sick,” said Skate. “He can be Riff.”
“Hey,” Jake said. “Doesn’t he die in Act One? Who kills him?”
Skate grinned. It wasn’t pretty. “Me.”
The gang cast members assembled. Since all eyes were on Jake, clearly word had gotten around. Romy issued her standard warning with a little more emphasis than usual. “No blood, guys. Remember, this is acting.”
At a signal from Skate, the action started, and she settled back to watch. Riff usually took a pretty decent pounding in this scene. Darlene grinned from the doorway.
Jake made halfhearted attempts to dodge a few blows until a pretty solid one landed. Then Romy saw his face change. This was clearly a guy who had been in a few street fights. She and Darlene both took several steps closer in case they needed to step in; no one pounded on their kids. Jake saw their moves and rolled his eyes.
In the next three minutes, Romy learned all she needed to know about the kind of man Jake was. He had fast hands, even faster feet, and precise control. He fought as dirty as any kid in her group, but with the kind of restrained violence that earned respect without doing any real harm.
Finally, Skate started to advance on Jake. It was time for Riff to die. Instead, Skate stopped and put out his hand. “You fight good. I can kill Riff when Manny gets back.”
Jake nodded once, tough guy to tough guy. Fascinating, thought Romy. Skate didn’t like very many people; he respected even fewer. She stepped forward. “All right, I think we’ve rumbled enough for today. Now let’s run through impromptu job interviews.”
Her guest looked totally confused. “What part of West Side Story is that?”
Romy grinned. “It’s the part that earns these kids the right to participate in West Side Story.”
“We have to pretend to act like regular schmucks,” Skate said.
Well, Romy thought, that was better than several of the words he would have used last year. She had a strict no-swearing policy for drama rehearsals. If her kids were ever going to pass for anything other than delinquents, they needed to expand their vocabularies.
“I don’t get it,” Jake said.
Skate smirked. “Romy says it’s good acting practice. If I can behave like some prissy private-school kid for a job interview, then I must be a pretty good actor.”
Jake rubbed his ribs. “You do a great gang thug.”
“That’s not acting.” Skate earned appreciative snickers from his audience.
Jake considered a moment, and then reached out a hand to Skate. “Hello, I’m Mr. Dickhead, head of hiring for Standard Insurance. And you are?” Romy was impressed; he’d gone from likeable guy with bad-boy edges to condescending senior executive in three seconds flat.
Skate’s mouth hung open, so Romy stepped in to coach. “He looks pretty obnoxious—you up to this?”
Mission accomplished; Skate’s mouth snapped shut and he reached out to shake Jake’s hand. “I’m Michael Sykes, and it’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Dickhead.” No sign of a smirk anywhere. That was serious progress.
Jake gestured toward a table and two chairs hastily set up by a couple of the kids. “Have a seat, Mr. Sykes. Tell me about yourself.”
Romy cheered silently as Jake ran Skate through the interview gauntlet. The questions were tough, random, and occasionally stupid, just like your standard job interview. And without the visual, you never would have pegged Skate as a kid from the hood.
Then Jake’s face shifted. “One last question. It sounds like you might be a reasonable fit for Standard Insurance, Mr. Sykes. I’m concerned, however, about your… appearance.” He gestured in the general direction of Skate’s tattoos.
Only Darlene’s hand on her shoulder kept Romy in her seat. Skate was silent for a couple of seconds. Then he spoke with calm conviction. “Tattoos don’t make the man, Mr. Dickhead. What’s inside does.”
“Yeah, it certainly does.” Bad-boy Jake was back. “Hell of an act there, Skate. Next time I’ll wear a skirt and be the sexy-flirt hiring manager. Trust me, those are harder to deal with.”
The rest of the room busted up laughing at the idea of Jake in a skirt. Skate raised an eyebrow. “You coming back?”
“Yeah. For a while. Gotta help you guys work on that rumble scene.”
The buzzer sounded, ending free time. Kids filed out, heading off to dinner, and Romy walked over to Jake. She had no idea what to do with him. “I don’t know why you’re here, but you earned enough points that I’m not going to have Darlene throw you out. We need to talk.”
Jake nodded. “You hungry?”
She contemplated him a moment. “Yeah. Let me wrap up here, and I’ll meet you out front.”
Jake left, and Darlene walked over. “What’s that all about?”
Romy shook her head. “I have no idea. Pretty sure he wants something, but I have no idea what.”
Darlene snorted. “Then you’re a lot dumber than I think you are, girlfriend. Skate liked him, and so do I.”
And those were two tough gatekeepers, but neither of them knew she could make sparks fly out of her fingers.
Jake wanted her; Darlene had that much right. She needed to find out why. She wasn’t a fourteen-year-old witch in need of rescuing any more.