Kara's Cross
Chapter 23

I hurry ahead of Maddie to the tray return and shuffle through the crowd as quickly as I can manage, attempting to catch up to Logan. I don’t see him until he is almost to the classroom. I speed up to a half-run and call out his name. He stops suddenly and turns around, causing several students who were behind him to change course to avoid a collision.

“Thanks for stopping,” I manage to utter between breaths, “I wanted to talk to you for a minute.”

“I’m sorry I was watching you at lunch, Kara. I was just wondering how it was going to work out between you and Maddie. I didn’t mean to bother you.”

His words are a combination of bitterness and sadness. The guilt I feel for pushing him away deepens.

“No, Logan, you didn’t do anything wrong,” I reassure, “I wanted to tell you I am sorry.”

“Sorry? Why would you apologize to me?”

I take a deep breath, needing to get everything out before the bell rings.

“Logan, it was wrong of me to try to tell you how to act. What I decide to do with my power is my decision and what you do is yours. I never should have asked you to stop. You are a great guy and I know you wouldn’t want to hurt innocent people. I was wrong to try to change you, but even more wrong to push you away for not doing what I wanted. I’m sorry and I hope you can forgive me. I’d like us to hang out and be friends again. Maddie does, too. Since you got her mom’s job back, she also believes you never meant anyone harm.”

“I’m so happy to talk to you again, Kara,” his smile echoing the words, “but you don’t have to apologize for what you said. I was being a jerk. I’ve been using my powers so long; they’re kind of like a crutch. I was afraid of what would happen to me if I stopped using them. It still worries me, but for you, I will try to stop using them...or at least, only use them to help people.”

“You don’t have to promise anything, Logan, but it’s nice you’re willing to try. I’m just sorry I hurt you and hope you’ll forgive me.”

“We’re all good, Kara,” he confirms with a grin, “I do need to tell you something. Hopefully it won’t change your mind.”

“What?” I get a sinking feeling.

“I’m glad Maddie’s mom got her job back, but I wasn’t the one who did it.”

What? How is this possible? He must be lying.

“It’s okay if you used your power to do it, Logan. You were fixing something we were part of causing.”

“I know, Kara, and I’m glad it happened. I would have done it, but I didn’t. I don’t know what happened. Maybe the store realized they did the wrong thing.”

I don’t know if he’s still trying to hide using his power or if this is the truth. I guess it is possible, the store manager could have changed his mind, but it doesn’t seem likely. Why won’t Logan tell the truth? I told him it was okay.

I see Maddie approaching us. I don’t want to mess everything up again.

“Maddie thinks you did it, Logan. Can you please just let her believe this? I want us all to be friends again.”

Logan looks as if he is about to argue.

“Hi, guys,” Maddie stops in front of us, “how’s it going?”

“Great,” I quickly blurt to respond before Logan, “there were apologies all around and now we’re all friends again, yay!”

“Cool,” Maddie responds before shifting her focus onto Logan, “Thanks for getting my mom her job back, Logan. It means a lot to me.”

Logan opens his mouth, still looking to dispute the facts. I stare at him with wide, pleading eyes, practically begging him to drop it.

“It was nothing, honest,” he says with a sly grin, “I’m just glad it all worked out for the best.”

The bell is going to ring in thirty seconds, so we begin heading into the classroom. Maddie and I walk beside each other. Before we can walk three steps, Logan taps my shoulder. I stop and face him, expecting him to argue about telling Maddie the truth.

“Kara,” his voice a wavering whisper, “the winter dance is coming up and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me.”

Not what I was expecting to hear. I hadn’t even thought of the dance until today, since I hadn’t planned on going. After making up with Maddie, I was kind of hoping Mason would be so happy to see me again he would want to take me, but since he has never shown an interest before, I’m probably not being realistic. Logan, on the other hand, is loyal, eager and always there to take care of me, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t see him as anything other than a friend. Why is he asking me then? He must know I can’t say no after all he’s done for Maddie and me lately. Now I wish we were arguing about who got Maddie’s mom her job back. I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I have to make this work.

“Omigosh, Logan, that’s a great idea!” I smile as the solution comes to me. “We should all go and have a celebration of getting back together. You and I and Maddie can go; we can even invite Mason,” my smile widens at the idea of Mason coming. “What do you think?”

Disappointment crosses his features for a second before a practiced smile covers it up.

“Sounds like fun,” he nods, “I can’t wait. We should get into class now, before we’re late.”

I hurry into the room and find my seat, relieved the situation ended so well. I’m sorry to let Logan down again, but it’s better than giving him false hope. I look over at Logan’s desk. He looks back and smiles before nodding his head toward the other side of the room. I follow the direction of his gesture and see Arabella whispering to Maddie, looking irritated and motioning in my direction. The angry whispering continues another few seconds until the bell rings. Maddie turns to face the front of the room but hangs her head and Arabella stares directly at me for several moments until the teacher begins addressing the class.

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