Talisman 01 - The Emerald Talisman

it, it was time for lunch. My appetite came back and something in the cafeteria smelled appetizing today. I scanned the room to find Sam when I noticed the new guy standing at the end of the line. My heart quickened at the thought of actually trying to start a conversation with him.
    I mustered up courage and walked quickly to stand behind him before a chatty group of freshmen got there first.
    “Hi,” I said with a little smile.
    He turned, flashing baby blue eyes at me and my heart did flip flops.
    “Hi,” he said, smiling back.
    I noticed his perfectly straight and incredibly white teeth. Close up, he was way cuter than from a distance on the basketball court. His darling dimples, coupled with his admiration of me, made my mouth feel like it was full of cotton balls.
    “Are you new here?” I asked with a squeak and then felt stupid for asking such a dumb question.
    “Yeah, I’m Phil.” He extended his hand to shake mine. When we touched, his free-spirited happy aura infused me deeper and calmed my nervousness.
    “Nice to meet you,” he said.
    “I’m Julia . . . Julia Parker,” I gushed. “Did you . . . just move here?”
    “Yeah, from Los Angeles.”
    “Really? I’m from Los Angeles too. What part?”
    “I’m from the Valley, but my Dad got transferred, so we had to move.” His distress amplified. He must miss home. “Is the pizza any good?”
    I was concentrating on his feelings and missed the question.
    “Pizza?” I fumbled. “Oh, it’s okay, I guess.”
    He grabbed a slice and winked. “I’ll know soon enough.”
    I followed suit. I wanted to take a slice of chocolate cake, but decided I should grab a banana instead.
    “We used to live in the Valley too. Well, when I was a kid. We moved to be closer to family. My Dad’s a computer consultant,” I said, feeling comfortable to share. “I’m not sure what that means, but he’s gone a lot. What does your dad do?”
    “My dad is an engineer. He builds computer chips. Wasn’t too bad moving here. At least I’m still close to the beach, but this school needs to loosen up.”
    With his free hand, Phil leaned into me and put his arm around my shoulder.
    “Take that guy over there,” he whispered in my ear. “He’s trying to score, but he’s doing it all wrong and she’s not buying it.”
    Brad, a sophomore, was a bit too loud and his laughter a little too forced, while talking to a pretty freshman I knew he liked.
    “If he’d just loosen up, talk to her like he talks to his buddies, she’ll eat it up. Trust me.”
    I smiled and nodded my head amazed at how at home I felt under Phil’s arm. I found I didn’t want him to move it away. I was disappointed when we got to the cash register and he let me go to get his wallet.
    “I’m getting hers and mine,” he told the lady.
    I blushed. I’d never had a guy buy my lunch before.
    “Thank you.”
    “No problem. It was really nice to meet you,” he said and he turned and walked in the other direction. “I’ll catch you around.”
    I just stood there and watched him go sit with the guys he was hanging out with in P.E. class.
    “He’s cute, who is he?” Katie asked as I walked up to our table at the other end of the cafeteria.
    “Phil. He just moved here,” I said, a little stunned, trying to make heads or tails of what just happened.
    “What, no more . . . what’s his name?” Katie snapped her fingers repetitively. “Nicholas?”
    I shot her a glare. She was the queen of being fickle when it came to boys. How dare she question me when I was just being friendly?
    “I just said ‘hi’. It doesn’t mean anything.”
    “It looked a little bit more than that. It looked like he bought your lunch.”
    “A . . . loan. I’m paying him back,” I stammered.
    I finally understood why Sam kept her feelings for Todd a secret. Nothing got past Katie. Like a shark, she smelled blood and was in for all the gory details.
    “Hmm . . . I wonder if Phil’s got a date to homecoming,” she said and glanced in his direction.
    Two senior cheerleaders hovered over him flirting and it surprised me that I felt jealous.
    “You have a date, why do you care?” I snapped, feeling stupid I even took the time to talk to him.
    “Not for me, for you. I figured since you stopped talking about Nicholas, things didn’t work out. But it looks like you’ve got some competition now.”
    I stopped staring at Phil and looked down at my pizza, which was cold. Somewhere, my appetite changed and