“Woah! How did you do that,” Jake asked excitedly.
“I’m not really sure,” Camille responded. “There’s a light that burns inside of me. I feel it in my limbs and it glows from my core. It’s something I discovered a few days ago.”
Jake shook his head in disbelief. He knew there was something special about his best friend, but this was magical. “What else can you do?”
Camille lifted her hands, palms up, and closed her eyes. A flame no bigger than a tennis ball erupted from her palms. She opened her eyes and smiled widely. The flames danced in her hands. She felt powerful. Once she closed her hand into a fist, the fire disappeared.
“So are you some kind of witch now? You should put a spell on Jake Gyllenhaal to fall in love with me. We’d be the cutest couple and have our own TV show called ‘The Jakes.’ I can see it now.” Jake gazed at nothing as he fantasized about what powers Camille might have.
“Slow down, Romeo,” Camille replied. “All I can do is blast light or create fire. I’m not Cupid.”
Jake frowned. “I guess that’s cool,” he said playfully. “So what’s the plan for tonight? Hang out at the mall? Go to the movies? Start a forest fire?”
Camille laughed. “Well, I do want to see that new movie with Kirsten Stewart in it. Twilight?”
“Nooooo, don’t tell me you’re one of those pathetic 23 year old vampire fanatics. I can see it now: girl falls in love with vampire, then burns him with her hands. Snore!”
“Come on, Jake. You know I only want to go so that I can…write a review on my blog about how stupid it is?” Camille smiled and put her hands together, as if to beg Jake to tag along.
“Fine, I’ll go, but you’re buying the popcorn!”
“Deal,” Camille replied.
When they arrived at the movie theater, there were barely any cars in the parking lot. “Well this seems odd for a Friday night,” Camille said.
“Duh,” Jake replied. “That’s because everyone is out partying, not going to the movies.”
“Who’s partying at 6:58pm? This is prime movie going time. Maybe it’s a good thing nobody is here though because that means there won’t be a crap ton of people in the theater.”
Jake rolled his eyes. “There was never going to be a crap ton of people going to see Twilight, sweetie. What time does the movie start again?”
“7:05pm. I’ll get the tickets and you get the popcorn,” Camille said.
“Um, no. Give me the cash for your ticket and our popcorn. I want to miss as much of this movie as possible.”
Camille grabbed a $20 bill from her purse and handed it to Jake. “I’ll get our seats. Hopefully I can find good ones!”
Jake looked around the nearly empty parking lot. “I’m sure it’ll be so tough.” They laughed and walked their separate ways.
“Two adults for Twilight, please,” said Jake.
“That’ll be $16. Good thing you came when you did. We’re almost sold out for that showing,” the clerk said.
“You have to be kidding me. Not that many cars are in the parking lot.”
“There’s been groups of teenage girls filtering into that movie since 6pm. We had to open the screening room early because a line was forming. I hope you get the seats you want.”
“Thanks, man.” Jake walked away and stood in the short concession line. He took his phone out of his pocket and saw that he had a text from Camille.
SO many tweens.
Jake laughed and wrote back:
Burn them all. Let God sort ’em out.
Camille received Jake’s text and laughed. She had managed to find relatively good seats on the fourth row, near the middle. Of course she and Jake would be squished between girls no older than the age of 13, but at least they’d be able to see shirtless vampires. Camille began scrolling through MySpace when a few kernels of popcorn landed on her phone. She looked up, expecting to see Jake, but saw no one. A few girls behind her snickered. She ignored them and continued looking at her phone.
“Hey, so did I miss anything yet?” Jake sat next to Camille and handed her the popcorn.
“Nope, just a few previews.” Camille felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a girl who dressed like she was 21, but looked like she was 12. “Can you please stop talking?” She said innocently. Camille gave an embarrassed smile and nodded her head. She turned back to Jake who was eyeing the little girl.
“Well that was rude,” he said. At that moment, popcorn hit Jake on his cheek. He quickly swiveled his head around. The girls sitting behind he and Camille pretended they were looking at the screen the whole time, but had huge smiles on their faces. Jake turned back to face the screen.
The movie started and people in the theater began clapping. Camille started to feel like coming here wasn’t the best idea. Something didn’t feel right. Jake grabbed a handful of popcorn from Camille’s lap. Something crunchy moved around in his mouth. Astonished, Jake spit the food into his hand. What looked like a small roach was crushed in his popcorn.
“What the fuck!” Jake yelled and stood up, throwing his chewed, and untouched, popcorn on the floor.
Camille, confused by all the commotion, asked, “What’s wrong?” Jake threw Camille’s popcorn on the ground.
“Bugs,” he shouted. The girls next to him started screaming. A wave of “Oh my gosh” and “What the hell” erupted in the theater. Chaos was happening because of Jake’s outburst. Suddenly, the girls behind Camille threw their popcorn on her. “Bugs,” one of the girls said, mimicking Jake’s voice.
Jake turned around and said, “Excuse you! I’ve had enough of y’all. I’m talking to the manager. Camille, I’ll be right back. Don’t touch that popcorn!” He stormed out of the theater and everything calmed down. Camille brushed the popcorn off herself and started to follow Jake until she heard the 21 year old wannabe say, “Dumb bitch. She’s way too old for this movie.” Her friends laughed.
Camille’s patience was thinning at a rapid rate. She turned to face the girls. “Do you have a problem, little girl?”
The little girl looked at her and rolled her eyes. Camille, engulfed with fury, thrust her hand, palms open, toward the little girl. Light blinded the child and her surrounding friends.
“Ma’am, is there a problem,” a voice said behind her. Camille closed her eyes and screams erupted from in front of her. Heat vibrated near her. She opened her eyes and the girls that she was facing were now covered in flames, screaming and trying to run away.
“What the hell, Camille,” Jake yelled. Everyone in the theater began stampeding towards the exits. Camille faced Jake to tell him sorry, but she didn’t close her fists, which continued to send out flames. Her best friend caught on fire, screaming in agony. All hell broke lose. She closed her hands to make a fist, but a fire ball circle around them. She couldn’t control the power. She opened her hands again and fire shot to the ceiling, submerging the whole theater in flames.
Camille stood in place, dumbfounded. “What have I done,” she cried.
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