I didn't know Harvey was close with the ASL department and Dr. Rainier, who was the only person outside our circle who knew anything thanks to Dr. Cora Reed, until I had to do my partner chat with him.

I knew I hated that class for a reason. I had it right all along. Those scamming sons of bitches.

But before I could do or say anything to convince Harvey and the other two band members that it definitely was just the rain, the lights went out from inside the garage to the street light just outside. At least that was better than high-pitched screeching.

All I had to do was play everything down and dumb before Harvey said or did anything else. It wasn't a secret that I wasn't the best student and was on academic probation for failing a few classes last spring semester, but I had learned a lot from the experience. One, it was a bigger deal than I thought, and two, it changed the way people thought about me.

I turned to the garage door. Harvey spent the past ten minutes getting me upset (and there was no doubt in my mind that it was on purpose), so if I was right about his connections, he didn't need to go anywhere.

The garage door began to close like it heard my thoughts. And it probably did. The perks of having a talisman.

"What the hell is happening?" Dominic yelled. "Lindsay, you need to get a grip."

But why? I was right, and everyone else made fun of me for being stupid or lazy or unfocused. Maybe I was all of those things, but I had a talisman that suddenly felt like cooperating with me, and they didn't, so ha.

The garage door finished closing, and for once, it was like the talisman was listening to me. The last thing I needed was for anyone to escape and blab about the weird stuff that I was definitely responsible for, and Harvey lunged for the door that led into the house. As he turned the knob, it stuck there, and that door was of no use either.

This was a lot more fun when the talisman was working with me instead of against me. It would definitely be bad for both of us if anyone got out and yapped.

"What the hell?" Harvey muttered to himself.

I smiled. "Yeah, making fun of me is great up until I've had enough."

I didn't need his commentary on any sort of feelings involving Dominic. Harvey would never understand what it was like to be unable to get rid of him, and Sierra was no help by telling me that we just needed to talk everything out.

No one in that dark, damp garage understood except for the person I was supposed to hate.

Why didn't I hate him anymore? It would make everything so much easier. Everything was fun and games with unknown magic until suddenly it wasn't. I frowned. When did it all change? As soon as I figured out how to time travel with the talisman, that shit was getting fixed.

"Look, Lindsay, why don't you take a deep breath and calm down? We can all talk this out. Everyone here is just as confused as you are," Jack said.

No, they weren't.

"I'm pretty sure that I'm the one that pissed you off this time, and I'm sorry. I know you're in denial, and I just want to help you," Sierra said.

No, she didn't.

"Can anyone explain what the hell is going on? It's dark and cold in here," Dominic said and turned on the flashlight on his phone.

No, we couldn't, and yes, it was.

"I knew something was up with you ever since Jack tried to cover up something by telling us that you two were dating when you weren't. And Dr. Rainier sure as hell thinks the same thing with those pictures up on the wall in his office," Harvey said.

"I've been ignoring what everyone's been saying, but that one is just really weird. I'm pretty sure I know which pictures you're talking about, but lots of people here don't," I finally replied out loud.

Hopefully, they were the ones that Dr. Reed gave him of the talisman. If they weren't, that was going to be a new, separate issue I had with this school and education.

"There's this picture of a metallic object with strange markings on it printed out with Lindsay's name written on it in Dr. Rainier's office. Are we all on the same page now?" Harvey looked around the room, and although there wasn't any light besides Dominic's phone, the other two guys in the band nodded.

I had been friends with Jack (and therefore his band) for a year, and I still didn't know their names. Whoops.

"Okay, look, it's probably my fault that I haven't actually bothered to get to know any of you besides Jack, but I'm pretty sure that it means that this isn't any of your business. So if you all agree to just sit still while I try to figure out how to erase some memories, I'll let you all go when I'm done," I said.

"It's that important?" Harvey asked.

"It is if you're the family disappointment who's about to get kicked out of college with no sort of future ahead of you."

"Lindsay, come on. You could always work for Butterfly for the rest of your life," Jack said, but that wasn't nearly as helpful as he thought it was. The only positive thing about that was that I could take more pretty things from her shop.

But instead of telling him that, I didn't say anything else about it. All I could do was move on and try to get my way in the future.

Dear Talisman,

I know I only talk to you when I need something, but I was being totally serious about erasing Harvey and the other two guys' memories. If that's something you can do, that would be great. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Lindsay Hughes

P.S. If you can change the weather and cause life-changing medical emergencies, I know for a fact that you can alter memories. Don't mess this up for me, or I will take us both out.

The lights flickered back on, which seemed promising. Maybe it was some metaphor from the talisman that everyone was completely in the dark about what was in my back pocket and that everything was going to be fine despite the fact that I had put us all in a bad situation once again. But it was mostly Dominic's fault. And Harvey's.

Maybe the past few minutes had disappeared from everyone's mind. That certainly happened to me on plenty of occasions, usually in a classroom setting.

"Now it's cold and bright in here. What a significant improvement," Dominic said.

But also maybe not.

Before I could ask another favor from the talisman, Harvey spoke up. "You know, Rainier told me that nothing about you two added up, and he was right. There's something big going on here, and I'm not letting anyone go until I get a part of it."

I knew this would happen too. As soon as people found out about power, no matter how small or unassuming, it was their way to fix every mistake, to control others, and to make for an easier time with life. The same logic applied to me, but I didn't have any big, crazy intentions. All I wanted was to figure the talisman out so I could finally not be such a failure.

I couldn't say the same for anyone else, besides maybe the people who had stuck with me all the way through without screwing me over yet.

"Shit," I muttered, and my hand mindlessly covered up my back pocket to protect what was inside. "I thought we were having a moment and building a real relationship."

"What? Why the hell would you think that?" Harvey said, and I didn't tell him that I was talking to the talisman.

If you would kindly unlock all the doors for me and my friends to get out of this situation, I would be grateful, talisman. Please.

I glanced over at Dominic, who turned his phone flashlight off while muttering something to himself. I couldn't hear him over the rain on the roof, so I didn't know how he heard himself. He looked up, and when he noticed that I was looking at him, he didn't ask me what the hell I was looking at or flip me off or anything. He just went back to his phone like nothing was going on.

That was absolutely no help. Thanks.

Sierra was parked right beside me, which was nowhere near any sort of exit to the garage. And if I wanted to escape with the same level of freedom that I arrived with, I needed to find a way out fast.

If you can't erase memories, just give me an opportunity to get out of here without losing you. Thank you, talisman.

Jack was in an awkward spot with Harvey between him and the door to the house, and even if I found my way in, I didn't know where anything was inside. Harvey never even let me use the bathroom.

"Look, Lindsay. We can make this real easy. I know you have something that's so strangely powerful that you don't even know what to do with it," Harvey said. "We can fix it by letting me hold on to it, and we'll keep it on the down-low for you."

"What kind of trade is that? I literally get nothing," I said.

"Well, you get to leave, so there's that."

I knew I didn't like him from the moment we met, and he did himself no favors to win any trust from me. Yet none of those impressions mattered at all. My advantage was ruined because I couldn't do the smart thing and keep my mouth shut.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I managed to prove everyone right on my quest to show that I was someone else.

"So that's your plan. You're going to keep me here until I tell you where the shiny metal object in the picture in Dr. Rainier's office is," I said. Of course, I couldn't tell him outright that it was a talisman in my back pocket. That would be too stupid for even me.

Harvey hesitated for a second. "Yeah."

Dominic winced. "That's not a good idea. She's actually really obnoxious and stubborn when she doesn't want to do something. I would know."

For once, he offered some helpful criticism as he wandered closer to where I was standing. Who knew he had it in him?

There was no doubt about his statement being true, either. Everyone who knew me knew that I was very good at doing nothing.

With the lights back on, so was the space heater, and Dominic parked himself right beside me there and lowered his voice. "So what you were saying earlier—"

"It's nothing. It's my fault we're in this mess, and I'm sorry." I paused for a moment. "I guess I'm not nearly as good at being cool and relaxed as I think I am."

"Well, you won't be stuck in here with your thoughts much longer. That's all I can tell you right now, besides that you need to stay right here."

As much as I wanted to tell him that wasn't nearly enough information to shut me up, Harvey was still in the garage with us, and although there was still a loud ringing in my ears, we had to keep quiet if we wanted to make it out.

I looked up at him, but there wasn't anything I could say. All I knew was that I hated the way that every mistake from me somehow led back to him, and now I had to shut up and trust him. How many times was I going to let myself get so worked up for him just because we kissed a couple of times? Probably at least a few more times.

As wrong as Sierra was in saying that Dominic and I needed to talk, she was a hundred percent right. Being locked in a garage with a bunch of other judgy people just wasn't the place for it.

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Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your patience, and thank you so much for reading!

I'm not really sure what kind of question to ask, so let's make it one that I saw on Twitter the other day. What are 3 movies that you have seen at least 5 times?

For me, it's the Pixar masterpiece Cars, The Avengers: Infinity War, and Jurassic Park.