“You two have your thing now and I’m just Weirdy McGee over here, ruining weddings and alienating mothers. I mean, I took the cure without telling you because I wanted to be normal so that she’d like me. And then I could go live with her and you’d get what you wanted, too.”
“What do you think we want?” Dad asked. “’Cause it’s not to live without you. However you want to be. Powers or not.”
“He’s right. We’re getting married to make a more stable home for you, Veronica,” Ms. Watson explained.
“And also because of love,” Dad reminded her.
“And also love,” she echoed quickly, but squirmed when she said “love.” Talking about emotions wasn’t her forte, even if she felt them deeply.
I let out a long, slow breath. Finally something made sense. I had wanted my mother’s approval so badly that I hadn’t been seeing what was true anymore. There wasn’t a “normal” that would suddenly make everything okay. And it wasn’t fair that she tried to make me think that being away from my dad would be good for me, let alone normal. If anything, I was getting the feeling that what was normal was going to change a lot in my life, and I wanted people around me who loved me and took care of me no matter what that normal looked like. For instance, me melted into a puddle on the floor.
“I love you guys. And I want to stay at home, so I’m really glad that’s okay.”
“Of course that’s okay.” Dad hugged me. “That will always be okay!”
“And we can talk about taking the cure. At the end of the day, though, it’s up to you,” Ms. Watson said. “We just want to be part of your decision, if that’s something you really want.”
“I don’t know anymore,” I told her.
She smiled. “You don’t have to know right now.”
“Yeah,” Dad said, helping me up. “We still have a party to get to.”
I wiped my eyes and looked at him. “We’re still going to have the reception?”
“There’s food. There’s a karaoke machine. Nothing could keep me away.” He gave me a big smile.
“We should go tell everyone. They’re still in the parking lot,” Ms. Watson said, touching Dad’s elbow.
Dad looked at me.
“I’ll be fine. The cavalry has arrived.” I nodded toward the door. Both Betsy and Charlie were waiting there anxiously. “All clear,” I told them.
“Not a hair out of place,” Charlie joked when the three of us were alone.
“That was…” Betsy was at a loss for words.
“Yeah. Sometimes the powers are big.”
“Did it hurt when you Hulk-smashed the table?”
“No. That was surprisingly fine. The powers themselves don’t ever hurt me. Just make life really stupid difficult sometimes.”
“After that, I can see why you wouldn’t want them,” Betsy said.
“But they’re amazing! It’s like every day is a surprise adventure!” Charlie blurted out. Then both he and Betsy clammed up, realizing they were in close proximity again.
“Uh, Charlie, can you guys help me get what’s left of these presents in the car?” I asked. “Maybe, Betsy, you can find Lizzie and Dean? See how that’s going?”
“You mean make sure they didn’t catch anything incriminating on video?”
“Yep.”
* * *
Charlie and I hauled the somewhat smashed wedding presents and put them in the trunk of Ms. Watson’s car.
“Do they get to keep the presents? They didn’t get married,” Charlie wondered.
“That’s a good point.” I sighed. “I feel like such a jerk. When does it stop, Charlie?”
“You know how I feel, but you can stop it if it’s what you want. The gummy will set you free.” He tried to pick up one end of the portrait, but it was too unwieldy. “Here, grab that end.”
I did but almost dropped it when I saw what I’d done.
“Oh no! Charlie! Look!”
He craned his neck around to see. In my stupidpower frenzy I had smashed into the portrait while I was covered in purple ink.
“No way! It’s you!” Charlie marveled.
“It’s me?!”
“Look the right way. From my side,” he instructed. “It’s the perfect outline of your noggin and face!”
I tilted my head to the side and, indeed, there was stupid little me.
“I ruined it.”
“Improved,” Charlie said.
On the ride to the reception, I couldn’t bear to tell Dad and Ms. Watson what had happened to the portrait. They had been through enough for one day and it showed. They weren’t really speaking in the car and it seemed pretty tense. Once things had settled down, they had probably realized how I had actually ruined the day. They were totally mad at me.
* * *
By the time we got to the club, I was completely sure that I was their least favorite person. They both got out of the car in a huff. I sat there for a second waiting for them to go inside, but they didn’t. They just stood in front of the car looking at me. Might as well face the music.
“Tell her,” Ms. Watson said firmly to Dad.
“Tell me what?”
Dad groaned, reached into his breast pocket, and pulled out a small sandwich bag containing one gummy bear.
I patted my pockets. Empty.
“You pinched my bear?! How did you even know?”
“Suspicious mind plus educated guess.” He shrugged.
“But now?” Ms. Watson led him.
“But now I’m giving it back to you.” He walked toward me and put it in my hand.
“Y-you want me to take it?” I was so confused. “Do you want me to go live with my mother?”
“Oh, one hundred percent no!” he said. “I want to keep you forever. However.”
“But?” Ms. Watson said again.
“But that needs to be your decision.” He gulped. “If you want this ‘normal life’ you keep talking about, then you should have it. There is nothing normal about us, Veri. Nothing normal about our life or our situation. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. In fact, it’s what makes us our own family. It’s what makes us us.”
The door to the club swung open and the sounds of many people partying flooded out.
“We’ll see you inside,” Ms. Watson said, gently guiding my dad through the door.
Well, that was heavy.
“Cherry Veri Gumdrops McGee!”
“Hey, Ted,” I said without turning around. It was very obvious it was him.
“We were right. That was a pretty epic wedding.”
“Is a wedding without a wedding still a wedding?” I asked him in the most cryptic way I could.
“I think you just blew my mind!” He gasped.
“Don’t say I never did anything for you,” I teased.
“Oh! Oh! I was supposed to tell you something. From our mutual acquaintance.”
“You mean my mother.”
“She said that she’s ready to try again. She just needs…” Ted searched his mind trying to remember. “She just needs you to have ‘the proof’ and understand that you’ll be sharing a room with Ignacio and, uh, Elvis.”
The door swung open again, casting a warm light on us. Inside I could hear my dad laughing. After everything that happened today. After everything I ruined on his special day, my dad was laughing. There were no mental check lists. No demands.
“Do you want me to tell her anything?” Ted interrupted my train of thought.
“Uh, no,” I said, still thinking about things. “You better get inside before all the food is gone,” I warned him.
“Are you just chilling out here with your lonely gummy bear?”
I laughed. “Yeah.”
Ted waved me off and headed inside, but I wasn’t quite done.
“Actually, Ted!” I called after him. “Could you give her this? Tell her it’s the only thing I’m going to share with her.” I handed him the gummy bear baggie.
“This is very mysterious,” he said with an approving s
mile.
“I’ll see you inside, okay?”
He went in and left me alone in the cool autumn air.
“Woo!” I shouted. I felt amazing. A swell of happiness and love filled me, then popped out of me in the shape of my old friends the cutesy, giggling cartoon hearts. They all floated down and rested on the car like they were the perfect wedding decorations. Yep. I felt pretty darn amazing. Well, amazing about almost everything. There was a rift I needed to close. I needed to be a bridge. Not in a literal sense, even though, since I had just decided I was keeping my powers, it was totally possible.
Inside the club I quickly spotted Charlie and Betsy. On opposite sides of the room, of course. They both looked pretty morose, which must have been really hard considering the ridiculously hilarious sight of my dad singing “Hungry Like the Wolf” onstage.
I grabbed three flutes of sparkling apple juice. I’d been so excited to have it! It looked so fancy! Anyway, it was an integral part of my plan. They were awkward to hold. Some would even say it was foolish to hold all three at once while you were trying to traverse a dance floor of middle-aged peeps rocking out to a giant man trying to sing soprano.
They would be right.
I had almost made it off the dance floor when I put on the most theatrics. I wobbled and added a few “Whoa!”s to really sell it. Before I could count to five, Betsy and Charlie had left their opposite corners to help.
“Oh, thanks!” I said as I handed each of them a flute.
Charlie started to chug his out of nervousness.
“Whoa, slow down,” I told him. “I want to make a toast.”
Charlie spit what was left in his mouth back into the glass.
Unexpectedly, Betsy let out a snort. “Charlie man, sometimes you are so … Charlie.”
“Quick thinking with turning up the music, Bets,” Charlie complimented her. “No one heard the fight.”
“I speak Fist Face’s language, what can I say?”
We all laughed.
“That’s actually what my toast is about,” I told them.
“Fist Face will be so pleased!” Charlie joked.
“I wanted to thank the both of you for always having my back.”
“Even when you stage something like this?” Betsy pointed to her glass.
“How did you know?” I asked, but she rolled her eyes at me. “So, I wanted to tell you that I plan on being just as back-having for you two as you have been for me. From here on out. Three amigos.” I raised my glass.
“Three musketeers.” Betsy raised her drink.
“Three…” Charlie thought. “… Blind mice?”
We clinked glasses and cheered.
“Veronica, can I borrow you for a moment?” Ms. Watson tapped on my shoulder.
“Uh, sure. Everyone all right here?” I asked Betsy and Charlie.
“I promise I won’t write any love notes while you’re gone.”
“Oh! Too soon!” Betsy laughed and smacked Charlie playfully on the back.
I giggled and followed Ms. Watson to a (reasonably) quiet corner.
“There are just a few things I feel we should set straight,” she said very seriously.
“Oh, um, okay.”
She exhaled sharply before continuing. “I did go speak with your mother. I knew that you were in contact with her and I had done my best to stay out of it, but I had a moment of poor judgment. I’m sorry I interfered.”
“You knew I was talking to her the whole time?”
“I had my suspicions after you wanted to invite her, yes. And we only had thirty-seven blank invites instead of the thirty-eight we should have had.”
“It’s okay, Ms. Watson. I mean, compared to how my dad would have reacted? He would have flipped out as soon as he knew.”
“Well, the books on parenting I’ve read had very mixed opinions—”
“Why have you been reading books on parenting?” I gasped. “Are you pregnant?!”
“No! No!” She looked absolutely panicked. “No!”
We caught each other’s eyes and laughed.
She continued, “I’ve been reading them because I am very eager to be your parent, Veronica.”
“You read them for me?”
“I want to be a good parent, but not just that.” She steeled herself. “I really do care about you.”
Tears rose to my eyes, and my chin started to quiver. That was the nicest, most unexpected thing she could have said, but suddenly it all made sense: the weird up-and-down robot Ms. Watson, her wanting to talk to me about Charlie, and now finding out that she was dogging my mother to keep me safe. Wow. I couldn’t control myself. I pulled Ms. Watson into the biggest bear hug I could possibly give her.
She let out a smooshed laugh and added, “Plus, I wanted to thank you—I think I’m going to get the city hall wedding I always wanted.”
“I’m so gonna call you Mom!” I said.
“Let’s take it one step at a time,” she cautioned.
“Mommy? Do you prefer Mama?” I teased as I let go of her.
“I can’t wait to ground you,” she kidded.
“What! Ms. Watson, you made a joke!” I hugged her again.
“It is a special occasion,” she said.
“Where are my ladies at?!” Dad bellowed from the stage.
“Hide me, please,” Ms. Watson begged as I dragged her to the stage.
There was only one reasonable thing left to do: sing some karaoke.
EPILOGUE
One week later …
It wasn’t every day that your dad got married to your guidance counselor. Even on days it was planned, it sometimes didn’t happen. But it finally had.
“Should we flip a coin to see who carries who over the threshold?” I asked.
“Is that another antiquated marriage tradition?” Ms. Watson asked me.
“Yep.”
She raised an eyebrow at Dad. “The only way you’re carrying me anywhere is if you hobble me first.”
Dad laughed. “Duly noted. Veri, why don’t you do the honors before we freeze out here?” He handed me the house keys.
“Sure!” I unlocked and whipped open the front door. “Welcome home Mr. and Mrs. Both Keeping Their Original Last Names!”
Above the fireplace hung the portrait I had drawn for them. Smooshed in there with them was the perfect outline of the face of yours truly in purple ink. The wedding portrait was now a family portrait.
As Ms. Watson put on some quiet classical tunes and Dad whipped up two celebratory cocktails and one delicious mocktail, I stared at the portrait for a minute.
“I think it’s time we talk about getting me my own set of keys,” a familiar, British-ish voice came from the doorway.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Charlie as I skipped to meet him.
“I was invited to a small gathering of all the coolest people. Oh, and Betsy’s here, too,” he joked.
“Hey,” Betsy said, shutting the door behind her.
Dad popped his head out of the kitchen door. “Greetings!”
“Hi, Bets!” I said as I looked to Dad, happily surprised.
“We couldn’t keep Chuck away from a family function with a stick,” Dad said, then added playfully, “but we actually wanted Betsy to come.” Dad mussed Charlie’s hair. “Give me a hand with the lemons,” he said, motioning for Charlie to join him back in the kitchen.
“What can we do?” I asked after him.
“Just chill out.”
“Well then, come on, Bets, let’s ‘chill out.’”
Betsy and I went into the living room and sat on the sofa.
“You know you could start your own type of art,” Betsy said.
“What?”
She pointed at the portrait. “Using your powers. Like, that is some pretty modern, experimental art right there.”
“You think it’s good like that?”
She sighed. “It’s freaking perfect.”
I couldn’t help but giggle. A year ago
I couldn’t have imagined sitting in my living room with Betsy talking about art. Let alone having her compliment mine. If I really thought about it, my powers were what had brought Betsy and me together. What had made us friends. Actually, now that I really, really thought about it, they were also the reason I had Ms. Watson in my life now, too.
“It is perfect,” I finally agreed. “Thank you.”
We gave each other a quick smile.
“So,” I said in a quieter tone, “seems like things are okay with you and Charlie?”
She nodded. “Thankfully, he finally figured it out.”
“Figured what out?”
She looked at me, confused for a moment. Then it was like a switch flipped in her head. “Oh. You don’t get it either.”
“Get what?!” My whisper was in danger of becoming a shout.
“I hope everyone is thirsty!” My dad, Ms. Watson, and Charlie were about to come into the room.
“What don’t I get?!” I asked Betsy again, frantically.
Bup-Bup-Bup-Buhh! Charlie imitated the sound of fanfare as the trio arrived with the drinks.
I tried to mentally force Betsy to answer, but she was looking at Charlie sheepishly as he carried over a tray of three lemony-looking cocktails in beer mugs with twirled bendy straws and fruit skewers.
“Bets!” I whispered.
She leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Even if I liked Charlie, I’d always come in second, dummy. It will always be you.” Betsy snapped back up to accept a fruity consumable from Charlie. He then offered one to me.
“Cheers,” he said.
His hand touched mine as I took the glass from him. Suddenly, what Betsy had said sunk in.
Whoosh! Tip-tip-tip-tip!
In an instant, all the lights went out, the fireplace was filled with a beautiful roaring fire, and every candle in the room lit up. It was like magic!
Or it was something else. Everyone looked at me.
It was still pretty magical, though.
I raised my glass. “To something super!”
“To something super!” everyone repeated.
THE END
P.S. Turns out, Ms. Watson lived in a cute little duplex. Sadly, there were no skulls, figurines, or roommates named Steve. Despite trying really hard, the only odd thing I found when we were helping her move out was an entire drawer filled to the brim with flower seed packets. Like, hundreds of them. At least now we have a project for next summer.
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