“Pearl, stand up straight. Do you have the notecards I gave you?” My mother wrapped her big blue shawl tighter around her shoulders as she teetered down the driveway in her electric blue 3” heels. Her blue wool dress was free of fuzz and perfectly tailored.
“I don’t need them. I have the speech memorized.”
She smacked my arm with the gloves in her hand. “Do we really need a repeat of the 3rd grade production of the Littlest Witch where you froze on stage?”
I turned my back to her so that I could roll my eyes without getting smacked again. “I didn’t forget my lines. Billy Beckler shot me with a spitball and I got distracted. Everyone laughed and I lost my nerve. I can still recall my lines from the play, for the record.”
She tsked at me. “Well, let’s pray that no one hits you with a spitball today. Anyone who is anyone will be in attendance. You are the ambassador of the event, so all eyes will be on you. They will expect you to fail because, well…you know.”
Because I suck is what she wanted to say but she would never lower herself to say, “suck”.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to have at least one person believe in me?” I immediately bit my lip realizing that my inside voice had escape out the side of my mouth.
I turned bright red as I quickly stood up straight.
She pursed her lips and blinked at me. “I always believe in you, Pearl. You are the one who doesn’t believe in yourself, which leads to disappointment.”
I hated her backhanded comments that put the blame on me. It was a great way to help my self-esteem.
Stepping into the car, I avoided looking at her until we arrived at the meeting hall. Pretending to adjust my shoe, I let my mother get out of the car first. Once she was inside, I followed slowly behind.
Inside the building, I smiled and nodded at the elders who were already judging my appearance. Maybe I should have gone with my mother’s suggestion of the blue satin dress and pearls instead of my black sleeveless blouse that matched the skirt. Both outfits made me feel like a fraud, but the blue one was fancier and more “wintry”. I hated when my mother was right.
I clacked down the hallway, avoiding everyone’s stares. I waited behind Mavis Beezel to check in when I heard a hiss behind me.
“Pstt. Celeste.”
I looked around to find Benjamin poking is head out from behind a door. He frantically motioned for me to join him in what looked like a janitor’s closet.
“What?” I hissed at him as I got closer.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the closet. “We need to talk.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him until I noticed that he was wearing jeans and a button down shirt. “What is so important that you need to pull me away from the luncheon? And why aren’t you wearing your suit?” I tried to leave, but he pulled me around to face him.
“Do you have your powers yet?” He whispered loudly enough to be considered a low harsh voice.
“How is this the important topic we need to discuss? Benjamin, if I did you would be the first to know.”
He shook his head and stared at the floor between us. “Damn it. Did you eat or drink anything weird? Did you come into contact with any strangers?”
Baffled, I put my hand on my hip. “I don’t have time for this. I need to give a stupid speech.”
He grabbed my shoulders and stared into my eyes. “Please, think long and hard. Answer my question.”
He was so serious that he scared me.
“No. I don’t think so. I was almost hit by a car, but someone rescued me.” I thought back to the strange boy in the suit.
“Did he say anything to you? Did he give you anything?”
“He saved me from a car. Aside from that, he didn’t say anything too strange, though he did know my name.”
“How? How did he know your name?” He squeezed my shoulders tighter, pressing me for an answer.
“How should I know? I was upset about…well, about a lot of things and I went to the cafe. Maybe he saw me there. Maybe he asked someone who I was.”
His eyes widened. “The cafe. What did you drink at the cafe?”
I shrugged not understanding why my beverage mattered. “I had a Pumpkin Spice Latte.”
He slowly let go of my shoulders and paced in the small space. “It’s orange, so that would make sense. Why would anyone want to spike your drink?”
Doing a double take, I gawked at him. “What do you mean someone spiked my drink?”
He stopped pacing and stood in front of me. “You probably can’t see it. Look closely at me. Look at the space between us. Do you see anything?”
Again, I shrugged. “You’re being weird.”
“Celeste! Look!”
Startled by his insistence, I took a breath and stared intently at him and the space between us to appease my unhinged friend.
After a second or two, a strange orange glow formed between us, though it was hard to see. “Why can I see an orange glow?”
He threw up his hands. “See! You can see it! This is bad. This is really bad. I mean, no it’s good, but really bad.”
Confused, I ran through every scenario I could think of that would explain what I was seeing. An orange glow, or rather a line was connecting us.
When the answer came to me, I took a shaky step back. “No. No way. It’s a spell. Wait, it’s orange, not green or purple right? Green or purple would be bad.”
Taking a deep breath, he nodded. “Definitely orange.”
I put my hand over my mouth. “I ingested a love spell. More precisely, a spell that would reveal hidden feelings. Green would have been a jealousy curse and purple would have been an obsession curse. Orange is much better than those options.”
“True.” He nodded and ran his hand through his spiky hair.
I leaned back against the wall and looked away. Balling up my fists, I thought about all the things I wanted to tell Benjamin over the years. I finally had the opportunity to tell him the truth. The closet wasn’t the ideal place, but it was better than never telling him.
“Benjamin, I…”
He put his hand on my shoulder. “I know, Celeste. The spell could be faulty. It could have been improperly mixed. Love spells are unpredictable and sometimes reveal normal feelings that people have for each other. Deep friendships can cause the connection. I know. It’s probably a fluke. The problem is that everyone in that room will be able to see it, at least until tomorrow. The visible connection should start to fade once you’ve met up with anyone else who has hidden feelings for you, or supposed feelings. If your mother sees us together, she will lose her mind. We need to separate until the glow fades.”
My heart shattered into a million pieces. Benjamin didn’t feel the same way about me as I felt about him.
“Yeah. Okay.” My voice gave out as I nodded numbly at his plan.
“You need to be here. I don’t. My mom will be mad if I leave, but I can feign a stomachache. When I saw the orange line pointed straight at your house a few hours ago, I snuck out and tried to stay far away from your house so that the line would fade. I came here to warn you against seeing me until tomorrow.” He rubbed his hands together and looked at the door.
I reached out to grab his arm. “I…”
He smiled at me with his big dopey smile. “I know, Celeste. I care about you too. No matter what your mother wants, I am your friend…from a distance.” He winked at me and opened the door. He ducked his head out and disappeared from the closet.
Shell shocked, I put my head against the cold wall. So much for loving Benjamin Fitzroy. It seemed that even a love spell couldn’t make things work between us.
Tears pooled in my eyes until I couldn’t see.
Pitying myself for a whole twenty seconds, I pushed myself off the wall and stood up straight. I had a speech to give.
I ran out of the closet and made it to the banquet room before the water glasses were filled.
Sitting in my seat, I pondered why Julian had given me that la
tte. He had said that it would make me feel better. What a joke. I didn’t think I could feel any worse.
I wanted to sink into my chair and hide under the table, but I refused to give my mother one more reason to be disappointed in me. Today, for the next hour and a half, I would be the perfect daughter. Screw Benjamin, screw Tamara and screw my doubt. I needed a win right about now.
Ignoring my mother and her friends gossiping at the table, I glanced around to find Tamara sitting with her mother, a former Miss Sunshine herself, with her perfect teeth and perfectly dyed hair. In the far corner were Hana and her mother. Mrs. Dodson always tried to keep up with people like my mother, but was always just out of step. There were days when I wanted to tell her to be herself and forget about being like the society women.
My mother nudged me as the salads were brought to the table, informing me that it was time to speak.
I was expected to welcome everyone, talk about the charity that we had chosen to represent at the auction and officially ask for nominees for Winter Solstice Princess. It wasn’t a difficult speech, so I expected it to last no more than five minutes at most. Once it was done, I could run off to the bathroom to have a good cry.
Standing up, I cleared my throat and smiled at everyone as I headed up to the podium and microphone. I heard Tamara snicker and whisper something to her mother, but I refused to look at her. I was Pearl Dreger and I was in charge of my destiny.
At least I was in charge of my destiny right up until the part where a waiter suddenly tipped his full tray of salads directly onto me.
I heard my screams echo throughout the entire room as cold vinaigrette rolled down my back, soaking my under garments. Cherry tomatoes bounced off my head as chunks of lettuce and croutons slid down my long hair.
A distinct laughter broke out from specific parts of the room. Laughter that I had heard many times over as Tamara and her friends broke out into fits of glee. I closed my eyes not wanting to acknowledge that this was really happening.
I felt hands around my shoulders that were hopefully pulling me towards hell. I would have preferred a quick death than accept that I was covered in multiple salads.
“Pearl. Come along.”
My mother’s voice was less sympathetic than I would have preferred, but not as biting as I had expected. Hearing the hint of disappointment in her voice broke something inside of me. A large part of me was done. I had reached my breaking point.
I threw off my mother’s arms and put my hands up to stop her. “No! I’m finishing this. I’m giving my speech.”
The shock on her face was comical, though I didn’t have time to enjoy it. Instead, I spun on my long, pointy heel, grabbed a towel from the waiter rushing to apologize to me and wrung out the oil from my hair. I marched directly to the podium and looked everyone in the eye, causing their laughter and chatter to die in their throats.
“Good afternoon. I am Pearl Dreger of the Casters of Silver Springs Coven and I want to welcome you all to the YWWA luncheon sponsored by the Black Hat and Broom Society. Yes, I am covered in salad and salad dressing, yet even the sticky goo dripping down my back will not prevent me from talking about the important reason why we are here.” I paused for a polite round of applause and chuckles.
I took their encouragement and ran with it. “This year, the YWWA has chosen a worthy charity to support. I hope that my appearance proves how determined and single minded the witches and wizards of the YWWA are in our pursuit to raise $10,000 for the Silver Springs Orphanage renovations. We all love to talk about the magic and beauty of the Winter Solstice Ball and enjoy playing games and eating food at the Ice Carnival, but as the Solstice Season grows near, we must reflect on something more important. We need to remember that this is a season of giving back to others in our community. It’s about helping those less fortunate than us.” I smiled internally when I saw a number of faces fall at the mention of helping the downtrodden, including Tamara, since I was reaching beyond my cue cards for inspiration.
Seeing the nervousness in their eyes, I seized my opportunity to do the right thing, while making a lot of people unhappy. “I issue a challenge to each of you this season. While you are shopping for presents for the Solstice, I want you to buy one extra present. This present will be the most important present you buy this year because it will go to a child who doesn’t have a family to shower them with love and tokens of their affection. This year, I challenge you to make a difference in the life of one child. You can give them a new coat, new shoes, a warm blanket or a stuffed animal for them to snuggle with. The choice is yours. I ask you to bring these presents, unwrapped, to the Winter Solstice Ball so that the winner of this year’s pageant can present the gifts to the children, along with our donation.”
The stunned looks from the crowd made me cheer. Though we had never discussed the idea of a present, it was the perfect way to make every selfish witch and wizard in the room consider someone other than themselves this year. By not wrapping the gift, it would become a one-upmanship to buy the nicest present, in addition to making it easier to distinguish between boy and girl gifts.
Low murmurs rushed through the crowd as a soft round of applause slowly spread throughout the room. Looking over at my mother, I was surprised to see her smiling at me, unlike Mrs. Danbury, who didn’t look pleased to have to buy something for a stranger.
“Now, I know it is a tradition to ask for nominations for the Winter Solstice Princess, but this year it has been decided that any female between the ages of 15 and 17 will be considered eligible for the title. I wish everyone luck, though I would remind you that this is not a competition, but a chance to show the community of Silver Springs how happy we are to give back during this holiday season.”
Looking past the sour faces, especially Tamara’s mother who would hate the idea of having unworthy competitors running for Princess, I gave my thank you and headed straight for the bathroom.
Taking a breath, I prayed for the strength to deal with the aftermath of all my last minute decrees. I had created multiple breaches in edict, but I didn’t care. If they wanted to put a target on my back just because I was a late bloomer, I could find a better way of earning it.
I grimaced at my reflection and sighed. I needed to look less comical before going back into the fray to defend my attempts to toss protocol on its ear.
Making three attempts to scrub out the oil from my hair and blouse, I gave up and headed into the hallway. My appetite was gone, so I had no interest in going back to my table. Dinner was sounding like a really good idea.
“Celeste!”
Hearing Carson calling my name, I turned to see him smiling and waving at me.
Confused by his happy greeting, I waved back. “Hey.” Waiting for him to explain why he was speaking with me, it dawned on me that he had been absent from the luncheon even though his father had been there.
As he approached, I heard the door to the banquet hall creak open. I didn’t need to turn around to know that Tamara, Crystal and Melody were responsible for the icy chill of hatred that was crawling up my back.
“Oh. My. God! Do my eyes deceive me? Is Celeste really that desperate?” Tamara snorted and bent over laughing, while pointing at me.
“Shut up, Tamara.” Carson stepped in front of me and scowled at her.
Beyond confused, I stared at everyone around me as I tried to figure out what was happening.
“This is just too perfect. I wish I had a photo. Oh wait…” Tamara pulled out her phone and attempted to take a picture of me.
Carson pulled his wand out of his suit pants so fast it nearly broke. “Lanternă!” His flashlight spell blinded everyone in the hallway. Even if Tamara had been able to see clearly enough to take the photo, the bright light would have blurred it.
Tamara rubbed her eyes. “It doesn’t matter what you do, Carson. Everyone is going to find out about Celeste’s desperate attempts to make a guy fall in love with her. We need to create a better word than pathetic to describe her. Fir
st, she makes a fool of herself by including everyone in the Miss Winter Solstice Pageant and then forces everyone to buy a stupid present. Now, she sinks even lower with a love spell.”
Carson raised his wand. “Run off before someone drops a house on you. Seriously, I know a spell that can summon a house.”
Tamara sneered at him and brushed past me to head to the ladies’ room. Crystal and Melody followed her and almost ran into the wall.
I smiled at Carson. “Thanks for the save, but I don’t understand. How did they know about the spell?” Unless Benjamin had decided to come back and profess his love for me, Tamara shouldn’t have known about it.
He turned and winked at me. “You could have just told me, Celeste. You didn’t have to go to such lengths. Though, I am grateful since it makes it easier for me to say how I feel.”
My face fell as I tried to figure out what he was talking about. “How you feel. What do you mean?”
His pale face flushed as he brushed his long bangs out of his eyes. “Well, I didn’t mean to imply that I feel more strongly than you do. It’s just that, well, I guess you figured out that I’m actually shy around girls. I tell dumb jokes to make people laugh so that they don’t see how nervous I am around them.”
Dumbfounded, I stared at him. In fact, I stared so hard that I started to see the same orange glow that I had seen between Benjamin and me.
“Wait….what? You. You have feelings for me?” I had a hard time wrapping my head around the concept that Carson had feelings that were strong enough to react to the love spell. Maybe Benjamin was right about the spell being mixed incorrectly.
Carson rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at me through his dark lashes. “Oh, God. You didn’t ask someone to cast that spell, did you? Did Tamara trick you into drinking a potion?”
My stomach knotted when I saw the look of disappointment and embarrassment on his handsome face.
“No. A Pumpkin Spice Latte got me. It’s a boring story with an interesting ending. I’m sorry, but I’m lost. I didn’t think you liked me. You always make fun of me.”
Pearl (Jewels Cafe Book 8) Page 4