by Isobel Bird
Kate couldn’t wait to talk to Annie and Cooper and tell them what had happened. Then she remembered that Annie was still stuck at home. But there was still Cooper, and Kate got her chance before her history class, when they all ran into each other in the second-floor hallway.
“What do you think the thing with Scott means?” she asked.
“That you have really bad taste in men?” Cooper suggested.
“I mean about the magic,” Kate said, making a face. “Shouldn’t he be ignoring me again like all the other guys?”
Cooper looked thoughtful. “Maybe it wasn’t just the magic,” she said. “That’s what got his attention, but maybe once he got to know you better he saw something he liked. That part might have stayed behind even when the spell was broken.” She paused before adding, “Or maybe he’s just a stupid football player.”
“Do I make fun of your boyfriend?” Kate said. “Oh, wait, you don’t have one.”
“But you would if I did,” Cooper said, and they both laughed.
“I just can’t believe he’s still around,” Kate said. “I thought for sure everything would go back to the way it was before I opened that book.”
“Including not being friends with me and Annie?” Cooper asked.
“Not that part,” Kate said. “That’s the other good thing that came from this whole mess.” She corrected herself, “The best thing. Now if we can just get Annie back here, we’ll be all set.”
“I’m glad you feel that way,” said Cooper. “Annie and I were talking, and we want to make this a regular thing.”
“Make what a regular thing?” Kate asked.
“The circles,” said Cooper. “We think it would be fun to learn more about all of this. We should probably stay away from spells for a while, but there’s a lot of other stuff we can do.”
The excitement Kate had been feeling ever since Scott’s kiss melted away a little. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Come on,” said Cooper. “Didn’t last night mean anything to you?”
“Sure it did,” Kate said. “It was great. But I just assumed it would be the last time. You know, tying up loose ends and all of that.”
“So now that no one is mad at you anymore and you still have your boyfriend, you don’t want to upset the balance, is that it?” Cooper said.
Kate didn’t say anything. Cooper was exactly right. Yes, she had enjoyed the ritual. Yes, she found Wicca interesting. But could she risk getting too involved again? She didn’t know.
“I have to think about it,” she said.
“Well, we’re getting together tomorrow night at Annie’s house,” Cooper said. “I hope you’ll come.”
The first bell rang for the next class, and they left the room. As they stepped into the hall, they found themselves almost bumping into Terri Fletcher, who was hobbling along on crutches accompanied by two of her friends carrying her books. When Cooper and Kate saw her, they froze.
Terri looked at them. “I was hoping I’d run into you guys,” she said.
Cooper glanced at Kate nervously. Neither of them said anything.
“I want to apologize,” Terri said.
“Apologize?” Kate said. “For what?”
“When I fell, I was in a lot of pain and I was really embarrassed,” Terri said. “I wanted to blame someone for my accident, and Annie was the person I took it out on. I really did convince myself that she must have pushed me because she was near me. But the janitor told Mrs. Browning that he had just waxed those steps, and the more I thought about it the more I realized that I only slipped.”
“So Annie isn’t suspended anymore?” Cooper asked doubtfully.
“My parents withdrew their complaint,” Terri said. “She should be here tomorrow.”
Kate couldn’t believe what was happening. It was like some weird Disney movie where everyone lived happily ever after. All they needed were some singing birds and mice wearing hats. As Terri lurched off to her class, Kate turned to Cooper. “Did we do all this?” she asked.
“It looks that way,” Cooper said. “I guess when we cleaned house last night we really cleaned house. Maybe you’ve got more witchiness in you than you think you do.”
“Don’t start,” said Kate. “I already told you, I think my witching days are behind me.”
They went to their separate classes, and Kate didn’t see Cooper for the rest of the day. After basketball practice, Kate went out with Sherrie, Tara, and Jessica for hamburgers. It felt strange to not be talking about magic or witchcraft or anything except clothes, boys, and the usual teenage things. A couple of times Kate wanted to ask her friends what they thought about Wicca, but every time she started to say something she ended up talking about Britney Spears or the new Jennifer Love Hewitt movie or something else unimportant.
When she got home that night, Scott called and they talked for a long time. He was very excited about his upcoming trip and spent a lot of time describing the university’s football program to Kate. Then they talked about their plans for when he got back, plans Kate hoped would include a peanut-butter-free kiss.
After Kate hung up she sat on her bed and thought. She should have been totally happy. Everything was working out. No one was mad at her. She had a great boyfriend. She’d successfully put an end to the chaos caused by her spells.
But something was missing. Some part of her still wasn’t satisfied, and she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. She picked up the Tarot card that Archer had given her and looked at the three women holding up their cups. Then it came to her. She hadn’t put an end to the problems her spells had caused. She’d needed Annie’s and Cooper’s help. They’d done it together, as a group.
She thought back to the day when she’d first approached Annie. She’d been so nervous. She hadn’t had any idea how Annie would react. And talking to Cooper had been even harder. But she’d done it. They’d all done it.
She realized that that was what was missing. She needed Cooper and Annie. And not just as friends she said hello to in the halls or did things with sometimes. She needed to be with them in a magic circle, feeling the energy the way she’d felt it in Annie’s room and on the beach.
She was still afraid. She didn’t know what continuing to explore Wicca would mean. And, she told herself, she still might decide it wasn’t for her. But she knew she had to give it a try. She picked up the phone and dialed. When Cooper answered Kate said, “I’ll be there tomorrow night,” then hung up before she could change her mind.
CHAPTER 17
Friday was so busy that Kate barely had time to think. Because she was on the dance planning committee, she was excused from all of her classes so that she could help get things ready. Sherrie was, as always, in charge, and she had everyone running around in a frenzy of putting up decorations, making banners, and doing a hundred other things all at once.
Kate was assigned to decoration duty. She and Tara had the job of putting white, blue, and pink paper on every visible surface in the gym and then hanging streamers from anything they could reach.
“This is supposed to be a fairy tale castle, people!” Sherrie kept shouting. “I want to see magic!”
“Yeah, it’s a fairy tale castle all right,” Tara said as she and Kate taped what seemed to be the four thousandth streamer to the basketball backdrop. “And I know who the wicked witch is.”
Kate laughed, but she wondered what Tara would say if she knew what she’d been up to. Would Tara think Kate was a wicked witch? Kate cut another streamer and pushed the thought to the back of her mind.
Sherrie had gotten some of the kids from the drama club to paint backdrops for the dance, and they were busily constructing a castle entrance around the gym door. The school handyman and his helpers were stringing white lights from the ceiling, and other volunteers were setting up small circular tables all around the gym floor.
All day Kate worked on the dance preparations. They even worked after hours, taking a quick break to eat
pizza that was delivered. When it was time to go home the gym had been transformed, and Kate felt like Cinderella after a long day of doing the chores her stepmother set out for her. But she had one more thing to do before she was done for the day.
When she arrived at the Crandall house, her two friends were up in Annie’s room. Kate walked in and threw herself down on Annie’s bed.
“I don’t ever want to see another piece of crepe paper again,” she said.
“You’re the one who wants to be a normal high school girl,” Cooper said. “If you want to be normal, you have to take the crepe paper.”
“You know,” said Kate, sitting up, “you could use a little dose of normal yourself. It wouldn’t hurt you to expand your horizons an inch or two, either.”
“Please,” Cooper said. “I do not need to experience the thrill of five hundred people in silly outfits crammed into a room that smells like sweaty feet while some cover band plays ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and everyone gets all weepy.”
Annie giggled. “You make it sound so appealing,” she said.
“Have either of you ever been to a dance?” Kate asked.
Annie shook her head. Cooper snorted derisively. “Not on your life,” she said.
Kate smiled. “Then I’ll make you a deal.”
“A deal?” Cooper said. “What are you talking about?”
“You two want me to be part of this . . . whatever we’re calling it, right? Our little Wiccan study group.”
“Yeah,” Cooper said suspiciously.
“What are you thinking?” Annie asked, looking nervous.
“I’ll do it,” Kate said. “On one condition. You two have to come to the dance with me tomorrow.”
“No way!” Cooper shrieked. “I wouldn’t be caught dead at that thing.”
“I couldn’t,” said Annie, looking horrified.
“That’s the deal,” Kate said. “Take it or leave it. If you want me to be part of this group, you have to be part of mine for one night. Besides, I don’t have a date.”
Cooper was fuming. “I can’t believe you would do something so horrible,” she said. “This is just wrong.”
“Then you’ll do it?” Kate asked sweetly.
Cooper looked at Annie. “What do you say?” she asked.
Annie sighed. “We could just try to turn her into a toad,” she said.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Kate. “Now, let’s talk about costumes.”
“Costumes later,” said Cooper. “Business first. We haven’t really discussed what we want to do. Does anyone have any ideas?”
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot,” Annie said. “I’ve also been reading up on some things in the books I got at the bookstore, and I have a proposal.”
“Propose away,” said Kate.
“I think we need to start small,” Annie said. “Trying to do too much at once is what got us into trouble in the first place.”
“So where do we begin?” asked Cooper. “What is there besides spells and moons and candles and all of that?”
“A lot,” said Annie. “There’s the Goddess, for one thing. And the God, too. And the esbats.”
“The whats?” Kate said.
“Esbats,” Annie repeated. “The full moons. Witches celebrate the full moons. Like we did last night. Only there’s a lot about the moon’s cycles we haven’t even started to explore. And then there are the sabbats.”
“More moons?” Cooper said.
Annie shook her head. “They’re kind of like Wiccan holidays. They’re special days that celebrate different times of the year. Like Samhain and Yule.”
“Enough with the foreign language already,” Cooper said. “Speak English.”
“I thought you knew all about this stuff,” Kate said to Cooper. “Didn’t your grandmother tell you any of this?”
“No way,” Cooper said. “She was just into protection spells and folk magic. This is all new to me.”
“It’s all part of Wicca,” Annie said. “Like Sophia said, this is a religion, not a hobby. It’s a lot more complicated than just doing some rituals. I think we really need to study this stuff and find out what it’s all about.”
“But our ritual last night worked,” Kate said. “Why do more than we have to?”
“Because just being able to do spells isn’t all there is,” Annie said. “I think there are some really interesting things we’re missing. If we start at the beginning, we can do it right. And then who knows what kind of spells we’ll be able to do.”
“Okay,” said Cooper. “Let’s give it a shot. Witch school is officially open.”
“Kate?” Annie said.
Kate looked from Cooper to Annie. “You’ll really go to the dance tomorrow?” she asked.
“Promise,” said Cooper.
“Promise,” echoed Annie.
“All right then,” Kate said. “It’s a deal. Now, let’s talk about outfits. I have a great idea.”
On Saturday, Kate put the finishing touches on her costume. She’d had to make a few adjustments to it since Annie and Cooper had agreed to go with her, but when she was done she was pleased with the results. At a little before six she went over to Jessica’s house for the photo session. Her friends and their dates were all there, looking great in their costumes and showing off for one another.
“Nice tights,” Kate said to Blair Peterson, who was dressed as Peter Pan. Jessica, in her Wendy outfit, was running around with the camera snapping pictures.
“It’s one of the advantages of taking ballet class,” Blair said.
“Doesn’t Al make a great Ares?” Tara said, marching up in her Xena garb. “We even painted a beard on with mascara. Just don’t tell Sherrie. It was hers and we used it up.”
“Very Greek god,” Kate commented. “And I love your armor.”
Sherrie and Sean were parading around as Rhett and Scarlett. Sherrie even had a big frilly parasol that she carried over her shoulder. “Ah do declah,” she said in a terrible imitation of a Southern accent. “Wherever is your costume, Kate?”
Kate had come dressed in jeans and a sweater. She held up the bag she was carrying. “It’s in here,” she said. “I want it to be a surprise.”
“You have to stand in the middle then,” Jessica said as she arranged the group for their photos. “That way no one will notice that you’re not dressed up.”
Kate took her place, standing in between Sherrie and Jessica. Jessica gave the camera to her father, and he snapped a series of pictures while they all tried to hold their smiles.
“I can’t wait to see what this costume of yours is,” Tara said as they all climbed into Jessica’s father’s minivan for the ride to school.
Kate hugged the bag to her chest and didn’t say anything. Although she was excited about what she was about to do, she was also really nervous. But she was determined to go through with it. When they arrived at school she excused herself and went to the girl’s bathroom. Annie and Cooper were already there.
“You guys look great!” Kate said, making them turn around to show her their costumes.
“I can’t believe you’re making us do this,” Cooper said. “I feel like an idiot.”
“You look fabulous,” Kate said. “Now, wait for me while I get changed.”
When Kate was ready the three girls walked to the gym entrance, where couples were lined up to go inside. A boy at the door was taking names, and when the couples walked in the names of their characters were announced. Kate hung back so her other friends wouldn’t see her standing there with Annie and Cooper. Luckily, they were too busy talking and worrying about their own costumes to notice anything else.
“Miss Scarlett O’Hara and Mr. Rhett Butler,” the boy said, and Sherrie and Sean walked into the dance to the sound of applause.
One by one the couples entered. As it came time for Kate, Annie, and Cooper to enter, the boy with the list approached them. “And you are?” he asked.
Kate told him and he wrote down their
names. Then it was their turn to go in. “Ready?” Kate asked Cooper and Annie.
“As I’ll ever be,” Cooper said as they all took deep breaths.
“Presenting the good fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather,” the announcer said, and the girls walked into the dance.
As they entered, people turned to look. Then they began to clap.
“Great costumes!” someone yelled.
Kate looked at Annie and Cooper. They were dressed as Sleeping Beauty’s three fairy godmothers. Kate wore a blue dress, Annie’s was green, and Cooper’s was bright pink. They also wore tall, pointed hats and carried magic wands that Kate had made that morning.
“I feel like a birthday cake,” Cooper said as the girls moved into the room to make way for the next group of people. “Which one am I supposed to be again?”
“Flora,” Kate said. “Annie is Fauna. And I’m Merryweather.”
Kate scanned the room for Sherrie, Jessica, and Tara. She knew she couldn’t hide from them forever. Eventually they would see her, and unless they were totally blind they would probably notice that she, Annie, and Cooper were wearing similar costumes. She hadn’t decided yet what she would do if they asked her why they were dressed similarly. She knew that her two groups of friends would probably never mix, and she knew that she was going to have a difficult time explaining to Sherrie, Jessica, and Tara why she wanted to spend time with Cooper and Annie. But that could wait. She was going to enjoy herself for as long as she could.
She looked around. With the white lights twinkling, the tables set with flowers, and the band playing, it really did feel like they were in an enchanted ballroom. All around them were couples dressed in different outfits, as though they had been transformed right along with the gym into something magical, at least for one night.
“I’m sorry Scott couldn’t come with you,” Annie said as they went to the refreshments table and got something to drink.
“Not half as sorry as I am,” said Cooper. “If any of my other friends see me in this getup my reputation will be shot.”