It was my turn to shrug. “No that was my Dad’s job.”
Stevie patted my arm. “Our parents totally suck.”
Yup. What a great pair we were. Stevie hurried up the stairs to the front entrance of the school and I had no choice but to catch up to her. When we pushed through the front doors, I stopped moving. The Clickers swarmed the entrance like insects, gathered right by the school trophy display. Their usual hang out spot was in front of the water fountain by the gym. Something was up.
They all seemed to spot us and the buzzing got louder. Jenny stood out from the rest of her friends, in her bright sundress and fabulous accessories. Her worker bees all wore a variation of the same uniform. They watched me with poison in their eyes. She took a step and the buzzing stopped.
“Abracadabra,” I said under my breath. I reached up and grabbed my necklace, rolling it between my fingers. Somehow the necklace comforted me a little. Maybe now would be a good time to have powers and be a witch after all.
“Sydney, don’t be weird. Just keep walking,” Stevie whispered from the side of her mouth. “She must have found out Mike was at your house this morning.
I swiveled to look at Stevie. “You knew he came over?” I whispered.
“I saw his car. Shh. Keep walking.”
“Nice outfit,” called on of Jenny’s followers.
They all giggled. Not a nice sound.
“Quiet, girls,” called Jenny. “I’ll deal with this.”
She stepped forward so she stood right in front me. My stomach gurgled with fear and ramped up my already throbbing cramps.
From the corner of my eye I saw kids in the hallway stop to watch, sensing something brewing. Stevie stiffened and took a step beside me. I saw some of our friends close in behind her, not knowing what was going on, but showing solidarity. For Stevie’s sake, I knew. Not mine.
Jenny hovered over me like a blond Amazon.
“Sydney Grant,” she announced, as if she’d just found out my name. As if we hadn’t gone to the same schools for years. She wrinkled up her nose as if I smelled bad and I really hoped I didn’t. God. I didn’t even have a shower.
She glanced down at my shoes and then her eyes moved slowly up until she looked at my face. “What could Mike possibly see in you?”
A nervous giggle escaped my throat and I wanted to slap my hand over my mouth to stop it from happening again.
“Did you sleep with my boyfriend?” she demanded.
“No.” I didn’t add that I’d never slept with anyone. Except a few stuffed animals and recently a small domesticated animal.
“Liar.” She stepped even closer, peering down her nose at me, making me feel small and a little sluttish, even though I hadn’t done anything technically wrong. Well, except wish her boyfriend would fall in love with me. Which was stupid and let’s admit it, kind of embarrassing.
“Are you one of those girls who’ll do anything to get a boy?” Jenny said.
I heard a few people giggle and whispers from the gathering crowd. I closed my eyes and wished Jenny would fall flat on her perfect face.
Jenny tripped. She landed on my feet. Her skirt rose up as she plopped on the floor, giving the boys around us a peek at her lacey pink thong underwear.
I inhaled quickly and took a guilty step back. Nana’s warning words echoed in my head. “Be careful what you wish for, Sydney. You’re a witch.”
Jenny shot up from the floor, getting to her feet with incredible dignity. I gave her props for that. She brushed herself off, pulled down her skirt and smoothed it out as if she’d totally meant to do a face plant in front of everyone. In spite of myself I admired her poise.
“Are you doing kinky sex stuff to my boyfriend?” She squinted at me.
The whispering got louder. Great. I was about to become the kinky -sex girl. I’d never live it down. I’d have to start wearing leather chaps and high heels to gym class.
“For God’s sake, she’s never even kissed a boy, never mind your goofy boyfriend,” Stevie bellowed.
And there. Just like that I went from Kinky Girl back to Hopeless.
“Shut up.” Jenny snapped, glaring at Stevie. “You.”
“It’s Stevie,” Stevie reminded her. “Same name since grade school, Jenny.”
Scary but true. Kindergarten to grade one, Stevie and Jenny were friends. Until Stevie’s mom took off and I moved to town.
“Oh. Yes,” Jenny said and looked Stevie over from head to toe. “I guess I’d have left too, if I was your mother.”
“How sweet. You do remember,” Stevie said. “So. Is your father still sleeping with your nanny? I’m assuming you still need one to wipe your butt.” A few people chuckled.
Jenny glared at her, but then turned her attention back to me. “You think a loser like you can steal my boyfriend?”
I frowned. She’d tried to hurt Stevie. So I smiled all innocence and sunshine. “You know. A few days I wouldn’t have thought so, but now… I’m not so sure. He has been calling me.”
All right, maybe, just maybe I’d accidentally put a spell on her boyfriend and that was the reason for the calls. However, that was totally none of her business if she was going to be so mean.
Jenny squealed, reminding me of the potbelly pig at the zoo and frightening me almost as much. Evil teen girl with anger management issues.
I wished Keith would appear to save me from the Clickers. If there was one person who wasn’t afraid of Jenny, it was him. He couldn’t stand her.
“Hey. What’s going on?” Keith strolled up to my side and elbowed me. He wore a black t-shirt and blue jeans with frayed holes in each knee. A dark curl from his long bangs fell over his eye and he blew it out of the way. He looked like the artist he was. Keith’s talent was legendary in our school. He sketched and painted better than anyone I’d ever seen. Anyone the art teachers had seen. I smiled at my friend for a moment before Goosebumps popped on my arms. I’d wished for him.
“There some sort of problem here, Jennifer?” he asked. He glanced down at me and smiled. “You’re wearing the necklace,” he said in a soft voice.
I glanced up at his familiar face and reached for my necklace, rolling it through my fingers. My heart warmed up in a most inappropriate way. I glanced at Stevie, feeling a little guilty. But seriously, I’d never been happier to see Keith in my whole life.
“Keith O’Reilly.” Jenny flashed her megawatt smile at him. ”You’re friends with HER? Come on now. I know what you like, remember? She’s pathetic.”
My mouth dropped open. I stared at Keith. His lips pressed together in a straight line. Never mind Jenny was pretending to not know we were friends. Keith never mentioned anything about Jenny knowing what he liked.
“I wish you would just shut up,” I shouted at Jenny.
An audible gasp hummed from kids in the hall and some kids cheered. Jenny stared at me, as if confused. Then, abruptly she spun on her expensive high-heeled shoes. She hurried down the hallway, away from me. Her gaggle of girls stared after her and then quickly stumbled over each other trying to catch up first.
A couple of kids clapped but Stevie told then to leave and the rest of the crowd lost interest too, and everyone started moving towards classes and lockers.
I exhaled a breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding.
Stevie shrugged. “Well. Glad that didn’t get worse. Come on, guys.”
I didn’t move. Neither did Keith.
Stevie pulled on my arm. “Hey it’s over. You go girl.” She grinned. “It was anticlimactic, especially for Jenny. But it’s not like she can say much else. Why’d he drop by your place anyhow?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, trying not to think of my birthday wish “He wanted to give me a ride. I told him no.”
“Well. It’s obvious they’re having a fight and he’s using you to make Jenny jealous. It’s not like he’s really going to pick you over her.” Stevie punched my arm and I frowned at her as I rubbed it.
“Why wouldn’
t Mike want to hang out with Sydney?” Keith asked as fell in step behind us.
“Well. For one thing. Look at her outfit. She’s a dork.” Stevie gestured at me and rolled her eyes at Keith.
Keith shrugged. “You look okay to me,” he said. “But why does it say, “Witch?” on the back of your shirt.”
I glanced over my shoulder, trying to see what Stevie had scribbled on my back.
Stevie laughed. “I thought it was funny. She looks like a farm girl this morning. Kind of like Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ. I was being ironic.”
I frowned, not pleased with the coincidence of what she’d written. Keith frowned, too.
“I had to rip up her sleeves, too,” Stevie said and grabbed the fabric on my shoulder. Then she squinted and stared at me. “Hey. Wait a minute. Oh my God. Sydney. How could you do this to me?”
I had no idea what she was talking about.
She grabbed my arm right where she’d punched me. She rubbed at the skin. Hard.
“Ow. That hurts.”
“Oh My God. That is totally not fake,” she yelled, rubbing harder. “Did you get a tattoo, Sydney?”
I looked down where she’d tried to take off my skin with her fingers. I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“What the heck is wrong with you?” Stevie asked.
She pointed at my arm. Inked right into my shoulder was a Celtic knot pendant. Exactly like the one I’d seen on the book in my mom’s room.
I screamed again. “Get it off,” I yelled, scratching at it, as if there were a bug crawling up my arm. Or a really large snake.
Keith rushed up beside me and put his arm around my shoulder. “Hey. Relax. It’s cool,” he whispered in my ear. “It’s okay.”
“Ha, ha, Sydney. You are so freaking funny.” Stevie scowled, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Get it off, get it off,” she said, imitating my scared voice. “Nice try. I can’t believe you went and did it without me.”
I leaned against Keith, drawing strength from his composure. I looked down. Purple ink, the same color as my necklace was scratched into my arm. Permanently from the looks of it. Oh my God. What the heck was happening to me?
“It’s okay,” Kevin whispered again. People walked by, staring at the freaky farm girl and her tall dark sidekick.
Stevie chomped her lip ring, shaking her head at Kevin and me. I clung to him as if he’d just yanked me out of a powerful undertow.
“Okay. Quit pretending you’re all freaked out just because you did it without me. Without telling me, your best friend.” She glared at Keith. “Your best girl friend.”
She shook her head. “You know how badly I want a tattoo, Sydney,” she whined. “My dad is so against ink, but if he knew your Nana was letting you get one.” She sighed knowing her dad wouldn’t have backed down. He was okay with piercings, holes, could grow back in he said. But not tattoos. “Any way, you should have at least invited me along so I could watch. Cold. That’s cold.”
“She wanted it done for her birthday,” Keith said. “It’s a tattoo in honor of her Mom, so it was private. You wanted to surprise Stevie, right, Sydney?”
He held my gaze with his eyes, nodding at me, encouraging me to agree. I stared at him until I soaked up some of his strength. I nodded and looked away. “Yeah.”
I couldn’t look at Keith. I couldn’t remember ever hearing him lie before. Not since I’d known him. Why now?
My stomach twanged and I groaned. This was not my day. Not my day at all.
“What’s the matter? Do you have more cramps?” Stevie glanced at Keith. “Tattoo girl here got her period the same day she got her first ink. Can you believe it? She’s the only person I’ve heard of who didn’t start her period until 16.”
I glanced at Keith. His cheeks reddened and he looked away from us, down the hallway.
Stevie laughed. “Sorry, Keith. I forgot how sensitive you are to girl talk.”
“Oh my God, Stevie. Shut up. I’m going to the washroom.” I hobbled off to get away from the two of them, too scared to run in case the sausage roll of toilet paper between my legs plopped out onto the ground. That would be the last straw and would send me to the Insane Asylum, even if my mom wasn’t there.
Stevie hurried after me. “Wait, I need to get you my tampons,” she called.
“Oh my God.” I put my hands over my ears. “I don’t want them.”
“See you later,” Keith yelled and disappeared down the opposite hallway. Stevie caught up too quickly.
“Stevie,” I hissed as I rushed into the bathroom and she followed.
“What?”
I whipped around to glare at her. “What do you think?”
Her face fell. “Wow. You are a witch today. Keith doesn’t care about your period. I always complain to him when I have mine. Besides. You cheated me out of seeing you getting needles poked into you.”
I pushed into an empty stall and locked the door behind me, plopping down on the toilet seat.
“I didn’t mean to.” I sighed. “Give me a break, okay? This is my first time with my period. I’m freaking out a bit here. I didn’t know it was going to hurt so much. Or be so uncomfortable.”
“Can’t hurt more than the tattoo did,” she said in a pouty voice.
I sighed. Wrong. The tattoo didn’t hurt at all. I had a quick flicker of a memory of Nana touching my shoulder. Stupid witch stuff. I wanted to cry.
“Stevie. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Neither of us spoke.
“You want me to get you a tampon from my locker?” she finally asked.
I put my head in my hands. “No. I don’t even want to try to figure that out right now.”
Stevie didn’t say anything.
“Jenny is going to make my life miserable,” I said to the floor.
“Don’t worry about Jenny, Mike’ll be all over her by this afternoon. He’s playing some stupid game to make her jealous. They’re idiots. They break up more than a game of Jenga.” She took a couple of steps away from the front of my stall. “Hey, they have pads in this machine. Got a quarter?”
“Of course I don’t.” I sighed. “God, I wish this day would just end already.” I felt dizzy and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was at home in my bed.
CHAPTER FIVE
I stared at the alarm clock. 7:30.
A.M.
“Oh my God.” I sat up in my bed, lifted my covers and peeked underneath. I wore the same thing I sleep in almost every single night. Black jammy bottoms with pink skeletons on them, and a black tank top.
Magic purred and stretched beside me.
“Nana.” I leapt from the bed. We needed to chat about witch stuff. Now. “Nana.”
No answer. I opened my bedroom door and peered down the hallway. “Nana?” I called again.
Cody’s voice yelled at me from downstairs. “She’s still gone, Sydney.” He paused. “Just like she told you last night.”
“Last night?”
He didn’t answer for a minute. “Did turning sixteen take away all your brain cells?” he asked. “You’re not doing drugs are you?” He actually sounded concerned.
“Where is she?” I yelled, trying not to give in to hysterics.
He ignored me. I chomped my bottom lip and tiptoed into the hallway. Magic prowled behind me. I picked up my pace. Magic sped up. I broke into a full run down the stairs and Magic flew behind me towards the kitchen. I muffled a scream of terror and ran straight into Cody in the doorway. I yelped and panted with anxiety. His hair dripped wet from showering. He held a half-eaten bagel in the air. His plaid button up shirt wasn’t what he’d been wearing the morning before.
“What are you running from?” he asked.
“Magic,” I said and glanced down.
Magic slipped by me with an annoyed meow.
“Your tiny little kitten?” he asked. His eyebrow went up.
“What day is it?” I spit out.
Cody stared at me. Worried or nervous.
/> “It’s Tuesday, Sydney.” He annunciated each word, slowly.
I gasped. Horrified.
“Uh. Are you coming to school, or are you going to skip out for the rest of your life like you told Nana?”
“What I told Nana?”
He stared at me as if trying to decide whether I was joking or insane. He didn’t seem sure which to pick. I didn’t know either.
“When did I talk to Nana?” I yelled.
“Last night. Uh. On the phone,” he said slowly. “We talked to her on the phone. Remember?”
“Mom,” I shouted. “She’s with Mom.”
Cody’s eyebrow snaked farther up. He took a bite of his bagel, studying me as if I’d suddenly slipped on a cheerleading outfit.
I concentrated and then a flash went off in my head and images zipped by as if I’d watched a DVD in fast forward. I remembered talking to Nana on the phone. I told her we needed to talk. I wanted to see her and Mom. I had to find out what was going on with me, what they hadn’t told me.
Nana had said no. She said there were complications. She couldn’t explain yet, said they had to work a few things out before Mom could come home. She sounded worried.
“Things are a little tricky,” she said. “Nothing we can’t figure out. Don’t worry. We’ll be back soon and explain. Just be careful until we get back. Don’t make any wishes. No magic stuff.” She’d paused then for a long moment. “And Sydney. If you see your father, if he shows up, well, he’s kind of um, sick. Don’t tell him anything. Pretend you know nothing about Grant Witches or powers. Don’t tell him anything.”
“My father?” I’d asked.
Before Nana answered, Cody grabbed the phone from me.
Cody wouldn’t talk to me when he hung up. He’d gone to his room, locked the door and played his music loud until I went to bed.
Now he stood in front of me, not taking his eyes off me. He took another bite of his bagel.
“Nana thinks Dad might show up,” I said.
He lifted a shoulder. “So she said.”
“What’d she tell you about him?” I asked.
Cody chewed slowly. “She said he’s sick. As in mentally ill. And here I thought it was the women in our family who were nuts.”
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