“Wait and see,” he said.
Sarah and I gave a full report in front of all the world clan heads, including the new one who had taken over Harry O’Toole’s place for the Paduans. They seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say about the clanless, and in the end, they asked us if they could call us back as consultants. Sarah and I said yes, we were up for that. Then we were flown back home.
I fell asleep immediately, after being awake for forty-eight hours straight. When I woke up, I had to explain everything to my parents.
“We are so proud of you,” said my father. “Standing up for the clanless like that.”
“But don’t ever make us worry like that about you again,” said my mother.
It was a couple of days before my parents insisted I go back to school. When I got there, Leanata was gone and I was declared demi-head in her place. I agreed to it, even though I felt some qualms about the power. I figured if anyone was going to change how the clanless were treated, I had better start showing an example. I couldn’t just hand out the beauty spell without permission, but I made sure I greeted every clanless person I could in the hallways, and I was thinking hard about what else I could do.
Margaret and Ursula were still around, in the background. John hadn’t hurt them, apparently. But I didn’t trust them anymore. Maybe I could figure out some way to forgive them and be friends again, but it wasn’t going to happen soon.
The strangest thing was that whenever I walked into a room, everyone stared at me. And it wasn’t because I was beautiful. It was because they all saw me as the person who had escaped the World Council. Sarah said it wasn’t as bad for her, for some reason. Everyone thought of her as my sidekick.
“Admit it,” said Ben to me when we met at lunch. “You like it. You’re the queen of the high school now. You just need a crown and a scepter.”
I got out a pencil and pretended to use it as a scepter, then when he laughed, I stabbed his hand with it.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“I’m not the queen and I’m not power hungry. I just tried to do what was right.”
“And stabbing me was part of that?” asked Ben.
“Sometimes an inflated head needs to be popped,” I said.
“Could you do it a little more gently next time?”
I leaned in as if to kiss him, and then stabbed him in the neck. Well, not stabbed him, just held the pencil there at his throat so that he swallowed hard and didn’t move.
“Uh, Bee?”
“Say you’re sorry,” I said.
“Sorry,” said Ben.
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“I’m sorry. Deeply sorry,” he said.
I took the pencil away from his throat and kissed his nose.
He muttered something about my being some member of royalty, maybe a duchess if not a queen.
“And what does that make you?” I asked, twirling the pencil menacingly.
“Your slave,” said Ben.
“A very chatty slave,” I pointed out.
“You two are so sweet together,” said Sarah a little tearily.
It was hard to be around her. She was sad all the time and anytime I was happy, she made me feel guilty that things hadn’t turned out as well for her.
That’s when Claudio walked by. He stared at us, and then looked pointedly away.
I nudged Ben, and he was my willing slave once more.
“Hey, Claudio,” said Ben. “Come here. You looked like you wanted to say something.”
“I wanted to ask you something,” said Claudio. “But I can wait until you’re no longer—busy.”
“Ask away,” said Ben, spreading out his arms.
“It’s about Sarah,” he said, glancing toward her, but not speaking directly to her.
“You want to try to get her back? You want us to give you some hints?” said Ben.
Claudio looked haunted. “I just need to give her back something that belongs to her and which I think she would not wish me to have.” Claudio held out a heart-shaped pin.
“Oh,” Ben said. “Bee?” He turned to me.
“I’ll make sure she gets it,” I said, taking it. “Is there any other message you’d like me to give her?” I glanced at Sarah and was surprised at how much she looked like Claudio. The anger seemed to have faded, and she just looked miserable. She was staring hungrily at Claudio, like she never wanted to look away again.
“Only my apologies for disturbing her life,” said Claudio. He nodded to me and then glanced briefly at Sarah. But then he looked away again.
“Claudio, you really shouldn’t give up all hope,” said Ben.
“I can and I have,” said Claudio. “I deserve no hope. When she needed me to believe in her, to champion her, what did I do? I worked against her. How could she ever forgive that?”
“You could act less like a rain cloud and more like sunshine,” I suggested.
“There is no sunshine for me,” said Claudio. “She was all of my light and I closed my eyes to her.”
So dramatic!
“Maybe she just needs time,” said Ben. “And a really heartfelt apology.”
“Words? What can words do after the degree of perfidy I have shown her?”
“Bee?” asked Ben. “What do you think?”
“What do you think, then?” asked Ben.
I tilted my head and considered. “Well, why do you think she fell in love with you in the first place?” I asked.
“Because I was a demi-head, and had strength magic?” said Claudio.
Sarah made a soft sound of despair and looked away.
I shook my head. “That’s really what you think? You are more of an idiot than Ben is.”
“And that’s saying something,” Ben put in. “Because she thinks that I am the worst idiot ever.” He winked at me.
“She fell in love with you because you are kind and you listened to her. You talked to her like she mattered. Not like she was just a sophomore Hero.”
“She won’t listen to me now,” said Claudio. “And I don’t blame her.”
“Try again,” I said.
“What? Now?” said Claudio.
I nodded toward Sarah.
She started shaking her head at me, but she didn’t move.
He took a deep breath, and then seemed to straighten his shoulders and steel himself.
I was about to give him another push when he acted at last.
“I love you, Sarah!” Claudio shouted. “More now than ever. You are the sweetest girl I know. Thinking about you makes me feel weak all over, and it isn’t about magic. If you had doubted me the way that I doubted you, I could never have survived it. I would have let them take me away and I wouldn’t have cared. But you are a survivor and you have proven yourself far stronger than I could ever be.
“And with or without the beauty spell, there is no face that I want to see more each day. Even if it is frowning at me. Even if it is turning away from me. You are the reason I wake up in the morning and you are the last thought I have at night.”
“A little less desperate,” I whispered to Claudio.
“Then what?”
“Tell her what you want to do with her if you are lucky enough to win her back?”
He thought for a moment, then his face seemed to light up. “If you took me back, Sarah, I would treat you like an empress, the ruler of this new world of clans and clanless working together,” he said. “I would show you how I had changed, how I would listen to you always and heed your advice.”
At that I saw Sarah turn toward him, not convinced, but at least interested.
He went on: “I would throw my cloak over a mud puddle and carry you over it, if you would let me. I would make sure that you did not think first of when I let you down. I will put so many other memories in your heart that you will think of me differently. If you give me a second chance.”
Sarah took a few steps forward.
There were students gathering and I was reminded of the dance, when
everyone watched Sarah and Claudio fall in love for the first time.
Ben held my hand tightly. I liked that this mattered to him, that he was as much a romantic as I was.
“I don’t want you to carry me over mud puddles,” said Sarah.
“Then what?” asked Claudio. “I may be stupid, but I am teachable. Tell me what you want.”
“I want to walk with you through the puddles. Hand in hand.”
Claudio stared at her.
I stared at her, too.
“Don’t look so surprised. You knew she still loved him,” said Ben in my ear.
“Yeah, but I thought she would make him suffer more.”
“Not every girl demands a sacrifice daily for love,” said Ben.
“Only the ones who make it worthwhile,” I said.
Ben quirked an eyebrow at me. “You definitely make it worthwhile,” he said.
I waved at him to be quiet because Sarah and Claudio were walking toward each other, she steadfastly, without doubt, he more tentatively, but with his head held high, refusing to show fear.
“I told you it would work out,” said Ben.
“No, I told you it would work,” I said. “I just said it would take time.”
“And I said it would either happen soon or not at all,” said Ben.
“Did you plan this out?” I said.
“If I say yes, will you thank me?” said Ben.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“The truth? I called Sarah last night and told her how much I loved you and that I wanted to think of a special gift to get you. She gave me some suggestions, but I told her the best thing I could imagine to make you happy was for her to be happy, since she’s your best friend.”
Sarah had reached out a hand. Claudio had taken it. They weren’t kissing yet, but they were talking. This was good news.
“So you’re saying this is your present to me? You’re going to take credit for this?” I asked.
“Will you let me take credit for it?” asked Ben.
“Not for a second,” I said.
“But you’ll take credit for it yourself.”
“Of course I will. I told him what to say, or at least what not to say. I’m the one who noticed she was standing right there, practically asking him to try again.”
Ben gave me a little bow. “You are the queen of love, as I said before.”
“A little more sarcasm there?” I suggested sharply.
“I am not being sarcastic at all.”
“Hmm, well Claudio seems happy enough now. Time for Pedro,” I said. And started thinking about who would make him happy, too.
END
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