Written in the Stars

by Isobel Bird

  “Kyle hogged all the cheesecake,” Kate said.

  “I offered her some!” Kyle protested. “She said she was trying to cut back.” He grinned at Kate over their mother’s head.

  Kate glared at him. She’d had it. “Mom,” she said. “Kyle got a tattoo.” She’d promised Kyle she wouldn’t say anything about the tattoo on his shoulder. He’d gotten it at the beginning of the school year, and had shown it to Kate only after making her swear not to breathe a word about it to their parents. But she was angry, and she knew telling her mother about the tattoo would be the one thing she could do to really get Kyle in trouble.

  “Kyle!” Mrs. Morgan exclaimed, whirling around to confront her son.

  “She’s making it up,” Kyle said. “Honest.”

  “It’s on his left shoulder,” Kate said, smiling sweetly at her brother and then turning and walking out of the kitchen as Mrs. Morgan started to yank Kyle’s shirt up.

  Kate walked upstairs, savoring the protests that issued from the kitchen as Kyle tried to talk his way out of the very deep trouble she knew he was in. I’m sure he’ll find some way to get even, she thought as she went to her room, but she didn’t care. She’d been trying to think of some way to make Kyle pay ever since he’d told her he thought witchcraft was a lot of nonsense.

  She shut the door and popped a Macy Gray CD into the player. Macy’s gravelly voice filled the room as Kate flung herself onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. She was bored. Even worse, she was angry. She was angry at Kyle. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was angry at Annie. She’d been avoiding thinking about her friend and her boyfriend being together behind her back for a long time. But she couldn’t ignore it any longer. She had managed to convince herself that everything was fine, but what her friend had done really hurt her, and knowing Annie had been about to kiss Tyler the night before had brought it all rushing back. Oddly, it hurt her more to think about Annie’s part in it than to think about Tyler’s. Boys did that kind of thing. Friends weren’t supposed to. Especially not friends like Annie.

  Kate had tried to get rid of her anger. She’d done meditations and rituals designed to help her release the unhappy feelings inside of her. And they’d helped. But obviously they hadn’t put the fire out completely, and that bothered her. She wanted things to be the way they had been before, if not with Tyler, at least with Annie. They’d been through so much together that she knew they would always be friends, no matter what happened. But she also knew that she couldn’t really forgive Annie as long as she had the anger inside of her.

  Kate sighed. It seemed she was always trying to get rid of one negative feeling or another, always battling to be happy. First she’d had to break away from her old friends and her old ways of thinking in order to study Wicca. Then she’d had to deal with her parents’ negative reaction to finding out she was going to the study group, and to their insistence that she see a therapist. Now there was Kyle—and the situation with Annie and Tyler. It seemed that just when she was starting to enjoy herself, something came along to ruin things. She’d really believed that Tyler was the perfect guy and that once she had her parents’ permission to be in the study group everything would be fine. But it wasn’t fine. It was hard.

  Nobody told you it would be easy, she reminded herself. She thought back to the night when she, Annie, and Cooper had dedicated themselves to studying Wicca for a year and a day. Sophia had told them that it wouldn’t always be easy. Boy, was she right, Kate thought. If she’d known that it would be as hard as it had been, she wasn’t sure she would have ever gone through with the dedication ceremony.

  But you did, she thought. And as difficult as it was to believe, the year and a day was almost up. There were only a few months left. Then it would be time for the official initiation, at which—if they chose to go through with it—the class participants would become real witches. Kate couldn’t even think about that at the moment. It was such a big decision, and she felt so unprepared to make it. Some days she felt absolutely sure that she wanted to do it; others the idea of saying that she was a witch totally freaked her out.

  Then there was her birthday. In less than a week she was going to turn sixteen. Sweet sixteen. I don’t see what’s so sweet about it, she thought. She knew her friends wanted to have a party for her. So did her parents. But she didn’t want anyone to have a party for her. She didn’t want to celebrate. Since she was a little girl she’d been looking forward to turning sixteen, to getting her license and being able to drive by herself, to being almost grown up. Now she wished more than anything that she could be a little girl again, to be the age where the biggest thing she had to worry about was what flavor of ice cream to order or what to wear to school. Those kinds of problems I could handle, she thought.

  A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. “Come in,” she called out.

  Her mother opened the door and peered inside. “Am I interrupting?” she asked.

  “Only if you count crashing a pity party as interrupting,” answered Kate.

  Mrs. Morgan stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. She stood for a moment, looking around at the books and the posters and the clothes hanging on the back of Kate’s chair. Then she sat on the end of Kate’s bed. “So,” she said, “are you going to tell me what you and Kyle are fighting about?”

  “We’re not fighting,” Kate said.

  Her mother laughed. “Good one,” she said. “He must have done something big for you to spill the beans about that tattoo. The last time you squealed on him like that was when you were twelve and he read your diary. If I recall, you informed your father that Kyle had a girlie magazine hidden under his mattress.”

  “What did you do to him?” asked Kate. She hoped it was something awful, although she couldn’t really think of anything her mother could do to Kyle that would be all that tragic.

  “Don’t worry about him,” Mrs. Morgan said. “He’s feeling pretty bad about himself right now. But I’m more concerned about you. Are you okay?”

  Kate shrugged. No, she wasn’t okay. But how could she tell her mother what was going on with her? So much of it had to do with Wicca, and while her mother had come really far in her understanding of witchcraft, Kate didn’t think she was quite ready to talk about it in detail. And as for the thing with Annie and Tyler, there was no way she could talk about that. It was too embarrassing.

  But she had to say something. Her mother was looking at her expectantly. Besides, Kate was glad that she’d come up to see what was going on. She hadn’t done that in a while, and Kate knew it meant her mother was feeling closer to her. She took a deep breath and thought carefully about how to phrase her answer.

  “Have you ever had something happen between you and a friend that changed the friendship?” she asked. “Not destroyed it, but changed it, made it hard to go back to the way things were before, even though you really wanted things to be the same?”

  Her mother nodded. “I had a friend in college named Betsy Panatowski,” she said. “We were roommates our first year there, and we did everything together. I pretty much thought of her as a sister. She even came to our house for Thanksgiving because her family lived too far away and she couldn’t afford to go back.”

  “She’s the one in the picture you have on your desk, right?” Kate asked. “The one where the two of you are wearing swimsuits?”

  Her mother nodded. “That’s her,” she said. “That was taken the summer between our freshman and sophomore years, when Betsy came to stay at our cabin on the lake for a few weeks.”

  “So what happened?” Kate asked, suddenly curious.

  “A few weeks after we returned to school, we got into a fight. I don’t even remember what it was about, really. I think maybe something about her borrowing some clothes of mine or something like that. Anyway, we were both yelling and saying all kinds of things because we were mad. Then Betsy told me that the only reason she was friends with me was because she felt sorry for me. She said that I was
ugly, and that people laughed at me when I wasn’t around.”

  Mrs. Morgan stopped talking. Kate looked at her, wondering what she was thinking. Kate was trying to imagine someone telling her mother that she was ugly. It made Kate angry to just think about it. She was surprised when her mother smiled and laughed.

  “Thinking about it now, it seems so stupid,” she said. “But at the time it really hurt my feelings. I remember running out of the room and hiding in one of the shower stalls to cry. I didn’t talk to Betsy for three days. We tiptoed around each other, trying to avoid one another. Finally she apologized. She said that she’d only said those things to hurt me, and that of course they weren’t true. Well, I knew they weren’t true. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that now I knew that she was capable of hurting me. Our friendship just wasn’t the same after that, even though we still sometimes write to one another. And you know what? I bet she doesn’t even remember saying those things.”

  “You should remind her,” Kate said bitterly.

  Mrs. Morgan smiled. “Believe me, there have been times when I’ve been tempted,” she said. “But it’s not worth it. Sometimes the price you pay for remaining friends with someone is accepting that letting them get close to you means that they can hurt you more easily than other people can. It’s easier when our enemies hurt us than when our friends do it, because we expect it from people who don’t like us. But when it comes from someone we care about—wow, can that hurt.”

  Kate nodded. It sure does, she thought. It would have been easier if Tyler had kissed someone else—anyone else. Even Sherrie, thought Kate. But he’d kissed her best friend. And Annie had kissed him back. And as much as she wanted to let go of that, she couldn’t.

  “Is this something you want to talk about?” her mother asked.

  Kate shook her head. “Not yet,” she said. “But thanks. The story helped.”

  “I’m glad I could be of service,” said her mother. “But I actually asked about you and Kyle. I’m assuming one thing has nothing to do with the other?”

  “No,” Kate said. “He was just being a jerk. That’s all.”

  Her mother looked at her for a minute. Kate knew that she was waiting for Kate to tell her more. And part of Kate wanted to do that. After all, she reminded herself, you said your resolution was to be honest. Here it is one day into the new year and already you’re backing off. But she wasn’t really backing off, she argued with herself. She had told her mother that something was wrong. She just hadn’t given her all the details.

  “Okay,” said Mrs. Morgan. “Well, I actually came up to tell you something. There’s a whole other cheesecake sitting in the refrigerator. And it has your name written all over it. Want to join me for a piece?”

  Kate grinned. “Now you’re talking,” she said. “But we’d better hurry. Kyle’s probably eaten half of it by now.”

  “Don’t worry about him,” her mother said. “I don’t think he’ll ever do that again.”

  Kate got up and started to walk out of the room with her mother. As they reached the door the phone rang. Kate picked it up.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Hi, it’s me,” said Annie.

  “Oh, hi,” Kate replied. She was surprised to hear Annie’s voice. They had only called each other a couple of times since things had gotten weird, and then only to confirm plans they’d all made.

  “Are you doing anything tonight?” Annie asked.

  “I’m not sure,” answered Kate. “Why?” They had Monday off from school because of the holiday, and she hadn’t made any plans.

  “I was wondering if you’d like to come over for girls’ night,” Annie said. “Cooper’s coming, and we haven’t had one in a long time.”

  Kate hesitated. She did want to go, but the coal inside of her was beginning to flare up again. She knew it would be easy for her to make up an excuse about having to do something with her family. But that would definitely qualify as being dishonest. Besides, maybe it was time she faced her feelings. She looked at her mother, who was watching her from the doorway.

  “Sure,” she said. “I’ll be there. What time?”

  CHAPTER 4

  “I knew it!” Sasha said triumphantly. “I told you they were getting married.” She took a bite of pizza and wiped her mouth. “So, when’s the big day?”

  “April ninth,” Annie answered, sitting down on the floor of her bedroom with the rest of them.

  “That’s like a week before our initiation ceremony,” Cooper said.

  “Try four days before,” said Annie.

  “They’re going to plan a wedding in three months?” Kate said. Having helped her mother plan several since Mrs. Morgan had started her catering business, she knew how long it took to pull one together.

  “They’re not doing anything big,” said Annie. “They’re going to have it here at the house.”

  “I can’t believe they’re getting married,” Kate said. “It seems so fast.”

  “Grayson asked her yesterday morning,” said Annie. “They were so excited that they drove back here to tell me and Meg.”

  “How is Meg taking it?” asked Sasha.

  Annie shrugged. “She’s thrilled,” she answered. “I’m thrilled. It’s just kind of a shock is all.”

  “Have you talked to Becka about it?” asked Cooper.

  “Last night,” said Annie. “They called her to tell her. She was half asleep, so I don’t think it sunk in right away. But I talked to her after they did, and by then she’d woken up a little.”

  “You two will be sisters!” said Sasha excitedly. “That is so cool.”

  “That part I’m really excited about,” Annie said. “Nervous, but excited.”

  “Wait a minute,” Cooper said. “Someone is going to have to move. Who is it going to be?”

  “No one has talked about that yet,” Annie said carefully. “And I didn’t want to spoil the mood by asking.”

  “But you could be moving to San Francisco?” Kate asked.

  “I guess so,” said Annie. “I’m trying not to think about that, though. I’m trying to be happy for Aunt Sarah.”

  “Well, I’m happy for everyone,” said Sasha. “This is really cool. It’s like a fairy tale or something, where the plucky spinster heroine gets her prince and everyone lives happily ever after.”

  “I don’t think Aunt Sarah would like being called a spinster,” said Annie, laughing.

  “All I meant is that she’s not a silly young thing,” said Sasha.

  “And it really is like a fairy tale, if you think about it,” Cooper said. “Who would have thought that you’d go back to your old house, find this guy living there, and that he’d fall in love with your aunt? It definitely makes you believe in fate.”

  “And it doesn’t hurt that he’s one of your favorite writers,” added Kate. “Just think, you’ll get to read all his new books before anyone else does.”

  Annie nodded. “I know,” she said. “It all seems like a dream come true, doesn’t it?” She paused for a moment. “Do you guys really think that everything happens for a reason? I mean, is there really some big plan that we only get to see in little bits and pieces, or do we just tell ourselves that because it makes things easier?”

  “I think things happen for reasons,” Cooper said. “Look how we all became friends, for example. Kate did a spell that backfired, then she found our names in that library book.”

  “But that could have been coincidence,” Kate argued.

  “I know it could have been,” Cooper replied. “I’m just saying that I don’t think it was. I think there was a reason we all needed to meet each other. The book is just what made it happen.”

  “And look how I met you guys,” Sasha added. “I came to Beecher Falls totally by accident. I could have gone anywhere. But I didn’t, and then I met you guys and my whole life changed.”

  “Those are all good things, though,” Annie said carefully. “What about the bad things that happen to us?”
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  “Like what?” Cooper asked her.

  “Well, what about what happened to Sasha?” she said. “Wouldn’t it have been better if she’d never had to run away from home in the first place?”

  Sasha nodded. “I’ve thought about that, too,” she said. “What happened to me was really hard, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But if it hadn’t happened I would never have come here. I would never have met you guys. I would never have ended up living with Thea. Those are all really great things. I’m not saying that having a happy childhood and a happy family wouldn’t have been great, too. But I really believe that this is the life I was meant to have, and that those bad things were all a part of it. They taught me a lot about myself and about people in general. Maybe someday I’ll be able to help someone going through what I went through. I don’t know. That’s the part I can’t see yet, I guess. But I don’t wish things had been any different, because I like who I am and I know that I am who I am because of what I went through.” She stopped and laughed gently. “Wow. I sound like Oprah or something.”

  “You’re thinking about your parents, aren’t you?” Cooper asked Annie, who had remained silent after Sasha’s little speech.

  “Yes,” said Annie. “I was thinking about Midsummer, when the Oak King told me that there was some reason for my parents’ deaths. I was furious at him for saying that. But maybe he was right. If they hadn’t died, I would never have come here. Grayson and Becka would never have moved into our house. We would never have gone back to San Francisco and met them. And Aunt Sarah wouldn’t be getting married. But it’s really hard for me to believe that they had to die so that these things could happen.”

  “I don’t think you can look at it that way,” Cooper told her. “They didn’t have to die so that these things could happen. And these things didn’t happen because they died. They’re just all connected. One thing leads into another, but it’s not like we’re all just acting out some big play that somebody else wrote.”