by Ahmet Zappa
But for some reason, Piper had to finish Olivia’s sentence: “That you’re flailing around, worried about everything, trying to get through the nights when everything around you seems so dark and unforgiving.”
Piper felt Olivia stiffen. And even in the darkness, she could see her face draw closed.
“I’m going to sleep now, Piper. Good night.”
Piper groaned softly. She wished she hadn’t been quite so gloomy and bleak. But sometimes she just couldn’t help it.
By the time Piper woke up, the sun was high in the sky. Olivia’s bed was neatly made, the blanket stretched tight and tucked into the corners.
Piper wiggled her toes, then raised her arms over her head for an easy stretch. The clock on the nightstand read 11:19, late even by her standards. She heard some thumps and bumps and light steps coming down the hall.
That must be Olivia, she thought. Good, I’m not alone.
She hoped Olivia had been able to sleep late, too. It was Saturday. And as far as she knew, her Wisher hadn’t needed to be anywhere early. Of course, there was the not-so-small matter of the Countdown Clock and starmins ticking away. The wish had to be granted by that evening. Still, Piper felt confident.
A nagging doubt tugged at the far corner of her mind….Those feelings Olivia was about to talk about when Piper interrupted…they could have been important. Maybe they wouldn’t have confirmed the wish. Maybe they would have pointed in an entirely different direction. But Piper shook away those negative thoughts. She had nailed down Olivia’s wish: improving business. And they had all day at the diner to make it happen.
Moving a little more quickly than usual, Piper dressed with the help of her Wishworld Outfit Selector. She settled on stretchy black leggings and a shimmery seafoam green blouse that fell to her hips. Not her usual look, but it was both pretty and comfortable.
“Oh, good. You’re ready,” Olivia said, walking into the room just as Piper was letting the air out of the blow-up bed. “I told my parents we’d be at the diner around lunchtime to help.”
Olivia was quiet as they walked to work. But it was a companionable silence. Piper was pleased. Clearly, Olivia had gotten past the previous night’s irritation.
As they neared Big Rosie’s, the two girls gasped.
“Oh, my stars!” Piper said. A line of customers stretched out the door. “What’s going on?”
“I have no idea,” Olivia answered. “Let’s find out.”
She led Piper to the entrance, skirting people she knew. “Excuse us, Mr. Raymond. Hi, Thomas. Could you let us past?”
Inside, they saw some people waiting for tables, but many more were by the takeout counter.
“Two chocolate egg creams to go, and throw in a blueberry muffin,” one woman said to Donna, the waitress who had called in sick the other day.
“Egg creams!” Olivia repeated. “How does she know about egg creams?”
Just then a customer sitting at a table flagged down Diane. “We’d like egg creams, too,” he said.
“This is beyond weird,” Olivia said as the next customer in line ordered an egg cream with a bagel.
Alice hurried to the girls. “Everyone wants egg creams!” she said excitedly. “Some are just ordering them at the counter. But lots are staying for full meals.”
She put her hand on Piper’s shoulder. “We’re doing incredible business. Just look at all these people. Apparently one of our customers tweeted about our amazing egg creams with a photo.”
“It must have been Sammy’s dad,” said Piper.
“It’s all thanks to you,” Alice told her.
“No, it wasn’t me. It was really Olivia. She made it for me the other day, remember? Then I just suggested it to a customer.” Piper gazed around the diner. Practically everybody had an egg cream. “It’s really caught on.”
“You know, I think we’ll add it to the menu,” Alice said. “In fact, we should come up with other new drinks. And maybe desserts.” She smiled. “First on the list is that rhubarb pie I keep thinking about!”
“Yeah, but we don’t have to stop there,” Olivia said. “We can add dinner entrees and appetizers and—”
“The sky’s the limit!” Piper broke in.
“Now hurry up and grab some aprons,” Alice said. “Things will move more quickly with you two here.”
“This is so amazing!” Olivia told Piper as they rushed to the back room. “All this business is really going to help my parents out.”
Piper looked at Olivia. Her shoulders were relaxed and the furrow between her eyebrows was gone. This was it. She’d helped Olivia get her wish. She stood still, waiting for the wish energy to flow.
“What?” said Olivia. “Come on! Get moving! We have work to do!”
Still, Piper just stood there, staring at Olivia. Any starsec now a colorful wave would stream from her Wisher straight to her bracelet pendants.
Where were the sparks she had heard about? The rainbow of lights and flashes shooting out from Olivia to Piper? Piper was confused. But maybe the wish wasn’t entirely granted yet. Maybe the energy would come later, when they waited on their fiftieth customer or reached a certain dollar amount.
“Okay, let’s get cracking!” said Piper. This would be her very last shift. She wanted to make it a good—no, great!—one.
Hours passed in a blur. Customers kept coming and Piper kept working. But still no wish energy. Her shoulders sagged. What was the problem?
“Something wrong?” asked Olivia, stepping around her with a tray full of chocolate egg creams.
“Olivia,” Piper said slowly. “Do you think business is booming? That you guys have enough customers now?”
“Of course!” Olivia said happily. “We’ve never been so busy!”
“So you’re not thinking to yourself, ‘Oh, it would be great if we reached nine hundred ninety-nine customers. Or if we made a million dollars’?” Piper wasn’t actually sure if a million was a lot of dollars, but it sounded good.
“Uh, no. I think this is perfect!”
Olivia was thrilled with the business now. So, clearly, that hadn’t been her wish at all.
Piper stared at Olivia despairingly. What could her wish be? She had wasted all that time on the wrong wish! Now she was running out of time. Wish identification was much more difficult than Piper had ever dreamed.
The crowd was thinning out. Piper began wiping down tables. Then the bell above the door jangled. She looked up to see Olivia’s friends walking into the diner. When Piper stepped behind the counter, she could see straight to the door. Olivia’s friends were just walking through.
Olivia walked in carrying a tray of ketchup dispensers she had just filled. When she spotted her friends, a shadow passed over Olivia’s face. Oh, no, another blunder. Piper must have hurt Olivia’s feelings, saying the girls were there for the food, not their friend. “No! I bet they’re here just for you!”
Olivia watched as the girls took a table at the far end, her mouth tugging down at the corners. “I’ll wait on them,” she said, grabbing some menus. Seconds later, she stood at their table, whispering. Then she actually sat down next to the short girl, the one named Morgan. Piper had never seen her do that before!
“Olivia!” her dad called loudly. “Your sixteen with SPF and MG is ready.”
Part of Piper couldn’t help identifying what that meant—cheeseburger with sweet potato fries and mixed greens—even while she was concentrating on Olivia.
Reluctantly, Olivia got up, then walked slowly away from her friends.
Friends! The word hit Piper like a bolt of white-hot lightning.
Friendship must be as important to Olivia as the diner, maybe even more. Piper remembered her first wish identification guess, that Olivia was spending too much time at the diner. Maybe she’d been half right. Olivia loved working at the diner. But it still got in the way of her being with her friends.
Okay, Piper was sure she had it right this time: Olivia wished she could spend more time with h
er friends.
Without waiting another starmin, Piper grabbed a bag of candy, then refilled the FREE MINTS bowl by the cash register. “You know,” she said to Alice, looking deep into her eyes, “Olivia should have the night off, and have those friends”—she pointed to the table—“plus me, over for a sleepover.”
“You know,” Alice said thoughtfully, “I think Olivia should have the night off, and have those friends—plus you—over for a sleepover. Diane can stay late.”
“I’ll tell Olivia!” Piper said. She grabbed the girl’s hand and pulled her back to the table. “Hey!” she said to the girls. Morgan, the short one who Piper thought might be bossy, looked up. The girl sitting next to her was Ruby. She nodded hello, her shoulder-length hair bouncing. The third girl was Chase and she had bright green braces that showed when she smiled at Piper. “Alice said we can all have a slumber party at Olivia’s tonight.”
“And who are you?” asked Morgan, sounding just shy of rude.
“This is Piper,” said Olivia. “I told you, she’s been staying with us while she works on a school project.”
Everyone seemed to wait for Morgan to respond. Finally, she shrugged, saying, “Sure, sounds like fun.”
“It will be!” Piper assured her. “We can have a dream slumber party! We’ll decorate notebooks with glitter or stickers or any way we like to make dream journals! Then in the morning we can write down our dreams. Any dreams,” she hastened to add. “From the night before or the week before, good or bad.”
Piper plowed on, not waiting for a reaction. “Maybe I can help you guys figure out what your dreams mean.” She looked down modestly. “I have a knack for dream interpretation.”
Again, everyone waited for Morgan, Piper with bated breath. She had to like the idea. It was nothing short of brilliant, if Piper did say so herself. The sleepover activity could help grant Olivia’s wish and serve as a healing session, to clear Olivia’s mind of any disturbing thoughts. All at the same time!
Morgan tilted her head, thinking it over. “That’s cool,” she finally said.
Immediately, the two other girls agreed, and the three began chattering about what to bring.
“No!” Olivia interrupted them, her voice rising above the others. Everyone stopped talking and looked at her, surprised. “I mean, it sounds great. Really. But we can’t do it. I have to—”
“Work tonight? Don’t worry!” Piper said gleefully. “I already spoke to your mom. She’s totally fine with it. Diane’s going to fill in.”
Morgan, Ruby, and Chase started talking again and took out their cell phones to ask permission. Meanwhile, Piper gazed anxiously at Olivia. She had thought Olivia would be thrilled her friends were coming over. Instead, she didn’t seem any happier than she had earlier. In fact, her expression was downright glum.
Olivia edged away from her friends to talk to Diane. “I’m sorry you have to take my shift,” she told her.
Oh, so that was it. Olivia felt bad that Diane was working extra hours. That was why she wasn’t excited—yet. Piper felt sure that once the girls actually came to her house, everything would change.
According to the Countdown Clock, the wish had to be granted that evening, by eight o’clock. Piper’s pulse quickened. She’d have to return to Starland—with or without Olivia’s wish energy. Already she could feel her own energy level sinking. She’d been there so long and accomplished so little….
Piper shook her head to clear it and envisioned a smiling Olivia radiating a rainbow of colored light. It could happen. It would happen. If only Piper didn’t feel so tired…
“Table number two is wobbly,” Diane said, hurrying past. “Do you think you could fix it?”
“Of course,” said Piper, straightening up. She was putting a piece of cardboard under one table leg to keep it steady when the bells above the door jingled, signaling another customer. Piper felt a tingle run down her spine. She froze, her head still under the table. Something was about to change. She heard a familiar voice: “Oh, so this is a diner.”
It was Astra! In her haste to actually see a fellow Star Darling, Piper stood up without thinking. “Ouch!” she said, banging her head.
Piper sighed. This wouldn’t do at all. She had to center herself, concentrate on unhurried action and calm movement.
She took a breath and came out from under the table in one fluid motion. “Astra!” she called, beaming happily as she saw her friend in her glittery glory. She knew that she looked sparkly to Astra, too, and that made her feel good. She felt so glad to see someone who knew all about her, even if it meant Lady Stella thought she needed help. And while Piper thought she had matters well in hand, another Star Darling could only be helpful.
Astra was wearing a sporty outfit, cutoffs, red sneakers, and a T-shirt with a red star on it. Her hair, now a flaming auburn, was pulled into two pigtails. She looked friendly and confident, a girl any Wishling would want as a friend.
Alice stood by the cash register, smiling at the girls. “Hi…Astra?” she said questioningly. Piper nodded. “Are you a friend of Piper’s?”
“Yes,” said Astra. “We go to the same school.” She was looking around, soaking in all the sights and sounds and smells. It was a little mind-blowing when you first got there, Piper knew. So much was similar to Starland, but so much was different. “Your world is amazing,” she told Alice.
Luckily, Alice said, “Yes, the diner is my world, along with my family, of course. You must be from Maylefield, too.”
“Maylefield,” repeated Astra, sounding as if she’d never heard of it before, which, of course, she hadn’t.
“Yup,” said Piper, linking her arm through Astra’s. “She just came for a visit.”
Astra nodded, finally realizing she had to be more careful. “Let me fill you in on what’s been going on in…uh…Maylefield, Piper.”
She pulled Piper aside, adding, “Star apologies for being a little dense. There’s just so much to take in.” She turned toward the cash register, fascinated when the cash drawer sprung open.
“Is everything okay at home?” Piper asked as they found two empty seats at the counter.
“Things haven’t gotten any better,” Astra told her. “There’ve been more power flickers. I’m not sure anyone outside Starling Academy has been paying attention, though. But, Piper, you must know why I’m here. Lady Stella thought you could use some help.”
“I do know.” Piper was actually quite glad Astra was there. Her presence gave Piper a personal energy lift. “Let me introduce you to Olivia, my Wisher.”
Of course Astra made a good impression; she even made Olivia smile when she asked about her favorite item at the diner.
“Well, you won’t find it on the menu yet, but it’s the chocolate egg cream.”
While Olivia performed her magic roll-ups, Piper made Astra an egg cream and quickly filled her in on Olivia, the diner, and the sleepover.
Astra listened, picking up a nearby saltshaker. “What is this thing?” she asked.
“Wishlings use it to season their food,” said Piper. “Dishes don’t come out perfectly like the food at home.”
Astra sipped her egg cream. “Starmazing!” she proclaimed. “And totally worth the trip.”
Just then the customer sitting next to Astra picked up the saltshaker and shook it over her French fries. The shaker top fell off, and all the salt rained down on her food.
“Oh, no!” she gasped.
Piper took the plate from the customer. “I’ll just get you another serving,” she said. “On the house.”
While Piper was getting more fries, she stopped to talk to Alice and get Astra invited to the sleepover, too. When she returned, Astra was spinning on the stool.
“You are officially invited to Olivia’s sleepover,” she told her. “To watch me collect my wish energy!”
“I can’t wait,” said Astra. “But do you really think it’s going to be that easy? I mean, why am I here?”
Piper shook her head. “It
’s all under control, Astra,” she said.
Olivia still wasn’t excited about the sleepover, but Alice certainly was. For the first time in a long while, she left the diner early. “Just to get a few things for the party,” she told the girls.
By the time Piper, Astra, and Olivia got to the house, it was filled with slumber party supplies. “It’s not every day we host a party at home,” Alice told Olivia. “I want to make it special for you.”
Olivia scanned the food, crafts, balloons, and decorations. “This is all for tonight?” she asked. “Or are we starting a party business?”
“No business tonight,” Alice said. “You’ve been working too hard—at the diner and at school. And you just did so well on that history test. I’m proud of you, honey. Consider this a reward.”
Olivia flushed. “I’m going to change,” she said, hurrying out of the room.
Alice frowned. “I just want to make this a fun night,” she said. “I want Olivia to have a good time.” She sighed, looking down at a stack of plain white pillowcases, ready to be decorated with fabric markers. “And I might have gone a little overboard.”
Piper glanced around the room. She was glad to see that Alice remembered the dream journals, too.
“Piper and I can set all this up,” Astra offered.
“Thanks,” said Alice. “That will give me time to make dinner and dessert.”
Alice left for the kitchen, and Piper and Astra sorted through the stuff.
The two agreed that play stations, kind of like workstations at the diner, would be fun. So they pushed tables here and there, made signs, and artfully arranged the supplies.
When Olivia returned, she looked no more enthusiastic than she had earlier. Piper gazed at her anxiously as Olivia took stock of the living room. There was a mani/pedi station and a decorate-your-own-pillowcase table next to a spot with mason jars and glow-in-the-dark paint. When they were done painting the jars, they’d look like colorful lanterns. All perfect for a slumber party, Piper thought.