Don't Drink the Punch!

by P. J. Night

  Kayla nodded, ignoring her friend’s mention of Tom, and smiled uncertainly. Alice didn’t really believe the love potion would work, did she?

  “We could totally spike the punch at your party!” said Jess eagerly.

  “And get our crushes to drink it and then have them fall totally, madly in love with us!” added Pria breathlessly.

  “Um, sure, I guess that’s the idea,” said Kayla, because she felt like they were waiting for her to say something.

  The three girls waited while Alice considered the issue. “We’ll go there tomorrow,” she said.

  CHAPTER 6

  The next day, Sunday, the weak February sun shone down on the girls as they made their way toward the mystical shop. The wind had died down completely, making it feel considerably warmer than the day before.

  “What if it isn’t open?” asked Jess.

  Alice snorted. “Eleven o’clock on a weekend morning? What business wouldn’t be open?”

  But when they got to the shop, a CLOSED sign was hanging on the inside of the door. The girls stood there, looking at it.

  “Let’s go,” said Pria, shivering. “This place kind of gives me the creeps anyway.”

  Suddenly the door was flung open, causing all four girls to jump back.

  Matilda poked her head out. Her bangs half obscured her face, and much of what wasn’t hidden by bangs was covered with her huge glasses. The sun glinted off them, making it impossible to see her eyes. “Oh, it’s you,” she said, waving them inside. “Come on in. I’m just opening up.”

  The girls exchanged glances with one another. Then Alice shrugged and led the way into the shop.

  “I’m Alice Grafton, and this is Pria Patel and—”

  “I know who you are,” interrupted Matilda. “We’ve been classmates since fifth grade.”

  “Oh, right, I forgot all about that,” said Alice, in a mock-sweet voice.

  There was an awkward silence. Kayla hated awkward silences. She tried to think of something, anything, to say. Then she spotted Jinx sitting on the counter near the back register, grooming his hind leg. The front leg that had been hurt was now bandaged.

  “Hey, how’s Jinx doing?” she asked Matilda.

  Matilda crossed her arms. “He’s shipshape. The vet fixed up his leg. And I put a healing crystal on his collar, and he’s right as rain now.”

  Pria snickered, but changed to a throat-clear when Matilda jerked her head to look at her sharply.

  Kayla had to agree that Matilda did say some pretty strange things. What seventh grader uses expressions like “shipshape” and “right as rain”? she thought.

  “I’m glad he’s better,” she said, walking back toward the cat and reaching out a hand to stroke him. The cat started to purr.

  “So Kayla says you guys sell love potions here,” said Alice, getting straight to the point. “Is that true?”

  Matilda lifted her chin a little and peered at Alice through her thick glasses, her bangs parting. “That’s right,” she said. “We’ve got all kinds of great things here—love potions, complexion creams, beauty elixirs . . .”

  “Well if you work here,” said Alice, “why haven’t you used them? I mean, well, especially the beauty products . . .” She trailed off with a little snort and winked at Jess and Pria, who both laughed out loud. Kayla cringed. Did Alice really have to be so mean?

  Matilda’s face darkened, just for a moment, but then she smiled rather sweetly at Alice. “If you don’t believe me, try this free sample,” she said, hurrying around the back counter and stooping down below the register to rummage around in a drawer.

  Kayla couldn’t help noticing that Matilda moved oddly. She swayed back and forth as though both her feet hurt to walk on them. She came back bearing a small silver plate with a pile of flat green disks on it. They were so bright, Kayla wondered if they would glow in the dark.

  “What are those?” Jess asked suspiciously. She looked at them and wrinkled her nose.

  “Wonder mints,” said Matilda. “Guaranteed to make your hair shiny and your complexion totally blemish free.” She smiled quickly, and Kayla caught a glimpse of a silver side tooth.

  “Like I need that!” said Alice, flipping away a strand of her shiny hair.

  Matilda leaned toward Alice, scrutinizing the side of her face closely. “Poppycock! You do indeed,” she said. “I think I see a blemish coming out on your cheek there. Not to worry, though. One of these mints will clear it right up before it even appears.”

  Alice scowled at Matilda and reached for a mint. Jess and Pria followed. Kayla considered not taking one, and then put a hand up to feel her own hair, decidedly not shiny and sorely in need of smoothing. And her complexion? She could practically feel her chin breaking out. She reached out to take a mint.

  But Matilda snatched the dish away before Kayla could take one. “Not for you,” she said curtly. “Your hair is beyond the help of any wonder mint.”

  The other three girls laughed. Kayla tried not to let the comment bother her, but Matilda’s words stung. She already felt like the least attractive girl in this group and was constantly wondering why they tolerated her presence in their elite circle. Her thick hair was hopelessly wavy, resembling the ripples on the surface of a pond. Kayla looked at Pria’s glossy raven-black hair and dark eyes rimmed with thick lashes, then at Jess’s princesslike features and straight, shining hair, and finally at Alice, who really did look like a model.

  Kayla managed to smile as though she didn’t care a bit, even though she really did. She wanted one of those mints.

  The other three girls sucked on the mints. “These are actually pretty tasty,” said Alice. “And I don’t even like mint.”

  “How long before it takes effect?” asked Jess.

  “Oh, you’ll know when it does,” said Matilda with a half smile.

  “Okay, so how about that love potion?” said Alice. “Valentine’s Day is coming up.”

  Matilda crossed her arms. “An empty wagon makes a lot of noise,” she muttered.

  “What did you just say?” asked Alice sharply.

  “Never mind,” said Matilda. “Why do you want a love potion? Anyone in particular you have your eye on?”

  Alice’s eyebrows shot up, but she didn’t seem otherwise perturbed. “Maybe. Why do you care? Believe me, he’s out of your league.” Matilda just glowered at her in response. Alice let out an exasperated sigh. “So are you going to sell us the potion or not?” Her pretty face furrowed into a frown. She did not like to be kept waiting.

  “Hang on. I’ll see what we have,” said Matilda, heading once more toward the back of the shop. This time she passed through the heavy velvet curtain. Alice, Pria, and Jess all looked at one another and burst into laughter. Kayla was sure Matilda could hear it.

  “She is so weird,” whispered Pria. “Did she really say ‘poppycock’ earlier?”

  Jess and Alice giggled harder. Kayla managed a wan smile. She was getting a creepy-crawly feeling down her spine. All she wanted to do was get out of this shop. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something glinting green, moving down the red wall behind Jess. She jumped, startled. It couldn’t be. But it was: a huge green beetle, which stopped crawling and waggled one of its long antennae at her. Could it be one of the bugs that had been taken from Mr. Talbert’s terrarium? Kayla darted a look at the other girls. They hadn’t seen it. The bug continued on its way down the wall and disappeared behind Jess. Kayla shuddered.

  She was still trying to think of a reason to lure her friends out of the shop when Matilda returned, carrying a small bottle made of thick glass. “Right. Love potion. Here it is. It’s yours for only ninety-nine dollars, plus tax.”

  Kayla gulped.

  “You have got to be joking,” said Alice.

  “I never joke,” said Matilda in an icy tone. Kayla believed her.

  “Ninety-nine dollars? For a dumb potion that’s probably just grape juice or something? No way. There is no way we are paying that much. N
o wonder this dump has no customers. What a rip-off!” Alice picked up her bag and slung it onto her shoulder. She gestured to the other girls to follow her out of the store.

  Matilda shrugged. “Suit yourself. The stuff really works, just so you know. But I understand if you’re reluctant to use it. It’s pretty powerful. It’ll make your crush act like an idiot, following you around like a lovesick puppy. But who needs that aggravation, right?”

  She turned around and headed back toward the velvet curtain. Kayla could practically see the wheels turning in Alice’s head. She knew what Alice must be thinking. Nearly every guy acted like a puppy around her, on a regular basis. Every guy except one: Nick Maroulis. He seemed as vain and self-centered as Alice, acting like she should be following him around. Kayla knew Alice well enough to know that she didn’t like it when things didn’t go the way she, Alice, wanted them to, and she was used to getting her way. Maybe this potion was worth a shot.

  “Wait!” said Alice.

  Matilda stopped, her back to them, and stood there quietly.

  “We’ll pay it. I fully realize that you are ripping us off big-time, but I want to see if it really works. We’ll each contribute twenty-five dollars.”

  “Alice,” said Kayla, the words coming out in a whisper from the side of her mouth, “I don’t have a crush, remember? I’d rather not chip in.” She plunged her hand into her jeans pocket. She could feel a nickel and two pennies, and a carefully folded ten that her mother had given her, which she hadn’t spent at the mall yesterday. She planned to give it back to her mother, who could definitely use it.

  “I totally don’t believe you,” said Alice. “I totally think you do have a crush on someone, and you’re just not telling us. Whatever.” She turned to Jess and Pria. “You guys can give me thirty dollars each. I’ll pay the rest.” She shot a look at Kayla and pulled out her shiny, slender wallet.

  Matilda was grinning beneath her bangs as Alice handed over a gold credit card. She moved behind the register. “You’ll be happy you did it,” she said, tapping expertly at the keypad.

  “Hmph,” said Alice, taking the money from Jess and Pria. “For a hundred dollars, it had better work.”

  “Now, listen carefully,” said Matilda. “The potion needs fifteen minutes to take effect.” As she spoke, she carefully wrapped the bottle in packing paper and then placed it into a velvet drawstring bag. “That’s assuming you get the proportions right, which I advise you to pay attention to. Read the instructions I’ve included in the bag. You definitely do not want to mess up the dosage. After you administer the potion, you have to keep your beloved talking to you the whole time. Make sure he’s making constant eye contact with you. Otherwise he’ll fall for the wrong person!” She cackled.

  Alice took the bag from Matilda with a small jerk and gestured with her chin to the rest of the girls to follow her out the door.

  “Make sure you get the proportions right!” Matilda called after them.

  “Yeah, okay, thanks, whatever,” said Alice, more to the other girls than to Matilda.

  As the door closed, Kayla once again heard laughter. Nasty, mocking laughter.

  CHAPTER 7

  The days flew by, and school passed in a blur. Kayla immersed herself in her schoolwork, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Matilda. Fairbridge Middle was a big school, a combination of the four elementary schools, so it was possible to go days without seeing a particular person. On Wednesday she caught a glimpse of Matilda in the hallway near the science classrooms. Kayla had been about to walk into Mr. Talbert’s room when Matilda came slowly down the hall, lumbering side to side with her curious gait, seemingly oblivious to the crowds of kids pushing past her. Was that a paper airplane that someone had just thrown into her hair? But Matilda just kept on walking. Her thick bangs were brushed straight down over her face, and her small mouth was turned up slightly in a smile. That isn’t a friendly smile, Kayla thought. More like a grimace.

  Kayla was so distracted in science that day that she could barely concentrate on the fact that she and Tom Butler had been assigned to be lab partners. Ordinarily, her heart would be pounding and her face flushed. But she just stared down at the Bunsen burner, seeing Matilda’s face reflected in the narrow blue flame.

  “Um, Earth to Kayla?” said Tom, giving her a little nudge with his elbow.

  “Sorry,” she said, shaking herself from her thoughts. “Do you want to heat the zinc and alloy powders and I’ll do the graphing, or the other way around?”

  He put his chin in his hand and looked at her, as though studying a puzzling abstract painting. “Well, I suppose I could, but the alloy lab was last week. We might have more success if we do today’s lab, which is about the law of conservation of mass.”

  Kayla blew away a strand of hair and rolled her eyes. “Sorry. I’m a little distracted, I guess.”

  “Ya think?” he said, but in a nice way.

  “So, um, are you going to Alice’s party Saturday night?” she asked, trying to sound casual as she poured out a beaker of vinegar.

  “Not sure yet,” he said. “I hear they’re predicting a big snowstorm. And I’m not a big party guy. I’ll make it a game day decision, I guess.”

  Tom pulled out a piece of graph paper and began drawing lines with his pencil and ruler.

  “So . . . how about you?” he asked just as casually.

  “What about me?”

  “Are you going? To Alice’s party?” Tom was a lefty, and as he drew the lines, his left elbow grazed Kayla’s hand.

  She felt an electric current race through her whole arm, and her heart rate quickened. Why did she have such a big crush on this goofy-looking guy? His ears stuck out. And those huge feet!

  “Yeah, I’ll be there,” she said with a grin. “You know Alice. She plans exciting parties. Never a dull moment when she’s in the room.” She sighed. “I’m going over there Saturday afternoon to help her choose which one of her seventeen outfit options to wear.”

  He grinned. “She’s into clothes, I guess, huh.”

  “You might say,” said Kayla. “But she’s nice and stuff.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  They were silent for a minute.

  “Maybe I’ll tag along with my cousin,” he said.

  “Cool,” she said, smiling shyly.

  “Cool,” he replied.

  Saturday afternoon, Kayla’s mom dropped her off at the Graftons’ house.

  “Oh, by the way, when I talked to Alice’s mom yesterday,” her mother began, as Kayla climbed into the backseat to get out.

  Kayla stopped and looked back at her mother. “Oh. You talked to her? Not e-mailed?”

  “No, I actually had a real conversation,” said her mother wryly. “She invited me to the party tonight. It seems that a lot of the parents will be there, having their own party upstairs. I didn’t think I could possibly find a babysitter for your little brothers tonight, it being Valentine’s Day and all. But as luck would have it, Taylor Haskins next door is grounded, so her mother said that Taylor would be delighted to babysit.”

  Kayla swallowed. “That’s great, Mom.” She cringed to think of all those parents hearing her mother’s accent.

  Her mother smiled. “Honey, I know you’re embarrassed by me.”

  “No! Mom! No, I’m not. I—”

  “It’s okay, I don’t mind,” she said. “It’s a twelve-year-old’s job to be embarrassed by her mother. But don’t worry. I promise not to go downstairs. I’ll pretend I don’t even know you. Anyway, I’m just going to put in an appearance and leave as soon as possible. The moment Caroline Grafton remembered that I work in admissions at the Academy, she suddenly started being so much nicer to me.”

  Kayla thought about what Matilda had said, about how Kayla’s friends were thinking along those same lines. She put the thought out of her head. No, they were her friends. They liked her for who she was, not the school they thought her mother could get them into.

  CHAPTER 8

&nb
sp; Alice was in the kitchen with her mother when Kayla knocked and then let herself in through the side door a few seconds later.

  “Hey, Kay,” said Alice, as Kayla stomped her boots and then placed them neatly along the wall next to the other boots.

  “Alice, I want you to remove all these boots before the party and put them in the front hall closet,” said her mother.

  Alice rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said.

  “How are you, Kayley?” asked Mrs. Grafton, smiling at Kayla with her mouth but not her eyes.

  Alice didn’t correct her mother. Maybe she didn’t hear her mom say my name incorrectly, Kayla thought.

  “I’m fine, thanks,” said Kayla. Mrs. Grafton looked about ten years younger than Kayla’s mother, but Kayla suspected it was because she spent a lot of time at the beauty parlor and the gym.

  “Jess and Pria are up in my room, trying on clothes,” Alice said to Kayla. “Did you bring a bunch of outfits too?”

  Kayla stared down at her outfit, which was visible through her open coat. She’d worn her black flippy skirt with the blue top that her cousin had just sent her. She loved the blue top. “I was going to wear this,” she said. “I brought a pair of black flats to wear. They’re in my bag.”

  “You look adorable, Kaitlin,” said Mrs. Grafton. “How creative of you to put that outfit together. I had a nice chat with your mother, by the way. She has a charming accent. And to work at the academy! In admissions, no less! What an exciting job that must be!”

  “Yes, she likes it,” Kayla said. “This is a busy time of year for her, because all the applications for next year are in and they’re reviewing them right now.”

  “How nice. I am so looking forward to visiting with her tonight!” Mrs. Grafton stepped onto a footstool and pulled a huge punch bowl down from a high shelf in the cupboard. She handed it down to Alice, who set it on the counter next to another large punch bowl. Kayla wondered why someone would own two large punch bowls. She was pretty sure her mom didn’t own even one.