Awkward. The last time I had dinner with the Kosravis, I went as Will’s date. And Raf brought Melissa.
It was pretty miserable.
“Great,” I say. It has to be better this time if I’m going as Raf’s date. And I really like Will’s girlfriend, Kat. I’ve barely seen her since school started. She must be super-busy with student council. She is the president, after all. Maybe I should run for student council president when I’m a senior. Or maybe I should run for president of the United States! The first witch president!
Unless there already have been magical presidents.
“What time is dinner?” I ask.
“Seven-thirty at Kim Shing in Midtown. I’ll come get you and we can go together.”
“I have a busy weekend,” I say, taking a deep breath. “I better just meet you there.”
The next day, after school, we’re in Georgina’s Upper East Side apartment, looking at sample invitations.
Georgina is stunning. She has long glossy black hair and could easily be a model if she ever wanted to give up stationery She does more than just Samsortas, too. She has Simsorta invites, wedding invites, and Wishing invites.
“What’s a Wishing?” Miri asks.
“Oh, you know,” Georgina says with a wave of her hand. “When you have a baby, you invite all the witches in your family over so they can bestow her with a wish. Brains, beauty, compassion, a beautiful singing voice, painting skills, dancing skills … I’m sure you girls had one.” She smiles knowingly.
Wow. Just like Sleeping Beauty. I wonder what I got. Um … not dancing skills… not beauty …
My mother giggles nervously. “That was so long ago, who remembers?”
“I think that means we didn’t have one,” Miri says.
“Thanks, Mom. It’s not like brains and beauty are things we could use.”
“You guys are perfect just the way you are,” Mom says. “And you both have fantastic skills all on your own! Like your math skills, and your Tae Kwon Do skills… Let’s try to focus on the present.”
Grumble.
Georgina’s invitations are not in sample books. They wouldn’t fit, because Georgina’s invites are not your typical invitations. Some examples:
A sunflower, with the date, time, and place inscribed on the petals.
Candles that, when lit, write the information in smoke.
Fridge magnets that magically spell out the info.
“Anything you like?” she asks us.
“I like all of them!” Who needs boring paper invites? These are in 3-D.
“Do you have a theme in mind?” she asks.
A witch ball isn’t enough of a theme?
“Since we’re doing it together,” Miri says, “maybe it can have a sisters theme?”
“Sisters. I like it. Let me think.” Georgina rubs her fingers against her temples. “I’m seeing paper dolls. Two of them!”
I love paper dolls! “The linked kind?”
“Yes! Fabulous!” says Georgina, hands flailing. “When you open the envelope, they’ll burst into song with the pertinent information! I’ll make the girls look just like the two of you! They’ll even sing like you! And dance like you!”
My mom picks at her thumbnail. “Hmm, maybe not. They’re not exactly the best dancers. Or singers.”
“Whose fault is that?” I snap. “You deprived of us of our Wishing!”
“I thought we were perfect just the way we are,” Miri says.
She ignores us both. “Georgina, can we see the sun-flower invitations again?”
An hour later, we’ve settled on a New York theme—a snow-globe-sized Times Square replica. The news ticker will list all the party info. Very cool, no?
When I get home, I head to my room to do some home-work, and Miri heads to the computer to check—wait for it—Mywitchbook. I think she might be addicted.
A few minutes later she stomps through the apartment. “Mom?” I hear her yell through the walls. “Corey and his friends all went skiing! Can I meet them?”
“It’s already seven o’clock! It’s getting dark!”
“Not here. In the Canadian Rockies! In Whistler! It’s only four there. Can I go? Please? Only for a bit!”
“It’s still September in Vancouver! There can’t be snow!”
“They make snow!” Miri says. “And it’s really high up. Please?”
“Is Rachel going?” Mom asks.
“No!” I scream back through the wall.
“Yes,” Miri says.
Mom laughs. “You’re too young to go out with boys on your own. You can only go if Rachel goes.”
Gee, thanks, Mom. No pressure.
“And since it’s a school night, you have to be back by nine—New York time. And you both have to wear your helmets. And one of you has to call me as soon as you get there.”
Miri bursts into my room. “Get dressed!”
I look down at my jeans and T-shirt. “Am I naked?”
“For skiing.”
“Miri, I don’t want to go skiing. I need to do my home-work.”
“But everyone is skiing! It’s not just Corey! It’s every-one! Adam’s there.” She gives me a mischievous grin.
My heart skips a beat. I have no time for Raf, but I have time for Adam? “I don’t know, Mir—”
“Mom won’t let me go without you. Please? How perfect would it be if my first kiss was on a chairlift? That is so romantic! Please!”
I do like to ski… and I haven’t been since the trips to Stowe….
The view from the mountain is like a postcard. Blues, greens, and whites swirl around me like I’m doing some sort of motion spell. I take a deep breath. Ah. As soon as we zapped ourselves over to the ski hill (we Appeared in a bathroom in the chalet at the very top), I transformed my regular shoes into ski boots, a lip gloss into poles, and pieces of spearmint Trident gum into skis. My poles are pink and my skis are mint green. They definitely clash, but I had to work with what was in my purse.
Miri and Corey are snowboarding, but I prefer old-school skis. I call my mom to tell her we made it in one piece.
“Be careful,” she warns. “Stay on the bunny hills. You haven’t skied in a while.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Where’s Miri?”
“Talking to Corey.” I wave to my sister, and she waves back. I make a kissy face. She turns beet red. Tee hee.
“I can’t wait to meet the infamous Corey,” Mom says. “Have fun. Don’t be home too late. No night skiing.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Love you,” she says.
“Love you too.”
I’m about to stuff the phone into my jacket pocket when it rings again. It’s Raf.
“Hi!” I say.
“What’s up?”
I glance around at the mountainous view. If only I could tell him! “Not much. You?”
“Finishing homework. Are you almost done with your sister? Want me to come over for an hour?”
“Oh! I can’t. We’re not done yet.”
“What? Sorry, I can’t hear you. There’s lots of static.”
Ya think? It’s not like I’m in another country and on top of a mountain or anything. I lurch to the right, in case it helps, and then yell, “I said, we’re not done yet!”
“With math?”
Sure, why not? “Yes, with math.”
“It’s still … ’aticky Let me call you … on your land-line?”
No! “I can’t talk now! I’ll call you later!”
“What?”
“I’ll call you back when I’m home! I mean, when I’m done. Yeah, done.”
“Okay. Have fun.”
“You too! Love you!” I say.
And then I realize.
Did I just say that? I did not just say that. I did not just tell Raf Kosravi that I love him. I didn’t mean to say that. Now what?
I press the End button.
Omigod. I just hung up on my boyfriend. Right after I accidentally told him I
loved him.
Crapola.
Aaaah!
What do I do now?
Maybe he didn’t hear. Reception is terrible; he said so himself. But what if he did hear? Did I mean it? Do I love him? I know I always joke that I love him, but do I really?
Sure, he’s sweet and funny and adorable. And he makes my heart go all fluttery
Why did my mom have to tell me she loved me on the phone? I had love on the brain.
Maybe I should call him back. And do what? Tell him that it was a mistake? Is it a mistake? It’s all his fault, anyway. He started it with the whole love-in-the-card thing.
Aaaah!
“Rachel!”
I stumble at the sound of my name and drop my phone in the snow. Great.
I look up to see Adam approaching me. “Ready to hit the slopes?”
I pick up my phone and jam it into my pocket. I’ll have to deal with this later. “Hi! Ready!” I pull down my goggles (aka transformed sunglasses).
“Then let’s go!” He pushes off toward the top of the mountain. “I’ll race you.”
I turn back to see Miri deep in conversation with Corey. I guess she can take care of herself. I spot the triplets and the others already flying down the hill. Not flying, obviously. Skiing really fast. Okay, fine, Glamour Triplet might be flying.
I hang back on top of the run.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
It looks kind of steep. “I haven’t been skiing in a long time.”
He laughs. “It’ll all come back to you. It’s just like riding a broomstick.”
“Ha-ha. All right. I’m ready.” I push off, and while I’m a bit shaky, I’m actually quite good. I can slalom! I can turn! I can—
Smack!
—fall on my butt.
I push myself back up. Ouch. That is gonna sting in the morning.
“You okay?” Adam asks, swishing up beside me.
“Just rusty. Ready to race? On your mark, get set, go!” I take off. I’m a bird! I’m a plane! I’m Rachel the skiing witch! He’s right behind me, and then he’s next to me, and then I pull ahead again. We pull up together at the bottom.
“What a rush,” I say. “Again! Should we use the go spell to get back on top?”
“Nah, I’m tired of Appearing in bathrooms,” he says.
I giggle. “You’ve noticed that too?”
“Yeah. Let’s take the chairlift like normal people. It’ll be fun.”
We hold our poles in our hands and look behind us to catch the incoming chair. “I haven’t done this in a while,” I say.
“You’ll be fine. Here it comes,” he says, and then, swoop, we’re sitting!
As we rise up the hill, I spot the triplets skiing down below. I wave but they don’t see us. Beyond the run, our chair glides over a patch of forest that separates two trails.
I soak up the view. The sky is blue, the air is crisp … it’s all so pretty.
Creak. The chairlift grinds to a stop.
We sway back and forth, back and forth. “I hope this thing is sturdy!”
“I’ll protect you,” he says, casually putting his arm around my shoulder.
Uh-oh.
He leans in to kiss me.
It’s a Small World
Should I? Do I? No!
I pull away about a half second before his lips touch mine.
“Adam,” I say. “I have a boyfriend.”
Did I just almost kiss one boy less than ten minutes after telling another boy I loved him? What is wrong with me?
“I’m sorry,” Adam says. “I thought … I thought you felt the same way. I didn’t know you had a boyfriend. I—I think you’re really cool, Rachel.” He covers his face with his gloves. “I’m sorry.”
“I …” I’m not sure what to say. “It’s my fault. I should have told you.” I don’t know why I didn’t. Okay, I do. ’Cause I didn’t want him to know. ’Cause I might like him.
“Who’s your boyfriend?” he asks. “Do I know him?”
“No. He’s not a warlock. He doesn’t even know about”—I motion around me—“any of this.”
“So it isn’t serious?”
“No—it is.”
“Doesn’t sound serious,” he mutters.
Hey! “I heard that.”
“Well, he doesn’t know anything about you!”
“Yes, he does.”
“Not the most important part. Don’t you want to date someone you have more in common with? Someone who gets what you’re going through?”
“I …” My voice trails off.
As if this moment can’t get any more awkward, my cell phone starts to ring.
I know it’s Raf without even having to look. Stupid in-tuition. I let it ring. And ring.
Adam doesn’t comment. And neither do I.
I have got to get out of here. Why won’t this stupid chairlift start working?
“Chairlift, start to run,
’Cause this awkwardness is no fun!”
The chairlift jerks to a start.
I arrive home feeling lousy. Partly because of the Adam incident, partly because Raf has called three times and I haven’t picked up, and partly because my butt hurts from my tumble down the mountain. Also, I’m almost out of go spell. I need to make more of that stuff pronto.
Miri, on the other hand, is on cloud eleven.
“We took the chairlift up together!” she tells me while we get ready for bed. “He put his arm around me! Did you see him board? He was even worse than I was! Tee hee! I had to show him how to turn. It was so cute! He’s so cute! And then he—”
I zone her out, a pit growing in my stomach. Adam didn’t say one word to me after the chairlift debacle. We quickly joined up with the rest of the group and then froze each other out.
I wait until I’m in bed before calling Raf back. I hope he didn’t hear what I said before. You know, the L word? I really, really hope he didn’t hear. There was static! Lots of static. I’m sure he didn’t hear.
“Hi,” I say, my heart pounding.
“Hi,” he says.
He did not hear. I’m sure he didn’t. “Sorry it took so long to call you back.”
Silence.
He heard and he doesn’t feel the same and now he’s going to break up with me. He heard and he somehow knows that I almost let another guy kiss me and now he hates me.
“About what you said before …,” he begins.
I hold my breath.
“I love you, too,” he says.
I drop the phone but then quickly pick it back up. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
Another silence.
He said he loves me. The boy I’ve been crazy about since the first day of freshman year just told me he loves me.
Raf Kosravi loves me. Officially.
I should be thrilled. I should be dancing up and down. Fine, maybe not dancing. I don’t want to scare the neighbors. But I should at least be shaking my arms with joy or cartwheeling.
But instead, my eyes prickle with tears.
“Cool” is all I can choke out.
“And I’m so happy you said it. You’ve been acting kind of weird lately and I was worried that… I don’t know. That you didn’t, you know, like me anymore.”
“That’s crazy!” I say. “How could you even think that?”
“Well, you didn’t want to meet up with me when you were shopping and then you fell asleep when I was over and you kind of blew me off today….”
My heart sinks. “I’m so sorry. Honestly. I’ve just had a lot going on. You know. With family and stuff. None of my weirdness had anything to do with you. At all. Really. Nothing makes me happier than having you as my boy-friend.”
“Good,” he says.
“Good.”
We talk about classes and school and his jackets, and when we finally get off the phone, I hug my pillow to my chest, tears in my eyes.
’Cause I love Raf. I really do. And yeah, he said “I love you,” and he mig
ht even believe it, but it doesn’t mean much if he doesn’t love the real me. It’s no better, no more real than him being enchanted with me because of a love spell.
I sigh. And the next time he feels like I’m distracted … what happens then?
“So,” I say when I sit down in homeroom, “how was your weekend?”
Tammy turns to me, her lips quivering.
And I know. “Omigod, you broke up!”
She nods.
I leap up and hug her.
“It was tough, but I think it’s the right thing to do,” she tells me.
“You broke up with him?”
“Kind of. I think it was mutual. I know people always say that, but this time it really was. We care about each other, but we’re just in different places. We’re still going to stay friends, though.”
“When did it happen?” I ask.
“Last night.”
“You should have called me!”
“I would have, but we got off the phone at like three in the morning and I figured it was too late.”
“It’s never too late when it’s that important!”
“I was going to text you but I was too drained.” Her eyes tear up. “But thanks, Rachel. I know you’re here for me.” Then Tammy says she’s sick of talking about her and Bosh. “Your turn to tell me what’s been bugging you lately.”
“What? Me? Nothing’s bugging me; why would you say that?”
She shrugs. “I can tell when something’s bothering you.”
I swallow. Now she’s going to be mad at me too? “I just have a lot going on right now.”
She studies me. “Anything bad?”
“No,” I say quickly.
“If you need someone to talk to, you know I’m always here to listen.”
“Thanks,” I say, and my head pounds.
Why does everything have to be so complicated?
Reading The Crucible doesn’t put me in a better mood.
Do you know what happens in The Crucible? Do you know what they do to alleged witches in that book—no, that horror novel? They take them to the gallows—i.e., they hang them.
I rub my neck as I read.
This is exactly why I can’t tell anyone my secret. What if they tell someone who tells someone who tells someone and then people try to kill me?
Parties & Potions Page 17