Spells Like Teen Spirit Page 19

  I’m not sure what that is.

  You get bagels, cream cheese, onions, everything. And you go down the line and add whatever you want to your bagel yourself.

  So it’s like Subway? Do we get visors?

  Nvrmnd. I’ll think of something else.

  I didn’t want Brian to feel too dejected, because it was sweet that he was trying to do something for all of us. In Janis’s car, Amirah had shotgun, so Mallory and I squeezed into the back with Ji-A.

  “Hey,” I said to them, “Brian needs more specifics about brunch. In an ideal world, what would you guys want to eat?” Everyone answered at the same time.

  “Cinnamon Toast Crunch,” Mallory said.

  “Macaroons,” replied Ji-A.

  “Chocolate croissants,” Amirah said.

  “Lucky Charms,” Janis said.

  I myself would prefer doughnuts.

  I just did an informal poll. And pastries and sugar cereals are the clear winners. I can’t ask them, because I’m not with them, but I’m sure Ruby will want some green juice, and Cassandra’s been really into hot dogs lately.

  The dancing ellipsis popped up, then disappeared, then popped up again.

  I think I’m just going to go online and get some ideas.

  Poor Brian. At least Pinterest never let him down.

  Janis pulled up to Cassandra’s and parked at the curb. We all piled out of the car, crossed the yard, and walked in without knocking, like Janis and I always did, but I grimaced as soon as I saw Cassandra and Ruby, both flushed, sitting on the couch. I made a mental note that no-knock entries should be saved for singletons like me. They didn’t seem to mind too much, though, and soon everyone was discussing what kind of pizza to order.

  “Oooh,” Amirah gasped. “Can we get Panda Sub delivered?”

  Mallory nodded vigorously, and thank God Janis jumped in.

  “Their delivery area is really weird,” she said in such a convincing way that I started to wonder if maybe she was telling the truth. “And I don’t think they’ll come here.” Eventually we settled on four pizzas—including a whole one with pineapple, because apparently Ruby liked it too—two orders of breadsticks, two two-liters of Coke, and one green salad, for you know who. Amirah even used her credit card to buy everyone dinner. When Janis passed the phone to her so that she could give the pizza place the number, I thought I was going to die when Amirah said, “So, you guys do take black cards, don’t you?…No, it’s not a Discover…”

  I was kind of impressed with how much Cassandra had cleaned up, or with how many cleaning spells she had used, because the house looked good and almost homey. It still didn’t have anything that signified an adult lived there—like dish soap or paper towels—but there was a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter, something that I had never seen in her house before, ever.

  “Where’s Dion?” I asked her.

  “He’s taking a shower,” she said, then paused. “I figured I’d let him hang out. If he wants.” There was a tone in her voice that I’d never heard before, and with a shock, I realized what it was—Cassandra was asking permission.

  “Yeah, sure,” I said. “Your call.”

  She nodded. “He’s been pretty okay lately.”

  Then my phone started to buzz because Dad was calling, and I hurried out to the front porch and answered it. “Hey,” I said, holding my breath a little bit.

  “Hey, kid,” he said, his voice weary. “How’s it going?”

  “Good,” I said. “I’m over at Cassandra’s. We’re getting pizza and going to watch some movies and stuff.”

  “That sounds fun,” he said.

  “How’s Mom?”

  “Well, I just left the facility,” he said, “and she seemed pretty settled.” He paused, and I braced myself for whatever he was going to say next. “I hope this isn’t too hard to hear,” he continued, “but it almost seems like she was happy to go back. She didn’t lash out at anyone there, and let them help her quite a bit.”

  “How was she to you?” I asked, and he gave a sardonic little laugh.

  “Let’s just say I will be applying lots of that arnica gel as soon as I get home,” he answered. “I never thought I’d need it for this. Kinda breaks my heart, if I’m being honest.”

  “Yeah, mine too,” I said, thinking of our first aid supplies, left over from Dad’s failed one-week attempt to make Muay Thai his thing. We were quiet, I think probably both worried that if we delved too deeply into the subject right then, we wouldn’t be able to pull ourselves back out.

  “Mallory and I won’t be home too late,” I said.

  “Sounds good,” he said. “I’ll be happy to meet her. And your other friend? Where is he tonight?”

  I looked up at the trees. “I don’t know,” I said.

  “I’m sorry,” Dad said, surprising me.

  “Yeah, me too,” I said, then added, “All right. Love you. Don’t wait up.”

  “Love you too,” he said. “And I won’t.”

  I hung up and stood there for a moment, listening as hard as I could. No bird sounds, though. Just branches and tires. I heard the door open behind me. I turned, expecting it to be Janis or Cassandra coming to check up on me, but it was Ruby.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey,” she said, then sat down on the porch swing and wrapped her arms around her knees. “Jeez, it is so cold here. I’m like a lizard. I need a warm rock.”

  “You should come back in the summer,” I told her. “It’s so hot and humid that stepping outside feels like going for a swim in the bathtub.”

  “That sounds divine,” she said with a smile. She looked away, then looked back at me. “Hey, I don’t mean to pry, but Cass told me something kind of gnarly happened with your mom this morning. We definitely do not have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”

  I sat down next to her on the swing, and the metal chain gave a plaintive creak. “No, it’s cool,” I said. “I want to talk about it, especially with you.”

  “So, what happened?” she asked, and I told her about the digging, and the biting, and the kicking.

  “She’s never been like that before,” I said. “And she was happy at our house, I know it. I wasn’t just projecting that on her. It felt like we were a family again. We were learning how to be broken and whole at the same time.”

  Ruby nodded. “So, Pig came back the night before?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “And then the next morning, Mom just flipped.” I could see Ruby working something out in her head. “What would your grandma say?” I asked.

  “She was too happy,” Ruby answered finally.

  “Your grandma?”

  She shook her head. “No, your mom,” she said. “I think that you were probably right. She was really happy being at home with you and your dad, but something about Pig coming home made her too happy.”

  I sniffed. “Is there even such a thing?”

  “With curses, yeah,” she said. “The whole point of a curse is a punishment, right? And how do we punish people?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “Yeah, you do,” she said. “You’re a babysitter, so I’m sure that you have to punish people all the time.”

  “Well, you take stuff away from them,” I said. “Like, you take away their video games or make them go to their room and don’t let them play outside. But it has to be something they care about. Otherwise it won’t make an impact.”

  “Exactly,” Ruby said. “You take away what makes them happy. So, your mom’s curse will take away what makes her happy, which is her family. So if she gets too happy, her curse will activate to remove whatever caused the happiness.”

  I sat there, looking out into the dark of Cassandra’s street, and let Ruby’s words sink in. “So, as long as she’s cursed, Mom will never be able to experience
true happiness?”

  “I don’t know for sure,” Ruby answered. “I mean, I’m just guessing, based on what I’ve read in my grandma’s papers. Oh, yay, the pizza’s here.” I looked at her, confused, as there was no pizza in sight. Then a second later, a car turned the corner, drove down the street, and parked in front of Cassandra’s. Ruby’s kinesis was that she was psychic, but she only saw about five seconds into the future. It made her a fierce fighter, but otherwise her power was so subtle that I sometimes forgot about it. The driver got out, unloaded a bunch of pizzas from the backseat, and then started walking toward the house. He spied us, and called out.

  “I’ve got an order for Mariah,” he said.

  Ruby smiled and stood up. “I’ll get her,” she said, disappearing inside.

  I’d never been one to ignore a pizza guy, but all I could think about was Mom. Her curse was a prison. A horrible, unfair prison, and I was going to smash it, no matter what it took.

  The door slapped open, making me jump as Amirah swished out to sign for the pizza. Cassandra was right behind her, and took the food and headed back inside. “Seriously?” Amirah said, looking up from the receipt. “This has to be wrong, right? All these pizzas cannot be this cheap!”

  She held up the receipt for the delivery guy, who looked back at her, confused. Clearly no customer had ever accused him of not charging enough before.

  “No, uh, ma’am,” he said. “That’s correct.”

  “I love it here,” Amirah said, adding a tip and signing with a flourish. “It’s so…affordable! It’s like monopoly money!” She handed the receipt back to the delivery guy, and I could see his eyebrows rise as he took in the amount.

  “Wow, thanks,” he said, looking back up at her, but Amirah had already turned around and was headed toward me.

  “Esme, come on,” she said, grabbing my arm. “Come eat! And tell me everything. Are you going to make Pig an account? She could get so many followers! It’s too bad the chickens are back in New York. If they were all in one place, they could do cameos on each other’s feeds and that would be huge….”

  I let her pull me back into the house, where Cassandra and Ruby were spreading out the food and plates and cups on the table. Janis and Mallory were talking about feminism. Dion sat on the couch, trying to follow along as Ji-A explained something about astrology and did calculations on a piece of paper.

  I looked around, wanting to feel happy. I was surrounded by people who knew, and apparently liked, me for exactly who I was. I wasn’t lying to my dad or my best friend anymore. I still didn’t know what to think about Adrian, but I knew he hadn’t ghosted me. And my dog had come home. But as long as Mom couldn’t be happy, then I couldn’t either.

  * * *

  —

  We demolished the pizzas and did the kind of getting-to-know-you that we hadn’t done at the Summit. I mostly hung back, listening to people tell stories, and I found myself in a position I had rarely been in before, one where the more I learned about people, the more I liked them, and not the other way around.

  Ruby talked about how hard it had been for her to quit boxing, even though she knew it was the right thing to do because her kinesis gave her an unfair advantage. But now she was working at the gym as a coach, and her youngest trainee was an eight-year-old girl. “I swear,” Ruby said, her always-radiant face beaming even more, “she’s going to win a gold medal someday. I’ve never met anyone else with such focus. Well, almost anyone else.” At this, her eyes glanced toward Cass, who’d been watching her rapturously but now quickly shifted her gaze down to the floor.

  “I got in a fight once,” Mallory said, causing everyone’s head to swivel toward her.

  “What?” Ruby squealed. “You never told me that!”

  Mallory rolled her eyes and grimaced. “It’s kind of embarrassing,” she said. “It was at my Jewish summer camp when I was ten. I got really mad when this girl from Tampa hung her towel on my hook, so I pulled her hair and hit her.”

  “Mal!” Ruby gasped. “That does not sound like you, at all!”

  “Well,” Cassandra said with a grin, “who won?”

  “Me, I think,” Mallory said, slowly starting to smile. “But I felt so bad that I cried.”

  “Now, that does sound like you,” Ruby said.

  I was also shocked to find out that neither Ji-A nor Amirah had their driver’s licenses. What was more, they had no desire to drive, and had never even been behind the wheel of a car.

  “Not even a go-kart?” Cassandra asked.

  Ji-A shook her head while Amirah asked, “What’s a go-kart?”

  “It’s like a small car,” Cassandra said, “that goes—”

  “Sounds boring,” Amirah said. “I just don’t understand why anyone would drive when you could just have someone else do it for you.”

  Ji-A rolled her eyes, then looked at me. “Seriously, though, Esme,” she said, “don’t bother with your license. Just move to New York.”

  Eventually Cassandra got up and got the Jacking Lanterns flyer, and passed it around so that everyone could see.

  “Is this one of those things where it’s so bad that it goes back to good?” Ji-A said, taking a long look at it before she handed it over to Amirah.

  “I don’t think so,” Janis said. “As Enid Coleslaw would say, it’s so bad, it’s gone past good and back to bad again.”

  “Who’s that?” Ruby asked. “Someone you go to school with?”

  “Never mind,” Janis said quickly. “So, I called Tom today—from the band—and told them to be there tomorrow night at seven, and that they go on at eight. Esme, you and I should be there to meet them, and I’m assuming that Karen and Kendra will be there too, now that they’re, like, in looove with this band.”

  “Wait,” Ji-A said. “So people at your school actually like this band?”

  Cassandra gave a snort. “No,” she said. “Esme cast a little spell to convince the dance committee.”

  “Well done,” Ruby said, smiling.

  “Oh!” Amirah said. “So that’s what you needed the popularis spell for. I was wondering.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Trust me, I’m not trying to win prom queen.”

  “You’d look really cute in a crown,” Ji-A said.

  “Totally,” Amirah agreed. “Like one of those little yellow diamond ones from Tiffany! You would look just like a petite pixie princess!”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’ll look into that.”

  “The dance is at the school?” Ji-A asked.

  “In the school gym,” I said. “I know, it’s like the lamest—”

  But Amirah interrupted me by clapping her hands. “We get to go to a dance! In a gym!” she said with a squeal. “This is going to be the best weekend ever!”

  “You don’t have dances in New York?” Janis asked.

  “Oh no, we do,” she said. “But our school’s gym is an Equinox, and there’s no way we could have a dance there, so they were always someplace boring. Like the Met.”

  “How awful,” I said, unable to keep myself from smiling.

  “It is,” Amirah agreed. “Like, I already have to go there once a year for the Met Ball, so just have it someplace else, right?”

  “So, you want to go by the house to scope it out tonight?” Ruby asked, looking between me and Cassandra. “That way, we have plenty of time to get anything we might need.”

  Cassandra nodded. “I don’t think we should all go, though,” she said. “Since we’re trying to be inconspicuous.”

  “That’s okay!” Janis said. “Amirah, Ji-A, and I will just go back to my house and try on their clothes. Wait—I mean, hang out.”

  Cassandra turned to me and Mallory and said, “You guys come with us, and I can drop you back at Esme’s on the way home.”

  Everyone agreed with the plan, and we star
ted to gather up our stuff.

  “Cassandra,” Janis said, “if you can pick up Esme and Mallory in the morning, I can go directly to Brian’s and we can all meet there.”

  Ruby nodded happily. “Maybe we can grab some flowers or something,” she suggested. “It’d be nice to take him a host gift.”

  I smiled. “Brian would fall over dead,” I said, and Ruby looked at me quizzically. “I mean, he would love that,” I clarified. Janis offered to share the spreadsheet with the out-of-towners if they had any questions about the weekend’s schedule, and only looked slightly disappointed when everyone declined. Then we headed toward the van, and before I could stop her, Ruby opened the sliding door and climbed into the back.

  “Esme, you take shotgun,” she said as Mallory got in with her.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, climbing in as Cassandra started the van.

  “Oh yeah. I want to stretch out on the floor,” she responded, then contorted herself into a yoga pose that I’d previously only seen in illustrations.

  “Wow,” I said as we started to pull away from the curb. “I didn’t even know that was possible in a moving vehicle.”

  “Anyone can do it,” she said, her voice not even strained from being upside down. “It just takes balance.”

  “Do you do yoga?” I asked Mallory.

  “Only Savasana,” she answered. “And only right before bed.”

  “Same,” I said, laughing. “Same.”

  It was only a ten-minute drive to the band’s house. A streetlamp was out on their block, and the darkness made everything seem even quieter. Cassandra drove past the house, and in the back of the van, Ruby and Mallory got on their knees so they could look out the window.

  “Which one is it?” Mallory asked.

  “That one right there,” Cassandra said, pointing.

  “With the purple car?” Mallory asked, her nose and forehead crunched in disbelief, or maybe it was confusion.