“Hey, everybody!” Kristyn Spellan cried as she burst through the homeroom door. She spun around and around, and as she did so, the other guys in the room stared. Kristyn was certainly the prettiest, most popular girl in school. Everybody loved her. She was perfect. Everyone wanted to be just like her. Everyone, that is, except me, Jicxie Darenesk. I did not like Kristyn, but I was stuck with her. She and I were cousins.
“Hey, Susie! Got my hair styled yesterday! You like it?” Kristyn asked as she fingered her perfectly curled blonde hair. Her light pink strand of hair rested delicately on her right shoulder.
“Totes adorbes!” Susie exclaimed. Susie Lyrica was a go-with-the-flow type of girl, one who followed the crowd.
Showoff, I thought bitterly. I curled my blue streak of hair around my index finger. I chewed at the end of it. I had a bad habit of chewing my hair when I wanted to distract myself from something. Right now, it was Kristyn who was annoying me. As I mulled over how annoying Kristyn was, the lights seemed to dim and flicker. Everyone looked up at the wavering lights. Some of the girls yelped. Suddenly, the lights burst and died. People started yelling for lights. Kristyn tried to call for order.
“Guys! Chill! It’s going to fine!”
People started to slow down and take a seat.
“That’s it!” encouraged Kristyn. She clapped her hands delightedly.
All this time, I was sitting at my desk near the back of the classroom. I stared up at the lights. I looked at my hand. It was clenched. I opened my fist and the lights went back on. I closed my hand in a fist again and the lights started to go out again. I opened my hand again. The lights turned on again. By now, most of the kids were staring at me. I opened my hand one last time. The lights turned on. Everyone glared at me. I shrunk down in my desk. At that moment, the teacher, Miss Molina, entered the classroom. She followed the line of glances until her gaze rested on me. She didn’t know what had happened, but she knew that it must have been trouble. Miss Molina shook her head at Jicxie. At that moment, I wished I could disappear. Instead, I looked down at my hands in my lap. What had just happened?
“Mom?” I called. “I’m home! Can we talk?” I walked slowly down the front hall, looking for my mom. My mom, Selene, had a strange habit of turning up in weird places. Once, I had found her in the hall closet, closing her eyes and almost absorbing the darkness. Another time, I found her in a tree at night, staring up at the full moon. Either way, I hoped that Mom would be accessible.
“Hello, my dear. How was thy… your day?”
I jumped. I turned around. My mom was right behind me. She was holding an intricate, leather-covered notebook. And there it was again: I noticed that Mom had said “thy” again. For some weird reason, my mom used “thou,” “thy,” and “thee” a lot. I wondered why.
“I had a good day, I guess…” I said slowly. I had just noticed something. Mom seemed to be glowing; a bluish haze hovered around her. I decided that it was my mind playing tricks on me.
“You guess? I know from experience that that usually means that you have had a… what is it again… a bummer day. What happened?” Mom asked.
“Oh, well…” I faltered. Would my mom believe me or not? “Well… today, at homeroom, when I was taking a seat, Kristyn came into the room. As usual, she was being a showoff.” At this moment, Mom put her hand on my shoulder.
“Let’s go sit down, Jicxie. I’ve made a snack.” Mom pointed to the dining table, where a glass of milk and a plate of cookies sat on the table. I noticed that the cookies were shaped like crescent moons. I smiled despite my jealousy. My mom always made it a point to cook something shaped like a moon, like a sandwich cut into with a moon cookie cutter, or in this case, moon-shaped cookies. I walked over to the dark, wooden table and grabbed a cookie. I took a bite.
“Mmm!” I sighed. “So good!”
“Wonderful!” my mom exclaimed as she pulled out a chair and sat down across from me. She grinned as she watched me tuck into the cookies. “So,” Mom said quietly after a moment of silence. “What happened at school today?”
I stopped mid-chew. “Oh,” I sighed. “That. Well, as I was saying, Kristyn was being a total showoff (as usual), and I got really jealous. I clenched my fist and all of a sudden, the lights started to dim and flicker. Kristyn called for order, and even I listened to her. I unclenched my fist and the lights went back on, and as Kristyn clapped, the lights seemed to get even brighter! I sound crazy, don’t I?” I asked.
“No,” Mom said, without skipping a beat. “You do not sound crazy. I understand.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I was once outshone by… someone,” Selene stopped herself.
“Who?” I pushed.
“No one, my dear. You should go to your room and start your homework while I start cooking dinner. We’re having company.”
“Really? Who?” I asked, curious.
“Oh, my dear girl. You must have a lot of homework,” my mom said, trying to change the subject. “You should go to your room. I want you to try to finish your schoolwork before dinner tonight.”
“Oh,” I sighed. “Okay, Mom. I’ll go start my work.” I turned on my heel and trudged up the stairs. At that same moment, my dad, Lenny Darenesk, walked in the front door. Being the principal of Manetown Elementary School made it so that Dad could come home earlier than most dads.
“I’m home, Lu… Selene!” he called. I stopped halfway up the staircase. Why did Dad hesitate? I wondered. He started to say something, like he was going to call Mom something else. I shook my head. Maybe I was just going crazy. First, I had made lights flicker, and now I was hearing things! I ran up the stairs to her room, where piles of textbooks and papers awaited me.
Ding, dong, went the doorbell. I slammed my algebra book closed. Finally, I had finished my dumb homework. I rose from my black, cushioned swivel chair, walked past my bed with the blue quilts covered in stars, and opened my bedroom door. The tantalizing smells of spaghetti and meatballs wafted through the hallway and into my nose. I heard Dad walk to the front hallway and open the door.
“John! Kalissa!” he cried delightedly.
Uh, oh, I thought. If Aunt Kalissa and Uncle John are here, then that means that…
“Hi, Aunt Selene! Love your hair! Did you get it curled?”
Yep. Kristyn was here, too.
“Hello, my dear,” I heard Mom say. I imagined that she was hugging Kristyn at that moment.
“Hey, where’s Jicxie?” Kristyn asked my mom.
No, Mom, I pleaded telepathically. Don’t tell...
“I believe that she’s in her room, Kristyn. She’s finishing her homework.”
“Why don’t you go say hello?” I heard Aunt Kalissa suggest.
“How about you don’t?” I muttered bitterly.
“Okay, Mom!” Kristyn called as she headed for the stairs. “I’ll go do that!” I heard my cousin’s soft footsteps clomp up the stairs.
“Oh, no,” I whined.
“Hey, Jicxie!” Kristyn called down the hallway. “You there?”
“Yeah,” I groaned. “I’m here.”
G-R-8! Great! You wanna hang out?”
“Not particularly,” I replied.
“Jicxie,” came Dad’s warning voice from the first floor.
“Okay,” I submitted. I opened my bedroom door wider for Kristyn to enter. “Hey, Kristyn,” I greeted my cousin half-heartedly.
“Hey, Jicx!”
“Jicx?” I repeated incredulously.
“Yeah! It’s the new nickname I’m givin’ you! And you can call me ‘Kris!’”
“No way.” I waved the idea away. “Just because we’re cousins and our moms are sisters doesn’t mean that we can be… you know…”
“Friends?” Kristyn finished my sentence. She slowly sunk down into my swivel chair.
“Well… yeah.” I bit my lip. If Mom and Dad were in here, I’d be in so much trouble for speaking to Kristyn this way, but they weren’t.
“That’s totes fine!” Kristyn exclaimed.
“It is?” I asked, surprised. I had expected Kristyn to throw a tantrum, like the rich, spoiled popular kids like her usually did.
“Yeah! I expected you to say that! I mean, you and I are like, total opposites! It would seem weird for you to want to be BFFs right away,” Kristyn said.
“Okay, Kristyn,” I said. “Do you maybe want to start as, I don’t know… frenemies?”
“Sure! Better that than blood enemies.” Kristyn was too optimistic for her own good.
“Okay, then,” I sighed. The room was silent for a few minutes. Then, Kristyn broke the barrier of silence.
“So, what do you wanna talk about?”
“Oh, um… How about your Sweet 16 coming up?” I suggested.
Kristyn’s face lit up. “Yeah! It’s gonna be totes amaze! Mom’s getting a DJ for the party, and we’re gonna have a chocolate fountain and a seafood buffet, and my dad is leaving the house that night. He says that parties like my Sweet 16 are too ‘crazy’ for him! Plus, you’re coming!”
“I’m what?” I bolted upright. I didn’t remember RSVP’ing!
“You’re coming to my party,” Kristyn repeated. “Your mom said that you were going to come to my party!”
“Oh,” I sighed. I rested my head in my hands. I couldn’t go to Kristyn’s party, not when all of the other popular kids were going to be there. And seafood? No way. “Kristyn, I hate to break it to you, but I can’t go to your party,” I said.
“What?” Kristyn looked heartbroken. “Why?”
“Well,” I began, “I have a big… magic test that day.” Magic test? I thought. Where did that come from?
“A magic test?” Kristyn asked skeptically.
I blushed and nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been taking magic classes in my free time. I have a test on the same night as your party.” I was shocked. I had lied.
Kristyn squinted her eyes, as if she was trying to read my thoughts. After a few silent, agonizing seconds, Kristyn opened her eyes again. “M’kay! I believe you. I mean, us frenemies gotta stick together.”
“Mm-hmm…” I agreed uncomfortably. “Yep.”
“Girls! Time to eat!” came Aunt Kalissa’s voice from the kitchen.
Saved by the aunt, I thought as I trotted toward the staircase. “C’mon, Kristyn! We’re having spaghetti!” I ran down the stairs, with Kristyn following not far behind.