by Molly Snow
Chapter 6
As Surla was walking home, she heard the sound of footsteps follow behind her. She turned to see Tiffany, Chrissy, and a Hawaiian-looking girl with long black hair. Chrissy smiled slightly at Surla. The two other girls started whispering.
Wind started blowing golden and brown leaves down the sidewalk. Idis’s favorite month, Surla thought. Revere Park could be seen with its maple trees and segments of a short stone wall wrapping around it. As she was getting closer, sheets upon sheets of paper were spotted, posted on the trees. I wonder what those could be. Maybe a big event is going to happen. They rippled in the breeze, when suddenly one ripped loose. It flew, twisting and turning in her direction. It finally ended up face down a few feet away.
When Surla picked it up and saw what it contained, she gasped. It wasn’t about an event; it was about herself! Her ice-blue eyes skimmed the horribly drawn picture of a black cat. In bold ink, at the bottom, was written, “Idis’s missing cat, Surla. 713 Shadyside Street.”
Chills ran through her body, as her eyes darted to the numerous fliers. I can’t let anyone see these!
“What’s the matter, Cathy?” Tiffany mocked, as she and her two friends walked ahead.
“Just keep walking.” Surla wasn’t in the mood to be bothered by the snob. Something more troubling was on her mind.
She hopped easily over the small stone wall, to the park, and headed to a tree with three of the same notices posted. After ripping them down, she continued gathering more. “So, so many,” Surla murmured. Sheets blew all around her, twirling through the air and catching in bushes and benches. Pretty soon she held a stack of about twenty.
“Hey!” Surla recognized the growling voice from behind her as she kneeled, picking up another. Her heart skipped a couple beats when she turned to see Idis scowling at her.
“What do you think you are doing?” The frenzied witch snatched the papers out of Surla’s shaking hands.
Surla brushed a flyaway strand of brown hair out of her eyes nervously. “I-I was just… collecting some?”
“What do you mean, ‘collecting some’?” She copied the unsure answer.
Her glowing, pale green eyes made Surla feel as if Idis could see right through to her true identity.
“Um… uh, uh,” she stammered. “Because I-I.” Stop acting like this, Surla! she scolded herself. If you keep this up, Idis is sure to figure it out.
“Oh, just shut up and get out of my way!” A cold hand pushed Surla down onto a bench. She then proceeded to nail a flier to a tree with a small hammer held in her dress pocket. “I don’t want to see you pick up any more of my missing cat notices. If you even had a clue as to who I am…” Idis aimed wrong, hitting her thumb. “Ouch!” she yelped, dropping the hammer on her black boot.
If only you had a clue as to who I am, Surla considered with fright. Without hesitating any longer, she hopped the wall and jogged to Cathy’s home.
She entered the house through the unlocked garage door. Once in the kitchen she heard the sound of splashing water and singing. “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the streeeam!”
What is she doing? Surla quietly peeked around the corner to see the living room, where Cathy was scrubbing the wooden floors. Green sponges were hooked to each paw. “Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dreeeam.”
“If you’re going to croon, stay in tune.” Surla laughed, surprising Cathy.
“Don’t scare me like that. For a second you sounded like my mother. She would have had a heart attack if she saw a singing cat!”
“What happened in here?” Surla saw a bucket of sudsy water and muddy paw prints everywhere.
“Sadie, the dog from next door, chased me all around outside and before I could jump back inside through the window I ran into a muddy puddle.”
“I never did like dogs.” Surla said as she grabbed a sponge from underneath one of Cathy’s paws. “I’ll help. It will get done quicker.”
“Thanks.” Cathy’s skinny tail popped up suddenly. “What happened at school today? You know I’ve been dying for you to tell me.”
“School was fun, but let me first tell something more important that happened after school.” She pulled off her tennis shoes before cleaning.
“What?” Cathy stopped in interest.
“I ran into Idis at Revere Park.”
“No way! An encounter with the witch?”
“Yep. And she’s been really busy lately.”
“What do you mean?”
“She must have over a hundred fliers about me.” Surla groaned. “Maybe two hundred.”
“Really!”
“Uh huh, and there’s nothing I can do about it, because she threatened me when seeing that I gathered a bunch of them.”
“Oh no,” Cathy growled. “What if my mom sees one of those?”
“All we can do is hope she doesn’t.”
“You’re right.” Cathy continued scrubbing the floor. “What’s today’s good news?”
“Well, I saw Craig in P.E. We were on the same tennis court and he told you he was sorry for not giving you a ride home Friday.”
“Oh my gosh! He did?”
“Yes.” Surla laughed. “But he didn’t even recognize you at first.”
“He didn’t?” Her voice lowered in disappointment.
“Oh, don’t worry. I can tell he thinks you’re cute.” Surla looked down at the tight black outfit she had picked out. “Everyone thought you were. You received so many compliments and heads turning today. One compliment I know was from a guy named Todd, and then another by a girl named Chrissy.”
“Chrissy and Todd?” Cathy’s ears stood straight up like radars.
“Yes, why?”
“Well, it’s just that Chrissy hangs out with Tiffany, the girl I told you about who I don’t like at all, and Todd… well, he’s that really cute quarterback of our football team.”
“He is cute.” Surla stopped in thought for a second. “Do you think he’s cuter than Craig?”
“I don’t know.” Cathy sighed. They were almost done cleaning the floor. “They are about the same, but if I had to choose… I would choose Craig, of course. He just seems like a really cool guy. He can get any girl he desires.”
“Well, things are starting off pretty good between you two so far.” Surla finished the last dirty spot, then returned the bucket and sponges to underneath the kitchen sink.
“Hi, Cathy. Hi, Licorice.” Julie came in the front door, as they were laying on the couch, exhausted by the day. She took a seat next to them exclaiming how tired her feet were.
“Hi, Mom.” Surla sat up and yawned.
“I smell Pinesol.” She smiled, looking at the shiny wood floors. “Thanks. I’ll finish up later with some wood wax.”
“No problem.” Surla pulled down her high ponytail that was giving her a headache.
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot.” Julie pulled a folded up piece of paper out of her pants pocket. “This was posted on our door, before I left to the post office this morning.”
Cathy and Surla turned to each other. Both had apprehension spelled across their faces. They knew what was to be shown—Idis’s missing cat notices.
“I just thought this was important… a Halloween party at Revere Park. There will be dancing, contests, and spooky treats.” She then read straight from the notice. “This event is for both of the city’s high schools to attend. They can have fun and be safe at the same time.” She paused and looked up at Surla in the eyes. “Well, Cathy, what I was thinking was… you should go to this party… you know, because you aren’t as social as you could be.” Cathy rolled her yellow eyes as her mother continued, “You haven’t had any friends over in a while… and the only person who calls is your cousin in Kentucky.”
Surla thought that to be funny and grinned. Cathy on the other hand did not find it amusing at all—her right ear twitched.
Julie sat there, waiting for some response.
“I’ll go.” Surla smil
ed slightly, but inside she couldn’t hold her excitement, Oh boy, oh boy, sounds so fun!
“Did I just hear you say you’ll go to this Halloween party?”
“Yes, Mom. Don’t worry, I’ll go. It sounds like fun.”
“Well, I’m happy I didn’t have to beg.”
“Oh, no. It’s fine.” Surla leaned over to rub her cheek against Julie’s in a purr, but was grasped into a hug.
The next day at school, in a light breeze, Surla played tennis with Craig again. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, except for Chrissy. She was constantly missing the ball, even if it headed straight for her racket. The guys were ahead in points, of course, and Chrissy didn’t seem to care.
What’s wrong with her? She was doing so well yesterday. Why isn’t she putting much effort into it today? Surla thought.
After losing all of the games to Travis and Craig, Surla ran to the corner of the court to get a drink of water. Chrissy collected the rackets and returned them to the stand. As Surla drank, Craig snuck up from behind and tickled the sides of her stomach.
“Hey!” She turned around, wiping water from off her chin.
He smiled and his blue eyes lit up. “Sorry, but you were drinking for so long, I was wondering if you were going to save any for me.”
She laughed, playfully pushing his shoulder. Craig then took a quick drink and turned to Surla again. “Hey, um, can I get your number?”
My number? she thought, puzzled. “13?” I like that number.
Chrissy unknowingly saved her from more embarrassment by tapping her on the shoulder and saying, “Come on… Mrs. Brown is calling us. We’ll be late for our next class.”
“Oh, okay.” Surla looked to the locker room and saw the teacher waving for them to hurry up. “Bye, Craig.” Surla walked off with Chrissy.
“I guess I’ll get it later then!” Craig called.
“He’ll get what later?” Chrissy asked, concerned.
“Oh.” Surla recalled his strange question. “He said he wanted my number.” They entered the musty locker room.
“Don’t give it to him.” Chrissy’s big brown eyes were serious.
“But why?”
Chrissy pulled her hair out of its short ponytail, then continued, “I warned you about how Tiffany likes him. Just take my advice and don’t do it; don’t give him your number.”
Surla decided she would have to wait until after school to ask Cathy what she wanted to do about the situation. How bad can Tiffany be? she thought, undisturbed.
In Chemistry, Surla sat next to Todd again, since he saved a seat for her. Mrs. Spencer was at the front of the class, giving another one of her hard-to-understand lectures. Everyone was expected to write notes, and that’s exactly what Todd and Surla did, except they were writing them to each other.
Using his elbow, Todd passed the paper onto her side of the long lab desk they shared. Surla glanced down and read: You look really nice today, just like you did yesterday.
She had chosen to wear a navy-blue turtleneck, from Julie’s closet. Her hair was down this time, with the ends curled from rollers, and her eyes were once again emphasized by the black liner.
She wrote back in loopy letters: Thank you. You look really nice also.
His dark hair was styled neatly and when he read her response he smiled, showing dimples. He wrote back: Have you decided if you want me tutoring you after school?
Surla had completely forgotten to ask Cathy’s mom if it would be all right. I really need the help though. Especially since there will be a test soon! Remembering that, she had made up her mind: Yes, I have thought about it and decided I would like you to help me.
She pushed the note over, and he quickly jotted down: Great! I’ll teach you about Chemistry, while we make some of our own :0)
Surla had a good idea of what he meant by that. I’m not supposed to be attracting you. I’m supposed to be attracting Craig, she thought. So, she wrote: Let’s just stay with the dictionary’s definition of Chemistry, for now.
After class, Surla let him know that tomorrow would be good for him to come over. She needed time to tell Cathy and her mom about it first.
This time, when walking home, Tiffany, Lisa and Chrissy were ahead of Surla. Tiffany wore a red cotton dress that, according to the wind’s direction, blew to and fro along with her hair. She had to admit, Tiffany was a very pretty human. Perhaps a little too thin, she thought; but, very pretty, nonetheless.
Her eyes then scanned over to Lisa. Her black hair was incredibly long, reaching passed her rear in a thick braid. Her figure was cute; she was petite.
Surla noticed Chrissy’s brown hair actually had some red highlights in it. She wore a turtleneck, like Surla today, but it was black. All three of them together made an incredible sight.
HONK! HONK! A red sports car pulled up alongside the girls. Tiffany smiled brightly as the driver’s window rolled down. Craig’s blond hair was blowing back with the breeze. “Hi, Tiffany. Hi, Lisa. Hi, Chrissy.”
No ‘hi’ for me! Surla stopped in her tracks.
“Hey, Craig.” Tiffany walked over to him with books in her hands. “I’ll just throw my stuff in the back.” She waved over her two friends.
“Actually,” Craig stopped her, “I think I owe someone else a ride.” His eyes looked to Surla and she smiled.
Tiffany glanced around. “Who?” she said as if she was oblivious to Surla’s presence.
“Cathy.” He called her over with the wave of a hand.
“Her?” the snob said in disgust. “Well, fine. That’s all right, because I’m getting my license soon and won’t need a ride home anymore.” She turned around sharply, pulling Lisa’s arm. “Come on.”
Surla waved bye to Chrissy as she entered the sports car; but, in response the girl just shook her head, then kept walking with her friends.
Craig took off, speeding as usual. “So, where do you live?”
Surla had to jog her memory for the street names. “Oh yeah, Spaulding Way off of B Street.”
He laughed. “Did you almost forget where you live?”
“No… it’s just, never mind.” She had no good answer.
“You always walk home?” he asked like he already knew the answer.
“Yes.” Surla looked in the rear view mirror at the three girls turning into dots, then disappearing in the distance. “Tiffany looked pretty mad back there.”
“She’ll live. Sometimes she can really get on my nerves.” He turned on some rock music.
“She gets on my nerves all the time,” Surla said as he turned a corner almost reaching Cathy’s house. “It’s that house with the peach tree in front.”
He came to a stop in front of the small home. Before she opened her passenger-side door, Craig’s warm hand reached for hers. “Wait,” he said and she turned in her seat, seeing him smile softly, “if ever you need a ride, just ask. The weather is getting colder and colder.” His hand still held hers. “Oh, and I guess you can just give me your number when you feel comfortable.”
She would have given it to him right then if she knew what he was talking about. “Thanks a lot, Craig.” Surla opened the door and he gave her hand a squeeze before letting go.
As soon as she entered the house, Cathy was at her feet all bright eyed. “What just happened? I saw you exit Craig’s car!”
“Cathy, Cathy, Cathy, Cathy.” She picked her up and cradled her in her arms. “First, I want to know how you knew that?!”
“If you must know, I am stuck here all day by myself watching talk shows, napping, or perched on a windowsill watching birds.” She was slightly embarrassed of her quick confession. “Anyway, while looking out the window, I saw you drive up in his car—Craig’s car! So, pleeeeease hurry and tell me what happened.”
“Okay,” she said, self-satisfied. “I’ve been hooking him by my cat-like ways.”
“Tiffany, this is not fair,” Chrissy said, still walking home with her and Lisa. “What has she ever done to you?”
“No, she’s not,” Chrissy defended. “She’s just finally coming out of her shell.”
“All these years, I have been the girl who guys go crazy for. I am not going to let some geek-gone-gorgeous steal that away from me,” she said matter-of-factly. “She deserves whatever’s coming to her.”
“My phone number is 555-9145.” Cathy showed Surla the buttons on the cordless phone. “Okay, the phone is to talk to people that are far away. You talk into it and they talk back through their phone. You can hear each other.”
“Ooh! I saw your mom using it last night and was wondering what she was doing.” Surla laughed.
“I can’t believe Idis didn’t have one of these.”
“Well, she had something like this. She got in contact with other witches through a mirror.”
“Now, that sounds a little too much like a fairy-tale to me.”
“A little too fairy-tale-like, huh.” Surla tilted her head. “How would you describe our situation?”
“Okay, you win.”
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” Idis contorted her body into the sexiest move she could make, in front of a full length mirror. Black iron wound around it in a gothic manner. “Well?!” she yelled at it for an answer.
“I’m sorry, Idis,” the congenial deep voice said, “I’m not in the mood to play Snow White.” The glass swirled with changing colors.
“Oh well,” the witch grunted, “what I really wanted to do was call up my sister, Gretchen.”
“Gretchen?” he repeated. “All right.” Sounds of dialing started. Then slowly coming out of a blue fog, a tall beautiful woman in a bikini appeared with a seascape rolling behind her.
“Yes, Vladimirror?” the woman purred.
“Who are you?” Idis’s neck protruded like an angry chicken. “You sure aren’t my sister!”
“Oops,” the mirror chuckled in embarrassment. “I must have hit redial.”
“Well, Vladimirror, I see what you do in your spare time. Now get Gretchen!”
“Okay, okay.” There was a series of beeps, like more dialing, and this time out of a green fog, a short, frumpy witch appeared. She wore layers of old clothing and her red hair was stringy. “Well I’ll be a good witch!” She cackled sarcastically. “You haven’t called me up in ice ages, Idis! You must have some crisis going on.”
“Gretchen, I need you to do a favor for me,” Idis choked out.
“A favor from me?” She cackled some more. “What’s wrong? Did your cat finally run away?”
“Yes!” she yelled, stomping her boot’s sole on the floor.
“Well, what do you want from me…? To build a fire, to clip your toenails?” Gretchen paused, then continued, “Oh, that’s not possible. Your toenails are probably harder than a tooth!”
“That’s not true.” They argued like children. “I just clipped them last week!” Idis took a deep breath in to calm herself. “I, uh, was wanting to know if I could borrow your cat.”
“Ha ha! Little Pusface wouldn’t want to spend a minute with you. Besides, how would I do my magic without him?”
“It will just be for a little while. I need him to help me find Surla.”
“Why, that’s impossible.” Gretchen placed her pudgy hands on her hips. “You know if my cat goes out there hunting for yours, then it can become BeSwitched.”
“No, remember the Black Cats’ Curse only applies if your cat runs away. Pussface will be helping me, not running away.”
“Oh yes, how could I forget?” She stood in thought for a moment. “What would I get out of this?”
“Well, Vladimirror can hook you up with The Witches’ Home Shopping Network.”
“Hmmmm.” Gretchen rubbed her hands together. “That sounds like a deal. You know I enjoy collecting junk.” Right then a scruffy black cat was tossed into Idis’s arms.
“Bye,” Idis called.
“Bye, bye. I’ll be waiting for my shopping network.” Her sister disappeared in the green fog.
“Hey, you didn’t ask me if I wanted to hook the shopping network up for her,” the mirror whined.
“Don’t feel too bad,” Pussface commented. “At least you aren’t exchanged with other witches without being asked.”
“Hush up, you mangy critter.” Idis dropped him to the floor of her bedroom. “You are going to help me find Surla no matter how you feel.”
“I kinda figured that already.”
Surla couldn’t believe two weeks had already passed. Time was flying faster than anticipated. Being a human was becoming second nature to her and tomorrow would be the last day for playing tennis in P.E. Every two weeks they would learn a new sport.
Surla had planned on making all the flirtatious moves on Craig, but he ended up making them all on her. Before playing, he asked if he could get her phone number again. Chrissy and Travis had to wait while he got a pen to write it on his forearm. “555-9145,” he repeated.
“Yes.” Surla smiled, now knowing this was a major step in gaining a relationship.
When she returned to her side of the court, Chrissy shook her head in disapproval. Surla had not forgotten the warning about Tiffany, but she felt that intimidation shouldn’t stop her from helping Cathy’s situation. Whenever Surla scored a point, Craig would wink at her. Sometimes it even seemed as if the points were given to her, especially since Chrissy wasn’t putting in full effort again. And she could see how annoyed Craig’s partner was becoming, for letting her and Chrissy win.
When it was one of Craig’s turns to serve, he moved his eyebrows up and down at Surla before whacking the ball. The ball whirled in the air and Surla tried to reach it with her racket, but it was too far away. Instead it went flying toward Chrissy.
Chrissy was looking at her nails.
“Watch out!” Surla called, but it was too late. The ball knocked her on her forehead.
“I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Craig ran over to the net.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She rubbed the red spot and shot him a fiery look. Surla knew it must have hurt, but that didn’t seem like a good enough reason to be angry.
“It was an accident,” Surla told her.
Chrissy dropped her racket and went to the comer of the court. “Tell Mrs. Brown I’m hurt if she asks why I’m sitting out.”
“I’m really sorry,” Craig said once more.
She must be mad for more reasons than the fact that the ball hit her in the head, Surla concluded. Craig and Travis began bouncing the ball off the wall, while Surla went to the corner to talk.
“What?!” Chrissy said, pestered.
“So, what’s been going on? Why have you been acting like this for the last couple of days?”
“Acting like what?”
“Come on, Chrissy. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She sighed.
“Whenever people say ‘nothing’ it usually means ‘something.’” Surla sat down. “You can tell me. Does it have to do with Tiffany?” she said, lowering her voice.
“It’s about Craig and Tiffany. I told you already, she likes him.”
“I know, but if Craig likes me then I should go for him. I don’t think he likes her.”
Chrissy sat, watching the guys still hit the ball off of the cement wall. “I understand how you feel, Cathy.” She looked Surla straight in the eyes. “But I don’t think you understand what Tiffany is capable of doing. I’m sure she could get Craig right now or talk him into anything.”
“Then why hasn’t she done it yet?” Surla played with the draw-string to her sweats, not bothered by Chrissy’s warning.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head.
“Why isn’t this court playing tennis?” Mr. Townshend yelled to them. Instantly they all went to their spots, even Chrissy. This time Travis served the ball.
In Chemistry,
Surla reran the conversation she had with Chrissy over and over in her mind. Should I be afraid of Tiffany? she seriously considered.
Todd passed a note to Surla with his elbow, which said, What’s wrong?
I just have a lot on my mind, she wrote back.
Do you still want me to come over today?
That question conjured a guilty feeling, because she still didn’t get around to asking Cathy or her mom if it would be okay to have Todd over. Of course I still want you to come over, she wrote anyway.
Good!!! I was hoping you’d say that.
Do you have a car? Surla desperately didn’t want to walk home.
Todd’s truck was a dark blue. The interior had brown, leather seats, which Surla liked the most. When she sat down it was nice and cushiony. The feeling reminded her of how soft her fur used to feel.
As they drove by Revere Park, Todd pointed out Tiffany, Lisa and Chrissy. “I used to like Tiffany.”
That didn’t surprise Surla. “Didn’t every guy at one time like her?”
He smiled, but didn’t answer.
Surla stared a minute noticing his nice profile. His nose was perfectly sloped and his eyebrows were dark and shaped around alluring green eyes. But she thought his cheekbones were the most attractive; they stood out, making him look more masculine or older than the other boys at school.
“What are you looking at?” He smiled and turned to her a second.
“You.”
“I know. I saw you out of the corner of my eye.” Todd laughed.
“Then why did you ask?” she teased.
Right then, a roaring engine was heard. A red sports car zoomed by and Surla caught sight of three girls sitting three-in-a-row in the back seat: a blonde, a brunette and a black-haired beauty. She knew exactly who they were. Didn’t Craig say Tiffany can get on his nerves? Surla remembered the conversation she had riding home with him just yesterday.
Cathy was perched up on the windowsill, as usual, watching birds go by. She liked it especially when the feathery creatures would land. To see them hopping around on the concrete made her excited, even yearning to go out and play. She had no intention of eating one, just playing, but no way would she leave the house after what happened with Sadie the other day.
“I had a boring life as a human, and now I’m having a boring life as a cat.” Cathy said to herself. Her ears twitched at the thought. “Oh well, that’s why Surla’s working to help me out.”
Soon after, she saw a shiny blue truck with tinted windows pull up to the curb.
“Who could that be?” She squinted her yellow eyes, trying to see through the windows, but it was no use. The passenger side door opened to reveal a pretty girl with a high ponytail. “Surla!” She was happy and anxious, wondering what happened to her at school today.
Surla grabbed her backpack and stepped out onto the lawn. Then, the top of a guy’s head was revealed as he came out of the driver’s side. He had dark hair. “That’s not Craig, so who is it?” Cathy said right before Todd appeared, walking next to Surla. “Todd?! Why’s he coming over? Oh my gosh… how do I look?” She started running toward a mirror, but stopped short. “You idiot. You’re a cat. You always look good… cuddly and cute,” she told herself.
