by Isobel Bird
“But it’s not like I mentioned them by name,” Annie protested.
Cooper gave her a look. “Everyone knows who the old flame in her life is,” she said. “You didn’t have to say his name. And the only people who know about Tyler besides Kate are you and me. Now people are going to wonder who this mystery guy is.”
“Maybe they’ll forget about it,” Annie suggested.
“Right,” Cooper said sarcastically. “That bunch never gossips about anything.”
Annie knew Cooper was right. She had made a big mistake by even bringing up Kate’s love life in front of the girls from school, especially Sherrie. Even though Annie hadn’t mentioned any names, she knew Sherrie was probably trying to figure out who the new man in Kate’s love life was.
“Do you think I did anything wrong?” Annie asked Cooper.
“Besides ever talking to that crowd?” Cooper replied.
“I know you don’t like them,” Annie said. “But is it wrong for me to like being popular for a while? I’m not saying I think those girls would ever be the kind of friends that you and Kate are, but it’s kind of nice having them treat me like I’m not invisible for a change.”
“How so?” Cooper asked.
“No one has ever noticed me before,” Annie said carefully. “I’ve always just been that girl in the chemistry class or that girl with the weird glasses. Stuff like that. But Kate has been part of the in-crowd. And even though you don’t like those people, you have your own set of friends. They like you. They respect you because you can play the guitar and write music, and because you don’t care what people think.”
“And you do care?” said Cooper.
“Not most of the time,” Annie said. “I know there are more important things than who talks to you and who asks you out and what kind of shoes you wear. But I’ve never had people be interested in me for any special reasons.”
“Kate and I are,” Cooper told her. “You know that.”
Annie nodded. “I know,” she said. “But partly that’s because the three of us have this secret, right? If it hadn’t been for that spell book, we probably would never have been friends at all.”
“True,” Cooper admitted. “But do you think these people would really like you if you weren’t telling them things they wanted to hear?”
“Probably not,” said Annie truthfully. “But I did kind of promise Loren and her friends that I would do some more readings for them. Besides, it’s almost the end of the school year. That’s only a couple of weeks. Then it will be summer and everyone will forget all about me and the cards. Even Kate. In the fall I can come back to school as plain old Annie Crandall.”
Cooper made a noncommittal noise and opened one of her notebooks.
“What?” said Annie.
“Nothing,” Cooper said. “I was just thinking.”
“About what?” said Annie hesitantly.
“That old saying about being careful what you wish for,” Cooper replied.
“You do think I’m asking for trouble, don’t you?” Annie demanded.
“Maybe not asking for it exactly,” Cooper answered. “But coming pretty close to it.”
Annie didn’t respond. She knew Cooper wasn’t trying to be harsh or anything, but her friend’s response made her a little irritated. Why was everyone else allowed to be different but she had to stay the same? She’d supported Kate when all of Kate’s spells went wrong. She’d supported Cooper when she’d started having the visions of Elizabeth Sanger. In fact, she’d gotten into a lot of trouble herself because of things the two of them had done. But now that she was doing something interesting, and people were noticing her for it, Kate and Cooper were treating her as if she shouldn’t be doing it.
Added to the whole thing with her aunt and the house, it made her really frustrated. It was like she had no control over anything in her life at all.
“I know you’re a whiz with those Tarot cards,” Cooper said. “But right now I need you to be a whiz with science. Explain this stuff to me again.”
“I’m glad you think I’m good for something,” Annie said, taking Cooper’s notebook and looking at what she was studying. When she saw what was written there, she groaned. “What is this mess?” she asked.
“Lyrics,” Cooper said. “Sometimes I get inspired during class. But the important stuff is there. You just have to look.”
“No wonder you’re not on the honor roll,” Annie scolded.
For the next couple of hours she and Cooper went over the material for their finals. As she looked at her notes for the various classes, particularly chemistry, Annie thought about how understanding the information was a lot like reading Tarot cards. It was all about seeing a larger picture and understanding how all the different parts worked together. It made sense to her that she was good at figuring out what the cards were saying. Really, she was just piecing together a puzzle, the same way she would piece together an experiment in the lab.
“I think maybe I know why Elizabeth Sanger came to you,” she said, causing Cooper to look up from her notes.
“Why’s that?” Cooper asked. It had been something they had all been wondering about ever since Cooper had first had the visions. Why had the dead girl come to her and not to Kate or Annie? It wasn’t as if Elizabeth and Cooper had anything particular in common, and Cooper hadn’t shown any talent for contacting the dead before.
“You’re an outsider,” Annie explained, hoping what she was going to say would make sense. “You’re used to feeling a little out of place. Do you know what I mean?”
“I think so,” Cooper said. “This isn’t one of those backhanded compliments like when you tell someone they’re lucky they’re not pretty because then no one bothers them, is it?”
“No,” Annie said. “What I mean is that one of the great things about you is that you stand up for people other people ignore.”
“Where is this going?” Cooper asked.
“I was just thinking about why we each seem to be good at particular things. You were able to communicate with Elizabeth, and I think it’s because you’re tuned in to how people feel who are on the outside. I seem to be good at reading Tarot cards, which makes sense because I’m good at puzzles.”
“Where does that leave Kate?” Cooper asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Annie. “I don’t think we’ve found what she’s good at yet.”
“Maybe that’s part of why your little announcement the other night made her so upset,” Cooper suggested.
“I hadn’t thought about that,” Annie said. “You mean you think she might be a little jealous?”
“It’s possible,” Cooper said. “After all, we sort of got into this because of her. But she’s the only one who can’t tell her family. She lost her friends because of it, and now those same friends think you’re really cool because you can tell their fortunes. That’s probably a little hard to take, especially after everything that happened to me.”
“Maybe that’s the answer then,” Annie said.
“What?” Cooper asked.
“Finding out what Kate is good at,” Annie told her. “If we can find something that makes her feel special, she might not be so upset at me.”
Cooper looked wary. “I don’t think you can just go out and find what someone is good at,” she said. “I think she has to figure it out on her own.”
“But maybe we can help her along,” said Annie.
“I don’t like the sound of this,” said Cooper. “It’s like one of those Brady Bunch episodes where Marcia and Cindy decide to make Jan feel better about how she looks. Something always goes wrong.”
“Nothing will go wrong,” Annie said, getting up. “Come here.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Cooper.
“What else?” Annie said. “A reading. I’m going to ask the cards to show us what Kate is good at.”
Cooper sighed. “You’re not going to let this rest, are you?” she said.
“Just sit here and watch,�
�� Annie said as she sat on the floor and took the cards out. “If nothing happens I’ll forget all about it. What do you have to lose?”
“Fine,” said Cooper resignedly. “I’ll watch. But if those cards tell us to start sending anonymous love notes to Kate to perk her up, you’re on your own.”
Annie was already shuffling the cards. She closed her eyes and thought about Kate. She pictured her friend’s face, hoping that it would help her focus her intentions on the cards. When she thought she’d shuffled enough, she gave the cards a final cut and set them down.
“Here we go,” she said, turning the first one over.
“The Six of Cups,” Annie said. “That represents thinking about the past and about things that you’ve lost.”
“That makes sense,” Cooper commented. “She has given up a lot.”
Annie turned over the next card. “The Eight of Swords. Nasty.”
“What’s that one?” Cooper asked. “I always have to use the book.”
“Feeling trapped,” Annie said. “Usually because you think people are saying bad things about you.”
“Definitely true,” Cooper said. “I’m sure she thinks Sherrie is having a field day with what happened the other night.”
“Okay,” Annie continued. “This third card should show us what it is Kate is wishing would happen.”
She turned over the third card, which showed a woman forcing open the jaws of a lion. “Strength,” Annie said.
“She wants to be stronger?” Cooper asked doubtfully.
“As in courage,” Annie told her. “As in facing your fears and dealing with the negative things that might be happening to you.”
Cooper nodded. “So now we know what she wants. What do we do about it?”
“These final two cards should tell us how to help her out and what the outcome will be,” Annie explained.
“The Four of Rods and the Nine of Cups,” Annie said. “It looks like we have a chance. The Four suggests that what Kate is good at has to do with making people feel better about themselves. The Nine implies that if we can help her do that everything will be fine.”
“Great,” said Cooper. “Except that we still don’t know what it is that Kate is good at.”
Annie looked at the cards for a while, thinking. “Maybe it’s not as hard as we think it is,” she said. “Maybe instead of trying to figure out what Kate’s magical ability is we should be looking at something more ordinary.”
“Like what?” asked Cooper. “She’s good at sports, but that doesn’t really help us out, and I don’t see how her being good at sports makes other people feel good about themselves.”
“But what else is she good at?” Annie asked, stretching her foot to relieve the cramp that was forming from sitting so long with her legs crossed.
“Painting your toenails?” Cooper suggested, pointing at Annie’s foot, which still bore the results of Kate’s handiwork from the other night.
“That’s it!” Annie exclaimed.
“Toenails?” Cooper said. “Her amazing ability is painting toenails?”
“Not just toenails,” Annie said. “Everything. You and I don’t know anything about fashion or makeup or any of that stuff, right?”
“I know what I like,” said Cooper defensively. “Are you saying lavender hair isn’t stylish?”
“You know what I mean,” Annie said. “But Kate does. Look at how much she enjoyed picking out these new glasses for me and painting my nails. And you know she loves to take Sasha shopping.”
“That’s not exactly a skill,” Cooper said.
“To Kate it is,” Annie argued. “She really likes it. She likes helping people look better. It makes her feel good. I know she misses doing stuff like that with the Graces, even though she doesn’t say anything about it. Look how annoyed she got the other night when Sherrie offered to give me a makeover.”
“I don’t think shopping is going to solve everything,” Cooper said decidedly.
“No,” agreed Annie. “But it’s a start. And I’m not talking about just shopping. I’m talking head-to-toe total makeovers. Let Kate do whatever she wants to.”
“You’d let her do that to you?” Cooper said. “You are desperate.”
“Not just me,” Annie said.
Cooper stared at her, blinking. “Oh, no,” she said once she realized what Annie was saying. “This is your idea. Not mine.”
“You said you’d help if you could,” Annie insisted.
Cooper started to argue, but stopped when she saw the pleading look on Annie’s face and realized arguing wouldn’t do any good. Sighing, she shook her head.
“Next time I get to be Jan,” she said.
CHAPTER 8
“You really are a blond underneath all of that,” Kate said, looking at Cooper’s hair. “I would never have believed it.”
Cooper was sitting in the chair at Head Hunters, the hair salon Kate had insisted on taking them to after school. The stylist had covered the lavender color in Cooper’s hair with a dark blond color, and the three girls were looking at the results in the mirror.
“Do you like it?” Kate asked Cooper.
Cooper smiled. “Love it,” she said brightly.
“Good,” Kate said. “I’m going to go look at nail colors. Annie, you’re next.”
When Kate was gone Cooper grabbed Annie’s wrist and pulled her closer. “I am going to kill you,” she whispered through clenched teeth. “I look ridiculous.”
“You look fine,” Annie said. “Kind of like Meg Ryan.”
Cooper let out a little scream of horror. “I hope they give you a perm so tight you look like you’ve had a face-lift,” she said.
Annie was relieved that the makeover idea seemed to be working. Kate had barely said two words to her all day. But at lunch, when Annie mentioned that she and Cooper had been thinking of changing their looks, she’d perked up a little. Encouraged by her response, Annie had asked Kate what ideas she had. Almost immediately she’d made suggestions for what they could do to their hair, and within half an hour she’d made a list of places they could look for clothes. Now, after an hour in the salon, things seemed to be almost back to normal.
“I can’t believe you guys decided to do this,” Kate said, returning with several bottles of nail polish.
Annie smiled. “After Sherrie suggested it at the party I thought about it some more and decided it might be fun,” Annie said. “And who better to do it than you?”
“Well, I always was better at it than Sherrie was,” Kate said. “Don’t forget, it was my idea for the three of us to dress as the fairies from Sleeping Beauty for the Valentine’s Day dance.”
“Oh, I don’t think we’ll ever forget that,” said Cooper, who still hadn’t forgiven Kate for making her wear a pink dress that night.
“I just wish Sasha could have come with us,” Kate said, ignoring her. “Well, we can do it again when she’s finished with this stuff.”
It was Annie’s turn to have her hair done, and Cooper gratefully got out of the chair and went to sit in the waiting area while Kate consulted with the hair stylist over what to do to Annie’s head.
“The braid needs to go,” Kate said decisively, and the stylist nodded.
Annie squirmed. She’d always worn her hair in a braid, ever since she was a little girl. She remembered her mother combing it out and weaving the three strands together for her every couple of days. She’d barely ever had it cut except to trim it. Now they were talking about getting rid of it.
This is for Kate, she told herself over and over as they undid the rubber band holding her hair together and started to comb it out.
Half an hour later, when she put her glasses back on and looked in the mirror she almost didn’t recognize herself. The stylist had barely taken any length off her hair, but she had reworked it in a way that made Annie look totally different. Her hair fell around her shoulders in layers, and it gave her face a whole new appearance.
“Wow,” she said. “Is that
me?”
“The new and improved you,” Kate said. “Can you even believe it?”
“No,” Annie said honestly. She’d never, ever thought of herself as being pretty before. Now, though, she couldn’t stop looking at the face looking back at her.
“What happened to you?” Cooper said, looking up from her magazine.
“Thanks a lot,” Annie said. But she knew what Cooper really meant. She had become a different person.
“And this is only the beginning,” Kate said as they paid up and left the salon. “We still have clothes to look at and makeup to try. That part we can do back at your house, Annie. I couldn’t decide which colors of polish to get, so I got five different ones.”
Much to her surprise, Annie was enjoying her afternoon. Normally she hated shopping and anything to do with what she thought of as “girl stuff.” But Kate was so excited about seeing her friends get transformed that the feeling was infectious. Even Cooper, despite her protests, seemed to be getting used to her new look.
“I told you this would work,” Annie said as Kate ran to look at a dress she saw in a store window.
“It’s hardly what I would call magical,” Cooper said. “But I have to admit, she does seem to be over the whole party incident.”
“Come on, girls,” Kate called, waving them into the store. “I see an outfit that will go perfectly with Cooper’s hair.”
For the rest of the day they went from shop to shop, trying on clothes and making purchases until Annie and Cooper just couldn’t stand to try on another pair of shoes or jeans and Kate gave in. Then they got on the bus and headed back to Annie’s house for some dinner and the rest of the makeovers.
When they got to the house, Annie was surprised to see Marcia Reeves sitting in the kitchen with her aunt. When the girls came in, Marcia stood up.
“I guess we’re done for now,” Annie heard her say to Aunt Sarah. “I hope you’ll think over what we talked about. Remember, potential buyers will be coming.”
“I’ll let you know tomorrow,” Sarah said.
Annie’s elation at having made Kate’s day disappeared as she watched Marcia Reeves shake hands with her aunt and leave the house. In all the excitement she’d forgotten about that part of her troubles. Now it all came back to her in unavoidable detail.
