by Isobel Bird
“She’s afraid she’ll find out that she and T.J. are destined to be together forever,” Kate teased.
“I wouldn’t talk, cheater,” Cooper chided.
“It was just a little kiss.” Kate moaned. “How many times do I have to tell you guys that?”
Sasha was happy to come over to Annie’s the next day.
“I can’t tell you what a pain all of this court stuff is,” she told them when she arrived. “I’ve been to three different therapists, two doctors, and four judges. And that’s just this week. But it’s almost over, so that’s good.”
“It sounds awful,” Kate said.
Sasha snorted. “You should try living on the streets for a couple of months,” she said. “This is a piece of cake.”
After doing Sasha’s reading and writing down the results, they had called and asked her if she wanted to come over and watch movies. Annie had picked up The Craft and an older movie called Bell, Book and Candle that Sophia at Crones’ Circle had suggested they might like. They were making popcorn in the kitchen and getting ready to watch the videos, and Annie was trying to figure out a good way to bring up Sasha’s Tarot reading.
“Hey, I hear you guys did a cool Tarot ritual out at Willow’s place,” Sasha said. “Tyler told me all about it last night when we had dinner at his house.”
Annie saw Kate choke on a piece of popcorn when Sasha mentioned Tyler, but she ignored her. Sasha had given her the perfect opening.
“Yeah,” she said. “It was intense. And speaking of Tarot, we did some readings for ourselves last night.”
“Oh yeah?” Sasha said. “Anything good come up?”
“We found out that Cooper is doomed to always be alone,” Kate joked.
“And Kate is doomed to always be a ditz,” Cooper shot back.
“Actually, something interesting did come up,” Annie said. “But not for any of us. It was for you.”
“For me?” Sasha said as she sprinkled salt on the popcorn. “What do you mean?”
“We sort of did a reading for you, too,” Annie explained. “We got tired of just doing ourselves.”
“Cool,” said Sasha. “So what’s my future hold?”
Annie paused for a moment, pretending to look for something in the fridge. She wanted to appear as natural as possible when she told Sasha what she had to say.
“It was about a guy,” she said.
Sasha raised an eyebrow. “Am I going to marry Johnny Depp?” she asked hopefully.
“Maybe,” Annie said. “But no. This was about someone else. Is there a blond guy in your past?”
“Lots of them,” Sasha said.
“This one probably isn’t very nice,” Annie said. “Or at least you can’t really trust him.”
“That just about cuts the number in half,” said Sasha. “But there are still a lot of sketchy blond types in my life, you know?”
“This one knows a secret about you,” said Annie.
Sasha stopped munching on popcorn. She had a strange look on her face. “Go on,” she said. “I’m listening.”
“So you know who I mean?” asked Annie.
Sasha nodded. “I think I have it down to two or three candidates.”
“This guy might show up soon,” Annie told her.
Sasha turned pale. “You saw all of that?” she asked.
Annie nodded. “We just thought we should tell you.”
“Are you okay?” Cooper asked, noticing that Sasha seemed upset.
“Yeah,” Sasha said. “It’s just that I hadn’t thought about that guy in a while.”
Annie looked at Cooper and Kate. Had they done the right thing? She really had seen a blond guy in Sasha’s reading, and he did know a secret about her. But the reading had said that the guy was afraid that Sasha would reveal his secret and that he was keeping himself hidden.
Annie had no idea what the secret was. She assumed that it had something to do with the reason Sasha had run away. But the reading hadn’t given her any clues. It had only shown her that a young man, probably blond, was involved, and that he was hiding a secret about Sasha. The rest she had just sort of pieced together on her own.
“Thanks for telling me that,” Sasha said, seemingly back to normal. “It makes sense. A lot of sense.”
She took the bowl of popcorn and walked toward the living room.
“Now what?” Cooper asked when she was gone.
“Now we wait,” Annie said. “We’ll see if this guy shows up, and if he does, what Sasha does about it.”
CHAPTER 14
“Did you hear?” Kate said to Annie.
It was Monday morning, and Annie had just arrived at school. Almost immediately, Kate had descended upon her.
“I can’t believe it,” Kate said. “Especially not about Tara.”
“What about Tara?” asked Annie.
“She and Al,” Kate said. “They slept together.”
Annie stopped in her tracks and looked at Kate. “Who told you that?” she asked.
“Everybody’s talking about it,” answered Kate. “I heard it from about six different people already.”
“Have you talked to Tara?” Annie said. “What does she say?”
“She won’t talk to anybody,” Kate said. “She’s in the girls’ room.”
“Come on,” Annie said, running toward the bathroom.
Kate followed her as she crashed through the bathroom door. They saw Tara standing at the sink. She was crying, and her face was streaked with mascara and tears.
“Get out of here!” she yelled. “Get out!”
Annie ran over and put her hand on Tara’s shoulder, but Tara shook her off.
“What happened?” Annie asked.
“What happened?” Tara said. “I’ll tell you what happened. Al told all of his friends that we did it last week.”
“But I thought you said you told him you wouldn’t,” said Annie, confused.
“You knew about this?” Kate said, sounding more than a little surprised.
Annie nodded. “You said he was really nice about it,” she said to Tara.
“He was nice about it,” Tara said. “At least until this weekend. Then he told all of his buddies that it happened.”
“Why would he do that?” Kate said.
“I don’t know,” Tara sobbed. “I thought he really liked me.”
She was crying again, her shoulders jerking back and forth as she wept. Annie didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t believe that Al would tell all of his friends that Tara had slept with him when she hadn’t. She didn’t know him well, but he really did appear to be a great guy. She couldn’t imagine his making up such a story.
“Something strange is going on,” Annie said. “This shouldn’t have happened. The cards didn’t show anything like this.”
“You did a reading about whether or not Tara should sleep with Al?” Kate asked.
“You said everything would be better if I didn’t do it,” Tara wailed. “I believed you.”
Annie searched for words that would make Tara feel better. The other girl seemed completely inconsolable, and Annie wished more than anything that she knew what to do about it. But all she could say was, “I’m sorry. I didn’t see this coming at all.”
The door to the bathroom opened again. Annie turned to ask whoever was coming in to leave. When she saw that it was Sherrie, she was doubly anxious to get rid of her.
“Do you mind?” she said.
“Not at all,” Sherrie said. “I was just coming in to check on Tara. I heard what happened. You must feel awful.”
“Like you care,” Tara hiccuped.
“Oh, but I do,” Sherrie responded in a voice that sounded almost like a purr. “I hate seeing one of my friends the victim of an ugly rumor. It is a rumor, isn’t it, Tara?”
“Of course it is,” Kate snapped.
Sherrie turned on her. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve seen some of my supposed friends do a lot of unexpected things this year.”
>
“Well, she didn’t,” Annie said. “Al just told the story to make himself look like a stud.”
“Do you think that’s what happened?” Sherrie said, sounding surprised. “He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would kiss and tell. Did anybody know you and Al were thinking of going all the way, Tara?”
“Just you and Jessica and Annie—” Tara said. Then she stopped and turned to look at Sherrie. “You told people,” she said. “Didn’t you?”
Sherrie pretended to be shocked. “Do you think I would do something like that?” she said. “With us being best friends and all?” She smacked her forehead with her palm. “Oh, that’s right, we’re not friends anymore, are we? Annie is your new best friend. Isn’t that how she knew about my plans for the cheerleading squad? Because you told her?”
Tara said nothing. She just glared at Sherrie as if she wanted to kill her. “So you told people that Al and I did it just to get back at me?” Tara said.
“How was I to know you didn’t do it?” Sherrie asked innocently. “The last time I talked to you, you said you thought you were going to do it. I didn’t know there was a change of plans. I was just going on the information available to me.”
“You witch!” Tara screamed.
Sherrie narrowed her eyes. “I think you’ve got that wrong,” she said. “I think you should be calling your new friends that. I’m just someone you never should have crossed.”
“We just embarrassed you,” Annie said angrily. “We didn’t do anything this hurtful.”
“Maybe you should have looked into your cards a little harder,” Sherrie snapped. “Maybe then you would have seen what happens to people who get in my way.”
“This is too much, Sherrie,” Kate said coldly. “Even for you.”
Sherrie wheeled around. “I wouldn’t talk quite so much if I were you,” she said. “Not after what happened with you and Scott in the dunes.”
Kate bristled. “Nothing happened,” she said.
“That’s not what I heard,” Sherrie said. “And it’s not what people were saying at Kathy Lewis’s party on Saturday night.”
“Probably after you said it first,” said Kate. “Is that the same way the story about Tara and Al got started?”
“It’s amazing how gossip flies at a party,” Sherrie said. “And how quickly people forget who started it. It could have been anyone.”
“No one will believe your lies, Sherrie,” Annie said.
“Why not?” Sherrie countered. “They believe yours.”
“I haven’t lied to anyone,” said Annie.
“That’s not what people seem to think,” Sherrie said. “At least not the people I talked to at Kathy’s party. They seem to think you’re a jinx. And I have to say, it does seem peculiar that bad luck always seems to follow you. First there was that unfortunate incident with Terri Fletcher. Then Cheryl. And I understand Loren isn’t too happy with you either. That’s not a very good track record, is it?”
“I think maybe you should leave now,” Kate said stonily. “You’ve done enough for one day.”
Sherrie smiled. “And I thought I was just getting started,” she said. “But maybe you’re right. I did all the hard work. Now I can just let nature take its course. I’m sure by now just about the entire school has heard all about the little adventures you girls have been having.”
She turned and walked out, letting the door slam behind her.
“I can’t believe she did this,” Kate said, slumping against the sink. “She’s done mean things before, but nothing like this. I knew you shouldn’t have tried that trick with the cards at Skip Day. That was too much.”
“I didn’t know she would do something this bad,” Annie said. “I’m really sorry, you guys.”
“Why didn’t you see this coming?” Tara asked her. “Why didn’t the cards warn us?”
Annie shook her head. “I honestly don’t know,” she said.
“Well, now my entire life is ruined because of it,” Tara said sadly.
“People will forget about it,” Annie offered. “We’ll tell them that Sherrie made it up.”
Tara snorted. “It’s too late,” she said. “Nobody ever believes you didn’t do something. They always want to believe that you did.”
“What if Al tells them nothing happened?” Annie tried.
“Al,” Tara said, and almost started crying again. “I’ll be lucky if he even talks to me again. He’s not going to want to go out with a girl who tells people that she and her boyfriend are thinking about having sex.”
“She’s right,” Kate said. “Maybe not about Al. He’ll probably come around after a while. But it’s going to be hard explaining things to him. And people are going to think she’s trying to cover up what really happened if she denies it.”
“What about you and Scott?” Annie asked tentatively.
Kate sighed. “I don’t even want to think about that,” she said.
Neither did Annie. But she had to think about it. She had to think about a lot of things, like why the people she did readings for ended up getting into trouble, and why she wasn’t able to see the entire picture. She’d thought that she was helping when she told Kate about Scott and when she’d counseled Tara about Al. She’d thought that she was doing a good thing. But it had all been turned around on her.
It’s like what happened with Kate and those first spells, she thought. Kate hadn’t meant to cause any trouble, but she had. Annie hadn’t meant to make things hard for anyone, but she had. Why? It wasn’t like she was doing spells to try to influence anyone. She was just telling them what she saw in the Tarot readings.
“I’ll fix this,” she said to Tara and Kate. “I’ll make it right.”
“I think you’ve done enough,” Tara said. She didn’t sound angry, but Annie still felt stung by her words. Apparently, Tara also believed that Annie had somehow had a hand in making everything fall apart.
“But I know I can do something,” Annie pleaded.
“I think Tara is right, Annie,” Kate said. “I think there’s already been enough trouble.”
Kate and Tara were looking at her in a way Annie didn’t like. There was something in their eyes. It wasn’t anger. It was worse. It was fear and hurt.
“Okay,” she said meekly. “I won’t do anything.”
They heard the bell ring outside, announcing the start of the first classes. Tara groaned. “I suppose I have to go out there,” she said.
Kate opened her backpack. “Not until we fix your face,” she said, taking out some makeup. “We are not giving Sherrie the satisfaction of seeing you walking around looking like a raccoon.”
Sherrie had done her job well. The rumor about Tara and Al was all over school. As the girls walked to chemistry together, people stared at them openly.
“Don’t act upset,” Kate whispered to Tara. “That’s what they want.”
Tara tried to smile, but her forced grin lasted only until they turned a corner and saw Al coming the other way. Then her features collapsed into a look of sadness.
“I have to go talk to him,” she said to Kate and Annie. “I’ll see you guys later.”
Annie and Kate left Tara with her boyfriend and moved on. There was an awkward silence between them, and Annie desperately wanted to break the tension.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked.
“No,” Kate said. “I’m not mad. But I’m not happy, either.”
“I didn’t make any of this stuff come true,” Annie said.
“I know that,” Kate said. “Deep down I know that. But I didn’t mean to make any bad stuff happen with my spells, and it still did. I had something to do with that. It was my intentions that created the spells.”
“You think that somehow I intended for these things to happen?” Annie said.
Kate sighed. “I didn’t want to say anything,” she answered. “You were having such a good time. But I think maybe you let the attention go to your head. Which I don’t blame you for. It was pr
obably exciting having people like Loren notice you and think that you were really cool. But it got kind of out of control, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know that I do,” said Annie. She wasn’t sure she liked what Kate was implying.
“I think you were so wrapped up in being popular for a while that maybe you tried to make it last longer,” Kate said.
“By trying to get people to make their lives fall apart?” Annie said. “You don’t really think I would do that, do you?”
“Not on purpose,” Kate said carefully.
Annie wanted to cry again. But she was also getting angry.
“What difference does it make if you don’t think it was on purpose?” she said. “You still think I did it.”
“I don’t blame you for wanting to be more popular,” Kate said.
“Gee, thanks,” Annie said. “That’s really nice of you.”
“Hey,” Kate said. “Why are you upset with me?”
“Maybe because you’re basically accusing me of sucking up to people because I want to have something you used to have and don’t anymore,” Annie said.
She was sorry as soon as she’d said it. She hadn’t meant it to sound so cold. But it’s true, she couldn’t help thinking. Kate thought that she was doing Tarot readings in order to be popular. And maybe she had done some of them for that reason. But why should Kate care? She knew what it was like to be popular. Why couldn’t she understand that Annie might want to see what it was like, too?
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Annie said gently.
“It’s okay,” said Kate. “You’re probably right, at least a little.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Annie said. “I really don’t.”
“I don’t think this is really about you anymore,” Kate told her.
“Great,” said Annie. “So I’m basically like Pandora. I just opened the box and let all of the bad stuff out, and now everyone else has to suffer because of it.”
“Look on the bright side,” Kate said. “At least you’ll be a legend.”
CHAPTER 15
Annie was almost late for the start of class at Crones’ Circle the next night. She’d had a terrible day, and nothing seemed to be going right. First, school had been a nightmare. They’d started finals, and she’d been studying nonstop. But even though she’d spent hours going over her notes, she wasn’t sure how well she’d done. Her mind had been so occupied with thoughts about Kate, Tara, Loren, and the others that she hadn’t been as focused as she should have been. Chemistry had gone okay, but she was doubtful about her performance on her history final that morning.
