—About what?
Is he being dense or does he not remember kissing me? Maybe what I’m supposed to do is play this game. Dance around the subject. Act like I don’t get it or wait for him to bring it up. Maybe if I were an erdler, I’d know how to do that. But I’m not. Besides, that’s what he said he likes about me. So, here goes:
—Does she know that you kissed me? Maybe kissing me was not something special for you. But it was for me. Maybe you kiss everyone. Maybe it wasn’t that kind of kiss. Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing. But still, I feel bad because Bella has been nice to me and I like you and I don’t want to hurt her feelings or stop being your friend.
It seems like forever that I wait for his response. My stomach ties itself in knots and I realize that I’m gripping the edges of the keyboard. Finally, he answers:
—Don’t worry about Bella. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. And, u r still my friend. Gotta go. L8r!
He signs off. I stare at the screen, even more confused than before. He’s still my friend? If what happened in the park is nothing special and I’m just his friend then why do I feel like crap? As I’m puzzling through this another little IM window pops up. Eagerly I read, hoping it’s from Ari or Mercedes. But this is what I see from Samurai Son.
—Thought u might like to know they’re talking sh*t about u and yer friends again.
I look up over my computer at Kenji. Seems strange that he would send me a message when he’s sitting ten feet away. But he doesn’t look at me, so I hit reply and type in “Who?” This comes back:
—U know who.
—No I don’t.
—U’v never seen the blog?
—How do you know about that?
—Duh. Everybody knows. Probably even yer grandma reads it.
—My grandmother doesn’t have a computer and I don’t know how to find the blog.
The next box that pops up has just a blue link. I type in “Thanks” send it back to Kenji then click the link to open Bella’s Web site. I can’t quite remember how to find the secret blog, but I know I have to click on some hidden button. I move my mouse around, clicking randomly until I hit the white dog in the top right corner. A box appears and I type in belladonna, the password that Ari told me. The blog opens. I hunch closer to the computer and begin reading.
OMG! Took MooMoo to Starbucks for a frap to get the 411 on her. First of all, she’d never had coffee. F*ing hilarious. Can you believe it? And get this: she’s from some kind of commune in the woods. A cult sounds like. Everybody dresses the same. Some weird religion. Her parents are cousins!
And, that guy Ari she hangs with: total homo. (Not that it matters, right? My cousin is gay and like my best friend.) But the guy calls his band Goth Gay Jew Boy. LAME!
Also, the girl, Mercedes—her parents came over on a boat from Cuba or something. Totally illegal! And they’re racists plus they’re into voodoo.
These are the kinds of losers I have to put up with in the ELPH audition. MooMoo and VooDoo = f*ing marsupials.
In the comments I see this,
—B, yruhanging w/ her?
Posted by CH3L-C.
—her ’rents are cousins? Nasty!
Posted by: ZoEzOe
—Somebody call immigration on the Cubans.
Posted by: LadyBug
—She’s inbred. No wonder she never had a frap. I’ve seen that guy she hangs with staring at Timber, tho.
Posted by: ZoEzOe
—Prob has a crush on yer man.
Posted by: LadyBug
—Whatev. Who doesn’t?
Posted by: BELLA.
—but y’d u take her to SB?
Posted by CH3L-C
—C, u r missing the point!
Posted by: BELLA
—Better watch out or VooDoo’ll put a curse on yer A! BTW what’s marsupial?
Posted by: ZoEzOe
—Marsupial = Wannabe.
Posted by: BELLA
—LOL!
Posted by: ZoEzOe
—LOL x 2!
Posted by LadyBug
I’m so mad that my head hurts, my vision is blurry, and I can feel my heartbeat in my temples, my arms, and my chest. My stomach is in knots. My legs are weak. And my skin feels like it’s on fire. I don’t even know what thing to be the most mad about. That she called Mercedes VooDoo and said that Ari is lame and that my parents are cousins. Or that she didn’t mention Ari’s band got hit by the U-Tube or that Mercedes takes care of her little sisters. And she even stole my marsupial joke! Who does that? Or maybe I’m most mad because I actually thought she was nice. She’s not. She’s horrible and my plan totally back-fired. Kenji must see me with my head in my hands because I quickly get another IM from him.
—Those are some seriously mean girls. What’d u do 2 them?
—Nothing! What am I going to do?
—Damage control!
—Huh?
—Get with your homies!
This I don’t understand at all. I need to talk. Out loud! Use real words. I leave my computer and walk up to Kenji’s desk. He glances up at me out of the corner of his eye.
“Why should I go home?” I whisper to him.
“What?” he says, taking out only one earphone.
“You said I should get with my homies,” I say.
He shakes his head. “That’s old school for friends, Zephyr. The people they’re talking about.”
“Ari and Mercedes! ” I gasp. “But how?” I’m panicked. “I don’t know where they are.” Kenji looks at me like I’m stupid. “What?” I ask.
“Hello!” He points to the computer and pats it. “This is the twenty-first century. IM them.”
I jump. “Right!” I say too loudly, causing everyone in the lab to look up at me, but I don’t even care. I have to get to my friends. “Thank you, Kenji! Thank you!” I skitter back to my empty computer and quickly shoot Ari a message. That same annoying message “2 Busy 4 U” comes up. I try Mercedes again.
—M, are you there? This is important.
Immediately she writes back.
—u r the biggest bitch i’ve ever known worse than that puta Bella cuz i was yer friend when nobody else was showed u everything and tried 2 B nice 2 u and u betrayed me and Ari.
I’m so slow at typing that it takes a long time for me to respond. But finally I send this message:
—Please don’t be mad at me! She twisted around everything I said and they’re saying horrible stuff about me, too!
Mercedes’s message comes back almost immediately.
—i don’t believe u. u r a liar and a bitch cuz u told her something and that’s enuff. and another thing, I’m PUERTO RICAN, not Cuban!
I peck out one last message:
—Please let me explain!
This comes back a few seconds later:
—leave me and ari alone!
Then she signs off. I don’t know what to do, so I just stare at the blinking cursor on the screen. This can’t really be happening, can it? Just an hour ago I thought I had so many friends and now all of the sudden I have no idea who my friends are. And what happened in between? Nothing except some mean girls typed lies and exaggerations on a computer and sent them out into the world to ruin my life. How can that be? It’s worse than any kind of magic that I know. What’s worse is that I don’t know any spells to combat it.
But then a little box pops up that says I have a new e-mail. I click over to my in-box and see this:
Sender: [email protected] To: [email protected] Re: URGENT MESSAGE! Please read and forward!
I’m relieved that Mercedes is e-mailing me. Maybe she had a minute to cool off and realizes that this isn’t my fault. I open the message.
Hey BAPAHS—want some dirt? Read this and forward 2 everyone U know!
Bella Dartagnan is a bitch and thinks she can ruin other people’s lives! Well, here’s some news for her! I know a slut who kissed her boyfriend Saturday in the park. Want 2 know wh
o? Zephyr Addler, that’s who. Hope you have a great week, beee-yatch!
I don’t understand what’s going on. Why would Mercedes be sending me this message? And what’s a “distribution list”? Suddenly another little box pops up that says I have six new e-mails. I click back to my in-box and see six new messages from people I don’t even know. Every message has the same heading: Forward: Re: URGENT MESSAGE! Please read and forward! I click through each one but they’re all the same thing that Mercedes sent to me. How are all these people getting it? How come they’re sending the same message to me if they don’t even know me? I’m so confused! Then I start getting instant messages. The first one is from Samurai Son. It says:
—Z,
Ouch!
K
Others are worse. People I don’t know are calling me a bitch and a slut and other horrible words. Then some of them are nice. They say, “Way to go! ” and “Stick it to her! ” and “Bella deserved it! ” And a few of them are just scary: “Forget Timber. I’ll do you in the park any day! ” In a matter of minutes my e-mail is flooded and my instant message board is jammed. I can’t take it! I log off as fast as I can and jolt out of my seat. I swear every person in the room looks up. They all stare at me. Some of them elbow each other and point at me. Just as I’m about to the flee the room, Kenji gets my attention and waves me over.
I slump into the empty chair beside him. “What am I going to do?” I whimper.
“Don’t worry about it. It’ll get shut down in a minute. The webmaster’ll see what’s going on and put a block on all the forwarding. And your girl, Mercedes, will be in deep doo-doo.”
“Why?” I ask, feeling even worse now that Mercedes is going to get in trouble.
“Can’t e-mail personal slander. School code of ethics,” says Kenji. He shakes his blue bangs out of his eyes. “She’ll probably get kicked out of school.”
“Oh no!” I gasp.
He shrugs. “Just suspended for a few days. Or maybe her aunt will save her butt.”
“This is terrible!” I mumble. “Her parents will kill her.”
He smirks. “Why are you worried about her after what she did to you?”
“Because,” I stammer. “She’s my friend.”
He snorts. “Some friend!”
“This is all my fault.”
Kenji points to the screen. “Check this out.”
“What now!” I groan as I glance up to see the I-Hate-Bella blog on-screen. Of course, I start reading:
Drum roll please! Today’s BellaHater Award goes halfsies to Zephyr Addler and Mercedes Sanchez! Zephyr 4 sticking it 2 Bella by tongue wrestling with TLC. Way 2 Go! And Mercedes 4 outing them. Poor Bella! What’s a girl 2 do? Suffer, bitch! You’ve made everybody else’s life hell and what comes around goes around, so read ’em and weep. Yer not the only mean girl in town.
“Who is this BellaHater?” I ask Kenji.
He shrugs. “Nobody knows. I think it’s somebody on the inside.”
“One of her friends?” I ask, shocked.
“That’s a relative term,” says Kenji. “Those girls would stab one another in the back for a pair of shoes.”
I shake my head. “How awful.”
“Who cares,” says Kenji. “It’s freaking hilarious.”
“I can’t take another minute of this. I don’t care if I never see another computer screen in my life.” I drag myself out of the chair.
Kenji laughs. “It’s not like you can escape it. Computers are a part of life.”
“Not my life,” I mutter.
“Anyway,” Kenji says as he slips his earphones back on. “It’s not the computer’s fault people are jerks.”
He’s right, I guess, but then again, without computers my entire life wouldn’t have been flushed down the toilet in five minutes flat.
I do my best to hold it together on my way home because I can’t break down on the subway. I’d look like a mental patient if I sobbed on the train and would probably get carted away by the loony police. But, as soon as I hit the park, I start running and I let the tears flow. I’m half out of my mind. Everything has gone wrong today. I hate my school. I hate everyone in it. I hate Brooklyn. All I want to do is go back to Alverland, where I know the rules and the people are really, truly, absolutely nice.
When I get home, I burst through our front door. “Mom!” I yell. “Dad!” I’m crying my eyes out now and want to collapse in someone’s arms. I run through the living room and dining room. Both are empty. “Where is everyone?” I yell.
My dad sticks his head out of the kitchen doorway. “Shhhh, honey,” he says, and wraps me in his arms. His eyes are red rimmed. I fall into his hug but look over his shoulder into the kitchen. My whole family is gathered around the table. My mom and sisters are crying. Bramble and Persimmon are huddled in Mom’s lap. Grove has his hand on Mom’s shoulder.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Dad says.
I think, Oh no! Someone told them what happened at school. They’re so disappointed in me. I shrink, feeling worse than ever. But then my dad lets go of the hug and looks down into my face.
“It’s Grandma Fawna,” he says.
“What?” I sputter. “Is she still missing?”
“No, she came back,” says Dad.
“Then what?” I ask.
“She’s sick,” Mom says. It must be serious because elves as powerful as my grandmother don’t get sick.
“Is she dying?” I ask.
Mom bites her lip. Bramble covers his ears. Willow lets out a loud wail. Suddenly all of my problems at school float away like dandelion fluff in the smallest breeze.
“We don’t know,” my dad says quietly.
I can’t believe it. I don’t believe it! Elves age just like humans for the first sixty or seventy years, but then if our magic is strong, an old elf can linger for hundreds of years. “But Grandma Fawna’s magic is so strong,” I say.
Dad just shakes his head. “Nobody understands what’s going on.”
“It’s me,” I whisper, and start to cry again.
“What?” Dad says, his face screwed up with confusion.
“It’s because I’ve been such a bad elf,” I confess. “I’ve been acting like an erdler. Somehow that got back to her and is taking her magic away!”
“No, it’s Dad’s fault!” says Willow. “She’s dying of a broken heart because he’s taken us away from her.”
My dad exhales sharply and looks to the ceiling, as if he’s trying to control his words. “For the last time, Willow, elves don’t get sick because the ones they love go away. It just doesn’t work like that.” He shakes his head and turns back to me. “Look,” he says, and wraps me in his arms again. I press my face against his chest and I sob. “You have nothing to do with this,” he assures me, but I’m not convinced. “And neither do I. None of us do. Grandma is just sick,” he says emphatically. “Sometimes elves get sick. We need to go back and help her. That’s all. We’ll figure it out.”
I look up. “We’re going back?” I ask. “To Alverland?”
“Yes,” he says. “Right now. We were waiting for you.”
chapter 10
THE FIRST THING we do when we get to Alverland is rush to my grandmother Fawna’s house. The path through the woods is familiar and fills me with the reassurance of home, but still, like everyone, I’m worried about my grandma. We reach her porch and quickly but quietly head to the back of the house where she lays on her bed. Her long blondish gray hair spreads across the pillows and spills down over the shoulders of her soft white sleeping tunic. Her eyes flutter open just long enough to see us hovering over her, our hands out, sending her our hearts. Even Persimmon climbs up on the bed and holds her hands over Grandma. I think Fawna tries to smile and I swear I see a glimmer of the usual twinkle in her eyes. I know my mother is relieved to be back here by Grandma’s side even though Grandma whispers that we don’t need to make such a fuss.
“I’m just a little under the weather,” she croaks, s
ounding like a bull-frog. “But I’m glad you’re here.”
We take turns kissing her warm soft cheek before Mom shoos us all out.
Even though we’re here for a really crappy reason, I have to admit it’s nice to be back in Alverland. I’d nearly forgotten how good fresh air, pine trees, and clean water smell. That alone was worth the eighteen-hour car ride. (If only elves had the ability to travel by magic! But no, we’re stuck in a smelly van just like everyone else.) I didn’t realize how much I’d missed everyone here until we stepped out of Grandma’s back door into a circle of hugs and kisses from all our family gathered there. The last person I see is Briar. We cling to each other.
“I missed you so much,” we keep repeating between hugs and laughter. When Briar and I finally let go of each other, I see Willow cuddled in Ash’s arms, her head on his shoulder, and, at last, a smile on her face.
Everyone huddles around Grandfather Buck beneath the hemlock trees. “Is she going to be okay?” Bramble asks.
Grandpa Buck leans against his gnarled walking stick and sighs. “All we can do is keep her in our hearts,” he says.
“Papa!” Aunt Flora smacks her hands against her thighs. “We have to do something else. Especially now that Aurora is here.”
Everyone looks to my mom, who leans against the porch rail with her arms crossed. Other than Grandma Fawna, my mom is the best healer in Alverland, but she shakes her head. “I don’t know what it is.”
“It must have been a mushroom,” says Flora.
My mom shakes her head. “She knows which mushrooms are poisonous.”
Me, My Elf & I Page 15