by Sara Hantz
“And the cubicles, were they empty?” She scowls at me. “Do I have to spell it out?”
I think the cubicles were empty. I think. Actually I don’t know. I don’t remember checking them. Gemma was in one of the cubicles. That’s how she overheard us. I can’t believe we’d be so stupid not to check. And let’s not even think about how, once again, my powers desert me when I’m in trouble.
“No. I get it. Gemma was in the cubicle and overheard Tara and me.” I lean against Alice’s desk, my shoulders sagging.
“Yes. I take it you don’t want the money any more.” She shakes the mirror in my direction, and I see the money in the envelope peeking out. It’s so close. Maybe I should lean over and grab it.
“Of course she wants the money,” Tara shouts, causing me to start. “The only person who didn’t get a proper reading was you, Alice. It wasn’t Megan’s fault. So you can have your money back and give us the rest.”
“No. You owe me,” Alice replies, clutching the mirror close to her. “I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done. And Dan better watch out too. Because he’s just as much to blame.”
For a moment, a look of raw emotion crosses her face. It doesn’t last, but it’s enough for me to see how much she’s hurting. I feel really mean.
“No. He isn’t,” I say. “I persuaded him to do it. He didn’t mind. He was glad to go out with you, Alice.”
Well, I can’t get into any more trouble, can I? If it placates Alice a little then it’s got to be good. We’ve seriously hurt her. Then again, look what she did to Ben. Maybe it’s like karma. Her time has come. And maybe I’m being stupid. Ben’s hurt is not mine to seek revenge on.
“I don’t care. If he was that keen he wouldn’t have needed you to tell him to ask me out. You’re just making it up to worm your way out of trouble. Nice try. But next time try harder. Now GET OUT.”
Her words reverberate around the room, and even the candle on her table wobbles.
They also have the desired effect of bringing several girls down to her room, including Kate, Head of House. That’s all I need. I forgot her room was in this block. What I don’t understand is why roll-call didn’t last longer. It usually does. Not that it matters now.
“Alice, what’s wrong?” Selma, one of her friends, asks. Alice blushes. Maybe she hasn’t told them what happened.
“Alice stole Megan’s money.” Tara snaps. All eyes focus on me, and I nod my head. In unison they turn back to look at Alice.
“Alice?” Selma appears shocked, as do the other girls standing in the doorway. Well, that confirms what I thought. She didn’t tell anyone.
“It wasn’t like that,” Alice snarls. “This bitch has got one over all of us with this psychic crap. She makes things up, so I took the money to return it to everyone.”
“She didn’t make up mine,” Kate says. I flash a grateful smile.
“Nor mine,” calls someone from outside in the hall, I can’t see who, but I love her all the same.
“Well, she did mine.” Alice yells. “And I can prove it.”
The collective gasp from our audience, which now seems to have grown in numbers, causes my heart to plummet.
“There were extenuating circumstances,” Tara says.
“Like what?” Alice asks.
“Yes,” Selma adds. There are also a few nods from the girls standing by the door.
“Tell them, Megan,” Tara says. “Tell them what it was that made you lie to Alice, even though you didn’t want to and you’d never done it before or since.”
What shall I say? Not that my feelings for Dan stopped me from giving her a proper reading, and I didn’t want to let her down. No way am I going to admit that in front of everyone. It would be all round the school in five minutes flat and then I’d be a laughing stock. Not to mention what Dan would think.
Also, technically I didn’t lie because I said Dan would ask her on a date and he did. Although I don’t think me saying that would go down very well.
“I’m so sorry, Alice. I shouldn’t have done it. And I promise it was only you. But the day you came to see me I’d had this awful migraine earlier, and although the headache had gone I still felt a bit fuzzy. I think that stopped me from reading you clearly.”
“And you couldn’t tell me this, because?” Alice asks.
“I didn’t want to upset you. Besides, I told you I couldn’t see details but you kept pushing.”
Alice gives a hollow laugh. “You didn’t want to upset me, so you thought making something up, which resulted in me being embarrassed beyond belief, was better than being told you couldn’t do the reading because of a headache? You can’t be serious.”
When she put it like that, I guess it does sound really lame. Then again, it’s not like it’s the truth.
“I’m sorry, but...”
“What’s going on here?” The sound of Mrs. Johnson’s voice stops me in my tracks.
Chapter Seventeen
I GLANCE AT TARA, WHO UNFORTUNATELY IS LOOKING EXACTLY THE WAY I feel. I guess she’s thinks we’re toast too.
“Well?” Mrs. Johnson barks. She’s now standing in the room, thanks to the crowds parting to let her through. “I said, what’s going on? I come over to see Emily, and all I can hear is Alice’s shouting, which is so loud it’s disturbing everyone else in the block.”
“Ask her,” Alice mutters, nodding in my direction.
“Alice stole Megan’s money because she made up the readings,” a calls voice from outside.
“Alice, am I hearing right? You stole Megan’s money?” Mrs. J. sounds as shocked as Tara and I were when we first found out.
“It’s not like that. I only took what’s rightfully mine. Plus money Megan scammed from the others who went to her for so called readings.”
Mrs. J. inhales deeply through her nose. And we all know what that means. “Megan, Tara, Alice. My office, now. I want a full explanation.
And I’m warning you,” she glares at me, and not the others, which is par for the course, as she always picks on me. “It better be a good one.” She turns on her heels and walks out of the door.
As we go to follow, I notice Alice placing the mirror on the table. “Hey,” I say in a low voice. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Shut up,” Alice growls. “We’ll sort this later.”
“You can’t leave the money there. Someone might take it. You can’t leave it anywhere in here, for the same reason. Too many people know about it. Just bring it.”
“Bring what?” Mrs. Johnson asks, her head peering over her shoulder.
Oh, for goodness sake, has this woman got supersonic hearing, or what? My voice was barely above a whisper.
“Nothing,” Alice says. She flashes a look in my direction.
“Just bring it,” I say through clenched teeth, and about as quiet as I can be without simply mouthing the words.
Alice emits a grunt, pulls the envelope away from the back of the mirror and stuffs it in her pocket. Mrs. J. seems oblivious to what we just did and carries on marching down the corridor. We follow in silence as she goes down the stairs, out the entrance and into the quad, where she walks around the edge, to avoid the grassy bit (school rule... keep off the grass), and heads toward her office.
Once inside she gestures for us all to sit down and she remains standing, leaning against her big dark wooden desk. She folds her arms, in a very threatening manner. I swallow hard.
“Right. Who’s going to speak first?” She stares at each of us in turn, her gaze lingering a moment longer on me. I think. Unless I’m being paranoid about how she feels about me. Which is entirely possible. But my feelings are not without cause, when I remember her treatment of me in the past. “Megan. Let’s hear from you,” she says after a long pause, during which time none of us had uttered a word.
“Alice took my money because...”
“Yes, yes, yes. We’ve already established that.” She waves her hand dismissively in my direction. “Because yo
u scammed her and lots of others. So tell me about this scam of yours.”
“It’s not like that, Mrs. Johnson, is it Tara?”
“No. Megan was giving readings, and...”
“Readings? From novels?” Mrs. Johnson frowns.
“No,” says Tara. “Psychic readings.”
“Psychic readings?” Mrs. J. shakes her head. “How can you give psychic readings, Megan?”
“Exactly,” Alice pipes up. “She can’t. She makes things up and then charges fifteen dollars for the privilege.”
What a bitch. She knows it was only hers I made up. Now she’s making me look even worse.
“Let me get this straight,” Mrs. J. says. “You pretend to be psychic and charge people when they come to see you.”
“No,” Tara and I yell, at the same time.
“I am psychic,” I say.
“Yes. She is psychic,” Tara adds.
“And how long exactly have you had this psychic ability? Because it’s the first I’ve heard about it.”
“Years. I just haven’t used it before.” How lame does that sound? “I didn’t want to use it until I was certain about doing it properly.”
“It’s true.” Tara glares at Alice.
“So show me,” Mrs. J. says, standing upright and putting her right arm behind her. “How many fingers am I holding up behind my back?”
“My ability doesn’t quite work like that. I tune into people when they ask me something and I can tell them what I see and how it relates to what they want to know.”
“And I want to know how many fingers I’m holding up.” Mrs. J. demands. “If you’re really psychic then you’ll have no trouble. It’s hardly rocket science, is it?” She stares at me, her eyes dancing menacingly, daring me to defy her.
“Three.” Okay, so I made it up. I’ve got a one in five chance of being right.
“Hmmph. Lucky guess,” Mrs. J. growls.
I think she’s made up her mind about me without even thinking about it. She’s desperate to find me a fake.
“Now do you believe me?” I ask.
“If you correctly tell me how many fingers I am holding up twice more and then I suppose so.”
Twice more!
I glance either side of me. Alice is looking smug and Tara is shaking her head.
I draw in a deep breath and focus as hard as I possibly can on Mrs. J. and the hand behind her back. Nothing comes through at all, except something makes me look slightly to the side and I can see a reflection of her hand in the glass door of the trophy cabinet on the wall behind her.
“Four,” I blurt out. A smile crosses my face before she even says anything.
“And now?” Mrs. J. asks.
“Two.” I say, unable to hide the enjoyment in my voice. Screw you, Alice and Mrs. Johnson.
“Wrong.” Mrs. Johnson snaps.
“I am not wrong,” I say, hotly, jumping up from the seat.
“Are you doubting my word?” Mrs. Johnson leans forward slightly and glares at me.
“Yes,” I shout. “I know exactly how many fingers you were holding up because I saw it in the reflection in the cabinet. And...” Tell me I didn’t just admit to cheating. How can I be so dumb?
I glance at Tara. The hopeless expression on her face says it all. I’m screwed.
“Why am I not surprised by your behavior, my girl?’ Mrs. Johnson positively glows with anger.
“But, Mrs. Johnson. Holding up fingers isn’t the same as...”
“Enough,” she bellows. “I don’t want to hear another word about your supposed psychic ability. I forbid you to offer readings to anyone else. Do you understand?”
“But...”
“Don’t but me. You had your chance. I will not tolerate being lied to.”
“But...”
“Do you want the Principal and your parents involved? Because I assure you that can be arranged.”
“No.” I hang my head. Why on earth did we decide to look for the money? At least before I could still do my readings and make up some of what I’ve lost. But now.
“And after you leave here, you’re to find everyone who has had a reading and refund their money.”
Chapter Eighteen
“AT LEAST YOU GOT THE MONEY BACK,” TARA SAYS, AS WE’RE HEADING back to our block.
I glance down at the envelope in my clenched fist and feel the anger well up inside. This is so unfair. Mrs. Johnson is just getting me back for everything I’ve done in the past. Why should I refund all the money? It’s not like I cheated anyone, not counting Alice. And she’s got hers, as she took it from the money before giving it to me. The rest is mine and I should be able to keep it.
“I don’t get you. It doesn’t belong to me any more, so who cares if I’ve got it for a few more hours?”
“Try because the only people who know who’s had readings are you and me. Which means we don’t have to return all the money. Who’s to know?”
I come to an abrupt halt and glare at her.
“Try the people who don’t get their money. It’s not like this thing is going to be secret. We’ll have them queuing up before we can blink. In fact, knowing how the gossip works in this place they’ll be waiting at my door as we speak.”
“Yeah, I guess. God, this sucks.” Tara groans.
“Tell me about it. There’s only one thing for it.”
“What?” Tara frowns.
“I’m going to phone my parents and tell them everything. Get it over with.”
“Hi Mom, it’s me.”
“Megan? You don’t usually phone during the week, what’s wrong?”
Hi Megan, good to hear from you. How does she know something’s wrong? Am I that transparent?
“Yeah, everything’s fine. Sort of fine. Something’s happened at school that I thought I ought to let you know about, before...”
“Oh Megan. What now?” She gives an extremely loud sigh, causing me to hold the phone from my ear.
“I thought you promised not to get into any more trouble.” Now I’m feeling even guiltier than before.
“I’m not in trouble. Not really.”
“Either you are, or you’re not. Which is it?”
I lean back against the wall and count to five in my head. I’ve got to make sure this comes across as not that serious. “You know how you’ve always taught us to take responsibility for our actions?”
“Yes.”
“And you know when I went to stay at Tara’s a little while ago?”
“Yes.”
“I accidentally crashed their new ATV and...”
“You, what? How many times have we told you...”
“Mom. Listen.” I pause a moment, to confirm she’s actually stopped talking. “It’s cool. They didn’t blame me. It was an accident. The ATV was insured, so all I have to do is pay the deductible. Which is why I was trying to earn some money. I wanted to take responsibility for what I’d done.”
“Megan, when we say “take responsibility” that doesn’t mean you don’t tell us. Especially something like this. You could have been seriously hurt.”
“I wanted to sort it out myself, without getting you involved. You had enough to worry about with the accountant.” My voice cracks and I force back the tears.
“So what’s happened? Why are you telling me now?”
“I was earning the money to pay them back by giving psychic readings to people at school, and...”
“Sorry, can you say that again. For a moment I thought you said psychic readings.” She giggles.
“I did.”
“And people paid you for this?”
“Yes.”
“But you’re not psychic.” She starts to laugh. “This is priceless. I have to hand it to you Megan, you’re nothing if not inventive. Not that I approve of you taking people’s money like this, you understand. But really.”
Now she thinks I’ve been scamming people. This is getting worse by the second.
“Mom, I am psychic. I know t
hings about people. It’s been happening to me for years. I just didn’t tell you.”
“No. That’s impossible.”
“It’s true. I’m not making it up, whatever Alice Grant may say.” There’s a silence that seems to go on forever. It’s weird, I can almost hear Mom’s mind mulling over my words.
“Your grandma used to tell me that her sister Dora could predict things. But I never met her, so I don’t know if that’s true. Dora lived in England and died when I was about your age.” She draws in a breath. “And you’re sure you can really tell the future?
“Yes. I promise I’m not making it up.”
“So what’s the problem?” she asks, as though suddenly remembering the reason for me phoning. “Is it something to do with the girl you just mentioned? Alice somebody?”
“Grant. Yes, it is. I made up her reading because...”
“You’ve just told me you’re psychic and now you’re telling me you made up readings. Oh, Megan. Why? You know that your father and I are...”
“Mom. Please, just hear me out. I’ve done hundreds of readings” Okay, maybe not that many, but I need to make an impact. “And they were all successful. Everyone was happy. This problem with Alice, I don’t know why but I couldn’t get anything. She was asking about Dan, and you don’t know her. If I’d have admitted to not being able to help she’d have made my life hell. She’d have totally ruined everything.” The irony in what I’ve just said hits me. “Like she has already.” My voice cracks.
“Megan it will be okay. We can sort this out. You’ll be fine.” The caring tone in Mom’s voice makes me start to cry.
“It won’t.” I sniff. “Mrs. Johnson says I have to give back all the money, because she believed what Alice said, that I was just scamming everyone. Now I won’t be able to pay Tara’s parents the money I owe them, and everything’s ruined.” I cry again.
“Now, let’s see how we can sort this out. How much money do you owe Tara’s parents?” She’s so cool.
“Seven hundred dollars.”
“Seven hundred dollars. Oh, Megan.” I can picture her leaning forward onto her hand and shaking her head. “And you made that much money from doing readings?”
