Oh no! I have to do something. Michael can’t get the phone then he will know. He’ll get us in more trouble than we are already in.
April grabbed the phone. “It’s my phone.” She busily pressed buttons on the phone, opening the text messages.
Delete message: Yes.
Michael snatched it from her hands.
“No it’s not—this is Mom’s phone. What are you guys doing with Mom’s phone?” He glared at both girls, then looked at the phone. “What are you two doing?”
“Arrr. Arrr!”
April swallowed. She wiped her hands on her pants again. “I thought it was my phone. Oops. It looks just like my phone . . . SEE . . .” She picked up her phone from the bed. She waved it in the air. It was the same kind of phone as Mrs. Galapagos had.
Michael pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. “What is that sound?” He looked at the closet door and Grace standing in front of it.
“MOM! Can you come get Michael? He won’t leave my room!” Grace whined. April started biting her lower lip nervously.
Grace’s mom stomped up the stairs. “I am tired of you two always bickering!”
Michael raced out of her room. Running behind him, Grace followed.
He pointed at Grace. “Mom, they had your phone. I think they’re up to something. And, I heard this—”
“Mom,” Grace interrupted, “April accidentally picked up your phone ’cause she thought it was hers.” She pushed Michael’s hand down out of her face.
April jumped in to stop Michael finishing what he was going to say. “Our phones look alike Mrs.—”
“Fine, fine, fine. Everyone downstairs. It’s time for dinner. NOW!” Mrs. Galapagos pointed down the stairs, and took the phone from Michael.
As they walked downstairs, April whispered to Grace, “I deleted it.”
April and Grace exhaled a sigh of relief. And, Grace smiled.
sixteen
After pizza, they all watched a movie in the den. The girls got ready for bedtime in Grace’s room. Grace’s mom helped them pull out and make the rollaway bed.
After Mrs. Galapagos left the room, April looked at her phone.
“Yessssss!” April put the phone on Grace’s computer desk.
“What?” Grace asked.
“My mom said Eve can come over tomorrow morning.” They high-fived.
April opened the closet door. The little white dog was curled up on the closet floor, sleeping.
“Night, night Austin. This was a long day for you, too.” She pulled out a small piece of pizza from her pocket in her jeans that she had wrapped in a napkin at dinner. She placed it on the ground next to him.
“I promise to fix this tomorrow. I love you,” April whispered. She closed the closet door and climbed into the rollaway bed. She fell fast asleep.
The next thing she heard was, “Arf. Arf. Arrrr . . .”
April jumped up. She could see through the window that the sun was starting to come out. Austin was quietly barking and whining in the closet. She opened the closet door.
“What?”
The little white dog jumped up and down.
“What is wrong with you?” April whispered.
He ran across Grace’s shoes. “Arrr . . .”
He ran in circles in the closet. “Arr . . .”
April put her hands on her hips. She tipped her head to the side. “Why are you whining?”
“He has to go to the ba . . .” Grace mumbled with her face in the pillow.
“He has to what?” April asked, throwing her arms in the air. Austin started jumping up and down again.
Grace lifted her head. “He has to go to the bathroom.” Her hair was stuck to the side of her face, and her eyes were still closed. Flop! She dropped her head back onto the pillow.
The little dog ran over to Grace, jumped on the bed, and gave her a big lick. “Ewww,” she said and wiped her face. She rolled over to the other side of the bed and knocked the dog onto the floor.
He grunted.
April chuckled.
“Not funny,” Grace muttered.
April took off the pajamas she had borrowed from Grace, and put on the jeans and shirt she had worn on Friday. April unzipped the backpack. Austin jumped right in. She zipped it up. She wrinkled her nose. “Geez, Austin, you even smell like a dog.”
“Grrrr . . .”
She put the backpack on her back, and pushed the cell phone into her pocket. Austin kept wiggling from side to side in the bag.
Move faster, move faster. The last thing I need is dog pee in my backpack. Ewww! Or even worse, leaking through the backpack
onto me.
She poked Grace’s shoulder. “Grace. Grace, wake up.”
“I haven’t gone back to sleep,” Grace croaked.
“Ha, you sound like Michael. Hello, I’m Grace, but I sound like a boy,” April said, making her voice deep to mock Grace.
Grace glared at her. Still smiling, April said, “I’m taking Austin outside to go to the bathroom. Meet me at my house in a few minutes.”
“Yep.”
“See you in a little bit.” As April slowly opened the bedroom door, she saw Michael’s door was still closed. Sunlight filled the hallway. She walked down the stairs. Creak, creak, creak. She got to the bottom and looked back up the stairs.
Whew, I didn’t wake anyone.
Austin’s movements were becoming faster in the bag.
“Stay still, Austin,” she said over her shoulder to the backpack.
“April, who are you talking to?” said a voice from the den.
April’s heart started to race as she saw Grace’s dad in the den reading the newspaper. She swallowed. “Oh, uh, no one,” she laughed.
Austin kept wiggling and moving in the backpack. She turned to face Mr. Galapagos so he could not see the moving bag. “I was just thinking about the chores I have to do when I get home. I want to go get them done so . . . um . . . that’s right, so Eve—a new friend of Grace’s and mine—can come over to hang out.”
He raised an eyebrow. April gave a broad smile.
“Ok. I’ll message your dad that you are coming back home,” he said, reaching for his cell phone. He started texting.
Get outta here. Move quickly, but don’t let him see the bag.
“Arrr . . .”
Austin whined and wiggled some more.
Austin is going to burst . . . all over my back.
“Ok. Thanks, Mr. Galapagos.” April scurried sideways out the front door. She closed it behind her, and took off running up the street, away from her house.
seventeen
Bright sunlight covered the street. But, April was the only one outside at 7am on a Saturday morning. Just before the corner, there was a small park.
“Austin . . .” she said, breathing heavily, “we’re here!” She took the book bag off and put it on the ground. She quickly unzipped it and took the little white dog out. She placed him on the grass and looked in the bag.
“All clear—no pee or poo.”
He trotted a few steps and started to go to the bathroom.
“Wow, you really did have to go. It sounds like a hose,” she said.
He looked up at her and growled.
“Sorry . . . sorry,” she said. “I’ll give you privacy.” April looked up at the white, puffy clouds. The morning sun warmed her cheeks and made her close her eyes.
Austin is fluffy like those clouds. Ha ha. I could just imagine him floating off like a cloud . . .
“ARRRR! ARRRR!”
Austin let out a loud whine—almost a scream. She opened her eyes to find him two feet off the ground and floating higher, just like the clouds she was imagining. She wrapped both of her hands firmly around him and pulled him close to her chest. I just made him float. He floated like a cloud like my daydream. I am a witch. Wow. I am . . . a . . . witch.
“Oh my, Austin, I am so sorry!”
He grumbled.
“I’ll let you finish what you were doin
g. I promise I won’t think about you floating into the sky anymore. I won’t interrupt you again . . .” She looked back at the morning sky and closed her eyes.
OMG . . . Am I a witch? Maybe I do have a gift. But, is this a blessing or a curse? What if mean people try to make me do mean spells like in the movies? Geez, what if I hadn’t opened my eyes? Poor Austin would have floated to heaven. April took a deep breath. But, hmmm . . . what else I can do?
“Ewwwww!” April wrinkled her nose. “Austin I think I smell what you are doing now.”
“Grrr . . .”
“I’m not looking. I’m not looking.” She kept her eyes closed.
Maybe this is a blessing. Maybe Grace is right. Eve’s book may help. Then, I won’t make any more messes. Gee, we really could do some great stuff. She laughed as she imagined Ms. Meanie with clown face paint. And, I could save that worm that Jimmie was poking with a stick. I could make the worm wiggle away too fast for Jimmie to catch it. Or better yet, she could make it jump into his nose. She laughed again.
“Hey! Sleeping Beauty!”
April opened her eyes. She saw Grace looking at her from the sidewalk at the edge of the park.
“Austin and I were waiting for you to wake up,” Grace said, pointing to the dog. Austin sat, with his head titled to the side, looking at April.
Grace held her cell phone up. “Eve said she is on her way.”
“Oh my goodness, we’d better get back now. I was, uh, daydreaming.”
In a rush, April scooped up Austin and placed him in the backpack, giving him one last pet before she zipped it up.
Grace pinched her nose. “Oh my! He really did have to go.”
April put on the backpack and stood up.
“What about that?” Grace said, pointing to Austin’s pile of poo.
“I didn’t bring a bag,” April said, walking toward her house.
“But—”
April turned and talked to Grace while walking backward. “I’ll come back later and get it. We have to go. I have to tell you what just—whoa.” April tripped but caught herself before she fell. “That was close.”
As they walked in the door of April’s house, they saw her mom watching the news.
“Hi girls,” she said, looking at the clock. “Wow! You’re up and out early.”
“Yes . . . um . . .” April said, looking at Grace.
“Yeah, we want to finish our project with our new friend, Eve,” Grace said.
“I thought it was an essay,” April’s mom said.
“Oh, yeah, it is. It’s a group project that’s an essay on the president,” April said, bumping Grace.
April’s heart pounded. Her mouth was open, but no words were coming out.
“We took some books out of the school library,” Grace said, looking at the backpack.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“That must be Eve,” Grace said. April glanced at the clock and she opened the door.
Perfect timing, Eve. Thank you.
eighteen
Breathe. Focus. Austin doesn’t normally get up until 10—at the earliest. Fingers crossed. Mom won’t worry about him until lunchtime. We should have this fixed by then. Hopefully.
Eve stood at the door next to her mother. She had on a pretty, white shirt with a pink design on it and jeans.
“Good morning!” Eve said, smiling. She pushed a container into Grace’s hands. “My mom made them. These are beignets.” Eve smiled and looked at her mom. Her mother was looking into the house.
“Ben-yays?” April said, lifting the container’s lid. The donut-like pastries made her mouth water.
Yum . . . powdered sugar AND fried dough. Wow, this is better than the stuff at the carnival.
Just as April was about to reach in for one, her mother appeared behind her.
“Oh! Beignets!” April’s mom said, lifting the container out of April’s hands. “I love beignets. Come in, come in.” She motioned Eve and her mother inside.
Eve’s mother extended her arm to April’s mother. “My name is Edna. Edna LaRue.”
“I’m Abbey—Abigail Appleton.” April’s mother shook Eve’s mother’s hand, then looked at Eve. “And, you must be Eve.”
“Yes, ma’am. Pleased to meet you.” Eve smiled.
“Come on, Eve. Let’s go upstairs to work on the essay,” April said, winking at her.
“Essay? What essay?” Mrs. LaRue asked Eve. “I thought you were just coming over to play?”
Eve’s eyes grew wide. She stood there not blinking, looking at her mother.
“Oh, we asked Eve if she wanted to join our project group,” Grace said to Mrs. LaRue. “In school, we picked groups to write an essay and give a presentation. And, um . . .”
“Yes!” Eve said excited. “Oh, yes, I would . . . um . . . love to join your group.”
ACHOO!! ACHOO!! ACHOO!!
“God bless you, Abbey,” said Mrs. LaRue.
ACHOO!!! ACHOO!!! ACHOO!!!
“Bless you, Mom.” April felt her lip quiver. Blood rushed to her cheeks.
Oh no! Oh no! I have to get Austin upstairs. I don’t want her to get sick. Oh gosh, I am the suckiest daughter. She darted over to the tissue box and brought it to her mother.
“Gee, I only sneeze like this around animals.”
“OK, we’d better go get started.” April firmly grabbed Eve’s hand and they ran up the stairs.
“We . . . made it,” Grace panted as they entered April’s room.
“I . . . thought . . . for sure, we were going to get caught,” April said, hunched with her hands on her knees as she gasped for air.
Oh! Austin. Gosh, he probably is burning up in there.
She placed the book bag on the floor. Then she looked up at the open bedroom door.
Oh crud! I forgot to close the door. Ugh, I wish it would just close again.
And, before their eyes, as April slowly took Austin out of the book bag, the door did just that.
nineteen
“You did that again, didn’t you?” Grace asked, looking at April.
April stared at the door. “Uh . . . yeah . . .”
“That is super cool, BUT super creepy at the same time.”
“So, I bet that keeps happening?” Eve said, smirking and looking at April’s walls.
“And, I . . . uh . . . sorta made Austin float when we were at the park.”
“What!” Grace’s jaw dropped.
“Well . . . I really did make him float up, uh, higher and higher. I thought about how he looks like a cloud. You know, because he’s white and fluffy. So he started to float up . . . toward the sky. But, I caught him before he drifted too high.”
Austin grumbled. Grace’s mouth was still open.
“I . . . I . . . I don’t know what’s happening.” April looked down at the rug. Her glasses slid down her nose. She pushed them back up.
Eve cleared her throat. “Your room is so pretty. Pink is my favorite color.”
April picked her head up to look at Eve. “I picked the brightest pink I could find in the store.”
“I love the glitter, and the beads remind me of New Orleans,” Eve said, looking at the block lettering on the wall that said A-P-R-I-L outlined with brightly colored glitter and different colored beads. Eve touched the beads. “I like bright colors, too.”
“Oh, you would love these jeans I have then.” April took a pair of rainbow-striped jeans out of her dresser.
“Oh, aren’t those the bee’s knees!” Eve said.
“Huh?” April tipped her head to the side.
“Oh, yeah, that’s just something my mom says. It means . . . uh . . . like . . . aren’t those great. You know what I mean?” Eve gave a shy smile.
April laughed. “I get it.”
“OK, girls. Let’s stop the fashion show and start working,” Grace said, giving a little attitude.
“Ok, Gracie.” April rolled her eyes. Grace glared at her. She hated being called Gracie.
“Oh, yeah,” Eve
said, putting her book bag on the ground. She unzipped it and, with her teeth pressed together, grunted “Uh, uh,” as she tried to pull out the biggest book ever.
Grace sat on the floor next to Eve. “Let me help.” They both pulled . . . FLOP!
Achoo! Grace quietly sneezed.
“I know. It’s SO dusty,” Eve said, wiping the hard brown leather-bound book with her hand.
Grace opened the book. “The cover is so rough and heavy.”
“What does that say?” April asked, putting one knee down on the ground.
’Choo . . . Austin sneezed. He shook his head around as if the dust were bothering him, too. He trotted under April’s bed.
April looked under the bed. He had collapsed in the far corner. “Still have allergies as a dog, huh?” He was using his paw to rub and cover his nose. Then, she leaned in between Grace and Eve who were looking at the book. April closed the heavy front cover and ran her hand over the raised, braided trim. The edges were so bulky and hard. “It looks like a picture frame, but it feels sorta like leather and the snake skin from science class.”
She ran her pointer finger across the large black letters on the cover that spelled Magie. “What is that? What does ‘Maggie’ mean?” April asked.
“It’s ‘mah-gee’ not Maggie. And magie means ‘magic’ in French,” Eve said, opening the book.
“Girls.”
They froze as April’s bedroom door opened. They slowly turned to see April’s mom in the doorway with Eve’s mom standing behind her.
OMG! OMG! Please, oh please, I hope we’re creating a wall in front of this book. What if Eve’s mom asks why she brought it over? Oh crud—Austin! Oh Austin, please stay under the bed . . . please, please, please . . .
twenty
“Girls, Mrs. LaRue is going to run a few errands, then she’ll come back to pick up . . . are you okay?” Mrs. Appleton eyes widened as she looked at April. “Honey, you are as pale as a ghost.”
April swallowed. She slid closer to Eve and Grace.
Please don’t let them see the book. Please don’t let them see the book. Please Austin, stay under the bed.
“Oh no. I’m fine. We’re just working on our essay.”
OMG... Am I a Witch?! Page 4
