Brianna felt the color return to her face. Her arms dropped down by her sides. Didn't she want to find a boyfriend that would stick around? She could even do well at the Battle of the Bands. Didn't she want to feel like she was the talented sister? Like she wasn't the invisible sister? For once?
"We could have any boys we want. Everyone would look up to us." Valerie moved closer to Brianna, held both of her hands, and stared into her eyes. "I'm not asking you to do anything that's wrong. You were born with this power. I just want to help you use it."
Brianna's gaze strayed to the ground as she admitted with chagrin, "I don't have much power."
"It's worth a shot. What could it hurt to try?"
"I'll think about it, but I have to go now. I have band practice tonight. Could you take me home?"
Valerie agreed, but only after giving Brianna her cell number. Brianna promised to text her as soon as she'd made a decision.
****
Brianna had to apologize for being a few minutes late. The three other band members had been waiting for her in Pat's garage.
For some unknown reason, Brianna's fine motor skills were not functioning properly that night. No matter how many times she tried, her fingers wouldn't cooperate, and she kept getting the chords and rhythms wrong.
"I'm sorry, guys," Brianna said for about the fifteenth time as the band members packed up their instruments.
"Don't worry." Eva patted her friend on the shoulder. "Be on time tomorrow. The more time we spend practicing, the better we will get."
"It's all good," Pat assured her.
"We've been doing well. It's just one bad night," Dave said.
Brianna was having trouble keeping her spirits up after such a terrible rehearsal. Her frustration and disappointment crawled up her throat. She tried to swallow it, but the sore lump reminded her of her failure and inadequacy. It wouldn't go down. It just grew and grew, threatening to close up her airways. Hot tears rose behind her eyes. Why were her fingers so stupid?
The spell for enhancing musical talent lingered on her mind. What could it hurt? Mandy used her gift every single day to improve every aspect of her life. All Brianna wanted was a little more musical talent. After all, it would help the entire band. Her friends had worked so hard and were dying to enter the Battle of the Bands. She would feel horrible if she ruined everything for them because she sucked.
Brianna texted Valerie. Okay. I'll try a spell.
Within seconds, Brianna's phone vibrated. Meet at my house, Friday, six o'clock. We are going to have so much fun together, Bri.
Chapter Eleven
Brianna arrived home from school on Friday to find her father lying on the ground underneath his sedan. "What's up, Dad?"
"The car won't start. I need to go pick up a few parts. Then I'll fix it up tomorrow."
"Oh, no. I needed a car tonight." Her mother was working the night shift at the hospital. With her father's car out of service, there were no available vehicles.
"Sorry, Bri. These things happen."
Brianna sighed and took a seat on the white wicker couch on the front porch. Her parents wanted the girls to learn the value of a dollar. Rather than buying them cars, they'd offered to match whatever each daughter saved on her own. Bri had been working at the Bagel Bin on Saturday mornings for almost three months. She only had $500 saved so far. It was going to be a while before she would be able to afford her own transportation.
A car pulled up in front of the McKinney house and three girls stepped out of the sleek, blue convertible. Giselle's stiletto heels kept sinking into the dirt as she crossed the front yard. Mandy chattered animatedly on her pink cell phone. Penny trailed behind as the three girls strode through the front door. The girls passed right by Brianna without acknowledging her existence. Were they purposely rude, or were they just so self-absorbed that they couldn't see what was right in front of them, unless of course it was muscular or subservient? Either was possible.
When their parents had explained their offer to help purchase vehicles, Mandy had not been at all disturbed, and she'd never made any attempt to find work. Why would she? All she had to do is snap her fingers and one of her followers would come scoop her up. There were people at school who would pay to drive Mandy around.
Brianna texted Valerie. No wheels. If you still want to do this, you're going to have to pick me up.
I'll pick you up if you come down to the bottom of your driveway. Don't forget we can't be seen together. If Mandy knows we're hanging out, she'll know what's up and try to ruin it. Okay?
Brianna thought Valerie was a little paranoid, but she agreed.
And FYI, there are some cute boys over here. I'll be there in 30 minutes.
Cute boys? That was an unexpected bonus. Spurred into action, Brianna darted upstairs and ripped off her loose ripped jeans, beat-up sneakers, and Red Rapture T-shirt. She changed into a tight black tunic with a big red guitar on the chest, black leggings, and red heels. Staring into the mirror, she tossed her long, loose hair the way Mandy always did. Brianna stared at her reflection, imitating her sister's best flirtatious look. Game on. Her heels clinked as she headed out the door and down the driveway.
At the bottom of the long, winding hill, Valerie waited in her gold luxury vehicle. Brianna got comfortable in the black leather passenger seat. "Who are the boys?"
"Do you remember Wayne?" Valerie asked.
Brianna nodded. She vaguely remembered Valerie's older brother from when they were kids.
"He goes to college in the city, but comes home sometimes on the weekends. He has two cute friends over. They are hanging out downstairs."
The girls chatted about their celebrity crushes and their favorite television shows during the seven-minute drive to Valerie’s house. Upon their arrival they headed straight to the living room. Three good-looking college boys were lounging on the brown leather sofa, playing video games. After brief introductions, Valerie and Brianna watched the on-screen characters joust from the adjacent loveseat.
"No!" Wayne slammed the controller onto the chestnut coffee table. His pleasant features were marred by frustration and disappointment.
"Got you again!" John's brown eyes shined with victory.
"You girls want to play?" Dylan offered his controller to Brianna.
"Sure." Brianna flipped her hair like she had practiced in the mirror.
She nodded as Dylan explained the different functions of the controller's buttons, but Brianna could barely hear a word he said over the drumming of her heartbeat. He had big, pale blue eyes and muscular arms that were to die for. Could such a hot guy ever like her?
While playing the video game, Brianna could see the pulse point on her wrist throbbing every time she manipulated the controller. She could sense Dylan looking at her, liking what he saw. Although she didn't know how she knew, she was certain. His admiration made her feel all jittery inside.
"What're you girls doing for dinner? We're going to order something. Do you want to join us?" Wayne asked.
"Oh, I'm starving," Valerie said. "What about you, Bri?"
"Sure, sounds good."
Thirty minutes later, the mirror-topped dining room table was covered with plastic containers and paper cartons filled with Chinese food. Brianna's heartbeat triple-timed when Dylan chose the black-lacquered chair beside hers. As they ate, his arm grazed hers several times, raising goose bumps on her bare skin. Brianna admired his flawless complexion, straight nose, and shiny blond hair.
Dylan glanced sideways and caught her watching him. Embarrassed, Brianna dropped her gaze to the tabletop. She felt heat rush into her cheeks and worried that they were an embarrassing shade of beet red. Careful not to stare again, Brianna suppressed a grin when she felt his eyes on her several times throughout the meal.
The group joked, chatted, and enjoyed the delicious food. They indulged until their stomachs were overstuffed. After cleaning up, Valerie led Brianna up to her bedroom, and locked door as soon as they stepped onto the black
carpet. After laying a deep red satin blanket across the floor, she centered a circular crystal plate containing long, green stems and small pink stones. Two red candles held by crystal pedestals were positioned on opposite sides of the plate. Valerie sprinkled cinnamon over the arrangement.
Valerie lit the candles and flicked the light switch off. In the candlelight she sat cross-legged, facing the plate. Brianna sat across from her, her throat dry and her hands sticky. Why had she agreed to this? If she failed, which was the most probable outcome, she would feel like such a fool.
"These are from roses." Valerie pointed to the stems. "I bought them at the florist and removed the petals. If the spell works, flowers will blossom before our eyes. When we carry the roses with us, we will be irresistible to all boys." As she spoke her pitch increased, revealing her excitement.
"Now hold my hands," Valerie instructed. Brianna and Valerie's interlocked fingers hung above the plate. "We need to find the strength within and channel in on it. Concentrate."
Brianna closed her eyes. She remembered practicing with her mother and sister as a child. Mandy had found her power with ease. Brianna had always struggled to find hers. Concentrating on the center of her being, Brianna took a few deep breaths.
After a few minutes, she felt something in her core. There was a slight tingling sensation—a small amount of energy. She imagined wrapping her hand around it, holding it. It felt like trying to anchor something small and slippery, so uncertain and so easy to lose. Breathing steadily, Brianna opened her eyes and nodded for her accomplice to continue.
Valerie instructed, "Okay, now we say the rhyme. I'll say it first, and then you repeat. Ready?"
"Power of earth, power of fire,
Make me the girl they most desire,
In a crowd I won't be missed,
Allure no boy can resist,
When I carry this rose with me,
My beauty will be all they see."
Brianna repeated the incantation with her eyes closed. She had a firm grasp on the power. It no longer felt slippery. The energy had hardened, solidified. She inched open each imaginary finger, one by one, unveiling a small glowing ball. Bright and shiny, the ball radiated a warm, glowing energy. Her energy pulsated, and Brianna felt a euphoric sensation throughout her body.
She opened her eyes as flames shot upward. Streaks of fire stretched a foot tall, proudly illuminating the room. Valerie squealed with excitement. The sound startled Brianna and she lost her grasp on the power. Within milliseconds the glowing ball of energy melted, turning into a sparkling golden liquid.
Brianna struggled fruitlessly to hold the liquid. Helpless, she watched as the power slipped between her imaginary fingers and flowed out of reach. The candle flames returned to normal. The rose stems were unchanged. Brianna was forced to face her incompetence again. Her euphoria faded, and all that was left was despair. She blinked back tears.
Valerie's expression changed from excitement to confusion, and then disappointment. Failure wrapped its long, crooked tentacles around Brianna's throat, smothering her. Who had she been kidding? She knew she wasn't capable of this.
"I'm sorry," Brianna choked out.
"What happened? It was working. You can do this. Let's try again."
Brianna shook her head. It was impossible. She gave up. It was too embarrassing to keep trying and failing. Past experiences had conditioned her to quit. Growing up, no matter how many times she tried, Brianna had always felt inadequate compared to her sister. Mandy would always persuade her, "Try again!" But despite her best efforts, as the less powerful twin, she would fall short over and over.
As the years had passed, trying had correlated with humiliation in Brianna's world. Mandy's remarkable abilities had eroded Brianna's confidence and perseverance. Failure had left an enduring mark on her self-esteem. It became easier to not to try at all and save face. Brianna released Valerie's hands and switched on the lights.
"It's no use. I'm not strong enough."
"Well, there is a way to make you stronger."
"What's that?"
"It's called evulsion. We evulse power from Mandy and send it into you!"
"How do we do that?"
"It's a spell. We take some of Mandy's powers out of her body and place them into your body. Let's do it!"
"I'm not going to do that to my sister. I can't take her power without her consent. That's wrong."
Valerie's green eyes blazed. "And what she does every day isn't wrong? She could choose to use her powers for good. Instead, she upstages everyone because she lives to put other people down."
"Her behavior is awful, but she's still my sister. I'm not going to steal her power."
"She probably won't even notice! Listen to me, Brianna, please. We won't even take that much. If you took one-hundred dollars from a millionaire, would he even notice? If he doesn't even notice, is it wrong? Does it even matter? No one even has to know."
Brianna was quiet for a moment, considering. If she could just take a little bit—if Mandy never noticed…
A knock on the door interrupted Brianna's thoughts. Valerie unlocked and cracked open the bedroom door so that their strange setup remained unseen.
"What are you girls doing tonight?" Wayne asked.
"Oh, nothing much. Just girl talk, movies, the usual," Valerie said.
"We're headed out to Club Ice. We wanted to see if you girls wanted to come along."
Brianna's heart leaped, but not because of Club Ice.
"Isn't it twenty-one to get in?" Valerie asked.
"Not a problem. Dylan is friends with the bouncer. We can get you guys in."
"Sweet!" Valerie said. "Club Ice is the coolest club for the college kids in the area. I heard there are a ton of cute guys there. Are you in, Bri?"
Brianna thought of the cute boy downstairs. "I'm in."
Fifteen minutes later, the group piled into Wayne's truck. Dylan slid into the back seat next to Brianna.
"Have you ever been to Ice?" Dylan asked.
"No," Brianna said. She wished she could stop being so nervous and could think of something interesting or witty to say. When she realized she was biting her nails, she slammed her hands into her lap and clutched them together.
"You're going to love it. We're going to have a great night," Dylan said.
Chapter Twelve
Mandy, Giselle, and Penny lounged on the large sectional sofa in the McKinney living room while watching music videos. Penny diligently painted Mandy's fingernails with fuchsia polish while Giselle read a gossip magazine.
Mandy's cell phone rang. When she saw Chad's name across the screen, she pressed the ignore button.
"Who was that?" Penny asked.
"Chad."
"And you didn't answer?" Penny gasped, as if ignoring Chad Reynolds was a felony.
Mandy shrugged. How could she explain to her friends that she wasn't into Chad? Spending a good portion of her days wondering if their relationship was real or fake had certainly contributed to her indifference. Beyond that, she wasn't in love with Chad. Mandy's desire to discover Chad's real feelings was for her own benefit. She wanted to assess her own true self-worth.
If she was honest with herself, their relationship existed because it was good for her image. Over the past few weeks, Mandy had begun to reconsider maintaining relationships just for status. She was contemplating breaking up with him, but was just too much of a coward.
"You're not into Chad anymore! I knew it would happen eventually. High school boys are so lame. Now that we are juniors, it's time for us to start dating college guys," Giselle said.
It was typical for Giselle to assume Mandy's loss of interest was related to a feeling of superiority.
"That is such a great idea!" Penny always thought anything that emerged f rom Mandy or Giselle's lips was brilliant.
"I know college boys will like us." Giselle held up her gold compact. She spread crimson lip-gloss over her smug smile. "We just have to go somewhere to meet them."
"Oh, I know where! Club Ice!" Penny said.
Club Ice, Mandy thought. College boys. That could be fun.
"Isn't it twenty-one to get in?" Giselle asked.
"We won't have to worry about that," Mandy said, and both girls believed her without question.
"Yay! I'm so excited! We have to wait for your nails to dry." Penny had just finished Mandy's manicure.
Mandy stared at her nails and blinked twice. "They are dry. Let's get ready."
Giselle rummaged through her black leather pocketbook for her mascara. Penny reread the nail polish label, perplexed. "It doesn't say fast-drying…"
Chapter Thirteen
Loud music boomed from the dance club, located in the center of a suburban strip mall. As promised, Dylan's friend allowed Brianna and Valerie entry without requesting IDs. Club Ice was so packed that the patrons couldn't even lift their elbows.
"Isn't this awesome?" Valerie yelled over the boisterous crowd.
"It's pretty cool." Brianna watched Dylan from the corner of her eye. He had pushed his way through the crowd and was waiting his turn at the bar along the right wall. A few minutes later, he returned with two drinks.
"I got you a soda." Dylan handed the frosty glass to Brianna.
"Thank you." She gulped the drink, but the cold, fizzy liquid did nothing to cure her dry mouth and racing heart.
"Do you want to dance?" he asked.
For a moment Brianna's insecurities left her paralyzed. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Dance? She wasn't a good dancer. Brianna gathered all of her confidence and nodded, though her vocal cords still stuck in her throat. Dylan took her hand and led her toward the dance floor. When they reached the perimeter, she touched his arm, stopping him. "Let's stay here."
The DJ blasted the latest hits. A skimpily-clad brunette waved her hands in the air. Midriff-baring blondes gyrated their hips, hoping to attract male attention. Nearby, a chubby girl was booty shaking and shoulder popping. Brianna timidly swayed her hips back and forth to the beat. Dylan put his hands on her waist and pulled her close.
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