I fought very hard to keep cool, even as my hands tightened around the material in front of me.
Elodie leaned in closer, so I doubted anyone else heard it when she whispered, "You think I don't see the way you look at him?"
Keeping my eyes on the dummy, I said in the lowest, calmest voice possible, "Stop it, Elodie."
"I mean, your crush on him is just so sweet. And by sweet, of course I mean tragic," she continued. From the corner of my eye, I could see that almost everyone had stopped working and was watching us. Ms. East was pretending to ignore us, so I knew I was being thrown to the wolves on this one.
I took a deep breath and turned around to face Elodie, who was smirking at me in triumph.
"Oh, Elodie," I said in a voice that was so sweet it practically dripped syrup, "don't worry about me and Archer. After all, I'm not the one planning on having sex with him at the ball."
The class erupted into giggles, and Elodie did something I'd never seen her do: she turned bright red and actually sputtered in her attempt to come up with a serious put-down.
Ms. East chose that moment to shout, "Miss Mercer! Miss Parris!
Back to work!"
Smiling, I turned back to my dress. But the feeling of triumph was immediately deflated by the bright blue disaster in front of me.
"Does your magic feel off or anything?" Jenna asked softly.
"No, it feels the same as always. Water rushing up from my feet and all that."
"What?" Anna sneered, propping a hand on her hip. " How does your magic feel?"
"Uh . . . like something coming up from underneath me," I said, rushing to get the words out.
"That's not what magic feels like," Anna said.
I glanced around and saw that there were a few other witches staring at me in confusion.
"Magic comes from above," Anna continued. "It feels like something falling over you, like . . ."
"Snow," Elodie finished.
My face was hot when I turned back to my dummy. "I guess mine is just different, then."
I heard some whispers, but I ignored them.
"You'll get it," Jenna said, shooting Anna a dirty look.
"Oh, I know I'm gonna get better," I told her, running a hand over the tulle bustle in the back of the dress. (A bustle? Screw you, magical powers.)
"This is the dress I'm making for you."
"Oh, really?" she asked, her smile widening.
"Yeah, we'll probably have to hem it, though. Don't want it dragging on the floor."
She playfully smacked my arm with the back of her hand, and before I knew it, we were laughing.
I spent the rest of the class attempting to make the ugliest dresses possible, which was only funny to me and Jenna. I lost count of how many times Ms. East threatened to throw us out of class, and Elodie rolled her eyes so much that Jenna finally asked if she was having a seizure. This made us laugh so hard that Ms. East finally did kick us out, and gave us both a seven-
page essay to write on the history of clothing spells.
I didn't care. To have Jenna laughing again, I would have written a hundred pages.
"I don't know what changed," I told Alice later that night as we moved through the forest, picking mint for some spell that could slow time. "One minute she was the same sulky Jenna she's been for the past month, the next we were friends again."
Alice didn't say anything, so I said, "Isn't that great?"
"I suppose."
"You suppose?" I said, mocking her accent.
She straightened and glared at me. "It's just that I don't approve of your having a vampire for a bosom companion. It's beneath you."
I laughed. "Oh my God, beneath me? Come on."
Alice sighed as she shoved another bunch of leaves into the small leather sack she'd conjured. "Your friends are your concern, Sophia. I'll try to respect that. Now tell me about this party you have coming up."
I bent down to pick another bunch of mint. "It's a ball, actually. For
Halloween. It should be awesome. Especially since I can't manage to make a dress that doesn't completely suck. Oh, and--bonus--I get to suffer through watching a girl I despise be totally beautiful and seduce a guy I like. Should be good times."
"Elodie?"
I nodded.
Alice scowled. "I don't care for that girl. She's been quite hateful toward you. Undoubtedly because your powers are so superior to her own.
There are few things more abhorrent to me than a weak witch."
"Wow, tell me what you really think."
Alice blinked at me. "I just did."
"Forget it. It's just so unfair that she's such a heinous person, but her dress spell has turned out so beautifully. She's going to look amazing."
And have sex with Archer, I added silently.
I'd forgotten Alice could read my mind. "Oh. Is Archer that boy you fancy?"
There was no use in denying that I "fancied" him. I nodded.
"Humph," Alice replied. "Why not just use a love charm on him?