Mercy
wished there was a way for her shy friend to join the conversation. Her lessons had not delved that far into spells, but Darynda had assured her that everythi
ng was based on focused intent.
Greg was drawn into a discussion with the boy on his right, leaving Mercy to her thoughts. She wondered which
among
the
circle of male
s might be best suited to
Felicity
. One of the team members, a tall boy named Arthur, sn
uc
k a glance
across the table at
Felicity
.
Hmmmm…You’ll do just fine
.
Mercy concentrated on Arthur, willing him to do as she wished. Her head felt pressure, as though it might explode. She took a breath and refocused her efforts. Arthur looked fidgety and again glanced at
Felicity
. This time
Felicity
notic
ed and flashed him a shy smile.
Aha! It’s working
. Mercy glanced down at her hands, wishing she h
el
d that magic wand that Darynda had ridiculed.
Okay, I’ll make do
. She pointed her finger at him
under the table
and he rose from his seat. He rounded the table, apparently intent on saying something to
Felicity
, but at the last moment, he swerved away and walked in
the direction of the restrooms.
Mercy sighed deeply.
More practice. I definitely need more practice
.
In a few minutes she spied Arthur returning to join his team mates. He looked thoughtful as th
ough something was on his mind.
Mercy focused her intent so hard she thought she was going to
pop
a blood vessel.
Come on, Arthur. You know you want to…
Arthur came up behind
Felicity
and tapped her on the shoulder. “Uh, would you like to dance?” The tips of his ears reddened as he waited.
Felicity
stared up at
him, her mouth slightly agape.
Say yes…Say yes
… Mercy mentally intoned.
“Sure.”
Felicity
rose and turned to Arth
u
r with a smile. “I was hoping you’d ask.”
Arthur blushed and went with her to the dance floor.
Mercy blew out a deep breath.
This witch business is hard work
.
Kelli
caught her eye and jerked
her head toward the bathrooms.
She nodded and
gathered her tiny handbag.
Couldn’t hurt to check the lip gloss
.
She followed
Kelli
into the restroom and smacked right into her when s
he stopped dead in her tracks.
“Look, girls…Metal Mouth and the
Brainiac
.” Lindy paused with a wand of
silver eye shadow in her hand.
Becca and Amy laughed
, their
raucous
voices bouncing off the hard surfaces
.
“It’s Losers Incorporated,” Lindy jeered, waving the wand of silver.
Becca made a letter L with her hand and held it up to her forehead. "Losers, losers," she chanted softly.
A wave of queasiness swirled up from
Mercy
’s gut. All her n
ew-found confidence faded away.
Lindy’s gaze narrowed. “Listen,
Brainiac
, I know you think you’re hot stuff because Greg asked you out, but he just feels sorry for you because y
ou’re such a big fat Looo-ser.”
More laughter.
Kelli
tossed her hair and went into the stall. “You’re just jealous,” she said under her breath.
“Jealous!” Lindy kicked against the metal door to the stall. “You think I’m jealous? I have nothing to be jealous of.” She kicked the stall again. “I’m Lindy Boyd!
My father is the Mayor of
Tannersville
.
I am the most popular girl in the entire school. Don’t you understand, you stupid loser?” She landed another kick agains
t the door and turned on Mercy.
Mercy’s legs turned to jelly and her stoma
ch
twisted like it was
in a vise.
Lindy’s teeth were clenched together and she looked like she
w
ould
bite Mercy’s whole face off. Lind
y
came at her in a rush
.
T
he door to the rest room swung open
hard, banging against the wall
. “What’s going on in here?” Mrs. Sanders, the Vice-Principal asked. Her gaze traveled around the room from girl to girl. “Someone reported a commotion in here.”
Kelli
emerged from the stall, swinging the door open. “
It must have been me, Mrs. Sanders. “I was having trouble with the door.” She quickly washed her hands and tossed the paper towel in the trash. “But it seems to be okay now.” She grabbed Mercy’s arm and steered her past Mrs. Sanders scowl and back to the dance floor. She didn’t let go until they reached the table. “That was close. We have to avoid that bunch of she-devils for a while.”
“What was that about?” Mercy asked. Her hands were still shaking. “I could feel how much she hates me.”
“Well, duh! Since Greg started hanging with you, she’s so jealous she’s about to choke. She’s
crush
ed
on
him forever.”
Mercy swallowed hard. Her heart beat
still pumped at
a machine-gun rate. “Oh,” The single syllable was all she could muster. She took her seat
quickly
before her legs collapsed
and sucked down the rest of her punch
so fast it caused a stab of pain to her head.
Brain freeze.
Greg turned to her and smiled. He reached for her hand and g
estured toward the dance floor.
She managed
to
smile
in return
and let him lead her to the middle of the gym floor. They were playing a slow song and she closed her eyes, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.
I just want to make it through this night.
She danced with Greg
through
a few more
songs
and then walked with him to the punch bowl. She stood behind him while he reached for two cups of punch
and put her hand on his shoulder, glad he had brought her and that he had chosen her instead of Lindy for a girlfriend
.
She surveyed the auditorium, filled with pretty girls and wondered again why Greg had chosen her when he could have asked any of her classmates to the dance.
When she turned
back
to
Greg,
she felt something cold and wet splash against her back.
Mercy spun around in surprise.
Lindy stood behind her with an empty punch cup in her hand. “Oops! My bad. I didn’t see you there.” She
looked like she was fighting
to keep he
r
smug smile under control.
Becca faked a stumble and dumped the contents of her cup down the front of Mercy’s dre
ss. “Oh, me too. I’m so clumsy.
Amy looked a little flustered
,
but dumped her cup on Mercy’s skirt. “Sorry,” she
mumbled.
The
icy
punch
ran down the dress, puddling on the floor at Mercy’s feet. She gasped as the cold liquid soaked through to her skin. Her cheeks flamed as humiliation and rage battled inside her brain.
The air crackled around her as the orb heated up.
“What the heck happened?” Greg turned around, a cup of punch in each hand. H
is jaw dropped open as h
e stared at Mercy’s beautiful peach
dress, now dripping red punch.
Angry tears welled in Mercy’s eyes. Her perfect dress was ruined.
She raised her shaking hand to point at Lindy. “
What's your problem, anyway?
”
Lindy made a face at her
and then
snicker
ed. Her friends joined in
with nervous
laughter.
“I wish you all get what you deserve. I wish you were far away and I never had to see your smug faces again.” Mercy turned and fled the gymnasi
um, with Greg close behind her.
Mercy tried not to cry, but tears rolled down her cheeks anyway. How could
Lindy
be so mean? How could
s
he
and her girls
destroy
the beautiful
dress? Her perfect evening with Greg was totally ruined.
She ran out to the parking lot and stopped,
not sure where to go from here.
“Hey, Mercy,” Greg said. “Don’t let those girls get to you.
They’re just jealous.”
She
made a scoffing noise in the back of her throat. “What do they have to be jealous of?”
Greg brushed a tear from her cheek. “Are you kidding? You’re a great student. All the teachers like you. You have lots of
real
friends, and…and you’re beautiful.”
She ducked her head. “Why are you saying these things?
I’m a pretty good student, but
I’ve never been beautiful.”
“I think you are.”
She raised her chin to see if he was teasing and he kissed her. It was just a quick
kiss
,
a
light meeting of their lips, but it caused
chaos in he
r stomach. She couldn’t breathe. W
hen she met his gaze, she
knew
he wasn’t mocking her.
“C’mon
, let’s get out of
here.” He reached out to take her hand and walked with her to the car.
They rode in silence to Mercy’s home, their fingers intertwined.
It should have been comfortable, but all she could think of was the scene they had left behind. She was raging inside over Lindy's sabotage. Could Kelli be right? Could Lindy be
jealous because Greg liked her?
She was heartsick over the dress. She sniffled and pressed her lips together to keep from wimping out, but Greg didn’t release her hand.
When they got to her house, h
e walked with her up to her door. They stood for a moment gazing
at each other in the moonlight.
"Your grandmother must have gone to bed early," he said. "All the lights are off."
"Um...yeah
…
"
S
he
grasped the sapphire locket for courage
. "Early to bed, and all that." The lie twisted her gut.
Mercy drew a deep breath and let it out.
“I’m sorry the evening was ruined. I w
as really having a great time.”
Greg smiled and brushed her hair away from her face. Just a little gesture, but it made
her
feel all melty inside.
“I had a good time, too,” he said. “Want to catch a movie next weekend?”
“Really? I mean,
yeah
. That would be great.”
“And you’re coming to the game tomorrow, aren’t you?” H
e gazed down at her hopefully.
“Sure.
Kelli
’s picking me and
Felicity
up so you don’t have to worry about me
getting there
.”
Greg nodded. He leaned forward and
gave her
another kiss on
t
he lips. “See you tomorrow
.
”
He waved when he reached the car and
then
climbed inside
and drove away
.
Mercy sighed and stepped inside. She wasn’t looking forward to the baseball game, mainly because she did not look forward to the next encounter with Lindy and her
evil
crew.
She flipped on the light switch.
“Early evening?” Alistair
asked. He was curled
up in Gran’s overstuffed chair.
Mercy snorted. “Yeah.” She twirled around to display her dress.
“Tie-dye party?” He stretched lazily.
“I was under the impression that you were going to a ball.”
“Smart Alec.” She went into the bathroom and changed out of the dress. She hung it on a hook behind the bathroom door and stepped into the shower.
So much for my gorgeous dress. It’s ruined
. As she stepped into the water, she couldn’t stop the tears. She sobbed as long and as loud as possible, hoping that she could rid herself of all the pain and anger filling her soul.
She turned off the water and dried
hersel
f
with
a towel, then wrapped
up
in her terry cloth robe.