Piper's Perfect Dream (18 page)

“Piper! Piper!”
called Astra, waving urgently at the girl sitting across the cafeteria table from her. Astra's red-and-silver-striped fingernails caught the light and she noticed with dismay that the polish she had applied on Wishworld was already starting to chip. She knew it wouldn't last through her star ball practice later that afternoon. What a difference from her Starland manicure, which had taken
forever
to remove!

Piper looked up from her dream holo-diary, flipping a lock of hair the color of ocean foam over her shoulder. “Is someone on their way?” she asked.

“I think Tessa is heading over,” Astra told her. When the two girls had returned from Piper's Wish Mission, they had immediately noticed that something seemed off with their fellow Star Darlings. Everyone was acting really odd. But they couldn't quite put their finger on exactly what was going on. So they decided they'd study their roommates first and report back to each other.

Back in their room, after Clover had hugged Astra tightly for the tenth time, Astra realized that no one could have possibly missed her that much. So she sent this holo-text:

After a while she received the following holo-text:

They made plans to study the rest of the Star Darlings the next starday, starting at breakfast. So there they sat, awaiting the other Starlings' arrival.

Piper shut off the holo-diary with a swipe of her hand. “Star apologies, Astra,” she said. “I just thought I'd skim through some of my latest dream entries to see if I could come up with any clues about what's going on. You know, any themes or symbols that might have deeper meaning.”

Just a few stardays ago Astra would have scoffed at such a statement. But now she totally got it. To be completely honest, when she first met Piper she found her slow dreaminess annoying and her occasional dark side ridiculous. But now Astra had a new respect both for the hidden messages that dreams could hold as well as the strength of Piper's intuitive powers. She also admired Piper's faith in herself. She didn't seem to care much about what others thought of her—much like Astra, in fact. Astra realized they had more similarities than they had differences and now they were fast friends. The fact that they both recognized that something was amiss had cemented their bond.

“Find anything?” Astra asked hopefully.

Piper sighed. “Not yet,” she said.

They both watched as Tessa made a glitterbeeline for the table near the windows that the Star Darlings had claimed as their own, her brilliant green eyes flashing. All the Star Darlings knew how much Tessa loved food and looked forward to each meal. “Star greetings,” she said pleasantly. She plopped down in a chair across from the two girls. “I'm starving!” she announced.

A Bot-Bot waiter zoomed up to drop off Piper's and Astra's breakfasts and take Tessa's order. She thought for a moment then nodded. “I'll take a pastry basket and a cup of Zing, please,” she said.

Her breakfast arrived shortly thereafter and Tessa hovered her hand over the baked treats, licking her lips in anticipation. She pulled out an ozziefruit croissant and took a big bite. “Moonberry,” she said when she was done chewing. She made quick work of the flaky pastry, then, dabbing the corners of her mouth with a cloth napkin for any errant crumbs, reached in again. This time she grabbed a mini moonmuffin, which Astra could see was liberally studded with lolofruit. She popped the entire thing into her mouth and chewed. “Moonberry again!” she said. “What are the chances?”

Astra's Star-Zap, which was sitting in her lap in silent mode, flickered. She flipped it open and read the message.

Cassie and Sage strolled in next. Cassie sat next to Piper and smiled at her as she flicked open her napkin.

“Starkudos on your mission, Piper,” she said.

“Star salutations, Cassie,” Piper said, digging into her bowl of Quasar Krispies with sliced starberries.

“It probably didn't…” Cassie said, obviously trying to figure out the best way to phrase her statement. “It probably didn't go quite as seamlessly as mine, did it?” She thought for a moment and laughed, placing a hand on Piper's arm. “Of course it didn't!” she said. “What was I thinking? My mission was such a stellar success!”

Piper looked stricken for a moment. But her expression changed to a knowing grin when she received Astra's holo-text:

The rest of the Star Darlings began to arrive at the table. Astra and Piper watched as Sage giggled when Clover shamefacedly confessed to getting a D on her Chronicle Class examination and then guffawed when the Bot-Bot waiter informed her the kitchen was out of the Sparkle-O's she had ordered.

Piper nodded from across the table and began to write a holo-message in return.

Astra looked over at the girl, whose cheek was resting on her plate of tinsel toast.
My stars,
she thought. She reached for her mug, drank her last gulp of twinkle tea, and began to compose a reply.

“Hey,” said Cassie, noticing. “Are you writing a message about me?” she asked eagerly. She looked down at her silver dress and lace tights and smiled. “I did pick a startastically fashionable outfit today, didn't I?”

“You do look nice today,” Astra said. To Piper she holo-texted: