Scent of Magic (10 page)

Starley was beyond happy that Beau had asked her to the homecoming dance. But she also couldn't help noticing that since he'd asked her, he'd been spending more time talking to Beatrice than her. She tried not to let it bother her, but it did. She wasn't completely sure he still wanted her to go with him. It seemed like the only time Beau spent any time with Starley was for a few minutes during lunch and when he walked her home every day after school.

"Are you sure you're not just paranoid?" Rue asked as they walked to class after lunch. "Beau's taking
you
to homecoming."

About that time, Beau walked by with Beatrice. She giggled like whatever he'd just said was possibly the funniest thing she'd ever heard.

"Yeah, but I can't help but wonder if he regrets asking me instead of Beatrice," Starley said.

"The dance is this Friday, he wouldn't dare back out now," Rue said. "Of course, you could always give him an out."

"An out?" Starley said.

"Yeah, you know, be a bigger woman. Tell him if he'd rather take Beatrice to the dance than you, you're cool with that," Rue said.

Starley's mouth dropped open. "But what if I'm not cool with that? What if he thanks me and takes her instead of me? I already have a dress!"

"Then you and I can go as a couple," Rue suggested. "It would be a shame to waste a perfectly good dress."

Starley playfully punched Rue in the shoulder. "You're
so
much help."

"What? I'm kidding," Rue said as she stared at Beau and Beatrice. "Sort of."

"Let's bake a test batch of cookies tonight. You try them out on your friend Andrew. If he suddenly decides he can't live without you and gets all swoony and stuff, then we can give some to Beau," Starley said.

"
Swoony and stuff
? Who even says that?" Rue rolled her eyes. 

They had gone into the classroom and got seated just before the bell rang before Starley whispered her answer. "Francesca."

Starley worried the entire day. She'd chewed her fingernails to the quick. After school, she was surprised to see Beau waiting for her in their usual spot. Her stomach did its usual flip.
Oh no, here it comes. He's going to tell me he can't take me to homecoming
, Starley thought.

When Beau spotted Starley walking toward him, he grinned, and she relaxed a little. Starley smiled back and tamped down the urge to run the other way.

Wordlessly, they started walking toward Starley's house. After a few minutes, Beau broke the silence and said, "Is it true?"

Here it comes
. "Is what true?" Starley asked.

"Did your sisters put a spell on my mom?" Beau asked.

Starley's ears started to ring, and she felt like she'd swallowed a bag of wet cement. "Not that I know of. Why would you ask me that?"

"My dad," Beau said. He kicked a rock and avoided looking at Starley. "He thinks the new and improved version of Mrs. Byrd was cursed. Personally, I think it's great that she's finally decided to stop letting him treat her like a doormat."

Starley bit off a laugh and cleared her throat. "Why does your dad think my sisters had something to do with your mother's change of attitude?"

"Because he's crazy? I don't know. He has to blame someone. He couldn't imagine my mom thinking for herself for a change," Beau said. "Anyway, if your sisters are behind the improvement, be sure to tell them thanks for me."

Starley took a deep breath. "They'll be happy to hear that. Even though I'm sure they didn't have anything to do with your mom's
magical
transformation."

A few minutes after Starley got home, Rue knocked on the front door.

"Are you following me?" Starley asked.

"Sure. Just call me Stalker Rue," Rue said.

"Meh, Creeper Rue has a better ring," Starley teased and moved to the side to let her inside.

"You're in a good mood. I take it everything's good between you and Beau?" Rue asked.

"It's okay. He asked me if my sisters put a spell on his mom," Starley said.

"He what?" Rue's mouth dropped open. "That's not good."

Starley laughed. "Actually, he wanted me to thank them for him."

"Oh that's good, then," Rue said.

The girls baked a batch of cookies. Three dozen magical cookies. Neither of them knew how many cookies were needed to do what they were supposed to do.

"Taste one," Rue said, handing Starley a cookie. "They smell really good. I hope that means they're edible."

"I'm not going to taste them," Starley said shoving Rue's hand out of her face. "What if they make me fall in love with the first person I see? Nothing personal, but you're not exactly my type."

"Are you sure?" Rue asked, batting her eyelashes.

"Am I sure you're not my type?" Starley said.

"No dumbass, are you sure you don't want to test one of the cookies before we give them away?" Rue said.

Starley giggled. "I'm sure. Now go. Andrew's going to love your cookies."

Rue grabbed a dozen of the cookies. "Good idea. I'll give him the cookies, he'll ask me if I want one … this might just work."

"Unless they suck and he winds up choking to death or something," Starley called out to Rue just before the door slammed behind her.

Rue jogged all the way home and was about to skip up her front porch steps when she heard someone call her name. She froze in her tracks and slowly turned to see Andrew sitting on his front steps. She turned around and crossed the lawn between their houses.

"Hey Andrew," Rue said.

"What's up?" Andrew said.

Well, that was awkward. Andrew had been Rues friend forever, but he was painfully shy, and sometimes conversation between them was difficult.

"So, what are you up to?" Rue asked. She shifted the bag of cookies from her right hand to her left hand and back again.

"Not much," he said. He nodded toward her hands. "What's in the bag?"

"Oh, um," she stammered. She thrust the sack at him. "I baked cookies."

Andrew tilted his head sideways. He looked inside the bag and took out one of the cookies. "Wow, thanks. These are still warm."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling sweetly. "Aren't you going to try one?"

He thought for a few seconds. "Sure." He took a bite and chewed slowly.

Rue thought she might die of anticipation. She couldn't help staring at him, watching and waiting to see if anything happen. "Well?"

"Not bad. There's something different about the taste. I can't put my finger on what it is." Andrew stared up at the sky like whatever the secret ingredient in the cookies was might be written in the low hanging branches of the oak tree he stood beneath.

"Maybe you should have another one, see if you can figure it out," Rue suggested.

Andrew shrugged. "Okay."

He ate another cookie and Rue frowned. He didn't look any different, and he didn't look at her any differently. She sighed heavily and decided that the cookies must not be working.

"I'm going inside now," Rue said. She turned to leave. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya," Andrew said around a mouthful of cookie.

***

Rue trudged out the front door. She wasn't in a very good mood. What a waste of time. Andrew had inhaled at least three of those special cookies before she left him standing on the front lawn the night before and nothing had happened.

Rue clomped down the steps and was about to turn toward the school when she heard Andrew.

"Rue, wait up," Andrew shouted.

She turned toward him, startled. "Andrew, I didn't see you there."

"I thought I'd walk with you to school," Andrew offered.

It could have been Rue's imagination, but he seemed to be looking at her more intently than he typically did. And he never walked with her to school. Her heart started to beat a little faster, and she stuffed her sweaty hands into her coat pockets.

"Yeah, sure," Rue said.

They hadn't walked very far when Andrew put his hand on Rue's arm, stopping her. Rue's eyes drifted to his hand. She swore she felt the heat of his fingers through her jacket. Her mouth suddenly felt too dry to talk. She tried to swallow.

"Rue, I was wondering," Andrew said softly.

"Yeah?" Rue said, suddenly at a loss for more than one syllable words.

"Do you have a date to the homecoming dance?" Andrew asked.

"No," Rue said.

"I know this is a late notice, but I was wondering if you'd like to go with me," Andrew said.

Rue wanted to ask this stranger who he was and what he'd done with Andrew, but she didn't want him to think she wouldn't go. "Okay."

"Great," Andrew said with a big grin. "That's really great."

Rue's stomach felt like it was full of ten dozen butterflies. What was wrong with her? She never felt weird around Andrew before. Her palms were sweaty, her heart beat erratically, and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

Rue and Andrew went their separate ways at the front door of the high school, and she was still reeling.
The cookies
. It had to be the cookies!

Rue floated -- yes floated -- down the hallway. Starley gave her a strange look and asked, "Did you take up drinking?"

Rue's cheeks hurt from all the smiling she'd done since Andrew asked her to homecoming.

"The cookies? They totally work, by the way," Rue said as they passed Beatrice flirting shamelessly with Beau. "You might want to have Beau try them and see what he thinks."

"Shush," Starley hissed. "They'll hear you."

"Good. If he hears me, he'll beg you to let him eat your cookies. Wait. That totally sounded wrong." Rue cracked up laughing.

"Tell me how your night went." Starley changed the subject and started walking faster.

"You'll never guess," Rue teased. "I mean, who would have thought that baking a boy special chocolate chip cookies would get him to finally ask me to the homecoming dance."

"Shut up! He did? The cookies worked then?" Starley asked.

"It was either the cookies or he realized homecoming is in two days and he just remembered," Rue said. "Of course the cookies worked. Ye have little faith."

"You have a dress, right?" Starley said.

"I've had a dress since two weeks after school started," Rue admitted.

"It'll be almost like a double date." Starley sighed happily. "That way if Beau dances with Beatrice more than me, I won't be the only wallflower at the dance."

Rue squeezed Starley's arm. "Trust me. You give Beau Byrd those cookies and it will be like, 'Excuse me, Beatrice who?'."

Starley bit her lip and nodded. "I hope you're right."

"When have I ever been wrong?" Rue asked. She held up her hand right away to keep Starley from saying anything. "Never mind. Don't answer that."

Starley walked down the hallway carrying her shoes and tugging at the front of her dress.

Juliette smacked her hand. "Starley, Stop pulling on your dress. You're going to stretch it all out of shape."

"I can't help it. I don't remember it being this low cut. I'd fall out of it if I had anything to fall out of it with," Starley grumbled.

Francesca snickered. "Starley the dress is fine, you look beautiful. But if you want to wear one of Juliette's padded bras, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

Juliette's mouth dropped open. "I do not wear padded bras."

"No, thank you," Starley interrupted. "Now I know another reason I don't go to dances."

"Why?" Francesca asked.

"Because the dress makes me feel like I'm half naked, and the shoes pinch my feet," Starley said, dropping the high heels to the kitchen floor with a thud.

"You look great," Juliette said, tucking a chunk of Starley's blonde hair behind her ear. "Amazing, really."

Starley bit her lip and blinked. "You're just saying that because I'm your sister, and you're obligated to say I look nice even if I look hideous."

"No, you're talking to Juliette, remember. If she thought you looked atrocious, she'd say so. You forget, Juliette does not sugar coat things," Francesca said.

"She's right," Juliette said. She pointed to the shoes. "You should probably put those on and wear them around for a few minutes. Try to break them in a little bit."

"What time is Beau picking you up?" Francesca asked.

"He said six. We're going to get something to eat before the dance," Starley said.

"How thoughtful," Francesca said.

"Not really," Starley mumbled.

"Why not?" Juliette asked.

"Because if I eat anything I'll probably throw up all over him. Won't that be romantic? My first dance and I barf all over my date," Starley said.

"Stop it! You aren't going to barf," Francesca said. "Try to relax, Starley. You're going to have fun. This will be a night to remember."

"I hope you mean that in a good way and not an 'oh my god that was the worst night of my life' way," Starley said.

"Is Rue going to be there?" Juliette asked, trying to take Starley's mind off her distress.

Starley nodded. She walked over to Poe's cage and fed him a couple of peanuts. "What do you think, Poe?"

"Crow's can't talk," Poe said.

Starley giggled and started to walk away. Poe let out a piercing screech followed by a wolf-whistle loud enough to rival any construction worker. Starley glanced over her shoulder at the bird and said, "Dirty bird."

Poe chuckled as though he knew exactly what their conversation was about. She swore that crow was smarter than some humans.

Starley squeezed her feet into her shoes and practiced walking up and down the hall.

"No, not like that. You look like a duck trying to waddle across the road before it gets run over," Juliette remarked. She glided down the hall and back. "That's how you do it. Now you try."

Starley walked toward the other end of the house, turned smoothly, took three steps and tripped. "It's hopeless. I'm about as graceful as an ice skating pigeon. Don't you have a pair of flats I can borrow?"

"Nothing that will match your dress," Juliette said.

"If Beau's on time, then he should be here in about fifteen minutes," Francesca pointed out.

Starley slipped out of the shoes and went back to her room. She had wrapped the magical cookies in tissue paper and stuck them in the clutch Juliette had let her borrow. She grabbed the cape that Francesca said she could wear and took one final look in the full-length mirror. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, trying to calm herself.

"Be thankful you're just a dog, Larry. You don't have to worry if your dress doesn't fit right or if your shoes feel like they're going to amputate your big toe," Starley mumbled.

Larry cocked his head and let out one soft whine, letting her know he understood everything she'd said and agreed whole-heartedly.

Starley made her way back out to the kitchen, wedged her feet into her shoes, and went toward the living room. As soon as she cleared the doorway she got blinded by a series of flashes going off.

"Thanks a lot. Now I've got spots before my eyes," Starley said. "A little warning might have been nice."

"Candid shots are always much better than posed ones," Francesca said.

"I'm glad you think so," Starley said.

She was still trying to recover her vision when the front doorbell rang. Starley felt faint and thought she might pass out. Francesca answered the door and invited Beau to come inside.

Francesca insisted on taking some more photos of them together. Before they left, Starley wasn't sure, but she thought she saw both sisters dab the corner of their eyes. Starley swallowed the lump in her throat and kissed them each on the cheek.