The science wing didn’t blow up. Neither did the main hallway, the gymnasium, or the auditorium. Everything was actually normal my first day back. The only change was that my last period was now a study hall spent in the library, since I couldn’t be trusted around the other witch kids. Quinn told me to keep working on his research paper, that for now it was the best use of my time.
I was so busy trying to catch up on what I’d missed and preparing for midterms that I barely got to talk to anyone all day. I only caught sight of Ash once in the halls, but the bell rang before I could track her down.
The weekend passed by so slowly I thought for a minute that time was going backwards. It wasn’t until Monday that our house had quieted down enough to sneak the spellbook out in the morning, tucking it into my book bag.
In lieu of any better ideas, I hid it in a locker at school. I asked for a hall pass to use the restroom, that way the halls would be mostly empty when I hid it. Only about seven hundred kids attended the high school, but there were enough lockers to support twice that. All the unused lockers had locks on them, but lucky for me that was one of the few spells I knew.
The unlocking spell only worked on certain locks—specifically the kind that kept school lockers closed. Each of the lockers in the school was numbered. Locker 666 would have been too obvious—that would have been Jenna’s choice for sure. I chose 999 instead, hiding the book in the bottom corner of the locker, and replacing the lock when I was done. With the book hidden, I felt like I could breathe again.
On some level, I think all of us were waiting for the other shoe to drop—for the warlock to make his next move. Only he didn’t. For a week, Carrow Mill was completely normal.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Ash said, appearing at my locker before the first bell on Friday.
“Not avoiding. Drowning. Missing most of last week totally threw me off.” I closed my locker door, and by unspoken agreement we started walking towards the stairs.
“Well, that’s what happens when you get suspended,” she said lightly.
“Maybe I’m just a rebel.”
Ash laughed. “Mr. French Vanilla is suddenly feeling rebellious?”
“Hey, I ordered a turtle mocha all on my own.”
Her eyes widened, and she fanned herself. “Stop, please. We’re in public. You’ll embarrass me.”
A week’s worth of waiting on the warlock’s next move had me feeling stir-crazy and reckless all at once. “Do you like movies? Like, watching movies? Maybe, I mean, tonight? With me?”
Oh God, what is happening to me? My mouth couldn’t trip over the words fast enough. I took a breath. She’s smiling, that’s a good sign, right? Or maybe she’s going to laugh? “I mean, would you want to go to the movies with me? Sometime?”
She was still smiling. “Like a date?” As if she were suddenly the coy ingénue. “Yeah, that would be okay. You could use a little spice in your life, doll face.”
“Doll face?” She shrugged in apology. “Does that mean I can call you a moll?”
Her eyebrows rose, and she half shrugged. “Hope you like scary movies,” she said with a wink. She turned back the way we’d come, and headed back down the hall. “They’re my favorite,” she called back.
I walked around in a stupor after that, unable to wipe the smile off my face.
“What’s with you?” Mal asked in Economics.
“I’ve got a date,” I said, unable to hide the smug tone in my voice.
“About time.”
I grabbed my Econ book out of my bag. I was actually caught up in this class, which was something of a relief. “With Ash,” I added, as if that needed clarification.
“I figured,” Mal said, his tone dry. “Where are you taking her? I assume she’s driving?”
“We hadn’t talked about that,” I said. I didn’t have my license, so that meant I’d have to ask for a ride. I turned around and faced Mal, giving him my best look of desperation. “We’re going to the movies tonight. Something scary, she said.”
Mal threw back his head and laughed. “That’s perfect.”
Uh oh. “Why is that perfect?”
He shook his head, and before I could press him further, class started. I spent the entire class trying to figure out what he meant by “that’s perfect.” What did he know that I didn’t? But no matter how many times I tried to turn and catch his eye or how many times I wrote on the back of my notebook, he ignored me.
Forty minutes later, when class was finally over, I turned around to finish interrogating
Malcolm, only to find his seat empty and Mal halfway to the door. I struggled to shove everything back into my bag and chased after him.
Malcolm and Jenna were congregated around her locker, speaking in low tones. Since when do they get along? Somehow, I was getting screwed over. I just didn’t know how yet. What did
Mal have in store? And why was he punishing me? What did I ever do to him?
Bailey came running up at the same time that I app-roached them. “Are you serious?”
“Someone needs to tell me what’s going on,” I said. “This is getting annoying. How does me taking Ash to a movie have anything to do with the rest of you? No offense or anything.”
Jenna and Mal shared a look, and I wanted to smack the both of them. Stop collaborating.
That is not how this is supposed to work. You’re supposed to be at each other’s throats! Jenna gestured for Mal to explain, which he did.
“Bailey has this group date thing she wants to go on. The adults said it was fine as long as one of us goes along to keep an eye on her. They don’t want any of us out alone, but things have been quiet so they’re willing to allow us a little freedom. Since you’re going to the movies, too … ” Mal trailed off.
“Wait, that means I can go?” Bailey squealed, then jumped up and down and grabbed Mal around the waist, squeezing him.
“I didn’t agree—” Before I could finish, Bailey released Malcolm and then grabbed me, too, hugging the daylights out of me.
“Oof! We don’t even know that we’re seeing the same movie,” I sighed, already accepting defeat. Too much information was being processed at once. “And wait, group date?”
“It’s not a date,” Bailey said quickly. “It’s just a bunch of the girls on the freshman cheer squad. Mal keeps calling it a date because there’s going to be a few boys there.”
I crossed my arms. “How many boys?”
Jenna slid her arm around Bailey’s shoulder. “Just a couple of guys. It’s nothing to freak out about.”
“Normally, I’d say Bailey’s too young to date,” Mal said with a grin, “but I’m not the chaperone. So I’ll leave it all up to Justin.”
“Please, Justin?” Bailey grabbed at my sleeve. She did puppy dog eyes and everything. “I promise, it’s just a movie. You don’t want people to think I’m a freak because I’m never allowed to hang out with them, do you?”
“You can still go out on your date,” Jenna added in a sweet tone. “I’m sure Ash won’t mind.”
The three of them had teamed up against me. How was this even fair? “What were you planning to see?”
Bailey’s smile could have powered all of Carrow Mill. “Santa Claws 2—Bloody Christmas. It’s a sequel to Santa Claws—you know, the one where Santa gets possessed by the demons … ”
“Yeah,” I said, holding up my hand in the hopes of stopping her. “I remember. You really want to go see that? Wouldn’t you rather go see something … I dunno, a little more appropriate?”
Bailey went from excited to frosty in an instant. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.