Stirring Up Trouble (18 page)

Milo laughed. “They say it doesn’t, but I don’t know how else to describe her. She didn’t even react when I told her I had a girlfriend.”

“She is pretty though.”

“And she knows it.”

“So tell me more about your girlfriend,” I said settling back on the bed pillows.

“First, tell me about your toad slime substitute.”

“Okay,” I said with barely suppressed glee. And for the next two hours we talked science. Well, magic science.

I’d just finished admitting to my bathroom cleaning fiasco when I realized I was alone in a bedroom with a guy. I blamed Anya for my discomfort. If she hadn’t spent all that time emphasizing exactly how much a guy Milo was, I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it. Since Milo had always been my friend, I’d never really thought of him as male before. He was just Milo. The thought that he might be seeing me as a girl for the first time made me even more uncomfortable. I hadn’t had these breasts when I saw him last.

Totally freaked, I stood. “I’ll show you the library. And we can grab a drink.” Then, I left the bedroom as fast as I could with Milo following behind me.

Saturday night, we were kind of mean. We invited Anya to a movie, but we waited until fifteen minutes before it started. I knew she couldn’t possibly make it in time.

So we didn’t have to put up with her. Jake met us there, and he and Milo did pretty well with each other. At first, Jake was leery, but when Milo started asking questions about Anya, they bonded making fun of her.

Sad, I know. And I should have been a better friend, but really I was thankful for something to break the ice. Jake had grimaced when he caught sight of Milo. Personally, I thought Jake was the hotter of the two, but Milo was a hottie. I wouldn’t want a hot girl spending a week at Jake’s house.

My stomach clenched at the thought and I passed the popcorn back to Milo.

I’d have to remember to be especially nice to Jake this week.

Sunday night, Milo and I planned and planned for Halloween. We drafted a checklist of things that I couldn’t do, including dressing myself and putting on makeup. Mixing things together in any way at all could turn into a potion. I couldn’t straighten a picture or microwave a bowl of soup. Mixing any food on a plate could be dangerous and I couldn’t mix anything in my mouth either. I had to chew one food at a time. Luckily mixing in my stomach didn’t seem to matter.

On the surface, Milo seemed to have it a lot easier. He had to avoid rhyming accidentally. Unfortunately for him, people accidentally rhyme all the time. See. I just did it.

“The trickiest part,” he said, “is to keep from rhyming what I say with what someone else just said.”

“Like if I say ‘How are you tonight?’ you can’t say ‘Being here is a delight.’”

Milo winced and threw the pillow at me. “I’m not real likely to say that anyway.”

I stuck out my tongue at him. “You probably didn’t think you’d rhyme three out of the last five Halloweens either, but you did.”

“Well you’ve only gone one year in ten without a catastrophe, so I’m way ahead of you.”

“But now we’ve got The Plan.” I gestured to the notebook full of rules.

“I still don’t think we should go to the party,” Milo said, taking over the remote and channel surfing.

“I have to, Milo. We just started dating. What would it look like? Plus, both you and my dad will be there to cover for me. Besides, aren’t you tired of being ‘sick’ on Halloween?”

He sighed.

I studied my list. I’d just wear a long sleeved black dress and a witch hat. That’s right. I had decided that my only option was to be a witch.

I’d start out as a normal looking witch, and hopefully if anything went wrong, I’d be an ugly witch. Or a witch with two heads, or whatever. With any luck, it would be consistent and therefore explainable.

When magic spells or potions went awry on Halloween, they resulted in Halloween Hiccups. “Okay, Milo,” I said. “Tell me about the great disaster of 1492.”

Milo thought for a moment. “Locusts in Brazil.”

“And what caused it?”

“A young witch doing laundry.”

No chores on Halloween. Score one for me. “And the impact?”

“Famine,” Milo answered. “Wow. Things could get really ugly.”

“Not for us,” I muttered. If only I were as confident as I pretended. As far as actually surviving Halloween night, I just wasn’t so sure.

With our plans intact, we ordered a movie off pay per view and got comfy on the couch. We were on our third movie in a row when I asked him if he’d seen the Zac Efron movie yet.

He didn’t answer.

I looked over to see that he’d fallen asleep on the couch. It was weird seeing him sleep. Sleep was such a private thing. I kept sneaking glances at him until the movie ended. For some reason, I felt this tug of affection for him. I couldn’t tell if it was sisterly or not. Finally, I left him on the couch and went up to bed.

Mom didn’t let me ditch school on Monday. I had a chemistry test which I’d studied for on Friday night. It was a good thing too, because that exam was murder.

Milo swore he’d be fine hanging out at the house alone. He promised my mother he’d do something constructive for at least two hours. He’d brought some books with the work he was missing, but I really doubted he opened them.

When I walked in the house with Jake that afternoon, Milo called, “Hi honey, how was your day!”

Jake tensed beside me.

I laughed at Milo sacked out on the couch. “Have you been there since I left?”

“No. I went for a run earlier.” His eyes were glassy like he’d been watching television for hours.

“Were you watching soap operas?”

“No.” Milo glanced at Jake. “I wasn’t.”

Jake laughed because Milo totally acted guilty. “I can’t stay long. I have to help Mom and John with the party decorations.”

I blanched at the thought of the party.

“We’ve got work to do on our costumes,” Milo said. “We just might have a few surprises ourselves.”

I mouthed “Good idea,” to Milo. It couldn’t hurt to have Jake expecting something weird. He just might get it. I was really glad Milo was in town. He had my back.

Tuesday night, Milo looked fabulous in his rented prince costume. My chubby little friend really had grown into his...everything.

“It’s kind of redundant though,” Milo said as he placed the hat on my head. “You already are a witch.”

“Technically, we aren’t.” We didn’t use dark magic or spirits. We just used our magical gifts.

“Give it up, Zoe. We stopped fighting that label centuries ago. For all practical purposes, we are witches.”

“Whatever. How do I look?”

Milo stood back and studied me. “Kind of dull actually. A hat and a dress. Are you sure we can’t risk a wand or some makeup?”

I shook my head. “No way. It’s not worth it. I’ll just have to be dull. Besides, you look wonderful. I’m sure Anya will have trouble keeping her hands off you.”

Milo gulped. “Maybe I should be the boring witch.”

“You can’t begin to be this boring,” I teased. “Plus, she’ll be panting after you regardless.”

“True.” Milo held out his arm. “Would you give this prince the honor of escorting you to the party?”

With an exaggerated giggle, I took his arm. “Why prince, I thought you’d never ask.”

Chapter Sixteen

When Dad, Milo, and I got to the party, it was already hopping. We had to park a block away.

Milo helped me out like a gentleman.

“I wish you didn’t have to do this, Zoe.” Dad adjusted his Darth Vader mask and wiped some lint off the long dark cloak.

“It’ll be fine,” I assured him. I held Milo’s arm for courage as we walked down the leaf-strewn sidewalk.

Milo spotted Anya standing by the gate before I did. “You didn’t tell me she was coming as a princess.”

“Oh, didn’t I?” I braved a look at him. “You just looked so great in the costume. And I knew she’d bother you even if you weren’t a prince.” I hung my head going for ashamed. “So, I didn’t tell you.”

Her tiara sparkling in the moonlight, Anya danced out onto the sidewalk. “My Prince Charming has arrived at last!”

“You betrayed me,” he hissed. “Kill me,” Milo mumbled so only I could hear. “Kill me now.”

“I would if I could.” I had to admit Anya’s costume really flattered her figure. With a beautiful silk ball gown, how could you go wrong?

“Wow, Mr. Miller, you look great.” Anya waved the glitter-covered wand with a star on the end that I thought was a little much. “And you’re a witch, Zoe?” She sighed. “At least you didn’t come as a doctor.” Turning to Milo, she added, “That wouldn’t really count as a costume because she really is going to be a doctor.”

“She’s a real witch, too,” Milo said.

Thank goodness she thought he was referring to me as a witch in the sense of starting with capital “B”. I smacked him hard on the arm anyway.

“Oh, you are terrible.” Anya giggled. “I guess you’re getting a little tired of being with Zoe all the time. You can hang with me tonight.”

Somehow, Dad had broken loose from our dysfunctional group and was heading up the steps.

Spotlights in the yard illuminated the spider webs draped over the porch and windows. The spooky façade of the formerly cute house and the ghostly sounds coming from the shadows brought a grin to Milo’s face.

“This is going to be awesome,” he said with the enthusiasm of a boy who’d missed out on a lot of Halloween parties.

“We’ll just see about that,” I muttered.

As soon as we walked through the front door, a cloud of fog enveloped us.

A pirate with a mustache and a faded red bandana on his head moved toward me. I just had time to think he was way cuter than Johnny Depp, and cleaner, when he bowed and took my hand.

“Jake!”

“Yes, my pretty little witch.” He winked and patted his toy sword. “It’s me.”

“You look great!” I hugged him, avoiding the sword, and then took another look at him. “Are you wearing eyeliner?”

Jake coughed and his cheeks turned red. “Shhh. My mom bribed me with the X-box game of my choice.”

God, he was adorable. “It was worth it. You look hot.” I wouldn’t have thought he’d look good with long dark hair, especially with the little braids, but he did.

The gold hoop on his left ear bobbed when he tilted his head. “How hot?”

This time, I blushed.

Jake said ‘hi’ to Milo and Anya.

Then, a very convincing Cruella De Vil appeared. Jake’s mom had really gone all out.

“Welcome to the party, Zoe.” Her stiff half-white, half-black hair didn’t move as she hugged me.

“Thanks, Sheree. Nice costume.”

After I assured Sheree that Jake also looked fabulous, Jake dragged me and Milo past the other party guests and into the kitchen for soft drinks. The table and counters were covered with goodies, and my dad had taken off his Darth Vader mask to munch on a caramel apple.

I slowly, cautiously fished a cold Coke out of a giant witch’s cauldron, passed on the chocolate eyeballs in the skeleton’s head, and spared one longing look for the bowl of candy corn. Yum.

“Sweet.” Milo grabbed a handful of Starbursts.

A song came on that sounded familiar.

“Bobby Boris Picket,” my dad said. “The Monster Mash.”

“I love this song.” Sheree danced a little and the stuffed Dalmatians she’d pinned to her red cloak bounced around. The hair still didn’t move.

I looked for a path of escape but several groups of party guests had crowded into the kitchen to grab some snacks.

The song wound down, and I thought we were safe. The next song was my least favorite of all time.

“It was Halloween,” the speakers blared. “We ran out of gasoline.”

“I hate this song,” I said, turning away from Dad and Sheree who kept dancing.

“Me too,” Milo said. “Too creepy.” Then he chimed in as the song continued, “It was a murder scene.”

I flinched and braced myself. Milo paled. Dad looked frantically around the room.

A dozen bats appeared in the kitchen. They flew furiously around us.

I don’t know who shrieked loudest over the frantic flapping of wings, but I think it was my dad.

I ducked under the kitchen table.

Dad opened the back door, and they headed out into the darkness.

“What the—” Sheree said, adjusting the wig she’d finally shaken loose in the excitement.

“Sorry,” Dad said. “It was supposed to be a surprise. I thought,” he said, turning to Sheree, “you’d like it?”

“Wow, Dad! That was so cool.” I had to try to help him.

Milo jumped in too. “You rock, Mr. M. That really scared me.”

Jake didn’t sound so sure. “Are you okay, Mom?”

“Fine,” Sheree said with a feeble smile. “I wanted the scariest party ever, didn’t I?”

“You’re the greatest, Dad.” And I meant that too.

Anya popped into the kitchen. I guessed she’d greeted her admiring public and come back to stalk Milo.

“C’mon guys,” Jake said with one last glance at his mother. “I’ll show you the rest of the house.”

“Jake, who did you invite?” Anya asked as if she didn’t have enough adoring subjects.

“Just Camille and the guys. Mostly it’s Mom’s friends.” He led up the stairs motioning to the walls. “Mom wants us to vote on the worst Halloween candy.”

I looked at the orange and black wrappers on the wall. “I hate that peanut butter stuff.”

“No,” Jake said, motioning to the licorice. “That stuff is just gross.”

Glow-in-the-dark decorations covered the upstairs hallway leading to Jake’s room. He hadn’t decorated his room for the party, so Milo got to see my mother’s handiwork.

“You need to be more careful,” I hissed to Milo.

“Thanks.” He straightened his crown in Jake’s mirror. “I figured that out for myself.”

“Nice picture,” Milo said, pointing to a photo on Jake’s mirror.

Not just any picture, but the one of us at Dollywood. My heart did this funny little thump-thump, and I turned to Jake.

He glanced down and then met my eyes. If we were alone, I would have kissed him right then and there.