Just Add Magic (14 page)

“But how do we stop it? There must be a potion or something that can undo it, right?”

“There is no potion than can restore the balance of the universe. But you can take matters into your own hands and restore balance on your own before the fates of the Law of Return do it for you.”

“So we can create the equal and opposite reaction before nature does it for us?” I asked. Hannah would've been proud of me for thinking so scientifically.

Darbie looked at me like I was a possessed Twinkie.

“Si,”
said Señora Perez.

“For example, we could do something good to balance something bad?” I confirmed.

“I see,” Darbie said. “We help an old lady cross the road, and bada-bing, no Return. Right? Well, I've been doing nice stuff all day, and no bada-bing.”

“Good deeds aren't as simple as ‘bada-bing,'” Señora Perez said evenly. “They take some effort, some heart.” She pointed to her chest when she said “heart.” “You must really mean it, or it won't work.”

“But what
will
work?” Darbie asked.

“That,” Señora Perez said, “is for you to figure out.”

“So, we have to be nice again?” Darbie asked.

“Like, really nice,” I replied. “Nicer than at school.”

She rubbed her temples. “I'm getting a headache. So, what's this plan of yours?”

I put thoughts of kindness aside. “We need to get Frankie down here. He'll confess his love to me in front of Hannah, which will convince her the Secret Recipe Book is full of special potions. Then I'll give him one of these.” I took the tin out of my pocket and shook it. “And I think it will reverse the potion.”

“Sounds good to me,” she said. “Except how do you intend to get Romeo to Sam's?”

Suddenly, the door to Cup O' Joe swung open and out came Mrs. Rusamano carrying a short, steaming cup.

The timing of Mrs. R. standing right there in front of us exactly when I needed her gave me goose bumps.

“Weird,” Darbie muttered. “You've been hanging around that Señora too long, if you can make something like that happen.”

I said, “Hi there, Mrs. R.”

Then the door to Sam's swung open and Hannah came out. “There you are,” she said. “I was getting worried. Your Swirleys are melting.”

Mrs. R. said, “Hello, girls.” She looked at each of us and stopped at Hannah. I assumed she was going to say something about the pink blobs of lotion on her skin, but instead she said, “You look thin. Are you eating enough?”

“Sure. It's soccer season, you know. I run a lot.”

“I just made some cannoli. I'll send some with Frankie to school Monday.”

“Really?” I asked. “Boy, do I love cannoli! It's my favorite. That sounds great, doesn't it, Darbie?”

I elbowed Darbie, encouraging her to agree with me. “Yeah, it's my fav,” she said.

“You'll love it. It's Tony's favorite, next to my tiramisu,” said Mrs. R.

“Oh wow, I can't wait until tomorrow,” I said. “You've got my mouth watering.”

“I've got an idea,” she said. “Why don't I call Frankie and ask him to bring it down here right now?”

Perfect.
“Grea—”

Hannah interrupted me. “That's not really necessary. It can wait until tomorrow.”

“Nonsense, it's no trouble. Besides, I'm sure he'd love to see you,” said Mrs. R. I wasn't sure who she was referring to when she said that. I think it was me, but I didn't make a big deal out of it.

Mrs. R. continued. “I'll call him from the car. I've got to go, I'm late for church.” She dug for her keys and surveyed the sky that was growing dark both from dusk and clouds. “Looks like rain, you'd better get inside.” When she got in her car and secured her double espresso in a cup holder, she picked up her rhinestone-clad cell phone and talked while she backed out of the parking lot.

“What the heck did you do that for?” Hannah asked.

I opened my palms, like I didn't know what she was talking about. “What?” I walked into Sam's and the girls followed.

Our Swirleys were on the table waiting for us.

“Come to mama,” Darbie said to her Swirley glass. She took a sip of the top layer. “Ahhh.” She looked like she'd floated off to heaven. “Good Swirley.” She patted the glass like it was a puppy dog.

Hannah said, “Tell me what happened.”

I took the tin out of my pocket and showed her.

“That's an antidote?” Hannah asked.

“I'm pretty sure.”

“It doesn't look like anything special,” Hannah said.

“I've seen this before.” I explained how the tin looked familiar, how its contents helped with Bud's and Dad's throats, and how my mom claimed it cured anything.

Hannah took the tin and translated the writing on the bottom: “‘Mexican Moon Honey. Gathered from Cedronian bees the morning after the full moon. Full moon beams have the power to mend wrongdoing.'”

Darbie said, “That sounds like an antidote to me. Good job.”

“What's ‘Cedronian'?” I asked.

“A certain breed of bees, I guess,” Hannah said. “I'm not a bee expert.”

We looked at her and laughed. She joined us. “Except for bee stings, of course,” she added.

Hannah sucked in a big sip of her chocolaty drink and grabbed the bridge of her nose. “Ah! Brain freeze!” She pushed her palm out, signaling for us not to talk. She switched to the one-minute finger, then opened her eyes. “Okay. It's better now.”

Darbie asked, “Why do you always do that? You know it hurts your head, but you slurp really fast anyway.”

“I can't help myself. Maybe that's why the Swirley is called Death by Chocolate . . . you die from a frozen brain.”

Suddenly a cool breeze slipped through the door—along with Frankie Rusamano and a cardboard box that I guessed contained cannoli.

Immediately the sight of him made me nervous. I hadn't told Hannah about Frankie being in love with me. I hoped he wouldn't swoon over me—she'd be so bummed.

He waved cautiously, like we'd made him self-conscious. “Hi, guys,” he said. “I mean, girls. I heard there was a pastry emergency and I had to come right down. What's up?” He did a double-take when he saw the goop on Hannah's face, but quickly and politely averted his gaze to the rows of ice cream. I was so used to looking at her by now, I'd forgotten to remind her about the lotion.

He slid a chair over to the table and sat between me and Hannah. Surveying our tall, frosty glasses, he picked up Hannah's and took a sip. “Mmm. Chocolate. My favorite. Hey, Sam,” he called. “Can I have one of these, please?” He rested his elbows on the table. “So, my mom says you needed cannoli right now. She says Hannah is too skinny and why didn't I tell her that sooner.” He set the box on the table, all the while looking at Hannah. “There's a tiramisu in there too. Tony thought you liked tiramisu, Kell.”

“I do. But I didn't know he knew that.”

Sam yelled over, “You're all set, Frank-o.”

I was closer to the counter. “I'll get it.” I went to the counter and picked up the freezing brown Swirley. It was my chance to reverse the Love Bug Juice.

With my back to my friends and Sam busy wiping down the counter, I slipped a square of crystallized Moon Honey into the glass. I took a long spoon and stirred. I imagined the Swirley was going to bubble and steam like a brew in a cauldron, but the crystal just dissolved.

I gave the Swirley to Frankie along with a straw, which he depapered, slid in, and took a long pull from.

Frankie held up his hand, closed his eyes, and winced.

OMG, I've poisoned him!

Freeze:

Ice cream in large quantities

Chocolate and other candy

Cream

Direction:
Mix it all together and suck as hard and as fast as you
can until you numb the front third of your brain. Continue
until it causes extreme pain.

“Sorry, brain freeze.” Frankie grabbed his head. “Oh! Man, that hurts.” He remained like this for a few seconds. “But I can't help myself. It's so good.”

Hannah smiled.

“How do you feel?” I asked. Darbie looked at me questioningly. I nodded—yes, I'd given him the honey. We watched carefully for his expression as he replied.

“Fine. Why?”

“Just wondering,” I said. There was no sign that he was in love with me.

Looks like the Moon Honey did its thing.

We continued staring at him, waiting for some kind of reaction. “What?” He looked at his shirt. “Did I spill?” He wiped his nose. “Booger?”

Hannah looked from person to person like there was something going on that she didn't know about, which there was.

“Who do you love?” asked Darbie, always the subtle lady.

“What?” he shouted.

“Just making conversation.” She casually examined her cuticle.

“Come on. What gives? I already think you guys, ah, girls, are nutso. Believe me. Nothing you tell me is going to change that.”

There was silence, which I felt compelled to break. “We're having a disagreement.”

I explained to Frankie about the Secret Recipe Book, the potions, and how strange things had started to occur. I didn't know how good it would feel to put it into words. At first the girls seemed hesitant, but soon they joined me, and I couldn't get a word in.

“It was all a coincidence. It's not possible,” Hannah interrupted.

It was like we'd all been dying to get this off our chests and reveal the big secret.

Darbie ignored Hannah and told Frankie about the “Beware of the Law of Returns” note and the bad things that happened: Hannah being stung by bees, me having to carry Charlotte's books, her falls, and Mrs. Silvers going to the hospital.

“You sent some lady to the hospital? What did you do to her, knock her over?”

“Kelly brought her some juice,” she said.

He stopped mid-sip. “Whoa. Stop right there. Brought her some
juice
? That sounds familiar.”

“Well . . .” Darbie hesitated.

“Oh, man,” he said with a big shake of his head. He took a hard sip of his thick drink. “I'm gonna be flippin' mad if you guys got me cursed.”

“You're not
cursed
,” Hannah said. She blew her bangs out of her face with gale force, clearly annoyed with Darbie and me.

Darbie said, “Since the three of us couldn't agree whether there was really something special about these recipes, we thought we would do an experiment.”

“That sounds logical. Coach Richards would be very proud of you for testing your hypothesis.” He slurped up the last droplets in his glass. “And how did you plan on doing that?”

Darbie looked to us for approval, but I didn't know what she should say. I didn't think he was gonna like the idea of us giving him a love potion. Not to mention that Hannah would die of embarrassment. I could already see her face flushing a shade of Bubblegum Swirley.

“By creating a love potion,” Darbie said.

I saw the heat of anger fume out of Hannah's ears. In an effort to contradict Darbie, she said, “There are no potions. There is no curse. It's like a superstition or a self-fulfilling prophecy—if someone
thinks
that a black cat crossing his path will bring him bad luck, then it will.”

Frankie said, “I don't believe in this stuff either.”

I took a sip of my drink to wash the lump of embarrassment out of my throat. “These things can't
all
be coincidences. That would be too much of a coincidence.”

Frankie stared at the bottom of his glass. “I don't believe it.”

There was no way to avoid it. I had to ask him. “Then why did you fall in love with me after you drank the love potion?”

Hannah's straw fell out of her open mouth. This could be her final moment before she died of humiliation.

The tops of Frankie's ears reddened. “You potioned me?” Then he got louder. “I was right, you guys are crazy!” He went to take a swallow of his drink and realized that it was gone. “Sam!” he called. “Can I have another?”

It felt like a two Swirley sort of day. “Me too.” I said. Then
I checked out the other two empty glasses. “Actually, can you make everyone a refill?”

I couldn't tell if Frankie was shocked or angry. He didn't speak for a minute. But when he did, he asked the next logical question. “And
who
exactly was I supposed to fall in love
with
?”

I saw Darbie ready to open her mouth. I couldn't do this to Hannah. I had to jump in before Darbie told him. “You came into Home Ec saying all those nice things to me,” I said.

“He did?” Hannah asked, confused.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoooooa! Kell, you're a cool girl and all, but potion or no potion, I totally did
not
fall in love with you.”

“You didn't?” I asked.

He combed both of his hands through his hair the way my father does when I drive him crazy. “I was being nice to you because . . . because. I didn't want to be in Home Ec. I don't want to cook. And if I don't keep my grades up, including flippin' Home Ec, I have to quit working. I thought you would do the assignments for me.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. He wasn't in love with me? Maybe he
was
in love with me, only he didn't realize it.

I said, “Maybe you just think you aren't in love with me because of the Moon Honey.”

“What's that?” he asked.

“The antidote to the Love Bug Juice,” Darbie said.

He looked at me with confusion and anger in his eyes. “An antidote—”

I said, “Yeah. I sort of gave you one just now in your Swirley.”

He nodded and looked at his cardboard box. “And the cannoli?”