Under a Spell (6 page)

“Of course she doesn't hate you,” Jonathan assured her. “She just has problems flexing her facial muscles. Don't take it personally.”

“Really? Because she looked pretty angry to me. Do you think it's still the jeans thing? I've seriously said sorry like a zillion times about that.”

“Which is probably a zillion more than you needed to. Look, don't worry about Melissa. That's just the way she is, and until my parents will authorize the frontal lobotomy that I requested for her, we've just got to put up
with it the best we can. Anyway, before I go, did you like the playlist I made you?”

“Totally.” Sophie nodded as she felt another goofy smile coming up to her lips. At the concert, Jonathan had given her a CD full of his favorite songs, and she had been listening to them on her iPod ever since.

“Cool.” He grinned back at her before letting out a reluctant sigh. “Well, I suppose I'd better go before I'm late, but I'll catch you later.”

Sophie continued to smile as she watched him jog back up the empty corridor. Then she turned and walked into her homeroom. Malik was standing in front of Harvey and Kara and appeared to be demonstrating some hip-hop moves, but she hardly noticed as she started to hum one of the songs from Jonathan's playlist. First she'd had the good news about going to see the Djinn Council and finding out more about her dad's disappearance, and now she had Jonathan asking her to watch him play basketball. It was everything that a positive thinker like herself could ask for.

O
KAY, SO I KNOW I SAID THAT MALIK COULD COME
to art class with me, but I swear that's an experience that I never want to repeat again,” Kara announced as she collapsed at the cafeteria table next to Harvey, who was cramming food into his mouth and trying to read a textbook at the same time. Sophie, who had been discreetly listening to the playlist that Jonathan had made for her, pulled out her earbud and looked up.

“What happened? Was he terrible?” she cautiously asked as she nibbled on a chip. Not that she held out much hope for Malik's behavior since he had spent most of the morning being anything but okay. Then Sophie glanced around the table. “And more importantly, where is he now?”

“Just look for the orange ghost who's stealing Jell-O,” Kara said as she pulled out the large sketch pad that never left her side and buried her head behind it. Sophie peered toward the long line at the food counter, where a very orange Malik was hovering over someone's lunch tray.

“You painted him?” Harvey finally looked up from the pasta he had been shoveling into his mouth.

“I didn't want to,” Kara wailed from somewhere behind her sketch pad. “But he wore me down. He's like Chinese water torture. Drip, drip, drip. It was either paint him orange or have my cubist sketch look like something Jackson Pollock's cat would do. Besides, he promised me that once the paint hit him, it would be invisible to anyone who couldn't already see him.” Kara cautiously peered over the sketch pad at Sophie. “Are you mad?”

“Of course not.” Sophie shook her head and pulled the sketch pad down so she could clearly see her friend. “You don't have to tell me how annoying he is. Why do you think I conjure him up so many Cheetos? It's so I can keep him quiet. Besides, I appreciate your taking him. After the way he behaved in Spanish, I'm surprised that Señor Rena didn't give me a detention.”

For a moment they were all quiet, as if individually remembering how Malik had started making Sophie's entire pencil case float in the air like it was possessed. He had even made sound effects, which, judging by the looks people had given them, could be clearly heard by everyone. The annoying thing was that when Sophie had asked him to put off potential house buyers by pretending her house was haunted, Malik had acted like he didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about.

Finally, Kara spoke. “So how long do you think he'll need to stay at school with us? Because we haven't even
lasted half a day yet, and I'm already exhausted. I don't dare take him back to the art room again since he seemed to think that Colin the winged monkey was some kind of evil demon, and he kept throwing things at it. Now I'm going to have to redo one of the wings because Malik broke it.”

“Oh, Kara,” Sophie groaned. “I'm so sorry about Colin's wing. I had really hoped Malik would behave himself. But until I get my new appointment with the Djinn Council, I need him to keep training me. We just need to stay positive and think happy thoughts. Pretend that he's like a puppy.”

“Puppies? Ewh, why are you talking about those hideous creatures?” Malik suddenly appeared next to them, his painted orange face smeared with red Jell-O, making him look like pumpkin roadkill. “By the way, have you tried this stuff? It's like pond scum but with sugar.” As he spoke he lifted his black leather jacket from where it was draped over his arm to reveal a plate that was stacked with yet more fluorescent Jell-O, all violently wobbling, as if it knew what was coming next.

Why did Sophie get the feeling he hadn't paid for it either? But before she could say anything, Ben Griggs walked up to the table and gave her two thumbs up before pointing to the guitar pick around her neck. Sophie could only assume that he meant he had managed to convince Principal Gerrard not to give him a detention. She gave him a halfhearted wave in return and tried to ignore the
triple strength, venomous glare that Melissa was throwing down from just behind him.

“Whoa, what was that about?” Kara blinked as the two seventh graders walked over to one of the popular tables. “Did you see the way she was looking at you?”

“I know, it was pretty magnificent.” Malik whistled in appreciation. “That girl has serious spunk. I'm thinking that she could definitely play Sharpay in
High School Musical
. I bet she wouldn't even need to rehearse.”

“That's because she's evil,” Kara informed him before turning back to Sophie. “So, do you think it's still because of the jeans?”

Before she could answer, Harvey pushed away his half-eaten lunch. Both girls were immediately distracted since the number of times that Harvey didn't finish his lunch was never.

“Are you feeling okay?” Sophie forgot all about Melissa Tait and studied Harvey's face in concern.

“Yeah, I'm just freaking out about this stupid assignment. I'm going back to the library after school to work on it. Not that I'll get it finished by tomorrow.”

“Of course you will.” Sophie gave him an encouraging nod. “You just need to tell yourself that you can do this. Repeat after me: I'm a clever, well-rounded guy who's going to nail his history assignment and—”

“Soph,” Harvey cut her off in a dry voice. “It's not going to work.”

“Yes, it is,” Sophie insisted as she reached over and
grabbed the notebook from his hand. She flicked it open to see what he'd done so far. The page was blank.

“I know,” he groaned before she could say anything. “I tried to do it last night, but my dad took me to the apartment he's thinking of moving into. The spare bedroom is about the size of a bathroom and so are the cockroaches that are living there. It was kind of hard to concentrate after that.”

Kara's large brown eyes immediately filled with sympathy. “H, that sucks so much. Why didn't you IM us about it?”

“Because it would've interfered with my denial process,” Harvey explained. “Right now I need to use all of my energy not to think about it.”

“Well, at least we can help with the assignment,” Sophie assured him. “We can all go to the library after school. I can wish up all the textbooks you need so that you can do your research. Then tonight you can type it up and make it look all nice and shiny to hand in tomorrow morning.”

Harvey shook his head so that his long bangs fell across his eyes. “You don't have to. It's not your fault I suck at history.”

“Of course we're going to come with you,” Kara said as the bell rang. Her friends got to their feet, and Sophie was just about to follow them when she caught sight of Miss Carson and Señor Rena standing by the front cafeteria door, glaring at her. Sophie gulped. Perhaps when she got
better at transcendental conjuring, she could move them out of the way. Or, even better, she could turn herself invisible like Malik did. But for now it was probably better just to avoid them. She turned to her friends.

“You guys go ahead to English. I'm going to go the long way around.”

“We'll go with you,” Kara said as she followed Sophie's gaze over to where the teachers were still standing. But Harvey, who didn't like walking any farther than he had to unless food was involved, didn't look impressed.

Sophie quickly shook her head. “It's fine. I'll see you in a few minutes. Save me a seat.”

Once her friends headed for the front entrance, Sophie began to thread her way through the tables toward the small door at the back of the cafeteria.

“So, about this library business after school. That doesn't include me, right?” Malik asked as he floated just above her head. “Because it sounds kind of dull. Besides, I have a much better idea. When I was with Kara in her art class, I saw a flyer for the school production. Did you know that the auditions are Thursday? Anyway, I thought I could go and get in some practice after school.”

“What?” Sophie blinked at him.

“
The Wizard of Oz.
It's a musical,” Malik explained in a patient voice. “Of course, I've got no idea why the wicked witch is green when everyone knows witches are purple. And the magic that they use in it is illogical, but really those are minor points.”

“I know what
The Wizard of Oz
is, but I'm not sure why you want to practice when you can't audition. Anyway, I promised Harvey that we would help him, and since I can't trust you to stay out of trouble, you're coming with us.”

“Fine,” the djinn ghost grumbled. “But if I die of boredom, don't blame me.”

“I wouldn't dream of it,” Sophie replied as Malik sulkily floated ahead of her muttering something about “being bound all over again.”

“Hey, come back here. Malik—”

“Who's Malik?” a voice replied, and Sophie looked up to see that Melissa Tait had fallen into step next to her. Her glossy blonde hair was hanging in perfect cascades down around her shoulders, and her outfit was straight out of the pages of
Teen Vogue
, with that kind of fashion-forward styling that Sophie would never have. Also, as usual, she looked like she'd just eaten a whole bag of sour gummi worms.

“Er, it's the lyrics from a song…Neanderthal Joe's new one,” Sophie improvised as she realized that once again she had been caught talking to an invisible ghost (who for the record had now disappeared out of the cafeteria).

“No wonder I haven't heard it.” Melissa gave a dismissive shrug before coming to a halt and folding her arms in front of her chest. “Don't think I don't see what you're doing.”

“W-what am I doing?” Sophie resisted the urge to
lick her lips, since Harvey had once told her that was a sure giveaway of nerves. And it wasn't that she felt nervous around Melissa (because, really,
terrified
would be a much better word to sum up the situation). It was just that she didn't want to annoy Jonathan's twin sister more than she'd already managed to. “If this is about the jeans incident, then I've already told you how sorry I am. It was a complete accident. Plus, I replaced them for you. I'm not sure what else I can do.”

“This isn't about the jeans,” Melissa said in a frosty tone that, if applied correctly, could probably help keep the polar ice caps from melting for about the next gazillion years. “Though don't think I've forgotten about that, you freak.”

“Oh, right.” Sophie let out a sigh of relief before realizing that, if it wasn't about the jeans, it must be about something else. She took a deep breath and tried to think positive, happy thoughts as she cautiously said. “So what's the problem then?”

“I'll tell you what the problem is,” Melissa said in a low voice. “It's you. Everywhere I look, there you are. First you're hanging all over my brother like some kind of barnacle. Going to concerts with him and doing stupid little wavy things at him from your locker. And now you're trying to get your stinky, unfiled nails into my boyfriend.”

“What?” Sophie almost rubbed her ears to make sure she was hearing correctly. “You think I'm trying to steal your boyfriend?”

“
Trying
being the operative word there.” Melissa gave an inelegant snort. “I mean, I know you're no threat, but for some stupid reason he thinks that revolting piece of plastic that you insist on wearing around your neck is a lucky charm.”

“Yes, but that's not my fault,” Sophie yelped. “And besides—”

“Do I look like I care what you have to say?” Melissa cut her off before narrowing her eyes (honestly, she must practice in the mirror or something). “I'm just warning you that you'd better stay away from Ben. Oh, and while you're at it, you can stay away from my brother, too. Do I make myself clear?” Then, without waiting for an answer, she sauntered off to where her look-alike best friends (Harvey liked to call them “the Tait-bots”) were waiting for her.

Sophie gulped. Out of all the things she had thought Melissa might be annoyed about, she certainly hadn't guessed that. The only problem was, despite what Jonathan said, she knew that no good could come from Melissa Tait's trying to wage a vendetta against her. Which meant that if Sophie was going to have a perfect life, she would need to figure out a way to make peace with Jonathan's (evil) sister. Luckily, she had magic on her side.

A
S WELL AS BEING A VERY POSITIVE PERSON, SOPHIE
was also a planner. Her dad had often told her that everything was easier when you had a good plan. However, despite spending her last two classes trying to come up with ways to stop Melissa Tait from hating her, she still had nothing. She let out a frustrated sigh, put her blank list into her backpack, and pushed her way to her locker. As she did so she caught sight of Jonathan Tait.