SURVEY SAYS!

After dinner I walk to the lake by myself to practice meditating. The sun has started to go down behind the hills, and the clouds are blush pink. I sit on a wooden bench overlooking the water.

Wow, it’s so peaceful here—just what I need.

I pull my legs into the crisscross position and curl my fingers into Os and rest them on my knees. I close my eyes and slowly breathe in and out.

I repeat my mantra, My peace is here and now. My peace is here and now.

And for the first time, I actually feel peaceful.

Fish plip-plop in the water.

A crow caws above me.

I hear friends laugh and shout on the Four Square court, but nothing distracts me.

The quiet feels good.

Get used to this, Heidi. This is the space where you can practice your best magic.

Soon it gets dark and cool, so I make my way back to my dorm, Baileywick. The feeling of peace stays with me—that is, until I turn the knob and open my door. Ka-blammo! Melanie greets me with a rush of words.

“Hey, Heidi! I thought you’d never get here! I’ve been wanting to talk to you all day about the logo contest!”

And ZAP! Just like that my peace is gone.

“Are you entering the contest, Heidi?” Melanie asks.

I shake my head firmly.

“But why? It’ll be SO fun!” she says.

I sit on the edge of my bed. “Melanie, you of all people at Broomsfield Academy know that art is not my best subject, and I have other stuff to focus on right now.”

Melanie rearranges the perfume bottles on her dresser. “Well, I’m entering, and I plan to WIN! Did you know I already have my very own fashion logo for my clothing and perfume lines? Well, I do!

“And I got my inspiration from my mother’s perfume bottles. They’re always so simple and classy. She always says simplicity is better.” Melanie shoves one of her perfume bottles in my face. “SEE?”

I take the bottle and look at it, because do I have a choice? Not really. And sure enough, Melanie has her own simple and classy logo—a cursive M on the label and a letter M gem hanging from the cap.

“It’s really cool, Melanie.” I hand the bottle back and sniff my hand. It smells like a flower garden in full bloom.

Melanie looks pleased with my approval. “It’s fabulous, right? Don’t you think I was born to create our new school logo?”

I nod because she wants me to agree. “You definitely have a good shot at winning the logo contest.” And this is not phony baloney. I actually believe Melanie could win, but she’ll have a lot of competition too.

Melanie jumps up and dances around the room. “Just think! My design will live on at Broomsfield FOREVER! Every time a student buys a mug or a sweatshirt with the school logo on it, it will be a tribute to me!”

Melanie is so over the top, I think.

“So do you have design ideas already?” I ask her.

Melanie stops dancing. “No, not yet. But I will. I’ll start by studying the most iconic logos of all time. There’s such a rich history of logos! I’m thinking of taking inspiration from my mother’s leather bags that she’s had forever. She always says her bags have survived the test of time. And that is exactly what my logo is going to do. They’ll never change it!

“That reminds me. Guess who’s my study partner in social studies? Nick Lee. He’s so supercute and nice.”

I look Melanie straight in the eyes. “Melanie Maplethorpe! Don’t tell me you have a crush on Nick Lee!”

Melanie shrinks back. “Whoa, calm down, Heidi! I just said he was cute and nice. I never said I had a crush on him!” Then her eyes narrow, like she’s figured something out. “Wait a minute. I don’t have a crush on Nick. But you do, don’t you?”

Oh no! I’ve accidentally revealed my latest crush to BIG MOUTH Melanie Maplethorpe.

Aaack!

I try to keep my voice light and breezy. “No, not really. I mean, Nick is okay, but it’s not like I’m totally into him. He’s just a crush interest.”

So BACK OFF! I add, inside my head, of course.

Melanie smirks, and I can just picture her filing my latest crush inside her gossipy brain under Dirt on Heidi.

“Well, don’t worry, Heidi,” she tells me. “I have zero time to crush this week between homework and creating a first-place school logo.”

Our conversation is suddenly interrupted when somebody knocks on our door. We look at each other like, Who could THAT be?

Melanie is closer, so she opens the door. It’s Jenna and another upperclassman. A girl I recognize from the School of Magic.

“Heyyyy, girls!” Jenna says in her ultra-cheery voice. Jenna is super-nice and the best RA ever. She and her friend walk into our room. “I want you to meet my best friend, Natalie Nguyen.”

Natalie has black hair in a sideswept pixie cut, and her eyes are green.

She’s really pretty.

What’s interesting is that Jenna’s NOT in the School of Magic, and yet Natalie and Jenna are best friends!

See? I think. Magical and non-magical friendships—aka ALL relationships—can work.

And that means Nick and I could totally be friends, or even more!

Three words: Yes! Yes! YES!

Melanie and I say hi to Natalie, who’s holding a gold-plated pen and a notebook.

“Nat is going around asking questions to as many students as she can for her school logo entry. Since I’m an RA, I told her I’d help her survey some of the students on my floor,” Jenna explains. “So what do you girls say? Do you want to help?”

Natalie and Jenna look at us hopefully. Interestingly, Natalie acts like she’s never seen us before. I’m sure this is because she doesn’t want Jenna to become suspicious. Melanie and I play along. And when Jenna looks down the hallway for a second, Natalie throws us a wink.

Melanie and I look at each other. We are big fans of taking magazine quizzes, so this should be fun.

“Sure!” I say. Melanie agrees too.

Natalie’s eyes sparkle. “Thank you! I’ll just ask you both a couple of questions, and please answer as honestly as possible. Do you two mind if Jenna and I sit on your desk chairs?”

“Oh, of course!” Melanie says, jumping right into hostess mode. It’s actually quite impressive. I roll my desk chair over to Natalie, and Melanie gives Jenna her desk chair. Then Melanie and I jump onto our own beds, happily waiting to be questioned.

“Let’s start with you, Heidi.” Natalie gets her pen and paper ready.

“What do you love most about Broomsfield Academy?”

“Um…” I think hard before answering, because my response would be, The School of Magic.… DUH.

But Jenna is here, so I speak in code. “Um… I really love all the extracurricular classes Broomsfield has to offer,” I say as I return a wink to Natalie. She smiles and hides a laugh. She totally understood my code.

“What do you like best about our current logo?” she asks.

“I love the bear and broom, but it definitely looks outdated,” I say.

Melanie nods ferociously in agreement.

“Okay.” Natalie finishes writing her notes down before continuing her survey. “What do our school colors—yellow and blue—symbolize to you?”

“Hmm… yellow symbolizes sunshine, which shines happiness onto our school, and blue symbolizes peacefulness—bringing the students together in unity.”

“Great answer, Heidi,” Jenna says. She’s always been so full of school spirit.

“Yeah, Heidi. These are great,” adds Natalie. “Just one more, and then we’ll go on to Melanie.

“What does the Broomsfield bear mascot mean to you? And what does the Broomsfield broom mean to you?”

“The bear is a symbol of strength and fearlessness. As for the broom, in the old days, Broomsfield farmers danced with brooms under a full moon to make their crops grow. Today the broom encourages the students to grow, blossom, and be fruitful too!”

As I keep answering Natalie’s questions, I realize how much school spirit I have. I knew I loved Broomsfield Academy, but this is just making me love it to the power of infinity!

Concentrate, Heidi, you’re almost done!

“Thank you so much, Heidi. Melanie, I’m going to ask you a set of different questions since I could see that you agreed with Heidi on a lot of her answers. Is that all right?” Natalie asks.

Melanie and I look at each other and giggle. It’s weird how much Melanie and I have in common, and yet how much we

don’t have in common.

It can be baffling.

“Okay, Melanie, what should set our school logo apart from every other school?” Natalie begins.

“Uh… um.” Melanie stammers a little bit, and I can see that she’s having trouble finding a way to mention the School of Magic without actually mentioning the School of Magic.

“Well, um. Broomsfield Academy is unique because it’s a regular academic school and a school that really focuses on teaching their students new abilities and helping them learn more about the abilities they already have.

“The bear and the broom symbolize all that, but without being so obvious and in your face. This sets us apart.” Melanie smiles and nods. Proud of the code she created.

Natalie gets that same smirk on her face, but Jenna doesn’t notice. Natalie continues, “What should our logo promise students who go here or who want to go here? And what feelings do you want the new logo to give you?”

“Our logo should tell our students that this is a happy and safe place to grow and become your best. And when I see our school logo, I want to feel proud, and I want it to make me say, ‘I love my school! We’re number one!’ ”

Melanie cheers and wiggles in her seat.

“Okay, last one. You have been so great! Both of you should feel free to chime in on this one.” Natalie smiles at us gratefully. “If our school had a slogan, what would it be?”

Melanie and I look at one another, and suddenly I hear, A magical future awaits you!

For a second I think I just heard my own idea, but then I realize that I just heard Melanie’s thoughts.

I give Melanie the floor. “Melanie, I don’t have any slogan ideas. Do you?”

Melanie beams and pauses dramatically while we all wait for her answer.

“A magical future awaits you!” Melanie says.

“Good one, Melanie!” Jenna laughs.

“That was great, ladies. Thank you so much for your time. I’m going to try to talk to some other students before the end of the day. See you around!” Natalie and Jenna get up from the desk chairs and start walking out of our room.

“Thank you. That was really fun!” Melanie says as we wave goodbye, and she shuts our door.

“Wow, those were really great questions,” I say. “Natalie sure is taking this logo contest seriously!”

Melanie frowns like I’ve just insulted her or something.

“Well, for your information, so am I! And I’m glad we answered those questions for her. Her survey gave me a lot of ideas.”

Melanie shuffles through her desk for one of her notebooks and starts rapidly writing notes. Who knows what she’s writing, but at least she’s starting to work on something.

I walk to our bathroom to get ready for bed, and when I walk back into the room, Melanie has on her pink-gray-and-white plaid pajamas and her pink fuzzy slippers. She sits propped up on her gazillion pillows, and the twinkly white lights above her headboard are on.

“I have officially set the mood to create my winning logo,” she announces.

I grab my comforter to get under it. “You’ve got this, Melanie!”

I’m SO glad I’m not competing in this contest. What a relief! No extra pressure.

Our room is cozy and peaceful. Maybe I’m getting the hang of feeling calm.

Could this be a new me? Am I on the brink of becoming a better witch?

Survey says: The future looks bright!