STICKY FINGERS!

Carrying around top secret information is a lot harder than it sounds.

You’d think it would be easy for me, since I’ve kept the secret of my being a witch from so many people over the years.

But this is different.

My family knows I’m a witch, so I can talk to them about it. NO ONE knows this secret, and I want to tell someone so badly!

I imagine opening a window, leaning out of it, and screaming at the top of my lungs, ISABELLE SUMMER IS A PRINCESS!!!

It’s like a nagging, persistent itch that screams, Scratch me! Or in my case, Spill it!

But I know that nothing good would come of telling Isabelle’s secret.

Ugh!

I’m not programmed to carry this kind of information! I wish I had never accidentally knocked over that box with Isabelle’s tiara and scepter.

I feel like a ticking time bomb that may go off at any moment.

I have to be strong!

As I walk across campus, I spy Jenna’s best friend, Natalie, sitting on the steps of her dorm. Maybe I should go say hi. It might help get my mind off this burdensome secret.

“Hey, Natalie!”

Natalie looks up from a stack of papers she’s reading—probably all her notes from her surveys. “Hey, Heidi, what’s up?”

I sit down beside her. “Not much. Have the surveys been helpful?”

Natalie nods. “So helpful. The answers have given me a clear idea of what students think about Broomsfield Academy. Now I can design a logo that really sums up the spirit of our school. Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions.”

I smile. “Anytime, Natalie!” Then I tell her I shared the survey idea with Isabelle and how it inspired her to get feedback for her own logo designs.

“That’s great, Heidi! I’m glad you shared my idea with another magical student,” she says. “And hey, I owe you and your roommate, Melanie, one for acting like you didn’t know me when Jenna brought me to your room the other night. Jenna doesn’t know I’m a witch. That’s top secret info!” She pretends to zip her lips with her fingers.

I laugh, and it occurs to me that witches have to keep a lot of secrets about their magical abilities. And now I have Isabelle’s big secret weighing on me.

“How long have you and Jenna been friends?” I ask.

Natalie shoves her notes into her backpack. “Since elementary school, and I’ve kept my secret from her all this time.”

Wow. I’ve known Lucy since elementary school too! “My best friend from elementary school isn’t a witch either, and I’ve had to keep the same secret. Sometimes it’s hard. How have you done it all these years?”

Natalie shrugs. “I’ve kept my secret from Jenna for so long that it’s pretty easy now, but some secrets are easier to keep than others. It takes a lot of discipline to keep a secret. Luckily, the School of Magic teaches us how to fix things when we slip up. You’ll see!”

Natalie stands up to go, so I do the same. “Tell your friend good luck in the logo competition!” she says.

I walk down the steps. “I will! Good luck to you too, Natalie. And thanks for chatting!”

She waves as she walks away.

Sigh.

Now I’m alone again with this whopping secret.

Natalie wasn’t kidding when she said some secrets are easier to keep than others.

Hmmm, I wonder if I can erase Isabelle’s secret from my memory with magic.

Nah, too risky! What if I accidentally erase other information in my brain at the same time? Besides I WANT to know this secret.

What I don’t want is to spill the beans.

Then it hits me: Why don’t I call Lucy?!

I can tell Lucy my secret because she doesn’t know Isabelle! That would take such a load off my mind.

There is, however, one teensy-weensy problem. It’s Thursday, and we don’t get our phones back for the weekend until Friday after classes.

MERG!!!

There’s absolutely no way I can wait that long!

I have to get this off my mind right now!

Maybe I can just tell Mrs. Kettledrum I have to make an emergency call to my mom. Mrs. Kettledrum will understand.

Okay, that settles it. I’ll go ask her right now!

I pick up my pace, and then I break into a run all the way to Mrs. Kettledrum’s apartment, which thankfully is in my dorm.

I knock on the door and wait.

No answer.

I knock again.

Nothing.

One more knock.

Ugh! She’s not home!

Then I get another idea. Maybe I can sneak into Mrs. Kettledrum’s apartment and borrow my phone for a few minutes.

This might be better than my first idea! Then I wouldn’t have to make up a reason why I need to use my phone.

I try the doorknob. It’s locked.

Maybe you should try an Emergency Spell? I suggest to myself. This is, after all, an emergency!

I bite my thumbnail for a second as I think this through.

Don’t worry, Heidi! No one will ever know!

Besides, it’s not like you’re breaking and entering—you’re just practicing your homework!

And just like that, I convince myself to fall for my own harebrained idea.

I check the hallway both ways. No one is around, and there’s not so much as a footstep anywhere to be heard. I make up a spell on the spot.

Abra-ca-toora! Abra-ca-toor!

Turn the lock and open this door!

CLICK!

The door swings open!

Well, THAT was easy!

But there’s no time to admire my dazzling on-the-spot spell. I must find the basket that holds all the cellphones. I scan the room like some frantic thief.

Ah, there it is! I think, spying the basket on top of a bookshelf.

I reach for the basket and pull it down. This reminds me of raiding the cookie jar when you’re not supposed to, but you do anyway.

I dig through the phones.

Where are you? Where are you?

Oh, THERE YOU ARE!

It’s a good thing I put a gummy bear sticker on the back of my phone or it would’ve taken a lot longer to find it.

I clutch my phone and dash out the apartment door, shutting it behind me. My heart knocks against my ribs as I think about my next move.

Where can I talk privately without getting caught? I wonder.

Melanie might be in our room, so that’s out.

The Secret Loft in the Barn is too far away.

Then I spy a closet down the hall.

Perfect.

I race to the closet, sneak inside, and flick on the light.

It’s small, but it’ll do! I flip over an empty cleaning bucket, sit down, and dial Lucy’s number.

I shake one hand back and forth as I wait for Lucy to answer. Her phone keeps ringing and ringing until her message comes on. Oh, Lucy! Why aren’t you there? Don’t you know I NEED you right now? I tap end.

Suddenly I become very aware that I’m sitting inside a broom closet with an off-limits—somewhat stolen—phone and a headful of angst.

What is WRONG with me?!

Woop! Woop! Woop!

I fly off the bucket when my phone suddenly rings.

Woop! Woop! Woop!

I have the red-alert ringtone for Lucy. And right now it sounds more like a siren. I answer.

Eek, I hope nobody heard!

“Heidi? Did you just call?” Lucy asks.

I grip my phone. “I DID!” I say as quietly as possible. “I had to talk to you!”

I maneuver myself back onto the bucket.

“Is everything okay, Heidi?” Lucy asks. “Are you all right? How’d you get your phone on a weekday?”

I cup the speaker with my hand to muffle my voice. “Everything’s okay, except for one major thing,” I tell her.

“What?” Lucy says with concern in her voice.

I have to quickly relieve Lucy’s fear. It’s not like I’m injured or anything. “My new friend Isabelle told me this ginormous secret today, and I don’t think I can keep it to myself.

“Oh, LuLu! It’s such a juicy secret! All I want to do is dish about it. Can I tell you, since you don’t even know her?”

Lucy’s quiet on the other end.

Why doesn’t she say something?!

“But, Heidi, what if I do meet Isabelle someday?” she asks. “Then what am I supposed to do?”

I hadn’t thought of that, but the chances of Lucy and Isabelle meeting are pretty slim, unless Lucy decides to go to Broomsfield Academy, which isn’t totally out of the question. “Well, if I can’t tell you, then who can I tell? Please, Lucy! I need to get this secret out of my system!”

Lucy sighs loudly. “Trust me, Heidi. If you tell me her secret, you’re going to regret it. The basic rule of friendship is never to betray a friend’s trust. What if I did something like this to you?”

Ouch! I would hate it if Lucy ratted me out on something personal.

Now I officially feel rotten on two counts.

I feel guilty about keeping my witch identity from Lucy in the first place. And I feel guilty for wanting to tell Isabelle’s secret.

But Isabelle’s secret is different from mine. Witches and wizards can’t reveal their true identities for so many reasons, the biggest one being that for millennia they have worked in secret without the rest of the world knowing that they really exist.

Isabelle’s secret, on the other hand, is a noble secret—no pun intended—as well as a personal secret to protect herself.

I understand this, but I still don’t know how I’m going to keep it.

“Heidi, are you still there?” Lucy says.

Oops! I got lost in my thoughts.

“Sorry, Lucy! I’m here! Are you sure I can’t tell you my secret so I can stop obsessing?”

Lucy sighs. “I’m sure, Heidi. Just be disciplined. The urge to spill will die down in a few days.”

I’m about to say something else when I hear footsteps in the hall. “Someone is coming, Lucy! Gotta go! Miss you lots!” I hang up and jam the phone into my pocket.

The footsteps stop in front of the closet door.

I freeze like an opossum playing dead.

I’m so scared, I can’t breathe.

Uh-oh!

The doorknob is turning! My cover is about to be blown! I squeeze my eyes shut.

“Heidi, what are you doing in here?”

I open my eyes. It’s Jenna.

“Uh, n-nothing much,” I stammer. “I just needed a quiet place to practice my meditating.”

Jenna rolls her eyes. “Come on, Heidi. I heard you talking to someone.”

My eyes shift to the left.

Do I look guilty or what?

“Um, I was just chanting my mantra. That’s all!”

Jenna jerks her thumb back toward the hallway. “Get going,” she says like she doesn’t totally believe me. “Or you’ll be late for dinner.”

I hop up off the bucket, turn off the light, and skedaddle—as my dad would say when he wants me to move it.

I’m pretty sure Jenna thinks I’m up to something. I’m probably the only student she’s ever found sitting in a broom closet talking to herself.

But what she doesn’t know is that I’m dealing with a real-life emergency, and sometimes that involves doing things that are out of the ordinary.

And now I’m stuck with my phone, which feels more like a hot potato.

I take it out of my pocket, turn it off, and hide it in my backpack. There’s no way I’m going to return it to Mrs. Kettledrum’s basket now. I can’t take any more angst today. Hopefully Mrs. Kettledrum won’t notice that my phone is missing.

On the way to dinner, I think more about what Lucy said. I need to exercise discipline.

Since when did Lucy get so much more mature than me? I sigh.

She was always more mature than me. Most people are!

Ugh, why is discipline so HARD?

And why does this topic keep cropping up?!

It seems like discipline is the answer to everything.

I have to exercise discipline in my meditation practice.

I have to be disciplined so I don’t overuse magic.

And now I have to rely on discipline to keep a humongous secret.

One word: BLAH!

Discipline is not fun.

It feels more like a form of punishment. But somehow I know deep down that discipline is the key to success.

Without it I’ll never become the best witch, or a trusted friend, or even a good student.

Still, the urge to blab about Isabelle’s secret is SO intense.

Will I make it to tomorrow morning without spilling the beans? And then the day after that? And the day after that?

Yes! I think.

You can do this, Heidi.…

Well, at least I hope I can!