Chapter 14

Alexis has my phone in her hand, her mouth hanging open, shaking her head. Mia leans over, reading the message to check it’s true, and her mouth drops open too. Meanwhile I’m running around my bedroom, jumping on the bed like a hyperactive child.

“We’re witches, we’re witches, we’re witches! Guys, WE ARE WITCHES.”

“I can’t believe it,” Mia says. “It could just be a coincidence.”

I shake my head as I bounce, bumping my head on the ceiling.

“No way!” I say. “Aidan hasn’t messaged me in WEEKS, and now, right after the spell, came the message. Oww!”

“But it can’t be …” Mia begins.

I grab her hands, pull her up onto the bed with me and force her to jump. “Come on, Alexis,” I call down.

She grins and climbs up to join us, letting the excitement of what we’ve just achieved sink in.

“I’m a witch, I’m a witch, I’m a … OWW,” I yelp as I jump too high again and my head collides with the ceiling. I drop to the bed in a lump. “Oww, oww, oww.”

The others carry on jumping around me.

“Seriously, guys, stop jumping, it really hurts.” I huddle in a ball, tears pricking my eyes at the pain. Alexis and Mia realise I’m not joking and squat down to check on me. Mia reaches out to where I’m cradling my head.

“Yikes, you’ve actually got a huge lump already,” she says.

“Yes, oww,” Mia says sympathetically. “It looks oww.”

I feel my head and, yep, there’s a giant lump forming, like the ones in cartoons. I get a sudden memory of my dad and what he’d always say when I bumped my head as a kid. “Oh no, has somebody’s head laid an egg?” Dad’s rough hands would gently stroke my lump as I cried. “I didn’t know you were a chicken,” he’d say.

Then Dad would cluck and do a chicken impression, while I protested, “I’m not a chicken, Daddy!” I’d end up laughing so hard I forgot all about the egg on my head.

Dad could be nice sometimes, I guess …

Anyway, now is not the time to think about the past, or to have my head grow an egg. No. I have just cast another successful spell on Aidan Chambers. It turns out that, yes, I do have proper magical powers. Now I need to go find Aidan, follow this magic through, get back together and feel happy again.

I lurch to my feet and run to my wardrobe. “Right, what the hell should I wear to this party?” I yank out some clothes.

“Hang on, we’re going to a party?” Mia asks as she slides off the bed, watching me.

“OF COURSE we’re going to the party.” I pull out a white summer dress made of thin cotton and wonder if I’ll get frostbite if I wear it. “Aidan just invited me to the party, so I must go. He never used to invite me to anything! This is a breakthrough. A magical breakthrough!”

“But I thought tonight was a girl’s night?” Mia’s voice is sharp and I see her face turning sour as I glance at her in my mirror.

I twist my head back to look at Mia properly. “It was a witch night, to cast spells, and the spells have led us to the party. We have to follow the guidance of Mother Nature.”

Alexis looks much more excited. “Plus we NEVER get invited to parties,” she says. “This is brilliant.” Alexis starts rummaging in my make‑up bag. “Can I borrow your lipstick?” she asks, plucking one out. “I didn’t bring any. I need to get this eyeliner off too.”

“Sure, sure,” I reply, nodding while pulling out another unsuitable dress.

Mia crosses her arms and stares at us with a very stinky stink‑eye. “I can’t believe you’re making us go to a party! Tonight was supposed to be a night for just us. You’re doing it again. Dumping us the moment Aidan is interested.”

“What?” I say, and twist around holding a yellow sundress. “Where the hell did that come from? I never dumped you. And I’m not dumping you now. You can come too!”

“Oh, and watch you lose all your self‑respect,” Mia replies, “hanging off some guy who doesn’t even acknowledge you? Yay! Fun for me! What a way to spend my Saturday night!”

My mouth couldn’t be more open. “What the hell? Mia!”

“Yeah, come on, Mia,” Alexis says. “That’s not fair.”

Mia turns to Alexis, her eyes darting and angry. “So you think it’s a good idea for Sophia to get back together with Aidan? After what he did?”

Alexis shrugs. “I think it’s a good idea for Sophia to do what she wants to do.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Mia says. “You’re only saying this because you want to go to the stupid party. You’re a bad friend!”

“Are you being serious? Honestly?” Alexis replies, and takes a step forward, squaring up to Mia. “You’re being totally unreasonable, as always.”

“Me?!” Mia shouts. “Unreasonable? You’re the one crying over a dog you didn’t even like.”

I wave my hands in the air to try to stop them. “Guys,” I say. “Come on, GUYS.”

“I DID LIKE CASPER,” Alexis yells. “I LOVED HIM. HOW DARE YOU?”

Mia crosses her arms further, her jaw jutting out. “You hated that dog. You talked about how much you hated him all the time.”

“Well, you hate everyone and everything!” screams Alexis. “You’re, like, INCAPABLE of being happy. It’s so boring.”

“GUYS!” I repeat, then step so I’m between them. Mia’s face is all pinched. She turns away and starts shoving all her sleepover stuff back into her rucksack.

“Well, if you’re going to be like that,” Mia says.

“Mia, come on,” I say. “Don’t go.”

I’m feeling too many emotions. I’m so elated about Aidan’s message. It’s as if my heart has sprung loose from its chest and is jittering all around my body with excitement and nerves and joy. But now I’m freaking out about Mia. What is going on with her tonight? Why is she being so mean? She can’t leave! What if she hurts herself? I watch Mia pack and feel a final emotion that I’m almost ashamed to admit … annoyance. Why does she always have to make everything about her? It’s not fair that I can’t enjoy myself without always worrying about her. “Come on, Mia,” I plead. “Let’s not all fight.”

“I’m not fighting. I just don’t want to go to this stupid party.”

Alexis has her arms crossed too and she’s staring sulkily at the Pringles. “If you don’t want to come, then don’t come.”

“Alexis!” I say.

“What?” she replies. “There’s no point dragging Mia there.”

I make mad eyes at Alexis. Has she not realised the danger here? Mia just admitted to us that she self‑harms – we can’t leave her alone after something like that! But Alexis just walks past me to my wardrobe. “Do you have any clothes I can borrow?” she asks me, opening the doors and rummaging inside. “Your black top? Or are you wearing it?”

I ignore her and step towards Mia.

“Come just for an hour, Mia,” I plead. “Please.”

“You don’t need me there anyway,” Mia says. She keeps shaking her head and won’t look at me. “You’ll just jump on Aidan the moment you arrive and we’ll have to watch you guys make out and pretend we don’t think he’s an arsehole.”

“Please come,” I repeat, “and stop calling him an arsehole.”

We can’t leave her on her own. But I also can’t not go to the party now that I’ve summoned Aidan back. That will just confuse the spirits. I squeeze my hands into fists, wishing I could cast a spell to make Mia less difficult.

“Can’t we just stay here?” she asks, finally looking up, her eyes wet. “You know the party will be terrible. Nobody knows us or likes us.”

Alexis is already down to her bra and yanking one of my tops over her head. “Because they’ve not had the chance to!” Alexis says. “This will give them the chance.” She wiggles into the top and I get a pang of jealousy that she looks better in it than I do.

“So our friendship group isn’t enough for you?” Mia says. “Is that it?”

I raise my hands before Alexis can reply. “Hey, hey, hey. Mia, where is all this coming from?” I make my voice as low and as calm as I can, and it works. She tears up, sniffs and says, “Sorry. I just … feel weird about everything I shared tonight, and now I’m scared that you guys don’t want to be friends with me.”

Alexis and I look at each other and both of us soften, forgiving Mia straight away now her behaviour makes sense. We run to Mia’s side and sit her on the bed.

“Mia, that is just mental,” I say. “Of COURSE we still want to be your friend.”

“These things have nothing to do with one another,” Alexis adds. “Sophia can love you and be glad and relieved that you shared that with us but also want to go to this party.”

I feel Mia relax into our hug as our words soothe her. “Fine then, I’ll go,” she says, resting her head on me. “Even though I don’t want to.”

“It will be terrible,” Mia warns. “And we’ll probably all end up crying.”

Alexis leaps up and starts doing a crazy dance move, looking like she’s fighting with a chicken. “But we’ll be LIVING,” she says, her arms flying out in a frenzy. “Crying, but living.”

Alexis carries on dancing like a nutcase, making us all laugh, even Mia. Then I get to work removing the eyeliner from my face. I cannot win back the love of my life while made up to scare children. I open a packet of wet wipes and smear the eyeliner off my face, then start applying more mascara.

My spell. It worked. He messaged. He actually messaged. I love him. I do think I love him. Is this the start of him loving me? Of someone finally loving me?

“I’m not changing,” Mia says as she watches us preen ourselves into oblivion. She pulls her hoodie sleeves down, picks up a book and starts reading it against the wall while she waits for us. I grin. I love how we can have epic rows that take us right to the edge of our friendship and then switch right back into all being best friends again. It shows how safe we are with each other. I always see our arguments as a sign of strength rather than weakness.

I examine my face in the mirror to see if my giant eyelashes are fluttery enough. My mouth is doing this weird thing where it can’t stop smiling.