True or False:
You never know what will happen when you are with your best friend.
Answer:
Absolutely True.
I jumped out of bed on Saturday morning and rushed to look out the window. The sun was shining. It was a perfect day for a wedding. I suspected that might have been something my mom had done because it was supposed to rain.
The doorbell rang right after lunch. Lucinda opened the door and screamed. My parents and I ran to see what happened. Lucinda had already slammed the door shut and was on her tiptoes looking through the peephole.
“It’s that humdrum, Katie,” Lucinda said. “I opened the door and there was a humdrum right there. I wasn’t aware that because we had her over once that she was going to be coming by all the time. I think I should get a warning if there are going to be humdrums popping up all the time.”
“It’s not all the time and you can’t slam the door on her, that’s rude.” I stepped past Lucinda and opened the door. I really hoped Katie remembered to keep everything a secret the way Grandma asked her. “Hi, Katie. It sure is a nice ordinary day out isn’t it?”
Katie noticed my parents and Lucinda standing right behind me. “Yes, it sure is. Nothing out of the ordinary at all.” We both smiled at my parents to show just how normal everything was. “I wondered if you might want to come over and play,” Katie said. “You could bring Winston if he wanted to come. I mean, not that you would know if he wanted to come, because it isn’t like you could understand him, but if you thought he might like it then he would be welcome.”
“I’d love to come, but I promised to go with my mom to deliver a wedding cake,” I explained. “Miranda’s cousin is getting married today.”
Katie’s face fell. “Oh.”
“Maybe you could come with us.” I turned to look at Mom.
“Oh, I don’t know …,” Mom stammered.
“I’m not real crazy about weddings,” Katie said. I knew she also meant she wasn’t real crazy about Miranda, but she was too nice to say it.
“It’ll be fun, and it won’t take too long to drop off the cake,” I said. I could tell Katie really wanted to hang out more than she minded going to the wedding. She nodded.
“All right. You girls go ahead and jump into the van. We need to get that cake to the reception hall.”
My mom’s bakery van was glossy white with a giant pink cupcake on the side. “Enchanted Sugar” was in glittery blue letters on the door. The van always looked perfect because my mom had done a spell so mud never stuck to the side.
The wedding reception was being held in a fancy hotel downtown. The hotel manager showed us the room. There were white lights strung through potted trees all along the walls and each table was covered in thick, cream-colored tablecloths with giant floral arrangements in the center. Crystal chandeliers sparkled in the candlelight.
“Wow. It looks like a fairy tale!” Katie said when we walked into the room. She then slapped her hand over her mouth. “I mean, it looks like a castle.”
Mom looked at Katie with one eyebrow raised. Before she could ask anything, I cut her off. “I bet the guests will be here soon,” I said. “We better hurry to get the cake set up.”
We pushed the cake trolley to the display table and the waiters helped my mom move the cake over. It looked perfect. Mom bustled around making last minute touch-ups to the icing. Katie and I helped by tucking tiny pink rosebuds all around the bottom of the cake plate. When Katie turned to get more flowers Mom blew a pinch of pixie dust over the cake to help ensure a happy-ever-after.
There was a bustle out in the hallway and then wedding guests started to pour into the room.
“We should go,” Mom said brushing her hands off. “I have to go back to the bakery to sign for a delivery.”
“Can Katie and I stay for a bit so we can see the bride? We can walk home from here,” I asked. I could tell my mom was about to say no. “Please! This is our first wedding.”
“All right, but remember, we’re not guests. Don’t stay too long. Call me when you get home.” Mom rolled the cake trolley out of the room.
“I know you don’t want to stay, but we won’t be long. I just want to see everyone. Besides, we can get ice cream on the way home, my treat,” I offered. Katie sighed. We were standing near the back, when I saw the first pink bridesmaid enter the room. “Here they come!”
“If I could get the wedding party all over here by the cake,” the photographer called out. He arranged the wedding party in a half circle around the table. Miranda looked great and you couldn’t tell at all that birds had gone crazy with her dress.
“Hey, isn’t that the Tooth Fairy?” Katie elbowed me and pointed out to the hallway.
I followed her finger and saw Ms. McMillan standing in the hall. She was leaning against the wall pretending to talk on her phone.
“Last picture everyone! Big smiles!” the photographer called out. The camera flashed.
Ms. McMillan nodded at Katie and me and then tapped her front tooth.
I spun around. Miranda’s eyes were wide and she closed her mouth with a snap. She tugged on the sleeve of her mom’s dress and I saw her reach into her mouth and pull out her tooth. She and her mom hustled off to the bathroom.
Ms. McMillan snapped her phone shut and gave us a small salute before she disappeared into the crowd.
“She didn’t wait a second longer than she had to, did she?” Katie asked.
“Tooth fairies are like that. A bit schedule driven.” My mouth was in a thin line. I hoped the missing tooth wouldn’t bother Miranda too much. All the formal pictures of the wedding party were done.
Katie nudged me. “Don’t be sad. Everything turned out perfectly!”
I smiled. “You’re right. It did.” My first wish-grant wasn’t the easiest thing I’d ever done, but for my first time it hadn’t gone too badly.
Katie suddenly yanked on my arm. “You’re floating!” She hissed.
I looked down, shocked. My feet were about a six inches off the floor. Holy cow. “This isn’t possible,” I said.
Katie let go of my arm and I started to go higher. She grabbed me again and pulled me back down. “Cut it out or people are going to see.”
“I’m not doing it on purpose. I’m not supposed to float.”
“Maybe you’re not supposed to, but you are,” Katie said, pointing out the obvious.
“But you don’t understand, each fairy godmother gets one special power, everything else is a learned spell. I already have my one power.” My mind raced, trying to make sense of what was happening. “I have to talk to my grandma about this right away.”
“The first thing we need to do is figure out how to get you out of here without anyone noticing. I can’t exactly leave leading you out of here like a balloon. Can you get down?”
“I’m not sure how this works. I’ve never floated before. I’ll try.” I closed my eyes and pictured myself down on the ground. “Is it working?” I whispered to Katie.
“You sort of bopped around a bit, but you’re still a few inches above the ground.” Katie looked around the room. She was starting to sweat. She wasn’t used to magic going wrong like I was. If she thought this was stressful, she was lucky she hadn’t been around the time I set a bunch of pixies free in the grocery store by accident.
“Okay, you’re going to have to call Grandma. Don’t worry, she’ll know what to do. I’ll hang on to this tree until you get back.” I gripped the trunk of the potted ficus tree and held myself as close to the ground as possible.
“Are you sure?” Katie asked.
“We can’t wait here until I float up to the ceiling. Someone’s bound to notice sooner or later.” I quickly told her Grandma’s humdrum phone number. Katie dashed out of the reception hall and into the lobby where there was a phone. I tried to look casual bopping my head to the music. My arm was getting sore from holding myself down. If this was going to happen more often I was going to need to do more chin-ups in gym class and build up my biceps.
After a few minutes Katie came back, weaving her way through the wedding guests. “Your grandma is on her way. She’s superexcited. She thinks the fact you’re floating proves her theory.”
“What theory?
“Because I believe in you, your powers are stronger,” Katie said. “Fairies’ power is connected to having people believe in the magic.”
“Then I guess I’m pretty lucky you’re my best friend,” I said.
Katie smiled. “Yeah, you are pretty lucky.”
I giggled and went to punch her in the arm. When I let go of the tree I started to float up again which made us giggle louder. Katie grabbed me before I could get too high.
Katie suddenly stopped giggling. “Uh-oh. Miranda’s seen us. She’s coming over here.”
I turned and noticed was Miranda walking toward us. “If she gets too close she’s going to see I’m not touching the ground.” I looked at the door, hoping that my grandma would appear.
“Think heavy thoughts,” Katie said. “Like cement, wet laundry …”
“Rocks, my Aunt Haddie’s scones …,” I said, noting that I was starting to sink the last few inches toward the floor.
“Cannonballs, stacks of library books, your mom’s van.” Katie kept listing off every heavy thing that came into her mind. My feet touched the floor and stayed there just in time.
“Hi, Miranda,” I said.
“Your mom’s cake turned out perfect!” Miranda gushed. “Everyone says it’s the prettiest wedding cake they’ve ever seen.”
“Thanks. You look really nice,” I said.
Miranda laughed and spun in a circle so her dress would flare out. “You should stay! There’s lots of food and there’s going to be dancing later. My cousin would love for you to be here, since your mom made the cake.” She looked at Katie as if she just noticed her there. “I’d invite you too, Katie, but I’m not sure it would be okay. I’m sure you understand.”
Katie’s shoulders dropped. She started to take a step back.
I linked arms with Katie to keep her right next to me. “Thanks for the invitation, Miranda, but Katie and I have plans for the rest of the day.”
Miranda was shocked. “You’re not going to stay? Anyone at school would give anything to be here.”
“Not me. I’d give anything to spend the day with my best friend. Tell your cousin I said congratulations.”
Katie and I walked out of the reception arm in arm. Going to the wedding would be fun, but not nearly as much fun as spending the day with my best friend. Weddings are pretty cool, but a good best friend can keep your feet on the ground.