My mom drove us over to Erin’s the next morning. The house was all full of people delivering things and decorating. My mom went to find Erin’s mom, and we stood out of the way on the stairs. I felt a little like Victoria from It’s Me or the Dog, pretending to be invisible and watching closely.
“Which ones are your stepsisters?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” said Erin.
My mom appeared with Mrs. Devlin. She gave us each a hug. “Today’s the big day.”
“Yep,” said Erin. They hugged each other again.
“Jay will be here any minute with his daughters,” said Mrs. Devlin. “I know it’s a bit silly, but I’m going up to my bedroom to get ready and hide.”
“Are you scared?” I asked.
“A little nervous,” said Mrs. Devlin, “but that’s not why I’m hiding.”
“I’ll get the girls all ready before I leave,” said my mom.
“Thank you for everything,” said Mrs. Devlin.
“Of course,” said my mom. “We’re so happy for you.”
Mrs. Devlin smiled. “After you’re ready, girls, why don’t you find Anna and Julia and introduce yourselves.” A car door slammed. “That’s them now.”
Erin’s eyes got really big, and she grabbed my hand.
“I’ll see you soon!” Mrs. Devlin raced up the stairs.
We followed her and went into Erin’s room. My mom helped us into our dresses and French braided our hair. Noises came from the room next door.
“You two look lovely,” said my mom. She took lots of pictures of us and then gave us hugs. “Be good. Have fun. I’ll see you later tonight.”
“What should we do?” asked Erin.
The room next door was quiet. “I guess go find them,” I said.
Erin covered her mouth with her hands, and her eyes got all big again.
“As long as we’re upstairs,” I said, “maybe we should see how much luggage they have.”
Erin nodded.
We tiptoed out of Erin’s room and peeked into the room next door. It looked like an explosion had gone off, with books and clothes and bags everywhere.
“Oh dear,” I whispered, “with a capital O and D.”
Erin just stared.
We slipped into the room for a closer look.
“Wicked stepsisters are messy,” said Erin.
We sat down on one of the beds, but first had to push some things out of the way.
I opened up the WICKED STEPSISTERS NOTEBOOK to the POSSIBLY WICKED page and erased Maybe lots of luggage. I turned to the FOR-SURE WICKED page and wrote: Lots of luggage; lots of clothes; messy.
Erin sighed.
“Let’s go find them and get more information,” I said.
The kitchen was crazy-busy. No one noticed when we came in and climbed onto the stools at the counter. Someone was rearranging the refrigerator to make room for the food that was being delivered. Someone was unpacking glasses from a box, and someone else was washing them. Flowers were being arranged in vases, and tablecloths were being ironed.
“I hope the one who’s yelling about how full the refrigerator is isn’t one of them,” I said.
“Me too,” said Erin.
“Or the one who keeps telling people where things go,” I said. “She seems pretty bossy.”
“Yeah,” said Erin.
“Everyone’s busy in here,” I said. “Whoever your stepsisters are, they’re working hard.”
“Except those two,” said Erin, pointing to the kitchen table.
Two girls were just sitting there, looking sort of bored. One of them was talking on her cell phone, and the other one was texting on hers.
Erin and I looked at each other.
“What should I do?” she asked.
“I guess go introduce yourself,” I said.
“I can’t!” said Erin, all panicky.
“I’ll do it for you.” I slid off my stool and walked over to the table.
“Hello, I’m Erin’s friend Cinderella.” I reached out my hand to shake.
The girls just stared at me like I was from Mars or something.
“You know, Mrs. Devlin’s daughter? The person you’re going to be sisters with?”
The girls started cackling, but maybe it was more of a laugh.
“We’re the caterer’s daughters,” one said. “We’re just waiting for her to take us home.”
“Oh!” I said, all relieved. I raced back to Erin. “They’re not your stepsisters!”
“Phew!” said Erin.
“So that means that two of the busy people in here are!” I opened up the notebook to the NOT WICKED page and wrote: Not lazy.
The box unpacker set down a glass, walked over to the counter, and sat down with us.
“I recognize you from pictures my dad showed me,” she said. “You’re Erin.”
Erin stared at her.
“I’m Julia, your big sister, almost.”
Erin stared some more.
Julia smiled. “And that girl washing dishes is Anna, your other big sis.”
Erin stared at the girl at the sink.
“Hi.” I held out my hand. “I’m Erin’s friend Cinderella.”
Julia shook my hand. “That’s an awesome name. Awesome nail color too.”
I looked down at my nails. They were still painted black from Halloween. “Erin has the same color.”
Erin looked down at her hands. Anna looked up from the sink.
“Hey, Anna,” Julia called. “This is our almost-little sis, Erin, and her pal Cinderella.”
“Hello!” Anna rushed over to join us.
“Hi,” I said.
We all three looked at Erin.
“Hi,” she said, very quiet.
“The rumors are true,” said Anna. “You do look very cute in your bridesmaid dress.”
Erin smiled a little.
“We just tried on ours really quick to make sure they fit,” said Anna.
“We’re not even sure how we look in them,” said Julia, “but who cares!”
The notebook was still opened to their NOT WICKED page. Without thinking, I wrote: Not mirror-starers.
“They’re so long, we’re afraid we’re going to trip,” said Anna.
“I’m afraid I’m going to trip too,” said Erin. I was glad she was finally talking regular.
“We’ll have to make a sister pact to catch each other if we fall,” said Anna.
Erin laughed. “Okay.”
“What’s that?” asked Julia, looking at the notebook.
My face got very hot. “Um,” I said.
Julia turned her head for a better look. “Are those our names?”
“Um.” My face got even hotter.
“Are you writing about us?” Julia asked.
“Um.” My face got the hottest ever. I looked at Erin.
Erin looked back at me and then took a very big breath and spilled the beans. “Yes, we are,” she said.
My mouth popped open.
“What have you been writing?” asked Anna.
“We’ve been figuring out if you’re wicked or not.” Erin reached out and took the notebook.
My mouth stayed open, and now Anna’s popped open too.
Julia smiled really big. “Why?”
“Because I didn’t want to have wicked stepsisters,” said Erin.
Julia laughed very loud.
“So, are you?” asked Erin, not sounding nervous or anything.
“I don’t think so,” said Anna, “but how would we know for sure?”
“We’ll have to write down your information on pages in Cinderella’s WICKED STEPSISTERS NOTEBOOK,” said Erin. She held it up in front of her like she was giving a book report in school.
“Is that how you got your name?” asked Anna. “Do you have wicked stepsisters?”
My face was so scorchy now that my ears hurt.
“She just has one regular sister,” said Erin. “But she did research on wicked stepsisters and then she made this notebook. See, it has a page for FOR-SURE WICKED and a page for NOT WICKED and a page for POSSIBLY WICKED.”
Anna and Julia looked very interested.
“So, ready for some questions?” Erin asked.
“Yes!” Julia and Anna said.
“Do you have big feet?” Erin asked.
“I do,” said Julia, “but Anna doesn’t.”
Erin turned to the FOR-SURE WICKED page and wrote: Julia has big feet. She turned to the NOT WICKED page and wrote: Anna doesn’t have big feet.
“Are you loud and bossy?” Erin asked.
“I’m a little bossy,” said Anna, “being the big sister and all.”
Erin turned to the FOR-SURE WICKED page and wrote: Anna is bossy.
“And I’M LOUD!” shouted Julia.
Everyone in the kitchen stopped what they were doing and looked over at us.
“I’M LOUD TOO!” shouted Erin.
Julia gave Erin a high five.
“Can I see the WICKED STEPSISTERS NOTEBOOK?” Anna asked.
“Sure!” Erin handed it over.
Anna flipped through the notebook and then stopped. “Julia, look at this!”
Julia read the page Anna had stopped on. “Uh-oh,” she said.
“Uh-oh is right,” said Anna.
“What?” asked Erin.
Anna held up the FOR-SURE WICKED page and pointed to Erin’s name. “It looks like we have to worry about you too.”
“Oh yeah,” said Erin. “I just figured . . . ,” and she seemed like she didn’t really know what to say.
“She just figured the more the merrier!” I said.
“I’m going to like having you for a little sis,” said Anna.
“I already like it,” said Julia.
Anna and Julia just couldn’t get enough of that WICKED STEPSISTERS NOTEBOOK.
They asked a billion questions about it and laughed a ton. At first I was embarrassed, but Erin didn’t care, so pretty soon I didn’t care either.
The wedding went just fine except for when Julia almost fell. She really does have big feet, and she tripped over them coming down the stairs. Erin was right in front of her and Anna was right behind her, and they both put out their arms and saved her. She didn’t even care that she almost fell in front of all those people. She laughed and said how lucky she was to have sisters around like Erin and Anna. And since Julia has a pretty loud voice, everyone heard and started saying that they agreed. The wedding stopped for a few minutes and then picked up again where it had left off.
For some reason the minister skipped over that wedding-stopping place. He could probably just tell that everyone was very, extremely happy and no one would object. When he finished up and the ceremony was over, the wedding got even more fun.
People in black walked around offering us food and napkins. There was champagne for the grown-ups and sparkling cider for the kids. Loud music played, and people started dancing. Erin told Anna and Julia all about how I was going to be the star of the Pumpkin Blossom Fairy dance, and they made me show them how to do it. Then they showed us how to do the hustle and the electric slide. We kicked off our shoes to do the moonwalk, which maybe wasn’t very smart for me because I lost one of my wedges. I’m not too worried about it, though. It has my name and address on it, and it’s somewhere in Erin’s house. After they get the huge mess from the wedding cleaned up, I bet they’ll find it.
My dad picked me up at 10 p.m., which was very late, but the reception was still going on. I told him all about everything, even the WICKED STEPSISTERS NOTEBOOK. He wanted to see it, but I couldn’t show it to him on account of Erin and Julia and Anna were giving it to their parents as a wedding gift. It seemed like a weird present to me, but Anna said it was just the perfect thing. She’s planning on being a librarian when she grows up, so she probably knows.