I will never forget the painful look of disbelief that Kaitlyn gave me. I wasn't sure whether she was going to throw daggers into my heart or burst into tears.
"LILY! Why would you say something so mean like that about my friends? Why would they give me the wrong moves? THEY'RE MY FRIENDS."
"I don't know, maybe as a joke or something."
"A JOKE! You're the one who is a joke. I want you to go. Don't try and blame others when you can't get the moves right yourself. Just leave."
"But can you?.."
"LEAVE!"
There was no point in arguing. She wasn't going to believe a stupid seventh grader over her precious princesses. I'd really blown it. I'd lost her trust, and without that, there was no way I could help Kaitlyn with her problem. And if she kept practicing the wrong routine, there was no way she would get onto the team even though she deserved to. And there was NOTHING I could do about it. Unless???. There was one thing I could do but???.
I had to do it!
I had to get to the bottom of this.
17. Sneaky Tactics
The day before the second tryouts I saw Tiffany, Krystal and Chantelle practicing in the gymnasium. I wondered why Kaitlyn wasn't with them so I crouched down behind a two meter stack of chairs to spy on them. I was getting really good at this stalking business. Luckily they had music pumping loudly so they couldn't hear the raucous sound of my heart thumping through my chest or the bellows of my lungs inflating anxiously.
I watched them do the whole routine and a little green eyed monster took over my body. That's what my Mom calls it when someone gets jealous. She says it's the green eyed monster taking over.
Normally I don't get jealous about anything. I usually tell myself to be proud of what I've got and what I can do, and to accept everything the way it is. But these girls were good. They were magical in the way they moved their slender arms and long tanned legs. The arches of their backs when they performed the bridges were perfect.
As I watched them arching it dawned on me that they were indeed arching into bridges and not doing cartwheels as they had told Kaitlyn to do. It was exactly how Cranky Pants had shown us; well how she instructed us to do it anyway. She couldn't 'show' us a bridge. If she did, I don't think she'd be able to get up off the floor. I laughed to myself at the thought of her leaning back into an arch, belly popping out over her track pants, struggling to get up, with her feet kicking all over the place and her puffy cheeks turning beetroot. I couldn't help myself imagine her doing a little fart as she thrashed about helplessly.
So my suspicions were confirmed. The princess group knew exactly what they were doing with the routine. They had it down perfectly. Too perfectly in fact. I had no way of beating them. But I wasn't worried about myself. I was worried about the deceit and why they were maliciously and sneakily bullying Kaitlyn for no reason.
I started to get up off the ground and sneak out, but as I did, the edge of my shoe clipped the chair leg and the stack of chairs started tumbling to the ground. I dived in behind one on the floor.
"Who's there?" called out Krystal. I didn't know whether to run or stay hiding, or use my other option and call on black magic for survival to get out of sight. As much as I wanted to twinkle myself out of there, I knew it wasn't a life or death situation, so I got to my feet and sprinted harder than a deer being chased by a hungry cheetah.
I ran until I could run no further and leaned up against a wall, panting with the adrenaline surging through my exhausted body. I was pretty sure I was far enough away that they didn't recognise me.
On the way back, I saw Kaitlyn sitting on a bench by herself reading. I hoped she didn't notice me and I kept walking quickly. I thought she'd probably ignore me anyway.
"Lily," I heard, after I thought I was a safe distance past. "Sorry for arguing with you yesterday."
"Don't worry about it." I waved and kept walking but she caught up to me.
"I always seem to be saying sorry to you lately," she laughed nervously.
"Look it's fine."
"I'm sure we'll both be fine in the second cheer off. Maybe there were two versions of the routine and you're in a different group," she said.
"Maybe," I said, though I didn't know who she thought she was kidding.
"Look I really hope we can still be friends."
"Sure, of course. How come you're not practicing with the others?"
"Practicing what?"
"The cheerleading routine."
"Oh, Krystal and Tiffany had detention for talking in class so I'm kind of on my own for lunch break. I think Chantelle is with Connor."
Detention? Wow! Rehearsing the cheer leading routine in the gymnasium seemed like a pretty awesome detention to me, but I didn't dare speak my thoughts out loud. These girls were really lying to their friend. There was no doubt about it. Kaitlyn's best friends were lying to her and she had no idea.
There was only one thing I could do to help her. I would really miss my cat and R2D2, but I had to activate the last resort plan to help Kaitlyn.
18. Time to Take Action
I waited until after school to execute my plan. I lurked around the eighth grade area until I saw the princess gang parading out of their classroom. They were huddled in a private group giggling and chatting to each other as though no-one else existed. Kaitlyn walked out a few moments later with another girl oblivious to the fact that she had been left out again. I hid behind a locker and waited until they filed past.
Just as they started to walk past the lockers, I quickly ran from behind and collided front on with Krystal knocking her flying. It would have been hilarious except I was aching from the awesome head butt we had.
As our two heads collided, I reached up as if I was going to push her away and my hand snapped a lock of her hair while my fingers lightly scratched her skin, causing her to screech out in agony as she simultaneously fell to the ground. It must have looked like a scene out of a slapstick cartoon show.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I lied. "I was trying to stop you from falling."
"Careful you stupid idiot. Watch where you're going."
"I'm really sorry. It was an accident."
"Didn't your Mom teach you how to walk?" She looked around at her friends for moral support as she vainly flicked her hair back into place and dusted herself off.
"Leave her alone Krystal," said Tiffany, surprising me with her support, "she probably still wears nappies and is learning to walk."
My blood boiled and sizzled, and steam billowed out of my head when I heard the spiteful mockery from Tiffany. How can girls be so mean? What exactly is the point? I will never understand.
I looked them confidently in the eye as I'd been taught, and spoke directly to them without showing fear, although I was doing a bit of a nervous dance inside my stomach, and a few butterflies had been set loose in the same region.
"I said I was sorry. It was an accident and I don't appreciate you saying ridiculous things like that." They looked at each other and laughed. Not that I expected anything else.
"Are you ok Krystal?" Tiffany asked her friend. "Did the clumsy geek hurt you?"
I almost laughed in their faces. I may be a lot of things, but I was definitely not a geek.
"Well thank you, I've never been called a geek before. At least that means I've got a lot of brains, unlike some people round here." I couldn't help myself saying one wicked thing. It was either that or turn her into a big fat toad with bulbous warts all over her snout. I laughed to myself as I imagined a row of ugly toads wearing shiny leotards doing cartwheels.
I walked away with my head held high not looking back. They were probably making rude fingers at me and laughing at me, but I didn't care. Girls like that didn't usually bother me. I actually felt sad for them, that they felt the need to be so cruel. I wondered what was missing in their lives, to make them get their thrills by taunting others unfairly.
After I was out of their sight, I raced home as fast as my skinny legs would tak
e me, squeezing the lock of hair and knowing the evil skin was under my nails. That was all I needed to activate the plan. The other ingredients were all at home.
No-one was in the house so everything was perfect. I found my ancient spell book in the bottom drawer where I kept my undies. I flipped through the dusty pages looking for the perfect spell, finally finding what I was looking for; the spell for switching bodies with someone.
I quickly organised the ingredients and followed the directions as instructed, including submerging my hand in boiling water to dissolve Krystal's skin. The pain was excruciating but I gritted my teeth for the necessary ten seconds.
When I pulled my hand out, it was scorched red and blistered, but the pumping adrenalin pulsating through my body as I prepared the potion, numbed the throbbing sensations. I threw in the locks of hair, a sprinkle of salt, lavender, and a variety of herbs from my herb garden, and finished with a healthy dose of sugar to sweeten the target. Then I placed it on the stove and stirred it while it bubbled and frothed. The vile smell that billowed through the kitchen was a sickly mix of sweetened fragrance and the aroma of pizza.
I scanned the recipe to see if there was anything I'd missed. Realising I needed a photo of Krystal, I panicked until I remembered the school year book. I raced to my bedroom and tore out a photo of Krystal. There was no doubt, she was a very pretty girl, but it seemed her beauty was only skin deep. Mom always said it was better to be beautiful on the inside than on the outside. I always thought it was one of those weird things that she said, but I was starting to realise exactly what she meant.
I ripped the photo into shreds and dropped the pieces one by one into the broth as directed, letting the bubbles suck each piece into the heart of the murky liquid.
The broth looked disgustingly inedible. I took it off the oven after twenty minutes and set it aside to cool while I gathered ten candles and checked Dan's room to make sure he wasn't lurking in there. The mixture cooled and I poured it into a Sundae glass wishing desperately that it had a big dollop of cream, ice-cream, nuts and a cherry on top, instead of the disgusting, green looking film.
I quickly went outside and gave R2D2 and Mr Sirpuss a big hug. I went into my bedroom, shut the door and lit the candles. I turned off the light and closed the blinds allowing only a radiant shimmer of afternoon sun to penetrate the darkness. I placed the concoction in the centre of the candles and began to chant.
I pinched my nose and shut my eyes and threw the vile drink down my throat as fast as I could. It tasted like it was made from bat's poo, dog's poo, cat's poo and a sprinkle of rat's vomit. Not that I've ever tasted that before. It was DISGUSTING! I repeated the chant in my head while I swallowed until the whole glass was gone. I kept chanting until my senses dulled and my head started swirling with dizziness. The room became blurry and objects started encircling me until the darkness finally arrested me.
I'm not sure how much time passed but when I awoke I had a throbbing headache, blurred vision and a feeling of annoyance when I realised the spell hadn't worked. I anxiously worried that maybe I'd done myself some serious brain damage instead. I moved away from the support I had been leaning up against and my legs melted away from me, causing me to collapse onto the ground in an embarrassing display of stupor. The glaring afternoon sun pierced my eyes as I squinted, trying to focus on the faces and voices that hovered above me.
"Are you drunk?"
"Wake up, are you ok? What's wrong with you?"
I felt confused and disorientated, and didn't know why I was lying in the middle of the sidewalk. The dull aching in my brain clouded my thoughts and my eyelids drifted together again blocking out the glare and escaping the confusion. I felt my arm being tugged and shaken like a rag doll. I wanted them to let me go so I could go back and do the spell again properly but my weakening legs betrayed me.
"Call an ambulance Chantelle!" AMBULANCE? AMBULANCE? Wasn't that one of those rescue vehicles that Lukey played with? Why would they need that?
"Krystal! Krystal! Wake up! Krystal, Krystal!" The words filtered slowly through to my dulled senses until comprehension started to penetrate the darkness in my foggy brain. I looked around and saw Tiffany and Chantelle and they were calling me Krystal. The spell had worked. I was Krystal. OMG! What on earth was I going to do now?
The first thing I did was try and get up off the pavement. That was quickly followed by another embarrassing collapse as my legs imitated overcooked sticks of spaghetti. Strong hands clasped me from behind and prevented me from making a complete idiot of myself again. I turned around to face my rescuer and looked into the dreamy blue eyes of Josh, Krystal's boyfriend.
"Whoa steady there Krissie," he said as he lent me up against the fence much to my disappointment as I felt so much more protected in his big strong arms.
"Is she on something?" he said to the others.
"She can hear you, you know, and 'no', she is not on anything," I said, starting to feel a little more like myself, even though I definitely wasn't myself. My mind felt like I was me, but my body felt strange, and my clothes felt very uncomfortable as though they were squeezing me in half. I looked down at my body and gasped in horror when I saw the clothes I was wearing; definitely not my choice of clothing, and showing way too much skin.
Then the biggest shock came when I discovered to my horror that I had bumps; two bumps in fact, in places where I was no way ready for. And even more horrific?.I WAS WEARING A BRA! I wanted to peek inside my top to see what they looked like but that might have looked really weird.
"She's awake now."
"Shall we still call an ambulance?"
"NO! No ambulances. I'm fine. I don't need an ambulance. I just had a little hypo that's all."
"A what?"
"A hypo. It means when I get a little low on sugar."
Luckily for me, my Mom's friend was a diabetic and I knew that sometimes when her sugar level was low she had something called a hypo where she goes all dizzy and nearly faints.
"Oh! I thought a hypo meant going off ya tree, like a bit crazy," Tiffany said.
"She did that too," added Chantelle.
"But she's ok now isn't she?"
"Would you stop talking about me like I'm not here please. I'm ok. Just let me go home."
"Look, I'll walk her home and make sure she gets home safely," Josh said to the others.
I gulped enough to make a weird sound that resembled a cross between a frog's croak and a crow's squawk. I was fine talking to the seventh grade boys. They were still immature and stupid most of the time. But the eighth graders were a different breed altogether. Some of them were muscly with stubby whiskers on their chin, and they looked really weird in their speedos, if you know what I mean.
To walk all the way home with Josh was a little more than daunting to say the least. It was completely horrifying. I was sure I'd say something completely stupid, and that's if I even thought of anything to say at all. I was certain I would make a fool of myself, well, of Krystal anyway.
"Go home and have a rest Krystal," Tiffany ordered. The cheer offs are tomorrow, and you want to be at school in tip top shape."
I had completely forgotten about the second heat in my haste to switch with Krystal. I would be competing for her and she would be competing for me. Not an ideal situation, but I wasn't ready to switch back after all the trouble I'd gone through.
"Now go home with Josh." She lent in close to me and whispered so Josh couldn't hear. "And don't forget to think about the next part of the plan."
I looked at her blankly. "What plan?"
She laughed at me. "Krystal, you really are acting weird. You didn't knock your head when you fell did you? The plan we talked about, like every day for the last two weeks. You don't have amnesia do you?"
"No, no, I'm cool, I'm with you," I lied. Maybe I could use this spaced out thing to my advantage every time I said or did something weird when I was in Krystal's body.
Josh grabbed my elbow and led me d
own the road which I was very thankful for as my legs were feeling like jelly fish doing the Macarena. To be honest, I wasn't sure whether it was the after effects of the spell or the fact that I had to walk with Josh that was making me all wobbly.
After we'd walked a few steps, Josh's hand gently slipped from my elbow down to clasp my hand. My body froze. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with his hand.
'Hold it you idiot,' a little voice said inside me. But 'how' was I supposed to hold it? Tight? Loosely? Was I supposed to sort of stroke it? Were my palms too sweaty? I wondered how my hand felt inside his, whether it had a smooth feeling or was it rough like sandpaper? OMG! I was so not ready for this sort of stress. I was 286 years old, but I'd never held hands with a boy. I'd never kissed a boy or even hugged one for that matter. I hadn't even had 'the' talk about the birds and bees with my mom. That's how weird she is. She keeps saying we have to have a talk about birds and bees. Why can't she just say we're going to talk about girls and boys and rude bits and how babies are made and what to do when a boy holds your hand? Then it would make sense, and I might have some idea what I was supposed to do with Josh's hand at that excruciatingly embarrassing moment.
I hoped he didn't realise how weird I was acting. I couldn't even think of anything remotely intelligent or witty to say, so I quickly blurted out, "Look, there's a bird," and pointed towards the sky pulling my hand away to safety.
"Wow! A bird," Josh said flatly.
'Good one idiot,' I thought to myself. Now he'll think I'm some boring bird watcher. I listened to myself think, analysing the situation in shock. Normally I don't care what people, (especially boys) think about what I say. As long as I don't hurt anyone's feelings, I don't stress about what I say or do. But in the presence of this boy, this one very cute boy, I was rendered speechless. I was like one big, massive brain fart with the odd stupid word thrown in.