Chapter 8
“I’ll let you go to the prom on a few conditions.” My mom’s face is flushed and she’s frowning. I know that my mom isn’t upset about the money I spent, even though my prom dress cost almost a thousand dollars. No, she’s upset because I disobeyed her and made plans to go to the prom without her consent.
“I understand that you want this to be a part of your life experience—I get that. Prom is important and maybe I’ve been too strict on you. So, you may go solo, but you must promise me that you won’t kiss anyone,” she says.
“Okay,” I say with some surprise, since convincing her was much easier than I anticipated, but I can barely look her in the eyes, afraid she might see right through me that I kissed Anthony on the cheek.
“One more thing, you have to be home by midnight,” she says.
“Midnight? What, is this like Cinderella or something? That’s ridiculous. Mom, I won’t kiss anyone even if I stay out until 6:00 a.m. three days after the prom, I promise.” I re-commit myself to not kissing anyone, at least not until I turn eighteen. I’m still not going to mention that just earlier today I kissed Anthony on the cheek and that he kissed me on my collarbone and that now he’s under my thrall. I feel a pang of regret, but can’t help that the edges of my lips involuntarily curve upward at the thrilling memory.
“This isn’t a joke!” My mom’s voice is trembling with fury. I’m a little shocked because she’s usually very calm, so much so that I’ve often wondered if she feels anything at all.
“Sonia, trust me, you don’t understand the strong and uncontrollable urges you’ll begin to experience as you near your eighteenth birthday. I’m sure you have already started to notice them a little, but these next two weeks will be the hardest. You could lose control and cause a lot of damage, and you don’t want to play with that kind of fire, for it will come back to haunt you for the rest of your life.”
I think back to the moment with Anthony, and I certainly have tasted some of the wickedly awesome urges that my Huldra side has brought out in me. I convince myself I’ll be able to control them if I really put my mind to it. Besides, it’s different with Anthony—he has been the only one so far who has brought the passionate impulses out in me, but since he won’t be my prom date anyway, not kissing anyone on the prom night should be a breeze—no problem.
“You won’t be able to control your impulses to, excuse my bluntness, seduce young men if you find any of them even remotely attractive and if that happens, there will be a lot of unfortunate events afterwards. Trust me, you do not want to go down that path,” my mom says.
“Why are you so vague all the time? Can’t you just tell me so I understand?” It angers me that I’m always in the dark. “What difference does a few days make in explaining this to me?”
“No, I can’t tell you. It has to happen during the ceremony in Kensington, and in the right order. If you won’t agree to the terms of the prom, you’re not allowed to go, and that’s final.”
I know my mom won’t budge on this. “Fine!” I grab my prom dress and march to my room. What does she really know about being a teenager in this day and age anyway?
In my room, I angrily stuff the dress into the closet and pull out a book. As soon as I open it, my phone rings and I answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me, Anthony. Got a minute?”
Rolling over onto my back, I start playing with the ends of my hair. I feel a flutter in my stomach that appears every time I’m around Anthony. “Sure,” I say, my heart beating more fervently. I can’t help but smile because my flair must have worked on him though I’m not sure if I’m happy or upset with myself about it.
“I wanted to apologize for earlier—I don’t know what came over me, but I hope we can still be friends?”
Immediately, all the happiness is sucked out of me. “Was it that disappointing?” I kick myself for talking before thinking, but his comment stings. He’s apologizing? Didn’t he feel the attraction between us—and what happened to my Huldra flair? Surely I must have left enough saliva on his cheek to have him want me, even just a little. I do feel slightly relieved, I must admit, but I also feel as though I have failed as a Huldra. “I mean…yeah, I guess what happened was somewhat of out of the blue.” I flip over onto my stomach, squeeze my eyes shut and press my palm to my forehead.
“So just friends then?” he asks, sounding unsure of himself. Maybe it’s my flair kicking in.
I don’t want to answer him, but the words have to be spoken. “Sure, whatever—”
“Good, and I think it’s best if we don’t work together anymore either—on the weeding, so I’ll just take it from here.” He almost sounds happy about his decision. I’m speechless. What happened? “Is that all right?” Anthony says, now sounding surer of himself.
Then an idea suddenly flashes through my mind. I want to try and see if my kiss actually worked, to see if my Huldra flair is as powerful as my mom and dad said. Maybe I have to request or demand something from him so he knows what I want? “Hey, I really want for us to continue to work together on the weeding until we’re finished, okay?”
It goes silent on the other end.
“Hello?” I say.
He makes a faint grunting sound. “I…don’t think it’s a good idea, Sonia. We should really just be friends from here on out. Besides, you probably need to focus on your homework, don’t you?” He emphasizes the “don’t you” part of his statement.
How dare he tell me what to do, and did he just use homework as a deflector? It’s the lamest escape-line I’ve heard—ever. Not only that, he flatly rejected my proposal. I wonder if maybe my powers only work in person. I decide to be all right with his rejection for now, considering that it’s the only option I have at the moment. I’ll try to see if my flair worked again after school on Monday in person, and maybe I’ll dress up a little, just to make sure he notices me. I huff at my lame plan, but then I think: is this my plan, or my inner Huldra’s plan? Usually I’m a very relaxed person like my mom, but it seems like I’m a completely different individual now, trying to seduce Anthony. I hate this new me, yet—I love this new me. I sigh at the thought, remembering the warnings my dad gave me, knowing he would be ashamed of me for acting this way.
“Fine, no worries.” I scrunch my eyes shut.
“Really?”
“Really, anything you say, Anthony.” I sit up. “Have a great weekend.” I don’t want to admit it, but his rejection has hurt me pretty badly, and I don’t know exactly how I’ll get through Sunday and all of school on Monday before I see him again.
“Yeah, you too, and maybe I’ll see you around,” he says.
“Yeah.” I hang up the phone and let myself fall into the pillows on my bed. My Huldra flair isn’t working on him like it did on Savannah. Maybe I need to give it more time. Maybe it has to be past midnight or something before the magic kicks in or maybe I should just be glad that it didn’t work and that I have a chance to do the right thing, which is to stay away from him.