Broomstick, page 10
“You’re kinda scaring me.” Is she turning gay? Maybe that’s what Mira meant when she talked about their “coven.” “Why do you want me to try it on for you?”
“Looks good,” Maddie says with a nod, ignoring my question. “Here’s another.” She pushes a burgundy one to me and then, before I can try the red one on, she presses a black silk bra over my chest.
“We’re not here for me,” I say with a sigh.
Maddie laughs. “It’s the last one.”
It’s not the last one. She hands me another, but this silk negligee is white. There’s something even more sinful about that. Being white, it looks like it fits under a wedding dress.
“So why are you getting all this kinky shit, anyway?” I ask, trying on the last garment.
But she’s ignoring me. She’s looking me over really carefully for some reason.
“You buying this for me?” I ask. “You want me to wear this when we’re spending a nice quiet night at home alone together watching a movie?”
“Shh …” Maddie says. “Don’t be stupid, Cadence.” She’s so focused. She raises an eyebrow. Then she shakes her head. “Not bad. White. Goes well with your darker complexion. Definitely not burgundy. Nor the black one. Only white.”
“Okay. Then I can take it off?”
“Sure,” she says with a laugh.
“So,” I say as I quickly untie the laces, “how’s Nick? You two hit a home run yet?”
“A long time ago, Katie,” she says, shaking her head contemptuously.
I don’t like that. I don’t like how my friend always acts like I’m so prudish. She’s only six months older than me. And anyway, it’s just sexual intercourse. What’s so special? It’s just sex. It’s no big deal.
I’ve never had sex before. Maddie knows that. But she acts like it’s some special accomplishment that makes her more mature than me.
I did have that weird encounter with Bryce. It seemed so sinful and wrong. The whole thing makes me uncomfortable when I think about it. It’s why I’ve been avoiding Bryce ever since.
I start throwing on my blue cotton T-shirt and hand silk panties back to Maddie. She wanted me to try it on with the white outfit. There was no way I was gonna do that.
She finally turns away.
“You becoming a perv, Maddie?”
“Fuck off, Katie. But thanks for trying it on. I needed to shop for someone about your size.”
“For Alondra’s club? You having an orgy?”
“Fuck off again.”
She swings open the dressing room door.
“Did you two find everything you were looking for?” asks the salesclerk, who’s been waiting for us. She’s got a warm smile. She seems nice.
“Sure did,” I say. Then I stick my tongue out at Maddie when the girl takes the articles of clothing we don’t want.
We walk to the cashier. Maddie somehow manages to pay for most of it, but she stows away the rest. Then she turns to me. She has a big grin and hooks my arm into hers.
“Come on, girlfriend. Let’s have lunch before your boring dad comes.”
“Okay.”
So, we’re eating fast-food hamburgers together, and I’m savoring a tasty hot fry when I notice that my friend’s ordered a Caesar salad. That’s odd. She usually eats unhealthier food than I do.
Red and green are all over the food court because it’s the yuletide season. Christmas is coming, and I reflect on how odd Hawthorne University is. Everywhere in this mall there are pictures of Santa Claus and his helpers, Christmas trees, stockings, sleds, fake snow—everything that tells everybody that Christmas is coming. But not at Hawthorne. Our college pushes Christmas to the side. I’ve been told it’s for political reasons. In order not to offend people, the university chose not to celebrate anything tied to religion. They could have celebrated Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and everything else during December, but instead they chose to celebrate nothing. That’s probably why Halloween is always such a big hit at the Billington House. Anyway, Mother Nature tells you when it’s the yuletide season in Hawthorne with leafless branches and frigid weather.
It was the same way last year. But not in Atlanta. Here, especially at the shopping center, Christmas is all over the place.
“Want one?” I ask, offering a French fry.
“No.”
“They’re good.”
“Sorry, can’t.”
Maddie turns on her iPhone and starts texting somebody. She’s typing quickly.
“I really should be shopping for something for your aunt Jane.”
“Huh?” she asks.
“Jane. Your mom.”
“What?” she asks again, staring at her phone irritably. She keeps typing away.
I look around the food court. Few of the tables and chairs are empty. If it weren’t for the holiday season, it would probably be a ghost town this time of the week.
A large glass dome provides light to all the fast food restaurants. I look up at the cloudy sky. I think it might rain today. Maybe snow again.
“Shit!” Maddie says.
“What’s the matter?”
“Hmm?” Maddie asks with a fake smile. “Nothing.”
I unwrap my burger and take a giant bite. Maddie’s still staring at her phone, not too interested in her salad. It reminds me of Mira. Obviously, their weird sex cult involves eating leaves. I find it funny how much they seem to hate doing it.
“Want some?” I offer my burger.
She just shoos me away with her hand. She’s glued to her phone.
“Who are you texting?”
“Jesus, Cadence,” Maddie says, looking up. “You’re so nosy.”
“Just wondering. And…what’s with you not liking fresh, hot French fries? You know they’re the best food in the world.”
“Alondra…” Maddie shakes her head and looks back down at her phone. “Now please, leave me alone so I can send this important message.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Hmm?” But she’s still texting.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“What?”
“Can you stop lighting my mother’s candle? I wish you wouldn’t do that. I’d rather leave it unlit. When it’s lit, it reminds me of losing her. I don’t like that.”
Maddie’s still looking down at her phone. She shakes her head. “I haven’t. I haven’t lit your candle, Katie.”
“What?”
“Hmm?” Maddie’s pressing in all the letters carefully now. I look over her shoulder, mostly as a joke, but that really pisses her off. She jumps back. “Stop it, Cadence!”
“What do you mean you haven’t lit it? Then who has?”
“What are you talking about?” Maddie asks. “I’ve never seen it lit, Kate.” Then she hits the table. “Shit!”
“What’s the matter?”
“Cadence,” she snaps. “I…” She wavers for a moment. “There’s just things I can’t tell you, ’kay? I’ve sworn. I told you this before.”
She puts her phone down and gives me a pouty face. “Don’t look like that, Katie. You know I’ve joined Alondra’s coven.” There’s that word again. “I swore secrecy.”
“We’ve never kept anything from one another before.” I’m surprised at how sad those words sound.
“You’re so cute,” she says, touching my arm. “But that was before I signed.”
“And what happens if you disobey? You die?”
“No.” But then she smiles and touches my arm again. “Don’t worry ’bout it.”
“Okay. But…what about my candle? If you didn’t light it, then who did?”
Maddie shrugs. She presses a few more buttons and then stuffs some lettuce into her mouth. “Where’s your dad, anyway?”
13
Dad
My dad doesn’t look any better than when I left him at the funeral. He’s thin and gaunt. Mom did that to him, even before she passed. And he looks depressing as hell, but I know when he interacts with people he hides it. I see him hiding it when he spots Maddie from across the mall. But even with his fake smile, he still looks sad. It reminds me a little bit of Mira, but that makes me hate Mira, because she doesn’t have any reason for her depression. Dad does.
When our paths finally merge, Dad loses his melancholy and lights up at the sight of me. And his smile is real. He walks up and gives me a tight hug.
“Cadence.”
“Hi, Dad.”
Dad turns to my friend. “Hi, Madison.”
“Hi, Mr. Hawthorne.”
“You’re looking good, Madison.”
Madison’s holding the pink Victoria Secret bag. Dad glances at it curiously. Thank God she’s holding it.
No matter how much he smiles, I can feel his pain. And I think Maddie can too.
“I thought we’d meet for lunch,” he says.
“We just ate,” I say.
“Oh,” he says. And for a moment, under his bushy eyebrows, his forlorn gray eyes nearly reveal his sadness. But then he recovers with a smile. “Well, I can just grab something. Perhaps we can go shopping?”
“I need to get back to school, Mr. Hawthorne,” Maddie says.
“Oh. You’re welcome to come with us and stay in our house,” Dad says.
“That’s okay. I really have to get back.”
I wonder if it has something to do with Alondra’s club. For a moment, Maddie flashes a disapproving glance, probably guessing my thoughts. I don’t want her to go yet. The fact is, now that we’re back to being friends, I haven’t even begun to drill her regarding Alondra’s mysteries.
“All right. Well, thanks for taking care of my baby.” Dad gives Maddie a hug. But no one takes care of me. That kind of pisses me off.
“Bye, Maddie. I’ll see you Monday,” I say.
“All right, Katie.” Then she winks and says, “Thanks for helping me with my shopping.”
Bitch.
Maddie pecks me on my cheek and gives me a hug. Then she’s off, turning her iPhone on again and texting as she walks briskly away.
“Nice friend,” Dad says.
“Yeah.”
“She’s always been good to you, Cadence. She’s a keeper.”
“Sure is.”
As we’re heading outside to the parking lot, Dad cocks his head and says seriously, “I thought you’d want to take a break from school for a while. It will be good for me to have some company this weekend. And it’ll give you time to think. And… rest… now that Mom’s gone. I’ve made your bed in your room.”
I don’t know why, but everything—from seeing him walking toward me and Maddie with his head down to his holding my hand and circling the parking lot under the dark, cloudy sky—strikes me as really fucking depressing. I don’t like it. I suddenly have an urge to call Maddie to pick me up and rescue me. But then my sweet dad looks right into my eyes with those gray eyes and says, “Whatever you need, whatever you want, squirt, I’ll get you. You and your brother are what’s important now. I think Mom passed too early. And it makes me angry that she had to go.”
“I know.”
“She shouldn’t have left us so soon,” he adds, clenching his teeth.
“I know. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh…sure, Cadence. Neither do I.”
Dad drives me home in silence.
Home isn’t home. It’s a mausoleum for Mom. Mom’s favorite scented candles and the perfume she wore every day of my life linger in the halls. And it’s the last thing I want. Really. I want to just forget the whole thing.
So I leave as early as I can on Saturday. And then I feel guilty. I feel bad for Dad. He’s so lonely. But I can’t stay in that house. Not with the smells. Not with the pictures and the memories. Not with the memories of Mom.
I call Maddie. She drives me home. But she lets me drive most of the way back while she texts on her iPhone.
14
The Sacrifice
I’m walking to my English lit class, passing a few bodies along a covered sidewalk—it’s raining, so everybody’s crowded under the ugly metal awning—and somebody taps me on the back of my shoulder. I turn and it’s a boy wearing a white T-shirt and gray slacks and carrying a large brown leather bag. His hair is brushed back, and he looks too clean to be one of the students. It’s Bryce. He comes up to me as the walkway descends down a few stairs.
“Cadence,” he says, sounding a little desperate, “I called, but you didn’t answer.” We dodge some more bodies. Not only is it raining, it’s around 11:30 rush hour. Most of the other students are like me and don’t go to school in the wee hours of the morning. I haven’t been to Bryce’s class in two weeks.
“Just busy,” I say with a fake grin. “How are you, Bryce?”
“Great.” After being a gentleman and waiting for an elderly woman with a cane to walk down the stairs, he jumps over the last steps to keep up with me. “Did I do something wrong?”
I look at his eyes. Damn, those baby blues! How could he ever do anything wrong? I could get lost in those blues. But I don’t. I won’t. I don’t want to be a part of his hedonistic shit. And my best friend’s coven. But…he’s…so…cute.
I’m not mad. Or am I? I don’t even know. All I know is that after the strange bath ceremony, I really don’t want to see him anymore.
“Nor have you come to class,” he says.
Damn, he’s persistent. And he’s referring to his class. I never miss Alondra’s.
It’s pouring rain, and we’re at the end of the antique steel awning. I take out an umbrella. He grabs it out of my hand, saying, “Allow me.”
I snatch it back. “It’s all right,” I say. “I’m fine.”
“Well, I was hoping we could meet again,” he says. Now he’s getting wet while I’m shielded by my giant red umbrella. He doesn’t give up. “Well? Did I do something?”
Yeah, you had sex with me under a magical demon spell. And… What was it Mira called it? …an incubus.
I finally stop at just the right moment to watch him getting drenched. Then we just stand there together.
“This is really weird, Bryce,” I say after some uncomfortable silence.
“What? Weird?”
“The package you gave me. It was really weird.”
“Oh. Sorry. But is that why you’re not answering your calls?”
Uhh…yeah. I roll my eyes.
“Wait,” he says, gripping my arm like a vise. “Did you…try it, then?”
I would have thought he knew, being that he was there. I look at him as if to say, Are you for real? What does he mean, did I try it? It was his hands rubbing my naked ass. Indeed, there’s a hint of deception in his gaze. I smile back at him, on to his lie. All the while, his nicely combed hair is dripping.
To be honest with you, I actually like how he’s acting desperate to see me. I’m being a real bitch, but I can’t help but be mad.
“Don’t play with me,” I say. But I don’t pull away my arm or walk away. I look down. That gets me madder because it feels weak. But we’re alone now. And as much as I’m acting pissed, I don’t want him to go.
People pass us, leaving the shelter of the awning, walking fast. We’re the only ones standing out in the rain getting drenched.
He doesn’t respond. But he doesn’t move away either.
“I don’t want to play with spells or voodoo shit,” I explain finally, forcing my eyes to meet his.
“All right,” he says. “No more spells. I promise.” And then that infernal handsome smile.
“If you want to spend time with me, don’t do that again,” I add.
“Sure.”
“Right.”
I’m searching his eyes. Shit, I’m hooked! I’m mesmerized. He is too. He’s just letting the water drip down his forehead, and he doesn’t even care about the rain. We’re just staring at each other like high school sweethearts. And neither one of us wants to go.
“Here,” I say, putting my umbrella over him. “You’re really getting wet.”
“It’s okay. As long as you’re talking to me.” Damn, don’t say stuff like that!
He gives me a stupid smile. I finally walk toward the quad and he follows.
“May I ask you out to dinner, Cadence?” he asks. He’s so suave about it. I laugh, and it seems to hurt his feelings a little.
“Why not?” I say with a nod. I’m trying to cover him with my umbrella. “Where?”
“How about Lacey’s?” Lacey’s is a quaint steak house a few miles from campus.
“’Kay.”
“Great, I’ll pick you up tonight at seven.” He’s super excited and it’s cute.
“Wait! Tonight?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
How rude. Who asks someone out on a date on the same night? How arrogant. Then again, who has sex in a bathtub using devil spells?
“I have a test tomorrow,” I lie.
“Then we can make it Thursday.”
“Hmm…I’d rather see you on the weekend. I’m freer, without any tests from my teachers or…you.”
He chuckles. “I can’t this weekend. There’s a meeting with the coven at Alondra’s on Friday and Saturday. Unless you’re referring to Sunday. But Sunday is before Monday, isn’t it? You probably have a test then, you little bookworm.”
“Okay, I’ll call you when I’m free, then. Bye, Bryce.”
And then I rush away, leaving him in the pouring rain. I look back. The poor boy’s drenched.
Why did I do that? I don’t know. He creeps me out, I suppose. But it gives me time to think about him. Maybe talk it over with Maddie. No, she’s a part of their voodoo club too.
Do I want to spend time with him? I don’t know.
He’s so hot. Yeah, of course I want to see him.
I do what I really shouldn’t do. I go to Alondra’s house Friday evening. It’s not because I’ve been invited to some sort of party or initiation or because I’ve finally decided to sign Dr. Reardon’s consent forms to join their pagan club. And it isn’t because I plan on seeing Bryce there—though I know he’ll be there. It’s because of my friend Maddie. Maddie’s been missing for the past two days.
