Gwen Doh Lynn

6: Research & Pizza

"I just don't understand why you'd do something like that," my mom said in the car. She'd had to come pick me up at school and talk to the principal. Even though they couldn't prove I'd thrown the tambourine at Elspeth, it was her word and Natalia's against mine. And my word was pretty weak.

I'd given up saying that I wasn't sure what had happened. Now I just sat silently in the car, sulking.

"Maybe you should call Rachel," my mom continued. She meant Ms. Rodriguez. "I know you have a check-in appointment with her next month, but...."

You're worried I'm crazy? I wanted to say.

"...I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you called her."

I rested my head against the cool glass of the window. Why was it taking so long to get home?

As soon as we pulled into the driveway, I slipped out of the car. "I'm going to sit outside for a while, okay?"

She sighed. "Okay."

I figured I might as well enjoy being outside since I would probably be grounded for a week, which meant I wouldn't be able to hang out with Hazel or do magic practice.

I wandered around the side of the house and sat on the bare ground in the shade of the big tree. Why couldn't I just be like everyone else?

I poked at some fallen leaves with a stick. I felt like crying. "So," I heard Cat say, "your mom said you had a bad day." He came wandering up to me and plopped himself down.

I was shocked. "You talk to my mom, too?!"

"Of course not," he said, like it was the stupidest question ever. "But she talks to me. Like, a lot." He swished his tail in the dirt. "I think she needs a friend." It hadn't occurred to me that my mom might be lonely.

"She's mad, huh?" A few brown and orange leaves fluttered down around us. Not magic, just the beginning of autumn.

"She doesn't seem mad," Cat said. "Maybe concerned. What happened?"

I scratched behind his ears. "I threw a tambourine at a girl's head."

"What's a tambourine? More importantly, did she deserve it?"

I smiled a little. "Well, yeah, she kinda did. But that's not the point."

Cat jumped after a few crinkly leaves. "Then what is the point?"

I sighed and drew circles in the dirt. "I just want to fit in and be normal."

"Why?" He batted at a stick with one paw. "I thought you wanted to grow your magic," he said, pouncing on a brown leaf. "That's not exactly what I'd call being normal."

"Now you sound like Hazel!"

But he was right. What did I want? I wasn't sure anymore.

"Honey!" My mom called from the side door. "Hazel's mom is on the phone. They want to know if you want to sleep over at Hazel's tonight!"

Uh... "You'd let me?"

"Sure!" she called. But wasn't I in trouble? And it was a school night. "They said they'd order pizza and you could stay up and watch movies. They can drop you both off at school in the morning."

Seriously? "Um... yeah," I called back. "I want to go. Definitely." It would be great to just hang out and do normal things and not think about magic or my stupid problems at school.

My mom went back into the house. I looked at Cat. "My mom's not mad? I'm not grounded? And she's letting me have a sleepover on a school night? This is definitely not normal."