Wish Apon A Star

Annabelle - Bubblegum and Possibly Stupid Deals

The entire world smelled like bubblegum, and not in a good way. Leila snapped a piece in her mouth, but I wondered if she had also managed to find some sort of bubblegum perfume, it was so strong. It felt like it had seeped into my clothes, and I wanted to wash them badly. Last year, Leila hadn't been bubblegum obsessed, but maybe she thought it was the perfect thing to go with her new pink theme. Except she executed it so poorly, I wished she'd never thought of the idea at all.

She blew a bubble and popped it, before giving us what I'm sure she hoped was a sly, conspiratorial grin. It was not. At all. "So," she said, drawing it out slowly (ugh), "we have a deal?"

"Not yet, we don't," I snapped. "We asked what you wanted. Tell us."

She wrinkled her nose. "You're exactly like I remember. Bossy."

"It's one of my better qualities," I told her. "We don't have time for games, Leila. Tell us what you want, we'll decide whether to give it to you or not, and then we can move on. I want to go home; it's freezing. So, I'd really appreciate you wrapping this up."

I couldn't believe James and I had gone for ice cream. Granted, that had been almost two months ago, but it had gotten much colder, very fast. It had been snowing on and off for the past couple days, and there was several inches of snow on the ground to prove it. As much as I loved the snow, I wanted it to be warm again already, even if it would mean I probably couldn't drink as much hot chocolate.

"Fine." Leila pouted like a toddler. "I want to know where Nicole is."

"Huh?" I blinked at her. "Why do you care?"

While she and Nicole had never had outright screaming matches (of which I was guilty), they hadn't really gotten along, either. Once her and I ceased to even tolerate each other, she'd moved on to Nicole in an attempt to get closer to James. It hadn't worked. For one, Leila wasn't big on personal space, and Nicole hadn't been exactly thrilled about someone always bending over her shoulder, or talking directly in her face. Besides, she was always sort of closed off, and Leila had been disappointed when her efforts didn't lead to immediately becoming her best friend, and getting closer to James. After that, she'd pretty much stopped trying to talk to her.

There was no reason for her to want to know where Nicole was, except it was written all over her face, and the way she'd talked like she was reciting from a script to earn the World's Most Terrible Actor award.

She didn't care. Someone else did.

Which could mean the photo was useless. In fact, it probably was. Whoever she was taking orders from, I had a feeling they wouldn't hand out information they didn't have to. Nobody did, if they were smart. And Leila had always gravitated to people higher up than her. I had no doubt this was the same story.

Leila shrugged, and began reciting from her script again. "Nicole never leaves the inn, unless it's on a job. Leo's gone, too, but he leaves sometimes, so that's not all that surprising. And since you and James are still here...well, I'm guessing Nicole's not on any sort of job. So, I'm just curious. Humour me."

Right. She was guessing. Leila would try to put a square peg in a round hole and insist it fit.

"Can I talk to James for just one minute?" Before she could answer, I was already pulling James away. "She's a liar," I whispered, "and I doubt she really cares. Someone else does, though."

"So, what do we do?" he asked. "Does that mean the picture's useless?"

"Maybe. But..."

"You still want it."

"Yeah."

We walked back over to Leila. "Okay," James said, shrugging, "we'll tell you, I guess. I mean, what's the harm?"