Magical Mishap

Chapter 1

Andie's POV

"Andie! You'd better be ready in thirty seconds or you'll be taking the bus to school!" called my mother's voice, substantially angrier than it had been ten minutes ago, from downstairs.

"Coming mom!" I yelled back, hurriedly smearing my eyelids with dark kohl twice as fast as before. Showing up to school in the school bus would be social suicide and I wouldn't hear the end of it from my friends. Granted, being dropped off by my mom wasn't exactly cool by their standards either but since I had no older siblings in high school to drop me off in their convertibles and I was just thirteen with no driver's license, it would have to make do for now.

I dropped the eyeliner back in the studded makeup case my best friend, Vanessa had gotten me last year for my birthday and studied my reflection in the mirror. I was dressed in a nude-coloured cold shoulder top, stone washed jeans with rips at the knees and my white Adidas sneakers I had begged my mother to get me the day we went school shopping.

I looked great for the first day of school with my long chestnut coloured hair flowing out behind me. My emerald green eyes were outlined by the stark black kohl and my lips glistened with a sparkly cherry gloss. I smiled in satisfaction, nothing less was expected from one of the 'populars' in Brownstone Middle School.

"Andie!" hollered my mom once more. I could imagine red-hot steam billowing out her ears by now, she absolutely hated being late for work. I quickly grabbed my tan rucksack containing my school books off my bed and hurried down the stairs. I went into the kitchen and was confronted with the sight of my eight year old brothers who also happened to be twins, Danny and Sam fighting over a box of fruity loops cereal, my dad the expert at multitasking was both reading the morning paper and heartily filling his mouth with bacon and eggs while my mother leaned by the kitchen island, glaring at me over the cup of coffee she was nursing in her hands.

"I'm ready", I said weakly, giving her jazz hands to see if it would cheer her up.

No such luck. Her face remained stony and now her lips were twisting into a wry line. Oh no, I had poked the bear. A very grizzly one at that.

"Why is there so much makeup on your face?" she snapped at me.

I knew she was referring to my black rimmed eyes, this was the first time I tried it on for school and my mother didn't look pleased to say the least. I slunk over to the kitchen table and hopped onto one of the stools, grabbing two slices of toast from the pile loaded onto a big plate at the centre of the table.

"It's what all the girls at school are wearing, mom", I whined, biting onto a piece of toast and making sure to fill my mouth so she didn't expect a further answer from me.

"Do I need to remind you that you are just thirteen years old, Andrea Luann Watson?" she continued to reprimand me.

Oh gosh, like I needed the reminder. It haunted me every moment of my life; I desperately needed to grow up already. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her, my mother demanded respect and I couldn't afford to be grounded for the next two weeks when all the fun back to school activities would be happening.

My twin brothers took a long enough break from fighting over which of them would get the last bowl of fruity loops to pull faces and stick their tongues out at me.

I crossed my free arm around my chest and rolled my eyes at them. They couldn't ground me.

"C'mon Cassie, cut the girl some slack. She's not a baby anymore", came my dad's voice from behind the newspaper. He set his paper down and gave my mom one of his charming smiles and I could see her body visibly relax. My dad was the only one who could make my mom melt like a Popsicle on a hot summer day. He was super nice, super easy-going and tolerated all my extras.

If not for him, my mother would never let me spend so much money shopping or getting manicures with my friends, and she'd have never let me quit the dance studio where I had been training all my life to join cheerleading last year.

He gave me practically anything I asked for; he was a well-to-do accountant and owned his own accounting firm after all. He always said he believed I was smart enough to make my own decisions.

I believed he was right.

"You're spoiling her, Henry", my mom grumbled but I could see that she was not as angry anymore.

"Yes, dad you're totally spoiling her", added Danny from the table, frowning as Sam had won the battle of the fruity loops. The little weasel decided to direct his frustration at me instead of his brother!

"Now now, Andie is a good girl and perfectly capable of making good decisions", he turned to me and gave me a smile "Isn't that right, princess?"

"Yes, daddy", I beamed up at him. I loved him so much; he was the only sane person in this house sometimes!

It was my brother, Sam's turn to groan and roll his eyes and I stuck out my tongue at him in response. If my parents were not here, I would have rewarded him with a dripping bowl of fruity loops on his head.

I giggled at the thought.

"Alright enough chit-chat guys, I'm late enough as it is", my mom drained the last of her coffee and set it down on the sink. "Andie, take your toast you'll eat it in the car", she walked over to my brothers and kissed both their cheeks "Have a great first day at school boys" and subsequently disappeared out the back door.

They pretended to be grossed out but I knew they secretly loved my mom's affection and revelled in it. Well, good for them. Everything I did seemed to piss my mom off nowadays. Ever since I quit dance and became best friends with Vanessa and the rest of our group, she became less trusting.

I really didn't understand why she didn't like my friends.

I shook my head to myself and hopped off the stool, dropping the uneaten toast back, I didn't need the extra carbs anyway. Vanessa rarely ate carbs and she never had to worry about her cheer uniform being extra snug time and again like I did.

"See you rascals later. Have fun at school", I ruffled both Sam and Danny's chestnut coloured heads and then went over to hug my dad goodbye. "Bye Dad. Love you"

My mom usually drove me to school on her way to work as a partner in a law firm and my dad drove the boys on the way to his.

"Love you sweetheart", He hugged me back with one arm and pressed something into the palm of my hand when I let him go. I quickly peeked to see a hundred dollar bill staring at me.

"For the week. Don't tell your mom", he whispered and winked at me. Mom still packed my lunch but it wasn't exactly cool to bring your own lunch to school anymore. My Dad got it. My mom refused to get it.

"Thanks Dad", I gave him another extra tight hug and rushed out the front door to get into mom's car as she was just pulling her Audi out of the garage.

She paused long enough for me to hop in and buckle my seatbelt in before she drove off again. I knew she was still tense because she was running late so I reached over and touched her free hand.

"I'm sorry for making you late mom", I apologized, earnestly looking up at her.

She gave me a small smile. "It's okay, sweetheart and I'm sorry for yelling at you" She looked like she was tearing up. "I just don't want you to grow too fast on me... so please tone down the makeup next time"

I didn't get it... Vanessa and the other girls were already putting on foundation, contour and bronzer and I couldn't even get away with smoky eyes and glittery gloss. However, I didn't like to make my mom upset so I smiled and nodded.

"Okay, mom"

I would have to find alternative places to put on my makeup before first period from now on. I was one of the  'populars' and I had to keep up with the trends or my social standing would be buried.

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