Charmed Again (Part 2/3)

Chapter 6

When I got home it was 5pm. Melinda, Patty, Penny and Payton were already here. Pearl was with them too. Wyatt hadn't come back from Magic School yet. Pandora was with her sisters, Melinda and Pearl and Henry.Jr were talking with Chris in the living room.

When I walked in the first people I saw were Henry.Jr and Chris. They were both slumped on the couch. When Henry saw me he looked concerned.

"What happened to your hand?" He asked sitting up.

Chris took a glance at me but then forced himself to look away.

"Long story. Is Melinda upstairs?" I asked trying to ignore Chris' ignorance.

Henry nodded. He saw the discomfort and hatred between me and Chris and casually went back to slouching. I was about to head up the stairs when I stopped.

"What the hell happened to you?" Pandora said almost laughing.

She was walking out from the kitchen and met me at the bottom of the stairs.

"What you said about the more I use my power the more I'll control it, was a load of crap." I bit back waving my hand around.

She started to giggle. Suddenly I heard a stampede of feet above me. When I looked to the stairs Melinda, Payton and Pearl were running down them.

"C'mon c'mon you gotta help us pick an outfit for the dance." Melinda urged flying down the stairs.

She grabbed my hand - the uncut one - and dragged me up the stairs. As I was being pulled I grabbed Pandora's wrist and she came with me. The three girls excitedly hauled me and Pandora up to Melinda's room.

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Melinda sat me on her bed as she pulled out the things she bought and most of her closet. Her walls were white and she had violet colour bed sheets. On her bed rested silver pillows. She had books and CD's on her shelves and had a white dresser with a mirror. On the dresser were photos of her and her family. Some were funny and others were specially framed.

Pandora was looking through Patty and Payton's clothes. As a big sister she had to check if they were appropriate. Penelope was letting Pearl have a look what she bought but she didn't seem happy to.

Melinda pulled out three dresses. A purple dress with silver sequins on the belt around the waist and straps. A white dress with red roses printed on it and had red thin straps. Then a strapless ivy green dress with a black waist belt.

"Which one do you like?" She asked with a smile.

I looked at them all carefully. Whatever one I chose, Pandora would probably choose another one.

"They all look great." I told her not wanting to choose.

Melinda huffed. She obviously liked them all and wanted to look great going to the dance and my non biased opinion wasn't helping her. She bit her lip thinking of something. Her eyebrows lifted up like she had an idea. Then she left her bedroom and skipped downstairs with the dresses in her hands.

I sat on her bed confused. I looked over at Pandora who was deciding what her little sisters were going to wear. Penelope and Pearl seemed to be consulting ideas too.

I heard footsteps. I turned back to the door and Melinda was headed this way. When she got back in her room she closed the door.

"Chris said he likes the red one." She began. "So we're not gonna go with the red one."

She dumped the red floral dress on a chair holding her closet door open. I laughed at her tactic to decide what dress to choose.

"Good choice." I laughed.

Then she was debating between the purple or the green.

"What one do you like?" I asked trying to be helpful.

"I don't know. I like them both. The green one is nice." She consulted.

"What shoes did you want to wear?" I asked.

She put the dresses on the bed and then rummaged through the bags from her shopping spree. She pulled out black doll shoes. Then she went through her closet and brought out a pair of silver/grey sneakers.

"What ones are your favourite and most comfortable to wear?" I asked her.

She immediately lifted up the sneakers.

"There you go. Just wear your sneakers." I told her.

"But they don't go with the green dress." She realised.

"Wear the purple one then." I said with with a little smirk.

Her smile widened and she hugged me. I hugged her back, her small frame wrapped in my arms.

"Thank you Anna. Your the best sister ever." She thanked and skipped over to the other girls.

The comment took me aback. I was shocked that she thought of me as a sister. It touched my deeply that they were making me feel welcome and wanted. I mean I have no parents and I don't have a friend anymore. But Melinda sees me as her sister. Being an only child I know what it's like to long for a sibling. But Melinda has wanted a sister to go shopping with and to talk about girl stuff with. Over the past month I haven't realised that she's not only Wyatt and Chris's little sister. She's mine as well..

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It was starting to get dark and the sun was setting. It was around 6pm and the date I was being set up with was gaining on me.

Piper hadn't come home from the restaurant yet so we all decided to make our own dinner. Spaghetti and meatballs. Melinda had watched her mother make it a lot so she did most of the cooking. The rest of us just played about in the kitchen.

Once it was made most of us sat around the table. Me, Pandora and Henry.Jr ate ours at the counter. Chris had decided to join us too. I sat on one side of the counter and he sat on the other.

I ate in silence with my head down. Chris did the same but quietly talked to Henry. I heard the girls giggle at the table.

"What's so funny?" Henry asked looking at them.

"Nothing." Melinda giggled.

I didn't know what was funny but I knew that the girls had nifty little sensing tricks and could probably feel the tension across the counter.

Pandora was grinning to herself. She was obviously in on the joke. I just huffed to myself and carried on eating.

"Hey Anna after we're done we should go get ready. Glam you up for your date." Pandora announced to everyone.

I suddenly felt a rush of blood flow to my cheeks. The girls were making ooooh noises and whistling. Henry started laughing.

"W-what date?" Chris asked and everybody went quiet.

"One of Caleb's friends." Pandora answered for me before I could say anything.

I glanced up and he returned to his food. Even though he was acting normal I could see his saddened eyes. I shook it off.

If he can go on dates and have meaningless sex with everyone then I'm sure I could. Or not. I'm a virgin so I guess it wouldn't be meaningless would it.

There were footsteps coming from the hallway. A few moments later Wyatt walked through the kitchen door. I lifted up my head and smiled automatically. I waved to him.

"Jesus I leave you for one day and you've got a bandaged hand!" He joked as he came in.

He came over to me and took my bandaged hand.

"Do you want me to heal it?" He asked gently tugging at the material.

"I told you that unless I'm dying your not allowed to heal me." I said pulling my hand away.

Wyatt laughed. Then he quickly picked up a string of spaghetti and put it in his mouth.

"Okay that's enough food for tonight. Anna lets go get you ready for your date." Pandora said standing up.

She grabbed my wrist and practically dragged me out of the kitchen. I looked back and saw the perfect eyes of Chris and Wyatt staring back at me..