Be Careful What You Witch For Read online

  Seeing she was upset, Alex took her hand again and patted it. Well, Olivia thought, worse things could happen. Then she froze. Don’t even go there, she told herself.

  Math class ended, and she allowed herself to be led to Ms. Noyes’s classroom. As before, Alex chose desks for them in the back of the room. Olivia sat there, wondering how long he would remain this devoted to her. Sometimes after her parents had a fight, her father would send Mother flowers or buy her jewelry so he could move back into the house. But that lovey-dovey period never lasted more than... a week? Maybe not even that long. But they drank more than Alex probably did.

  Ms. Noyes entered the room and noticed that everybody had turned their heads to watch Alex and Olivia. When she saw the two of them, she frowned and snapped her fingers. “None of that, young man,” she said. “Keep your hands to yourself, please.”

  Alex was reluctant to release his prize. He squeezed Olivia’s hand harder. “She doesn’t mind,” he said. “She likes it.”

  Calls of “wooo-wooo” erupted through the room, giving Olivia no chance to deny it.

  “Olivia,” Ms. Noyes said. “Move your books up here.” She pointed to a vacant desk in the front row. Alex reluctantly released her hand. “She can’t keep us apart forever,” he said, loud enough for people to hear.

  Olivia felt everyone’s eyes on her as she walked to the front. She thought of the promos for her parents’ movie: The greatest lovers since Antony and Cleopatra. Not as great as the story of Alex and Olivia.

  She plopped herself in the desk Ms. Noyes had pointed out, and resolved that she wouldn’t take her eyes off the floor for the rest of the period. This time, Ms. Noyes called the roll, so she could find out what the actual names of the students were. That settled, she told them to open their textbooks to page forty-three. Olivia did and found another poem there. Ms. Noyes was evidently poem-mad.

  Worse than that, Ms. Noyes announced, “I want everyone to memorize this poem for Friday.”

  Stunned silence. Followed by cries of protest. Olivia was surprised. What a bunch of babies! Memorizing lines wasn’t that hard. Olivia had sometimes sat with a script, checking her mother. If Bedelia Yearwood can memorize a scene, believe me, anybody can.

  Hands went up. When Olivia heard Ms. Noyes say, “Yes, Madison?” she had to break her vow to look only at the floor. Madison’s expression made it seem like she was doing Ms. Noyes a favor. Her voice, however, sounded like a cat meowing:

  “Ms. Noyes, we never memorize at the Knickerbocker.”

  “Never?” Ms. Noyes sounded a little surprised.

  “It’s bad educational practice, my father says. Rote learning.”

  “Is your father a teacher?”

  Madison paused, as if she were astonished that anyone could be ignorant of her father’s position. “He’s the managing partner of Lispenard, Hartings, and Sperber,” she said.

  “That’s a law firm,” said Ms. Noyes.

  Madison merely smirked, as if that were too obvious to mention.

  “Excuse me if I’m missing something,” said Ms. Noyes, “but how does that make him an authority on educational practice?”

  Olivia heard a few gasps around the room. Madison herself blinked several times. Evidently she wasn’t used to being challenged, even by teachers. Or having her father challenged either.

  “Let’s discuss memorization for a moment,” said Ms. Noyes. “Suppose you want to learn a foreign language. Obviously you must memorize a certain amount of vocabulary. It helps if you have experience at memorizing information earlier.”

  Madison evidently considered this too feeble an argument to comment on. However, Muffin raised her hand. Ms. Noyes nodded in her direction.

  “My father says that there’s no need to learn foreign languages because everybody who comes to this country has to learn English,” Muffin said. “We never employ help who don’t speak English.”

  A sad little smile flickered over Ms. Noyes’s face. “But what if you wanted to visit a foreign country?” she asked.

  “Everybody in the good hotels speaks English too,” replied Muffin. “I’ve been all over Europe and that’s true,” she added smugly.

  Ms. Noyes turned and walked toward the teacher’s desk. Evidently she needed something to lean on. “In any case,” she said, “I think that you will find that memorizing great literature—whether a poem, a passage from Shakespeare, or a brief quotation from great prose—will enrich your lives. You’ll just have to take my word for it, as long as I’m the teacher.”

  Olivia felt the atmosphere in the classroom turn hostile. Mutterings spread around the room, but nobody continued to battle against memorization, at least openly.

  However, nobody volunteered any answers either, as Ms. Noyes directed them toward another part of the book and began to discuss ways of writing clearly. Any questions that she asked hung in the air, and if she called on a specific person to answer, all she got was an “I don’t know.” Olivia returned to floor gazing and managed not to be noticed.

  By the time the bell rang, Ms. Noyes was looking fairly frustrated, but she said to Olivia, “Please stay here until the others have left. I’d like to talk to you.”

  Me? Olivia thought. Haven’t I been punished enough?

  Alex made sure he was the last student to leave. In the doorway, he turned and said to Olivia, “I’ll be right outside.” Where you can hear my cries for help if she tries to tear out my fingernails, Olivia thought.

  Ms. Noyes closed the door and sat in the desk next to Olivia, acting like they were friends. “Olivia, I know how it feels to enter a new school and try to fit in.”

  Doesn’t look like you’re doing such a great job of it yourself, Olivia thought. She didn’t reply, however, and Ms. Noyes continued, “But you shouldn’t form attachments just so you can say you have a boyfriend.”

  Olivia frowned. You mean Alex? “I didn’t—” she started to say, but then realized how it must look: the hottest-looking guy in the class shows up on the second day of school with Minnie Mouse attached at the hip. Or anyway, attached at the hand. She must be giving him something, right?

  “You don’t understand,” Olivia managed to say. She wanted to cry, but forced herself not to. Assume control, she reminded herself. What dumb advice that was.

  “I do understand, or at least I want to,” said Ms. Noyes.

  “Alex just... showed up at my locker,” Olivia explained. And of course I attracted him by staring into a crystal ball.

  Ms. Noyes smiled sympathetically at this poor attempt at a lie. “Really, there are nice people here who will want to be your friends if you let them.”

  “Like Madison?” It was kind of a jab at Ms. Noyes, but Olivia couldn’t resist.

  “Madison is popular, that’s very clear,” said Ms. Noyes. “But perhaps it’s better to have one or two really good friends.”

  “Nobody likes the popular people,” said Olivia. Then she laughed as she remembered who had said it first.

  Ms. Noyes looked surprised. “Well, let’s not go that far,” she said.

  Olivia stood up. “I do have friends, Ms. Noyes,” she said. “Not only Alex. I can figure out what to do about him.”

  Clearly doubting this, Ms. Noyes replied, “If you ever want to talk to someone, Olivia, I’m always willing to listen.”

  Olivia smiled and took that as an exit line.

  Chapter Six

  ALEX, SURPRISE, SURPRISE, was waiting outside. “What did she say?” he asked.

  “Nothing.” Olivia had decided to drive him away. It shouldn’t be hard. First, be bossy.

  “We’re going to go get some pizza at Ray’s,” she said.

  He took her hand. “I know where that is.” She tried to pull away, but it was like getting out of a trap. Of course, it was harder because she had to practically run to keep up with him.

  When they reached Ray’s, Dulcimer and Paul were already sitting in a booth, waiting for their order. Alex saw them and headed toward the ot
her side of the restaurant. “Wait,” Olivia said. “I want to sit with them.”

  Alex leaned close to her ear and said, “He’s gay and she’s a freak.”

  “Well, they’re my friends and if you want to be my friend, you’ll sit with them.”

  He hesitated, but only for a moment before shrugging and going along. Olivia shook her head. This might be more difficult than she thought.

  Paul and Dulcimer looked at them with undisguised curiosity as they sat down. Clearly they wanted to ask questions.

  “Go order a pizza,” Olivia told Alex. “With anchovies.”

  “I don’t like anchovies,” he complained. “I like sausage.”

  “But I want anchovies,” Olivia said, trying to sound as bitchy as she could.

  Alex got up and went toward the counter.

  By now Paul and Dulcimer were staring at her, their eyes open wide. “I understand now,” said Paul. “He wanted a dominatrix all along. A shame I couldn’t have figured that out. I love wearing leather.”

  “I’m trying to drive him away,” Olivia whispered.

  “Let me clue you in: it’s not working,” Paul whispered back. He turned to Dulcimer. “Does she look like anybody in the X-Men? That must be what it is.”

  “Never been a fan of the X-Men,” said Dulcimer. “But she better have superpowers to deal with Madison.”

  “What’s Madison got to do with it?” Olivia asked.

  “She and Alex have been going out ever since sixth grade,” Dulcimer said. “Until today, that is.”

  Olivia groaned. “So that’s why she looked so angry.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Paul. “She’ll just spread stories about what a slut you had to be to get Alex to dump her for you.”

  “Really?” Olivia said. “Would anybody believe her?” Of course they would, she thought.

  “Maybe worse things than that. Madison is very creative.”

  “She might put a curse on you,” said Dulcimer in a scary voice.

  “Why do you say that?” Olivia said, a little too loudly. She was thinking of the crystal ball.

  Dulcimer put up her hands. “Chill out. It’s just because she’s such a witch.”

  Just then Alex returned with the pizza. He had bought two of them: one with anchovies for Olivia and another with sausage for himself.

  “How could you get your pizzas so fast?” Paul asked. “We ordered before you did.”

  “I gave the counter guy a tip,” said Alex. He smiled proudly at Olivia, who was irritated nevertheless.

  “If you really liked me, you’d eat the anchovies,” she said. Listening to what she sounded like, Olivia even hated herself. How much of this could Alex stand?

  He just reached out with both hands: he squeezed her hand with one while picking up a piece of pizza (sausage) with the other. Biting into it, he gave her an affectionate look.

  “Don’t smile while you’re chewing,” she said.

  His smile turned into a frown. A respectful frown.

  “Excuse me, Alex,” interrupted Paul. “But why are you putting up with this?”

  Alex looked at him as if he thought the answer was obvious. “If you knew anything about girls,” Alex said, “you’d understand.”

  “Well, since I only have three sisters and have gone to school with girls since I was two years old, I guess I must have missed something,” replied Paul. “Let me in on the secret.”

  “You have to be patient with them,” said Alex. “Because of their circle.”

  The other three at the table exchanged blank stares. Then Dulcimer said, “I think he means... cycle.”

  “Oh, gross,” exploded Olivia. “That’s just soooo insulting. I don’t want to sit with you anymore, Alex. Take your pizza and get out.”

  He looked stricken, as if someone had died. “I’m sorry,” he said. Unable to stop himself, he added, “But it’s true.”

  “Out! Get out!” she shouted.

  Slowly, with his eyes cast down, he stood up and piled all the pieces of the sausage pizza on top of each other. He left the anchovy pieces behind and went outside.

  Dulcimer peered over Olivia’s shoulder. “He’s sitting down on the sidewalk. I think he’s going to wait for you.”

  “What can I do?” Olivia pleaded. “He won’t leave me alone.”

  “Well, you must have done something to start this,” said Paul.

  Olivia sighed. Yes, she had.

  Alex followed them back to the school. For the rest of the afternoon, he continued to sit next to Olivia, except for gym class, which the girls took separately. But there was no peace for her even there. While they were changing into their gym uniforms, Madison came over to Olivia and looked at her. Olivia felt like she was undergoing inspection, as if Madison were trying to see what it was she had missed.

  “How is it that you and Alex have become so... close?” Madison asked. “All of a sudden.”

  There were a thousand answers that Olivia could have given. Some of them might have helped her to make friends with Madison. She could have made fun of Alex, and she and Madison could then have agreed that boys were goofy. But instead, Olivia said, “I cast a magic spell over him.”

  Even though this was pretty close to the truth, Madison took it as sarcasm. She pursed her lips, turned her back, and walked away. Dumb, Olivia said to herself. What a dumb thing to say.

  When they chose up sides for a game of dodgeball, Olivia figured she’d be the last picked. Madison was one of the captains, and the other was a girl named Jessica, who was nearly as popular as Madison. The last two waiting to be chosen were Dulcimer and Olivia, and Dulcimer remarked: “You’re really making it tough for me to be the most unpopular person in the class.”

  In fact, she lost the title right then, when Madison chose her over Olivia.

  The only games Olivia had played much at home were golf and tennis. Dodgeball was different, although Olivia got the hang of it pretty quickly. All you had to do was stay out of the way of the person on the other team who had the ball. At the beginning, there was so much shrieking and chaotic running from one side of the court to the other that dodging the throws wasn’t difficult. Gradually, however, each side lost its players until there were only four left: Olivia and Jessica on one team, and Madison and Muffin on the other.

  Muffin had had to take off her glasses to play the game, but she was quick enough to last this long. It looked to Olivia as if the reason Madison had stayed in the game was that nobody ever tried to hit her with the ball. Naturally Olivia made that her main goal. She flung the ball hard in Madison’s direction, but Madison jumped out of the way. Then it was Madison’s turn to throw and Olivia knew that the ball would be coming right back at her.

  It did, and Madison guessed which way Olivia would jump, so the only thing Olivia could do was drop to the floor. The ball swished overhead, barely missing her. Jessica recovered it and threw it back so quickly that she managed to score a hit on Muffin.

  That left Madison as the only remaining player on that team. She wound up and aimed at Olivia. Madison wasn’t trying to be tricky now. She wanted to hurt and as a result Olivia had no trouble dodging the throw. Now it was her turn again.

  Olivia’s golf teacher had shown her how to create spin on the ball so that it would go right or left if the green wasn’t directly in front of her. She decided that might work with a dodgeball as well. Madison had moved to her right to evade Olivia’s last throw. Maybe she’d do it again. So Olivia put a spin on her throw—and sure enough, it curved right into Madison, just as Madison dodged right.

  Olivia started jumping up and down. She couldn’t help herself. She looked at her teammate, thinking Jessica would want to celebrate too. For a second it seemed like she would. But she caught a look from Madison and turned away from Olivia.

  Wow, thought Olivia. Madison really runs things here. You aren’t even allowed to beat her in games.

  Dulcimer walked over and put her arm around Olivia. “Your team lost,” Olivia
pointed out.

  “My friend won,” said Dulcimer. She stuck out her tongue. By now, Olivia knew it was a friendly gesture.

  The school was so fancy that there were separate shower stalls for each girl in the gym class. Outside each stall, a fluffy white towel was placed on a stool. Olivia deliberately took a long shower, so she wouldn’t have to dress with any of Madison’s friends. When she turned off the water and stepped out, however, she found a note on top of her towel:

  WE DON’T LIKE YOU.

  Olivia knew that was supposed to just destroy her life forever, but the truth was, she didn’t like them very much either. Even so, her eyes filled with angry tears.

  She got back at Madison the only way she could think of. In the last class of the day, she sat next to Alex and was nice to him. It really wasn’t that hard. Just looking at him gave her tingles. She only had to smile occasionally and let him hold her hand. Olivia caught Madison looking angrily in their direction once and that was her reward.

  After school, when Olivia was looking for René’s taxi, Alex came up to her. “Want to come over to my house?” he asked.

  Something warned Olivia not to rush things, although she was tempted. “Well, I have a cab that’s supposed to take me to my aunt’s,” Olivia said.

  “That’s all right,” Alex said. “Our chauffeur will take you home later. He has to do what I say.”

  This was the drawback to giving Alex any encouragement. For a second, Olivia felt like giving in. He was soooo good looking. So she told him, “I promised my aunt I’d go shopping with her.”

  “Oh.” Clearly shopping wasn’t Alex’s favorite thing. “How about tomorrow?”

  “Maybe,” said Olivia. “My aunt’s pretty strict.” It crossed her mind that Alex might want to come over and watch Tilda and her friends run around naked.

  He took it fairly well and went off. René pulled up in the cab. On the way home, Olivia wondered if she’d made a mistake. The day before, she was wishing Alex would just notice her. Today, she turned down an invitation to his house.