school. Plan B means the zits live on and thereâs no chance I will go anywhere. Iâll have to pretend Iâm sick, but I can do that.
Back to Plan A. The largest question is, do I wear the purple hat to school or not? If I go hatless and show everyone (Kyle) that my forehead is clear, theyâll wonder what they saw in room 101. I could say the zits were fake, makeup artistry to get out of detention. Thatâs quite good.
But if I wear the hat again, people will probably point and whisper stuff like, âDo you know why sheâs wearing that? Itâs cuzsheâs hiding a cluster of volcanic zits.â And at that point, it would be fun to whip off the hat and be all cool. The rumor spreaders would look like idiots, wouldnât they? It would serve them right. Yes, Iâll definitely wear the hat.
All at once, Iâm super tired. Small wonder, considering the day Iâve had. Iâm so tired, I canât even bring myself to log in to Facebook. Itâs all I can do to brush my teeth before I crash into bed.
chapter eleven
Itâs like magick! No, itâs not
like
magick, it
is
magick. I am zit free! No matter which way I tilt my head, I canât see anything marring my perfect forehead.
I get dressed as fast as I can. I canât wait to get to school. Because if Iâm zitless, then that must mean the revenge spell worked. And I get to watch Rachelâs world fall apart. Yes!
No.
Huh?
I try that thought again. I get to watch Rachel suffer the way she made me suffer. Eeeuw. What the heck? I should be happy about getting what I want, shouldnât I? Thatâs how itâs supposed to work. I wonder if the zits have reversed and poisoned my brain? And then I get another thought, a brand new one. And itâs one I should have had a lot sooner.
Iâm going to feel the pain of others.
Omigod. What have I done? This is so
not
good. I grab my purse, slap the purple hat on my head and bolt out the front door. I go next door, stand on the lawn and yell, âStellaaaaa! I need to talk to you!â
And Stella comes out of her house. Sheâs wearing neon pink pants with a lemon yellow top and bright red shoes. To top it off, sheâs wearing the hat her baba wore yesterday, the one with bunches of plants sticking out everywhere. Iâm so stunned that I forget what I was going to say.
âHi, Lizzie,â Stella says. âWhatâs wrong?â
âUm,â I say. What if I tell her that sheâs totally destroyed my life and I hate her? I canât do it. Her feelings would be hurt. So I say, âMy zits are gone.â
She grins. âGood for you, Lizzie. You did it!â
We start walking toward the school, and I wonder what people will think seeing us together, but I canât tell Stella to pretend she doesnât know me, can I?
So I try to tell her my problem. âStella, thereâs a glitch in the revenge spell. Itâs like this. I donât want to see Rachel get hurt. I mean I do, that was the whole point, but now I feel sorry for her.â
Stella gives me a sideways look. âUh-oh. We, uh, didnât think about that, did we?â
âI know
I
didnât!â I say. âI was sure I couldnât give her something good that I didnât already have. I mean, I think Iâve always cared about other people. Iâm sure I did. But this isnât like that. And itâs really scary because I got a triple whammy, right? Now I canât even
think
about other people getting hurt. It makes my stomach feel icky.â
âReally?â Stella asks.
âReally. So weâre going to have to get your baba to fix this too, okay?â
Stella frowns. âI donât know if sheâll fix this one.â
âWhy not?â I ask.
âBecause...â
Before Stella can finish what she was saying, a kid on a bike zooms past and grabs her hat.
Stella yells, âHey!â But the kid
Morag Joss
Sally O'Brien
Jessica Fletcher
Stephanie Rowe
James Hadley Chase
Humans (v1.1)
Lola Carson
Sherry Gammon
Sam Crescent
Kit Tunstall, R.E. Saxton