“I already told you I didn't think he was telling the truth,” Tamara sighed.
It occurred to Amber Joshua Nelson's lie was exactly the reason her spell hadn't worked. If his favorite color wasn't black!
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” Amber cursed silently, “That's what screwed up the spell! That's what went wrong.”
“So Josh,” Amber said trying to sound casual, “What's your favorite color?”
“Black,” he said automatically.
“Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap!” was all Amber could think, “He's only paying me so much attention because of the spell! I put his name on the candle and it was his favorite color! What am I going to do?”
“You okay?” Tamara asked.
“Yeah, I'm fine,” Amber lied, “Isn't black the absence of color?”
“Only if you want to get technical about it,” Joshua laughed.
The bell rang signaling it was time to head back to class.
“Are you going to the library tonight?” she asked Joshua as they left the cafeteria.
“No, we still have a few more things to finish up at the new store,” he said.
“That's okay, I'll see you tomorrow then,” she grinned and turned into her sixth period English class.
“See you tomorrow,” Joshua called back.
“Yeah, you will,” Amber thought to herself, “and hopefully by then I know how to break the spell.”
When the final bell of the day sounded Amber didn't go to her locker. She sprinted past Tamara and headed outside.
“Hurry up!” she bounced on the balls of her feet and muttered to herself, “Hurry up, Dad, hurry up! Please, hurry! I need to get to the library and find out how to fix this! Why did I even do that spell? Now, I've got the wrong guy following me around and I think I'm starting to like him! No!”
“What's wrong with you today, BFF?” Tamara asked and Amber started.
“Nothing,” she spat out, trying to avoid having to explain herself to Tamara.
Tamara arched an eyebrow and put her hand on her hip.
“You wouldn't believe me,” Amber sighed, “Even if I told you, Tamara, you wouldn't believe me.”
“What's going on, girl?” Tamara asked.
“Can you come to the library with me after school?” Amber asked, not wanting to be alone when she confronted the librarian.
That old bat knew more than she was letting on and Amber knew it! She had planted the book on the shelf for her to find and left her to it, to screw up her life even more than it already was.
“Is this about Joshua Nelson, Amber?” Tamara asked, “I thought you were finally moving on from all of that.”
“It's not about Joshua Nelson,” Amber sighed, “It's about Joshua Kirk.”
“Hmm…” Tamara said, “Did he ditch you or something?”
“No,” Amber sighed, “We're hanging out tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I want to. I'm not even sure he really wants to hang out with me for...er...the right reasons.”
“Do you think he's going to try to get into your pants or something?” Tamara asked, arching a lined brow.
“NO!” Amber said, feeling her cheeks turn a bright shade of crimson, “No, no. Just no. I don't think he's like that.”