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And with a final nasty smirk, he moved past me and swaggered back into his apartment.
44
I didn’t know who to tell.
I didn’t like to tell Bran and Lachlan, because I was afraid they might want to go beat Groperson up, which would only land us all in hot water and get my mom kicked out immediately. And I hated to tell the rest of the coven because I was sure they would all want to chip in and try to pay the rent. Which was nice, but I had my pride—mom and I had always been able to make it on our own without charity from anyone so far. I didn’t want to start asking for handouts now—especially not from friends.
I didn’t want to tell my mom either—she didn’t need any more to worry about on her plate at the moment and besides, this was my fault. Not completely, because Groperson had snatched the magical coin I had somehow conjured up out of a handful of cigarette butts. But still, it was my magic, I had to reluctantly admit—though it was really weird to think of myself as having magic—that had started the whole debacle in the first place. So that made it my fault and I was going to have to fix it.
I worried all day and somehow managed to gnaw several more nails into a ragged mess as I worked the problem in my mind. By this time my manicure was a lost cause but I was so upset—and trying so hard not to show it—that I barely even cared.
In the end, I went back to the I Scream diner that evening and asked Joey if I could work every night that week. I knew how much my mom had saved towards the rent and how much she had in savings—she never kept things like that from me—and I reasoned that if I made really good tips, I might be able to make up the rest. Of course, it would completely clean out our meager bank account and take all of the tiny emergency fund we’d managed to save over the years, but I didn’t see any other choice.
I just had to work as hard as I could and hope for the best.
Joey looked stunned when he saw me, his eyes opening wide as he took me in.
“Emma?” he asked, his voice slightly hoarse. “Is that really you?”
“Of course it’s me—I just dyed my hair and got contacts!” I put a hand to my flowing raven hair self-consciously.
The worst thing about my new, dazzling beauty, was how it affected the people who had already known me, I thought. The old plain-Jane Emma was gone for good but now they treated me differently, just because I was pretty.
It made me feel super awkward and uncomfortable.
I explained that I needed extra shifts but after a moment, I realized Joey wasn’t listening.
“Joey?” I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Hello?”
“Oh, uh, sorry Emma.” He shook his head. “Just…can’t get over how you grew up all of a sudden. The new look is really working for you.”
“Uh, thanks.” I felt intensely uncomfortable. Joey had always treated me like a kid before—a competent kid who was capable of waitressing—but a kid just the same. Now he was looking at me like I was some movie star who had descended on his humble diner and decided to grace him with their presence.
“So…what do you need again?” he asked me, blinking.
“I asked if I can pick up some extra shifts,” I said. “Like maybe every night this week? I’m really sorry but we need the money.”
“Sure, Emma.” He nodded eagerly, though in the past he would have asked questions about how it would affect my schoolwork. “Whatever you need.”
“Well…thanks.” I began edging my way out the door, uncomfortably aware that his eyes were still glued to my new hair and body. “I guess I’ll see you, uh, tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, that’ll be just fine.” He nodded again. There was a weird, almost hypnotized look in his eyes that made me wish desperately that I still looked like my old self.
But there was no help for it—the old Emma Plunkett was gone and the new girl was here to stay, I reminded myself unhappily, as I finally let myself out of the diner’s swinging glass door.
“What’s wrong, Emma? You look upset,” Bran remarked when he caught a look at my face.
“Yes, little one—what happened?” Lachlan frowned protectively. “Did the owner give you problems?”
I sighed deeply, debating on how much to tell them. The two of them had insisted on coming with me to the diner—they didn’t like the idea of me going alone, even though I had been going back and forth from Nocturne Academy, to my house, to the I Scream for years. It was kind of like having two over-protective intensely gorgeous bodyguards everywhere I went and I might have gotten annoyed except I really did like having them both near me.
