"Richie! Dress like a human sometime! Barf me out!"

I can't even touch my brother in his dirty clothes, but he's already stained the side of my prom outfit with something brown and lime scented. Richie is still trying to push himself inside my room while I'm trying to push him out.

He yells, "Eat my shorts Louise!"

"Go away and disappear!"

I finally get him out of my room and I slam my room door closed. Then there's silence, just like I wished. Wait, do I still have my witch powers?

Richie hits the door, it makes me jump in place. I hear him shriek as he stomps away, "Mom!"

I sigh with relief, it's confirmed, I'm powerless and stuck with my brother for life. But now that's he's gone I can veg out. First things first, I need to take this make-up off and get into my sweats, then I'm going to start reading my books again. No more interruptions, no more fan groups to worry about outside, no one singing or rapping to me - I still can't get over that.

Just when I'm about to walk away from the door, someone knocks on it. Groan, Richie probably. That little stinker must have gotten me into trouble with mom and wants to brag about it; if that's the case, I'm going to hit him with my radio, to make my crime worth the punishment. Another set of knocks.

I open the door. "Listen Richie…"

It's Polly standing there with a clear bag of cassette tapes and snacks, our normal weekend hangout stuff. More importantly she's smiling at me. It takes a moment before I realize my eyes are watering. When I do I wipe the tear that has already slid down my face.

"Good grief, don't have a cow Louise," she says with a grin. I hug her before she changes her mind, before I lose my nerve, before I make things worse. "Ugh! What's on your clothes? It's touching me...it's touching me!"

"I will never forget you ever again. You're my best friend for life and I'm never going to give you up Polly Goldenberg-Cohen." She taps my sides wildly. "What's wrong?"

"Air!"

I look down and I realize I'm smothering her, I release her from my hug and she gasps before breathing normally. "I'm so sorry! I can be such an airhead, you know?"

She jokes, "Hey Miller, do me a favor? Just give me money if you're so sorry, I'm saving up for college." We share a laugh, like we used to.

"Gag me with a spoon," Richie comments snidely, giving his position by the stairs.

"You slime ball! Get out of here!" I watch him run down the stairs.

Polly walks in, casually looking around my room. "Tissue?"

"Oh, to your left, by the bed," I answer.

"Ah." She drops the bags near my bed, takes two tissues and cleans her bare arm, and throws the tissues in my trash bin. She then sits on my bed, looking at me with a smile. "So, you were a witch?"

And a news bomb drops, she knows. I immediately close the door behind me. "Where did you hear that?"

"So that means yes. Plus, your fellow magic user friend and I did a little talking at the prom after you left. Liked how you put a spell over the school."

"It was just a little one." I sit next to her on the bed. "I gave her my necklace and my powers with it."

"Still, a most popular girl in school spell?"

I can't help but grin. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"It was righteous, I mean I get it. And your friend helped me realize you didn't put that or any other spell on me. So, that was awesome."

I don't want to tell her about that one time I did put a spell on her, involving a boombox and a rap battle with her boy crush; a little friendly push. "No spells on you."

"Yeah, but, what you could have made me taller or more beautiful." She takes a moment. "I guess I'm asking, why didn't you? You know?"

My heart breaks for her, I never even thought about that to do for her, then I realize why and smile. "Because I don't mess with perfection."

Polly's eyes water as she smiles. "Good answer." We hug briefly.

"You two are such barf bags!" Richie yells behind my door.

"Leave us alone Richie!" I yell.

"He's so bogus," Polly comments. "Wait? What did he hear?"

"Mom! Louise and Polly are making out!" He laughs before I hear him loudly run away.

"Yeah, he's back to normal. Speaking of which, what happened at the prom?"

Polly's eyes widen. "It was so rad! Everyone still looked so angry at you until your friend…"

"Madame Serena," I say with a grin.

"Yeah, that's so weird. Anyways, yes, Madame Serena waved her hand and everyone seemed to be fine, well, back to their social statuses."

"Well that's good."

"But listen to this, Brad broke up with Randa." I forgot how to breathe until she asks, "Did you hear what I said?"

"How...why?"

"Accordingly to Madame Serena, there's a good chance someone slightly remembers their experiences when under a spell, like a dream or nightmare. It all depends if the experience was really good or horrible." She grins at me, "Was it a really-good-experience, Louise?" She laughs.

"Shut up Polly!" I briefly cover my face in embarrassment, I can almost feel it getting flushed. "Then what?"

Strangely, Polly's smile lessens as she takes out from her pocket a piece of paper with a telephone number. "He wants you to call him."

As she hands it to me, I can't help but stare at it. It can't be real, but it is as I see the name of all names above the number: Brad.

"He wants me? But Randa is so bodacious."

"She's not you. Call him, it's ok." She gets my attention as she starts to get up, reaching for the bags.

I roll my eyes and stop her by holding her hands. When she looks back at me, I smile widely. "I'll call him tomorrow. Tonight, Polly Goldenberg-Cohen, we have a lot of singing, a lot of snacking, and a lot of talking to play catching up to. How does that sound?"

She wraps her little hands around mine and her nose sniffles. "Magical." She playfully flutters her eyes at me.

"Shut up Polly!"

We share a laugh again, several more through that night, and countless more throughout our lives. Because true friendship, like love and magic, will always find you again.