Chapter 10

The doorbell rang and Agnes rolled over on her bed, refusing to get up and

answer it. It was nearly noon and normally she would be up by this time. But

today...there was nothing to get up for. Besides, she'd been up late last night,

storming around and denying all of Colin's accusations under her breath until

her mother had told her that she could go talk to herself in her bedroom, where

she'd be a lot less annoying.

The doorbell rang again. Then again. Then the person simply leaned against

it, causing the entire house to echo with the irritating high-pitched ring.

"Alright already!" Agnes yelled, throwing off the covers. She ran

downstairs and threw open the door seconds later and, half expecting to see him

there, she yelled, "WHAT?" and her friend Emily jumped back in surprise, letting

go of the doorbell. An awkward silence followed and Agnes couldn't help but wish

the bell would start buzzing again. "Um," Emily regarded Agnes' attire

critically. "Did I wake you?"

Agnes sighed and moved out of the doorway. "Come on in," Agnes said,

moving automatically into the kitchen and put on the kettle for tea. "I'm sorry,

about that, Emily, it's just that I have had an-a-rough couple of days and-"

"Does this have anything to do with the incredibly large number of

messages you left on our answering machine?" Emily interrupted.

Crash! Agnes dropped the teacup she'd been holding in surprise. Blast it!

The messages! Agnes had forgotten all about those. "Um, yeah," Agnes answered,

looking down at the broken ceramic on the floor. "Where were you?"

"On our holiday," Emily told her while she passed over the broom. "My

parents rented a cottage on the Isle of Wright for a few days, I told you about

that, remember?"

"It must have slipped my mind," she said dryly and dumped the shards into

the trash. "My mum's going to kill me if she finds out I broke another cup," she

said mournfully.

Emily shrugged. "Just take out the trash before she gets home. Then she

won't know about the cup and will be happy with you that you took out the

trash."

"Now there's an idea. Tea?"

"No thanks."

"If you're sure," Agnes poured the tea into her own cup and looked up to

see Emily staring at her oddly. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just that I thought you were going to go visit your dad in

Edinburgh for a while."

"Oh. That." Agnes felt her moodiness increase. "Yeah, I was but he

cancelled last minute. Said he hade to work overtime on some project."

"Goodness, Agnes, if he can't get his act together, you'll go the whole

holiday without seeing him."

"I know," Agnes said, "and, if you ask me, it's just as well. Mum's pretty

upset about it though." Emily raised her brow in a question and Agnes continued.

"She yelled at him for nearly an hour. Agnes raised her voice in imitation of

her mothers'. "'She needs a father-figure in her life, not just a check every

month' and so on, so forth."

"Ugh. I'm glad my parents aren't divorced."

"Humph. With my parents it's better they are. Sometimes I wish I could

divorce myself from them. If dad doesn't want to see me, that's fine: I don't

want to see him," Agnes' voice filed with bitterness and Emily wisely changed

the topic.

"So...what was this terribly exciting news you had to leave ten messages

about?"

Agnes opened her mouth to answer then paused. Colin had told her not to

tell anyone about the wizarding world, not even her best friend, and she had

promised. But...she looked at Emily and felt temptation fill her chest. It would

be the perfect way to get back at Colin, he'd regret ever treating her that way!

Besides, it wasn't like Emily hadn't yearned for some confirmation that even

fantasy novels had a bit of basis in fact, just like Agnes had. She looked at

Emily and bit her lip, letting the devil and the angel fight it out. But,

finally, Agnes knew she couldn't. It wouldn't be right, no matter how rude Colin

had been to her, she couldn't do it. "Nothing," she said firmly.

Emily eyed her with suspicion. "For 'nothing,' it certainly took you a

while to come up with it. Come on, you're hiding something!" She leaned in

across the table. "Is it about a boy?"

"Er...yes," Agnes said slowly. Boys were central figures in the story.

"I knew it!" Emily jumped up from her chair and clapped her hands together

loudly, a big grin spreading across her face. "Who is he? Do I know him? What's

he like?"

Emily's reaction caught Agnes completely off guard. "Well, first of all,

he's stuck up and thinks I'm annoying and we had a bit of an argument

yesterday," Agnes replied irritably.

"Aww, a lovers' quarrel!" Emily gushed. Agnes spit her tea out across the

table.

"Excuse me? Lovers? Quarrel? Hold on just one second! You have the

completely wrong idea!"

"Yeah, right! Where'd you meet? At some convention or something? I bet

he's into all that stuff too, right?"

Agnes paused. "Actually, yes, he is, but not in the way you'd think..."

But Emily went on. "I knew it! Any bloke would have to be to get your

attention!" Emily had always been more romantically inclined than Agnes and,

seeing how she was about to explode from Agnes' imaginary love life, she forgot

her decision to keep mum about the subject. "He has not caught my attention, it

was merely a coincidence we met at all, I hope never to see him again and-"

But Emily wasn't listening. Her eyes had lit up with a fire Agnes knew all

too well. "Such chemistry! I can see sparks are already flying! How long have

you known him?"

Agnes had never ever wished her friend would shut up more in her life.