Chapter Seven

"No, no, everything's fine. I've been doing everything the way you told me."

I paused outside the doorway of my room. It was late afternoon, and I was on my way back from my History of the Realms seminar, looking forward to Miriam's and my standing date at the Magic Teacup. (History of the Realms is so boring, I always needed a little pick-me-up afterwards.) Normally, the sound of her on a phone call wouldn't send up any red flags – she often called home or to her old friends back on Isis – but something about this felt different. Her voice was whispery, almost hesitant, and rushed, like she wanted the conversation to be over quickly before anyone discovered her.

Does Miriam have a boyfriend? was my first thought. She'd been at Alfea for a number of months now, but not once had I ever seen her with a guy. Then again, how would she have time to meet someone – and without any of us knowing? And why would she want to keep it a secret?

My interest peaked, I remained hidden in the corner, angling my ear towards the door to hear better.

"No, there aren't any problems," she continued. A pause, and then, "I'm doing the best that I can! It has to seem natural, remember?" More points towards her having a secret boyfriend, I thought.

Whoever was on the other line spoke for quite a long time. I almost thought she'd disconnected the call, until I heard her exasperated voice exclaim, "What do you want from me here, Taylor?"

My blood turned to ice in my veins.

Taylor.

Taylor?

TAYLOR?

Calm down, Alyssa, I told myself. Taylor is a popular name for both girls and boys. This could easily be nothing – in fact, it most likely is nothing. You've been spending too much time thinking about Lola's crackpot theories. Miriam is not in cahoots with Taylor. Not every roommate you have is going to try to murder you.

Still, I couldn't help the shivers that raced down my spine. A picture of Taylor's smug, smirking face appeared in my mind, and I shuddered almost violently, trying to get rid of it.

"I'm not sure I can do this anymore," Miriam continued. Her voice was laced with what sounded a lot like regret. A pang of guilt hit me square in the chest for eavesdropping, and I decided to finally make my presence known.

"Hey, hey, roomie! Ready for some caffeine and sugar?" I flounced into the room and dropped my bag at the foot of my bed, acting like nothing at all was out of the ordinary.

Miriam's eyes flew open and her cheeks flushed pink. "I've gotta go now. Talk to you later," she half-whispered into the phone, closing it quickly and jamming it into the bottom of her denim shoulder bag, which lay open on her bed.

"Who was that?" I asked lightly, trying to keep any hint of accusation out of my voice.

"Oh… no one, really," she insisted, her long blond curls sliding in front of her face, covering it from view.

"Was it a boy?" I sing-song teased, desperate to erase the ugly thoughts of Taylor creeping into my mind.

If possible, she blushed even harder. "No! It was… just a friend from back home." I sighed, finally deciding not to push her anymore, and flopped backwards onto my bed, closing my eyes.

"So, are we going? Or do you just want to sleep?"

I opened my eyes and looked up at her. "You know what, I think that lecture really did me in for the afternoon. I'm just gonna take a nap before dinner." The lie tasted bitter on my tongue, which suddenly felt three sizes too big for my mouth.

Her face fell. "Oh… okay. See you at dinner, then." I felt awful, watching her walk away, and wished more than anything that I hadn't overheard her conversation. All it had done was turn me into a paranoid, jumpy mess of nerves.

There was a small mountain of homework waiting in my bag, but I lacked the energy to get up and grab it from the foot of my bed. Instead, I lolled back and closed my eyes, not realizing just how tired I was. Maybe what I said to Miriam won't be a lie…

Just as I could feel myself hovering on the periphery of sleep, an ear-splitting squeal jolted me awake. Placing the siren-like wail to my cell phone, I fumbled blindly on my nightstand until I finally located the device in question.

"Hello?"

"Alyssa, sweetie, I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time. Were you sleeping?"

"Mom!" I quickly cleared my throat and blinked rapidly, trying to erase any traces of sleepiness. "No, I just got back from my History of the Realms seminar."

Mom laughed. "Say no more. I understand. I always hated that class too. But wait – don't you and Miriam usually go to the Magic Teacup after History of the Realms?"

I bit my bottom lip. After the trauma Taylor had caused our family, there was no way I was going to tell my mom what I'd just heard. "I… had a ton of homework." Which was technically true, but not the real reason why I'd begged off Magic Teacup.

"Well, then, I won't keep you from your studies for too long. So I was thinking the other night, about how your birthday is coming up, and that I really want to make it special for you this year. I never got too many great birthdays growing up, and God only knows your father doesn't know how to throw a decent party." We both chuckled, and I flashed back to the only time I could remember my dad throwing me a birthday party. (Let's just say that although my dad might be one of the most powerful wizards in the magic dimension, he should not be allowed to use cooking spells. Period.) "And now that we're back in the palace, and we've got the whole place all cleaned up and looking perfect, I want to throw a big party, to really break it in. So I was thinking… how would you like a Sweet Sixteen princess ball?"

My jaw dropped. "That sounds amazing!"

Mom laughed. "I thought you'd like that. There's still a good couple months until your birthday, so we can do most of the planning when you're home for break, but if you could get me an invitations list in the next week or so, that would be ideal. And it's never too soon to start looking for dresses! There are some amazing shops in Magix – and it's not like you have to worry about the price, with Lola."

My face soured at the mention of Lola – we were still on rocky terms, even though it had now been several weeks – but I refused to let my mom know. "Thank you for this, Mom. I mean it. This is… incredible."

"You deserve it, Alyssa. After everything we've put you through, directly or not…" Her voice trailed off, and I knew that both of us were thinking about Taylor. Even though it had been her bounce-back spell that ultimately did the damage, the spell she'd bounced off had been caused by my parents.

I suddenly wished I was sitting next to my mom, so I could squeeze her hand and remind her that none of this was her fault. I settled for saying, "You're the best."

Through the phone, I heard an echo of my dad's voice, sounding very far away. "Who are you talking to?" he asked.

"Alyssa, our daughter," she spat back, almost angrily. "You don't have a problem with me talking to her, do you?"

"Um, Mom? I'm still here, you know." I hesitated. "Do I want to know what that's about?"

She sighed. "Your father and I are having a bit of a… disagreement, over my wanting to spend time with Sky."

"Can you blame me for not wanting you around that pretty-boy douche-bag? He's single now, and for all I know he's trying to make a move on you." I winced.

"Baltor, not now!" she snapped. I heard him sigh, then what sounded like footsteps.

"Are you and Dad… okay?" I ventured. Sure, things had been a little rocky between them when I went home to visit a few weeks ago, but I figured they'd be back to their normal sickening sweetness in no time. I hadn't even considered the possibility that they wouldn't patch things up. I shuddered at the thought.

Mom hesitated for a long moment, during which sextuplets could've been birthed. "We're… just working out a few issues. We've been in a kind of bubble state ever since I returned, and eventually every bubble has to pop."

"And Sky is holding the pin." Despite the fact that he was Ryan's dad, I couldn't resist that jab.

"Sky may be involved, but he isn't the root of this problem. It's been there for a while; we just always ignored it. Now, young lady, didn't you say you have homework to do?"

I sighed. Amazing how even from millions of miles (and several planets) away, she could still convey the 'strict mom' thing. "Love you, Mom. I'll talk to you later."

"Love you too, sweetie." The phone went dead in my ear.

I chucked it in the direction of my nightstand, not really caring if it made its target or not. My mind was too busy worrying about my parents' marriage.

Please, God, for the love of everything that is good in this world, don't let my parents split up. I need them.

" 'Liss? You there?" Aqua poked her head in the doorway. She wore a tight sea-foam-green tank top and a pair of tiny denim shorts, with her thick curls tied back off her face – her usual uniform.

"Present."

"Where's Miriam?"

"I have no clue." Just hearing her name brought back all those horrible memories of eavesdropping on her phone call, and blowing her off because my mind was jumping to hideous conclusions. If only I could apologize to her somehow… but then I'd have to explain what I was apologizing for.

"Good." She sat down on the foot of my bed, and I propped myself up against my headboard to face her. "I know she's your roommate and all, and that you really like her, but I'm a little suspicious. I just heard her on the phone with someone, and–"

"You were eavesdropping too?"

"So you know what I'm talking about," Aqua continued, like I hadn't just accused her of spying. "Seriously, 'Liss, doesn't that send up any red flags? The secrecy, the hushed voices, the repeated assurances, Taylor?"

"My God, you're as bad as Lola." I rolled my eyes and buried my face in my hands. "What is it with you guys and Miriam? Do you feel threatened because I'm hanging out with someone who isn't one of the five of you?" Somewhere in the back of my mind, a little voice was reminding me that I was being extremely hypocritical, considering how I'd been all about to jump on Miriam not ten minutes earlier, but I silenced it.

"I'm just saying, you can never be too careful."

"Yes, you can," I insisted. "Miriam has been nothing but nice to you all ever since she got here, and all she gets in response is the cold shoulder and rumors that she's going to pull a Taylor. I just don't understand it."

"Your last roommate tried to kill you. I don't understand why you aren't more paranoid."

"Aqua, I don't want to fight with you, so maybe you should just leave now before anything drastic happens," I said slowly, getting up off my bed and walking towards the desk in the corner with my school bag.

"Alyssa, I'm not trying to badmouth Miriam or anything. I know you really like her, and that it bugs you that the rest of us aren't as close with her yet. But I care about you. I don't want to see you get hurt again. Believe me, I only have your best interests in mind when I say this." I turned around to meet her intense brown eyes, seeing only kindness in them. My resolve softened a bit. At least she seemed less anti-Miriam and more concerned for me – unlike Lola.

"I… I'll think about it, Aqua," I said finally.

Her face brightened, and she threw her volleyball-toned arms around my shoulders, squeezing me in a tight hug. I inhaled deeply, taking in her signature scent – a combination of salt water, coconut sunscreen, and kiwi body oil. (It sounds weird, but on Aqua, it smelled just as good as any of the thousand-dollar concoctions in the fancy glass bottles lined up on Lola's vanity.) "I just want you to be safe, 'Liss." With that, she turned around and walked out.

I pulled out a textbook and tried to make sense of the words on the page, but eventually gave up even trying to keep up the pretense. My head was swimming with a virtual information overload – Miriam, the mysterious phone call, my birthday ball, Sky, my parents, Aqua…

And I thought sophomore year was going to be easy compared to last year.

Will I ever get a break?

Author's Note: So? Thoughts?

Before anyone asks, I refuse to answer any queries as to how the Sky-Bloom-Baltor love triangle subplot is going to end up. Period. These lips are zipped. So please don't bug me about it. (That includes you, E!)

Now that I've got that out of the way, I'm interested to see what you all think. Who thinks they've got Miriam figured out? (I can almost guarantee you're wrong, but I said at the very beginning of this story that I won't answer any questions about her.) Are you all excited for Alyssa's princess ball/Sweet Sixteen? (Hint: you should be.) Was the conversation with Aqua alright? (My big worry writing that was making her OOC, but there's really not too much characterization of her so far - hence my problem.)

Next chapter should be up soon.

Au revoir!

- Authoress