Blue Is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz Read Free Book Online Page A

everything she owns, for god's sake--her towels, stationery sweaters, even on her school backpack. But then I realized, who were we to tell her to change?
    Drea's defiance is just one of the things I love about her.
    "Shit," she says, slamming the phone down. "Chad isn't in his room. What am I supposed to think now?" She joins me on the bed and glances down at her chipped, French- manicured toes.
    "I'm sorry for lying about the cards," I say. "But it was only because I was scared."
    "Whatever, I'm too depressed to care about that now" She looks over the spell ingredients sitting between us.
    "Well, you need to care because tonight this spell involves you." I pinch the lip of the clay pot arid pass it three times through the incense smoke. Then I light the candle and place it on the night table. It's purple and white, the product of two parent candles melted together in a sort of wax communion.
    "That's funky"
    "It's symbolic," I explain. "The purple is for insight; the white is for magic. The union of the two symbolizes the union of the images I've been having in my dreams. Can you give me a blank page from your diary?"
    "Why?"
    -Because the pages hold your energy, even the blank ones. And this spell is for you."
    She reaches into her night table drawer for the diary, thumbs to the back, and tears out a page.
    "What's this all about?"
    "I told you we needed to talk."
    The phone rings again. Drea springs to answer it. "Hello? Oh, hi." She turns away from me and resumes her conversation in a whisper.
    I'm assuming she's talking to him again--the guy who called early this morning. And I know it should make me jump for joy, since it's not Chad she's talking to, but it doesn't. I have no idea who this guy is and it's not like Drea to keep her crushes a secret.
    When she finally does hang up, she looks upset. She flops onto her bed, scrunches up her knees, and reaches for the medicinal bar of chocolate. I'm all ready to ask her about it, but the phone rings again. This time I answer it. "Hello?"
    Silence.
    "Give it to me," Drea says.
    I shake my head. "Who is this?"
    Still nothing. I hang up.
    "It was probably for me," Drea says.
    "If he wants to talk to you, why can't he just ask? Who is this guy? And why does he keep pranking us?"
    There's a knock at the door. I get up slowly from the bed, pluck the baseball bat from behind the door, and curl my hand around the knob. "Who is it?" I demand.
    "Who else would it be this late?" says the voice on the other side.
    Amber. I can breathe again.
    "What is wrong with you?" Drea asks.
    I open the door.
    Amber looks at the baseball bat positioned over my shoulder. "Trying out for the team? I'd rethink. Polyester stretch and cleats are so not a good look for you."
    "Amber, have you been getting any pranks? Drea and I have been getting a lot of them lately.-
    "They're not pranks," Drea says.
    "It's probably PJ," Amber says. "He likes to prank people. He used to prank me all the time while we were dating." She sprawls out on Drea's bed and kicks her legs back and forth. "Your bed is so incredibly comfortable compared to mine. Care to trade for tonight?"
    "So you haven't been getting any?" I ask.
    Amber shakes her head. "Did you star-six-nine them?"
    Light dawns. I grab the phone and dial. "Blocked."

    "Figures," Amber says. "PJ always star-six-sevens before he dials. Oldest trick in the book. PJ
    taught it to me. Maybe it is him. I'll ask him tomorrow in French class. Wanna do a love spell?"
    I fish my hand into the trash and pluck out the mangled box with the cookie. "Did you get one of these cookie presents?"
    "Some cookie," Amber says.
    "It kind of had an accident," I say. "It was left on the window ledge."
    "Sweet," Amber says. "I love secret admirers. Who's it for?"
    I take the message from my pocket and hand it to her.
    "I guess the culinary arts club doesn't want me to join," she says. "Who wouldn't want to taste these cookies?" "Shall I start the list?" Drea yawns.
    The phone rings again.