Cinderella's Ghost

Chapter 13: Jealousy

Chapter 13

That day, I left the Andersons' house before Mrs Anderson woke up from her nap. I told Helena to help me convey my thanks to Jarell's parents, in which she replied that they would welcome me back anytime. I could feel my eyes prickling with unshed tears, but it was considered minimal compared to what I felt when I caught the look Jarell had given me. It was something gentle and warm while we laughed together in front of his piano. Besides the fact that it was getting late, that was the other reason I wanted to leave, because the rate at which my heart was racing had taken me by surprise, even though it was only for a split second. I didn't know if Jarell had noticed my weird behaviour, but I was happy not knowing. This was the one thing I was sure I would never be curious about. I gave myself a few days, and sure enough, the significance of it was no longer there. For this, I had the twins and Simon to thank.

Their pranks had gotten from bad to worse, and no, I wasn't saying that their pranks were getting more stupid as the days went by. Rather, they were getting more... violent. I thought at first it was just my imagination, but even Jarell had realised it.

On Monday, I found a thumbtack on my chair. I'd sat on it without looking, because yet again, I was late for school. Yowling in pain and shock, all eyes had landed on me in the middle of Ms Reed's English class, and I was so sure if the Simon and the girls weren't able to control their laughter more properly in the future, they were going to get more suspicious. The rest of the week included trying to trip me, even going as far as throwing a pail of soapy water just outside the toilet on Wednesday, in which I let the school's office know immediately (I didn't want anyone to get hurt for my sake). Fortunately, I was able to avoid most of it because Jarell was there to keep a look-out, something he had taken upon himself willingly.

When Thursday arrived, something out of the norm happened.

"What's going on?" I stared at the flower. "Why is it that three petals have turned gold overnight?"

"I thought for sure we're right that one petal represented a day," Jarell said in disbelief, disappointment clear in his voice.

In truth, we had already found something wrong with the petals last week, when two petals had turned gold overnight, making a total of ten gold petals even though only seven days had passed. It was a routine of ours to count the number of petals every morning. Right now, because of these strange three petals, we only had...

"Forty-two petals left," said Jarell, a little panicked.

I sighed. "Well, at least we still see a pattern. We are definitely certain this tells the time, right?"

"Definitely, but only in a more complicated manner."

"If we're correct, there will be four petals turned gold next week, all at once."

"That's about right."

We both stared at the rose solemnly, thinking how little time we had left. The thing was, we had no idea if what we had been doing were correct so far. There was no indication whatsoever. The only thing we knew was to do the best we could.

~*

I already felt myself smiling with anticipation before I stepped into Madam Clar's, excited to see the dogs again. Seeing my expression, Jarell had taken on a smile of his own as well. I didn't know how he managed to do that, considering his cynophobia. Was my smile that contagious?

Lillian and Becca, who were inside the office, were delighted to see me again. There was one other woman in the office as well. Seeing as how she was wearing the shelter's khaki polo t-shirt, I knew at once she was Teri. She had her hair tied into a ponytail, just like Becca. They seemed rather close in age, Teri looking a few years older. A striking feature of hers were the light brown highlights through her jet black hair, which became gold when they were caught in the light. When we were introduced to each other, Teri put out her hand stiffly for a handshake.