Chapter Eight

The Night that Ended Veda's Childhood

Salinger

Various people wonder why I chose Veda, after what she did on graduation night. They said I should have given up on her because she was incurably selfish. The problem was, I researched Veda before I chose her. I interviewed everyone who knew her: her cousins, her pupils, her teachers, and her relatives. Everyone had something unique to say about her. To me, graduation night seemed normal, so I had no interest in condemning her.

To contrast her foul reputation, I learned quite a few interesting things from her cousins before I announced my intentions toward her.

Fair Isle reported, “I know she seems snotty, but she's not. When I told her I wanted to get these piercings, she wouldn't let me go to a salon to get them done. She took me back to her house and did all of them herself. Not all on the same day, but every time I wanted a new one, she took care of it for me. Saved me a fortune and I've never once got an infection. I've also never gone shopping for new rings. I tell her what I want and she finds it or makes it for me. She doesn't even like piercings and she doesn't think they look good on me, but she always gets me exactly what I want.”

Clementine explained, “More than any of the other girls, Veda is completely aware that I am the queen of the pack. When I start talking, she always quiets down and listens. She even tells the other cousins to stuff it so she can hear what I have to say. She knows how to listen and follow directions when I give them. That's what I like about her. Plus, I've never had to beat her.”

When I first got to Edmonton, Pearl said a few things before she and Antony became a couple. “Honestly, I've never liked her. She is always hounding me to be different. She's worse than my mother and all my aunts combined. I'm supposed to choose a color and not wear stripes. I can't pick anything that pleases her. She doesn't understand how I feel. She has boys falling at her feet, especially Antony, and I don't think a guy has ever looked at me. I don't think choosing a color would make anyone notice me. She's seventeen, but she’s like an old hag who has already had her life so she doesn't understand what it's like to be at the beginning and to be uncertain.”

What Pearl said about her after Veda rejected Antony was different. “Honestly, I've always liked her. She has always encouraged me to be the best I could be. She's a much brighter influence than my mother and aunts. She told me I should choose a color and now that I have, so many wonderful things have fallen into place. It all started when Antony asked me to be his date for graduation, and it feels like we are falling in love, and we were always meant to be together. Veda's like a fairy godmother who was just waiting for the right moment to grant my wish. Now I get to go to the ball too!”

I did not point out the contradiction.

Intarsia’s account was different. “Veda and I are not close, but I think I’m her best friend. She does not make friends easily. She knows how to talk to people because she is so proper, but it isn't real. Like a dead person, she’s numb, because she doesn't feel anything for anybody. She’s relentless in her desire to remain aloof and distanced from everyone. It’s like she’s afraid to take part in real life. I wish I knew how to wake her up to how great real life is. I had hoped Antony would make better strides with her, but I think he was doomed to failure from the start because he looks so much like her. As much as I would like to help, I can't. She has to grow up herself.”

When I looked over the interviews, Fair Isle’s was the most intriguing. I didn't notice it until she mentioned Veda's involvement and then it was too obvious. None of Fair Isle's piercings were real. Veda had tricked her, and everyone who saw her, into believing they were real. I wasn’t sure why she cared. It probably had something to do with the goals she had for Fair Isle. One of them was to save her cousin from turning herself into a pincushion.

What Clementine said about her was interesting too. It meant that Veda wasn't a fool, which the other girls obviously were. She saw Clementine for who she truly was.

Veda would only meet with me twice a week, which I learned was exceedingly generous of her. She was a busy person. She had a million little projects on the go for a million different people. No wonder she was pleased with lunches and candlelit dinners because she was always doing things for other people and it was a rare occasion that someone did something for her.

On the night of the graduation ceremony, I rode in a limo with Intarsia to the school for the opening banquet. She had a table with her mother, Fair Isle, her mother, Clementine, Pearl, Antony, and his parents. We filled the table.

“Where's Veda?” I asked my red-lipped date. Veda was dead right about the red lipstick. If I hadn't been so enchanted with Veda, I would have chosen Intarsia solely for those red lips. She looked stunning. Her red hair fell in fragile curls down to her waist. Her green gown was a lighter color of green than what she normally wore and the lightness did her a favor. On top of all of that, she had the sweetest heart out of all the other girls. If there was an opening for 'The Good Witch of the South', I was certain she would have been an excellent candidate. One thing was certain, I would have to be sure not to burn that bridge if things didn't work out with Veda.

“Veda said she didn't want to come to the banquet,” Fair Isle snorted.

When we moved to the gym for the speeches and diplomas, I sat in the audience with the parents, Clementine, and Pearl. In the sea of black graduation gowns, I couldn't spot Veda. Where was she? When they called her name and she got up to accept her diploma, there was nothing to see. I couldn't even swear it was her who accepted the rolled-up paper. It was the same during the graduation march, where all the graduates got dressed up in their finery and paraded around the gym. She should have been there, but I didn't see her. Was this her magic or had she skipped?

After the babble that passed for speeches was over, there were photographs, snapshots, and selfies. I went to find the area where I was meant to congratulate her. She was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Antony! Have you seen Veda?”

His expression read, 'Who's Veda?' He was so caught up in Little Miss Pearl that he hardly remembered his other cousin existed.

After the pictures, there was a dance in a different gym down the hall. I told Intarsia I would be back for her. She was very busy getting pictures taken. I marched off to the dance. Lots of the other guys who were tired of being photographed were going. Would Veda have missed her own graduation just to get rid of me? I agreed with her that Intarsia was enticing, but that wasn't enough to change my mind and I was anxious to tell Veda nothing had changed how I felt.

I knocked open the door with my shoulder and entered the gym. It was already half full of graduates and their dates. I felt stupid going in alone. I should have waited for Intarsia. I turned to get her when something caught my eye. Surrounded by a tight knot of teenage boys in tuxedos was a girl in a white dress. I wouldn't normally have looked, but something triggered my memory at the sight of this girl's dress. Veda said her dress was like the stars shining during the day. That was what this girl looked like. I took two steps to get a closer look. Certainly, Veda would have worn black to her graduation. She wore black every other day.

The guys were packed too closely around her for me to see her. I wouldn’t have gotten a view if a few angry girls hadn't hauled their dates away bodily. With the space cleared, it was easy to see Veda standing in the midst of them.

She looked like a bride who had forgotten her veil. Sensational. Beauty everywhere. But why? Why didn't she throw on a black dress like she did every other day and let Pearl and Intarsia outshine her? Later, that was why everyone said she was cruel and selfish because her beauty left everything else behind her. I stared and tried to discern if she was using some form of glamor. I knew she used some in her hair every single day, and grad was no exception. It was there, but was there more? I couldn't tell, which bothered me. I could always tell.

Tearing my eyes from her, I met Intarsia and the rest of them at the door as they came in.

It took two minutes for the cousins to notice her and as soon as one of them did, they quickly formed a knot.

“How could she do this?” Fair Isle hissed.

“I don't know. Veda always took her color vow very seriously. I've never known her to break it,” Intarsia muttered.

“She did it to make the rest of us look bad,” Fair Isle persisted.

Antony was staring at her the way he had been staring at Pearl no less than a minute ago. Pearl stuck her chin in the air, hooked her arm around Antony, and led him firmly from the gym. Mystified, he didn't resist. Hopefully, Pearl knew a charm to undo the damage that had been done. Poor Pearl. The boy she liked was so shallow he could only think about appearances.

I felt shallow myself. As beautiful as Intarsia had seemed moments ago, the effect of her red lips had completely worn off.

What was Veda thinking? Even girls were swarming her. I could hear their shrieks of, “Where have you been hiding all these years?”

“I didn't even know you were pretty!”

“What's your secret? Did you have a last-minute makeover?”

Meanwhile, in the coven of witches, Clementine had started talking. “You boneheads! It's because she's never going to get married. She's wearing a white dress because it's her only chance to wear a white ball gown.”

“As if!” Fair Isle balked like she didn't believe what she was hearing.

Clementine bonked her on the head with the heel of her hand. “Think about it! How many occasions arise in a woman's life when she gets to wear a dress like that? Only her high school graduation and her wedding. Veda swears she is not getting married, ever, so this is her last chance.”

Fair Isle's face flattened with dismay before her eyebrows lifted and her skepticism returned. “That sounds like the biggest load of crap I have ever heard.”

“I'm not saying I believe it either. I'm saying that's what she said when I saw her in the bathroom after the march. She did this for Salinger's benefit, so he wouldn't forget during all this that he's hers.”

Then all three girls stopped speaking and turned to me.

“Well, are you enchanted?” Fair Isle demanded.

I delayed answering by glancing at Veda across the floor.

“She's not dressed like that for me,” I answered, turning directly to Fair Isle. “This is her last hurrah before she joins the convent she's making for herself. She just wants to show the students that she's not as boring as she's always seemed. That's all.”

“And you are unaffected?” Fair Isle had the nerve to ask.

“She doesn't want me to be affected, which is why she's been careful to avoid me all night.”

“But are you?”

“She should have tried harder to avoid me,” I admitted, tasting a drop of the poison they felt. I swallowed and my mouth filled with saliva. I had never wanted anything more.

Clementine laughed. She clearly thought I was an idiot, while Intarsia was disappointed, and Fair Isle was angry.

The black-haired pixie put her hands angrily on her hips. “She gets everything. I think it's time we informed her of our decision.”

Intarsia grabbed her cousin’s bare shoulder. “Stop it. There are five of us. We might get another member to make a coven of six. We shouldn't be too hasty. Remember what happened to June?”

“No. Now is the perfect time.” Fair Isle shook off Intarsia’s hand. “Have you had any brainy ideas as to where we could get that sixth member? All the people we interview want a third person. They're twins and searching for one more member so they can have three. It's time she knew.”

Clementine rolled her eyes and mouthed, “This is so stupid.”

Fair Isle plowed her way across the dance floor.

Arriving at Veda’s side, she delivered her devastating news with her serpent’s tongue. Veda nodded and went straight back to flirting with her admirers like what Fair Isle said meant nothing to her.

It was obvious. She was never planning on joining their coven in the first place.

Needless to say, her bored response made Fair Isle crazy. She came back and deliberately led Clementine and Intarsia away from me, so I wouldn’t see her toxic meltdown. I wished it wasn't so obvious that I was the piece of meat they were fighting over.