Miyani still could not believe what had happened the night before. Just last week, she had been expecting to continue to guess spells for the rest of her life. Now, she had a teacher. An actual witch as a teacher!

    And boy did she feel stupid for not realizing Ramona was a witch as well sooner when her familiar Whiskers had figured that one out quite fast. The damn cat looked quite smug about it all throughout the rest of the evening too.

    Her workday at the library was a bit of a blur for Miyani. She was mostly just absentmindedly sorting books and placing them back on the correct shelves. She had other things on her mind. Various scenarios kept playing out on what would happen that night. What was Ramona going to say? What was she going to do? It was all rather intimidating.

    When her shift finally ended, Miyani raced home as fast as she could. Once there, she threw a pizza into the oven and gave Whiskers a full tray of food and water. Finally, though she had never really felt the need to do this, she scoured through her closet to look for clothes that weren’t just black on jeans, but unfortunately her tastes in clothes didn’t really go that far. The least she could do was to find a shirt with sleeves long enough to cover her skull tattoo on her upper right arm…

    When Miyani finished her pizza, she eyed Whiskers who was eating her own dinner incredibly slowly, as if to tease Miyani.

    “I’m telling you, Whisk. If you don’t hurry up, you’re leaving hungry,” Miyani snapped.

    Whisker growled in return, but the warning did at least hurry her up.

    Miyani sighed and just sat down on the floor next to Whiskers, stroking her cat’s backside. “I’m sorry… I’m just so nervous about all of this,” she said. She knew she shouldn’t be scared but she couldn’t really help herself. Perhaps it was because of fear. Everything was about to change quite dramatically from this point on after all, and change was pretty scary. Or perhaps she was just scared of what this experienced witch was going to say or do. She had known Ramona for a while already, but could she really trust her? There was no real way of knowing this…

    Just then, Whiskers started purring. Her purring always helped calm Miyani down and today was not going to be an exception.

    “You’re right…” Miyani sighed. “I just gotta pull through.” For indeed, if she didn’t go to Ramona now, she wouldn’t even really know what she’d be missing out on. Plus, she’d continue to be stuck accidentally using magic on everything around her, including her new friend Rose!

    When Whiskers was eventually done eating, Miyani nodded. She packed up all of her remaining chalk and anything else she thought she might need.

    “Let’s go Whisk,” she said.

When she got to the fourth floor, Miyani walked up to the door where Rose lived. Whiskers stood beside her on the mat and just eyed her impatiently.

    “Yeah yeah, calm down,” Miyani said as she rang the bell. Immediately, her nerves started setting in. What if this wasn’t the correct door on this floor after all? Heck, what if she had to be on the fifth floor instead?! Luckily though, as the door opened, Miyani was relieved to find Rose standing there.

    “Good evening!” she said. “Sorry, I’m not done eating yet. Come on in!”

    “Come in?” Miyani asked, as if she’d just been asked something inappropriate. “I don’t think I’ve ever…”

    “... been into somebody else’s house before?” Rose finished.

    “How did you…” Miyani started again.

    “Well, I have been noticing a trend with you, so I just guessed,” Rose chuckled.

    “Ah… fair enough,” Miyani said. “Come on Whisk… Whisk?”

    Unbeknownst to both girls, it appeared that Whiskers had already slid inside and was curiously exploring the apartment.

    “Ugh, that cat…” Miyani sighed as she too entered. The moment she did, she was met by the scent of lavender. It was so different from the smell of herbs she was used to in her own apartment. A few moments later, she noticed that there was indeed a rather big lavender plant resting on a table. The walls were painted pink, there were plushies lying about everywhere and basically everything about this place almost screamed ‘a girl lives here’.

    “It’s very… pink,” Miyani commented as she looked around.

    “A-ah… yeah, I know,” Rose chuckled nervously. “When I moved here, my mom insisted on painting the walls pink… I’ve been meaning to change that but, well… I’m kinda lazy about it.”

    “Well… it’s certainly a lot neater here than in my room,” Miyani chuckled.

    Rose chuckled as well in return as she went back to eating her meal: Spaghetti with meatballs. “Are you nervous?”

    “Very much so,” Miyani groaned while still looking around the room at all the details. The way Rose had organized her desk. How little dust Miyani was able to spot anywhere. The sheer amount of plushies that were all displayed on some of the shelves on the wall. Rose sure was a very organized person alright!

    “What do you think she’s going to say to you?” Rose asked.

    Finally, Miyani turned to her again. “She’s… probably going to give me an earful about how irresponsible I’ve been and that I must be more careful,” she said.

    “With great power comes great responsibility,” Rose said. “I read that in a comic once.”

    Miyani grinned. “It’s true though. So far, magic hasn’t really helped me do much. Sometimes I even find myself wondering about whether this magic is a blessing or a curse.”

    “Now, now. No need to be so dramatic. I’m sure it’s going to be great for you once you’ve learned how to master it,” Rose cheered.

    “Yeah. I guess you’re ri- Whiskers!” Miyani yelled all of a sudden. It appeared that her cat had snuck up on them from the other side of the table and was now extending a paw towards Rose’s spaghetti. Miyani quickly snatched her up, much to the cat’s dissatisfaction, who started thrashing about instantly.

    “Did you not feed her?” Rose laughed.

    “Oh I did! She’s just a spoiled little brat,” Miyani groaned. Finally, Whiskers’ thrashing got to be too much and she broke free, after which she instantly climbed up on the highest point she could reach, which was Rose’s closet. From there, she hissed in Miyani’s direction. Miyani just responded by hissing back.

    Rose bursted out into laughter. “You know, I’m kinda jealous of the bond you two share. I wish I had a pet like that.”

    “Believe me, you don’t want to live with Whiskers,” Miyani chuckled.

    “I’ve never had a pet before. My dad was allergic and by the time I went to live here, I couldn’t afford one, being a student and all,” Rose mused.

    “Hmm… right, I see,” Miyani said. “How about I turn Jennifer into a cat for you?”

    “Because that’d be much more ethical than leaving her a statue!” Rose laughed.

    “Fair enough,” Miyani laughed as well.

    “I guess I could consider Whiskers my part-time pet if we are going to be hanging out more often,” Rose mused.

    Miyani looked at her. Were they going to hang out more often? Well, Miyani did really enjoy spending time with Rose, and though she wasn’t sure yet why Ramona had invited Rose over as well, something told Miyani that was for a good reason. The only thing that was constantly gnawing on Miyani’s mind were worries about it. Why would Rose want to spend time with her? In her own opinion, she hadn’t really done much to deserve such friendship, right? Regardless, Miyani put up a smile. “I’d like that,” she said, a little softer. When she locked eyes with Rose though, she felt her face becoming beet red and she didn’t even really know why. She quickly faced away from Rose again and to Whiskers, who was now calmly licking herself clean on top of the closet. “But you’ll have to negotiate with Whiskers if she accepts too of course!”

    Rose laughed. “Oh of course. I guess I’ll have to make an offering, huh?”

    “Yep! Though… no tuna. She’s allergic,” Miyani commented, trying to calm herself down again somewhat as she turned back to Rose.

    “I’ll keep that in mind,” Rose nodded.

When Rose had finished her food, the two set off right away, with Whiskers hitching a ride on Miyani’s shoulders again. As the elevator reached the bottom floor, Miyani felt her nerves about what was coming up returning again. With Rose and Whiskers beside her, they weren’t as bad as before, but they were still there. It was actually happening now, and it was only made worse when the elevator doors opened. Miyani instantly felt a pit in her stomach build up when she saw Gary Olsen standing there, waiting for the elevator.

    “Oh! Rose! … Hey there,” Gary said, a meek smile plastered on his face.

    “Oh hey, Gary. What’s up?” Rose smiled.

    “Well, you know. Nothing much,” Gary said. Everything about Gary screamed ‘please think I’m cool’ to Miyani, though she had no idea why. What was even stranger though was that he hadn’t flung an insult her way yet. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed her yet? “Uhm… What are you up to?”

    “The two of us are going out for the night,” Rose replied.

    Only now did Gary finally look Miyani’s way, and she could see a look of surprise appearing on his face. “With her?” he asked, as if he could not believe what he was hearing. Truth be told, Miyani couldn’t either…

    “Yep!” Rose nodded.

    “Ah… well, uh… have fun then, you two!” Gary smiled as he slowly inched his way into the elevator while the two girls got out.

    “Thanks, Gary. Have a nice evening,” Rose smiled.

    “I will!” Gary replied as he quickly pressed the button to go up. He looked incredibly uneasy as the doors closed on him. When they finally did, Miyani heard Whiskers soft growling. She, too, did not like the man at all as he had called her fat once…

    While Rose was already walking towards the front door, Miyani still lingered for a few moments. “I can’t believe it,” she said.

    “Can’t believe what?” Rose asked, raising an eyebrow.

    “Gary didn’t insult me,” Miyani mused. Indeed, though she could definitely feel his disdain, he did not make any nasty comments.

    “Insult you? Why would he? He’s always been pretty kind to me,” Rose said.

    “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Gary? Because this Gary never wastes an opportunity to make me feel like crap,” Miyani asked.

    “Wow, for real? Huh… that’s odd,” Rose pondered.

    So Gary could be nice if he wanted to? Well, then why only to Rose? It seemed quite unfair…

    “Anyway, shall we go? Ramona is waiting,” Rose said.

    “Yeah… you’re right,” Miyani replied. She followed Rose out the door and tried forcing Gary out of her thoughts again. There were more important things to worry about after all!

    The rest of their trip was fairly uneventful. Rose talked about how she spent her day studying for an upcoming test and how frustrated she was about some of the learning material as it was using terms that hadn’t been used in class before at all. Miyani just talked about her dull day at the library and that it was all kind of a blur while she was anticipating the evening. Eventually, they arrived at their destination, and Miyani’s stomach really started churning now.

    “Well, this is it,” She said.

    “Alternate Reality? With a name like that, how did you not figure things out?” Rose giggled.

    “Shut up! I’m embarrassed about it enough already,” Miyani snapped, folding her arms.

    “Alright, sorry,” Rose chuckled. “Let’s go in.”

    Upon entering, they saw that Ramona was actually still busy helping out a customer. Could this customer be another witch? Well, there was of course no way of knowing that for sure. What Miyani did spot was a slight smile that curled up on Ramona’s face as she noticed that Miyani and Rose had arrived. This only made Miyani more nervous.

    “Looks like we have to wait,” she muttered.

    “Wow…” Rose mused. It seems that she was eyeing all of the different items lining the shelves and taking in the various different scents that roamed the store. 

    On Miyani’s shoulders, Whiskers seemed to be relaxing quite a bit as she was beginning to kind of hang down like a scarf.

    “Pretty crazy stuff, right?” Miyani said.

    “No kidding. Strange herbs and spices, twigs from exotic trees, oils from flowers I’ve never even heard of,” Rose said as she inspected all of it.

    Indeed, Ramona’s store held so many different items that one could not really find anywhere else. Now that Miyani knew of Ramona’s true identity, she began suspecting that each of these items must have held some magical properties too.

    “Oh, and look at this!” Rose cheered as she eventually found the clothing department. “This is so you. All of these black, goth clothes.”

    “Heh, why do you think I come here so often,” Miyani chuckled.

    “This does actually make me wonder…” Rose pondered.

    “About what?” Miyani asked.

    Rose began giggling like a little girl then. “About what you would look like if you wore something more colourful.”

    “Wha-” Miyani gasped. “Absolutely not! I’ll stick to these clothes, thank you very much.”

    “Oh, come on, Miyani. Just for one day,” Rose cheered.

    “What, so you can laugh at me?” Miyani replied.

    “Well, maybe…” Rose chuckled.

    “Yeah, try that with somebody else,” Miyani said.

    “Come oooon. How about we make a deal? I get to dress you up and you get to dress me up?” Rose proposed.

    Miyani looked at Rose, quite surprised that she’d make that offer. Was that really a fair trade? That said, it would be quite funny to see Rose dressed like a goth. “Alright, you’re on,” she finally said.

    A devious grin appeared on Rose’s face, making Miyani question her life choices. “Great,” she just mused, no doubt already planning an outfit. She then outstretched her hand. “Deal?”

    Carefully, Miyani took it. “Deal.” She then turned to the racks of clothing. “And I’d say it’s your turn right now!”

    “Wait, now?!” Rose gasped.

    “Well, seeing as you are a bit taller than me, I don’t know if my clothes would fit you. Here though, we don’t have to worry about that,” Miyani nodded.

    “I… guess that’s true…” Rose admitted. “Alright then. What have you got planned for me…”

    “Hmm, let’s see…” Miyani mused as she looked through the different set of clothes. There were a lot of different options she could choose between. Black shirts with the logos of metal bands, dresses with lots of black frills, hoodies that some people would wear throughout the year regardless of temperature. Each of these would look pretty funny on Rose alright but that is when Whiskers stepped in. She placed her paw on one piece of clothing. When Miyani checked it, a smile appeared on her face. “Good choice, Whisk,” she said as she picked it out, revealing it to be a rather extravagant black dress with lace draping over the entire exterior, especially down the skirt.

    Rose gasped as she saw the dress. “That’s so… whoah,” she said, frowning.

    Miyani grinned as she handed it over before diving her nose into the shelves again. Whiskers, too, jumped from Miyani’s shoulders and started digging through the clothes as well. “What do you think, Whisk? Would this fit with that dress?” Miyani said as she held up two arm sleeves with spiderweb patterns wrapped around them. Whiskers simply replied by mewling and and then placing her paw on a set of rather big, black boots.

    All the while, Rose was looking more and more scared about what she was being made to wear here. “Is this all necessary?”

    “Hey, we made a deal. You get to do this to me later,” Miyani laughed as she started looking through the jewelry displays, lifting up two sets of earrings. “Are you into skulls or are you more a spider kinda girl?” she asked.

    “Ah! I’ll take the skulls,” Rose yammered.

    “Alright, spiders it is,” Miyani grinned evilly while Whiskers had started batting at a pair of tights that matched the arm sleeves perfectly.

    “Why you… You are SO going to get it when it’s your turn!” Rose snapped. 

    Miyani feared for a moment that she was going too far, but luckily, Rose was still smiling throughout it all. This gave her the green light to hand all of the selected articles over to her friend. “The changing rooms are back there,” she grinned.

    “Oh… right…” Rose sighed. “How do you even put this stuff on? And I call myself a fashion designer…”

    “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Miyani giggled.

    Rose had to giggle as well as she went over to the changing booth, muttering something inaudible to herself.

    When Rose vanished into the booth, Miyani bent over to pet Whiskers. “Well, Whisk? Are you proud of me for making a friend?” she asked.

    Whiskers just mewled and dug her head into Miyani’s hand.

    “I honestly don’t know how I did this. Truth be told, I don’t even really know why she’d want to hang out with me,” Miyani pondered.

    This time, Whiskers reacted by hissing and batting at Miyani’s hand.

    Miyani gasped and frowned at her cat. “I know, I know. I shouldn’t be so hard on myself and all that. Can you really blame me though when all your life you’ve been told that you’re…” She couldn’t even really bring herself to finish that sentence. Sure, she had gotten used to harsh commentary from other people. That she wasn’t like other girls. That she was weird. That she wasn’t deserving of friendship. She’d gotten so used to these comments that she had actually started to believe them. She had expected to remain alone with Whiskers. Heck, she had even started envisioning herself as a wicked witch in the woods far away from society! But now, Rose came in and dashed all of those expectations. Miyani didn’t even really know how to act around Rose. Should she be super nice? Or should she just continue to be herself, just as she was with Whiskers?

    When Whiskers dug her head into Miyani’s legs again, she started purring which soothed Miyani’s worries some more. Things had been going quite well so far between her and Rose. Why would she worry about changing her behaviour now?

    “Thanks, Whisk,” Miyani smiled.

    Just then, Rose re-emerged from the clothing booth wearing the gothic clothes that Miyani and Whiskers had picked out for her. She was blushing madly and she had some trouble walking it seems on account of the steel-toed boots. “I look ridiculous,” she groaned as she tried to straighten out some of the clothes.

    Miyani burst out into laughter. “You look perfect!” she cried out.

    “Shut up!” Rose snapped, but she then began laughing as well herself.

    “You’re right, this was a great deal to make,” Miyani grinned.

    “Yeah? Well, wait until it’s your turn tomorrow! I have such a huge make-over planned for you!” Rose laughed.

    Miyani was enjoying herself so much that she didn’t even realize that Rose had invited her over for tomorrow.

    “Ahum…”

    Both girls jumped when they saw that Ramona had walked up to them rather quietly. Even Whiskers wasn’t prepared as she had arched her back and her tail had become rather thick and fuzzy.

    “Sorry for taking so long. I’m going to close up shop and then we can begin,” Ramona said. There was an amused grin on her face.

    “R-right!” Miyani said, standing a little straighter as if saluting a military officer.

    “I… guess I’ll put these clothes back then,” Rose said, sounding equally nervous.

    “Oh, you can put them in that basket there. I’ll clean them up later,” Ramona smiled.

    As Ramona was heading to the front of the store again, Miyani and Rose shared a glance of slight worry with one another. “It’s time,” Rose said.

    Miyani simply nodded while Whiskers was still trying to calm down from her earlier scare.