Salem's Sight by Eden Elgabri

practically
squealed.
    “ I see you and me at the
dance.” I paused and stared slightly off into space as if my focus
was beyond the realm of this world.
    “ And?” she asked as she
moved closer to try to get the scoop.
    “ And we’re dancing with…” I
let it hang till her eyes looked ready to pop, “each other.” I
started laughing and she picked up my pillow and hummed it at me. I
ducked and it sailed on by taking out the perfume, nail polish and
lipsticks that had been lined up like little soldiers on my bureau.
They crashed to the floor and Skyler immediately started batting a
lipstick around while Berkley and I cleaned up the
damage.
    “ Funny Salem, real
funny.”
    “ Yeah, I thought so.” I
grinned at her.
    “ I thought you might have
seen yourself dancing with, oh I don’t know, maybe Robby?” she said
taunting me.
    “ Sure I’ve seen that. In my
dreams.”
    Berkley’s mouth fell open and took in
a breath so loud it was audible. “So you have dreamed about it? It
seems likely then?” It would have been better if Berkley had turned
out to be psychic; she was so much more into it than I was. But
then again who knows, if she had been the psychic, I might have
thought it mad cool too.
    I shook my head. “No, not those
dreams, I meant like in my fantasies. No precognition on the hottie
front.” So much for having the gift of second sight.
    “ Well I might not be
psychic, but even I see a hook up in progress there.”
    “ You think so?” I asked,
hoping she didn’t see how desperate I was for a close encounter of
the Robby kind.
    “ I’d say it’s like
practically a done deal.”
    I didn’t know if she was saying it
because she was my friend and she knew I wanted it, or if it was
because she really believed he was as interested as I
was.
    Either way I had a serious case of the
grins.
    ****
     
    Everything I tried on looked horrible.
I mean, it was a high school dance so I couldn’t go over dressed,
but I also didn’t want to go dressed for a normal school day. If
there was the remotest chance Robby would be there like he said he
would, then I had to look good. Which meant I had to feel good.
Which meant I needed a freaking miracle.
    Most of the contents of my closet lay
sprawled across my bed, a pile of definite no’s strewn across my
pillows. I pulled mix and match pieces and held them up to my
full-length cheval mirror hoping suddenly the perfect outfit would
materialize and it would turn me into a goddess.
    It didn’t.
    With a sigh I settled for a spaghetti
strap brown clingy number with beige gauzy overtop. It was
prettyful and at least it was new. I could wear it with my brown
flowy skirt and beaded gold heels.
    When all was said and done I looked
good. Not drop dead gorgeous, put me on the cover of Vogue, but
hopefully nice enough to turn the head of sexy senior
Robby.
    The top was a little low though and I
needed something, some type of necklace to bring the eye up. I was
about to raid mom’s jewelry case when I decided instead to ask her
opinion. I know, bizarre, but what can I say?
    Her head hung down, eyes focused on
the sudoku puzzle in the newspaper, so she didn’t notice when I
entered the room. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me and
dropped her pencil.
    “ You look beautiful,
honey.”
    I rolled my eyes even though it was
just what I wanted to hear. “I need a necklace. Nothing I have
goes.”
    She got up and grabbed my hand as she
walked by me. “Come on, let’s see what I have. What about a gold
chain?”
    “ I have a gold chain too.
No, something different.” I had a strange thought and I didn’t know
where it was coming from. For some reason I wanted a link with my
grandmother. “Mom, do you have any of Grandma’s
jewelry?”
    She stopped walking and looked at me.
“Sure, I kept it all. Why?”
    “ Could we look at it? I
don’t know but…” I shook my head.
    “ Oh, she has a cameo, a
camel colored cameo. It would look perfect with that outfit.