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go to Gatti's and look at tops.”
    “See, now that's what I'm talkin' about!” Tamara grinned, taking Amber's hand and pulling her to her feet.
    Amber followed Tamara to Gatti's, but neither her heart nor head were dedicated to shopping. She kept looking back over her shoulder waiting for Joshua to come running after her. After she found two cute tops at Gatti's (a blue one and a green one), they moved to the next store, because Tamara wanted to look at jeans.
    Amber stood awkwardly against the wall watching her friend look through the racks. She had more money to spend, but her heart wasn't in it. What was the use of shopping if it didn't give her a warm tingly feeling?
    “Ain't you even gonna look?” Tamara asked.
    “I am looking,” Amber sighed.
    “I'll be ready in a minute,” Tamara said.
    “No, take you're time,” Amber said, “I'm fine. Really, I am.”
    “No, I'll be ready to like leave the mall,” Tamara said, “You're spaced out and you need to finish your homework anyway, remember?”
    No, she hadn't, until Tamara brought it up.
    “Yeah, you're right,” Amber nodded.
    An hour later she was sprinting up the stairs two at a time to her bedroom.
    “Are you okay?” her dad called after her.
    “I'm fine!” she shouted back and slammed her bedroom door shut and locked it.
    Amber sank to her knees and began to ruffle through her backpack. She pulled out the spell book and flipped to page one hundred seven and reread the spell.
    “I did everything! I did everything perfectly! I know it! Why isn't it working?” she whispered desperately, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to swell over her eyelids, “Why isn't it working? This was my last chance and somehow I've blown it!”

 
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Monday mornings were always rough. Amber found this particular Monday morning to be an act of cruel and unusual punishment. She had managed to finish all of her homework (including the makeup work for Mr. O'Bannon), but her spirits hadn't improved.
    Amber spent Sunday afternoon checking Joshua Nelson's social network pages again and again, searching for the smallest indication that he was thinking about her. He had to be thinking about her! The spell was going to work! It had to, because without it she would never gain Joshua's attention.
    Amber stared at her feet as she waited for the school bus. She kicked a rock and watched it skip across the street. Amber felt just like that rock. She was pushed around and kicked around by everyone, and no one noticed. It didn't matter on which side of the street she landed. The bus pulled up and opened its doors. The entrance looked like a hungry mouth waiting to devour her. Amber took a deep breath and hefted herself onto the bus.
    “What a great way to begin a week,” she thought to herself and rolled her eyes.
    “Good morning,” the bus driver grinned at her.
    “Don't be such a morning person, Larry,” Amber groaned as she made her way to the back of the bus.
    Her stop was the third one of the morning, so only three other students were on the bus. Greg sat by himself in a middle seat, reading a paperback thriller. Allison and Julia sat with their heads together a few seats in front of Amber gossiping. Amber wished that Tamara would ride the school bus with her. With someone there to moan and groan to, she wouldn't feel so alone.
    Amber stared at the window and tried not to imagine what it would be like to attend another school dance without a date. It wasn't that other guys hadn't noticed her. Greg had flirted with her every single day on the bus last year, but she just couldn't bring herself to be interested in him. When she finally told him, he had quit talking to her and returned to his normal routine of ignoring the world for his love of fiction.
    Amber zoned out through most of her history class. Although she did manage to obtain the notes she had missed from Friday. She turned in her report and left without engaging in her usual