Page 16 of Witch You Would
Penelope
Hands shaking, I texted Emelia while my stomach tried to escape through my belly button.
Me:I GOT FIRED OMFG
Eme:NO SHE DIDNT
Eme:what a raging come ping a
Eme:comepinga, stfu autocorrect
Me:lolsob
Eme:do you need money?
Me:not yet
Eme:you can sleep in my bathtub
Eme:like a sad mermaid
Eme:I’ll get you some shells for your boobs
Me:conch shells lol
Eme:more like snail shells
I snort-laughed while continuing to freak out. I could multitask. Then a worse thought occurred to me: I couldn’t drop offthe store keys for two weeks because I was stuck here.
A movie played in my brain: Ofelia can’t find some random item; Ofelia calls the cops and blames me; a SWAT team dramaticallyblows open a wall in the warehouse, rushes in, tackles me, and cuffs me while everyone screams; my mom cries on TV about howI’d always been a failure, especially compared to my sister, but she didn’t know I was desperate enough to turn to a lifeof crime; Rosy tries to bring me an escape spell hidden inside a pastelito—
Me:ffffffffff
Me:I have to turn in my work keys but they’re at my house
Eme:I’ll take care of it
Me:excuse me how
Eme:I have my ways
Me:you’re going to ask Cari to break in
Eme:ding ding ding
Our cousin Carina had like twelve jobs, all side hustles. She was also our family fixer, always running around Miami to help someone out. Most importantly for this situation, she had a locksmith kit.
Me:they’re on a hook by the front door
Me:make sure she locks up again after
Eme:duh not her first time
Me:okay they’re taking my phone in a minute gotta go
Eme sent me a GIF of a cartoon otter saying, “You got this!” and it made me feel a little better.
I tried to figure out what else I needed to do before I was cut off. Tell Rosy? No, she’d want to talk; I texted her a dancinggirl emoji. Call Ofelia and beg for my job? That wouldn’t work unless I did it in person, and if she said no, then I’d haveno job and noCast Judgmentto win. Maybe if I explained where I was, I could convince her the show would be great free publicity for the store? Exceptshe’d never be able to keep it a secret, and the lawyer ninjas would take me out.
