Wicked Cravings

POV: Carly

"Okay, so I finally have the theme for the Homecoming dance, you're going to love it!" Abigail Young exclaimed, clapping her hands together as she flipped her black hair over her shoulder excitedly. She smacked the poster board down onto the desk as if she were holding a winning lottery ticket. "How about, A Night in Paris? It's simple and classy - "

"And incredibly overdone and basic." Carly snapped, not even looking up at her from color coding her binder for the last twenty minutes. Tabs for the budget, tabs for the decorations, tabs for the vendor contracts nobody else had thought to put together. Someone had to keep this ship from sinking, the vampires still bragging about last year's masquerade. The whole word around campus was that Jasper Wren had been bragging about how the witches could never top it.

Abigail's mouth snapped shut.

Black River Falls Academy was a high school located in the tree line of Black River Falls, Washington, where the fog never fully lifted and the forest pressed right up to the campus gates. Most towns had secrets, Black River Falls was built on them. It was the kind of place that didn't show up on most maps, which suited the people who lived there just fine. Black River Falls Academy had been standing for over a century, it's ivy-choked stone walls home to a variety of young supernatural students; vampires, witches, werewolves, sirens, and more. Each of these groups was known as a faction. Every year a different faction organized and hosted the most highly anticipated event of the school year. It was the witches' turn this year, and Carly McPherson was more than eager to make it count.

She had been looking forward to planning this since freshman year, watching from the sidelines as others bickered over color schemes and floral budgets and promising herself that once it was finally her turn, she'd do it right. As the star student of her division and leader of the witches on-campus coven, she naturally took the reins as head of the committee. Twenty years ago, her mother had chaired this same dance, turning it into something people still talked about at the council meetings, the gold standard every witch after her had been measured against and found wanting. The McPherson name had meant something in this town for generations, and Carly was determined to uphold that tradition - no matter how many color-coded binders it took. Everything had to be perfect, better than perfect, good enough to finally put an end to the vampire's bragging and live up to her mother's legendary reputation. Unfortunately, Carly was drowning in anxiety, stuck with picking a theme and not too much time or help.

Abigail gulped, eyes bouncing nervously from Carly to her right-hand woman Whitney Salem, who was on her side saying absolutely nothing, arms crossed, clearly enjoying the show more than she should have.

"Um, right, okay, how about Under the Sea?"

"Pass!" Carly threw her arms up, the binder sliding an inch across the desk. "My god, Abigail, the vampires are already laughing behind our backs. Can you come up with anything that won't make me want to rip my hair out?"

"How about we take a break and reconvene later?" Whitney piped in before Carly could reload, her voice smooth as always, as if she'd been born knowing how to defuse a room.

Both girls exhaled in relief, Abigail picking up her purse and out the door before anyone could say another word, her footsteps light against the linoleum.

Carly blinked. "What?"

"You didn't have to be mean, Care." Whitney laughed, gathering her own bag, the charm bracelet on her wrist jingling softly. "That girl literally worships the ground you walk on, and now she's terrified to even look at you."

"She does not. And it wasn't intentional, all her ideas were just terrible. What was I supposed to do, lie?"

"No, but you didn't have to be a bitch either. Why did you ask for her input if you were just going to throw everything away?"Because I'm a fair leader." Carly straightened, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. "And as a leader, I at least owe it to everyone to hear their suggestions. Considering how angry you all got when I planned something without you last time."

"Knowing you'd ultimately make the final decision no matter what we say." Whitney said it with a smile, the point still landing clean. "Very considerate of you."

Touché.

It wasn't like Carly ever denied being a control freak. She was a firm believer in doing things herself if she wanted them done right. Growing up the only daughter of the woman who had chaired the town council for a decade, and who still brought up her own Homecoming triumph every chance she got, tended to instill that kind of thinking from a young age.

She sighed and pulled her blonde curls over one shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry Whitney. I have so much to get done in so little time, and if this dance is anything less than incredible, my mother will never let me hear the end of it. Having one less thing on my list would be a miracle right now."

Whitney didn't say anything, instead pulling Carly into a hug, the one that smelled of vanilla perfume and familiarity.

A much-needed one.

They had been friends since what felt like the beginning of time. A dynamic duo. Powerful, beautiful, popular and rarely ever at odds with each other. They had always been each other's soft place to land, through complicated boy drama and invasive parents and everything in between, through late nights studying for exams that could get you expelled if you failed twice, through Headmistress Sears's stern lectures about controlling their magic in the hallways.

"You're gonna get through this, you always do." Whitney pulled back and held her by the shoulders. "And it's going to be the best dance this school has ever seen, better than your mom's, better than anything the vampires could dream up. If anyone can carry a full plate and be able to make it look easy it's Carly McPherson."

Carly tried to return the smile, but it came out smaller than she wanted.

Maybe she had been a little too ambitious this year. Piles of extracurriculars on top of a brutal class schedule, advanced spells to master before finals, Headmistress Sears breathing down her neck about her independent study project, and now this. But this was her last year and her last opportunity to prove she could outdo the legend she grew up in the shadow of, and she refused to let it be anything less than legendary, even if it stressed her into the ground.

"Whitney Salem." She looped their arms together as they headed for the door. "My favorite motivator and enabler, I'd be completely lost without you."

"Yeah yeah, I'm a saint." Whitney flipped her chocolate brown waves off her shoulder. "Now let's get to the cafeteria before lunch is over. I need a brownie before practice, or I'll literally combust."

Carly's stomach answered for her in the form of a loud grumble.

"Aren't we all."

They stepped into the hallway, the chatter of students spilling from every doorway, the faint hum of magic thick enough in the air that Carly could almost taste it, sharp and electric, the way it always was this deep into the school year with everyone's powers stretched thin from studying. She was almost out the door when Whitney caught her elbow lightly, dropping her voice low enough that it was just between them.

"Hey. You and Tommy good?"

Carly blinked. "What do you mean?"

Whitney gave her that look. The one that said she already knew the answer and just wanted to hear Carly say it herself.

"I'm fine." Carly said. "We're fine."

Whitney held the look for another second, then let it go. "Okay."

She didn't push. She never did. But she also never asked questions she didn't already have a feeling about.

Carly followed her into the hallway and shoved the knot in her chest down where it was supposed to be.