«Surely you jest,» Will said, clicking off his phone. «Sharpay and her brother doing their sexy dance with maracas? You wouldn't call that creepy?»
I laughed.
«But you girls go on, knock yourselves out,» he said. «I've actually got an errand to run.»
«You're leaving?» Yun Sun said.
«What about the pizza?» I said.
He opened his wallet and laid a twenty-dollar bill on the coffee table. «It'll be here in thirty minutes. My treat.»
Yun Sun shook her head. «And again I say: You're leaving?. You're not even staying to eat?»
«There's something I need to do,» he said.
My heart constricted. I ached to keep him here, even if just for a little longer. I darted back to the kitchen and pulled Madame Z's corsage-no, my corsage-out of my bag.
«At least wait till I've made my wish,» I said.
He looked amused. «Fine, wish away.»
I hesitated. The den was warm and cozy, pizza was on the way, and I had the two greatest friends in the world. What else did I truly want?
Duh, the grasping part of my brain told me. Prom, of course. I wanted Will to ask me to prom. Maybe it was selfish to have so much and still want more, but I pushed that line of reasoning away.
Because look at him, I thought. Those kind brown eyes, that lopsided smile. Those ridiculously angelic curls. The entire sweetness and goodness that was Will.
He hummed the Jeopardy! theme song. I raised the corsage.
«I wish for the boy I love to ask me to prom,» I said.
«And there you have it, folks!» Will cried. He was far too euphoric. «And what boy wouldn't want to take her to prom, our fabulous Frankie? Now we'll just have to wait and see, won't we, whether her wish will come-«
Yun Sun cut him off. «Frankie? Are you okay?»
«It moved,» I said, cringing away from the corsage, which I'd flung to the floor. My skin was clammy. «I swear to God, it moved when I made the wish. And that smell! Do you smell it?»
«Noooo,» she said. «What smell?»
«You smell it, Will. Don't you?»
He grinned, still on whatever high he'd been on since… well, since Madame Z warned him away from heights. A clap of thunder rumbled, and he shoved my shoulder.
«Next you're going to blame the storm on the evil wish fairies, aren't you?» he said. «Or, no! You're going to go to bed tonight, and tomorrow you'll tell us you found a hunched and skulking creature on your comforter, smiling a twisted smile!»
«Like rotting flowers,» I said. «You honestly don't smell it? You're not playing with me?»
Will dug his keys out of his pocket. «See you on the flip side, homies. And, Frankie?»
«What?»
Another boom of thunder shook the house.
«Don't give up hope,» he said. «Good things come to those who wait.»
I watched through the window as he dashed to his truck. The rain was coming down in sheets. Then I turned to Yun Sun, a balloony feeling pushing everything else away.
«Did you hear what he said?» I grabbed her hands. «Oh my God, do you think it means what I think it means?»
«What else could it mean?» Yun Sun said. «He's going to ask you to prom! He's just… I don't know. Trying to make a big production out of it!»
«What do you think he's going to do?»
«No idea. Hire a skywriter? Send a singing telegram?»
I squealed. She squealed. We jumped about in a frenzy.
«Got to hand it to you, the wish thing was brilliant,» she said. She flicked her finger to indicate giving Will the push he needed. «And the rotting flowers? Verrrry dramatic.»
«I honestly did smell it, though,» I said.
«Ha-ha.»
«I did.»
She looked at me and shook her head, amused. Then she looked at me again.
«Well, it must have been your imagination,» she said.
«I guess,» I said.
I picked the corsage up off the floor, holding it gingerly between my thumb and forefinger. I took it to the bookshelf and dropped it behind a row of books, glad to have it out of sight.
The next morning I trotted downstairs, hoping foolishly to find… I don't know. Hundreds of M&Ms spelling out my name? Pink hearts sketched in silly string on the windows?
Instead, I found a dead bird. Its tiny body lay on the welcome mat, as if it had flown into the door during the storm and bashed its brains in.