Ballet?!” Debbie looked shocked at what I’d told her, but then she seemed to think again. “You know, that might be a good idea. Ballet will help you in the same way it helps football players. It will help you to feel comfortable with your body and improve your grace and coordination.

“Okay, but...ballet?” I asked.

“You wanted to be more feminine. It’s not just pretty clothes and make-up; there is a whole different feel to your body that you need to understand. Ballet can teach you that.”

“Okay , but...ballet?”

Debbie laughed. “What is your problem with ballet?”

I blushed. “I am not wearing a tutu!”

I thought she was going to hurt herself, she was laughing so hard.

“I love you so much!” She said, as she struggled to catch her breath. “You are so silly!”

“Well, I’m not!”

“Your mother wants you to take the class to improve your appearance, your poise and grace, not to really become a dancer. Just like some football players, you will probably go no further than to wear a leotard and tights, not a tutu, although I think you’d look very cute in one.”

“Hmph! I don’t think so!”

Debbie smiled. “Would it make you feel better if I took the class as well?”

I looked at her suspiciously. “Well yeah, but...”

“But nothing. The studio is owned and run by my cousin, so it won’t cost me anything. If there is anything to be embarrassed about, we’ll face it together, all right?”

I was shocked and grateful, and I wrapped her in a hug. “Thank you, Debbie! I can honestgly say that I’ve never had a better friend.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” She said, blushing. “My mom’s been bugging me to take the class, too. Just like your mother, she says it will make me ‘more of a lady.’” She casually spit on the side of the sidewalk, then wiped her mouth with her arm. “As if I had anything I needed to learn.”

That got us both laughing.

After a few minutes I got my breathing under control.

“Mom says we’ll start working more actively on my magic, too. I guess after she brings Grandma home from the hospital this afternoon, they are going to see how strong I am.’

“Cool! My mom keeps putting it off. She always says she’s too busy with some Coven Administration business. Sometimes she doesn’t get home until ten pm, and it’s too late to do much by that time.”

“Oh, I know how that can be. My mom was on some committee, and I swear, sometimes I think they just went to a club or something. That lasted for months!”

“I hope whatever she’s doing is finished soon. I kind of miss our talks and stuff.” She sighed. “Oh well, I guess it’s just a part of being a witch, and I am 16. I can pretty much take care of myself.”

I thought for a minute. “How about coming to our house some night? You’d get a homemade meal, help with your homework and maybe you could sit in on a magic lesson or two!”

“Oh, that’s a great idea! I’ll have to clear it with Mom, but I’m sure she’ll agree.” She checked her watch. “We need to get into school, we don’t have a lot of time.”

I was looking forward to school, and hoping I could get a little time with Tim today. Maybe we could arrange another date for sometime this weekend, I hoped. I headed to my homeroom, just smiling and waving to my friends, maybe saying a few words about how nice someone looked, just being friendly. I finally got to my homeroom, and Tom Dimarco smiled as I came in.

“You look very nice, kinda like the anti-Stewart.”

I laughed. I had worn my white overalls, a light blue tee and my white trainers, and with my blonde hair, I was in direct contrast to Mr. Stewart, who always wore all black and had dark hair and beard.

“I hadn’t thought about that, really. I just kinda thought it was cute.”

“Well,” I heard from behind me. “You were right, you look very cute!”

I turned around to see Tim, and we both smiled at each other.

“I don’t have a lot of time,” he said. “Could I meet you after school, out by the parking lot?”

“Sure, I can do that! See you later, then!”

He rushed off. His homeroom was on the far end of the school and on the third floor, so he had to hurry. Seeing him made my morning so much better, but the day just seemed to drag along after that. I don’t think I was ever so happy to hear the last bell!

Debbie waited by the steps as I met with Tim for a few minutes. I kissed him, and it made me tingle all over.

“I know you're busy with your afterschool classes and stuff, but would you like to go out this weekend? I have to work with my Dad every night this week until the weekend, but we could spend some time together on Saturday, if you'd like?”

I nodded like some idiot. “Yeah, that would be great! Just casual, then?”

“Yeah, nothing too fancy, I’m not sure what we’ll do yet, I have to see what’s going on. I just wanted to see you this weekend.”

“I’d like that, very much!” I kissed him again, this time for a little longer. “Call me with a time, okay?”

“Great! See you later, I can’t wait!” He went to his car and I met up with Debbie.

I think my smile almost broke my face, and my body was on pure automatic.

“Hello, Emily, do you read me? Em-i-ly? Please, Emily, don’t go into the light!”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Wow, you’ve got it bad!” She smiled. “I think I’m jealous!”

I blushed and looked away. I was incredibly happy, and she wasn’t going to spoil it.

She pulled me into a hug. "Emily, you are so lucky, hon!”

“Oh, come on, you’ve got plenty of boyfriends.”

“Yes, I do. But I’d trade ‘em all for one that made me smile like that.”

Yeah, okay, I had to admit, Tim was very special, and I knew that what Deb had said was true. I had believed at one point that I was truly in love with her as Gabe. I realized, though, that it had been a poor shadow of what I felt now. The rational part of me said that it was going too fast, but the other parts told that first part to shut up, this was too good to stop!

Yes, I knew it was really just infatuation at this point. We hadn’t even had our second date yet! Somehow though, I knew this was right. Still, while I might have given him my heart, I was going to keep a close guard on everything below that!

I told Debbie I’d pick her up in the morning, because the weather report was calling for rain and high winds in the morning, and then I headed home.

It was great to see that Grandma was home. She was in a wheelchair and I hugged her as soon as I came in.

“The doctors want me to take it easy for a few days yet,” she explained. “They still don’t know what happened; all their tests say I’m very healthy.” She kissed me and looked into my eyes. “Thank you, honey. I wasn’t ready to go, yet.”

I hugged her and we both had wet eyes. I wasn’t ready for her to leave, either.

Mom brought out a tray with some tea and small cookies. I nibbled while Mom told me what we were going to do this afternoon.

“I need to get an idea about what kind of strength you have, what you have an affinity for, and what is more difficult for you, all right?”

“Okay, so what do we do?”

“Well, the first test of strength will be to wheel your Grandma outside so we don’t accidentally damage the house.”

I pushed Grandma out to the back yard, and out to the patio, under the big umbrella. I made sure she was in the shade, although we have so many trees that the sun really isn’t an issue.

“How do we test my healing ability? That can’t hurt the house, can it?”

“Sit down, sweetheart.” I pulled up a patio chair next to Mom, and Grandma continued. “I don’t want you to get a big head about this, but no one has ever been able to do what you did for me.”

“What? But...”

Mom took my hand. “I’m considered a very strong healer, but the best I can do is to speed up someone’s own natural healing ability. I’ve never heard of someone who could stop and reverse a heart attack. In my opinion, your Grandma probably had a serious attack, but you instinctively fixed the problem and repaired any damage, in a very short time.”

“So this means...?”

Grandma sat up and smiled. ”This means your healing ability is beyond our capacity to measure. A specialized, well trained team of scientists, familiar with magic and witches might be able to tell us just how powerful you are, but to my knowledge, no such group exists.”

Whoa. Off to an interesting start, then. As Mom put me through some basic tests, it seemed that I had more talent than I would have thought. I appeared to be very strong in all of the types of magic we tested. My weakest talent was with fire magic, although Mom said that I was still stronger than many witches who had an affinity for fire.

I was getting scared. What if I did something accidentally, or while in a nightmare? I could seriously hurt someone if I got angry, and the chance of my making a catastrophic mistake had jumped enormously. Mom and Grandma were even debating taking me out of school, because it might be too dangerous for me to be there. They were amazed that nothing had happened already.

Now, back when I was Gabe, I might have thought that was wonderful to miss school, but Emily was just starting to have a real social life, and my grades were excellent! I wasn’t ready to give up, though. If I did, the next thing they might do could be to forbid me from dating Tim and that was not happening.

“Help me! Train me so that I can keep things under control. Pulling me out of school won’t help, and I want to go to college. I want my friends, and I want my life! Tying me to the ground isn’t going to help when I really want to fly-it will only make me miserable. Teach me to fly safely!”

“It won’t be easy, honey.” Mom said. “More than anything, you’ll have to learn to control your emotions like never before. We’re talking about meditation and yoga, things to help you focus and control your mind and body. Ballet and perhaps Martial Arts as well. It may seem like a lot of work, in addition to school. Make no mistake, sweetheart, it will be a lot of work, but it is absolutely necessary.”

“I can do it, but with one condition.” I said, “and this is not negotiable. I'm still going to have my time with Tim, otherwise my time is yours, all right?”

They looked at each other and sighed.

“Agreed.” Mom said. "But you'll have to be very careful!"

I could see lots of fun times ahead.

Not.