the new girl at school had read
enough books to guess how things would
play out when a pack of
super-fashionable girls
stalked up to her lonesome lunch table
all five with hands on hips
as they said in a chorus
'hey, new girl'

the girl might be new in town
but she wasn't stupid because she
already had poised on her tongue
a spell out of her grandma's old grimoire
a book she technically wasn't
supposed to read but
mama and her new husband weren't
paying much attention to her these days
and grandma was dead and no longer there
to chastise her about
keeping the family magic secret

so if these girls wanted to mess with her
she'd mess right back
by cursing them to bust out in hives
she'd been wanting to try out that spell
for a while now anyway
it seemed a nicer option than
turning them into toads

the lead girl spoke up
the one with hair blonder than blonde
'we heard you tell Miss Mac
about your cat Emperor Pumpkin
and we wanted
to let you know that we--'

'have a cat club!' squealed a second girl
bouncing up and down
'we take lots of cat pictures
then every week we vote
on whose cat is the cutest
is the fiercest
is the dorkiest!'

a third girl with a big smile added
'we make up other categories
sometimes, too
the winners don't get prizes
it's really about loving on
our cats'

'so what do you say?'
challenged the leader
'you think Emperor Pumpkin
is up for this?'

'he is, and so am I,'
said the new girl, grinning
maybe this school wouldn't be so bad
and surely she'd have other chances
to wield that curse again soon
especially if the other girls
didn't vote for Emperor Pumpkin