Second Chances: The Candle

Part 7

Gabby's POV:

"Thanks for getting my attention this morning." Selena said as I joined her for lunch. "I never would have seen that guy if you hadn't warned me."

"It's no problem." I said. "People shouldn't drive like that when it's so foggy out." He had been driving well over the speed limit, & had jumped the curb. He managed to get his car back on the street before speeding away, but if I hadn't yelled, Selena wouldn't have jumped out of the way just in time...

"So, don't take this the wrong way, but why are following me?" she asked.

"I'm not following you." I said, maybe too quickly. "I just didn't have anything else going on, so I thought we could hang out."

"Hey, Gabby." A guy had walked up to us. Selena & I both had our cases out, but he was buying from me. "Did you get my text? I was waiting for you on the boardwalk yesterday afternoon. Maybe we could hang out some other time?"

"Sorry, I had other plans." I said. "Maybe another time?"

"Sure!" he said, smiling & walking off with his candy.

"I thought you just said you didn't have any plans yesterday." Selena said.

"I didn't. He...texted me after we had started hanging out." I said, covering quickly. My phone was actually on airplane mode because all the calls & texts were starting to get annoying. I'd almost rather be unpopular again!

"Oh, I get it." Selena said. "You're starting to feel threatened, so by following me, you can keep track of exactly how much candy I sell."

"That's not it." I said. "Just because we're competing doesn't mean we can't hang out."

"You've never wanted to hang out with me before. You've even gone out of your way to not hang out with me."

"That's not true!"

Ok, it was sort of true.

But since Second Chances had disappeared, I had no idea how to fix what I had done. The only plan I had was to protect Selena as much as possible. If I was able to keep her safe until the end of the fundraising competition, then maybe I could stop the wish from coming true.

"Hey, Gabby!" a girl had walked over to buy candy from me. "You should totally come to my bonfire this weekend." She handed me a flyer.

"Yeah, I'll try to be there!" I said as she finished buying her candy.

"Wow, you got invited to Lottie's bonfire party?" Selena asked after finishing up with some customers of her own. "That's amazing! Underclassmen don't usually get invited to that..."

"Then you should come with me!" I said.

"Really?"

"Nobody will question it if you're with me." I said. "We can even go shopping this afternoon, because I have no idea what to wear..." I turned away as another girl came over to buy candy. She seemed familiar. It wasn't until after she started walking away that I realized who she was.

She had worked at Second Chances!

"Hey, wait!" I said, getting up & following her. "I need to talk to you!"

"Do you remember me?" I asked when I caught up to her.

"Of course I do." she said. "You were my first customer at Second Chances!"

"I need your help." I said, quickly explaining everything that had happened since I bought the candle.

"That's crazy." she said. "Second Chances hasn't disappeared, because I've been working there all this week. Besides, candles can't grant wishes. I'm sure that's just something Faye made up to sell more candles."

"I know it sounds crazy, but it's true, I swear!" I said. "Can you meet me after school? I need to talk to Faye. I need to find out how to reverse this. I..." My voice trailed off as I heard Selena coughing. I turned around to see that she wasn't coughing.

She was choking.

Nobody around her seemed to notice or care.

I ran back over to her. Thankfully I had taken a first aid course, so I started giving her the Heimlich. Eventually, a grape flew out of her mouth.

I left her alone for a few minutes & she almost choked on a grape.

"I usually leave work around 5:30." the girl from the shop said, handing me a scrap of paper. She had written her name, Jenna, next to her phone number. "I'm not really sure when the shop closes, but Faye is there all the time."

I slipped the scrap of paper in my pocket.

I was finally going to get some answers.