Psychic Sisters/ Jessica the Witch

 

Well, it happened again. I started writing another Evil Story. This one is based on something from SVT #70, Psychic Sisters. I actually had the idea for this story when I was 12, but I hadn't invented Piper the witch yet so it went a little weird. (I started writing The Babysitter when I was about 16... pushing forty now).

 

Here's a blog entry on that book that I just found. Basically, the twins become convinced that they're psychic and decide to perform in the talent show, after amazing their friends with many feats of apparent mind reading. (Also Jessica carelessly makes psychic predictions for several people, that very handily turn out to be correct). I always thought it was weird that they weren't really psychic. Like, the twist was they overheard their mom talking on the phone while they were sleeping in the den watching a movie marathon, and their unconscious minds soaked up all the information she was giving. I guess it was supposed to be a "twist" even though several books already established that the twins had a kind of psychic connection (as twins tend to do, having shared a womb)--one could tell what the other one was feeling and would feel it if her twin was in any kind of danger and that sort of thing. So, to say they aren't really psychic is kind of stupid. 

 

First of all, let's deal with the cover here. Maria is a legless torso, how unfortunate (I assume it's Maria because she's the only Black sixth grader ever mentioned). Also the twins' faces look a little different that usual, maybe because they've been drawn in profile. (See also: the cover of Super Chiller #4, The Ghost in the Bell Tower.) Finally, Who's that guy? I decided it was Todd when I was younger. Also I appreciate the inclusion of a crystal ball even though in the book they never did that, but they did sit under a pyramid of a broom, a mop, and a yardstick. 

Anyway, at the end, there's this (excuse my defaced-SVT comments... this was my second copy of this book, because the original had been written in and drawn in too much to be able to continue re-reading, so I'm starting over):

 

    Janet patted Jessica on the back. “You did it, Jessica. You put Sweet Valley Middle School on the map, you made the Unicorns look great, you generated publicity for the hospital, and…” she darted a look around to make sure Ellen wasn’t listening, “you put a spell on Ellen that kept her from singing. Why didn’t you tell us you were a…” Janet lowered her voice to a whisper, “…witch?” She shook her head. “You really do have amazing powers, Jessica.”
    Tamara Chase nodded solemnly. “Just think of all the really great stuff you can do.”                

    Jessica's mind was racing. If her friends thought she was a witch, she would really have it made.

Janet, the president of the Unicorn Club, is convinced that Jessica is a witch because she supposedly hexed Ellen Riteman into blowing her vocal chords the night of the talent show (so she couldn't go on and embarrass everyone with her terrible singing.) Um, ok. Jessica gets really excited about her friends thinking she's a witch, but then she sees her sister's angry face glaring at her (Elizabeth is her conscience) and makes a hasty excuse as to why it wouldn't be a good idea to keep using her "psychic powers." ("We're retiring them unless the police or the FBI need us," LOL).

As a 12-year-old, I was like, Boo, you're no fun anymore. What if the Unicorns went on thinking Jessica was a witch? She'd have to prove it, and teach them some spells like she promised. Then the spells wouldn't work, and she'd be humiliated, right? But this is where my character Piper comes in. She casts a spell on Elizabeth at that party and makes her think Jessica pretending to be a witch is all a joke on the Unicorns. So, Elizabeth lets Jessica go on and make up shit. Then, clearly Jessica does end up with some kind of magical powers (courtesy of Piper, bwahahahaha), and maybe they get out of control or they start to scare her (maybe she summons a certain demon we haven't seen since Book 1? Haven't decided yet).  So then she has to find someone to help her. Luckily, there's a new magic shop (or, there's a magic shop, if there never was one in the first place) in town, and the proprietors are Piper and Tobias in disguise, with completely new aliases. I feel like most readers would know by now that if I describe any new character, no matter the age, it's very likely to be Piper or Tobias in disguise, or one of their friends (like the vampires in Books 4 & 5).  I always love inventing new aliases for them (at one point Piper lists them all and it's absurd how many different disguises she's used to try to fool the twins. Piper = the Count Olaf of Saccharin Valley Twits).

The "witchcraft" will be a mishmash of my encyclopedic knowledge of Wicca (I've read a shit ton but I don't practice) and some SVT-friendly supernatural powers/fictional witch bullshit. (I always want readers to know, that I know that real witches are not evil and don't go around becoming demons and terrorizing twins with their supernatural powers. Haha.)

There's also a new girl at school, because there always is. And she's mixed race, for once (like Piper is in "real life"--she's white-washed for SVT). Everyone was always so white. I started looking at how Black people could have the MC1R gene and be gingers. I always thought gingers were beautiful as a child, and I always wanted red hair (I have boring brown hair but I do have green eyes like Piper). But I didn't realize it comes with getting sunburned super easily. And mad freckles.

I have about 35 pages so far. This one will be a Super Hideous Edition like the last one, so it needs to be around 180 pages. Or at least 150. I was working on it a lot this past weekend, stayed up too late like back in the day.

Tentatively titled Jessica the Witch (super boring/ suitably ambiguous like all my books are). I might still have the story I wrote when I was 12, maybe I could post it here. It was handwritten.