The afternoon soon came. Since the original copy of the cloud dress redesign was a mess, Beth made a new copy of her design as promised, and Julianna arrived in the art room as soon as her last class ended. She carefully examined Beth's design by going over the sheet paper, pointing to any details that she found intriguing.

"This...This modified design looks fabulous. Do we still have some materials left that we bought last time?" Julianna was very impressed with Beth's new design. It was indeed much better than the original one that they were working on.

'I guess so, but I forgot where the materials were...'

'No worries, I am going to find them now.'

Since the cabinet was just facing Julianna, she directly walked towards it to see if anything usable was there. "Let's start by looking at this cabinet..."

"Jules, don't go there!! DON'T!!"

"Is there anything bad?" Julianna turned back with a perplexed look on her face but opened the cabinet anyway.

Shiny lights that surrounded the materials instantly caught her attention.

"Oh fudge, that is dazzling...How come no one had found that cloth and decorations before? Maybe I have been so busy that I have not noticed those details."

Beth could do nothing but nervously smile back at Julianna.

"What's wrong, Beth? We should take those materials out to see if they are suitable for making our project. Also, where's Simone's group?"

"I have no idea. But here, I recorded Simone's two friends saying that they took the dress to a tailor."

"Right. Now, speaking of those materials..." Julianna ran her fingers across the materials to feel their smoothness. "Beth, you should try using this. But you know better than me on fashion-related stuff, Beth. You will be the one to decide. Wait...Beth? Are you listening?"

"Jules, here's the thing. I know you may call me crazy on this but I need to tell you. To be honest...."

Beth ended her speech abruptly before she mentioned her newly gained magic.

'I love the materials, but find it strange that they look exactly like the ones we want, but couldn't purchase from the websites.'

'Really? Could there be someone who overheard our conversations and purchased the materials for us instead? But that would be impossible. Why would all those people competing with us care so much about helping our business?'

'I guess you are right...' Beth quickly tilted her head away from the materials, trying not to look them in the eye. 'What about we just leave the materials for now, and return to them if we feel like it later?'

'That's so odd. I can't think of other explanations for the origin of them!' Julianna grabbed Beth by her arm, firmly gripping her by the hands. 'I have a hypothesis, though. There's only one way to find out...'

'Ow! What are you doing!'

'Just testing to see if both of us are hallucinated or in a convincing dream.'

'Probably not. My arm hurts right now.'

Nonetheless, Beth felt obliged to tell Julianna the truth.

"To be honest... " Beth looked down at her bracelet, trying to shake it with the anticipation that it might jump out of her wrist again. "the bracelet did the thing. The material just APPEARED today."

"What? What are you saying?"

"My host parents told me that there's a rumor surrounding Laurel that students saw unusual colors and shapes, and there were students performing magic. I guess perhaps the rumor is true. I saw something today earlier like that...hmmm...the colored shapes."

"Magic in Laurel? I mean, I've heard about the rumor before, but I am not sure if that's true. Magic and witchcraft may have existed in ancient times, but I have never seen a piece of concrete evidence about their existence in Laurel. You know what? Maybe we should wait for some time to see if anything magical comes from your bracelet."

"There's no need to wait! I will show you."

Beth stood facing the sunlight from the windows. She purposefully stared at the bracelet and stroked the bracelet with force. Then, she held her breath, waiting to see if something unexpected would come out.

Three...two...one. Nothing appeared.

Not completely convinced by the result, she stroked the bracelet again. Everything was still the same as before.

"Oh, why don't you do something, YOU STUPID BRACELET!"

"I see. maybe you are just tired and you start seeing things! Look, we are running out of time. As for now, let's just get our project going with the material!"

Beth nodded awkwardly to Julianna. There's nothing she could do at the moment. Maybe the best course for her now was to let go explaining how her experience confirmed the rumor at Laurel Prep.

✨

A few days before the preliminary selection of the runway competition, things started to take on a different direction for Beth and Julianna. With the new materials in hand, they were perfecting their cloud dress swimmingly. Because of that, other students started paying more attention to them as well. It started with a couple of students having art classes casually seeing their project in a corner. Then, those students spread the news to their friends and classmates. In a few days, quite a few crowds could be seen admiring Beth and Julianna's works after school in the art room every day.

What also made Beth happy was that she had not seen Simone for a couple of days. She heard a rumor from another class that Simone had caught a bad cold and needed to rest at home. On hearing the rumor she giggled like a villain.

Quite a few students were voicing their concerns to Simone in 'Laurel Prep Class of 2019'. Some of them wished that she could get well soon, while others sent her music videos in the chat and promised to help her with her coursework when she came back. I don't think she needs those things. Beth scrolled down the chat history and skipped all those messages. I guess she would be recording an 'I, unfortunately, caught a cold unexpectedly' video, and waiting for her little fans to cheer her up!

Out of the students who were concerned about Simone, there were, of course, the blonde and the brunette.

One day, Beth and Julianna went to the art room as always. As usual, people were talking about their projects.

"Look, there's the pretty silky dress that Beth and Julianna made! Haha, Paige and Jade are going to be so pissed by that!"

Hmm! Are those two blonde and brunettes called Paige and Jade?

"Paige? Oh my gosh, that girl! She outrightly flirted with my crush in front of me and called me a fat pig!" One student in front of them mentioned the blonde.

"Jade. I heard that her dad is some kind of an executive at a consulting group. He sure knows a lot of things. That girl puts on that annoying stuck-up face whenever she walks by...gosh!" Another student called on the brunette.

Beth couldn't help but giggle while Julianna silently put her hand on her lips to prevent any noises coming from her.

"I don't get why they seem to have a lot of friends there and there. Also, did these two people grow up together? They resemble each other so much!" The first student continued with her speech.

"Maybe they both SPAWNED from the same gloomy MUD POD!!"

Several people laughed together this time.

"Honestly speaking, I don't quite get why Simone hangs out with them. I feel like Simone is a good person." The second student suddenly brought Simone up. As she saw Paige and Jade come up, she waved at the first student and the two people walked sideways in the hallway. "Shhhhh, they are coming."

"I am so worried now because of what Beth and Julianna did." Paige was about to throw hands at the crowd. She tried not to make a fool of herself in front of everyone, yet Beth heard her murmuring secretly in the back. "Laurel people are just full of cutthroat."

"What are we gonna do with this situation? Simone is not here. If we don't get the first place in the competition, how can I explain to my father about all the stuff he invested in the project?" Jade looked particularly anxious and angry as well. "We need Simone because she is a dazzling star that can help one of my father's clients! I mean, what have we got from her now? Nothing! Simone might not even get unto the runway to be seen!"

"Maybe we should have told Simone that her idea isn't good enough."

"Gosh! If we did that, Simone is not going to be pleased with us and will leave us. That way, we can't have her for the runway show!" Jade shook her phone and stomped her feet angrily on the ground.

What? Are they talking about Simone behind her back as well? Is this how Paige and Jade treat Simone?

"Also, are you sure that Beth and Julianna didn't cheat on the competition? Their work was very floppy before they even produced this dress!"

"I suspect that as well. Paige, we need to investigate them after the result is in. If they are cheating, they will also expose themselves during the fashion show."

Hey, you guys are the ones that are cheating! Beth was about to confront them face to face. However, her thoughts carried her back instantly.

I used magic for the project as well. I didn't mean to cheat, but would it present an unfair advantage to all the other contestants?

What should I do now?

✨

Beth was still thinking about the same question after she went home. Thinking about them made her mind a mess, so she decided to watch some videos on her laptop first.

An old clip popped out as 'recommended' in her feed. It was from Always In My Heart, a romance series that used to be famous in Laurel.

The video started playing. A girl with chestnut hair sat on a chair, looking joyous. She started with her narration. "Life is a colorful wheel. When you have worries, don't dwell on them so much because they will all be taken away with time." As she spoke, a line appeared at the right corner of the video.

"Starring: Simone Raine Chandler."

"Wait, wait!" Beth's heart was beating rapidly. "Why does Simone look so different from when she was young?"