Kelly McClymer-Salem Witch 02 Competition's A Witch Read Online Free PDF Page A

video game with less than zero interest in what was going on with the rest of us.
    Angelo was tall. Over six feet for sure, although I wasn’t great about judging height. He shaved. I could see the faint blue-black stubble on his jaw. I guessed he was probably a junior or senior at least.
    Lots of words came to mind the first time I saw Angelo. Forget “cute,” it was so not up to the task of describing him. Try hot. Scorching. Sizzling. I wanted to see if the rest of him lived up to the first impression.
    And yes, I was playing with fire. So sue me.
    I aimed my best cheer-worthy smile at Angelo. “How long have you lived in Salem?”
    He looked away from Tobias and focused his blue eyes on me. “Oh, my mom’s side of the family came over on the
Mayflower
. So I guess that means I’ve been here forever.”
    Suddenly I didn’t care about the new mortal-free rules. That boy could smile. It was like a beacon, and all I wanted to do was spend a little quality time with a mortal very appropriately named Angelo.
    I’ve had crushes before, on a couple of mortal boys back in Beverly Hills, and one on my math teacher at Agatha’s, Mr. Bindlebrot. And a really big one on Daniel. I knew crushes come on hard and strong, like the rush of a cheeringcrowd when the quarterback runs twenty yards for an unexpected touchdown. But when I looked at Angelo … wow! I’d never had a crush that came on like a bolt of lightning. For a second I forgot to breathe. And I definitely suffered a moment of amnesia about the witch/mortal thing that Agatha had warned me about.
    Despite the fact my brains were so scrambled, I probably sounded like a total spaz, we managed a little back-and-forth info dump in the time it took my mother to convince his mother she wasn’t interested in participating in the Neighborhood Watch. I started with the basics. “Are you still in high school?” I was pretty sure he was, but I found that boys liked it when a girl thought he might actually be old enough for college.
    He nodded, and a dimple curved in his left cheek. I took that as a sign he was pleased I had to ask. Score one for me. “A junior.”
    Even though I knew I shouldn’t be happy about it, I was. “Me too.” That meant he wouldn’t be heading off to college next year. If I was still stuck in Salem, at least I’d have a hottie neighbor to keep me warm.
    “I haven’t seen you around much.” The way he said it, it sounded like he thought that was way too bad.
    “I’ve been busy studying. My new school is tough.”
    “Don’t tell me you’re at Salem High and I haven’t noticed you yet. I don’t believe I would have missed you.”
    Oops. The compliment made me feel a little melty. But it panicked me too. Already we were encountering a big rift in the mortal-witch divide. Sigh. “I go to a private school. That’s why my mom and dad moved us here in the first place.”
    “Oh?” His dimple disappeared, which I refused to believe meant anything besides that he was disappointed. I knew I sure was.
    I shrugged, to show him it wasn’t my choice. “Parents. What can you do? They think the school is the best.”
    He nodded, with a quick glance at his mother, who was still extolling the virtues of serving on Neighborhood Watch. “Do you like it?”
    A normal boy might have gotten points off for such a dumb question. But even a dumb question like that couldn’t take any of the heat out of Angelo’s hottitude. “Does
anyone
like school, except teachers and parents?”
    The dimple came back. “Good. Then you’re normal, even if you do go to private school.”
    “As normal as any other girl stuck following her parents across country and starting a new school in junior year.” If you consider a witch normal. Which, I guess, I still didn’t. I wondered how long it would take me to accept that I can do magic? Probably a really long time if I kept flirting with mortal boys. The conversation gets tricky, fast.
    For example, when Angelo, in all