Kelly McClymer-Salem Witch 03 She's A Witch Girl Read Online Free PDF Page A

good.
    “I don’t have more important plans, but shouldn’t you?” Tara could twist the knife too.
    “What do you mean?” I’d expected a little more enthusiasm from her. I was beginning to think even Angelo wasn’t enough to turn Tara to the Pru side.
    “You know, manifesting your Talent, studying so you can learn enough magic to pass your classes? That’s going to be hard with Angelo around, isn’t it?”
    “Yes.” Ouch. Clearly, I hadn’t phrased the invite in a way that put me in her debt. Tara didn’t want to owe me one? Okay. That was easy to fix. “So? You caught me. I’m really hoping you can keep him occupied while I’m busy studying. He’s totally cramping my magic-cramming-session style.”
    Bingo. Now that
she
was doing
me
a favor, she had a big smile. “I wouldn’t want you to fail your classes and get suspended from the team.” Tara earned a frown from Charity for this little pink lie. “After all, we have Regionals coming up in two weeks. And we all”—she casually waved toward the girls crowding around to enjoy the drama—“know how much it means to you to get an invite to Nationals and get the chance to beat your old team.” Her whole attitude said, “Snap! Got you good, you mortal-hugger.”
    “Good to know you’ve got my back,” I said, not letting myself wonder how many ways I’d hate it if she and Angelo hit it off. Of course, it was not against Yoda’s teaching for me to hope that Angelo and Tara made the world’s mostawful couple. “You’ll keep Angelo distracted, and I’ll be able to sneak some study time in while he’s over.”
    “Perfect.” Tara looked happy. Charity did not.
    I figured I should go for what I really wanted most from Tara while the whole deal with Angelo was still smoking hot. “I had an idea about practices, to get us ready for the finals.”
    “It’s not your job to have ideas.” Charity frowned at me. “It’s Tara’s. She has the Inspiration Air Talent, after all.” I couldn’t blame her for sticking up for Tara—it was her job. In fact, I’d kind of counted on it.
    “I know. It’s just that I have been on a winning team. I know what it takes. I just thought I’d throw out some ideas. Tara will decide which ones will work with our team, of course.” I smiled at her, but her frown turned into a scowl. Maybe she read my thoughts: I can be obsequious to the max when the national championship is on the line.
    Tara wasn’t buying the obsequious bit either. Her frown was much daintier than Charity’s. She even threw in a sigh that demonstrated her uber-patience with the slow girl. “I hope you’re not going to suggest we practice like mortals again.”
    “Why not? We don’t have a lot of time. It’ll be fun!” I tried to put some cheer-enthusiasm into “fun” in the hopes I could carry them with me. They all stared at me as if I’d tried to convince them that cleaning the locker room with their tongues would be a blast.
    Sometimes I wished I could have snapped my fingers and reconstructed my rep from my old school. There, it had been gospel according to Pru when it came to cheering. And fashion. And boys. Sigh.
    Everyone looked at Tara. She tapped her fingers together for a bit while she thought it over. For exactly six seconds— I counted. “Maybe. But first we should go spy on your old team—just you and me—and see what they’re up to.”
    Charity didn’t like the “just you and me” bit. “We’ve already seen them. They’re not going to be doing anything we didn’t see on our field trip.”
    I agreed with Charity. Besides, checking out my ex-best-friend and crush-poacher Maddie and the other cheerleaders at Beverly Hills High was not on my list of new resolutions. We’d taken a school-sanctioned field trip—invisibility bubble and all—with the whole squad a few weeks ago. I didn’t see any point to reliving that torture.
    Except, of course, that Tara already knew that. She was standing there, waiting