School of Charm Read Online Free PDF

bobbing, hitting a wooden sign. The weather wasn’t breezy or anything, but still the branch was keeping the beat, hitting the sign. Words were painted on it: “Miss Vernie’s School of Charm.” Shivers tickled my skin and I rubbed my arms, but the goose bumps didn’t go away. Charlene had talked about wanting to go to a charm school to help with her pageants. But weren’t charms about magic too? Which kind of school was this?
    I ran my fingers along the smooth wood. It was a big sign, and I don’t know how I’d missed it in the first place. The words were faded, and it was crawling with honeysuckle and sweet peas. The two o ’s in the word school stared at me like that stuffed owl in my room, just waiting to see what I’d do.
    I crossed my arms and tapped my foot. Well, I’d found a sign. Was this Daddy being funny up in heaven? This was not the kind of sign I was looking for and he knew it. No, this wasn’t my message from Daddy, but still, it was interesting. Maybe even more interesting than Grandma’s off-limits room. My insides felt like a hopping, fluttering baby bird trying to leap out of its nest.
    I peered past the sign and spotted a long shady driveway. Chimes tinkled far away. Goose bumps stung my arms again, but I started walking up the driveway. My stomach tightened with each step. I walked a lot slower than I would’ve if Billy had been by my side. He would’ve made it feel like a great adventure.
    At the end of the driveway everything turned bright with color, like when Dorothy enters Oz. I saw a big house, as blue as a robin’s egg, but it was dark and quiet inside. I didn’t see a charm school sign, so I walked around back.
    A woman stood with a silver watering can, sprinkling a great big plant. I didn’t know what kind of plant it was because I didn’t know the plants down south or when the flowers bloomed or the birds hatched or anything. But this plant was pretty with big cream-colored flowers. The biggest I’d ever seen.
    She looked up at me, and her smile opened like a morning glory. “Hello there,” she said, just like she’d been expecting me. She kept on watering, the drops spilling out like bits of crystal.
    I looked around for another building, but all I saw was the house. “Excuse me, is this the charm school?” I was nibbling on my thumbnail again, even though I’d chewed most of it off on the car ride down.
    â€œIt most certainly is.” She picked a dead leaf off the plant and stepped back to look at it. She turned to me. “Dinnerplate dahlias.”
    â€œI never heard of that.” My turtle could crawl between the petals and be lost for weeks.
    The yard was stuffed with flowerpots and decorations and statues. I turned in a circle to take it all in. Vines wrapped around trees and trellises, trying to touch the sky. Benches snuggled up to huge bushes. Hundreds of pink roses dangled from a wooden archway. The flowers were brighter and bigger and stranger than any I’d ever seen, like in a Dr. Seuss book. Wind chimes tinkled, but there still wasn’t even a breeze. I felt out of breath, but I hadn’t been running.
    The lady stood there watching me. Her shoulders were straight and she held her head high, like Charlene did at her beauty pageants. A bad feeling settled over me. “Is this a charm school for magic—or for beauty?” My cheeks burned. Rats. This was embarrassing.
    â€œWhich would you like it to be?” she asked.
    Magic , I thought. It was supposed to be a magical day, after all. I lifted a shoulder, and I expected her to scold me like Grandma probably would have for shrugging instead of answering. But this lady smiled at me.
    She set down her watering can and looked at me as if I was a flower she was deciding whether or not to pick. “All students who graduate from this school leave more beautiful.” She brushed her hands off and walked