Season of the Witch by Mariah Fredericks Read Free Book Online

would my mom feel if she thought I did the same thing as Katherine?
    My mom would want to still call the school, still yell at Chloe’s parents. But all along, I bet she’d be feeling it was my fault. Whilemy dad would think it was his fault. And I’d know, really, the whole damn sorry mess was my fault.
    “Fine,” I tell my mom. “It was fine. A definite seven at least.”
    That night, I’m lying in bed trying to figure out how I’m going to get through the rest of my life when my phone buzzes.
    Text message from Ella.
I suck! Sorry! Meeting took forever! Yogurt on me?
    Yep, I think, tossing the phone down. You do suck, Ella. Not always. But sometimes.
    Almost as soon as it hits the blanket, the phone buzzes again. I am just so popular.
    This message is from Chloe. It also starts with
Sorry!
    My heart leaps. It’s over. They got what they wanted, realized they were wrong. Because they’re not heinous people, they’re basically okay.…
    I read.
    Sorry! We made you a promise. We promised you hell—but we really didn’t give it to you today. Our bad. We’ll make it up to you tomorrow, we promise
.
    Sleep tight!
    I will kill her, I think. Seriously. I have had it with this crap. Tomorrow, I will …
    Will …
    The three of them pressing in on me. So thrilled that they could scare me.
    I have to not be scared, I tell myself.
    My phone buzzes again. Furious, I snatch it up. If it’s Chloe, I am texting her back this time.
    But it’s Cassandra. She must have gotten my number from the school directory.
    She writes
    Sorry. I know you were trying to be nice
.
    Of course it doesn’t take a psychic to know that’s what I was trying to do. It’s not like Cassandra read my mind or anything.
    So why does it feel like she did?

CHAPTER FOUR
    THE NEXT DAY ON THE way to school, I make a decision. Summer did not happen. Katherine, the parties, Oliver—none of it. And if other people want to see it differently, that’s their problem.
    At first, it seems to work. I hit the lockers, go to homeroom, then head to my first class. Nobody crowds me. No one insults me. We’re all just doing our thing.
    Good, I think. Maybe it was just the first day. Now everybody’s over it.
    In the afternoon, I spot Chloe on my way to science. I stiffen, will myself to keep walking. Chloe sees me, too. For a split second, our eyes meet. Then she turns to the girl she’s with—Elana something—and whispers.
    Elana something stares at me.
    I take a deep breath, keep moving. So, Chloe’s trashing me to kids I don’t know and don’t care about. I can live with that.
    But the next day, in art class, a group of girls suddenly goessilent when I pass them on my way to the pottery wheel. Behind me, I hear
bzz, bzz
.
    It could be not about me.
    But it probably is. I tell myself I don’t care.
    That afternoon, Nina coos, “
Sure
you don’t want to dish about the summer?”
    “I was in Maine all summer,” I tell her. “I got bitten by a tick, went into a coma, and woke up the day school started.”
    Nina grins. “Well, you better check in with your coma self. She got pretty wild while you were out.”
    The next day, I find a condom taped to my locker, with a note:
    “Thought you could use this.”
    Cute, I think. Very cute.
    In the cafeteria, giggles from a table of girls as I pass. Charming grunting noises from a table of guys. I decide to eat lunch out for a while.
    The next day at lunchtime, I tell Ella I have a mad craving for pizza and want to go out. She says quickly, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
    She’s quiet on the walk over to Ray’s. It occurs to me that Ella is the one person who isn’t asking me about the summer. Ella, who lives for gossip.
    The gossip must be pretty bad.
    I get two slices. Thinking of the diet she’s supposed to be on, Ella hesitates, then says, “I’ll join you,” and gets two as well. I wonder if she wants to keep her mouth full so she won’t have to tell me the truth.
    As we squeeze into a tiny