Accidentally Evil by Lara Chapman Read Free Book Online Page A

mouth poised to hurl a well-­rehearsed insult at me.
    But she doesn’t insult me.
    She doesn’t do anything at all.
    The color drains from her face, and I know I’ve got her.
    I put my hands on the table, lean in close so my face is just a foot away from hers. I blink a few times, just to be sure she sees them, then whisper, “Surprise.”

Eight
    W hen we walk into Lady Rose’s room, I’m flying high. I have never been so satisfied with myself. And Kendall’s stupefied face was like the best gift I’ve ever received.
    â€œI can’t believe you did that,” Ivy says. “I can’t believe you had the nerve.”
    â€œMe either. But, darn, it felt good.”
    The room goes quiet when Lady Rose walks in. She teaches the Elements of Witchcraft class. It’s where we learn the real witch stuff about our gifts and spells. That kind of thing. Lady Rose isn’t as hip as Lady ­Jennica, but she’s cool in her own way. After all, she’s the one who teaches us magic. It’d be impossible to hate the class, or her.
    â€œWell, ladies, here we are. Year two here at Dowling. Did everyone sleep okay?”
    The group nods and groans at the same time, making her smile.
    â€œWell, maybe I can help wake you up. Let’s talk about our goals this year.”
    With a clap of her hands, the room goes dark and the projector screen lights up with a PowerPoint titled “Crafter Goals.”
    â€œOur first goal,” she says as the PowerPoint goes to a new slide, “is what I like to call ‘fine-tuning’ our gifts. We’ll learn how to better manage our skills. When that happens, the lights will stay on and the blinds will catch a break in Lady Jennica’s room.”
    Everyone laughs, and some girls blush, knowing they’re to blame for the now broken window blinds in our history class.
    A new slide comes on.
    Learn new spells.
    Some girls clap, and others shout “Yeah!” out loud. This is what we’ve all been waiting for. We have our gifts, and that’s cool—supercool, actually. But when you learn spells, you can actually make things happen intentionally. And witches can do some pretty cool things when they know what they’re doing.
    â€œThat’s always a crowd-pleaser,” Lady Rose says with a smile. “Let me prepare you, girls. We will begin with small spells. Only when I’m convinced you’ve mastered those responsibly will we move on. And we will all move at the same pace. It’s an all-for-one kind of thing.”
    Kendall looks at Zena, like she’s seeking affirmation that the rules don’t apply to them. Zena shrugs, but I don’t know what that means. What I do know is that neither Zena nor Kendall care for rules. It’s not in their nature to wait for the group.
    â€œThere are no exceptions to this rule,” Lady Rose says. “Every single one of you will master the basics before any of us move on.” She looks at Zena pointedly, but Zena is looking in her purse for something. Probably some evil magic dust.
    A girl in the back of the room raises her hand, and our teacher nods to her. “Is it hard to learn spells?”
    Lady Rose thinks about this a moment. “That’s a great question.”
    Ivy looks behind us to see who asked the question. She turns back to me and shrugs. “I don’t know her,” she whispers.
    I sneak a look back and recognize her as one of the girls constantly chasing after Kendall and Zena, willing to do almost anything to be part of their group. I’ve never quite understood how Kendall always managed to stay so popular. I used to think it was because she was pretty and girls thought being with her made them pretty too, but now I just think some girls are delusional. Like this girl.
    I think her name is Cassie. She sits up straight next to another familiar girl I can’t name. You’d think I’d know more