Kelly McClymer-Salem Witch 02 Competition's A Witch by Kelly McClymer Read Free Book Online Page B

was dead to me, I had had no one to complain to. And apparently, damming up your complaints about the suckitude of your life can lead to volcanic eruptions of self-pity. “But I can’t even cheer in magic games, only in mortal games. I’m probably never going to get out of remedial classes and I bet I never manifest a Talent. By twenty-five, I’ll probably die a bitter old cat-lady-witch-reject!”
    Mom joined in the “rally Pru” effort. “Despite your magical shortcomings, Coach Gertie has faith in you. Shouldn’t you have faith in yourself?” Sometimes I wondered if she would have been a cheerleader if she hadn’t been born in Puritan Salem back when a good cheer would have landed her in the stocks.
    “Right. Everybody wants to listen to the witch who was raised in the mortal world. It’s probably only a matter of weeks before I become Notorious Pru, the girl everyone else avoids so as not to catch her loser cooties.”
    That was a little much for Mom. “Pru, you’re being a bit melodramatic, don’t you think?”
    Yes. That was the point. To tell the truth, I was surprised she had hung in there so long. My mom always wanted to soothe things that couldn’t be soothed. I wasn’t going to pretend she could. But I couldn’t say so out loud. So I just stared at her without answering.
    “I know it’s been hard for you.”
    “You think?”
    “Pru.” The warning was clear, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to pay attention to it. “I’m trying to help you figure this out. I know this move sometimes seems like it’s placed you in an impossible position“.” Even Mom was at a loss for an acceptable but.
    And then, she smiled, very pleased with herself. She asked, oh so casually, “What about if we threw you that sweet sixteen party we had to cancel when we decided to move?”
    “Too late. I turned sixteen somewhere in Idaho, driving here. Remember the chocolate cupcake with one of Tobias’s gummy bears posing as a flameless candle?”
    “I know. The timing of that trip was awful. But that’s a perfect excuse to have a belated sweet sixteen for you. You could invite some of the kids you want to get to know, the squad, Samuel. It would be a great way to break the ice.”
    “Sure. Great. If anyone decided to come to the new girl’s party.” I tried not to think about having a real sweet sixteen party. I’d been planning one since I turned ten and found out such things existed. Having it cancelled was a disaster second only to having to move without warning. “It’s too late.”
    Dad chimed in, happy that Mom had found a workable solution that even he could understand. “Nonsense. Your birthday is barely over.”
    That was quite a lie. “Birthdays only last a day, Dad. Not months.”
    Team Rally-Pru was not prepared to accept defeat. Dad came up with a suggestion from his bag of marketing tricks. “That’s why we’d call it a belated sweet sixteen. And we could invite Maddie, too. I’d pay for her to fly here if that would make you happy.”
    Maddie? The mortal backstabber? No way! Not that I could explain that to Dad. He didn’t get girl drama. “Forget it. You aren’t going to fix my loser status with a party.” It would just be another opportunity for me to risk showing everyone that I couldn’t do magic like the others. Sure, Samuel hung out with me enough to know it, but he was a fringie, not one of the kewl kids. He wasn’t the type to hold it against me. Which, I guess, is why he had become my best friend without my realizing it.
    “Won’t it help you meet some kids? Maybe let some kids see you’re just like they are, even if you aren’t as familiar with magic as they are?” Dad suggested.
    “Great. Take away my mystery and what do they find out? That I’m a loser when it comes to summoning and spells? That I throw sweet sixteen parties like
mortals
do? No thank you very much.”
    Mom bit her lip at the word “mortal.” Hah. Point for Pru. Not that I felt good that I’d