Witch Twins by Adele Griffin Read Free Book Online Page B

Luna had expected.
    “You are staring very intently at that blank screen, Luna Bundkin.” Ms. Fleegerman’s voice barked loud behind her. “I wish you would focus as hard on the assignment at hand. Please insert your CD-ROM and down-load the ‘fun with fractions’ file.”
    After computer lab, 5A and 5B rotated. In the hallway, Claire waved and made a sad face. Luna made a sad face back, but Claire did not see it because now she was whispering with Xander Wessels, the new kid whom Claire once said was a jerk. Claire must have decided he was not such a jerk, after all.
    The day went from miserable to devastating. At lunch, Luna sat with Adam Chow and in music appreciation, she stood between Frieda Gunderson and Helen Polinski. She realised that she didn’t know Adam, Frieda, or Helen very well at all, although all three of them had come to the twins’ last birthday party. Luna was so used to having Claire at her side that it had never seemed important to make friends with other people in their grade.
    First no Mrs. Sanchez, now no Claire. It was that horrible old Ms. Fleegerman’s fault. Luna closed her eyes and imagined all the spells she would cast on Ms. Fleegerman once she took her GSTs and became a one-Star witch. She would cast the Twisted-Toes and Toads spell. The Erase-Facecream spell. The Expanding Wart-Picker’s spell. Thinking of all the good spells made her laugh out loud.
    Ms. Fleegerman glared. “Is there some thing so amusing about chorus, Miss Bundkin, that you would like to share it with us?”
    “No, thanks, Ms. Fleegerman.”
    She could feel the whole class staring. How embarrassing! With no Claire on her side, and Ms. Fleegerman singling her out, Luna sensed that the other kids of 5A were beginning to view her differently. Maybe they were thinking that she was dumb twin, or the weird twin. The not-as-good-as-the-Other twin.
    It was awful.
    “How was your first day in Five B?” she asked Claire as they walked home together.
    “Not as bad as I thought. Alexa and Courtney and I made up a club. We named it the Mariposa Club, because butterflies are our club symbol, and mariposa is the Spanish word for butterfly. Isn’t that a great word? Courtney even markered a mariposa on the bathroom stall door. You can be in our club, too, if you want. And look!” Claire rolled up her arm to show the pink-and-purple butterfly just above her elbow. “Alexa drew that on me. Doesn’t it look just like a real tattoo?”
    “Not really,” Luna answered. She could hardly even talk from sadness.
    “How’s old Ms. F? Luckily, I only have to see her for natural history class and computer sciences.”
    “Gee, thanks for rubbing it in,” said Luna.
    At home, Luna dragged herself upstairs to their mother’s room and closed the door. Their mother’s room was very peaceful. It had a feather comforter and scented candles and many framed pictures of Justin, Luna, and Claire. But right now, Luna did not want to look at any pictures of herself. She turned them all facedown. Then she spied one of her mother’s fuzzy slippers on the floor. It looked a little bit like a kitten.
    Luna picked up the slipper, stretched out on the bed, and pulled the comforter up to her neck. She hugged the slipper, wishing that she had a real little kitten for a lonely time like now. She let a tear plop onto the pillow. And another. She closed her eyes.
    “Luna?”
    Luna’s eyes opened. The room had gone dark. Her mother was sitting next to her on the bed. “Are you all right?” Her hand was cool against Luna’s forehead. “You don’t feel feverish. Is that my slipper you’re holding?”
    “Sorry Mom. I’m okay. I didn’t mean to fall asleep in here.” The pillow smelled spitty. Luna raised her head, handed over the slipper, and wiped her cheek.
    “Is there anything you want to talk about?” Now her mother reached over to the bedside table and stood one of the pictures upright. Luna looked hard at the photograph, taken at