Free Bewitching by Alex Flinn Page B

Lisette came home, but a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Lisette was there, holding a shoebox. She held it out.
    “I noticed you didn’t have any cute sandals to show off your pedicure. I got Dad to buy you some.”
    I opened the box. It even smelled expensive. Inside were the cutest strappy sandals exactly the color of the blue polish we’d used.
    “You’re about a size eight, right?” Lisette said.
    I nodded. “Yes.” I was three or four inches shorter but had much bigger feet.
    “I thought so. I got the same ones, see?” She held up her foot. “We can wear them to school Monday if you want.”
    I did want. “That’s so sweet of you to think of me.”
    “Of course I did. You’ve been so nice. How’s your knee, by the way? It looked like you really banged it.”
    “It’s fine.”
    “Good. Dad said, if you wanted, he could drop us at the mall tomorrow night, to see a movie or something.”
    My doubts about Lisette dissipated. She definitely wanted to be friends. I guess I couldn’t blame her for going out with Daddy. She couldn’t go to school in stuff that didn’t fit. And the other thing, wearing the shirt with the spot on it, must have been an accident, just like my giving her the shirt had been.
    “So you can go?” Lisette said.
    I could just picture the girls at school, especially Courtney, seeing me at the Falls with my cool new sister.
    “Yeah, I’d like that.”
    “Try them on.” She wiggled her blue toes.
    So I did. The shoes fit perfectly, and from the ankles down, we could have been twins.

5

    Monday, Daddy went late to work so he could drive us to school and register Lisette.
    “I’m so excited!” Lisette squeezed my hand.
    I squeezed back. I was too. The more I got to know Lisette, the more I knew my—and my mother’s—fears were unfounded.
    I hadn’t been sure at first. When I’d awakened Saturday, Lisette and my dad had already left the house.
    “They were gone when I woke up,” Mother said with a nod. “Left a note saying they went sailing.”
    I spent the day reading. Lisette and Daddy returned that afternoon, sunburned and laughing. I met them downstairs.
    “Hey,” Lisette said. I noticed she was holding Daddy’s hand.
    “Did you have fun?” I tried to keep the hurt from my voice.
    “Hi, darling.” Daddy kissed my forehead. “You were sawing wood when we left.”
    “I wish you’d woken me.”
    “I know you’re not much into sailing,” Daddy said. “Lisette said so.”
    Something she could use against me .
    “Yeah,” Lisette agreed. “Now you don’t have to go anymore.”
    “I was thinking I’d like to try again.” Which wasn’t true. A week ago, I’d have been thrilled at the chance never to go sailing. “Maybe now that I’m older, I’ll like it better.”
    “I’m sorry, Pumpkin,” Daddy said. “I didn’t know.”
    He really had looked sorry, so I said, “It’s okay. I just wanted to do something together, all of us.” My voice sounded whiny, even to my own ears. “Maybe tomorrow we can do the butterfly garden.”
    Daddy rubbed his arms. “I don’t know. Your old dad’s not as young as he used to be. Maybe next weekend.”
    “Sure.” I wanted to stomp my feet and whine that he wasn’t doing anything with me, just Lisette, but I knew that would be a bad idea. Lisette’s mother had just died. I’d look like a brat.
    “Are we still on for tonight?” Lisette’s newly pink cheeks accented her bright blue eyes and the highlights in her hair.
    “Sure. I thought you’d forgotten.”
    “Never. We’re sisters now, right?”
    I nodded. “Sisters.”
    That night, walking around the Falls with Lisette in her new clothes, I felt like I was with a movie star, like I was a movie star. Everyone stared at us, and I was special by association. I kept searching the crowds, looking for Warner Glassman. It was stupid. He wasn’t there, of course. He was probably sitting at home, reading a book, which is what I’d have