Free Rhymes With Witches by Lauren Myracle

said.
    Camilla’s head whipped toward mine.
    â€œBut, yeah,” I said quickly. “He did … what she said.”
    Mr. Van Housen frowned. “Yes. All right. Well, Camilla, you can rest assured that the matter will be taken care of.”
    â€œWill there be a hearing?” Camilla demanded. “Will he be expelled?”
    â€œThe matter will be taken care of appropriately,” Mr. Van Housen said, with a look that shut Camilla up. “I appreciate your bringing this to my attention.”
    I scurried out of his office. When Camilla came out two seconds later, her face was splotchy. She saw me and blanked her expression, but not before I’d seen what was underneath. She ducked her head and hurried past.
    At the other end of the hall, the cheerleading results were posted on the community bulletin board. I took a breath and headed over.
    â€œOh my god!” I heard Tina Burston exclaim. She clapped, and her crutches fell to the floor. “It’s a dream come true!”
    Two other girls squealed and hugged.
    â€œWhere’s Kim?” one of them said. “We have to find her. Kim!
Kim!
You made it!”
    I pushed my way through the crowd and scanned the list. Kim, Stacy, Rebecca, Tina, and … Shelly Clarkson.
    Oh. Right. It wasn’t as if I were surprised, but just for a moment, I’d thought
maybe
.
    I found Alicia at her locker.
    â€œI don’t want to talk about it,” she muttered. Her eyes were rimmed with red.
    â€œOkay,” I said.
    â€œAnyway, who was I fooling? I didn’t even want to be a cheerleader. Cheerleaders just exist to make other people feel bad. Plus, they’re stupid.”
    â€œOkay.”
    She slammed her locker and headed down the hall. I walked beside her. At the door to her classroom, she stopped. She stubbed her pink-and-gray All-Star against the hall carpet.
    â€œRae’s singing karaoke tonight,” she said. “Want to go?”
    â€œSure,” I said.
    She clamped her lips together. She nodded once, then went into the room.

    Mary Bryan trapped me after French. “We need to talk,” she said.
    Sweat popped out in my armpits. “I’m sorry I was such a dork at Kyle’s party,” I said. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you guys.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Mary Bryan asked. “You didn’t embarrass us.”
    â€œBut I was such a loser.”
    â€œWell …” She shrugged. “I had a great time. So did Keisha and Bitsy.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œYeah. So don’t worry about it.” She ushered me down the hall and out the back door of the building. “There’s Bitsy. Let’s go.”
    â€œHuh? Go where?”
    Mary Bryan tugged me across the parking lot. She climbed into the backseat of Bitsy’s car and scooted over to make room for me. Keisha was already in the front.
    â€œBut … it’s sixth period,” I said.
    â€œSo?” Bitsy said.
    â€œSo I’m supposed to be in LIFE.”
    She looked at me blankly, and I said, “Learning Inspiration from Empathy. LIFE. Today we’re taking a field trip to the zoo, to talk to an expert on feral cats.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œSo we can learn more about the cats on campus. So we can learn to coexist, and help other people to—”
    â€œI think you should pass,” Bitsy said. “I’m sure the cats will understand.”
    I glanced back at the building. Then I squeezed into the car.We followed the winding campus road that led to the back gate, but no one explained what was going on. We left the school grounds, and Bitsy selected a song on her iPod.
    â€œUh … where are we going?” I asked over the music.
    â€œMy place,” Bitsy said.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œWhy do you think?”
    A shred of hope sliced through me. Was it possible I was still being considered?
    Idiot, idiot, idiot
, I scolded myself.
Don’t even go