Free Scary Cool (The Spellspinners) by Diane Farr Page B

exhibitionist type.”
    “It would be a rough transition,” I agreed. “After spending my whole, entire life ke eping my head down.”
    “What kills me,” she said, holding up one foot to admire t he effect, “is how easy it will be for you to make a real difference in the world. I’m going to have to study for years and years, and go into debt, and, you know, suffer to get through school if I want to be a doctor. You could just—” she waggled her fingers. “Boom. Cure people.”
    “No, I couldn’t. My spells don’t hold. And besides, you need a license to practice medicine, so I’d have to go through school just like you.”
    I was screwing the top back onto the clear nail polish so I didn’t notice for a second that Meg had gone utterly still and silent—which is so unlike her that otherwise, I would have noticed. I finally looked up at her. She had a strange expression on her face. Excited and hopeful, plus ashamed and guilty.
    “What?” I said.
    “You could help me, Zara. I would totally understand if your spell didn’t hold. And even if it didn’t hold , you could just, maybe, redo it.”
    “Redo what?”
    Her face was turning pinker by the second, but she didn’t drop her eyes. “You could make Alvin like me.”
    “Oh no.” I set the little bottle down. My mouth had suddenly gone dry with anxiety. “ Love spells? No.”
    “Yes! You totally could.”
    “Meg, it’s wrong. I’m not going to mess with people’s heads. I don’t even want to try.”
    “Why not? What could it hurt?”
    “Come on! How would you feel if somebody did that to you? It’s not fair. It’s creepy. No.” Then I had an idea . “ B esides, maybe he likes you already. Did you ask him to Homecoming yet?”
    Her face went even pinker . “I couldn’t, Zara. I was afraid.”
    “Afraid ?” Nothing scares Meg. I reached over and g ave her shoulder a friendly shove . “Aw, Meggie . Get re a l. You don’t need me to run interference .”
    “Yes, I do.” Her chin was taking on a stubborn tilt. “You know I’ve never asked you for anything like this before. But just this once, I’m asking you. Help me, Zara. I know you can do it, and it just … just… kills me to think how easy it would be for you, when it’s so hard for me.”
    I bit my lip, feeling guilty. She was right, of course. An d naturally I wanted to help my bestie — how could I not? But what she was asking me to do was wrong. I knew it in my bones.
    “What, exactly, do you want to happen?” I asked carefully.
    She leaned forward, her eyes alight with hope. “Make Alvin ask me to Homecoming.”
    “I thought you were asking him?”
    “If he asks me, I won’t have to.”
    Well, duh. I flopped backwards on the bed, groaning and covering my eyes.
    “Come on, Zara. Please? For me? I would do it for you. You know I would. ”
    She probably would .
    I did not uncover my eyes. “Okay,” I said at last. Mentally, I was hedging. “I’ll help.”
    I did not say I was going to use the Power. But Meg was squeeing and bouncing around the room, too thrilled to notice.
    “But you have to help, too,” I warned her. “No more of this girl-scientist stuff. I mean, of course you can be a girl scientist. Just stop looking like one.”
    She stopped bouncing. “What do you mean?”
    I’d been thinking about this for a while, actually, so I was glad the moment had finally arrived when I could say it.
    “You know how you’re always moaning about how gorgeous Bridget is, and saying you’ll never be pretty like her? Well, she’s your sister. Guess what? You look like her.”
    Bridget was off at college, so I was perched on he r bed. I reached over to the nightstand, picked up her senior portrait (which was sitting there, framed), and waved it at Meg. “See? What does she have that you don’t have?”
    “Boobs,” said Meg promptly. “And no glasses. And auburn hair. Also she’s taller. ”
    I could tell she was going to go on, so I waved my hand