Free T*Witches 3: Seeing Is Deceiving by Randi Reisfeld, H.B. Gilmour Page B

one that Grandma Godlen gave me. It’s worth … well… are you sure?”
    Beth put her arm around her mother’s waist and led her to the door. “Give me a half hour. Then Lauren and I will help you look for it.”
    Cam couldn’t help what came out of her mouth next, the minute the door closed. She hadn’t meant to sound accusing. “Beth, you’re not, you know, donatingyour mom’s jewelry or anything? For the cause … Helping Hands, I mean?”
    Her friend was startled. “You think I would do that?”
    Cam hesitated. “The Beth I know? No way. But lately, you’re just, you’ve been acting strangely.”
    “Maybe the Beth you know is changing. Maybe it’s about time. Maybe I have my own interests that aren’t the same as yours. But it doesn’t mean I’d do anything … radical.”
    Cam couldn’t let it go. “It just feels like you’re doing things you’ll regret because you’re upset about our friendship, about Alex.”
    Beth paused. Then quietly she said, “Why do you always think everything’s about you? Do you even have a clue how self-centered you are?”
    It was Cam’s turn to be startled. “That’s not fair. If you saw me doing — like being self-destructive — I would hope you’d be there. You always have. Being a friend is being able to say what’s really on your mind, acting on it.”
    Beth countered, “Being a friend is being able to see things differently once in a while. Accepting change. Look, okay, so I messed up this week in a few classes, it’s not the end of the world. I’ve been busy. I really believein what Helping Hands is doing. I don’t understand why you can’t accept that. And if you can’t, maybe it is time to reevaluate our friendship. Move on, even.”
    Cam walked over to where Beth was sitting, and knelt so they’d be eye to eye. “I don’t want that. I hope you don’t, either.”
    Beth blinked back tears. “How could you accuse me …?”
    “My bad. That was —” She paused. “Way out of line. Forgive?” She pulled a tissue out of the flowered box on the desk and handed it to her.
    Beth blew her nose. “And forgotten.”
    Because she still couldn’t tell Beth the truth about Ms. Webb and the shoplifting, Cam searched for a neutral topic. “So anyway, you’re still going to the winter dance tonight, right?”
    “I’ll be there,” Beth assured her. For the first time that morning, a trace of her usually bright smile played on her lips.
    Which gave Cam an idea. “Hey, you want to double? Go together? It’s short notice, but Jason’s friend Rick is kinda cool….”
    Beth’s smile dissolved. She shook her head. “Nothing ever changes, does it? What makes you think I need you to get me a date?”
    Cam blanched. “I don’t think that. You said you didn’t have one.”
    “That was two weeks ago.”
    “Of course I don’t need to get you a date. You’re totally fine going solo…. Sukari is and —”
    Beth interrupted her. “I would be fine going on my own, but it so happens I have a date.”
    “You do?”
    “Try to keep the shock out of your voice, okay, Cami?”
    “I’m surprised you didn’t tell me, that’s all.”
    She shouldn’t have been. Apparently, there was lots Beth hadn’t been sharing lately. “So, what’s he like? Who is he? Is he … you know, a cool guy?”
    Even as the words tumbled out, instantly Cam knew he wasn’t. For, as Beth started to happily tell her about this new boy in her life, Cam felt it: an icy chill, a throbbing in her temples, goose bumps. And she saw …
    Tall and ripped, with milk-chocolate-brown eyes framed by long dark lashes, a shock of tousled light brown hair, a killer smile.
    “Shane,” they said at the same time.
    The boy from the Helping Hands cart. Of course, Beth would have been working with him. Shane Wright.
    Somehow, Cam knew he was all wrong.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    ONE FATHER TOO MANY
    Alex lay in bed, arms akimbo, staring at the ceiling. The alarm clock’s digital readout told her it