Free Kelly McClymer-Salem Witch 02 Competition's A Witch by Kelly McClymer Page A

awkward.I could see that Maria and Denise did too. They were all three authentic fringies, but Maria and Denise, being girls, got that I wasn’t comfortable floating between undefined groups like they were. I wanted to be a kewl kid. I needed to be a kewl kid.
    Samuel? He just thought he could eventually convince me I didn’t need to be kewl. As if.
    “Sorry to hear Agatha didn’t let you take the test-out option early,” Maria said as she popped away the curry dish that Samuel had pointedly left on the table in front of me.
    “Yeah, bummer.” Denise shook her head. “You’d think she’d be impressed that you were working so hard.”
    “I’m not giving up completely,” I assured them. “But”—I couldn’t help an involuntary glance over at the cheerleaders’ table—“my time is getting way scarce these days, what with practice and games and all. Coach wants me to show the team everything I know about competitive cheering.”
    “That’s great, Pru!” Maria laughed. “I remember the first pep rally, when you said you wanted to join the team. And now you’re going to transform it.”
    Denise frowned. “Tara down with that, is she?”
    “Nothing I can’t handle,” I lied.
    Samuel hadn’t said much after I refused his curry. But now he must have decided to forgive me, because he popped something on the table in front of me. It looked like a thick green jade bracelet. But knowing Samuel, I knewit wasn’t just a piece of jewelry. I mean, the glasses he wears aren’t just freaky-looking tri-lenses of different colors—they also let him see into different dimensions.
    “So what does this do?” I didn’t pick up the bracelet right away. I confess, I was a little worried. Samuel is my best friend in Salem, but he’s also the geekiest geek I ever met. Not to mention an excellent witch who’d manifested an Earth Talent that gave him an insight into the workings of the physical world that could be scary to a unTalented halfling like me.
    “It will warn you when someone is lying to you.” He glanced over at the cheerleaders’ table. “You need it if you want to eat lunch with them every day.”
    True. But did I want to admit it in front of these three? I picked up the bracelet. “How does it work?”
    “Put it on.” Samuel smiled, almost as if he was enjoying the fact that I was nervous about his gift. Dork.
    I put it on. It felt lighter than it looked. The stone was smooth and curved and cool against my wrist.
    Samuel sat back and flipped his glasses a bit as he focused on me. “Okay. Denise, tell her a lie.”
    Denise shook her head and crossed her arms. “You tell her a lie.”
    Samuel scowled at Denise for a second, but then he shrugged. He turned to Maria. “Maria?”
    Maria looked at me and sighed. She said, a little moreloudly than she usually spoke, “Pru, you have the ugliest hair I’ve ever seen.”
    Whoa. “That was harsh.”
    “I’m sorry. Your hair is really beautiful. I was lying to you.” She looked like she might cry. “Samuel told me to lie and I thought you understood—”
    I took pity on her. “I understood. We’re all part of this big, mysterious experiment of Samuel’s.” I looked at him. “So? What were you trying to do besides make Maria miserable and get me to put on a hoodie for life?”
    He flipped his glasses a little more. “Didn’t you feel the bracelet react to Maria’s lie?”
    Well. No. “I didn’t notice anything. I was too busy wondering what was wrong with my hair.”
    “Nothing’s wrong with your hair,” Maria said again, just in case I hadn’t believed her the first time. “I love that straight, blond look on you. It’s so … Pru.”
    It was Samuel’s turn to sigh. “Girls.”
    Denise snorted in amusement. “What did you expect, Samuel? You gave her a bracelet and you asked Maria to lie to her.”
    “I asked you first.”
    “Fine.” Denise looked at me. “I want to sit at the cheerleaders’ table with you.”
    This time I was