Free The Unwilling Witch by David Lubar

I watched the teacher and tried to make her do something else. Bark like a dog, I thought. For good measure, I puffed up at my bangs again. She cleared her throat. It sounded a little like a bark, but I wasn’t sure I’d caused it. I looked over at May. Scratch your head, I thought as I puffed air.
    May scratched her head.
    But that wasn’t a real test. May was always scratching.
    â€œClear your desks,” Mrs. Pushbind said. “It’s time for a quiz.” She started writing the questions on the board.
    Around me, everyone was hard at work, scribbling away. I thought about what I’d read in the books I’d borrowed. It helped to have an object to focus the power. That was one of the keys. Lance had been hurt because I’d just let the power loose without any direction. I wouldn’t do that again. But I had to find out whether I could control my power.
    I held up my own pencil and broke the tip with my thumb. Snap. Then I blew on the tip. Energy flowed from me into the air, spreading in all directions. Snap, snap, snap. Two dozen other pencil tips snapped. I couldn’t help grinning as the whole class headed for the pencil sharpener. I noticed that my thumb was a bit sore, as if I’d actually used it to break every single one of those pencils.
    Mrs. Pushbind looked like she wanted to say something, but all the kids held up their pencils to show her.
    â€œI did it,” I whispered to Jan as I got in line behind her.
    â€œWhat was the point?” she whispered back.
    I realized she was making a joke about the pencil points. But I still answered her. “The point is power,” I said.
    Life at school was about to get very exciting.

 
    Twenty-one
    PRANKS A LOT
    I didn’t break the pencils again. I felt that I wouldn’t learn anything by repeating myself. As I walked down the hall with Jan on our way toward lunch, I thought about what else I could do. The cafeteria was loaded with possibilities.
    â€œLunch is going to be interesting,” I told Jan as we took our seats. We always brought sandwiches so we wouldn’t have to stand in line.
    â€œHardly the word I’d choose.” Jan peeked into her bag and said, “Nope. Nothing interesting in here. Nothing edible in here, for that matter.”
    We sat at an empty table. I didn’t want anyone to notice what I was doing. I looked over at the noisiest table. A bunch of kids were laughing and shouting and horsing around. Kenny Volst was standing up, leaning on the edge of the table, saying something to Mike Howardson. I took a drinking straw and balanced it on one end. Slip, I said to myself. I blew a puff of air, knocking over the straw. Kenny’s hands slipped and he fell face-first into his plate of food. Lunch today was what the cafeteria people called Hungarian goulash, but it was really just noodles with red sauce and chunks of mystery meat. It looked great on Kenny.
    Jan stared at Kenny, then back at me. “Was that you—?”
    â€œYup.” I tried to turn everyone’s milk sour. But nothing happened. Only about half the things I tried actually worked. I did manage to make Cody Perez spill juice all over his pants. And I got Melissa Canutti to burp real loudly. Three times! She looked around like she couldn’t believe what had come out of her mouth. All her stuck-up friends got very embarrassed.
    â€œOne favor,” Jan said after Melissa’s third ear-shattering belch.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œJust don’t do anything like that at the other end. Okay?”
    â€œJan! I’d never stoop so low.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I started laughing.
    Jan was laughing, too. Then her face lit up like she was suddenly struck with a great idea. “Why don’t you cast a spell on him, ” she whispered, pointing past me.
    I glanced over my shoulder. Danny Gleason was at the table right behind me.
    â€œI couldn’t,” I whispered