Free Wishful Thinking by Amanda Ashby Page B

at the same time, since while Kara was laid back, her mom was anything but, and she didn’t take kindly to having her plans changed. “Besides,” Sophie added, “as soon as we find anything, we’ll just send you a text or IM you.”
    â€œAre you sure?” Kara still didn’t look convinced.
    â€œOf course,” Harvey assured her. “Besides, I’ll probably get it done faster if you and Sophie aren’t both in the same room together, since that’s when you normally decide to paint my toenails or braid my hair.”
    â€œWe only did that once,” Sophie protested before ruefully grinning. “But it’s a good point. Plus, whenever Kara is around, Meg tends to shadow us.”
    â€œFine,” Kara reluctantly agreed before waving good-bye to them both. Once she had gone, Sophie turned to Harvey.
    â€œI’ve just got to get Meg from next door, but I won’t be long.”
    He nodded, and Sophie quickly made her way to the Daltons’ house, where Meg and her (sometimes) best friend Jessica were eating cupcakes and discussing their new teacher. Sophie thanked Mrs. Dalton for picking Meg up, and the sisters made their way back to where Harvey was waiting for them.
    Sophie let out an unconscious sigh of relief as soon as she stepped onto the porch of the two-story weatherboard home. She’d been born in this house, and despite the peeling paint and the lawn that had needed mowing for weeks, being here made her feel like everything would be okay again.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with your face?” Meg suddenly demanded as Sophie unlocked the front door, thereby proving that if six-year-old kids really did rule the world, then everyone would be in a lot of a trouble. “And why is Harvey here?”
    â€œThere’s nothing wrong with my face, and Harvey is helping me with some homework,” Sophie said quickly as she tugged Harvey’s hoodie down over her brow and went for a change of subject. “Anyway, how was your first day? Your new teacher sounds nice.”
    â€œWell, she’s not; she’s awful, and first grade sucks,” Meg retorted in a blunt voice, but before Sophie could reply, her sister went dashing for the mailbox, and Sophie took the opportunity to quickly unlock the door while Meg couldn’t see her paint-smeared fingers.
    However, the minute she stepped inside there was a yowling noise from over by the window, and Sophie looked up to see Mr. Jaws glaring at her, his black and white fur sticking up and his back arched like the letter
N
.
    Harvey looked at him in fascination as he stopped eating Cheetos for a moment. “Wow, will you check out that body language. I’m pretty sure that something is bothering him. I wonder if it’s because he can sense what’s happened to you. Cats have a sixth sense about these things.”
    â€œI don’t know, but whatever it is, he needs to stop it,” Sophie said in alarm before she turned to the cat. “Shhhh,” she hissed in a low voice as Mr. Jaws continued to stare at her as if she’d refused to feed him for ten days (which, for the record, was completely unfair since the longest the cat had gone without food was about a minute). “Seriously, Mr. Jaws, be quiet. Just go and chase your shadow or something.”
    Yeah, right, the only thing I intend on doing is snarling at you until someone else figures out that you’ve turned into an orange-skinned freakazoid,
the cat seemed to say. But before Sophie could reply Meg came racing into the house carrying a bundle of letters under her arm. Thankfully, she seemed oblivious to the laser beams of hate that Mr. Jaws was putting out, and instead she darted over to the couch and scrambled under it.
    Sophie, who had once found her sister asleep in the laundry basket, didn’t even blink. Instead, she headed to the kitchen, pleased that Meg was distracted. She grabbed a couple of packets of mini