OMG... Am I a Witch?! (2 page)

three

“If your brother is hanging out with Michael, tell him to give me a—”
AHCHOO!
Mrs. Appleton covered her nose.

“Bless you,” said April.

Oh no. I have to get Austin away from her. This is why she said we can't have a dog—SHE'S ALLERGIC!!! OMG! OMG! This being-a-witch stuff is super hard.

April started nervously tapping her foot.

“Thank you. Uh . . . tell him to call me,” Mrs. Appleton said.

“Grrr . . .”

Austin, be quiet.

April reached her arm around, under the backpack, to her shoulder, acting as if she were scratching her back. The backpack shifted and tossed Austin around.

“OK, Mom, I love you.” April grasped the doorknob and turned.

“Do you have to go to the bathroom?” April's mom asked, looking at her tapping foot.

“No.” April stopped tapping. “I just, um, wanted to go hang out with Grace, you know?”

Her mother's frown turned into a smile. Mrs. Appleton leaned in to give April a kiss on her forehead and
AHCHOO!

“Ewww . . . great . . . a Friday afternoon shower.” April wiped her face and forehead.

My mother just sneezed on me
.
Gross!
She had to get this dog out of there before her mom got worse.
Geez, I don't want to make her sick.

“Sorry, honey. Have fun with Grace.”

“GRRR . . .”

“April, did you hear that?” April's mom looked at the backpack. April quickly shifted from one foot to the other, tossing Austin around again.

“No . . . Nope, didn't hear anything. Uh, OK, Mom . . . see you later.”

April opened the door and jumped down the two steps right outside the front door. Her mother followed, stopping at the doorway.

Mrs. Appleton looked at the ground outside the door and around the bushes on both sides. “I don't see anything,” she said. “I wonder where that noise came from . . .”

April briskly walked away.

“The tissues are on the dining room table,” April said as she reached the end of the path and turned onto the sidewalk. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched her mother search the ground outside the house.

She looks okay. I had to get him out of there as fast as I could.
She remembered the time her mother had an allergy attack from being around Uncle Jim's two dogs. Her eyes swelled shut. Her father had to rush to the pharmacy to get her some allergy tablets.
Geez, I felt badly for her then . . . and I wasn't even the cause of it. Now, I am.

She looked back and saw her mom go back inside. She bit her lip as she walked to Grace's house.
I will never lie to her again.

four

Grace opened the door before April could knock on it. She grabbed April's arm, pulled her inside, and led her up the stairs past her brother's room.

“Mom!” Grace yelled. “April and I are going to do some research online for our essay on the president.”

“That's fine, girls,” Mrs. Galapagos said from the next room.

When they reached her room, Grace closed the door. She whipped her head around to meet April's eyes. “What did you do? WHAT happened?”

April looked down at the bright blue carpet. As she lifted her head, she admired the clouds and sky painted on the walls. All she could imagine was floating off into the clouds. Or flying to the stars on the other wall. She fixated on the big yellow sun behind Grace's bed.

Grace waved her hand in front of April's face. “Earth to April . . .”

April dropped her arms. The book bag slid down her back and landed on the ground. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she unzipped it and took out the dog.

Grace's jaw dropped. “Is that . . .”

April nodded.

“No way! Prove it!”

“How? I'm not the Dog Whisperer.”

Grace looked at Austin. “Wag your tail when I say my brother's name. Justin . . . David . . . Aaron . . . Michael—”

“Arf,” Austin yelped and wagged his tail.

Grace's jaw dropped and her eyes bulged.

“Hello, Grace? You ok?”

“Well, I guess this is Austin.” Grace looked into the little white dog's eyes. She squeezed her eyebrows together. “How did this happen? When did it happen? And how come I didn't know you could do this kind of . . . stuff?”

“I really didn't mean to! I was mad one day last week so I searched online ‘how to turn someone into a dog.' I found a spell book. I think it was called
The Book of Magic
or something like that.” April shrugged her shoulders. “I didn't know that I even remembered the spell until Austin was bugging me on the bus today. I warned him. I told him if he didn't stop bothering me, I would turn him into a dog. He didn't believe me. So I . . . uh . . . proved it?”

five

“Whoa, whoa, April. Let's start from the beginning.” Grace took a few deep breaths, and slowly sat on the chair in front of her computer. Her eyes stayed glued on the dog. “I'm scared to ask, BUT what happened on the bus? The one day I go to the doctor I miss all the good stuff.”

“So, Austin sat next to me—” April started.

“OK. That's not a crime.” Grace threw her hands up in the air.

April rolled her eyes. “I know. Let me finish.”

“Sorry . . .”

“You know I broke my glasses last week. That's why I'm wearing these huge ugly red ones. I mean, seriously, what other fifth grader has big red glasses?”

“You're right! NO ONE else does,” Grace agreed. “They kinda look like red hula hoops.”

“Thanks, Grace.”

Austin let out a little whimper, which almost sounded like a laugh.

“Seriously? You're a dog. How can you laugh?” April flopped onto the bed. Her feet just touched the carpet. “So . . . he said, ‘Hey, Awkward Appleton, can you see the ants on the ground outside the bus—since you're wearing magnifying glasses?'” April made her voice deeper and lifted her shoulders, trying to mimic Austin.

Austin let out another little laughing whimper.

Grace shot Austin a cold glare.

“Then he started making fun of my braces, calling me ‘metal mouth' and ‘brace face.
'
” She looked down at her hands.

“That is SOOO mean!” Grace said, quickly moving her eyes from April to Austin. Austin groaned and turned his head away.

“AND, this morning he only left me crumbs in the cereal box . . . on purpose. He had two bowls of cereal and only left a few drops of milk! I had to eat oatmeal with water. He knows I hate oatmeal, and I hate it even more with water.”

“Geez! Older brothers are so annoying. But you're luckier than me. You could have Michael as an older brother. The other day he came into my room, farted, then ran right back to his room.” Grace wrinkled up her nose.

“EWWW! That's gross. I guess you're right. It could be worse. When Austin and I were younger, we played together a lot. And, that was fun . . .
then
,” April said, glaring at the dog. “He's become such a mean pain in the butt. Remember last week?”

“What? I forget . . .”

“He asked me if I wanted to do an art project. I said ‘yes.' You know I love art. It's my fave.”
April took a deep breath.

“He gave me a plain white t-shirt and asked me to put it on. I thought—stupid me—he was spray painting on the back or something. He told me to lie straight back on a sheet of white paper he said he put on the rug. I didn't check—stupid me. He told me it was a new technique he learned in art class. I tried to turn around to look at the paper. But he told me if I moved too much I might mess up the picture he painted on the shirt. So, I lay straight back. He pulled my hair, said ‘I'm the Prankster of the Year.' Then he ran away. When I tried to get up, I couldn't. I was stuck to the rug! He covered my back with instant dry glue. There was no paper. It was so traumatizing!”

“Oh my . . .” Grace covered her mouth with her hand.

April looked down at the rug, wringing her hands. “My mom had to come get me. She helped me slide out of the shirt. She had to use paint thinner to get the shirt off the rug. He got in a lot of trouble, but I felt like such a nothing. That's when I Googled that spell,” April said. “But I never, ever imagined it would work, let alone in the school bus! I just thought of the spell in my head and . . . poo
f
! It happened! I'm just glad nobody noticed and I was able to sneak him quickly into my backpack.”

Grace put her face right in front of Austin's. “Well, maybe now you'll stop playing jokes on April.”

“Grrr . . .”

Bam!

April and Grace stared at each other without blinking. They turned to the closed bedroom door.

“Hello? Anyone home?” Mr. Galapagos called.

Grace turned to the computer and started typing super fast. “We'll have to talk about this more later. We need to start searching NOW.”

six

“Hello?” Grace's dad said cheerfully. They heard Grace's mom and dad talking. Then, there was a long pause.

“Ugh, April! I think they're kissing,” Grace said, grabbing her stomach.

“So annoying. My parents do that, too.”

“Gross.” They said at the same time. They both laughed.

“Michael! Grace! Kids, are you home?” They heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Oh no, Grace! He's coming upstairs,” April said, trying to whisper.

“Quick! We have to find a place to hide Austin. I know my dad will ask a ton of questions, and, and, and—”

They both jumped up. April's body shook from the fear that Mr. Galapagos could find Austin—as a dog.

She ran around the room, looking in every corner.

Grace walked right to her closet door and yanked it open. She picked up something from the floor. “This is the purse I had from Aunt Mary's wedding a few years ago.”

“Oh, it's so pretty. Your dress was purple and shiny like that too, right?”

Grace unzipped it and dumped her lip-glosses on the closet floor. “Yep.”

April held Austin with both hands. She turned his face to hers. The beating of her heart slowed. Staring at his wide eyes reminded her of her brother years ago—when he was nice.

She whispered in his ear, “Please be quiet. I am begging you.” She stuffed him into the purse. Grace zipped it back up and dropped him on the closet floor.

“Arrr . . .”

April kneeled down on the floor. Hovering over the purse, she whispered, “Shhhh, Austin. But, uh, sorry about that.” She glanced up at all of Grace's clothes hanging perfectly in the closet, as the steps grew louder and closer. Hopping to her feet, she closed the closet
door.

“He's coming,” Grace said in a hushed voice.

Tippy-toe, tippy-toe, tippy-toe. Flop.
April landed on Grace's bed, kicked off her shoes, and crossed her legs. Grace slid back into the desk chair, and started typing, P-R-E-S-I-D-E-N-T.

“Hi, girls,” Mr. Galapagos said, smiling as he opened the door. His smile went away and he tilted his head to the side. “April, why are you sweating? Are you okay?”

“Uh . . .” Grace jumped in.

Say school lunch
, thought April.
I'm sick from school lunch. No, don't say that. That would get me a trip to the doctor. Or even worse, a trip to the hospital. Say something. What else . . .

“We did relay races at school. So, I am . . . uh . . . hot and tired,” April said, staring at the closet door.

“Oh, okay,” he said, raising one eyebrow. “Are you staying for dinner, April?”

“Ummm . . .” April said, still staring at the closet. Grace's dad looked at the closet door.

Grace kicked April.

Ouch! Ok, now stop staring at the closet.
April looked at Mr. Galapagos.
Breathe.
Say something . . . say anything.