Spell Book & Scandal

Chapter Eighteen

"What are we going to do?" I ask in a small voice.

She taps the side of her—my—face thoughtful. "We have to figure out what happened first. Who did this to us, what spell they used, all that stuff. We can't reverse it otherwise."

My heart starts to pound. "So, what, we're stuck like this?"

She grimaces. "Believe me, I'm not any happier about it than you are. But if you're sure you don't know what caused this—"

I shake my head. "No clue."

She nods. "Then we have to find out who did. Once we know that, we can see about getting a counter spell."

I pause, but the weirdness makes me bold enough to ask her a question I've been wondering for a while. "Who's scribing for you now?"

She shifts her gaze. "You don't need to know right now. But I'm not going to ask for a spell until we know what we're dealing with."

I nod, even though the fact that she won't trust me even when she's wearing my skin stings more than I care to admit. "Fine. But seriously, I can't go to school like this."

"You think I want to repeat sophomore year? Those classes sucked."

Footsteps pad down the hall, and we both freeze. Mom and Dad are up, and I have no idea what they're going to do when Christina and I tell them what's going on. "Let's not tell them," I say in a hurried whisper.

She hesitates, but then she nods. "Dad might be able to figure out what's going on."

"Yeah, but," I pause, struggling with how to put my thoughts into words. "Don't you think they might blame you? After all, you are the caster." Or they might blame me, since they're mad about me selling spells. I push that thought aside; there's no way this could be my fault. Still, I don't want to piss Mom and Dad off any more than I already have, and I think telling them that I'd switched places with their perfect oldest daughter would qualify as pissing them off.

Christina frowns. "I hadn't thought of that." She pauses. "You know I didn't do this, right?"

I exhale slowly, and then I nod. There's no way, right? "Yeah. Like you said, why would you want to be stuck as me?"

***

When we get on the bus, my heart skips a beat. Kelsey is there, sitting in our old seat. She hasn't ridden the bus since she started dating Ryan, and I've barely seen her since our fight. I head toward her, but when she glances up at me, her eyes slide through me like ice. Somebody jabs me in the back, and I glance over my shoulder. Christina glares at me, and then she smoothly slips into the seat beside Kelsey. My best friend turns to her with a tentative smile, and they both ignore me as I make my way to the back of the bus. When I'm not looking in the mirror, it's easy to forget that I look like Christina, and I try to remind myself that nobody knows the truth, but still, Kelsey's snub cuts deeper than it should.

A tall girl with ebony skin slides into the seat next to me and starts talking without preamble. "I've got the notes for Calc, but I forgot to bring you back your sweater."

I frown, trying to think if I know her name, but I don't know any of Christina's friends anymore, and even though this girl lives in our neighborhood, I can't place her. "That's fine?"

She looks at me sharply. "You threatened to make me spit frogs if I didn't bring it back today."

"Oh, um, I was just kidding." I smile, hoping I can convince her, and the girl laughs.

"You're losing your edge, King."

I shrug, trying to figure out what to say. "Haven't had my coffee."