Witch Read Free

. until the bell rang as I reached the board.
    â€˜Saved by the bell,’ Mr Barrow said with a disdainful expression.
    I sped gratefully back to my desk to get my bag. From the corner of my eye I could see Mr Barrow looking at me coldly. I was bewildered by his mean attitude towards me. What had I ever done to him? My chemistry grades from Australia had put me at the top of the class, but he wasn’t exactly welcoming me with open arms. In fact, he seemed to see me as a nuisance.
    I got out of there as quickly as I could. In the hallway I collided with something and hit the floor, the contents of my bag spilling everywhere. I looked up into a pair of identical faces. Two girls were standing over me, close enough that I could count their freckles. They really did look exactly the same, including the fiery red hair glowing around their heads like demonic haloes.
    â€˜Hello,’ they said in unison.
    â€˜Uh, hi,’ I mumbled. ‘Sorry for crashing into you.’
    â€˜That’s okay. Hey, I’m Amelia,’ the one on the left said.
    â€˜And I’m Alyssa,’ said the one on the right.
    â€˜We’re twins,’ Amelia whispered, as if she were sharing a secret rather than stating the obvious.
    My eyes shifted from left to right as I tried to keep up with them.
    I started to gather up the stuff from my bag that had spewed everywhere. I reached for The Sixth Sense and Us , but Amelia beat me to it.
    â€˜Cool book,’ she said.
    â€˜We have it, too,’ Alyssa added. ‘Have you tried the psychic vision meditation on page 23?’
    â€˜Page 33,’ said Amelia.
    â€˜She’s probably right.’ Alyssa shrugged and rolled her eyes. ‘She’s better with numbers.’
    â€˜I did try it, but I’m not sure if I did it right. I’m just kind of experimenting,’ I said, feeling like I needed to contribute something to the conversation.
    They both smiled. ‘Our mom got us the book for Christmas,’ Alyssa said. ‘She’s really into this stuff. She says we’ve been psychic from the day we were born.’
    I felt an unexpected rush of admiration for both of them.
    â€˜We always know what one another are thinking,’ Alyssa said.
    â€˜Which can be totally frustrating, of course,’ Amelia chimed in.
    â€˜Did we mention we’re twins?’ Alyssa said, giggling.
    â€˜I knew she was going to say that again,’ Amelia said huffily. ‘Anyway, twins knowing what one another are thinking and feeling is common, apparently. It gets kind of confusing at times. Sometimes I think I’m thinking something, but it turns out that I’m actually just hearing what Alyssa’s thinking, and then other times—’ She stopped talking abruptly and shot her sister an annoyed glance. ‘And she currently thinks I’m talking too much.’
    â€˜You could have picked that up from half the school,’ Alyssa said under her breath, then looked at me. ‘So, do you think we’re clinically kooky?’
    â€˜I was actually thinking I like that about you,’ I said. It was true – I’d never met anyone psychic before, and I was enjoying the girls’ company. ‘Psychic stuff is . . . definitely interesting to me,’ I said hesitantly.
    They smiled and I immediately felt more confident. ‘It’s awesome that your mum’s into it, too.’ I blurted out. ‘My parents are so straight I have to hide books like this away from them. They’d probably burn them.’
    Both girls laughed – at exactly the same time, of course. ‘Well, if you ever want to come over to our place for dinner,’ Alyssa said, ‘our mom will talk your ear off about it. And read your tea-leaves while she’s at it.’
    â€˜And feed you all the vegetarian mush you can cram in,’ Amelia added with less enthusiasm.
    â€˜Sounds great.’ All of a sudden I felt really happy.