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Authors: Isobel Bird

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BOOK: Blue Moon
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that they came easily to her. It was as if a hidden part of her opened up, a part that knew all about how

to handle guys.

“So ask,” she said.

Brian looked taken aback. Then he smiled. “Would you like to go out sometime?”

“I think I’d like that a lot,” said Annie, surprised at how confident she sounded. “What did you have in

mind?”

Brian shrugged. “I’m the new guy,” he said. “I don’t really know the city. To tell the truth, I hadn’t

thought that far ahead. I was just sort of working on the asking-you-out part.”

Annie liked how nervous Brian sounded. Normally she was the one who was at a loss for what to say.

But now this guy was asking her out and he sounded like
he
was the one who didn’t know what to do. It

was a refreshing feeling to be in control.

“Why don’t we start with dinner?” she suggested. “Friday night?”

Brian nodded. “Okay,” he said. Then he was quiet again, and Annie realized he was trying to think of a

place to suggest for dinner.

“Grendel’s is a nice place,” she said, helping him out. “Casual, and they have great food.”

“Grendel’s it is,” Brian said, sounding relieved. “Is seven okay?”

“Seven is perfect,” replied Annie, writing her phone number down for him. “I’ll meet you there. You
can

find it, right?”

“Sure,” Brian said. “No problem.”

She waved good-bye and left. As she walked out, she knew that Brian was still watching her, and she

had to keep herself from doing a jump for joy. A guy had asked her out! And not just any guy—a
cute

guy. She hadn’t wanted to seem too interested, but she’d had a hard time not staring back at Brian. His

eyes were gorgeous, and the rest of him wasn’t bad either.

Thanks, Freya,
she said as she walked to the bus stop.
I don’t know what you’re doing, but keep it

up. I feel like a new woman.

She made it home with more than enough time to get dinner ready. When her aunt returned from picking

up Meg at day camp, the table was set and the burrito fixings were lined up and waiting for them.

“So, what did you do today?” Aunt Sarah asked as they sat down to eat.

“Oh, nothing,” Annie said casually. “This guy asked me out, but it’s not a big deal.”

“Oh,” her aunt answered, reaching for the guacamole. Then she stopped, the spoon piled with avocado

and tomatoes in her hand. “Did you say a boy asked you out?” she said.

“Mmm hmmm,” Annie said.

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Her aunt looked at Meg, who was looking at Annie in amazement. “Meg, did your sister just tell us that

she’s going on a date?” she said seriously.

“I think so,” Meg replied. “With a
boy
. Ick.”

Aunt Sarah looked at Annie, an excited smile on her face. “So, tell me
everything
.”

Annie told her about Brian and about how she’d played it cool with him. Her aunt listened, spellbound,

until her niece was done with her story.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks,” said Annie. “I’m pretty proud of me, too.”

“But it’s with a
boy
,” Meg repeated.

Annie and her aunt laughed. “Someday you might think boys aren’t so bad,” Aunt Sarah said. “Annie

used to say the same thing when she was your age.”

Meg frowned. “I’m never going to like boys,” she said.

“You might change your mind about that,” Annie told her little sister. “I did.”

“Just like you changed your hair and your clothes?” said Meg.

“Yes,” Annie said. “Just like that.”

“Just don’t change
too
much,” Meg said. “I liked the way you were.”

Yes,
Annie thought as she ate,
but Brian likes the new me. And so do I.

CHAPTER 8

“So then the judge signed the papers and it was all over.” Sasha took a bite of pizza and chewed while

Annie, Cooper, and Kate all applauded.

“Now Thea is officially your guardian,” Cooper said. “No more jumping from place to place.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Sasha agreed. “This place is home, and you guys are officially

stuck with me.”

It was Saturday night, and the girls had gathered for dinner before going to a movie. Sasha was telling

them all about her final court date the day before, when a judge had declared Thea, the coven member

Sasha had been living with since running away from her previous foster home, Sasha’s legal guardian. It

had been a long process, and very emotionally draining for Sasha. But now it was over and they were

celebrating.

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“I know you’re all excited for me,” Sasha said. “But shouldn’t you be spending Saturday night with your

boyfriends?”

“I told Tyler that Saturdays are girls’ nights out,” Kate said. “Besides, I’m seeing him tomorrow

anyway.”

“Coop?” Sasha queried, employing the nickname only she was allowed to use for her friend.

Cooper swallowed the cheese in her mouth. “T.J. and I are having a little time-out,” she said.

“You didn’t break up, did you?” asked Sasha, her voice filled with concern. “I like that boy.”

“No,” Cooper said. “We didn’t break up. We’re just having a minor disagreement about his

well-meaning but freakish desire to censor my work, and my unflinching dedication to honesty and

self-expression that prevents me from letting him do it.”

“He doesn’t want her to talk about witch stuff in her performance pieces,” Kate translated for the others.

“That’s ridiculous,” Annie said instantly.

They all turned to her. She’d been oddly quiet all night, and Cooper was wondering if she was still in the

bad mood she’d been in the night of her performance a week before. She hadn’t even really responded

when Cooper told her how great she looked, and she’d been acting a little weird since they’d sat down.

“No guy should tell you what to do,” Annie continued. “It’s your life. I hate it when guys think they have

to be the big protectors. Thank Goddess Brian isn’t like that.”

“Brian?” Sasha said. “Who’s Brian?”

Annie smiled like she’d been dying for someone to ask her that question. “Just the guy I went out with

last night,” she answered.

Sasha, Cooper, and Kate all looked at one another wide-eyed. Cooper put down her slice of pizza and

wiped her mouth. “Did you just say ‘the guy I went out with last night’?” she asked.

Annie nodded. “That would be correct,” she said.

“You went on a date and you didn’t tell us?” Kate shrieked. “Annie!”

“I would have told you, but I know you’ve been busy helping your mom and Cooper’s been busy

writing, and I didn’t want you guys to make a big deal out of it,” she said. “It wasn’t like it was my first

date or anything.”

“Yes, it was!” Cooper said.

Annie blushed. “Okay, so it was my first date.”

“I can’t believe you’ve kept quiet this long,” Sasha said. “Here I’ve been blabbing about my court thing

and you went on an actual date with an actual boy. Spill it, sister.”

Annie sat up. “Well,” she said. “It was really nice. We met at Grendel’s. He brought me a rose.”

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“Awwwwww,” Cooper said, enjoying seeing the blush that crept across Annie’s cheeks.

“He brought me a rose,” Annie continued. “Then we ate. He had steak or something and I had the

shrimp.”

“We don’t care what you
ate
,” Kate said. “Tell us about
him
. Where did you meet him? What does he

look like? Tell us the good stuff.”

Annie told them about going into the store and talking to Brian. They all listened raptly as she replayed

their conversation. When she described what Brian looked like, Sasha whistled.

“Sounds like a keeper to me,” she said.

“Okay,” Kate said. “So now we know what he looks like, how he asked you out, and what you had for

dinner. That just leaves one more big question.”

“Did you kiss him?” asked Sasha, beating Kate to the punch.

“No!” Annie said. “It was just our first date.”

Her friends hooted with laughter while Annie blushed some more.

“Good for you,” Cooper told her when they’d finished laughing. “That way he’ll be sure to ask you out

again, just to see if you’ll let him kiss you on the second date.”

“He already did ask me out,” said Annie. “I’m seeing him on Monday.”

“I must say, I’m impressed,” Sasha told Annie. “Are you sure you’re the same girl who wouldn’t even

talk to the guys on Skip Day a few months ago?”

“Yeah,” Kate said. “I’m not sure the rest of us can keep up with you if you keep changing this much.”

“Why does everyone keep talking about how much I’m changing?” Annie said. “I’m still me. I just look

a little different.”

Cooper gave her a look. “And act different and sound different. Annie, you would
never
have talked to

a guy before whatever it is that’s happened to you happened.”

“Nothing has happened!” Annie insisted. “I just got tired of always being boring little Annie.”

“You were never boring,” Kate said. “Just a little frumpy.”

As they were laughing some more Jessica appeared at their table. When she saw her, Annie instinctively

grabbed some napkins. They’d deliberately sat at a table outside of her service area to avoid a repeat of

the previous Saturday’s disaster.

“Don’t worry,” Jessica said. “I’m Coke-free tonight. I just wanted to stop by and tell you way to go for

how you handled Sherrie the other day.”

“Sherrie?” Kate said. “You didn’t tell us you saw Sherrie.”

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“See her?” Jessica said. “She
slapped
her. Right in the middle of Banana Republic. I’ve never seen

Sherrie so surprised in my life. I’d give anything to have it on video. Sherrie was so mad she went home

and hasn’t come out since. I don’t think we’ll see her until the first day of school. That is, if she doesn’t

transfer to avoid the humiliation.”

“You slapped Sherrie Adams?” Cooper asked, not believing what she was hearing. “As in with your

hand?”

“Right across the face,” Jessica told them as if she were an announcer doing a play-by-play. “I almost

peed myself, it was so good.”

Someone at one of Jessica’s tables called out to her and she left. When she was gone there was dead

silence as Sasha, Cooper, and Kate just stared at Annie.

“What?” Annie said. “So I slapped Sherrie. She had it coming.”

“No kidding she had it coming,” said Cooper. “But what made you do it?”

“I was just tired of her attitude,” said Annie.

“I’m speechless,” Kate said. “Absolutely speechless.”

“Well, clearly not absolutely,” joked Sasha. “But I’m pretty surprised myself. Annie, you amaze me. I

think this deserves hot fudge sundaes all around. What do you say, girls?”

“I’m trying to resist the urge to break into ‘Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead,’ ” Cooper said.

“First you have a date and then you slap Sherrie,” Kate said. “What next? Are you going to tell us that

between this morning and now you found a cure for the common cold?”

“Actually, I slapped Sherrie before I met Brian,” Annie said. “I guess I forgot about that in all the

excitement about the date thing.”

Cooper sat back, looking at her friend. She’d always known that Annie had a fighting spirit in her. After

all, it had been Annie’s tenacity that had first gotten Cooper to talk to her and Kate about her own

interest in Wicca. But she’d never seen Annie use the strength inside her for her own needs, and she was

happy to see her doing it now. No matter what Annie said, she
had
changed—for the better.

“We can talk about me later,” Annie said. “Let’s get back to Cooper. What’s this about T.J. trying to

censor you?”

“He’s afraid that if I talk too much about the whole witch thing that someone is bound to get upset and

cause trouble,” Cooper replied.

“Why would he think that?” asked Sasha. “Just because they burned millions of witches in the Burning

Times doesn’t mean they’ll do it again now.”

“It wasn’t millions it was thousands,” Kate corrected her. “Remember, I’m the one who did the report

on it. And I’m not so sure they wouldn’t do it again now.”

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“Kate doesn’t think I should use that material either,” Cooper told the others.

“I just think you should be careful,” said Kate. “Trust me, people don’t like things that they don’t

understand.”

“Are your parents giving you a hard time again?” Annie asked her.

“Not yet,” Kate said. “But they’re getting more suspicious. No offense, but your performance at lunch

the other day didn’t exactly help anything.”

“My performance?” Annie said. “What are you talking about?”

“I wasn’t going to bring it up,” Kate said. “But my mom was a little put off by you.”

“What did I do?” Annie asked, sounding hurt.

“Never mind your comments about her age and weight,” Kate said. “She just thought you were a

little—” She paused.

“A little what?” Annie prodded.

“A little out of control,” Kate finished. “Actually, she thinks you and Cooper are both kind of on the wild

side. I think she’s afraid you’re rubbing off on me or something.”

Annie looked at Cooper, then back at Kate. “Meaning what exactly?” she asked.

“She thinks you guys are a bad influence,” Kate said. “And Annie, it didn’t help that you almost told her

about the Wicca class at lunch.”

“That was an accident!” Annie said. “I didn’t actually say anything about it, and it wouldn’t be a problem

anyway if you’d just tell her about it and get it over with.”

“You know I can’t do that,” argued Kate. “There’s no way she’d understand that. And then the way

you were talking about Tyler, and all of that. It just made her suspicious.”

Kate finished and looked down at the table. Neither she nor Annie said anything else. Finally, Cooper

spoke.

“We know your situation with your parents is tricky,” Cooper told Kate. “But telling your mom that it’s

just Annie and I who go to the class doesn’t make it easy for us either.”

“I know,” Kate said. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was accusing you guys of anything. I was just trying

to say that not everyone is accepting of witchcraft and that sometimes you have to be careful what you

say.”

“I think you made that point loud and clear,” said Annie. “I’m sorry if your mother doesn’t like us, but

that still doesn’t mean Cooper should have to censor her art.”

“I didn’t say my mother doesn’t like you,” said Kate.

“Yeah, you sort of did,” Cooper said. “Look, Kate, this has been a problem since the very beginning.

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You’ve always had to be careful when it comes to your parents’ knowing about the witch stuff. Annie

and I know that. We didn’t even mind when you told your parents that we were into it and you weren’t.

That wasn’t a big deal. But I for one don’t want your mom thinking I’m some kind of freak because

you’re afraid to tell her the truth.”

“I’m sorry if I did anything to make her think that I’m wild,” Annie added. “But Cooper’s right. It’s

really hard to look normal when she doesn’t even know what we’re really doing or who we really are.

We always have to be careful around her, and that’s not easy. It would be a lot easier if you’d stick up

for us.”

“I do stick up for you guys,” Kate said plaintively. “It’s not like I don’t.”

“But you can never really stick up for us until you tell your parents—or at least your mother—what

you’re
doing,” said Cooper.

Kate looked at Cooper with a pained expression. “I can’t,” she said. “Not now. Maybe once this whole

wedding thing is over. But not right now, I can’t.”

“We’re not asking you to do it now,” Cooper told her. “We’re just asking you to start thinking about it.”

“Okay,” Kate said. “I will. I promise.”

The four of them sat in silence for a while until Sasha said brightly, “Hey, this is starting to turn into a

downer. I say we get things going again with those sundaes. All in favor?”

Cooper put her hand up immediately. Kate followed a moment later. Sasha’s was already up. The three

of them looked at Annie, who still looked somewhat put out.

“Oh, fine,” she said, raising her hand. “There’s nothing hot fudge can’t fix.”

After their desserts the girls walked over to the movie theater and bought tickets. They arrived just as

the trailers were starting, and as they sat in the darkness watching previews of the new Julia Roberts

movie and the latest from George Clooney, Cooper found herself thinking about T.J. What was he

doing? she wondered. They hadn’t really talked much since their blowup on Monday, and she wasn’t

sure where things stood. She’d decided to give her boyfriend a little space, and he seemed to be doing

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