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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
the same for her.
But it’s been almost a week, she thought. He must have gotten over it by now. She decided to call
him when she got home and make nice. She really did want him to be at her performance, and she
figured calling would be a nice gesture on her part.
After the film, Kate, Cooper, and Annie said good-bye to Sasha, who lived at the other end of town.
Then the three of them got on the bus and rode back to their neighborhood.
“I’m sorry we sort of had a fight tonight,” Kate said when they were about halfway there.
“It wasn’t a fight,” Annie told her. “It was more like excessive tension, and it’s okay.”
“I really am working on telling her, you know,” Kate said.
“Well, keep trying,” Cooper remarked. “It gets worse the longer you wait.”
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As the bus reached their stops they got off and went their separate ways. Cooper walked home, said
hello to her parents, and then went to her room. It was time to call T.J. He picked up on the third ring.
“Hey,” Cooper said. “How’s it going?”
“Okay,” T.J. said. He sounded glad to hear from her, which made her feel good.
“I’m sorry about our little blowup the other day,” Cooper told him, sounding like Kate half an hour
earlier.
“It’s okay,” said T.J. “We were just saying what we felt.”
“So, I’d really like you to come to my performance,” Cooper told him. “How about it?”
“I don’t know,” replied T.J.
Cooper felt her heart sink. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“I’m just not sure I want to be there right now,” T.J. told her.
“But I want you there,” Cooper said. “I want you to
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