Vacations from Hell

“Very nice,” said one of the mothers, and Cecily knew the praise was for her.



The coven meeting more or less broke up at that point. This was more of an instructional session than anything else; the spyglass spell had been for demonstration purposes only, since all the women knew about the sports-bar excursion. Some of the mothers went over the finer points of the spell with the daughters as everybody got up and gathered together the items they’d taken to focus their magic, to put the things back where they belonged.



“You did fine work today,” her mother said, pulling gently at Cecily’s ponytail.



“I try to pay attention.” Cecily attempted to look innocent. “Instead of skipping coven. Like some people.”



“Can it.” Mom glanced to make sure Mrs. Pruitt hadn’t heard; they were good friends, which was one reason Cecily wasn’t allowed to show openly how much she loathed Kathleen.



As Cecily tucked Theo’s Game Boy back into his luggage, she wondered, Would she skip coven if it meant she could spend time with Scott? Without Kathleen? Cecily decided she wouldn’t do it often—but she’d certainly do it once.



But no. Scott wasn’t perfect. Nobody was perfect. Sure he was gorgeous—and sweet and built—but he had chosen to date Kathleen. So there was one huge flaw right there. No doubt his other faults would make themselves known in time.



The guys, plus Kathleen, all returned about an hour later, after the baseball game had ended. If anything, it was raining even harder than before, which meant that Ocean’s Heaven once again seemed crowded and loud. Cecily sneaked up to her room to text her friends back home for a while, but Theo wouldn’t leave her alone.



“You said you would play foosball with me!”



“I did play foosball with you,” Cecily said, pressing the keypad with her thumb so her friends would read THEO BEING BRAT. “We played three games yesterday. Remember?”



“But I want to play today.”



“Theo—”



“You don’t like playing anymore because you can’t always win now that I’m bigger.” Theo folded his arms across his chest. Apparently this was her only reward for pretending to lose: an even sulkier baby brother.



“Okay, okay. Let’s play.” Cecily’s first thought, as they headed downstairs, was to show Theo that she could in fact still beat him at foosball, absolutely cream him, so he wouldn’t bug her about playing any longer. Then she reminded herself that being nice to Theo was just about the only vacation self-improvement goal she’d been able to keep.



In the game room a group of people were watching a DVD on the wide-screen TV, some action movie that seemed to be mostly about things blowing up. Her father sat in the center munching on pretzels. With a cheery smile Ms. Giordano called to them, “You kids having fun?”



“I can beat Cecily at foosball now!” Theo proclaimed. Cecily gritted her teeth.



Then she heard, “Well, then, maybe I should help Cecily out.” She turned to see Scott put his hands on the side of the foosball table. “What do you say, Theo? Can I play on Cecily’s side? Give her a chance?”



“Well—” Theo clearly didn’t like the idea of relinquishing the upper hand.



“I’m not very good at foosball,” Scott confessed. “So it’s not like I’d be that much help.”



Theo smiled. “Okay, then.”



Cecily went to the foosball table, so she and Scott stood side to side. This was the closest they’d been since he’d helped carry their luggage. She glanced around for Kathleen, who was nowhere to be seen, and Cecily wasn’t about to ask where she was. “You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself in for,” she said. “Theo’s pretty fierce.”



Theo spun some of the foosball men around, obviously hoping to prove her point.



“I’m strong.” Scott kept his face completely straight. “I can take it.” The glint in his eyes told Cecily that he’d lose the game on purpose, just like she would have on her own—which would make Theo’s ego almost unbearable, but would also make him really happy.



Gorgeous, sweet, built, and nice to little kids. Okay, I have to figure out what’s wrong with this guy before it drives me insane.



“How did you meet Kathleen?” Cecily said as Theo dropped the ball into the table.



“At school,” Scott said, giving the ball a whack. “I’d seen her around all year, but we never got to know each other. Then after spring break, the first time I laid eyes on her—it was like I was seeing her for the first time. You know?”