Read Online Fatal Charm by Linda Joy Singleton - Free Book Online Page B

before school ends.” He rubbed the silver arrow in his pierced brow. He leaned over my computer desk, his beaded dreadlocks jangling. The noise added to my annoyance.
    I slapped my hand on the desk, sending papers fluttering to the floor. “It won’t be done ever if you don’t stop nagging me.” I glared up at him. “This isn’t like a Google search—I need to concentrate and wait for messages to come from you-know-where.”
    “Actually, I don’t know where—which is why I need your expertise. Or my readers might realize my Mystic Manny rep is crap,” he said with a cautious glance around the room where other students typed busily at computer desks. Our teacher, who was so mellow he was more like furniture than an authority figure, hunched over stacks of papers at his corner desk. “The Shout-Out has to go to press tonight.”
    “Stop pushing me.” I waved him away. “Leave!”
    “Can you be done in ten minutes?”
    I glared at him. “Watch out or I’ll hex you.”
    “You don’t have that kind of power.”
    “I can learn. Then I’ll curse you with an extreme case of zits.”
    “And ruin this work of art?” He gestured to his face. “Say you don’t mean it, Beany.”
    “I’ll show you mean. Zits and bad breath. See if you still have a female fan club with that combo.”
    “Cruel girl.”
    “Go ahead—insult me all you want. Just do it from over there.” I pointed to the other side of the room. In a perverse way, I enjoyed arguing with Manny—not that I’d admit that to him.
    “Do I detect a sour mood?” he asked. “Is it your bitchy time of the month?”
    Manny was lucky I didn’t have a stapler or paperweight handy. Instead all I found to throw at him was a paper clip. It hit him on his chin and I felt a small satisfaction when he cried, “Hey, that stung! Could you stop acting like a kindergartner and show some maturity?”
    “If you let me work in peace. You’re not the only one who wants to finish. Josh and I have plans after school. And I’d much rather be with him than you.”
    “I am crushed beyond words. Most girls beg for my company.”
    “Go annoy them.”
    “Definitely that time of month. I can see you’re in a nasty mood, so I’ll leave you.” He glanced at his watch. “You have fourteen minutes to turn in your column.”
    “Tyrant!” I muttered.
    I turned back to the computer and looked at what I’d come up with so far.
    Mystic Manny Sees All.
    The title of my weekly column. Or actually it was Manny’s column, but we had this secret arrangement where I gave him real predictions and he helped me whenever I needed information (he was a whiz hacker type). Despite our insults, he was a true friend. Manny and Thorn were the only two people at school who knew I was psychic; they honored my secret and I’d grown to trust them.
    It was ironic that while Manny pretended to impart psychic revelations every week in the Sheridan Shout-Out , I was the real source of his predictions. Lucky numbers, romantic advice, campus gossip, the popular “Ten Years in the Future” profile, and whatever else popped into my head.
    My accuracy rate was amazing—which added to Manny’s popularity, especially with girls. Not that he needed any help. He didn’t follow any trends or wear name brands or do any of the usual things that equaled popularity. But his whole “I don’t give a shit” attitude won him admirers. I really didn’t understand it.
    And I wasn’t getting any predictions either. That was the problem and why I’d been sitting in my chair, swiveling around, tapping my feet, staring into space and feeling like a total failure. Why was I having so much trouble today?
    The answer was obvious to me, but I couldn’t tell Manny because he didn’t know about the séance. Although he’d heard about the vandalism at the candy shop. He’d even called Velvet to get an interview for the paper. But she hadn’t revealed more than basic facts, thankfully not mentioning that I