Read Online The Heartbreakers by Pamela Wells - Free Book Online Page B

She got the groceries herself and her food tastes were the same as Sydney’s, which meant lots of junk food.
    â€œAll right, then,” Mr. Howard said. “Drive carefully. Love you.”
    â€œLove you, too.” She glanced at her mother. “Bye, Mom.”
    Mrs. Howard’s fingers tapped incessantly on the laptop keyboard. A deep frown etched her forehead into wrinkles. She didn’t look up as she said, “Bye, honey.”
    Sydney rolled her eyes and left.
    The first thing Sydney noticed when she walked in the front door of Alexia’s house was the smell of something burning, then the scent of cinnamon and apples. She ran through the house, checking every room until she got to the sunroom. There were candles all over the place and a fire burned in a big blue roasting pan that her friends sat around.
    Sydney froze over the threshold and took it all in. “Are you guys practicing witchcraft or something?”
    They all looked at her and laughed.
    â€œYes, we’re putting a hex on Drew,” Raven said.
    â€œDon’t do that!” Sydney shouted, hurrying into the room. Not that she believed in witchcraft or magic or anything. She was all about science and facts, but with Raven, anything was possible.
    A boy Raven really liked dumped her in middle school and, to retaliate, she bought a spell book from a used bookstore and cursed him. The next day at school, he fell in a mud puddle before lunch and then sprained his ankle in gym class. If she were being honest, Sydney found it a little suspicious.
    â€œShe was kidding,” Alexia said. “Raven.”
    â€œWhat?”
    Raven was always goading Sydney. If anyone was a pain in her butt it was Raven, but she loved the girl. It was like having a love/hate relationship with the sister she never had but always wanted. Being an only child sucked. Sometimes.
    Pulling her coat off, Sydney sat on one of the pillows in front of the roasting pan and peered inside. Pictures crinkled from the fire. There was a sock smoldering and a T-shirt burning in two places.
    The burning smell was coming from the pot, and the apple and cinnamon must have been the red candles around the room.
    â€œSo what exactly are you doing?”
    â€œLaying The Ex to rest.” Kelly licked her glossed lips. Sydney would bet the lip gloss was chocolate flavored. It was Kelly’s way of satisfying her sweet tooth without eating too many calories. “Did you come to lay Drew to rest?”
    Sydney got that weak, tingling feeling in her throat as if she were about to cry. She swallowed hard and pulled a breath in through her nose. Why hadn’t he called her? He never went this long without returning her phone calls. She felt helpless and restless. She just wished she could fix it, like now .
    Raven held up a tombstone-shaped piece of paper that had Drew’s name on it. “We wouldn’t leave you out of the fun. Here.”
    Sydney took the paper. “This is dumb.” She stood up.
    â€œSit down,” Alexia said. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”
    â€œWe aren’t technically broken up yet, you know.” But the more she talked about it the more she doubted her own words. They’d never fought like this before. Or uttered the “we’redone” words. They weren’t the on-again/off-again kind of couple.
    And the longer the silence between them stretched, the more she began to believe they were, in fact, broken up. It seemed wrong, though, to burn a tombstone with his name on it. Doing so might jinx them and they’d never get back together even if there was a chance.
    Tears started beneath her lids and a few slid out. Darn it, crying again? And in front of her friends?
    â€œWhy don’t you keep it for now?” Alexia said. “If you get back together, throw it away. If…well, just keep it.”
    Sydney nodded and slid the paper in her purse. She’d throw it away