Read Cursed for Free Online Page A

yet disappointed because she would have liked to talk to him longer. Next time, she told herself and slipped out of the pool.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    To get her mother off her back, Sasha found a restaurant for her birthday dinner. It was a small Italian hole in the wall that she was sure her mother would hate but it made great lasagna.
    She texted a few people she knew and was tempted to post on Facebook an all-person invite but she didn’t think her mother would appreciate having to feed 30 people.
    Jenna was the first one to respond.
    Probably free, Jenna’s text message said.
    Great let me know, Sasha responded.
    A few other friends quickly replied with affirmative answers. Cady was last to answer.
    No can do. Got plans, she said.
    It’s my b-day, Sasha pleaded.
    Will try and cancel. No guarantee, Cady responded.
    Sasha wasn’t surprised that Cady couldn’t make the party. She’d already told her she was busy but Sasha thought maybe she would have changed her plans. That’s what Sasha would do for Cady.
    Willow Bean came home as Sasha received a flurry of text messages. She was fiddling with her phone when her mother flounced into the kitchen and dropped her purse on the table.
    Sasha could feel her mother watching her as she texted messages to her friends.
    “Does no one talk on the phone anymore?” Willow Bean asked.
    “No,” Sasha said.
    “What kind of life is that?” Willow Bean said.
    Sasha ignored her mother and kept sending messages to her friends. She sent a text message to her mother telling her how many friends were coming and the location she’d chosen for the party.
    Willow Bean’s phone beeped. She picked up her purse and dug the phone out of an exterior pocket. She checked the screen and then gawked in disbelief at her daughter.
    “Did you just send me a text?”
    “Yes. Now don’t bother me about the party anymore,” and Sasha left the room.
    She needed to decide whether she was going to ask Evan to the party. She ran into Hannah in the family room slouched in front of the television watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns.
    Sasha flopped on the couch beside her little sister.
    “Who started the romance? Buffy or Angel?” she asked her sister, a Buffy expert.
    “Both,” Hannah said. Sasha was skeptical.
    “Angel was always around but it’s not like she wasn’t interested,” she said.
    “So you think it was mutual then?”
    Hannah nodded vigorously. “Why do you ask?”
    Sasha ignored the question. “How do you know, for sure, if someone is interested?”
    Hannah shrugged “When guys like girls they pull the girl’s hair.”
    “Who told you that?”
    “That’s what Tyler does to Megan. She told her mom and she said the boy was just trying to get her attention.”
    Sasha sighed. She had no idea how to figure out whether Evan was interested in her or just being polite because of their shared trauma. He hadn’t tried to pull her hair. He’d said he wanted her number but didn’t propose a date. It felt like he was into her at the pool and last night. After they’d run into the convenience store he didn’t have to hold her hand for such a long time. She suspected he was interested but didn’t know positively.
    Sasha tested her theory on Sunday afternoon. The glass door to the Second Cup was boarded up but a poster declared the café open. Sasha pushed open the door unsure if Evan was working. She didn’t have his phone number and hoped he’d be there.
    She didn’t see him. At the counter was a black man in his 20s. He was ringing up a drink order and shouted to someone out of view.
    Sasha scanned the robust crowd that occupied every table. Her favorite chair by the fireplace was occupied. Sasha walked up to the counter still wearing her leather coat, her knapsack slung over her shoulder. She decided she’d get a drink and wait a bit to see if Evan showed up.
    Teebow, who was always friendly, was behind the counter. He smiled brilliantly at Sasha blinding her with his pearly