Read Twist My Charm for Free Online

crowded bus. As we look for seats, kids grumble about us being late. “What were they doing anyway?” Ronnie Cheseboro says to Lisa Lee.
    “Madison was helping Cleo learn to read,” she suggests, and they laugh.
    I glare as I pass their seat and squeeze in with a kid I don’t know. When the bus gets moving, I look around and see Larry and Sam still together—even now, when they don’t have to be buddies! It will only take one small sip of love potion to push them into boyfriend-girlfriend land for sure.
    I open my backpack. I touch the rough edges of the potion book, promising myself I’ll translate something as soon as I can. Then I pull out my other book. I’m hoping it will be easy to read, but I’m not that lucky.
    Quantum Physics, Biocentrism, and the Universe as We Know It.
    That sounds like a lot of stuff for a little book.
    I’m going to have to work out a deal with Kevin. I’ll start on that after he gets over us being late for the bus.
    —
    After school, instead of doing homework, I lie on my bed with
POCIÓNES FANTÁSTICOS
and try to pick my favorite potion. Since I only know a few of the words, I do my judging by looking at the drawings. They’re all so lame and basic: men’s and women’s faces with hearts in between them, bottles that look like they hold potion, cups you might drink from, jewelry, scenery, and even toys. (I decide right away to avoid anything that looks even close to a voodoo doll.) I read some of the Spanish words aloud, as if saying them could help me figure out what they mean.
    I’m mumbling to myself
en español
when Dad knocks on my door and walks right in before I can even tell him to wait.
    “Dad!” I shout, slamming the book shut and turning it over so he doesn’t see the title. He doesn’t know Spanish, but he might be able to figure it out.
    “Oh, good, I’m glad you’re doing your homework,” he says, then tells me he’s going to take Toby on a jog around the lake. I’m glad, because since Terri broke up with him, he hasn’t gone on any hikes or ridden his bike or even walked very fast. But I’m even gladder because this will leave me alone for a while—with his computers!
    I follow Dad to the front door and send him off with an overly happy wave. “Have an awesome time! Say hi to Red Shorts!” Dad looks confused by my enthusiasm, but Toby barks happily like he agrees.
    Once I see them turn down the dirt path that circles the lake, I run to the dining room and sit down in front of Dad’s biggest computer. As long as I keep his piles of folders and junk and wadded-up papers in the places where he left them, he’ll never know I was there. I carefully use one of his printers to scan my favorite-looking potion so far—the one called
COSAS DULCES PARA TU DULCE CORAZÓN.
    Judging by the pictures, it looks like you have to cook a bunch of ingredients in a pot on a stove. Until recently, Dad only trusted my cooking skills with the microwave, but lately he’s let me be more independent. Not only will he leave me alone, like today, he also lets me boil water and make sure the oven is preheated properly.
    Once the potion recipe pops up on his computer, I email it to myself, then erase the evidence that I was ever there. On the computer in my room, I copy the recipe into a translation program, and a few seconds later it’s in English—though some of it is a little off.
    The potion is called STUFFS SWEET FOR YOUR HEART SWEET.
    I guess the translator who created the program forgot the adjectives-before-nouns rule in English.
Start with a pot sturdy on stove hot. Make water boil gently. Melt chocolate tasty and strawberry ripe to create a mixture bold. Add seven drops of honey sweet. Stir several times. Breathe in the aroma. Delicious, no? But wait! This is not enough to make a person of interest love you. We must be realistic. Love is not always sweet! Love is full of surprises strange! Another flavor unexpected must be added. Chop onion and crush into pieces