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"Really? Why does she stay with the coven, then? That's got to be awkward." Tina said.

Rose shrugged, "Because of me, I suppose. Like I said, she doesn't have any other friends but me. I'm not sure why, she's such a friendly person."

"Huh, weird." Tina said. She finished helping Rose get Willow settled before going to bed herself. She was still wondering what was going on with Willow as she fell asleep.

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Tina was awoken in the morning when Willow came bouncing in and jumped on her bed. "Time for breakfast!" she chirped.

Tina groaned, "What time is it?"

"Time to get up and eat breakfast!" Willow replied with a grin. Then she bounced off the bed and out of the room as quickly as she'd arrived.

After dragging herself out of bed Tina remembered her conversation with Rose the previous night. I guess this is her being nervous? Weird. Throwing on a t-shirt and some jeans she went down to join the others for breakfast. She was surprised to find Willow cooking and her grandmother sat at the table with Rose.

"She cooks?" Tina said.

"I'm not completely useless!" Willow replied, though she still sounded almost manically cheerful.

Rose rolled her eyes, "You're lucky, I've been awake for an hour already because of the Energizer Bunny over there. But yeah, she's actually a pretty good cook. Her mom runs a catering business."

"Yep!" Willow agreed as she brought a pan full of scrambled eggs with bits of bacon and cheese mixed in to the table, "She taught me lots."

They ate in silence with occasional glances at Willow, who was almost bouncing in her chair. She nearly vibrated with energy and Tina worried that she'd wear herself out before their meeting with Sarah and her friends.

Charlotte apparently had the same concern, as she asked Willow to help her with the dishes and sent Tina and Rose to continue their magic lesson. Neither could concentrate much on magic with their worries for their friend and the switch they'd be making in the afternoon.

"Has she ever been this bad?" Tina finally asked, giving up the pretense of telling Rose about her work with glyphs.

Rose sighed and shook her head, "No, never. But can you blame her?"

"No, I guess not." Tina said. "I can't imagine how I'd be feeling in her shoes."

"We need to find some way to get her mind off all this until we meet up with Sarah at the pizza place." Rose said.

"I could use a distraction myself, but what?" Tina asked.

Rose sighed, "I don't know."

They sat quietly for a time, both wondering how they would distract Willow for several hours. Willow ended up finding the distraction herself, as they found out when she came into the room carrying a deck of playing cards. "Want to play?" she asked, still buzzing with nervous energy.

Tina didn't know many card games but Rose and Willow did. The few games they played took hours as they taught Tina the games as they went. Charlotte came up with sandwiches for lunch, which helped to fill the time further.

Still, the games got old and they were all getting bored. Tina thought about suggesting a walk, but realized it was too dangerous with Nathaniel out there somewhere.

"Do you have any hobbies, other than magic?" Rose asked Tina suddenly.

"Magic isn't a hobby." Tina snapped. She immediately regretted it, though, realizing the tension was getting to her. "Sorry, but magic is really important to me. I guess you could say it's my calling."

Rose nodded, "Sure, I can understand that. So, do you have any hobbies, then?"

Tina thought for a long moment. Shaking her head she said, "No, I guess not. I'm kind of one dimensional that way."

Willow nodded, "Yeah, I'm kind of like that, too. I guess cooking is the closest thing to a hobby I have. Well, I used to like to tinker with mechanical things, but I was never very good at it."

"What about you Rose?" Tina asked.

She had to stop and think about that. "Well," she started, "there's magic, of course. I guess compared to you two it is just a hobby for me, but that's just part of my religion. I also help my aunt teach newer members of the Coven, but that's still part of my religion, I guess. Besides, I'm going to be a teacher anyway. I can't really think of anything that you could call a hobby."

"So that's what you're going to school for, to be a teacher?" Tina asked. Rose nodded. "What about you Willow?"

She blushed, "Well, I haven't really given much thought to college. Other than magic there's nothing I'm really interested in."

Tina nodded, "Yeah, I'm like that, too. I hope you are able to find a way to make a living at it. I suppose if nothing else you could open a store like Grandma's."

Willow nodded, "Yeah, I've thought about that. But first I need to learn more about magic, I think. Fortunately I can get away without going to school or working right now thanks to my parents' guilty..." she trailed off, obviously saying more than she wanted to.

"Guilty? What were you going to say?" Rose asked, looking very interested.

Willow shrugged and bounced up onto her feet. "Nothing! I was just saying my parents are giving me some leeway. Hey, is it dinner time yet?"

Rose and Tina exchanged glances, both having noticed the sudden increase in energy Willow was exhibiting. They were both wondering what Willow was hiding and Tina was surprised to see that Rose was as in the dark as she was.

Before they could say anything Willow bounded out the door, presumably to see if it was time to leave yet. Tina glanced at her watch and saw it was getting close to the time they were supposed to meet. "I guess we'll have to ask about that one later." she said, showing Rose the time.

Rose frowned, "And just when I thought we were finally going to get something out of that girl!" She sounded frustrated, making Tina think that she had been aware Willow was hiding something, just not what it was.

They hurried down after Willow, finding her in the kitchen talking to Charlotte.

"Shouldn't we be going now?" Willow was asking, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Charlotte looked at her oddly but nodded, "Yes, it is about time." Seeing Rose and Tina coming down the stairs she grabbed her purse, "Good timing girls, grab your coats." Willow didn't bother. Tina guessed she was burning so much energy she would have no trouble staying warm.

The drive over was tense and silent. Tina hoped this situation would be resolved quickly.

They ordered and took a seat, wondering when Sarah and the others would arrive. It wasn't until after their pizza arrived that they saw them walk in. Willow was watching them a little too closely, so Tina jabbed her with her elbow. Willow looked away sheepishly.

The pizza was long gone by the time Sarah finally got up and walked towards the bathroom. Rose gave Willow a push and she bounced out of her seat to follow. "I sure hope this works." Tina said.

"Not here, but I'm sure it will." Charlotte said.

It wasn't long before Sarah and Willow re-emerged from the bathroom. It was immediately apparent the switch had taken place. Sarah was clearly trying to act like Willow, but couldn't match the frenetic energy Willow had been showing. For her part, Willow-as-Sarah wasn't doing much better at controlling herself.

When Sarah arrived at the table she sat and stared down at the pizza pan uncomfortably.

"You've eaten, I hope?" Charlotte asked.

She nodded, "Yep." She did a halfway decent job of copying Willow's exuberance this time.

Charlotte smiled, "Good. I guess we should be going."

There was an awkward silence as they got up and walked out to Charlotte's car. The silence continued through the drive back to the store until they were all seated in the kitchen.

"So, it's okay to talk now, right?" Tina asked.

Her grandmother nodded, "Yes, we should be alright in here. But remember to use the right name."

Tina nodded, "Okay. How are you doing Willow?"

It took Sarah a moment to remember she was supposed to be Willow, "Uh, fine, thanks!" Her efforts at copying Willow's enthusiasm were weak at best.

"This is going to be awkward, isn't it?" Rose said, looking away from Sarah.

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To Be Continued…

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« Venus Cursed! - Chapter 118 »