T*Witches: The Power of Two by Randi Reisfeld, H.B. Gilmour

waiter, a tall, dark-haired boy with a cute, almost-shy smile, had arrived and inserted himself into the convo.
     
    For some weird reason, Beth lit up. "You-so-clever, Jason." Then she kicked Cam, a signal that Cam basically didn't get. So she ignored it and began to order. "We'll do the half veggie pie and—"
     
    "Half extra cheese," Jason finished for her. "Comin' right up." He left, still smiling.
     
    "How'd he know that?"
Beth rolled her eyes. "Figure it out."
     
    "Sorry." Cam laughed. "Flight figure-it-out is way overbooked. I'll have to put that one on standby."
     
    "Oh, no, not again," someone at the next table groaned. He was looking at the TV perched over the counter. "Another Marleigh Cooper update. Right in the middle of the game."
     
    "That's the mother," the girl sitting with him said. "Poor woman. Shhhh, I want to hear her."
     
    Cam and Beth turned toward the screen, where a petite, well-dressed woman, her eyes puffy, face contorted in misery, was being besieged by reporters with microphones. Desperately wringing her hands, she was visibly shaking.
     
    "Marleigh's mom looks beyond freaked out," Beth whispered.
     
    "Mrs. Cooper," a reporter shouted, "any news? Can you give us... anything?"
     
    "Leave her alone," someone off-screen whimpered. The camera pulled back to reveal Tonya Gladstone, protectively pressed against Mrs. Cooper.
     
    "Wow, it's Tonya. Talk about bizarre," Cam said. "She's a mess. She must've lost ten pounds in the week we were gone."
     
    Marleigh's mother gratefully grasped Tonya's hand.
     
    "Tonya, over here." A newswoman stuck a microphone into her face. "It's been over a week. Do you still feel hopeful that Marleigh will be found?"
     
    "Of course I do," Tonya responded forcefully. "I just know my friend Marleigh is going to be okay. She has to be," she added pathetically.
     
    "You should hear Brianna on the subject," Beth said, imitating Bree's breathless gush. "Guess who's become the ultimate superstar ? Tonya! Tweeting! Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. She's had a miracle cure and thrown away her crutches. Guess they didn't look telegenic enough."
     
    "You've got Brianna down," Cam marveled.
     
    "Yeah, she thinks it's the mother."
     
    "The mother what?"
     
    "Just that there's something wrong in mom-ville. That Mom Cooper staged the whole thing—"
     
    "Staged it? Why would she do that?" Cam rubbed her arms.
     
    "Bree says Mrs. C is supposed to be this totally controlling stage mother who runs every part of Marleigh's life—and that this whole thing's a publicity stunt engineered by 'Mommy Dearest.'"
     
    Although Cam had been preoccupied, there was no escaping headline news. And Cam really had thought she'd heard it all. The rumors. The gossip. The faux sightings. The psychic predictions. The endless TV news "bulletins," and those cheesy scrawls across the bottom of the screen. The posts. No update on Marleigh's Facebook page. Marleigh music had shot to the top of the charts—even though the "disappeared diva" had only released one album. It seemed everyone was using them as ring tones. If this was, as some insisted, all a publicity stunt, well... it was the "mother" of all publicity stunts.
     
    "Alrighty then." The lanky waiter reappeared with their pizza—and a huge grin. "Please note," he said, setting the pie down between them, "the extra cheese half has not run into the more contained veggie side. We pride ourselves here on the no-spillover rule."
     
    Cam blinked up at him, mystified. But Beth's elbow to her ribs informed her that she was expected to say something. "Thanks, uh, that's great, Jordan."
     
    "English-as-a-second-language," Beth quickly explained to the boy. "She totally meant Jason."
     
    "What's with the quick defense?" Cam hissed, when he walked away.
     
    "Camryn. He's so cute. He's trying to be funny. He's into you. Remembering his name would be a plus—even just to be polite."
     
    "Who's into me?" Cam asked, surprised, checking out the gangly