My first class of the day was on the very top floor of the building. It was lucky we left the dining hall as soon as the bell rang because I was still moving slowly on my ankle, and we barely made it to the room in time for the start of the period. There were only a few desks free when we arrived, but I was glad to see there were two beside each other so I could sit next to Cress.
As I sat down, the girl at the desk in front turned in her seat to face me. It was Veronica—the girl Cress had dubbed the queen bee of the school. “You’re the new girl,” she said. “I’m Veronica Cordeaux.”
I gave her a tight smile as I nodded in reply. I wondered if she recognized me as the girl who’d been eavesdropping on her conversation with Noah last night. She’d been so fixated on Lily that I doubted she’d even realized I was there. After the way she’d treated Lily, I wasn’t all that enthused to talk to her.
“I’m Isobel.”
“And your last name?”
“Uh, it’s Grace.”
Veronica frowned as though she was racking her brain for any sign of recognition. “Nope,” she responded. “Never heard of you. What do your parents do?”
I struggled to hide my shock at the question. Was that really the first thing she wanted to know about me? I’d been here one day, and all Veronica could think to ask me was who my parents were? I shouldn’t have been surprised seeing how quick she was to call Lily a charity case. Clearly, a person’s station in life was important to this girl.
“Well?” she prompted.
I swallowed a heavy lump in my throat. I’d been nervous about the idea of anyone at Weybridge finding out about my background. I’d even been deliberately vague with Cress and Anna. I couldn’t begin to imagine the kind of reaction Veronica would have if I answered her question truthfully. I’d never been embarrassed by my mom’s work before, and I wasn’t embarrassed now. She probably worked harder than most of these kids’ parents. But something inside me felt like telling Veronica the truth was asking for trouble.
“Leave her alone, Veronica.” Cress came to my rescue as I hesitated to answer.
Veronica gave Cress a saccharine smile. “I’m hardly bothering her.” She turned her attention back on me. “Am I, Isobel?”
I returned her smile with one of my own. “Oh, you’re no bother at all.”
“So, your parents?” she prompted. “Everyone’s been dying to know more about you. You’re practically a mystery.”
“No mystery here. My mom’s in hospitality.” I decided to be vague, hoping she wouldn’t press me for more details. At least it wasn’t an outright lie.
Veronica leaned forward. “And your father?”
“He’s not around,” I shrugged. There was no way I was uttering a single word about Matthew to this girl.
“Oh, what happened?”
My hands clenched into fists at my sides. “That’s none of your business”
Her eyes sparkled with a hint of pleasure, as though she had achieved her goal of getting a reaction out of me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was a touchy subject.” Her apology was about as fake as her lips. “I’m just trying to get to know our newest student.”
“Well, you might have to save your questions for another day.” Cress chimed in once again. “Class is about to start.”
Veronica’s eyes narrowed at Cress as the teacher entered the room, but she soon returned her glare to me. It annoyed her that I wasn’t being more forthcoming. I’d only just met the girl, and I already felt like she was the last person in the world I wanted to discuss the messy details of my family life with. Some people just had bad vibes, and Veronica’s were the worst.
The teacher cleared his throat and introduced himself to class as Mr. Wagner. Thankfully, Veronica finally released me from her judgmental gaze as she turned to face the front of the room. I let out a long breath and relaxed back into my seat now she wasn’t studying me.
“Don’t worry about her,” Cress whispered. “She’s probably extra bitchy this year because it hurts to talk with those lips.”
I snorted, earning myself a warning look from Mr. Wagner. I immediately went quiet and focused on the teacher. I didn’t want to get on the bad side of any teachers—especially not on the first day. I listened closely as he outlined the class’s agenda for the year. I’d always had tunnel vision in school back home, and I was glad I could still employ the same level of concentration here.
I’d been worried about my subjects at Weybridge and wondered whether I would be drastically behind the other students. However, as the teacher went over the material we were going to be studying in English this semester, I relaxed. It all seemed pretty standard, and I wasn’t nearly as anxious as I’d been when I entered the room.
When the class ended, Cress started sniggering. “You didn’t hear a word I said that whole period, did you?”
“You were talking to me?”
“Yeah, I was talking to you.” She chuckled. “At least, I was trying to. It was like you had earmuffs on or something.”
“Sorry, I should have warned you.” I grimaced. “I tend to get hyper focused in class.”
“I’ll remember that next time. Maybe I’ll try drawing on your arm or pulling your hair to get your attention.”
“Oh no, not the hair!”
She wiggled her eyebrows at my reaction. “Looks like I’ve found your secret weakness. I’ll try to use the power I now hold wisely.”
“Okay, thank you.” I laughed.
Cress’s expression turned more serious as we made our way from the classroom. “I’m sorry Veronica was so nosy. It wasn’t exactly the nicest welcome to your first class at your new school. She can be such an Umbridge sometimes.”
Even though the memory of Veronica grilling me made me uneasy, I smiled at Cress’s Harry Potter reference. “It’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting the inquisition.”
“That’s Veronica for you. She’s like a shark. The slightest scent of blood, and she goes in for the kill.”
“She sounds like a delightful human being.”
“Tell me about it.” Cress shook her head. “So, you said your mom’s in hospitality. What does that involve?”
“Uh…” I stuttered as I tried to think of a response. I didn’t want to tell Cress that my mom worked day and night at a struggling café and could barely make ends meet. I was scared about how she’d react. As we walked out into the corridor, my eyes flicked from side to side, looking for some kind of inspiration or escape. My eyes landed on a poster board on the opposite wall, and I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Lobsters.”
“What?”
Lobsters? What was I thinking? Lobsters weren’t a job. I glared at the poster on the wall. It showed various diagrams of sea creatures and seemed to be just outside the entrance to a biology classroom. My eyes must have landed on the picture of the lobster. Why did that have to be the source of my inspiration? But I couldn’t blame the lobster. Clearly, I had just cracked under the pressure and was a terrible, terrible liar.
I took a deep breath and tried to recover. “Uh, she owns a chain of restaurants that specializes in lobster. Well, seafood.” Was chain lobster restaurant owner a legitimate-sounding business for a rich person to have? I didn’t really know, but it was a better answer to Cress’s question than just lobsters.
“Oh, yum. I love all seafood, especially lobster,” Cress replied. “You must get to eat so much good food. You’ll have to take us to one of her restaurants sometime.”
I smiled and nodded even though I knew that was never going to happen. Not when said lobster restaurant didn’t exist.
“So, what class have you got next?” Cress asked.
I was relieved I didn’t have to keep talking about my mom’s fake lobster business, and I quickly pulled up the schedule on my tablet. “Math.” Thankfully, the classroom was only a few doors down so I didn’t have far to walk. I was already wishing I’d gone to the nurse’s office and got the crutch she suggested I use.
“Cool. I have French now, so I’ll see you in the dining hall for lunch?”
I nodded and tried to ignore the way my stomach dipped at the thought of Cress leaving. She’d been by my side practically since the moment I’d arrived at this school. I wasn’t looking forward to walking the corridors without her.
I knew I couldn’t rely on her to hold my hand through the entire school year, so I gave her a smile. “Sure, I’ll see you then.”
Cress waved before taking off down the hall in the opposite direction. With a sigh, I started making my way to math class.
People were watching me as I hobbled down the corridor. There were far fewer students at Weybridge than my old school, so it was harder to disappear into the crowd between classes. It also made it more obvious when people looked my way—something I was noticing far more now that I no longer had Cress as a shield.
I hurried to math as quickly as my aching ankle would let me. Students were still slowly entering the room as I arrived, so thankfully, I wasn’t late. I scanned the room for a familiar face and was met with a sneer from Veronica. Apparently, I shared this class with her too. But even though she was one of the few people I’d talked to in this school, I had no interest in taking the free seat at her side. Our brief conversation in English had already convinced me she wasn’t interested in being my friend.
“Newbie!” I lifted my eyes to find Luther waving at me, his face lit with a bright grin. He was sitting at the back of the room with his friend Kaden at his side. He beckoned me over, but I hesitated. I was keen to keep a low profile, and I was already getting enough attention at school as the new kid. I wasn’t sure sitting with Kaden and Luther would help take the focus off me.
Veronica’s smug smile turned to a dark glare when she heard Luther call out to me. Something about the way she scowled at me pushed me toward the guys though. I wasn’t about to let her obvious disapproval get to me. Plus, it wasn’t like I had anyone else in the class to sit with.
Luther gestured at the seat next to him as I approached. “Sit with us, newbie.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “I have a name, you know.”
“And a very cute one at that,” Luther said with an approving nod. “So, are you going to sit down or not?”
“Uh, sure.” I still didn’t quite trust Luther. He had a constant air of mischief about him, but he was being friendly enough, so I lowered myself into the empty desk at his side. Veronica’s searing gaze had followed me to the back of the room, and I tried to ignore the scowl practically burning holes in my skin and focus on Kaden. “I’m Isobel,” I said, introducing myself before he could start calling me newbie too.
“I know.” He gave me a small smile. “I’m Kaden.”
“I know.”
His smile tugged upward into a grin. Kaden wasn’t nearly as big as Luther or Noah, but he was just as handsome, and his glasses made him look like a cute Clark Kent. It was easy to see why the girls at school were all enamored with these boys.
“How’s your ankle?” Kaden asked.
I frowned and glanced down at it. “You guys heard about that?”
“Oh yeah,” Luther replied. “Noah wouldn’t shut up about it at breakfast.”
My eyes darted up to meet his. “He wouldn’t?”
“Nope.” Luther let out a chuckle. “Sounds like you can be a little stubborn, newbie. I think he was surprised you didn’t want his help. Most girls would have been happy to be Noah’s damsel in distress.”
“I’m not stubborn,” I muttered.
Luther’s face lit up. Noah had clearly told his friends all about our encounter this morning. I wasn’t sure what to make of the fact he’d shared the details with them. I hadn’t planned on telling anyone about it, but I couldn’t keep it from Cress once the nurse revealed he was involved. Why would Noah feel the need to tell the story? Maybe he’d been annoyed by it all and was complaining to the guys. Or maybe he was making fun of me. Hopefully, Luther and Kaden were the only ones he’d spoken with. The last thing I needed was word getting around school that Noah had come to my rescue.
“So, is there a reason you invited me to sit with you?” I asked in an attempt to derail conversation about this morning.
Luther winked. “I told you, newbie, I’ve got a good feeling about you. Plus, I’m still on a top-secret mission to uncover all your deepest darkest secrets. Like, for instance, where are you from?”
I frowned. “That’s hardly a deep, dark secret.”
“Then tell us all about it.”
Why did everyone at this school ask so many questions? It was becoming harder and harder to keep my home life to myself. I took a deep breath before answering. “A place called Rapid Bay.”
“That’s down the coast, right?” Kaden asked
“Uh, yeah,” I replied. “You know it?”
Kaden nodded. “My aunt used to have a place in Rapid Bay. We went there all the time when I was a kid.”
I hadn’t expected either of the guys to be aware of my hometown. It might have been a popular place for wealthy people to vacation in, but it was small enough to be fairly unknown.
I gave Kaden a tight smile in response. Unlike him, I wasn’t part of the vacation crowd. My family didn’t own a property on the foreshore, and I didn’t spend my summers working on my tan. My hometown was a stark mixture of people who had it all and those who just got by in life, and my mom and I definitely fell into the latter category.
“You really get to live there year-round?” Kaden asked.
“Uh, yeah.” I was growing increasingly uncomfortable. It felt like Kaden was one question away from discovering that I spent most of my time serving food to people like him.
“How long have you lived there?” Luther added.
“My whole life.” They looked ready to fire yet another question at me, so I quickly continued. “Are we really going to play twenty questions in math?”
“What better time than during math?” Luther shrugged. “It has to be the most dull subject in the world, and Kaden’s always a total drag and actually listens to the teacher for most of it. I figure you will be more entertaining.”
I let out a soft laugh, pleased that Luther was so easily distracted from his interrogation. “Well, you’re in for some disappointment. You’ve now surrounded yourself with two drags.”
Luther’s expression fell. “Oh, no. You’re not a nerd too, are you?”
“I just try to do well in school.”
He leaned back in his chair and groaned up at the ceiling. “She is a nerd.”
Kaden gave me a bright smile though. “Luther’s always impossible to sit with in class. Maybe between the two of us we can get him to concentrate.”
“Ha! You wish,” Luther replied. “Now, I’ve just got one more reason to be a total distraction.”
The teacher walked into the room, and I expected Luther to quiet down as the man signaled for the class’s attention. Luther kept on prattling away like the teacher wasn’t even there though.
“It’s not like it matters if we do well in these classes. Our parents just bribe the teachers to give us good grades anyway, so there’s really no point in actually trying.”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, so I shot him a scowl just in case he was serious. “There is a point if you want to learn,” I hissed back at him.
Luther didn’t respond, and I wondered if I’d actually gotten through to him. His silence lasted all of two minutes, and I stifled a groan as he started prodding my arm with the end of his pen.
“You don’t really want to learn though, do you?”
I didn’t look at him as I replied. “Yep.”
“But, why?”
There were plenty of ways I could answer his question—because I enjoyed school, or because I wanted to get good grades so I had options once this year was over. I didn’t say anything though, hoping the silent treatment might work with him.
It didn’t.
He kept prattling on in a one-sided conversation instead. “You know no one actually uses math in real life, right? I mean, I guess accountants and people with other boring jobs use it, but no one actually wants to do that. Unless… You don’t want to be an accountant, do you? Maybe that gut feeling I had about you was wrong. I didn’t think my gut could ever be wrong, but—”
“Luther?” I hissed, turning to him.
An innocent smile was plastered across his face. “Yes?”
“Shut up!”
Several sniggers sounded from the other students in the room, and I realized I’d almost shouted the words. I immediately lowered my head closer to the desk and wished I could disappear. Thankfully, the teacher didn’t reprimand me. He just carried on like I hadn’t said anything at all, and I had to wonder if it was because he’d already given up on trying to control Luther. Either that or Luther’s parents really did bribe the man.
I felt another poke on my arm, and I lifted my head to see Luther and Kaden both grinning at me.
“I think math is going to be fun this year,” Luther said.
I couldn’t have disagreed more.
