Conspiracies (Mercedes Lackey) - By Mercedes Lackey Page 0,13
what she’s going to wear to the prom is making Muirin happy,” Loch went on. “It’s Christmas, for heaven’s sake, Spirit. Give them at least one day off from being The Mystery Gang. You owe them that.”
Her throat suddenly filled with a big lump. “As long as I don’t have to be the goofy mascot,” she managed to whisper.
Loch gave her his sunniest smile—looking relieved, she thought. “Nah. I always thought of you as more the ‘cute cheerleader’ type.”
All she could do after that was nod, and let him lead her back over to the soda table, and fill her arms with cold cans.
She followed him back to their table, still gulping back tears of grief and humiliation, and if she couldn’t manage to smile and chatter cheerfully, she could at least pay attention to the game to give Addie a good one, and nod when Muirin went on about what an ordeal and a torture session the New Year’s Ball was going to be.
Because, yeah, Loch was right.
She did owe them that much.
But they owed her, too.
* * *
The next day—Boxing Day—was the day when the students at Oakhurst traditionally exchanged their “personal” gifts with each other. Spirit had made book covers and matching bookmarks out of felt. Privately, she thought the gifts were a little cheesy, but they were all she could manage, and she’d wanted to give her friends something, at least. When the other girls on her floor had seen Spirit’s bookmark-and-book-cover combinations, some of them had asked her to make some for them. She’d done it, even though it had taken precious time from figuring out how to destroy the Wild Hunt, because she’d been terribly conscious of needing to behave as if everything was completely normal. And since the student body at Oakhurst had a flourishing barter economy going, it had meant she at least had some pretty and colorful paper to wrap her gifts for her friends in.
By prearrangement, the five of them met in their favorite student lounge, the one beside the Library. Spirit had been worried she’d receive gifts far more elaborate and expensive than the ones she gave, but the one good thing about the draconian way Oakhurst ran things was that nobody could give expensive presents, even if they had a lot of money waiting for them in the outside world. So Loch gave her a flash drive full of music, which surprised and touched her, since she missed her music collection, and Loch had taken pains to track down (and trade for) most of her favorite songs, and Addie (who knitted) gave her a scarf that wasn’t cream, gold, or brown: It was knitted out of soft wool and striped in every color of the rainbow. Spirit was surprised to get a second gift from Muirin, as Muirin had already given Spirit her Christmas gift a few days earlier. But now Muirin presented her with one of the Oakhurst blouses, which would have been an insulting kind of gift if Muirin hadn’t covered it with intricate embroidery on the collar, the cuffs, the placket, and the back yoke. Spirit was grateful, but she couldn’t help wondering if it was some subtle Muirin-type commentary on her fashion sense.
Burke gave her a necklace. He’d made it in Wood Shop, he told her after she opened it: It was a pendant in an oval shape, about two inches long, made with elaborate marquetry work and polished to a mirror smoothness.
“Figured you might like to have something to wear that, well, wasn’t Oakhurst-y,” he said awkwardly.
“I love it. I do,” she answered, reaching out to give him an impulsive hug.
Muirin applauded mockingly—drawing irritated hisses from the other kids in the lounge, since even on Boxing Day there were always people studying—and Burke pulled away, blushing.
“Um, so, it’s kind of stuffy in here, isn’t it?” he said clumsily. “Want to go outside and—uh, look at the stuff?”
“What, go out where it’s cold enough to freeze your assets off and pretend the snow statues haven’t been there for the last three weeks?” Muirin mocked. “No, thanks. I am staying right here where it is nice and warm.”
“I—” Loch began, and to her astonishment, out of the corner of her eye Spirit saw Addie’s elbow connect with Loch’s ribs, hard and fast. After what had happened Christmas Day, it was actually gratifying to see Loch on the receiving end of a “shut up” elbow. But why?…