Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,60
and took her normal, ready-to-begin-class stance.
I breathed a careful and quiet sigh of relief. I was absolutely sure that I wanted nothing to do with Ms. Lacusta’s club, and I was fairly certain that my parents would back me up if I presented it to them the right way. They had never forced me to participate in anything, and I doubted they would begin now.
I wondered suddenly if Ms. Lacusta’s invitation had been prompted by Nell’s absence. The weird relationship between teacher and student gave me the creeps, the way Nell stared at Ms. Lacusta, with an odd mixture of awe and cunning, and how often Ms. Lacusta’s gaze rested on Nell.
I caught Casey and Liza exchanging furtive glances, and in my anxiety I heard Casey thinking, Can’t believe she did that… Nell is going to be livid. Marica knows she hates that girl… do I tell Nell? If I don’t, Liza might… Nell will think I’m keeping secrets… so nasty when she’s annoyed…
It was interesting to hear how Nell’s closest friends thought of her. There was more fear than affection, reminding me of the hypocrisy Michael and I had discussed earlier. I didn’t exactly feel sorry for Nell, but it made me wonder about her whole group. Perhaps even sadder than having no friends at all was knowing that the people around you were motivated by something other than friendship.
Michael was sitting outside again today, and I joined him, shaking my head in quiet resignation as I looked at the trays of food. He greeted me with the smile that lit up his face, grabbed my hand and gave it a light squeeze.
“Hey,” he said, looking up at me. “How was your morning?”
“It was good,” I replied, realizing that it had been. “Nell isn’t here today, so that is one excellent piece of news… you don’t think she left for good, do you?”
Michael laughed. “No, I don’t think she did. Even Nell takes a day off every now and then. I’m glad you got a break.”
“Me, too,” I agreed with heartfelt fervor. “And not only that, I think I might be on my way to another first in my life.”
“What’s that?” He took a big bite of the pasta on the plate in front of us.
“I think I might be making a new friend, all on my own. Not that I don’t love Anne,” I hastened to assure him. “I do, and she’s been so terrific to me. But she’s your friend too, and for me to actually meet someone on my own makes me feel good. I sat next to Cara today in French, and we talked a little bit. I almost asked her to sit with us at lunch, but I wasn’t sure if we’d need some privacy.” I shook my head sadly as Michael leaned toward me in a mock leer. “C’mon, you know what I mean. I thought you might have some news about Amber.”
“I knew what you meant… but you can’t blame a guy for hoping,” he sighed, then sobered. “I’m glad to hear about Cara. She seems nice. She’d probably be a good friend for you, I think. And actually, I did get a chance to talk with Amber.”
My eyes widened. “Really? You did? I thought you were going to chicken out on that. I’m amazed.”
“Chicken out?” Michael’s voice raised in disbelief. “That’s crazy. I told you I’d talk to her if I got the opportunity, and, well, I got the opportunity. She came into the library when I was there for independent study, and I managed to get her by herself.”
“That must have been interesting,” I commented.
“Oh, it was,” he agreed. “I had to turn on the charm.”
“Ahhhh…” I nodded. “I see. So she never stood a chance.”
“Nope,” he said smugly. “Never. Fate threw us together and gave us a study hall monitor who couldn’t care less if we talked, as long as we were quiet about it. So we did. Talk, I mean.”
“And…?” I prompted.
“And… apparently this friendship with Nell isn’t as new as we thought. Amber says Nell has been talking to her, asking her to sit with them at lunch, since the beginning of school. I asked her why on earth she’d want to be friends with Nell, after all the years of torture. She just kind of shrugged and looked—I don’t know, almost guilty. She said Nell explained a lot to her, and now she understands more. And she said Nell can be almost sweet.”