an English accent too? But I didn’t have time to worry about that, because it was my turn to speak.
“Hi!” I tried to smile, look friendly, and wave all at the same time. My smile came out as a kind of nervous exhale, probably showing too many teeth, and my wave looked like a dorky muscle spasm. “I’m Emily. Emily Parker. I’m new in town, so I’ve never done this before.”
“Don’t worry, Park. We’ll be gentle.” Mitch laughed at his own joke, and I snickered a little too, but my laugh was shut down by a forbidding-looking Simon.
“As Beatrice said, you’re a wench this year as well, right?” His question prodded me along, and I got the message. Stay on topic. I’d already pissed him off with the Shakespeare thing; I needed to behave.
“Right. Sorry. Yes. Yes, I am a wench with Stacey.”
“Beatrice.” He repeated the name, as though I were slow in understanding, and good Lord, I had no idea plain brown eyes could look like lasers. But Simon’s stare was about to burn a hole in my forehead.
“Yes,” I said. “Beatrice. Sorry. Again.” What was with this guy?
“And your name?”
“Emily.”
He sighed. “Yes. But your Faire name.”
“Oh . . . It’s . . .” I smoothed out the wrinkled paper in my hands, stalling for time. “I guess Shakespeare’s out, huh?” I chanced a look up at him, but the thunder in his expression told me that my jokes weren’t welcome here. “Fine, okay. I’ll be . . . ummm . . .” My eyes landed on a name. Easy. “Emma.”
“Emma.” His voice was flat.
“It’s period.” I pointed at the paper. “See, right there on the list. And I’ll remember to answer to it.”
Another short sigh. “Glad to see you’re putting a lot of thought into this.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but Simon turned to the teenager immediately to my left and made clear I had ceased to exist to him.
I leaned back on my hands and sighed. Dick.
Stacey nudged me. “Don’t worry about him,” she whispered. “Your name is fine.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Don’t let him bother you.”
I blew out a breath. “I’ll try.” I turned my attention back to the circle, where Mitch was up next.
“Mitch Malone.” His voice exuded confidence, and why not? Look at the guy. Someone like that could be conceited about himself, and for all I knew he was. But the way he smiled, not only at me but at the kids in the circle, told me there was more to him than how much he could deadlift. “And I’ve been doing Faire for, what, about as long as you, Simon, right?”
Simon nodded. “You started the year after me. So the second year of Faire.”
“Yeah, that sounds right. Your big brother bugged me for, like, half of senior year in high school to join up. Said he needed more big strong guys, and not scrawny little guys like you.”
“I was not scrawny.” Simon huffed, but a smile played around his mouth too. This was obviously an old, toothless argument.
Mitch waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever. ‘Scrawny’ is a relative term, right?” I wasn’t sure if he consciously flexed his pecs at that point or what, but there was definite movement under his tight gray T-shirt, and it was a beautiful thing to watch.
Simon sighed again, but unlike when he expressed his disapproval of me, this sigh came out as more of a laugh. “Okay, whatever. I assume you’re bringing the kilt again this year, right?”
“Oh, aye, lad. Marcus MacGregor rides again!” Mitch’s slip into a Scottish brogue made my eyebrows shoot up. I’d dismissed him as a meathead, with the tight T-shirt and high-maintenance physique. But the meathead had hidden depths. He was friends with an uptight intellectual like Simon and could affect an accent on command.
As we kept going around the circle, I found my attention wandering back to Mitch and that tight T-shirt. To my horror, Mitch caught me looking at one point and sent a wink my way, along with finger-guns. Ah, well, he was still kind of a meathead after all. I snorted, which I tried to cover with a cough, but Mitch laughed anyway. Simon cleared his throat, shooting a dirty look to the both of us, and I looked away, my cheeks burning.
“I’m Caitlin Parker.” My niece’s voice was like a cool, deep breath to my soul, and I looked to where she sat across the circle from me with a gaggle of her friends. “I’m new