The Divide Page 0,25

tote, as if to remind herself of the errand's importance. She turned to go just as Scarlett noticed her.

"Cassie?" Scarlett's face instantly lit up. "It's so good to see you," she said. "Come sit with me."

"I can't," Cassie said, scanning the surrounding area. "I only have a minute."

"Sit for only a minute then." Scarlett closed her book and pushed it aside.

Scarlett looked so lonely sitting there by herself. It would have been cruel to decline.

"What are your plans for today?" Cassie asked casually.

Scarlett raised her hands and looked left and right.

"This," she said. "It ain't much."

Cassie offered her a polite chuckle. "Thanks again for coming to Melanie's the other day. I'm sorry I kind of lost track of you and didn't get to say good-bye." Scarlett's dark eyes radiated affection. "No problem," she said. Then she took a long sip of her iced coffee and seemed to be weighing something in her mind or trying to figure something out.

Cassie felt like she was being examined so deeply that Scarlett could have been counting each of her pores or every one of her eyelashes, but Cassie just let her. For some reason, it didn't make her feel self-conscious. She didn't know why, but she wanted Scarlett to know her, and to really see her. to really see her.

After another moment passed, Scarlett said, "I really like your friends. And since I don't know anyone on the island, I was hoping to make a good impression."

Cassie knew this was the moment where, if she were a regular girl without a Circle to answer to, she would ask Scarlett to hang out. Instead, she offered her a pathetic-sounding conciliation. "I was the new kid not long ago," Cassie said. "And I know how brutal making friends in this town can be."

Scarlett's full red lips broke into a wide smile. "That's why I'm going to guilt you into being friends with me." Cassie

laughed.

She enjoyed Scarlett's unpretentiousness. She was just the kind of no-nonsense girl Cassie would have been friends with back in California.

"For example," Scarlett said, "I'm going to remind you that I moved here with a single pathetic suitcase to convince you to go shopping with me."

Cassie remembered Diana's snarky comment about Scarlett's suitcase and was embarrassed by it all over again. She glanced at her watch. She had another two hours before she had to be at the lighthouse. What could be the harm in going around to a few stores for an hour?

"Lucky for you, shopping is one of my favorite leisure-time activities," Cassie said.

"Does that mean you're in?" Scarlett asked.

"Why not?" Cassie stood up. "My errands can wait." Scarlett shot out of her seat. "That worked even better than I thought it would."

Shopping with Scarlett was the perfect diversion from all of Cassie's troubles. Since she couldn't talk about any of the Circle's issues, she had to put them out of her mind entirely.

It was like getting to be somebody else for a few hours, somebody with normal concerns. Concerns like, Is forty dollars too much to pay for a tank top even if it's really really soft? And Scarlett was a master shopper; she could pluck out the best item on a sale rack with the speedy foresight even a witch could admire. She somehow talked Cassie into buying turquoise-blue feathered earrings.

"These are more your style than mine," Cassie said, just after the impulse buy.

"We can share them." Scarlett smiled brightly. "In fact, we can share most of this stuff. That's the beauty of being the same size."

Cassie agreed and then suggested they unload their shopping bags into the trunk of her car before searching out the perfect summer shoes. She and Scarlett slipped so easily into friendship that Cassie forgot she was supposed to be keeping her distance from her. So the sight of Diana stepping out of her Volvo across the parking lot didn't strike Cassie as an immediate cause for alarm. Her panic didn't set in until Diana's eyes met hers - first with the delight of a surprise encounter, followed by a narrowing, painful displeasure. Cassie had been caught blatantly defying a promise she had made to the Circle.

Diana approached them gradually. Her "hello" sounded more like a snub than a greeting. "I see you two have been having a good time," she said, gesturing to their shopping bags.

Scarlett, sensing the coldness in Diana's voice, smiled politely but said nothing.

"I ran into Scarlett unexpectedly," Cassie said.

Diana derided Cassie with her eyes. "I guess there's a