Genesis Girl (Blank Slate #1) - Jennifer Bardsley Page 0,53

and sketchier.

“I can’t tell you. I called in a favor.” Fatima bit her lip.

I looked down at the orange bottle. “325 mg ferrous sulfate.”

“If these don’t help after three months, then there’s nothing I can do for you,” Fatima said. “You might have alopecia … but hopefully it’s low iron.”

“Look.” I hesitated. “I can’t take these. Not without talking to a doctor. But I appreciate this. You’ve given me courage to deal with this, so thank you.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll go to Headmaster Russell. I’ll ask to see the doctor.”

“But what if you get kicked out?” Fatima’s eyebrows flew up.

“What if I die? What if these aren’t actually vitamins? What then?”

“They’re iron tablets,” Fatima whispered. “I promise.”

“I believe you,” I said. “I believe you believe these are iron tablets. And thank you. But I can’t sneak around. It would drive me crazy.”

“Sometimes crazy is a good thing.” Fatima smiled.

Things ended up being better than all right. After that moment, Fatima and I became best friends.

Things with Headmaster Russell weren’t so easy. He was awful when he found out about my hair. But the doctor said it was a vitamin deficiency, not permanent hair loss. Iron, zinc, and B12. They hopped me full of vitamins the size of horse tablets. A few months later, my hair grew in thicker than ever.

So when Fatima knocks on the metal door of my room tonight an hour before the Vestal banquet, I let her into my cloister immediately. It’s the first time she’s ever come to McNeal Manor, and I’m thrilled to see her, although I have no idea why she’s here.

Is this a special surprise? Did Ms. Lydia arrange this? Does Fatima get to ride to the banquet with us for some reason?

But then Fatima takes off her white traveling cloak, and I see that she’s covered in color.

That’s when things get weird.

“Nice place you’ve got here.” Fatima runs her hand over my desk like everything is normal. Her butt models those blue jeans in a way that makes you notice the label.

“Fatima,” I say. “What’s going on? Where did you get those clothes?”

“Not all of my friends are Vestals,” she answers calmly, as if everything’s all right. But I know better. I can see Fatima’s breath go in an out like a jackrabbit’s. I’ve never seen her so scared before. “Don’t you get tired of wearing all white?”

I let the question slide. If Fatima wants to wear a red sweater, then that’s none of my business. But I have to ask her the most important question. The one I can’t ignore. “Does your company know you’re here?”

Fatima gazes out my window. “Nope.”

I take a few moments to let my own heart slow. “What’s going on?” I step beside her at the windowpanes.

“I wanted to see where you live. I wanted to—” But Fatima can’t finish her sentence before her voice starts breaking.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m pregnant!” Fatima crosses the room and sinks onto my bed. Before my eyes, she crumples into tears.

I don’t know what to say because I can’t tell if Fatima is crying with joy or sorrow. But then she pushes herself up on her elbows and smiles.

“It’s a miracle. The operation must have reversed itself! I’m going to have a baby!”

“How is that possible?” I sit on the bed next to her.

“I don’t know. I’ve never understood things like that.”

“Whose baby is it?” It’s a foolish question, because I already suspect the answer.

“Beau’s, silly. It’s our baby.”

“But wasn’t Beau sterilized too?”

“Supposedly,” Fatima says. “But I don’t know if I can believe anything they tell me ever again.”

“Fatima,” I whisper, afraid for her. She’s totally losing her mind. “If Headmaster Russell finds out, or Ms. Lydia—”

“They’ll kill it,” Fatima interrupts me. “That’s why I came to you. You’re the only one who can help.”

“Why me?” But I know the answer to that one too. I’m the only one who’s different. I’m the only one who went Geisha.

“Will you see if your purchaser can help?”

I look at Fatima, sitting there in her new clothes. She’s covered in color and ruined now, on the inside and out. Fatima already doesn’t look like the Vestal sister I knew. But I hold my cuff up to her heart anyway.

“Fatima, you have a hard road. In so many ways it’s difficult being you. But I know that you can do it. You have everything you need to achieve happiness.”

“Thank you.” Fatima throws her arms around me, and we both weep together. And I know