The Initiation Page 0,39

a lunch detention and Faye's off doing something, so I'm eating in here," she announced.

Diana looked up. "Fine," she said evenly, then added, "This is my friend Cassie, Suzan. Cassie, this is Suzan Whittier."

"Hi," Cassie said, trying to sound casual.

There was a moment of tension. Then Suzan rolled her china-blue eyes. "Hi," she said finally, and immediately sat down and began removing things from her lunch sack.

Cassie looked at Suzan unloading her lunch, then threw a quick glance over at Laurel. Then she looked at Diana and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

She heard the crinkle of plastic as Suzan produced the last item from her bag; then a piercing shriek from Laurel.

"Oh, my God - you're not still eating those! Do you know what's in those things, Suzan? Beef fat, lard, palm oil - and it's about fifty percent white sugar..."

Diana was biting her lip and Cassie was shaking silently, trying to keep a straight face. Finally it was too much, and she had to let the giggles escape. As soon as she did Diana burst into laughter too.

Everyone else looked at them, baffled.

Cassie smiled down at her tuna sandwich. After so many weeks of loneliness, she had found where she belonged. She was Diana's friend, Diana's adopted sister. Her place was here beside Diana.

Chapter Ten

That Friday, Kori came to the back room for lunch. She seemed in awe of the older girls and was even absently respectful of Cassie, which was nice. Certainly Suzan and Deborah had no such respect. The strawberry blond seemed unaware of Cassie's existence unless she wanted something passed to her or picked up, and the biker fixed Cassie with a surly glare whenever they passed in the hall. Deborah and Doug - the other Henderson brother - had appeared in the back room only once since Cassie started eating there, and they had spent the entire time arguing furiously about some heavy-metal band.

Neither Faye nor Nick, the dark, coldly handsome boy who'd rescued Cassie's backpack, showed up at all that week.

But Kori Henderson was nice. Now that Cassie knew, she could see the resemblance to Chris and Doug - the blond hair and the blue-green eyes that Kori emphasized by wearing a turquoise necklace and ring all the time. Kori wasn't as wild as her brothers, though. She seemed just an ordinary, friendly, going-on-fifteen girl.

"I've been waiting so long for it, I can't believe it's finally here," she was saying at the end of lunch. "I mean, just think, next Tuesday's the day! And Dad says we can have the party down on the beach - or at least he didn't say we couldn't - and I want to make it really special, because of it being a holiday, too..." She trailed off suddenly. Cassie, following her gaze, saw that Diana had her lip caught between her teeth and was almost imperceptibly shaking her head.

What was Kori saying wrong? Cassie wondered. And then it struck her: this was the first she'd heard about a party, although it clearly wasn't news to the others. Was she not invited?

"So, uh, do you think Adam will be back in time for- - for - I mean, when do you think Adam will be back?" Kori stuttered.

"I don't really know. I hope it's soon, but..." Diana gave a little shrug. "Who can tell? Who can ever tell?"

"Who's Adam?" Cassie said, determined to show she didn't care about the party.

"You mean she hasn't told you about Adam yet? Diana, there's such a thing as carrying modesty too far," Melanie said, her cool gray eyes disbelieving.

The color had come to Diana's cheeks. "There just hasn't been time - " she began, and Laurel and Melanie hooted.

Cassie was surprised. She'd never seen Diana react this way. "No, but really," she said. "Who is he? Is he your boyfriend?"

"Only since childhood," Laurel said. "They've been together forever."

"But where is he? Is he in college? What's he like?"

"No, he's just - visiting some people," Diana said. "He's a senior, but he's been away so far this year. And as for what he's like... well, he's nice. I think you'll like him." She smiled.

Cassie looked toward Laurel for more information. Laurel waved a zucchini stick in the air. "Adam's..."

Kori said, "Yes, he's..."

Even Melanie couldn't seem to find the right words. "You'll have to meet him," she said.

Cassie was intrigued. "Do you have a picture of him?" she asked Diana.

"As a matter of fact, I don't," Diana said. Seeing Cassie's disappointment, she went on, "You