it away with thumb and forefinger, but it just falls forward again.
He’s the one watching me.
What the hell is his fascination with me? First the video camera, now this?
I get an overwhelming urge to cross my arms over my bra, but I’m not sure if the sisters are done measuring me yet. Ignoring my reddening cheeks, I lift my chin and glare at him.
So what if he wants to look? There’s not much for him to see. Just a girl in her underwear.
His lips quirk up in a smile that immediately spreads into a wide grin. He takes the first two fingers of his hand and presses them to his lips. Then he touches them to the glass.
I stiffen. In a blink, he’s gone.
“Turn around,” Miriam says in a long-suffering voice. “Arms up all the way.”
They slide a shift over my head. It’s at least two sizes too big for me, and comes to mid-calf. The armholes expose the side of my bra, and the belt is two inches lower than I’m assuming it should be.
“Good gracious, this is the closest you have?” Miriam asks Ruth.
“She’s a tiny little thing,” the sister replies.
“Well, she can’t walk around in those whorish clothes of hers anymore.”
Whorish…?
I turn stunned eyes on Sister Miriam, but she’s glaring so hard at the shift, she doesn’t seem to notice.
Then again, they’re all wearing habits.
Wait…
“Do I have to wear a habit?” I whisper.
I hope they don’t hear the horror in my voice. Ruth shakes her head, lifting a finger to tut me. “No, no. There’s a school dress. We just haven’t made many of them.”
Thank. Heavens.
“Bring the dress.”
Lo and behold, there is a girl’s uniform for this place.
It’s brown.
It’s hideous.
And it looks like they made it out of felt. I can already tell it’s going to be scratchy as all hell. I take a step back before I can force myself to hold still and let them slide it over my head.
Yup. I look like a turd.
I peek over my shoulder, but there’s no one by the window.
Is it weird I’d rather let that guy see me in my underwear than in this monstrosity?
“You come back here this afternoon,” Miriam says, slipping a pale belt over my waist and yanking it tight.
“Oh, I won’t have it ready by then, Sister,” Ruth protests.
“Not for the dress.” Miriam turns me around adjusts my dress as if she can somehow make it two sizes smaller by tugging it here and there. Her eyes fix on me. “This is where you’ll spend your afternoons.”
I open my mouth, but from the look on Miriam’s face, I know there’s no reasoning with her.
“Yes, Sister,” I manage.
Lord, I’ve got to start earning some brownie points with Father Gabriel. I don’t know how else I’m going to survive this place.
Chapter Nine
Trinity
My other teachers are mostly middle-aged men and women, none of whom are even remotely as interesting as Zachary. My mind drifts in each of their classes, and it’s increasingly difficult to bring it back to the subject at hand.
The dress has given me a rash along my collarbones. I scratch the rest of my body as surreptitiously as I can, but I’m sure everyone in my class thinks I have leprosy.
For the first time since I arrived at Saint Amos, I’m relieved when the bell gongs for lunch.
I don’t bother trying to find Jasper—he made it clear he’d rather stick a fork in his eye than spend any more time with me than he has to. I head for the first open seat I see.
As luck would have it, I recognize the boy sitting opposite me a few minutes into my meal of sausages, gravy, peas, and mashed potato. He doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere, so I might as well get some answers.
“You’re Jasper’s friend,” I say, pointing at the kid with my fork.
He leans back from me as if he’s worried I’ll reach over and stick him with my cutlery. “Yeah, so?”
“So what’s his problem? I mean, is he genuinely just a prick, or did I do something shitty to him a previous life?”
Jasper’s friend watches me with owlish eyes. “He…he doesn’t like girls.”
“No one in this place does.” I stab a stray pea and shove it in my mouth, bursting it between my teeth. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
His friend shakes his head, and then ducks down.
I’m all hot and cold inside. I so badly want to thump my fist into the table and make his friend look me in