“I’m alone,” I say.
“Good.”
She locks the door back.
“Is there a reason you keep the door locked all the time?”
“Obviously there’s a reason,” she says, padding across the tile floor in her plaid house shoes. “It’s to keep us safe.”
“Is the school a dangerous place?”
She gives a noncommittal wobble of her head as she drops onto her bed, her focus shifting to her open laptop.
Whatever. I begin hanging up the uniforms in my closet, and I make my bed with the sheets Belle lends me. She gives me one of her many pillows, and I thank her, and then I sit on my mattress and open up my laptop. I order all new bedding and use my credit card to have it shipped here as fast as possible.
There’s a loud knock at the door and my cousin jumps, her laptop skittering across the bed. “Who is it?” she whispers. “Did you invite someone?”
She’s somehow managed to turn a shade paler than usual, which I didn’t think was possible. The girl’s skin looks like she’s never been outside. Her eyes are wide and I can practically hear her heart pounding in the silence that follows.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” I say, getting up and walking over to the door.
“Wait!” she whisper-yells. “Use the peephole.”
Frowning, I push back a dark scarf that’s been thumbtacked to the door, revealing a peephole hidden underneath it. “Yay!” I say, stepping back and throwing open the door.
My luggage is there. Along with a guy in a UPS uniform. “Sign here,” he says, handing me a tablet. I scribble my name and thank him.
“Lock the door,” Belle says as I bring my luggage inside. I do as she asks, and I really, really want to tell her she’s being overly paranoid, but I keep my thoughts to myself. It was one thing to be rude to that gardener guy earlier. This is my cousin and I have to live with her.
The next couple of hours pass easily while I unpack my stuff and find a new home for it all on my half of the dorm room. Belle watches me silently, her attention shifting from her computer to me every few minutes.
“Um, Sophia?” she says after I’ve arranged my makeup on top of the dresser. There is no room for a vanity mirror here, so this is my best place to put it.
“Yeah?” I say, uncapping some lip gloss since this chilly January weather is making my lips dry.
“Could you maybe tell me when you’re expecting a delivery, or a visitor or something? If I know ahead of time, then I won’t get so freaked out.”
“Okay, sure,” I say, sliding the lip gloss applicator over my bottom lip. “My new sheets are getting delivered tomorrow, but it’ll probably arrive when you’re in class so it won’t be a big deal.”
“No, I’ll be here,” she says, looking back at her computer screen.
“Why? Are you sick or just playing hooky?”
She chews on the inside of her lip. “My mom didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Anything about me?”
I think back to my very brief encounter with Aunt Kate. “Nope.”
“Hmm,” she says. “Well… I do alternative school. It’s online. My teachers visit with me once every few weeks to check on my progress, and I just listen to the lectures with a webcam.”
“Why on earth would you do that? This room is depressing. Don’t you want to go to your classes and socialize?”
Her eyes widen for a second and then she shakes her head, looking all small and scared again. “I like online learning. It’s… it’s better for me.”
I can tell there is more to this story. Some hidden reason my cousin is the why she is, but I can also tell that she does not want to talk about it.
