My old roommate regarded me with bored indifference from her seat at our table, sweeping a strand of her now perfect hair from her eyes. “Hi, Hazel.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“…um, hi.” I tried to recover from my surprise. “What are you doing back at school?”
“I go here,” she said, rolling her eyes likeIwas the one who was crazy. When she spoke, I noticed her accent had been ironed flat. She didn’t sound like Loretta. She sounded… like Courtney or Tillie or one of the Queens.
“Yes, but—”But the Kings said you’d been ‘taken away’ because of your low score, so why are you back?I couldn’t say that. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Headmistress West said your grandparents pulled you out of school because of a family tragedy—”
“I’m back now.” Loretta turned back to her table, leaning across to whisper something to Courtney.Okay, so I guess that conversation is over.
Courtney’s eyes flashed at me. “You’re still here, gutter whore. You should fix that.”
“Can you all move your shit?” I pointed a finger down the table. “We’ve gotta get down there to our friend, and you’re blocking the aisle.”
In response, Courtney used the heel of her shoe to move her bookbag even further into the middle of the narrow aisle. I nudged it back. She slid it out again, glaring at me.
“The mime can sit by himself. Touch my stuff again, and I’ll report you for stealing,” she hissed.
“Fine.” I reached for the empty chair between her and Loretta. “I’ll just sit with my old friend Loretta here, because it’s a free country.”
Courtney’s bookbag slammed down on the seat, blocking the space. My tray wobbled in my hands as I steadied myself.
“That seat’s taken.”
“By your bag? Are you feeding it like a pet?” I reached down to knock it off the table. Courtney glared at me and covered the bag with her arm.
“Don’t touch that. I don’t want you to contaminate it.”
“Then move it. I’m not dextrous enough to eat standing up, balancing a tray on my nose.”
“You can’t sit here,” Loretta said. Every pair of eyes at the table stared at me. The cafeteria grew quiet.
“It’s a free country,” I shrugged, grabbing a strap of the bag and jerking it onto the floor.
“This is our table now.” Loretta gestured to the Queens sitting around her. I noticed as she waved her hand that her nails were covered in pink glitter nail polish, the exact same shade Courtney was wearing.
Loretta never wore nail polish. It was a violation of the rules and an automatic loss of 3 merit points if you got caught. Loretta never did anything that might cost her points.
Okay, I don’t get this.I stood with my tray in my hands, turning over what I should do.Loretta was missing for a day and now suddenly she’s friends with Courtney and is talking in this weird robot voice?
“There a problem here?” Trey appeared at the end of the table, leaning over his muscled arms.
“None of your business,” Tillie snapped.
“These ladies won’t move their stuff so we can get past,” I said, making another move to slide down the tiny gap between Courtney’s chair and the table behind her. Trey reached out and grabbed my wrist.
“Forget it. You’re sitting with us now.”
What?
“What?” Courtney shrieked.
Trey shrugged as if it was no big deal, as if he asked gutter whores to sit at the monarchs’ table all the time. “Yeah. Your friends can come, too. If you’d prefer to sit with Courtney, I completely understand—”
“Nope, we’re good.” I picked up my tray and followed Trey across the dining hall. The only sound in the hall was the clop of my shoes against the granite tiles as I followed Trey to my new table, and thewhooshas the jaws of three-hundred students collectively dropped to the floor. Greg followed and, after some jostling to get over Courtney’s bags, Andre appeared beside me as well. After inspecting the seat Trey held out thoroughly for some kind of prank, I set my tray down opposite Quinn and slid my legs under the table.
Greg took the chair beside me, facing Ayaz, and Andre sat beside him. Trey leaned in close, wrapping his arm around me. All along the table, guys and girls studied me as if seeing me for the first time.
