“Hazel, I don’t think I’ve introduced you.” Trey indicated his friends with a lazy wave of his hand. “This is Barclay, Arthur, Kenneth, Rupert, and Paul. That’s Mary, Paul’s girlfriend, and Nancy. She’s—”
“Head cheerleader and captain of the school debating team,” Nancy said, standing up to lean across the table to shake my hand. Her grip was firm and surprisingly warm. “Welcome, Hazel, Greg, Andre.”
Greg, Andre, and I exchanged a glance. None of this made any sense, but damned if I wasn’t going to enjoy it while it lasted.
I took a huge bite of my omelette, Trey’s fingers rubbing warm circles on my back. Beside me, Quinn and Ayaz argued back and forth about some obscure Russian science fiction book they both loved, while Nancy and Mary chatted about the latest collection from some hot designer. Greg chimed in and soon they were chatting like old friends.
Across the room, Loretta was still sitting with Courtney and her cronies. They bent their heads together, occasionally sending a glare in our direction and then laughing – I assumed the laughter was at my expense.
A strange mix of hurt and triumph welled up inside me. I was happy Loretta was back, but that meant Headmistress West had told me the truth. There was no conspiracy. There was no plot by the school to kick out scholarship students.
Or was there?
Why did it take Loretta only a day to get over her family tragedy? A day was barely enough time to even make it down the peninsula on that death road. And why had she come back sounding like a robot and sitting with the Queens? Why wasn’t she back in our dorm room? What wasn’t Mrs. West telling me?
Why did the Kings tell me all that stuff if it wasn’t true? Were they trying to scare me again?
I knew I was missing something important. But what? Why did Loretta’s sudden transformation and my sudden rise to the top dinner table feel like part of a sinister plot?
Chapter Twenty-Five
“So, Hazel, any secrets you’d like to share with the group?” Greg leaned against my locker after the last class of the day, all smiles and sweetness. Behind him, Andre gave me a curious once-over, as if he were seeing me for the first time.
Something fucked up is going on in this school and it centers around the scholaship program.
“Nope.” I shoved Greg out of the way and stacked my books on the top shelf.
“Yes, you do. Like, why we’re suddenly sitting at the monarchs’ table?”
“You’ll have to take that up with Trey. He seems to be the authority on seating arrangements.”
“Come on, just tell me,” Greg begged. “You know I’m a gossip whore. This is the juiciest morsel I’ve had all year, and you’re teasing me with it.”
“I really don’t know, okay? I think it has something to do with Loretta disappearing and suddenly coming back.” I lowered my voice as Loretta and Courtney strode past, arm in arm. Here in the corridor with all the noise, no way would anyone overhear us. “This morning, the Kings told me that there was something sinister happening at this school. They said they’d given me the points so that I wouldn’t be sent away. Apparently, the school kicks out the lowest-performing scholarship student every semester, so by the end of the year there’s only one left. Because I wasn’t the lowest anymore, Loretta was sent in my place.”
“What?” Greg gasped. Andre’s eyes were wide as saucers. “I was never told that.”
Andre shook his head.
“Me neither. It’s gross, but fine, okay. It’s their school, their scholarship program, their rules. But then why is Loretta back? Whatever they did to her, she’s come back completely different.”
“I’ll say,” Greg’s eyes followed Loretta as she hitched up her skirt another inch. “Did you hear she got a room in the dormitory wing?”
“What?”
“Yeah. Her own private suite with a four-poster bed and ensuite and everything. Maybe her grandparents inherited a fortune from whatever relative just died.”
“Somehow, I don’t think that’s it. Have either of you managed to talk to Loretta? She’s clearly got a bone to pick with me, but she always had time for both of you.”
Andre scribbled a note and passed it to me. “I waved to her in physics and she just ignored me,” it said.
“Same here.” Greg leaned against the lockers. “I know people change when they become popular. I just didn’t think it happened overnight.”
Greg’s eyes swam, and I know he was thinking of something in his past. Loretta wasn’t the only one who hadn’t divulged many details about their life before Derleth. His eyes followed Loretta as she walked with Courtney toward study hall, her skirt flying up to reveal a pair of lacy black panties. I knew he was wondering what secrets she had sold Courtney in exchange for her friendship.
Truthfully, I wondered, too.
“Should we try to talk to her again?” Greg asked.
