She nods. “I admire you. You’re brave and strong and you have a good head on your shoulders.”
I flush a little at the praise. I’ve never been good at taking compliments. “Thanks, Aunt Ruthie.” I put my dishes in the sink and give her a hug. “I’m going to quick brush my teeth. I think I have time.”
A car horn honks and I snicker.
She can wait thirty seconds until I’ve got fresh breath.
It’s only a couple minutes and she’s honked at least ten times. Aunt Ruthie smiles and shakes her head.
“Have a good day, Jillie.”
“You too.”
“If you need me, you have my cell number,” she reminds me.
“Thanks, Mom,” I tease, and she smirks. She looks a lot like my mom, at least in pictures. I wonder if my mom was as cool as she is. That’s one thing I’ll never know. “I better go before she loses it.” I heft my backpack onto my shoulder and I’m off. There sit Audrey and Isla, looking like royalty in their uniforms, in Audrey’s fancy Mercedes. I am so out of my league.
“What’s wrong?” Isla asks. “You look like you’re going to throw up.”
“I just realized how out of my element I am—and it’s only going to get worse with the Academy peeps.”
“Nah,” Isla replies. “They just think they’re special. We’re all only human.”
“And really, what is their popularity in high school going to get them later in life?” Audrey asks.
“Fun class reunions?”
“We never went through the yearbook,” Audrey reminds me.
I nod. “I know.”
“Omigod.” Isla turns in her seat to look back at me. “What if he’s from Academy?”
“The odds of that are slim,” Audrey begins. “Remember, there were four schools there.”
“Knowing he doesn’t go to SBH, thirty-three-point-three-three percent,” Isla adds.
I swallow—hard. One in three. Oh boy. Those aren’t very good odds. Not for me. My luck isn’t that good. Even if it were one in ten, I’d be worried.
“One in a hundred would be so much better,” I wheeze, a mild panic making me sweat a little.
“It’ll all be fine. We have classes together and our lockers are pretty close,” Audrey says, trying to ease my anxiety.
They emailed our new class schedules on Saturday and we spent a lot of time yesterday comparing. When that got boring, they started talking about all the different combinations we could use for our uniforms. I couldn’t remember half of what they said, so I just wore what they told me so we could match. When I asked Audrey why we had to match, she sent me a glare and said, “Because I said so, that’s why.” That was that.
“And here we are. Where the hell are we supposed to park? They didnotthink this through completely,” Audrey complains.
“Let’s park in the middle of the football field. That’d make a statement,” Isla jokes.
“I so would, but I don’t want to get expelled. If I got expelled, I’d have to go to Waverly and not here with you guys,” Audrey reminds us.
“There’s a spot,” I point, and Audrey whips into it just before another girl in her pink fancy car. I don’t even know what it is. All I know is it’s pink and convertible.
“Ooh, you better watch it, Audrey. You just stole Ellen’s spot,” Isla warns.
“I don’t even care.”
“Uh, who is Ellen?” I ask.
