“What a douchebag,” I say.
“Rumor!” Maria swats my arm. “Don’t talk about your principal that way.”
“Why? He’s a jerk. The bastard threatened me.”
Her brows draw together. “What do you mean, he threatened you?”
“He said if I don’t do what he says, I won’t survive here.”
“What did he ask you to do?” she says, with that worried look back on her face.
“You heard him. He told me I had to be in activities. Go to games. Hang out with people. All stuff I don’t want to do.”
She looks around, like she’s making sure no one’s listening. “What did he say when you were alone with him?”
“He said I’m only here because of Brock. I’m guessing that means Brock donates a lot of money to the school, so they had to let me in. And then he talked about Braden and Trystan and how great they are.” I roll my eyes.
She straightens up and smiles at a man in a suit walking by. “Hello!” she says.
He ignores her and keeps walking.
“Do you know him?”
“He’s one of the instructors. I clean his house.”
“And he doesn’t recognize you?”
“I only clean there once a week. Early on Saturday mornings. He’s usually at the golf course when I arrive. Ready to get your books?” She walks off.
I follow behind. “Why do we have to get our own books? Why don’t they just hand them out the first day of class?”
“You’ll need to read them before the first day. Didn’t you check your assignments?”
“What assignments? School hasn’t even started.”
“They assign homework you’ll need to have done before Tuesday.”
“Are you serious? It’s still summer. I’m not doing homework. And Monday’s a holiday. I plan to spend it sleeping or laying out by the pool.”
“I heard Braden talking about a party on Monday. You should go. It’ll be a chance to meet people.”
“People from Twisted Pine?” I say with disgust. “I’d rather do homework than hang out with Braden’s friends.”
“Rumor, you really should try to make some friends here.” She stops by the door of a small brick building that looks like a little cottage. The sign in front saysTwisted Pine Bookstore. Sheopens the door. “Principal Edwards is right. You’ll have an easier time here if you get involved.”
“Wait.” I hold on to her arm. “What did he say to you? When he was talking to you by the fountain, what did he say?”
“That he’s looking forward to having you here.” She smiles. “He thinks you’ll really enjoy it.”
She’s talking like she’s reading from a script. Like someone told her exactly what to say.
“He told you to say that, didn’t he?”
She laughs. “Rumor, you need to stop being so suspicious of everything. I’m sure you have to be cautious in a big city like New York, but this is a small town. The people here aren’t out to get you.”
What just happened? Maria completely changed after Principal Edwards talked to her. I thought she was someone I could trust. Someone I could count on to tell me the truth about Brock, this town, and the school. But now I’m not so sure. Whatever Principal Edwards said to her scared her into keeping quiet about whatever he doesn’t want me knowing. Or maybe he told her to convince me to get on board with his stupid rules.
We go inside the bookstore. Classical music surrounds us as a thin older woman wearing a black pencil skirt, white shirt, and gray blazer walks up to us.
