Rival Revenge (8 page)

I shook my head—I wasn't mad at Paige. “Worried how?”

“Worried that you're overextending yourself. Studying and riding all of the time. I'm
all
for working hard,” Livvie said. “But you've got to take a break every once in a while. Your grades are wonderful, Mr. Conner tells me you're doing great at the stable, and none of your teachers have a single complaint.”

“That's because I've been working so hard,” I said. “Paige was right—I don't have a boyfriend and I lost one
of my best friends. That left me with a lot of free time. So, I've been studying more and riding.”

Livvie folded her hands on top of her desk. “But you realize that you can do other things with the free time besides work, right? You and Paige used to be the queens of DVDs and TV shows. I hope you're still making time for that.”

“Oh, we are,” I said. “For sure. And I'm fine—really. I'd come to you if I needed to talk.”

I knew that's what Livvie needed to hear to let me out of her office. “Good,” she said, smiling. “My door's always open. You can talk to me anytime.”

I got up and flashed her a smile. “Thanks. I will.”

Once I was outside of her office, I changed plans. I didn't feel like going back to my room just yet. Paige would be there with questions—ones I wouldn't answer. I decided to risk the common room even though running into Jasmine was likely.

Inside the cozy room, I grabbed a root beer from the fridge and a mini-pack of pretzels. I put my bag on the carpet and plopped beside it. I pulled out a notebook and wrote
things 2 do w/Charm
at the top. There were so many exercises we needed to practice before Mr. Conner taped a lesson for Mr. Nicholson.

I munched on a pretzel and wrote
serpentines, shoulder-ins, transitions
on the piece of paper. The list kept growing down the page. Each item I added made me panicky. These were all things Charm and I had to do before next week.

So. Many. Things. I squinted, trying not to take in the whole list as I added the final entries. But the familiar feeling of nausea gripped me. It had held me captive the entire time I'd been lying about Jacob to Callie and Eric. And now it was back because I was nervous about not being able to get all of this done.

You'll start first thing tomorrow morning,
I told myself. I'd be fine. Completely fine.

I glanced up when the common room door opened. Jasmine, groaning, walked inside. She came over and sat on the couch across from me. From my position on the floor, I knew she could see my list. I flipped to a clean sheet of paper.

“In a sad way, I'm kind of impressed by you, Sasha,” Jas said.

I didn't even want to guess where this was going. “What are you even talking about, Jas? I'm busy.”

Jas rolled her eyes. “Sure you are. No boyfriend. No best friend. Yeah, I'm sure your calendar is full.” She put a hand over her heart, pausing for a second. “I just didn't
know that you had it in you to do something like
that.
And to your best friend. It's kind of ironic, isn't it?”

I just stared at her. I'd learned it was better not to answer her rhetorical questions.

“I mean,” Jasmine continued, “you, Callie, and Paige always looked at me as the bad girl. The horrible one who did mean, awful things. Look in the mirror now.”

I forced myself not to react. Jasmine knew nothing. Not why I'd done anything that I had. She was so wrong.

Jas watched me for a few seconds, waiting for a reaction, then shrugged. “Whatever. I've got
friends
to go hang out with.”

“Have fun,” I said in an ubercheery voice.

Jasmine got up, walked over to the door, and opened it. But she stopped in the doorway and turned back to look at me. Her eyes focused on me and her dark hair swirled around her shoulders. “FYI, if being the new bad girl
is
what you want—don't even bother. I've done something way worse than anything you've done or could ever think up. So don't even try.”

The door slammed behind her and I went back to my homework. I had an essay to write for history, so I started outlining it on paper. No way I was handwriting it, but I wasn't about to go to my room for my laptop.
I scribbled more notes and my eyelids started to feel heavy. I rested my forehead on my knee.
Two-minute nap and then back to work,
I told myself.

“Sasha?”

Someone's hand touched my shoulder and I felt a pen being taken from my fingers. I blinked and looked up at Paige.

“It's almost eleven,” she said. “I've been waiting for you to come back for hours—I've been texting you nonstop.”

“Oh, Paige, I'm sorry.” I dug my phone out of my bag—it was on silent. “Is Livvie looking for me?”

“If you'd been in here much longer,” Paige said. “I didn't tell her anything in case you just needed some time away from Winchester and I didn't want to get you in trouble. I had no idea you were in here. C'mon.”

She held out a hand and pulled me up off the floor. She helped me gather my papers and shouldered my bag.

I didn't even remember changing clothes, washing my face or crawling into bed. I just knew I was out the second my head touched the pillow.

TEACHER'S PET

I WALKED INTO HISTORY CLASS—I'D BEEN
dreading it from the second the day had begun. I had to take the egg and notebook from Jacob. I covered a yawn. After Paige had found me last night, we'd both gone to bed, but I'd gotten up at four thirty to finish homework and double-check my schedule.

Jacob was already in his seat when I slid into mine. He saw me, then leaned over and reached down beside his chair leg. He got up and walked over. Jacob held a box in one hand and the notebook in another.

He sat in the chair in front of me, turning around to face me.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi.”

Awkward!

He put the box and notebook on my desk.

“I made the egg a cushion to keep it from breaking,” Jacob said. He opened the top of the box lid, and inside, padded with cotton and Kleenex, was our egg. I peered at it.

“You drew a face on it,” I said, trying not to laugh. “Omigod.”

Jacob laughed. “Yeah, well, it needed it.”

He'd drawn a goofy mouth, nose, eyes, and ears with a blue Sharpie on the egg.

“I love the eyes,” I said, admiring the round eyes with tiny eyebrows.

“Thanks,” Jacob said. “Since it's your egg too, you can draw something else on it if you want.”

Jacob reached into his bag and pulled out a couple of different colored Sharpies.

“Okay.”

I took a green one with a fine point and picked up the egg. I drew a sideways baseball hat on its head and wrote
CCA
on the hat.

“Niiice,” Jacob said. “That's exactly what he needed.”

“Excuse me?
He?
” I made a face at Jacob. “When was
that
decided?”

Jacob smiled. “It was obvious after I drew the face. I made him in blue and then you just added a baseball hat. Of course it's a boy egg.”

“Oh, so a girl egg
definitely
wouldn't have a blue face or wear a hat?”

I reached over and swiped the blue Sharpie from Jacob.

“Sasha! What are you doing?” Jacob grabbed for the pen, but missed.

I giggled. “Careful! Don't break ‘him.' And you forgot something.”

Jacob shook his head, but watched as I started drawing on the egg.

“There,” I said, holding it out to him. “Now what kind of egg is it?”

Jacob peered at it, then grinned. “I would guess that from the curly eyelashes you just gave
him
, it's now a girl.”

“Exactly,” I said. We smiled at each other, then I realized we were acting too friendly. Too close. This couldn't happen.

I sat back in my seat, creating more distance between us. “We can text tomorrow or something about when to trade again,” I said. “I'll, um, log in our notebook that I took it now.”

Jacob nodded—his smile fading. “Okay.”

He went back to his seat and I snapped a pic of the egg on my desk. The rest of the classroom soon filled. I was so busy reading my to-do list, I didn't even notice Eric walk into the room. I just looked over and he was sitting in his seat.

Mr. Spellman walked into the room, smiling at us. “Before we get started,” he said, “I want to remind everyone that group projects start at the end of next week and
I hope you've all had a chance by now to be in contact with your partners and get to know each other.”

I'd forgotten all about that. Mr. Spellman had put Jacob and Eric in the same group. I still didn't even know my group members—I'd have to ask Mr. Spellman who they were. I'd been in too much shock to pay attention after he'd said that Jacob and Eric would be partners.

“Let's talk about the reading,” Mr. Spellman said. “Who wants to start our discussion?”

I raised my hand and Mr. Spellman nodded at me. I was beyond prepared for talking about the homework.

“I've read about the Industrial Revolution before,” I said. “But I didn't remember how much it impacted
society in such a huge way.”

Mr. Spellman nodded. “Continue with that, Sasha.”

I talked for a few more minutes about how losing animal-driven power to machines had changed daily life for so many people. Mr. Spellman agreed with my answers and seemed pleased that I'd given such a detailed response.

And for the rest of class, I raised my hand every few questions. My participation grade was going to skyrocket after this class. Everyone already thought I was a backstabbing boyfriend stealer, so who cared if they thought I was a teacher's pet, too?

SOMETHING REALLY INTERESTING

I LUGGED CHARM'S SADDLE DOWN THE AISLE—
it felt heavier than I remembered. Sweat was already prickling along the back of my neck and I was tired before the lesson had even started. At least it was the middle of the week—I'd have the entire weekend to tackle things on my list.

Charm, sensing my mood, was quiet while I tacked him up. We walked outside to the outdoor arena. Heather and Jasmine were already on horseback and trotting in figure eights. Thankfully, the early evening sun wasn't in our faces and the air was starting to cool.

I stuck my foot in the stirrup, hopping to keep my balance. That was lame! Mounting was so basic—I shouldn't have had one second of a misstep. I looked up to see if Heather or Jas had noticed, but they were too focused to
even care what I was doing. I mounted and gave Charm rein to move into a walk. He stretched his neck and ambled toward the fence.

We'd just finished warming up when Mr. Conner came into the arena. “Ready to work over jumps today?” he asked us.

We nodded.

“Good,” Mr. Conner said. “If all of your horses are warmed up, then you'll each take turns jumping the three verticals and two oxers that are arranged at the other end of the arena. Jasmine, you'll ride first.”

Jas tapped her heels against Phoenix's side and the gelding moved easily from a walk to a collected trot. Jasmine circled him once and then urged him toward the first jump. Phoenix, a total pro, sailed over the first three-foot high vertical and stayed focused as Jas took him over the next two verticals and the oxers. Jasmine had finally taken Mr. Conner's warnings seriously that he wasn't going to tolerate her pushing Phoenix over every jump. She'd made a noticeable effort to become a softer rider and it showed.

Phoenix gathered himself before the last oxer, preparing for the spread, and surged into the air. He cleared it and Jas patted his neck once—a rare sign of affection from her.

“Excellent,” Mr. Conner said. “You were quiet and Phoenix stayed focused. You continue to impress me with your efforts to relax with Phoenix. It showed on these jumps. Please keep it up.”

Jasmine grinned. “Thanks.”