The Cinderella Society (33 page)

As a tribute to the old me, I managed a ponytail twist for convenience’s sake that actually looked pretty cute. Simple but practical. It felt good to get back to real life.

I checked my e-mail to see if there was any news about our next cheer practice and was getting ready to e-mail Nan for my work schedule—it hadn’t exactly come up during our visit—when an IM window popped up.

First&Goal: can u talk?

I stared at the screen. So much had happened since our final date. Our breakup seemed like a lifetime ago, and in a way, it was. An old life I could never go back to.

I pondered the deceptively simple question. Could I talk?
Yes. Did I want to? It depended. If he was IMing to apologize for acting like a jerk and to beg my forgiveness, I might be open to that. Not only had he acted like a jerk, but he’d moved on without waiting a respectable seventy-two hours. Plus, it was painfully obvious that Ryan didn’t have a problem with PDA in general. He just didn’t want to be seen kissing
me
in public.

But the worst? No matter what else had gone wrong between us, the bottom line was that we were too different. Ryan pushed away anything that got too close, and I needed someone I could connect with. That meant getting down to the real deal, scars and all. If he didn’t care enough about me to let me in, nothing else mattered anyway.

No, the truth was that I didn’t want to talk. We’d crossed a line and couldn’t go back, but I wouldn’t have wanted to even if we could. I needed to keep my eyes straight ahead, not looking over my shoulder at what could’ve been if only I’d been enough. I seemed to be enough in the eyes of the Cindys, so maybe they saw something in me that Ryan didn’t see. Something I didn’t see myself, but wanted to.

Swallowing against the tears, I closed the IM window and shut down my computer.

*   *   *

I’d never been to Sarah Jane’s house before. It wasn’t as big as the Steeles’, but it was way bigger than mine, and so cozy. Cool blues and greens, soothing yellows, and gorgeous flowering plants abounded. No wonder she could manage to be cheerful and relaxed, even with the chaos of her parents’ divorce. If I lived at Holly Hobbie’s house, I’d be perky too.

“Tazo Brambleberry or Wild Orange?” she asked, poking her head in the fridge.

“Either. Are you sure we need all this stuff?” I hefted a
large partitioned bowl filled with snack bars, yogurt raisins, organic chips, and a bag’s worth of Twizzlers.

SJ grabbed a few bottles of each and closed the door with her hip. “Power food. We’ll break for lunch and a yoga breather, but we need sustenance if we’re doing
CMM
triage.”

I followed her upstairs to her room where Kyra, Gaby, Paige, and Gwen had already set up shop. SJ’s bedroom was bigger than our living room, and each Sister had created her own little nest around the room. Kyra had fanned out all the latest fashion magazines and was categorizing outfits by style to create a visual aid for Alphas working on their Signature Style Portfolios. Gwen was doing a dream collage for her
CMM
, Paige was working on her transition materials for me, and Gaby had her laptop out so she could review the guidelines for training a leader with Guardian responsibilities.

Sarah Jane, in all her fairy-godmothery wisdom, had decided that I needed a double helping of support system. Given the whole you’re-a-Guardian bombshell, I couldn’t agree more. I’d gotten a lump in my throat when we’d pulled up to her house and found them camped out on her front porch waiting for us.

It was a happy little reunion laced with somber undertones. I wanted to be the kind of leader I knew they needed. But we all knew there was a lot of work to do to get me ready to face down the Wickeds and win for real.

To get things kicked off, Gaby handed me a sealed envelope with another version of Sisterhood history to add to my
CMM
. These were pages only given to Guardians, which explained the Guardian mission and how it came to be. The envelope had come sealed from ISIS, and—I’m not going to
lie—it gave me a little rush knowing I was the only one in the room who would know this stuff.

Nan had shared some of the details while we were in the Gallery of Discovery, but I took them in with a different mindset this time. It mattered now. Not in an abstract, isn’t-this-cool kind of way, but because my future depended on it. This was my legacy, no matter how weird those words felt in my mouth.

When I finished reading and tucked the pages safely away in my CMM, Gaby planted herself next to me and handed back each of my
CMM
assignments one by one. My Signature Style Portfolio needed an overhaul now that I knew for sure where my comfort zone was. Fun-feminine-sporty had been right all along.

I’d done some work on a Personal Strength/Weakness Summary that most of the other Alphas had long since finished, but I went back and fleshed it out a bit with some things that were glaringly obvious in light of recent events. Like my willingness to help others (a strength, though also a weakness if pushed too far) and my overpowering need to fit in at any cost (definitely a weakness).

Kyra sat down on the other side of me, twirling a Twizzler in her fingers. “You okay?”

“One step forward, three steps back takes a while to recover from.”

She surveyed the stacks of paper surrounding me. “Try to think baby steps. You don’t have to conquer it all at once. Just take the next step. As the famous FlyLady says, you can do anything for fifteen minutes.”

I didn’t know who FlyLady was (Kyra tucked her book into my overnight bag to remedy that situation), but the
strategy sounded doable. I’d listened to Mom drone on about the babies’ development for hours on end. Fifteen minutes was a cakewalk. Investing fifteen minutes at a time in a Power Plan that actually made me feel powerful? Definitely worth the effort.

With Guardian training on the horizon and a surge to take down, I’d need every ounce of power I could get.

*   *   *

“You haven’t talked to him at all?” Gwen asked as we munched our healthy dinner on the Petersons’ relaxing screened porch.

“Not since I left the restaurant. I saw him at The Grind, though.”

Paige looked ill. “That was mostly Gennifer, you know. She’s been dying to get her claws back into him since the pool party.”

“Takes two to dance the tongue tango.”

“You know,” Kyra said, looking suspiciously chipper, “my cousin is moving back. He broke up with his girlfriend—”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“It wouldn’t be a
date
date. Just testing the waters. Alec’s super nice, plus he’s pretty cute and could use the distraction. You’re going to be overhauling your look again, right?”

I popped a blueberry in my mouth. “So?”

“And it would be cool to launch Jess 2.0 at the Fourth of July carnival, wouldn’t it?”

Technically it would be Jess 3.0, but who was counting? “And?”

“It would be great to have a trial run before then. Alec would totally give you a guy’s opinion. Plus it would be good for you to be seen out and about. Not making out with some new guy—just getting yourself back on the market.
Unless you’d rather be the girl at home pining away for a lost love.”

Gag
. “Point taken. I’ll think about it.” I took a swig of juice and changed the subject. “So, have you guys all been to ISIS already?”

Everyone had but Gaby, who would get to go as soon as she went Gamma.

“I was pretty blown away the first time I went there,” Gwen admitted. “It never occurred to me there was something beyond us like that. But when I thought about it, it made sense.”

“My mom goes to Paris and Amsterdam all the time to work on projects with their local Delta teams,” Kyra said. Then she laughed. “My dad thinks it’s because they have great spas.”

I chuckled along with everyone else, but I was thinking about Nan’s comment. The whole underestimating thing did seem to make life easier. Less explaining to do, anyway.

“I did my first international assignment over spring break this year,” SJ told me. “My mom thought it would be good experience, so I accepted one in New Zealand. My teammates were from Japan, Poland, and Denmark.” Her eyes lit up. “Tamika Yoshida from Japan was a Guardian-in-Training. Maybe you’ll run into her sometime.”

I couldn’t see how I would, but I was learning never to say never when it came to the Cindys.

“What are Gamma assignments like?” I asked.

“It’s different every time,” SJ explained. “Different places, different projects. Just helping out a little wherever they need you.”

“And proving yourself to the ISIS bigwigs at the same time,” I said. That much I could figure out on my own.

Gwen bounced a grape on the back of her hand. “We’re like the minor leagues. Not everyone goes to the majors, but if you’re called up, you’d better be ready to go.”

“We’re all competing to be in ISIS?” That made no sense to me. The Cindys were about banding together for the greater good. I couldn’t see ISIS pitting us against each other to join their ranks.

“Oh my gosh, no.” SJ looked shocked. “I mean, I guess we might compete for certain assignments. We can’t all go to Hawaii every time. But joining ISIS isn’t a competition.”

Gwen nodded. “I just meant not everyone chooses to be involved beyond graduation. But if you do want to be part of ISIS, you need to be ready. That’s what all the training is for.”

A great strategy. Unless the majors called you up before your training had even begun. Speaking of which …

“When does the Guardian stuff start?” I asked Gaby.

“I’ve got the preliminaries for you in a folder,” she said, polishing off a carrot stick. “Your mentor will design a training schedule for the rest.”

I batted my eyelashes at Sarah Jane. “Looks like you’re stuck with me again.”

“Only for your
CMM
. You have Paige for your leadership mentoring, and your Guardian mentor”—the doorbell rang as if on cue, and Sarah Jane pushed back from the table—“can tell you about that part herself.”

I had a hunch who she meant, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I hadn’t seen Cassie since the fallout with Ryan or my blackmailing episode with Lexy. If Nan knew about it, Cassie definitely would. Had it changed how she felt about working with me?

I wouldn’t blame her if she was angry. I was still angry
with myself. Not so much about Ryan. He’d forced the issue on that one. Or maybe we both had. But where Lexy was concerned, I definitely understood. I had some serious explaining to do on that end if I wanted to make amends.

I followed SJ back into the house toward the front door, preparing a mini-speech to let Cassie know I was fully prepared to atone for my sins.

Sarah Jane checked the peephole and opened the door. “Thanks for coming on such short notice.”

“No problem at all. This is a priority for me.” She looked at me and smiled, taking off her incognito baseball cap and sunglasses. “How’s our new Guardian today, Jess?”

“Fine, Brooke,” I mumbled. “Just peachy.”

Chapter 22

AFTER A QUICK MEET AND GREET
in Sarah Jane’s living room to get to know each other, Brooke had given me the rundown of my duties for the next few weeks and made plans to meet me at the Club the next day.

I’d come into the office early so I could work more on my surge plan before our meeting. I wanted to reorganize my notes and see if Brooke had any ideas about what we were missing.

I pulled out my notebook and rewrote what we knew.

WHAT THE WICKEDS ARE DOING

1. Doubling their new recruit class (strength in numbers)

2. Targeting people in key positions (either directly or by getting to someone close to them)

3. Getting the Reggies to do their dirty work (building spy network to boost intel)

WHAT HE WICKEDS WANT

1. To keep the Reggies isolated

2. To eliminate any strength that poses a threat

3. To exploit any strength that can be used to their advantage

The question was still
why
. What was all of this working toward? How much of it was ego driven, and how much was part of a bigger plan?

I was still pondering when the knock on my door signaled prep time was over.

“I come bearing gifts,” Brooke said when I opened the office door. She held up her right hand, then her left. “Chocolate or hazelnut?”

“Chocolate, always,” I said, taking the biscotti bag and coffee from her right hand. “Thanks, Brooke.”

We settled at the table in the leader office, and Brooke opened a folder with a double-G logo. She handed me a matching one. “Why don’t you start by telling me what you know about the Guardians?” she said.

I’d read through the packet of info Gaby had given me, but a lot of it was still swirling around in my head. “It’s a branch of ISIS formed about fifty years ago to protect the interests of the Sisterhood. There are Guardians all over the world, just like there are Cindys all over the world, and all Guardians are trained by an elite task force in ISIS.”

“That’s a good start. Every Guardian is a Delta. Most begin as Guardians-in-Training in high school. You’ll train to be a Guardian until you’re eligible to become a Delta—usually around the time you graduate from college—and then you can apply for formal admittance into the Guardian Guild.”

Which explained the
GG
logo.

“ISIS has branches in forty-seven countries,” she
continued, filling in more blanks for me. “The Cinderella Society varies a little by region and by culture—it may not operate exactly the same in Spain or India or Sweden as it does in the U.S.—but our creed and our mission are the same worldwide. The training you get during the high-school phase of the Cindys, or the equivalent in other countries, is a fairly universal experience. When she graduates from that training, every Cindy makes a choice about her future.”