Chapter 6 #2
Back home, I hadn’t been nearly so out of place, and yet my so-called friends had happily thrown me aside. I wondered whether Cress and Anna would be so callous when they found out I wasn’t one of them. I realized I felt just as wary of new friendships as I did of romantic relationships.
Cress and Anna were hard to keep at arm’s length and almost impossible to dislike.
Being around them was like getting caught up in a whirlwind; once you were sucked in, there was no fighting back.
You had no choice but to get pulled along for the ride.
They included me in all of their jokes and talked with me like we’d been friends for years.
I’d been dreading my return to school all summer and preparing myself for a hard senior year with nothing but my studies for company.
I wouldn’t be alone here though. And I wouldn’t have to face the trauma of seeing Nina and Levi every day.
Perhaps Weybridge could be a fresh start like Mom suggested.
As the afternoon wore on, I was beginning to feel less anger toward her.
Instead of feeling hurt, I found I mostly missed her.
Mom tried calling again just before dinner, and I walked into the corridor where it was quieter to answer the phone. “Hey, Mom.”
“Isobel, thank goodness you answered.” She let out a breath of relief. “I was worried you wouldn’t …”
My chest swelled with guilt. My mom and I rarely fought, and even when we did get angry at each other, we always talked it out. I shouldn’t have dodged her calls this morning no matter how annoyed I was with her.
“No, I’m here. Sorry I missed you earlier. It’s been a long day.”
“I can imagine.”
“And I’m sorry for being so angry with you about all of this. I know you only want what’s best for me.”
“You don’t need to apologize, Iz. I understand why you were upset.
” The line went quiet for a moment before she continued.
“I should have discussed the new school with you, and it wasn’t fair of me to send you away without a proper goodbye.
I was just so scared that you wouldn’t agree to go, and I couldn’t bear it if you passed up this opportunity. ”
“It should have been my choice, Mom.”
“I know,” she said. “But you can be just as stubborn as me sometimes, and I knew you would never agree to give Weybridge a go if you weren’t pushed a little.”
“A little?”
“Fine, a lot. But I wasn’t going to let you waste your life here because of me.”
“I wasn’t going to waste—”
“You were. You always talked about going to college, and that all stopped at the start of summer. Suddenly, all your plans for the future revolved around staying in Rapid Bay and helping me at the café. I had no choice but to accept your father’s offer.”
“Yeah, well, I would have kept up the college talk if it would have helped me avoid meeting him.”
“Don’t talk like that,” she said. “It’s time you two finally knew each other.”
I couldn’t bring myself to agree.
“He called me last night, you know?”
I struggled to contain my shock. “He did?”
“He did. He wanted me to know you had arrived safe.”
“I’m surprised he could spare the time,” I muttered.
“Isobel,” Mom pleaded. “He really does want to get to know you.”
I highly doubted that. He hadn’t even bothered to stay in town for one night with me. It was like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough.
The door cracked open behind me, and I turned to find Cress peeking her head through the gap. “You nearly ready for dinner?”
I placed a hand over the mouthpiece of my phone. “I’ll just be one sec.”
She gave me a nod before disappearing into the room again.
“I have to go, Mom. My roommate wants to go get dinner.”
“Oh, but you haven’t had a chance to tell me about the school …”
“Hmm, I think it’ll take a while. There’s a lot to tell. We can talk tomorrow.”
“Okay, we’ll talk tomorrow. Go, have fun.”
“I will.”
“And, Iz?”
“Yeah?”
“Please promise me you’ll give the school a chance? I think you can be happy there, and that’s all I want for you.”
I let out a sigh and nodded. “Yeah, Mom, I’ll give the school a chance.”
“Thanks, sweetie. You won’t regret it.”
I hoped she was right.
I walked with Cress and Anna back to the main building we’d entered through when I’d first arrived at Weybridge.
The sun had fallen now, and the deeper hues of night had descended as we stepped outside.
The courtyard that separated our dorm from the other buildings looked even more beautiful than it did in the daylight.
Lights twinkled from the hedges that bordered the area, and the fountain in the center was lit up in a soft golden glow that made the sprays of water glitter against the dark backdrop.
The buildings also looked elegant under the night’s sky with shards of light shooting up their sandstone exteriors.
The place was like something out of a fairy tale.
All I needed to fit in was a glass shoe, a fairy godmother, and a prince.
Unfortunately, even if I could conjure up the fairy godmother, I was clumsy enough that a glass slipper was a safety hazard, and I had lost all my trust in charming princes.
“Your mom must care about you a lot if she’s already checking in on you,” Cress said as we made our way inside Esher Hall.
“We’re really close.” I nodded. “I’ve lived at home my whole life, so this is a big change for the both of us.”
“Wow, really?” Anna asked. “I can’t imagine actually having to live with my parents during the school year.”
“I loved it,” I said. “My mom’s my best friend.”
“That’s so nice.” Cress gave me a gentle smile as she looped her arm through mine. “Boarding school is definitely different. But you’re going to have such an amazing time here. I’ll make sure of that.”
I was really starting to like both of these girls, and I’d gotten so lucky to be paired with Cress as my roommate. I so easily could have been stuck living with some total witch. Someone like Nina who would backstab me when being my friend didn’t suit her anymore.
The two girls had accepted me so quickly, but as I looked at them, I again found myself wondering if they’d still be so welcoming if they knew the truth about how I ended up at Weybridge Academy.
Would they still want to be friends with me if they knew I lived in a small apartment above my mom’s café?
If they saw the clothes I normally wore and realized I had absolutely no money to my name?
They were both so nice I didn’t think they would care, but our friendship felt too new and fragile to test it with such a bombshell. I’d never hung out with anyone as wealthy as them before, and I didn’t feel confident they’d so easily accept me if they knew I wasn’t like them.
I hated being dishonest, but perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad if I simply omitted a few things here and there.
It hadn’t been the worst thing in the world to act like I’d been the one to select my clothes, and I was sure I could easily skirt around the truth in a similar fashion when asked about my past.
It wasn’t a perfect solution, but for now, it would have to do. I already felt like an impostor in this place. The last thing I needed was for everyone else at school to see me as one too. It sucked, but a few white lies seemed the best way forward. I just hoped I wouldn’t regret it.