Chapter 13
I watch as Principal Edwards goes over to where Maria is sitting.
She sees him approaching and quickly gets up, smiling as he greets her.
I think she has a little crush on Principal Edwards.
I bet a lot of women do. He’s good-looking and confident, although I think he’s more arrogant than confident.
Maria smiles and nods as he talks. Then her smile suddenly drops and concern comes over her face as Principal Edwards continues to talk to her. She nods, as if he told her to do something.
What is he telling her? And why does she look so worried? Is he threatening her like he threatened me?
I’m putting an end to this right now. As I hurry over there, Principal Edwards turns and smiles at me.
“There you are,” he says. “We were wondering what was keeping you.”
“I was standing right there,” I say, pointing to the place I just left.
He turns back to Maria. “Have a good day.”
“You too,” she says, forcing out a smile.
We both watch as he leaves.
“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 says Twisted Pine Bookstore. She opens 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.
“Welcome,” she says, her thin lips curling up. “Here to pick up your books?”
“We are.” Maria smiles back and pulls a sheet of paper from her purse. “I filled out the checklist and added some things the boys requested.”
The woman takes the list. “I’m Ms. Pruitt. And you are?”
“The housekeeper for the Halliways,” Maria says.
“Yes, I remember you now. We’re looking forward to having Trystan and Braden back.”
“And this is Rumor.” Maria motions to me. “She’ll be starting here next week.”
The lady peers over her narrow reading glasses to get a better look at me. From the crinkling up of her nose, I’m guessing she doesn’t approve of me showing up in ripped jeans and a faded black t-shirt with a guitar printed on it.
Principal Edwards looked at me the same way. He definitely doesn’t approve of me, but I don’t give a shit. I’ve decided I hate the guy.
“She’s Mr. Halliway’s niece,” Maria explains when the lady doesn’t say anything. “She’ll be spending her senior year here and then going back to New York.”
“There are many fine schools in New York,” Ms. Pruitt says to me. “How did you end up here?”
“My mom died.”
I say it with zero emotion, just like I practiced.
I’ve been practicing it because I’m sure I’ll be saying it a lot the next few weeks.
I considered lying and making up an elaborate story of why I’m here, but then assumed Braden and Trystan would tell everyone the truth and make me look like an idiot for lying.
Telling the truth might actually be good. The dead mom story will freak people out and keep them away from me, at least for a little while.
Ms. Pruitt turns to Maria. “Did you fill out her list?”
“Yes.” She hands it to her.
Ms. Pruitt didn’t even react to the dead mom comment. That’s strange.
“This is the returning student list.” Ms. Pruitt gives it back to Maria. “She needs the one for new students.”
“Oh. I didn’t know. If you give it to me, I’ll fill it out now.”
“Never mind. As a new student, she’ll likely need everything on the list. Does she have an account set up?”
“You can charge it to Mr. Halliway.”
She nods. “I assume she already picked up her uniforms.”
“Yes. I got them last week.”
Ms. Pruitt looks over the list. “I’ll go gather the boys’ things first, then work on the girl’s.”
“It’s Rumor,” I say as she walks away.
She turns back. “What was that?”
“My name. It’s Rumor.”
She tips her chin up. “How unfortunate. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Is she for real?” I say to Maria.
“What do you mean?”
“How unfortunate,” I repeat in the tone the old lady used, lifting my chin in the air like she did. “Who talks like that?”
“She’s from a different era.”
“She’s not that old. She’s probably in her sixties. She’s not ninety.”
“Keep your voice down,” Maria whispers. “You don’t want her hearing us talking about her.”
“Yeah, I do. She was rude. Did you see the way she looked at me?”
“I should’ve told you to dress better. Principal Edwards commented on it as well.”
“I don’t care what Principal Edwards thinks. He can go to hell.”
“Rumor!” she whispers, looking around. “Someone might hear you.”
“Yeah? So? You think I’m the first person who doesn’t get along with the principal?”
“Let’s go sit down.” She walks over to a set of chairs that are in front of a large stone fireplace. There’s a framed picture of Principal Edwards on the mantel.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I say. “The guy’s so into himself he puts his photo on the mantel?”
“It’s tradition,” I hear Ms. Pruitt say from behind me. “A photo of the current principal is always placed on the mantel.”
“Oh,” I mutter.
“She was kidding.” Maria hurries to get up. “You know how teenagers are. I have a daughter her age and—”
“Before I forget,” Ms. Pruitt says, “I need to remind you of our uniform policy. A girl’s skirt must not be shortened beyond the allowed one inch above the knee. If we believe it’s shorter than that, we will take a measurement and send the girl home if she’s found to be in violation.”
“What if she’s sitting down and it rides up?” I say, being a smart ass.
Ms. Pruitt ignores me and continues. “Hair color can be natural colors only, meaning no pinks, purples, or other such colors.”
“Last I checked, hair wasn’t part of the uniform,” I say.
“Rumor,” Maria scolds under her breath.
“What? I’m just pointing it out.”
“Makeup is to be kept to a minimum,” Ms. Pruitt continues. “Nail polish is limited to neutral tones only. Tattoos of any kind are not allowed. Neither are piercings, outside the two allowed in the earlobes.”
“Are you sure this isn’t a military academy?” I ask. “Or a prison?”
Maria sighs. “Anything else, Ms. Pruitt?”
“Trystan’s backpack is ready. You can get it at the desk.” She turns and walks off to the back room.
Maria turns to me. “You’re only making things harder on yourself.”
“I’m just joking around. She’s so serious. This whole place needs to lighten up.” I follow her to the desk.
“Could you take this one?” Maria points to a black and green backpack with the school crest on it. “I’ll take Braden’s.”
I grab the backpack off the counter and almost drop it. I wasn’t expecting it to be so heavy. “Holy shit, what the hell’s in this thing?”
“Rumor!” Maria whispers. “You can’t curse like that at school.”
“People at my old school said a lot worse than that.”
“You can’t do that here. It’s not allowed.”
“What is allowed? Am I allowed to breathe?”
Ms. Pruitt returns, holding another black and green backpack. “I’ve included a new laptop for Braden. I understand the other one was misplaced?”
“Yes, but if we find it, I’ll be sure to bring it back.” Maria takes the backpack from her.