Chapter 13 #2
“As for you,” Ms. Pruitt says to me. “I’ll need you to complete a form for your computer. You’ll need to agree to the terms before you use it.”
“Let me guess. I have to give you my soul in exchange for the computer?” I say with a smile.
She purses her lips and squints her eyes at me. “I don’t appreciate your humor, and neither will your instructors. I advise you to consider your thoughts before putting them out there.”
“We’ll work on that,” Maria says, yanking me into her side. “Rumor just needs time to adjust.”
Ms. Pruitt disappears into the back room again.
“Would you stop it?” Maria whispers. “You’re going to get us both in trouble.”
“For what? Saying what I think? Sorry, but I’m not censoring my words to please Ms. Stick-Up-Her-Ass.”
Maria shakes her head and lets me go. She gets out her phone. “I need to check that Shayla picked up the dry cleaning. I’m going outside to call her. I’ll be right back.”
While she’s gone, I roam around the bookstore, looking at all the Twisted Pine merchandise.
There’s a whole section up front with shirts, ties, and sweaters with the school logo.
Do people really buy this stuff? It’s not part of the uniform.
These are things people would actually wear out in public.
“Excuse me,” a girl says, going around me to a stack of Twisted Pine sweaters. I instantly recognize the tiny blonde with the big boobs and beautiful face.
“Hey.” I smile at her. “Twice in one day.”
“What?” she says, looking at me like she’s never seen me before.
“We met this morning. At Jackson’s house?”
She pauses. “Braden’s cousin.”
“Yeah. Unfortunately. Anyway, are you picking up your books?”
“My father did. I’m just picking up a few things.” She searches through the sweaters, checking the sizes.
“Is that for you?” I ask.
“My other one got ruined. I need a new one.” She holds up the extra small.
“You might want to go up a size,” I say, knowing her boobs won’t fit in the extra small. It’s really tiny.
“It’ll fit,” she says, going past me to the polo shirts.
“You must really be into your school,” I say, watching her shuffle through the rack for her size.
She doesn’t hear me, or pretends she doesn’t, so she doesn’t have to talk to me. Is she mad at me for being at Jackson’s house? Or is she just not very friendly?
Ms. Pruitt appears again, holding another backpack along with a large black shopping bag with the school logo.
“Kristen,” Ms. Pruitt says with a huge smile I didn’t think was possible from her. “I didn’t know you were coming by today.”
Kristen smiles back, but it’s the fake kind you give adults when trying to hide whatever you don’t want them to find out.
I know, because I always used that smile with teachers when I was late to class after sneaking out to see Axl.
I’d come up with some lame excuse for being late, which the teacher only accepted because of the fake sweet smile that went with it.
“My father said you got a new shipment in,” Kristen says. “I wanted to make sure I got my size.”
“I could’ve set it aside for you,” Ms. Pruitt says, looking at Kristen like she’s the most wonderful girl in the world. It’s all an act. I know I just met her, but I can tell Kristen has a bad girl side to her, just like I do. I don’t know what she’s done, but she’s definitely not an angel.
“Let me assist you,” Ms. Pruitt says, hurrying over to Kristen.
“Thank you, Ms. Pruitt, but I don’t need any assistance. I think I have what I need.”
“What about a scarf? They just came in—cashmere in green and black plaid. It’d look stunning against your fair skin. And with the weather cooling off, you’ll need a scarf, especially in the evenings.”
“I’d love one!” she says, faking her enthusiasm. She doesn’t want a scarf. She’s just going along with it.
“Take this,” Ms. Pruitt says, shoving the backpack and shopping bag at me.
“Don’t I need to pay?” I ask, swinging the backpack over my shoulder. It’s even heavier than Trystan’s, which is on my other shoulder. I’m going to break my back carrying all this.
“It’s been charged to your uncle’s account,” Ms. Pruitt says. “You’re free to go.” She waves me away. “Come, Kristen. I’ll show you the scarves. I was just about to take them from the box.” She walks off, heading to the back of the store.
Kristen glances at me, a slight smile on her face. “I can’t wait to see them, Ms. Pruitt.”
I need to watch out for this girl. She’s definitely conning Ms. Pruitt with the fake nice act, but I get the feeling she’s conning me, too, with that look she just gave me.
“See you next week,” I say to her.
She ignores me and walks off.
“Is it ready?” Maria asks, coming back in.
“Yeah. Let’s go.” I hurry past her to the door.
As Maria drives down the winding road that leads us away from the school, I turn back and gaze at the large stone sign. Twisted Pine Academy, it reads. Dedicated to Achievement.
“So what did you think of the school?” Maria asks.
“I’d rather go to public,” I say, turning back to the front. “I don’t fit at a private school. Too many rules. And they’re too serious.”
“It’s one of the best schools in the country. The kids there go on to good colleges. I wish I could afford to send Shayla there.”
“She could go in my place.”
Maria glances at me. “You need to give it a chance. The boys seem to like it.”
“They only like it because they’re popular. And playing sports wins them bonus points with the principal. He wants a winning team and apparently my cousins are making that happen, or at least Braden is. I’m not sure about Trystan.”
“Both boys are the best on their teams, although Braden gets more attention being head of the football team.”
“That’s why they like it there. Athletes on a winning team get whatever they want. Principal Shithead will forgive whatever they do. They could set the school on fire and he’d be okay with it as long as they keep winning games.”
“Being their cousin could benefit you,” she says.
“I don’t want people liking me because I’m their cousin. I can make my own friends. I don’t need their help.”
“You might in a school like Twisted Pine. It’s not going to be easy making friends there. Many of those students have been together since preschool. They’re like family. It can be hard for new people to fit in.”
“Family? More like a cult.” I shudder. “The place creeps me out. The building. The psycho principal. Ms. Pruitt. She seemed too snooty to work in a bookstore. Seems like it’d be beneath her.”
“That isn’t her regular job. She’s only there to help out before school starts. There’s another woman who runs the store during the year.”
“If she runs the store, why wasn’t she there today?”
“Principal Edwards wants someone with more experience handling the store during this busy time. He trusts Ms. Pruitt will get all the orders correct. The parents of Twisted Pine students don’t accept mistakes.
A few years ago a friend of Braden’s received the wrong books and his parents demanded free tuition that semester as payback for the inconvenience of having to go back and exchange the books. ”
“That’s crazy. Did the school agree to it?”
“Reluctantly, but yes. It was back when Principal Ballantine was in charge. He’s retired now. Some people say it was a forced retirement.”
“Because some kid got the wrong books? That’s insane.”
“It wasn’t just that. I’m not really sure what happened. I just heard rumors he’d been asked to leave. When Principal Edwards got the job, he hired Bianca to manage the store.”
“But he doesn’t trust her to run it?”
“He does, just not in the week before classes when everyone comes in to get their supplies. After that, not many people visit the bookstore again until second semester. Ms. Pruitt takes over during that week too.”
“What does she do the rest of the time?”
“She teaches English.”
“Good thing I’m not taking English.”
“You are taking it. Didn’t you look at your class list?”
She can’t be serious. I have to take English from that woman?
No way that’s happening.