7 

IT WAS MY CHOICE

“HEY, ROOMIE,” I CALLED DOWN THE WINCHESTER hallway. Paige was unlocking our door. She jumped, dropping her keys.

“Geez! You scared me, Sasha!” Paige said. She picked up her keys, shoving them into the lock.

“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to.”

We walked inside our room and put down our purses. I sat in the middle of my bed, feeling bad for scaring her.

“You didn’t have to apologize,” Paige said, pulling her hair into a ponytail. “I had way too much caffeine today, and I totally overreacted.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You know how I am on too much Diet Coke. I’m totally hyper and I drive you crazy until I crash.”

That made Paige grin. “How was hanging out with the Trio?”

“Awesome,” I said. “Alison invited Brit—this new girl in Orchard—to watch the movie with us, and it was lots of fun. She’s on the YENT too.”

Paige sat cross-legged on her bed so we could face each other. “I heard there was a new transfer, but I haven’t met her yet. She’s not in any of my classes.”

“You’d really like her,” I said. “She’s in a class with me, and we got to talk a little. I found out she’s from a small town too—really close to mine. And you’d never guess it by the way she acts and how people here treat her.”

“What do you mean?” Paige asked.

“Like how the Trio mocked me for months for being from Union. They don’t do that to Brit. She’s just like them in the way she dresses and has that … confidence, I guess, but she’s not mean or snarky like they are.”

“She sounds really cool,” Paige said. I noticed a hint of distraction in her voice. “You’ll have to introduce me to her sometime.”

“I will,” I said. “So, let’s talk about you for a sec. Did you end up meeting Geena and working on a new recipe?”

“Yeah,” Paige said. “We met up in our common room.”

“Did you guys come up with something amazing?” I asked, thinking about the tasty dishes Paige had created in the past. “Like, cake? Or brownies? Or another dessert that I have to try the second you make it?”

Paige got off the bed and started packing her bag for classes tomorrow. “We were supposed to work on the recipe, but Geena got a text from her roommate and she had to leave early.”

“So Paige Parker took over the Winchester common room and came up with something on her own, didn’t she?” I asked in a teasing voice. “Tell me. What is it, and, most important, where is it?”

Paige shoved her math book into her backpack. “Actually, I left when Geena did. I went to the Sweet Shoppe.”

I got up off my bed and walked to my desk, closing books and notebooks. “Oh, cool. Get anything good?”

“Iced pomegranate lemonade,” Paige said. “It was awesome.”

“Yum. Maybe you and Geena can make a dessert with pomegranates or something.”

Paige nodded as she walked toward the bathroom. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’m going to shower and go to bed. I’m really, really tired after the first day back.”

“Me too,” I said.

Paige shut the door behind her, and I stared at it for a few seconds. She wasn’t mad that I’d gone to the Trio’s, was she? She knew Heather and I had become friends after I’d spent break with her. Plus, Paige had other friends too, and I’d never cared if she wanted to hang out with them. The situation with them was a little different, but as my best friend, Paige had to understand that it was my choice to hang out with Heather, Julia, and Alison and she needed to support me.

I went over to my closet and busied myself with picking out my clothes for tomorrow—a welcome distraction from whatever was going on with Paige. And if she kept being weird about me hanging out with the Trio, I’d talk to her. But tonight, I didn’t want to let go of my good mood from hanging out in Orchard.