8 

THERE’S ALWAYS ANOTHER SEAT OPEN

THE NEXT MORNING, PAIGE WAS BACK TO HER bubbly, cheerful self. There wasn’t a hint of weirdness from last night, and Paige chatted about classes and meeting Geena later. I was relieved that she seemed cool now.

I started to reach for my phone to put it in my pocket when it buzzed. Flipping it open, I smiled at what I read.

Just saying hi. Hope 2 run into u 2day.

Jacob.

I closed my phone before Paige could see the message.

“Heather,” I said to Paige, feeling the need to say something. Paige was zipping up her peep toe ankle boot. “Our lesson is outside today. Hopefully jumping.”

“That’s your fave, so cool,” Paige said, smiling.

I felt a twinge in my stomach about hiding the text, but I wasn’t ready to tell her about Jacob yet. I’d sworn to Paige that I was taking a break from boys to focus on riding and school. Paige had no idea that Jacob and I had decided to get back together.

“Ready?” Paige asked. She shouldered her bag.

“Ready.”

We left the dorm and I blinked as we stepped into the bright sunshine. The campus was busy as students hurried to classes. Paige and I walked down the sidewalk. We’d gotten up early enough this morning to make it to breakfast. But I was going solo. Paige had to meet Geena at Orchard to swap recipes before their class.

“See you in English,” I said when we reached the split in the sidewalk.

“Bye,” Paige said.

I got to the caf and piled three blueberry pancakes on my plate. I picked a small vacant table near the window and sat down. Once my pancakes were smeared with butter and syrup, I jammed a giant bite into my mouth.

“Mind if I sit here?”

I looked up and Brit stood in front of me, holding her breakfast tray.

“Sit,” I said, my mouth too full to say anything else.

I couldn’t believe she was sitting next to me. She could have sat anywhere—even with the Trio—but she’d chosen to sit with me. I felt curious eyes on us as everyone watched the too-cool-to-mess-with new girl sit with the former newbie-from-a-hick-town.

“Those pancakes look great,” Brit said. “I love blueberries.”

I glanced at her plate. She’d gotten pancakes too—banana.

“The banana pancakes are just as good here,” I said. “I’d recommend anything but the meatloaf. It’s just … scary.”

Brit laughed. “Noted. No Canterwood meatloaf.”

“How are you doing so far?” I asked. “It can be so overwhelming.”

Brit cut into her pancakes. “I’m doing okay. Still getting used to my schedule and the new curriculum, but otherwise, I feel like I belong here.”

“That’s great. You definitely seem to fit in with everyone.” I looked over at the people who were still staring at us. “It looks like everyone wanted you to sit with them.”

Brit lifted her head, glancing around casually. “Oh, please,” she said, laughing. “No one even knows me.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Doesn’t matter. You walked into school like you owned the place and if you haven’t noticed—everyone wants to be your friend. The guys at the stable are totally into you, BTW.”

“What? No!” Brit’s cheeks turned pink.

“I was outside the tack room and I heard them talking about how hot the new girl was,” I said. “They think you’re supertalented. You’ll probably have a boyfriend by the end of the week.”

Brit took a bite of pancake. “No thanks. I think I’ll wait till I’ve been here long enough to not get lost on campus before I have a boyfriend.”

We smiled at each other and went back to our breakfasts. Earlier, I’d been upset that Paige hadn’t been able to make breakfast, but now I was glad I’d had the time to get to know Brit better.

After we finished, Brit and I left the caf together.

“Sasha!”

I looked away from Brit and saw Paige walking up another sidewalk toward us.

“Hey,” I said.

Paige reached us, and Brit and I stopped.

“Paige,” I said. “This is Brit. Brit, this is my roommate.”

“Hey,” Paige said, flashing a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“Hi. It’s cool to finally meet Sasha’s roommate,” Brit said. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes and pointed to Paige’s boots. “Those are supercute. I love them.”

“Thanks,” Paige said.

I looked at them and noted how they had a similar style of dress. Brit was in knee-high black boots and a green silk shirt. Silver hoops flashed in the sunlight and the outfit plus accessories was so something Paige would wear.

“I’ve got to get to class, but see you!” Brit said.

“Bye,” Paige and I said.

We split up from Brit and kept walking to English.

“She’s nice, right?” I asked.

“Definitely,” Paige said. “She seems cool.”

We reached the English building and took the stairs to Mr. Davidson’s classroom. The advanced English class only had ten students, including Alison, and I loved how we got to sit in a circle and talk about whatever book we were reading. But Mr. Davidson was strict about participation—if you couldn’t answer questions about the past night’s reading, you had to leave class with a zero for the day.

I took my usual seat next to Paige, and we pulled out our copies of The Secret Garden and the notebooks with notes we’d taken over break. Alison, pulling her hair over to one side as she walked, sat down beside me.

“Hey, guys,” she said. “Paige, how was your break?”

Alison and Paige had bonded during Homecoming—they’d both been obsessed about it.

“It was fun,” Paige said. Blinking, I realized that Paige and I hadn’t talked much about her break.

At. All.

I didn’t even know what she’d done during the week off, except for running into her at Butter.

“I got to hang out with my old friends, and we did some shopping,” Paige continued. “We were walking down Avenue of the Americas, and we passed a store that was having a sample sale that we didn’t even know about.”

“Omigod! You totally went, right?” Alison asked.

“Of course we did!” Paige said, grinning. “We got inside, and there were, like, a zillion people fighting over clothes and purses. I grabbed a Marc Jacobs dress that was supercheap and a Chloe handbag for a ridic price.”

Alison clutched her hands together. “It is seriously my dream to go to one of those. I can’t wait to see your dress.”

As I listened to Alison and Paige talk about the secrecy surrounding sample sales, my mind wandered to the schooling show. It’s not that I didn’t care about clothes—I loved shopping—but there were more important things on my mind, like doing my best on the YENT.

Mr. Davidson walked into the classroom and picked up a binder and his worn copy of The Secret Garden from his desk. He took his seat in our circle, running a hand over his blond hair. He was one of my favorite teachers—I’d had him last year for English and he’d pushed me into becoming a better writer and had deepened my love of books.

“Hello, everyone,” Mr. Davidson said. He smiled at us, and we all smiled back. “Did you all have a good break?”

Everyone in the class nodded except for Aaron, who raised his left arm which was in a cast.

“Broke it,” Aaron said. “I was at a new skate park by my house, and I lost my board on a half-pipe.”

“Ouch,” Mr. Davidson said. “Sorry to hear that. At least it wasn’t your right arm, though. Then, we would have had to get you help with your homework.” Mr. Davidson smiled.

Aaron nodded. “It would have been so tragic.”

The entire class laughed and Mr. Davidson shot Aaron a mock stern look. But he smiled, too, and opened his notebook.

“Okay, let’s get started,” Mr. Davidson said. “We’ll be finishing The Secret Garden this week, so that means you’ll have a test on Monday. I’ll hand out a study guide, but most of the material on the test will come from your notes.”

I wrote ENG TEST :/ on Monday’s slot in my assignment notebook.

“We’ll review for the test on Friday,” Mr. Davidson continued. “It’ll be your last chance to ask any questions you might have about the book, and we’ll run through a few potential exam questions.”

“I know what we’ll be doing all weekend,” Paige whispered to me.

“Yep,” I whispered back.

That and I’d be showing.

“Let’s talk about the reading you did over break,” Mr. Davidson said. “Who wants to start?”

A couple of students raised their hands, but I sat back and pretended to pay attention until the class was dismissed.

When I finally got to lunch my brain was fried. Every class had been a blur of questions, quizzes, and assignments. It was only Tuesday and teachers usually piled more work on us as the week went on. But I had to get everything done as early as I could since I wanted to devote the weekend to prepping for the show.

I stood in the lunch line, my shoulders sagging from the weight of my backpack. Today’s menu was grilled cheese and fries—yum. I snagged a Diet Coke from the fridge and walked into the caf. Paige, sitting by Geena, waved me over. I glanced over toward the Trio’s table and Heather caught my eye with a clear come-sit-by-us look.

“One sec,” I mouthed to her.

I walked over to Paige, not sitting on the seat she’d pulled out for me.

“Are you going to eat standing up?” Paige teased.

Being torn between Paige and the Trio was the worst.

“No, actually, um, Heather asked if I wanted to sit with them. She invited Brit to lunch and I’m trying to make her feel welcome.”

“Oh,” Paige said. “I get that. I thought I noticed a look in her eye that vanished quickly. “No big deal. I’m leaving lunch early anyway and Geena and I are just going to be talking about cooking class.”

“Cool,” I said. “We’ll catch up and talk later, okay?”

Paige smiled. “Definitely.”

I turned around and started toward the Trio’s table. Halfway across the cafeteria, I realized I hadn’t asked Paige why she was going early. But she would have told me if it had been something important.

I slid onto the empty seat next to Alison. The Trio and Brit were already seated and starting on their lunches.

“If anyone else tells me that they didn’t get a ton of homework in every class so far, I’m going to scream,” Heather said.

“Agreed,” Brit said. “I’ve got so much to do—I don’t even know where to start. Classes here are intense.”

“So, was your old school like this at all?” Julia asked. “You never said where you went.”

I tensed waiting for Brit’s answer and wondering how the Trio would react.

“Charles Middle School,” Brit said, taking a bite of her grilled cheese.

The three girls paused, looking at each other.

“Charles,” Julia said slowly. “Is that … in New York? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Nope,” Brit said, smiling. “It’s in Connecticut. Sasha and I found out that we’re both from small towns. We were only a few miles apart.”

“Omigod,” Julia said. She put her hand over her heart. “It’s like you guys are long lost sisters or something.” She rolled her eyes and dipped a carrot stick in blue cheese dressing.

Months ago, I would have crumpled at being treated like that by one of the Trio. But Brit laughed. Shock replaced the smug look on Julia’s face. Heather and Alison’s gazes were both on Brit—neither girl seemed fazed by what Brit had just admitted.

“It is awesome to meet someone else from a tiny town,” Brit said. “Are all you from big cities?”

Alison nodded. “New York City,” she said. Her tone was nothing like Julia’s had been. “But even with all the perks of living there, none of us wanted to pass up Canterwood. It definitely has the best riding program.”

I just sat there, listening to them talk about the other nearby schools and how none compared to Canterwood. The only one who’d reacted at Brit’s admission had been Julia. Heather wasn’t making one comment to Brit like she’d made to me about being out of my league at Canterwood.

I forced my attention back to their conversation.

“I’ve been riding since I could walk,” Brit said. “I clicked with Apollo the second I saw him.”

“That’s awesome,” I said. “Because Charm and I definitely didn’t get along too well when we first met. He threw me in the grass and galloped off. For a few minutes, I wished there was a return receipt for him.”

Brit and the Trio laughed.

“Sorry to inform you, Silver, but you’ve got to acknowledge that you still get tossed sometimes,” Heather teased.

I stuck out my tongue at Heather, not even bothering to come up with a response.

“What’s your riding specialty?” Alison asked Brit.

Julia, not bothering to cover her yawn, couldn’t have looked more bored.

“I love dressage,” Brit said. “I’ve been studying it since I started riding and it’s my favorite discipline.”

Just like Callie, I thought. Callie, without question, was the strongest dressage rider in eighth grade.

Brit finished the final bite of her grilled cheese and checked her phone. “I’ve got a meeting with Ms. Utz about extracurriculars,” she said. She picked up her beige tray, smiling at us. “Thanks again for inviting me to lunch.”

“Invite’s always open,” Heather said.

Julia’s face turned pink. She was treating Brit just as she’d acted toward me when Heather had first started becoming my friend. I didn’t get why Julia was so worried—it’s not like she was going to be forced out of the Trio.

Brit walked away from the Trio’s table and left the caf. Julia leaned across the table, looking as if she was going to pounce on Heather.

“What are you doing?” Julia asked.

Heather folded her arms. “Excuse me?” Her tone was biting.

“I’m sorry, but first we let Sasha hang with us,” Julia said. She acted as if I wasn’t even there. “And that’s fine. She did save Alison and me from Jasmine and I sort of trust her. But Brit? We don’t even know her. We don’t need anyone else in our group! We’re the Trio.”

Alison scraped chocolate pudding from her bowl, not looking up. My eyes flickered to Heather’s face.

“Sasha isn’t part of this discussion,” Heather said. “And as for Brit, we want her on our side. She hasn’t aligned with anyone else yet. She’s a great rider. Plus, she hasn’t been here long and everyone wants to be her friend.”

The way Heather talked about Brit—like she was a prize or trophy—made me squirm a little.

“If everyone wants her in their group, then we need to get her on our side,” Heather added. “She’ll probably start her own clique if she gets the chance. And we’re the ones who rule this grade.”

“But what’s so special about her?” Julia pressed.

Alison crunched on a carrot stick so loud that it was as if she was trying to break the death glare between Heather and Julia.

“If you don’t like her—fine,” Heather said. “There’s always another seat open at a different table.”

Julia’s face went from red to white in half a second.

“Done eating?” Heather asked, looking at Alison and me.

I nodded and so did Alison.

We got up and, flanking Heather, left the cafeteria. And Julia.