Willow shook her head. “I can do math, but it isn’t my favorite subject. So I really hope that the world isn’t all about just math and science because I’m not giving up on having a fun career.”
Tamara laughed and Willow cringed when Tamara lifted all of her remaining clothes out of her suitcase and shoved them into a drawer. Most of them would be a wrinkled mess when she needed them, but since her uniforms were hung up on the bar above the drawers, that was probably okay. It wasn’t like they’d be allowed to wear their regular clothes until the weekend anyway.
“Let’s go explore,” Tamara announced with gusto.
The three of them nodded, grinning as they walked out of the dorm room. But as soon as they stepped out, they spotted the three girls in the room across the hallway.
“What?” a feisty brunette with dark eyes snapped, her hands fisted on her hips.
Tamara lifted her hands. “Nothing!” She turned to Lana and Willow. “Come on. Let’s go explore.”
Chapter 2
Cassandra Finnegan fought back tears as she watched the three beautiful women walk away from their doorway.
“I think you’ve just made some enemies,” one of the other girls in the room commented, but the tone didn’t seem to indicate that the other girl cared.
Cassy sighed, her hands dropping from her hips. “I know. I’m sorry.” She looked at her suitcase with sadness. “I just…I saw the expensive, beautiful clothes they were unpacking and…” she lifted her arms, covering her breasts again. “Their clothes are gorgeous. Mine are pretty bland in comparison.”
One of the other girls let her fingers drift over a small suitcase. Cassy smiled tentatively. “I like your hair,” she offered. “I’m Cassy,” she said and walked over to the other girl, desperate for a female friend. She’d worn one of her tightest, most constricting sports bras, just so that the other girls didn’t make fun of her. Cassy needed…something. Some indefinable something.
The other girl smiled, taking Cassy’s hand and she relaxed. “I’m Naya,” the girl replied, letting her hand drift down over the dark curls that wafted over her shoulder. “You like my hair?” she asked in almost a whisper.
Cassy felt a surge of that weird sensation. Was it happiness?
“Yeah, it’s pretty,” she replied, relaxing ever so slightly.
Cassy turned to the other girl who also had dark, curly hair. “You’re very pretty as well.”
She stepped closer, extending her hand. “I’m Ella.”
Cassy grinned at the other girls’ air of confidence. “It’s a pleasure, Ella. Why are you here?”
Ella shrugged. “I got a scholarship. My family isn’t rich like the rest of these girls. My dad likes to garden and my mother,” Ella shifted on her feet, an unconsciously defensive movement, “she likes to sew and knit. We’re just a normal family. But this school is one of the best. And I want to get into a good university.” There was a glimmer of determination in her eyes as she said this and Cassy immediately liked her.
“You sound like a woman on a mission.”
Ella nodded. “I am. I have a mission.” She grinned. “I hate injustice. I’m going to be a reporter when I get older and I’m going to ferret out all of the injustices of the world, daring anyone to stop me.”
As someone who had just endured months of humiliation because of someone’s lies, Cassy thought that this girl was amazing! “I think that I like you,” she laughed. Then turned to the other girl. “Why are you here?”
Naya cringed and lowered her head for a moment, then remembered that she wasn’t going to cower anymore. With a determined lift of her chin, she looked both girls in the eye. “My story isn’t very interesting.”
Naya shifted her backpack, not unpacking because she didn’t want the other girls to see how few clothes she owned. And there was no way she wanted anyone to know that she was basically an orphan. No way! That was one secret she’d take to the grave. But it felt really good to know that she wasn’t the only poor one here. If Ella and Cassy were telling the truth, they weren’t as well off as everyone else looked.
“I’m sure that your story is fascinating,” Ella argued, but with an encouraging smile. “Although, I can sense that you’re a bit wary, just like the rest of us.”
Cassy laughed. “You don’t loo wary in any way, Ella.”
Ella shrugged with a confident-looking grin. “I read a book once about how a person needs to pretend to be someone until they become that person. So I’m pretending to be strong and confident, unconcerned with other peoples’ opinions and unafraid.”
Cassy tilted her head. “You don’t care about what someone else might say about you?”
Ella’s confidence was strong, but there were a few chinks in her armor. “Yeah, it bothers me. Sometimes. But I’m figuring out how to ignore that. How to pretend that I’m not affected.” She leaned forward and whispered, “I’m actually a bit of a wimp because I’m shorter than most people.” She straightened, although that confidence was back in her eyes. “But I’m learning.”
Naya stepped closer, her fingers tightening on the frayed strap of her backpack. “Will you…” she cleared her throat. “Will you teach me?” She looked over at Cassy, then back at Ella. “I’m actually here on a scholarship as well. But confidence, I’m lacking there a bit too.”
Ella bounced on her toes. “Yes!” she laughed. They both turned to look at Cassy.
She lifted her hands as well. “I’m all in!” she agreed. “I’d love to learn how to ignore these rich girls’ attitudes. And my main goal in life is to take down injustice too, but probably not the same way you are planning to achieve it.”
Ella clapped her hands, her enthusiasm hitting both Naya and Cassy like a heat wave. “That’s awesome! We’ll be the three classiest, smartest, most amazing women that have every graduated from this school!”
Cassy and Naya looked at each other, but at the same time, they also laughed and their shoulders shifted to a more confident angle. “That sounds like an amazing plan!”
Naya looked at both girls again. “So, what’s the first step?” she asked, feeling a bit silly, but also excited. She hadn’t felt excitement in a long, long time. In fact, the only time she felt this way was when she was about to get a test back from the teacher that she’d studied really hard for and knew that she’d done well on. Yeah, she liked this feeling a whole lot better than the shame that had draped over her shoulders for the longest time.
Yeah, things were going to change, she thought with a bubble of something that felt vaguely similar to happiness. For the first time, she walked with her head held high. Confidence was new to her, but as he walked beside Ella and Cassy, Naya thought that it felt good on her!
Chapter 3
It was October and most of the other students were eagerly dressing for the annual Homecoming dance. The boys’ school several miles away were also attending and the girls had been packed into the chapel earlier today with the message from Ms. Hendricks to be on their best behavior tonight.
Naya, Cassy and Ella had listened, but didn’t really think their behavior would be a problem. They weren’t going to the dance tonight, preferring to avoid any situations where their clothes would be laughed at. All of the other students had pulled out designer dresses and shoes costing over a thousand dollars. Cassy, Ella and Naya didn’t have that kind of money, so avoidance was easier than pretending they didn’t care.
“I think we should do it this way,” Naya offered, shifting the board around and rearranging the pictures and headlines. When she was done, she spun it around again so that Cassy and Ella could see it.
“That’s perfect!” Ella clapped out her enthusiastic amazement at Naya’s artistic talent. “How do you do that?”
Cassy nodded agreement. “You definitely have an eye for this stuff. I’m glad that I convinced you to join the yearbook club.”
Ella shifted on the floor with all of the pictures from the last few events spread out around the three of them. �
��How should we do this?” she asked, shifting more of the pictures around.
There were loud shouts at the other end of the hallway as the rest of the girls dressed and did their hair for the big dance tonight. Excitement thrummed in the air and everyone seemed to be more giggly than usual.
Cassy, Naya and Ella would have their own celebration together, but they’d wait until the others were out of the dormitory. For now, they preferred to look busy which provided their excuse to avoid the dance.
“Hey, do either of you have some extra bobby pins?” Tamara asked, standing in the doorway and looking exotically beautiful and thin and all of the things that Cassy wanted to be. But Cassy was just a regular girl-next-door. There wasn’t anything special about her long, dark hair. Her eyes were fine, but they were just eyes, nothing special and they definitely didn’t angle up like a cat’s the way Tamara’s eyes did.
“I have some,” Ella exclaimed, jumping up from the floor where their story-boards for the yearbook were spread out. She shifted some things around in her bedside drawer, then came up with a few bobby pins. “Will these work?” she asked, holding them up for Tamara’s inspection.
“Yeah, thanks!” she replied politely, then backing away.
Cassy watched the scene with a bit of envy over Tamara’s lovely blue dress. But jealousy wasn’t a productive emotion so Cassy cast her issues aside. Instead, she did what she’d done since starting school here. She turned her attention away from what she couldn’t do, and focused on what was possible. She would never be the exotic beauty, but she was excellent at dividing up issues and getting tasks accomplished.
For the next several hours, she laughed with Ella and Naya while they reworked several sections of the yearbook layout together.
“I think this looks great!” Naya sighed, smoothing a hand over the templates they’d created.
The three of them leaned back against their beds, a sense of pride permeating the room because of their efforts. It was going to be a really good yearbook! Much more interesting than past editions. “Okay, I think we should sneak into the kitchen and get some ice cream!” Cassy whispered.
Naya and Ella froze, their eyes wide as they contemplated the possibilities. “Do you think there’s still some of that mint chocolate chip ice cream left over?” Ella whispered with hope and longing.
Naya licked her lips. “Or that strawberry. That was the best strawberry ice cream I’ve had in years!”
In unison, the three of them jumped up and raced out of the room, giggling excitedly as they tiptoed down the stairs. They were in their pajamas, so it wasn’t as if they looked like expert burglars. But the three of them were confident that they could make their way across the quad to the dining hall and sneak the creamy treat.
Unfortunately, they’d only made it down to the bottom stairs when someone from the outside yanked the dormitory door open.
Cassy, Ella and Naya froze, looking guilty even if they weren’t yet violating any of the school rules.
Still, Willow’s eyes narrowed as she took in the three of them. “What are you guys doing?” Willow demanded, leading Tamara and Lana behind them, both of them peering over Willow’s shoulder to find out why their friend had stopped instead of going into the building.
Ella stepped in front of the others. “Nothing,” she replied with a bit of an attitude. “Why aren’t you guys at the dance?”
Willow shrugged. “It was boring. The guys at the dance were…” she sighed, her eyes hardening with irritation before she finished, “tedious.”
Tamara snorted. “You mean obnoxious,” she corrected. “There was this one guy, I think his name as Anton or something pretentious, but he kept sliding his hands over my butt whenever I stepped up to get some punch. Very annoying.” She grinned suddenly, Willow and Lana laughing, obviously having witnessed the scene. “So I ‘accidentally’ stepped on his foot. Hard. He wasn’t interested in another dance after that.”
Cassy stared at the three girls that had lived across the hall for the past two months. Tamara, Lana and Willow all came from incredibly wealthy families. In fact, there were rumors that Tamara was actually royalty, but no one knew for sure and Tamara just rolled her eyes if anyone confronted her on the question.
The six of them had talked occasionally but…Ella, Cassy and Naya did their own thing, preferring not to be looked down on by the rich girls. They weren’t friends, but nor were the six of them enemies. So why were these three here? Something weird was going on!
Ella didn’t fully trust the rich girls yet, always assuming that they were hiding something. “Yeah, well, we’re…going to do something.”
Lana stepped in front of them, her dark curls bouncing around her shoulders. “We want in,” she whispered. “I promise we won’t tell anyone.’
Willow nodded. “We’re quiet. But you guys have all the fun. We want in!”
Cassy looked at Ella and Naya, both of them shrugging, then nodding their heads.
“Fine. But if you rat us out, you’re nothing to us!” Ella hissed.
The other three girls laughed because Ella was the shortest of all of them. She was also the cutest, but with a determination that earned her respect from the other students.
“This way,” Cassy said, waving her hand towards the door. They snuck out, three girls in flannel pajamas and slippers, another three in heels and designer dresses, tiptoeing across the quad.
“We’re getting ice cream,” Naya explained. “We’ve been working on the yearbook all night and we want a treat. So be quiet or we’ll wake up the headmistress.”
Six of them snuck in through the back doors to the dining hall, then carefully, silently, made their way into the kitchen. Once there, they laughed and snickered at the huge violation of the school rules by being in the kitchen after hours, but they each grabbed a spoon. Then when they all had a bowl of ice cream, the six of them sat cross legged on the high metal prep tables, laughing and talking and eating ice cream. The wealthy trio talked about the dance, the boring boys and the lame punch that the headmistress had served to everyone.
The three less wealthy girls explained their vision for the yearbook and the progress they made on the layout over the course of the evening.
It wasn’t a friendship between the two groups, but after laughing and eating ice cream, there was a sort of…acknowledgement of each other’s worth. And that went a long way towards bridging the economic distance between the six of them.
Chapter 4
Cassy pulled her notebooks closer to her chest, hiding her figure from the other girls. The snickers and pointing was painful and she hurried towards her next class.
“What in the world is going on?” Ella demanded, sliding into the desk next to Cassy for their literature class. “Something is weird today and I can’t figure it out.” Naya slid into the one on the other side of Cassy, out of breath for some reason.
“Good grief, I just made it!”
Ms. Dunworthy stepped into the classroom at that moment, closing the door which meant that anyone outside of the classroom would receive a tardy slip and would need to speak with the headmistress about their tardiness.
“Okay, settle down ladies,” she called out. “We are reading Crime and Punishment. Who can explain the existential threat present in chapter five?”
Cassy relaxed as the class progressed and she was able to forget, at least for a moment, that the other girls were gossiping about her. She had no idea what infraction she might have done that would cause their tails to wag, but she hated it. She’d come here to The Burling School to get away from the vicious lies.
The class ended and Cassy quickly gathered up her books, wanting to hide out in the library. “I’m skipping lunch,” she said to Ella and Naya.
“But…” Ella glanced at Naya, not sure what was happening. “Cassy, you skipped breakfast this morning too. You have to be hungry.”
“I’m fine,” she whispered, head down as confusion and shame…shame for something she didn’t unde
rstand, weighed down on her. “I’m not really hungry,” she lied, but Cassy didn’t want to go to the lunch area, afraid of the snickers and whispers. Until she knew what they were saying, she wanted to just…hide. Not a very confident tactic, but it was all she had at the moment.
“You’re not skipping another meal,” Ella told her, grabbing her arm and dragging Cassy with her to the dining hall. “Hey, Naya, can you help me with that chemistry thing?” They stepped into the dining hall. “We have a lab today and I…” she stopped because silence descended on the dining hall as soon as they stepped through the doors.
Cassy cringed, hearing the whispers again.
Genevieve, the snottiest of the girls and the reigning queen bee, stepped up in front of Cassy, looking up and down her figure. “You had sex with Tony Simpson at the dance last week! Are you pregnant?”
Cassy’s mouth fell open. “I…what?” she gasped.
Ella laughed, but the sound wasn’t amusing. Ella had a way of sounding imperious and intimidating. “Cassy wasn’t even at the dance! How could she have had sex with some guy when she wasn’t there?”
Naya stepped up, putting her body between Genevieve and Cassy. “I heard that you wanted Tony Simpson for yourself. What’s going on Gen?” she asked, using the hated nickname. “Did Tony reject you and now you’re trying to get revenge?”
Naya must have hit on the truth because Genevieve’s face turned a furious red. “No! And I know she wasn’t at the dance. She was with Tony all night, having sex and getting pregnant.”
Ella shook her head. “Cassy didn’t go to the dance, nor did she meet up with some guy. She was with us.”
Genevieve sneered. “Of course you’re going to lie for her. You’re her friends.”
Tamara, Lana and Willow stood up from the table where they’d been eating lunch, coming up behind the evil girl.
Forbidden Seduction (The Diamond Club Book 12) Page 12
