Rival Revenge (4 page)

And that was something we could all agree on.

“Change of subject, please,” Alison said. “I don't want to even think about Jasmine King for another second.”

“Agreed,” Julia said, nodding.

Alison's eyes brightened. “Oooh, we have to talk about Homecoming!”

I looked at Heather and she didn't look thrilled about that topic. Maybe she wasn't into Homecoming either.

“Yeah!” Julia said. “It's going to be
amazing
. I can't wait for all of it—the football game, pep rally, dance, and everything.”

I'd never seen Julia so excited about anything. What was it with everyone and this dumb tradition?

“Me too!” Alison said. She put her arms on the table, almost knocking over her glass of water. “I missed the football game last year. I'm going to paint my face and everything before I go.”

“I don't think so,” Heather said, shaking her head. “If you even open a tube of face paint, you're going to the game alone and you definitely won't be sitting with me.”

Alison looked at the table for a second. “Yeah,” she said after a few seconds. “I guess that would be kind of lame.”

I'd always known it wasn't a democracy in the Trio, but I'd rarely witnessed Heather vetoing her friends' ideas.

“Are you just going to sit there, or what?” Julia asked, glaring at me. “Aren't you excited about Homecoming?”

I shrugged. “Not really. I've got a lot of stuff to do, so
I'm not going to the game or anything. Drake said nothing was mandatory.”

Julia snorted. “Wow. Talk about school spirit, Sasha.” Then she smirked. “But I can understand why you'd want to avoid the dance, at least. Your record with social events is pretty awful.”

“Julia,” Heather snapped. “Stop it. Silver is definitely already aware that she usually ruins dances or parties. Back off.”

I almost didn't know what to do with that, but I knew better than to argue with Heather when she'd invited me over to their table. Plus, she'd defended me against Julia, even though it was wrapped with an insult.

“I think you'd have fun at the pep rally, though,” Alison said. Her voice was extra cheery as if she was trying to ease the tension at our table.

“Maybe,” I said. “I know Paige really wants me to go to all of the events, so I might consider going to something.”

But I knew my mind was already made up—there was no way I was participating in
anything
Homecoming related.

LONGEST MONDAY EVER

BY THE TIME I GOT TO THEATER CLASS, I FELT
like the only word that I'd heard all day was “Homecoming
.
”
It's all anyone wanted to talk about.

It was as if an army of people had put up flyers and banners about Homecoming the second after Headmistress Drake had made the announcement. Like people had been waiting and prepared with posters and had finally been given the okay to hang them. Hunter green and gold, the school's colors, dominated most of the
refuse to lose!
and
now fear this!
posters that cheered on the school's football team. How could I have missed all of this last year?

At least the auditorium was poster-free, but I really just wanted to finish my class and get out. Throughout
my history class with Jacob and Eric, I hadn't looked at either guy and they hadn't so much as glanced in my direction. It was what I wanted, but I hated the tension of the class.

This had to have been one of the longest Mondays ever. I'd sat through classes with Callie, Jacob, and Eric. Not exactly a great way to start the week. But all day I'd been making a list of everything I needed to do and the list kept growing. I needed to: work with Charm on everything from jumping to dressage, write a paper for history, devote more time to science class, and get ahead in all of my classes. And those were just the major things on the list.

I got up onstage to join the rest of the class, standing far away from Jacob. Our eyes met for a second and I glanced away. Jacob had promised to go along with my story and there was zero reason for us to talk. We both knew it was the only way we could prevent hurting Callie more than we already had. I didn't want it to get back to Callie that Jacob or I had so much as even glanced at each other.

“Hi, class,” Ms. Scott, our teacher, said as she walked onto the stage. She wore her trademark red lipstick and her flatironed hair brushed her collarbone. She was just out of college and already one of my favorite teachers.

We all smiled back.

“We're going to warm up with a pairs theater game,” Ms. Scott said. “Then, we'll get together and go over the homework and assigned reading.”

Ms. Scott started naming the groups. “Sasha and Heather,” she said, finally. “You're together.”

I breathed a tiny sigh of relief. Heather was waaay better than Jacob.

Ms. Scott finished pairing us up then consulted her list. “Today's theater game is called ‘park bench.' The rules are simple—one at a time, you're going to sit on the prop bench and pretend you're in a park. I'm going to give your partner a card that says who you—the person sitting on the park bench—are. The card will also tell your partner what role to play. Then, your partner is going to walk over, sit next to you, and react to seeing you. You have to give the audience enough so that we all can guess who you both are.”

“Can we have an example?” a girl asked.

Ms. Scott nodded. “Sure. So, pretend you're sitting on the bench. My cue card says you're a high school basketball player and I'm a recruiter for a college basketball team. So, I'll go up to you and act like a recruiter. I'll start telling you about the awesome program at our school and
how you can't turn down my offer. You go along with it and hopefully you realize quickly who you are. Just don't come out and say who the person is. Keep it subtle and develop your characters.”

That sounded easy enough.

“And you've got a minute to do this,” Ms. Scott said.

Or maybe not …

She motioned for the first pair to step forward, gave a cue card to a girl, and the game started. A guy sat on the bench and the girl walked up to him.

“So, do you do all of your work in a coffee shop, like most people think you would, or do you work from your home?” the girl asked.

“It depends on how I'm feeling on that day,” the guy said slowly. He had no idea who he was yet. “Sometimes, I just like to stay in and work.”

“Do your fingers ever get sore from typing so much?” the girl asked. “Mine would. And how do you come up with your ideas?”

“So you and Jacob have decided not to even acknowledge each other's existence for an entire year?” Heather whispered to me. “I'm sure that will work out well.”

I whispered back. “Why do you care?”

Heather laughed. “I
don't,
believe me. But we're on
the YENT. And I don't want us to ever look bad against Jasmine. I've said it a zillion times and I mean it.”

“Waaait a sec,” I said. “You keep flip-flopping. You just called me out yesterday for practicing too much. You told me to take it easy. And now you're worried that my personal life is a distraction and that it's going to mess up the team?”

Heather frowned. I'd actually won that argument. That
never
happened. Ev-er. Heather didn't know what to do about it.

“Oh, whatever. Forget it,” Heather said. “But if you think you're gonna lose it—don't do it in the arena. Go cry in Charm's stall or something.” Heather sighed and rolled her eyes. “Or talk to me if I have time, which I probably won't.”

Our eyes met for a second. That was the biggest gesture of friendship Heather had ever made toward me. We still weren't friends, but we weren't exactly hating each other at this exact moment.

“Still. There's nothing to talk about,” I said. “It's over. Jacob's with Callie. I'm completely focused on riding again, and that's how it's supposed to be.”

Heather shot me a look and started to say something, but Ms. Scott walked over. “Heather and Sasha, your turn.”

Oops. I'd completely missed all of the exercises before ours.

Ms. Scott handed me a folded card and motioned for Heather to sit on the bench. “Read the cue and start whenever you're ready,” Ms. Scott said.

Heather walked over and sat on the bench while I opened the card.

Fan and movie star
was written on the card.

I could do this—I'd seen enough episodes of
Inside Hollywood
where fans went crazy when they ran into stars on the street or in a coffee shop.

I stuck the card in my pocket and made my step bouncy as I walked over to Heather.

“Omigod, are you really her?” My voice was high and giggly.

“No,” Heather said. “I get mistaken for Jordan all of the time.”

“You're, like, lying,” I said, sitting superclose to Heather on the bench. “You're totally her. You had that giant zit on your chin in a pic I saw in
Us Weekly
yesterday and it's still there.”

Heather's gaze was frosty—no acting there. “It's makeup left over from a shoot. The makeup artist created that zit.”

I bit my cheek so I didn't grin. Coming to class just for that moment was so worth it.

“Time,” Ms. Scott said. “Class? Who are they?”

A girl in the second row raised her hand. “Sasha's a fan girl and Heather's an actress.”

I nodded. “Yep.”

“Good job, girls,” Ms. Scott said. “Please take your seats. The next pair can come on up.”

And for the next half hour, I watched the rest of the pairs act out whatever was on their cue card. Everyone did a great job and someone in the class was always able to tell who the actors were portraying. It was a fun game for everyone and I liked it more with each pair that I watched.

“Thanks, everyone,” Ms. Scott said. “I'll see you next class. Read the assigned chapters and keep practicing the memorization techniques we've worked on. Please put your homework on my desk before you go.”

It was my goal to be the first one out of there. I grabbed my backpack and Heather was beside me, creating a one-girl barrier between Jacob and me. Jacob was getting his stuff ready to go too, but I didn't look at him as I shoved my books into my backpack.

At least I had a real reason to hurry. Today, my YENT lesson was next. That was the cool thing about
theater—the elective was held at different times during the week. I was especially glad to go from theater—a class I had to share with Jacob—to riding. Plus, at this time of the day, Callie and Eric wouldn't be at the stable.

I put my paper on Ms. Scott's desk—it was a definite A. It was a page longer than required and I'd even asked if there was something I could do for extra credit. My grade in the class was already an A, but I wanted to keep it up as high as I could.

Heather put her paper on top of mine and together, we walked out of the auditorium and toward the stable. Heather looked at me and sighed. “You're not going to be weird for the entire lesson, right?”

“Nope,” I said. “I swear—I'm fine. You'll see in the arena. I'm over last weekend.”

Except for losing Callie,
I wanted to add.
And Eric. And Jacob.

As we walked, people stared after us. It had to be the last thing anyone expected to see—Heather and me walking together. Everyone had probably thought sitting at their table once for lunch would be the end of it and we'd go back to fighting like we always had. Even
I
thought it would be that way. Apparently, I was wrong.

Heather and I slipped into stalls in the newly renovated bathroom and changed into our riding clothes. The once-tiny bathroom now had three separate stalls, a wider mirror, two sinks, and way more counter space.

We got our horses' tack and split up in the aisle. Heather went to Aristocrat's stall and I went to get Charm. I gathered his lead line in one hand and opened the stall door. Charm whirled around, ears flicking back and forth anxiously.

“Oh, I'm sorry,” I said. I always said hi to Charm before I went in his stall. I rubbed his neck, then snapped the lead line to the ring on his halter. He stood still while I clipped him into crossties and picked his hooves. Charm leaned into me as I brushed his shoulder. I ignored him and kept grooming him. I switched to the dandy brush and flicked dirt from his legs. Charm, turning his head as much the crossties allowed, tried to nudge my arm.

“What?” I asked, then realized my tone was sharper than I'd intended.

Charm blinked at me.“Oh, boy, I'm sorry,” I said. I let the brush fall into his grooming box and hugged him. “It's not you. It's … everyone else. You're always on my side and I was mean to you. I need to remember that I'm not alone in the arena when I've got you.”