Ruby Reinvented (7 page)

“Cassandra's from New York,” Summer says in between bites of burrito.

“Oh, New York's awesome,” I say.

“Yeah, but not as awesome as California.” Cassandra leans forward in her chair. “Have you ever seen any famous people?”

I shove a forkful of burrito into my mouth before I can answer. Luckily, another girl approaches the table, so Cassandra seems to forget about her question.

“Hey, Katie.” Cassandra takes her feet off the chair next to her.

“Hi, guys,” the girl says. Unlike Cassandra, she notices me right away and smiles. “I'm Katie.”

“Hi, Katie. I'm Bea.” I'm afraid to smile back in case I have beans in my teeth.

“Nice to meet you. Summer told us you were coming.”

“Oh. My. God.” Cassandra's voice drops to a whisper. “How hot does Connor look with his new haircut?” She motions her head to two boys in the cafeteria line.

“He got his hair cut like three weeks ago.” Summer laughs.

“No way. I would have noticed,” Cassandra says.

“It's true. I went with him to the barber shop.” Summer wipes her face with a napkin.

Her plate is totally clean, but I still have half a burrito left. It's really good, but I don't want to seem too piglike on my first day.

Cassandra crosses her arms and stares at Summer.

“What?” Summer asks.

“Are you sure you guys aren't, like, dating?”

Summer looks at Cassandra sideways and rolls her eyes.

“Well, you're always together,” Cassandra says.

“They're best friends,” Katie interjects.

“Yeah, yeah.” Cassandra takes a bite of her apple. Amazingly, her lip gloss stays on.

Summer leans back in her chair and stretches her legs out.

“Seriously, Summer.” Cassandra glances at Summer's feet. “Do you ever wear anything that matches?”

I don't mean to, but I think I gasp a little. I don't know Summer well enough to predict what she'll do. Will she get
really mad at Cassandra? Will she start to cry? Maybe she'll storm off and leave me sitting here with these girls I don't even know.

But Summer doesn't do any of those things. She just laughs and says, “No.”

Cassandra sighs. “You're so weird. Can't you put in a good word for me with Connor?”

“Sure, Cass,” Summer says. “I'll try.”

I'm shocked. They just go right back to their conversation, as if Cassandra never insulted Summer's socks or called her weird or
anything
.

“Shhhh.” Cassandra leans her face in closer to the table. “He's coming over here.” She tries to smooth her hair and sits up straight.

I look up and see the two boys from the cafeteria line heading our way. One of the boys is the cute dimpled boy I saw Summer talking to when she gave me the tour. I wonder if that's the one Cassandra's talking about. He's definitely the cuter of the two. I put my plastic fork down and wipe the corners of my mouth with my napkin. I pray my face isn't covered in bean juice.

There are only two seats left, one next to Katie and one next to me. Cute Dimple Boy puts his tray down next to mine and sits down. He smiles at me for a fraction of a second, then looks back at his tray. I'm pretty sure my face is on fire. I can't tell if it's because Cute Dimple Boy is sitting
next to me, or if I used too much hot sauce on my burrito. I take a big gulp of ice water.

“Hey, guys.” Cassandra flips her hair.

“What's up?” the other boy says.

“Bea, this is Connor and Shane.” Summer points to me, then to them.

“What's up?” Shane nods his head toward me.

“Nice to meet you,” Connor, the cute one, says. He looks at me for a fraction of a second. I swear I would have missed it if I blinked. He may have the Damon Gordon dimples, but he absolutely does not have the Damon Gordon stare. Which is just as well, since maybe he doesn't notice that my face is as red as Cassandra's apple.

“Hi.” I smile in their general direction. I take another gulp of water, hoping my face returns to its normal color before Connor looks at me again. Which he doesn't. Instead, he's having a conversation with Cassandra. Or more like Cassandra's having a conversation with him.

“OMG, Connor. I can't believe you already finished that homework. It was practically impossible.”

“It wasn't too bad.” Connor takes a bite of his pizza. I should have gotten the pizza.

“Then maybe you can help me figure it out.” I swear Cassandra is actually batting her eyelashes. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that in real life.

Connor shrugs. “Maybe.”

“Okay, when?” Cassandra takes out her phone.

“When what?” Connor takes another bite of pizza.

“When can you help me? After school?”

“I guess.”

“Cool.” Cassandra types something in her phone. “I'll see you in the library right after last period. Come on, Katie.”

She struts away before Connor can say anything else, with Katie at her heels.

Shane elbows Connor in the side. “Dude, she's totally into you.”

“Whatever,” Connor says, then turns to Summer. “Clara's Café tomorrow night?”

“Of course. It's Tuesday.”

“Awesome.”

“Every Tuesday my parents take us out to Clara's Café for dinner,” Summer explains.

“You see your parents every week?”

“Oh.” Summer looks down at her empty plate. “That was totally rude of me. I shouldn't just talk about my parents like that—”

“Oh no,” I interrupt. “No, it's fine.” Ugh. She thinks she hurt my feelings because my parents pretend “died.” My stomach sinks into my shoes.

“Summer told me. I'm really sorry,” Connor says. His voice is so quiet that it takes me a second to realize he's talking to me.

“Oh, uhhh, it's okay,” I say. “I mean, thanks.”

“My parents died too.” He's tearing pieces off the crust of his pizza.

“Oh gosh. Wow,” I say. “That's awful.”

“Yeah, well, I wanted to tell you that I know how you feel.”

How I feel?
I turn bright red and feel like my face is on fire. I try to take a deep breath in, but the air feels stuck in my throat, and I cough. Thankfully, Summer jumps into the conversation.

“I hope you don't mind that I told him, Bea. I thought it might be nice to know someone that understands.”

“Oh yes. Yes, it is.”

I pray that someone will pull the fire alarm. Or that a fight will break out. Or that a meteor will strike the cafeteria right now at this very second.

“Anyway,” Summer says. “My parents take me and my sister out to dinner every Tuesday to this amazing restaurant called Clara's Café. Connor always comes. You're invited too.”

“Really? Are you sure? I don't want to intrude.” Which is true. But I
would
like to have dinner with Summer and Connor.

“My parents would love to have you. They're cool like that.”

“They totally are.” Connor leans back in his chair. “They're like my pseudo parents.”

“If you're sure, I'd really like to go.”

“Great!” Summer stands up and grabs her tray. “Do you have your schedule?”

I open up my backpack and peek inside. “I have technology next.”

“So do we,” Summer says. I pick up my tray, which still has half a burrito left, and follow Summer and Connor to the back of the cafeteria.

“You can throw the rest of your burrito in the compost.” Summer points to a big bin with a cover on top.

“The what?” I stare at the bin.

“The compost. It's where most of the food scraps go. It then gets turned into soil for the garden, which we use to grow our own veggies.”

“The school grows its own food?”

Summer giggles. “This place must be really different from home.”

I smile. That's the understatement of the year.

 9 

A
LL MY AFTERNOON classes are with Summer, which is fantastic. She makes sure I'm where I'm supposed to be at the right time. And she introduces me to everybody in our class so I don't just sit there like a loser.

Connor only has technology and science with us, but Cassandra is in every one of our classes.

“Did it bother you, what Cassandra said?” I ask Summer when we're back in our room after dinner.

Summer laughs. “Which time? Cassandra does a
lot
of talking.” Summer sits cross-legged on her bed.

“When she said that thing about you not matching.”

“Naaaah. She's right. I don't match.”

“But she called you weird.”

“That's because I am.”

I blink.

Summer gets up and starts jumping on the bed. “I am weird. But I like myself that way.”

I watch Summer bounce up and down. She's jumping so high I'm afraid her head will hit the ceiling. There's a knock on the door, and Summer yells, “Come in!”

The door opens, and a lady peeks her head in. She sees Summer and smiles for just a second before her face gets all serious looking.

“Summer, please don't jump on the bed.” The lady pushes the door open all the way and walks in.

“Sorry, Ms. Goldberg.” Summer does one more bounce when Ms. Goldberg turns away, and then sits down.

“You must be Bea.” Ms. Goldberg sticks out her hand, which I politely shake. “It's so nice to meet you. I'm Liz Goldberg. I'm the floor parent here.”

I remember Mrs. Kearney saying something about a Ms. Goldberg.

“Has Summer gone over the rules with you?” she asks.

“Rule number one,” Summer says. “No jumping on the bed.” She runs over to Ms. Goldberg and gives her a big hug.

“Very funny.” Ms. Goldberg hugs her back. “But it is true that you're not supposed to jump on the bed.” Ms. Goldberg raises one eyebrow and looks at Summer, who smiles.

“And,” Ms. Goldberg continues, “we try to keep the noise down when we're here in our rooms. No hot plates, toasters,
or microwave ovens allowed. No boys allowed. And lights out is at nine o'clock, but it's okay to keep a reading light on by your bed if you'd like. I think those are the biggies.”

“Okay,” I say.

“And of course, I'm always here if you need an adult to talk to.”

I nod.

“Well, Bea, welcome. I look forward to getting to know you.”

“Thank you, Ms. Goldberg.”

“And Summer, keep the bouncing to a minimum, okay?”

“Yep.” Summer smiles and flops down on her bed.

“I'll be back for lights out, in about an hour.” Ms. Goldberg closes the door behind her.

“Wow, it's eight o'clock already.” Summer groans. “I still have to shower.”

Oh no. Eight o'clock. FaceTime.

I glance at my iPad, which is open on my desk. Mom always calls me, so it's going to ring any minute now, and Zack Miller and Celestine Cruz are going to pop up on my screen and Summer's going to see and wonder why on earth Zack Miller and Celestine Cruz are calling me because after all Zack Miller and Celestine Cruz are hugely famous and supposed normal people like me don't know celebrities like them.

I suck in a big breath of air and squeeze my eyes real
tight. I try to think of a way to FaceTime my parents without Summer noticing. Oh no, oh no, oh no. I hadn't thought about this at all. Even if I manage to hide my screen she'll know I'm talking to somebody. And since my headphones aren't here yet she'll hear them and know they're parentlike. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

Summer hops up off the bed. “I'm going to take a shower. Unless you want to first.”

I breathe out. Loudly. I fake cough so she doesn't notice. “No, that's okay. I shower in the morning.”

“Cool. That's easy.” Summer grabs a bathrobe, towel, and shower caddy out of her closet and twirls toward the door.

The second the bedroom door shuts, the FaceTime ringtone blares through my iPad. I leap to my desk, grab it, and climb into the farthest corner of the bed, wrapping my comforter around it to try and muffle the noise.