“Oh, just wondering,” I reply, trying to ignore the weird sensation.
“Were you able to keep up with everything today?” Lin asks after we’ve walked side by side in silence for a while.
“Yeah, thanks to you and James.” I smile gratefully at her. “Your notes were a total lifesaver.”
“No problem.”
“I’d like to do something to thank you,” I say. “And for all the work that you’ve done with the events committee.”
Lin shakes her head. Then she grins sideways at me. “If I ever get suspended over an alleged affair with a teacher, you can do the same for me.”
I go to punch her, but she dodges.
“By the way,” she says as we head to the library together, “you were totally overdoing it in history earlier. The new guy was kind of stunned by how often you jumped in.”
“The new guy” is actually a retired history teacher who’s come back instead of Mr. Sutton for the rest of the year. It was interesting but weird to have a lesson with somebody else.
“Is there anything I need to know for the meeting?”
“Oh!” Lin exclaims. She stops between two bookshelves and stares wide-eyed at me. “I think Camille and Doug have got together,” she whispers.
“What?”
“I have no idea when it happened, and I don’t think it’s official yet, but I saw them last week on one of the back car parks having a pretty long hug. They looked very cozy together, holding hands and all that.”
“Camille and Doug,” I murmur. “Who’d have thought?”
“It was cute,” Lin says, buzzing into the group meeting room. “Got your key back yet?”
I shake my head. “Not yet. I was meant to go and see Lexie this morning, but I couldn’t quite psych myself up to it.”
“Want me to come with you?” Lin asks after a moment’s hesitation, as we walk in and put our stuff down at the front.
“Would you really?”
“Sure. I’d be a bit scared of facing him after a thing like that too.”
“I’d prefer never to set eyes on him again, to be honest.” I remember how disappointed I felt when he kicked me out of school without a flicker of emotion or even listening to my side of the story.
“The main thing is that you’re back,” says Lin. “I’m happy to come if you want me to.”
I push down the anger that’s welling up at the thought of last week and smile gratefully at Lin. “Thanks. You’re the best.”
Gradually, the others stroll into the room—everyone but James, who has to go to a lacrosse team crisis meeting called by the coach. He told me not to worry, but I feel a bit uneasy all the same.
“Shall we start?” Lin asks, looking around the room. “I had a conversation with Lexington last week. He gave us a whole heap of rules and regulations for the bonfire. Apparently tons of stuff went wrong last year.”
“Yeah.” Camille screws up her nose. “Loads of people were drunk.”
“I heard that Lexie stepped in a puddle of puke,” Doug adds. “I bet that’s why he’s not so keen this year.”
“This year, we should really aim to have nobody throwing upat all,” I say. “We’ll need twice as many teachers to keep an eye on things.”
A murmur of agreement fills the room.
“Ruby and I were wondering about asking the dance team to perform. That might get people up and dancing earlier. What do you think?”
“Only if we agree on the routine in advance. Some of their choreography is seriously weird,” says Jessalyn. She takes the pencil from behind her ear and twists it in her hands. “Remember the spring show? They were aiming for Maddie Ziegler but didn’t really pull it off. Especially not with so many of them.”
