Elite Ambition (7 page)

Paige shoved her math book into her backpack. “Actually, I left when Geena did. I went to the Sweet Shoppe.”

I got up off my bed and walked to my desk, closing books and notebooks. “Oh, cool. Get anything good?”

“Iced pomegranate lemonade,” Paige said. “It was awesome.”

“Yum. Maybe you and Geena can make a dessert with pomegranates or something.”

Paige nodded as she walked toward the bathroom. “Yeah, that's a good idea. I'm going to shower and go to bed. I'm really, really tired after the first day back.”

“Me too,” I said.

Paige shut the door behind her, and I stared at it for a few seconds. She wasn't mad that I'd gone to the Trio's, was she? She knew Heather and I had become friends after I'd spent break with her. Plus, Paige had other friends too, and I'd never cared if she wanted to hang out with them. The situation with them
was
a little different, but as my best friend, Paige had to understand that it was my choice to hang out with Heather, Julia, and Alison and she needed to support me.

I went over to my closet and busied myself with picking out my clothes for tomorrow—a welcome distraction from whatever was going on with Paige. And if she kept being weird about me hanging out with the Trio, I'd talk to her. But tonight, I didn't want to let go of my good mood from hanging out in Orchard.

 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.”