Rae of Hope (The Chronicles of Kerrigan) (6 page)

Chapter 5

Friends?

The
next day, the students sat in the dining hall eating breakfast. The tense atmosphere of the previous day seemed like a bad dream. Everyone appeared relaxed and informal, even jovial.

"
Julian has a car?” Molly
straightened in her chair, eyes bright.

Andy swigged the rest of his breakfast tea, then laughed. “Yeah, a few of us seniors do, actually. I’ve a feeling the school won’t be allowing many of the girls to keep a car on campus – at least probably not in the near future.” He tried, unsuccessfully, to wipe the smirk off his face.

“That’s fine.” Molly raised her eyebrows, a tight smile playing on her lips. “If boys have cars, why would I need one?”

“I think Andy’s just teasing you, Molls.” Rae laughed. It felt great to talk about normal things and forget about all the crap she was dealing with. Waking up, she had decided to leave all the confusing stuff under her pillow and not let anyone see it. She needed to fit in. Having people know so much about her when she didn’t know them made her feel vulnerable, but there was no way she’d let anyone see it. In a weird way, it felt like her vulnerability was the last private thing she had.

“How’s our American gal feeling today?” Andy looked at Rae. “You were…uh…you seemed kinda upset at dinner last night.”

Rae swallowed an oversized bite of scrambled eggs, choking on it. “Yeah, about that…sorry.” She paused, blinking. “I was really jet lagged, and I guess…everyone staring at me…” She let the sentence trail off, hoping someone would take up the conversation from there and not camp out on the one topic she didn’t want to discuss.

“Don’t worry.” Andy nodded sympathetically. “The curiosity’ll die down soon enough. You’re a pretty girl, and there’s a story behind your name. That’s bound to turn some heads. On top of that, don’t forget this has been an all-male school for a long time. It’s an awesome thing to have girls here now.”

Rae’s cheeks pinked at the compliment.
Thank you Andy! My knight in shining…fur…or something.

“Are you up to anything this afternoon?” Andy asked.

Rae blinked, trying to forget her train of thought before she erupted into a fit of laughter. “Madam Cro— Elpis wants us to meet the new girls arriving. Wanna come?” Rae ignored Molly’s giggles at her almost mix-up.

“Sure, but I’m pretty sure the interesting ones have already arrived.” He quickly stood and turned, taking his tray to the collection area.

Molly leaned over to her and whispered, “I think somebody digs you.”

Rae shrugged. “I think he was referring to you. You’d better watch out. He’s hungry like a wolf!”

Molly stuck her tongue out, but put her poker face on when Andy came back.

After eating, they headed to Aumbry House. They sat out front on the large concrete steps. Haley and Maria joined them, enjoying the bright sunshine. Andy came and sat between Molly and Rae, his leg touching Rae’s. Rae shifted, moving just out of knee-knocking distance. She didn’t seem to move far enough. Within minutes, Andy’s warm leg brushed up against hers again. As she tried to figure a way to get away from Andy and his warm leg without making a scene, Riley and a younger, slightly-built boy came walking by.

“Hello, mates.” Riley’s eyes roamed over Haley’s curvy figure. A small smile lifted his lips. “You’re a senior, right? What’s your gift, again?”

Molly spoke before Haley had a chance. “She can pass wind.”

“I don’t pass wind,” Haley snapped, scowling at Molly. “I
create
it.”

Rae rolled her eyes heavenward, embarrassed by both girls.

“Cool.” He pointed at the sandy blond guy beside him. “This wee fellow’s Nicholas. He’s like an instructional guidebook. You name it, Nic can put it together without the manual.”

“Handy. What does your ink look like?” Haley asked.

“Like an open book.” Nicholas held his arm out. “The ink is kind of boring, actually, but the talent’s totally useful.” He sat down on the steps beside her.

“Especially when you’re trying to get out of a tough situation,” Riley bragged. “Nic can build a device out of a paper clip and a stick of chewing gum!”

“You sound like
MacGyver
,” Rae said.

“Pardon?” Nicholas’ eyes grew big and he began fidgeting. In fact, everyone stared strangely at her.

“You know,
MacGyver
?” Rae wondered what was up with the weird looks.

She got nothing but silence, followed by nudges and shrugs from the guys.

Rae sighed, wishing she’d just stayed in her dorm room. “It was a television show in America. About a guy who can get out of tough situations by using whatever’s lying around. Kind of like a private eye – mystery series.” She shrugged. “Maybe you never had it here in England.”

“We’ve never heard of the show, but it sounds just like our Nicholas.” Andy slapped Nic on the back. “The best part is Nic’s last name is MacGyver.”

“You’re kidding me!” Rae glanced from Riley to Nicolas in disbelief.
Great.
Now Molly was going to tell everyone she was psychic. That’s all she needed.

“No joke.” A relieved-looking Nicholas let out a tentative laugh and started playing with his keychain. Rae noticed a Swiss army knife on it and held back a giggle.

“Maybe the show was invented by some distant relative who’s getting a big kick out of the story line and the reality versus irony of the show!” Andy said.

Nic’s face brightened, making him appear even younger than sixteen. “I’m checking it online tonight. I’ll have to get the DVD for my dad for Christmas.”

While they chatted about the upcoming school year, Riley made mention of a school dance in October and that Guilder always invited the nearby female college, Roe Hampton.

“Maybe they won’t invite the girls this year since we’re here,” Molly said.

She sounded so hopeful, Rae felt a little twinge of compassion for her roomy.

“There are two dances held each year. One in the fall and the other in the spring. It’s been tradition here for as long as the schools have been in existence. The dances are held like balls or masquerades – like they used to have in Tudor times with King Henry VIII. I doubt they’ll stop it because sixteen girls are at Guilder now.” His arm swept the school grounds. “We spend ten months of the year stuck here with all of us freaks, so it’s nice to hang out for a bit with the rest of the world and act normal. You’ll see for yourself. The fall dance is here at Guilder and the spring dance is at Roe Hampton.”

Molly pouted and crossed her arms. “I prefer being around us
freaks
rather than those freakin’ girls.”

Andy laughed and grabbed Molly’s hand to pull her up from her position lounging on the steps. “Come on. Wait until you’ve been here for a year. Then you’ll be begging for some normal human interaction. We’re not allowed to use our ink at the dances, but someone always plays the joker and stirs up some trouble.” Andy winked at Molly. “It’ll be right up your alley.”

Molly’s face turned red and Rae swore she could almost see steam coming out of her ears. Molly put her hands on her hips and squared off with Andy who had the good sense to look both sheepish and apologetic at the same time, for all the good it did him.

“And just what exactly do you mean by that?” Molly tilted her chin up, daring him to answer her. Andy sputtered, trying to come up with a good apology to get himself out of the tight spot he’d put himself into, all the while, Molly stood stabbing her finger into his chest and giving him what for in a tirade so non-stop Rae was seriously waiting for Molly to pass out from lack of oxygen. Everyone watched with rapt amusement and was only distracted by a new arrival.

Julian came toward them from Joist Hall. He walked with an air of confidence, with long, purposeful strides, his lanky artistic fingers constantly moving. Rae thought he tapped a rhythm, or, maybe, drew something in the air. But, she couldn’t be sure because it seemed to be a sub-conscious kind of reaction, something he didn’t really notice he was doing.

“Where’s Devon?” Andy asked when he came within earshot.

Rae said a silent thank you to Andy. She’d been thinking the same thing, but was too embarrassed to ask.

“Having lunch in town with Beth.”

Rae choked on the water she was drinking.

“Are you all right?” Andy patted her back.

“Yeah. The water just went down the wrong pipe.” She pretended to take another small sip. She heard Haley mumble something sounding like "faker".

“Bummer, Devon’s got a girlfriend?” Molly shrugged and turned to Julian. “What kind of car do
you
drive?”

“A Jaguar.” He said it as a matter of fact, and didn't appear to be bragging.

“Is it fast?”

Andy laughed. “Have you ever heard of a slow Jag?” Molly punched his arm hard enough to make him wince.

 
Riley snickered. “Julian comes from very old money, with a lot of new money on top of it.”

“Shut up.” Andy scowled at Riley. “Ignore him. He’s just jealous. Julian’s actually a very kind, gentle guy, not at all a snobbish rich kid.” He looked at Haley when she snorted. “Don’t start thinking I’m gay. I’m not. I definitely prefer girls.” He glanced at Rae. “Julian’s got an extremely big heart, which I’m sure some nasty gold-digging chick’s going to take advantage of one day.” Andy said the last bit while pointedly looking at Haley, who managed to look both innocent and evil at the same time.

I REALLY don’t like her,
Rae thought to herself. Since Andy didn’t appear to like her either, Rae decided that put him on the positive side of her mental score card. She was trying to decide who might be trustworthy and who she should look out for. Haley was definitely on the negative side of the list. Andy just might be on the positive side.

“Awww…shucks,” Riley taunted. “You watching out for your mates? You sound more like a dad than a friend.” The jury was still out about Riley, but Rae was thinking so far he seemed to be leaning more towards the negative side.

“I’d quit now,” Julian warned, his face turning from gentle to very hard – almost scary – making Rae wonder what was behind it.
What does he know that would make him give a look like that?
“I heard Andy’s the leader of his wolf pack.”

“Whatever.” Andy replied petulantly. Riley’s eyes slid sideways to Andy, but he kept his mouth shut. Rae filed the entire encounter away for later analysis. She knew there was something lying underneath the emotions and the words, and it might be important, but she had no idea what it was or how to go about finding out. However, if nothing else, it was information, and Uncle Argyle always said “information is power.”

“Can you take us for a ride, Julian?” Molly asked.

Leave it to Molly to change the subject,
Rae thought with a smile.

The rest of the afternoon flew by, even with her constant inner voice asking questions and making observations. Rae participated when asked a question, but spent most of the time listening to everyone else. By dinner, her ears couldn’t handle anymore jokes, or warnings about which teacher to avoid, what which class you could slack off in, who smelled funny, and whose hands not to shake. She ate as fast as she could, without appearing rushed. All day, she’d felt like she’d been playing some twisted live action game, in which she didn’t actually know who her opponent or opponents were, or what the goal was, or how to play, kind of like playing chess with a blindfold on. She’d been hyper-aware of every twitch, cough, laugh, side-long glance and comment made by anyone within ear shot and now she just wanted to go to bed.