Finding Hope Read Online Free Page B

boys’ school to RH. We do activities with them sometimes. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
    She turned around, her naked back to me, and slipped on her bra, hooking it closed in one quick motion and turned back to me. I looked away, shy for her. “Just a brother. He’s older and done school.” Sort of. I didn’t explain that school was more done with him than he with it. I gave a silent sigh of regret for him. Even here, at boarding school, his choices loomed over me.
    Cassie started to button her shirt. “Maybe it’ll be different for you, but these girls are a prickly bunch.” I didn’t have time to ask what she meant because she glanced at a clock on her nightstand and groaned. “Ugh! Is that the time? I’m gonna be late my first day. Do you mind grabbing me some breakfast? Toast or something? I’ll meet you in the cafeteria after I dry my hair.” Cassie was already turning on her dryer and didn’t look at me when I gave a reluctant wave and left.
    The dining area wasn’t fancy, but with long tables and benches, it could hold all the boarders, plus the day students. The smell of toast and sizzling bacon wafted out from an industrial-style kitchen. I followed the other girls as they took trays from the rolling rack at the entrance and stood in line for food. Staff bustled behind the counter, refilling vats of scrambled eggs and sausages.
    Too nervous to eat, I didn’t pause at the French toast or hash browns, even though they smelled delicious. A few pieces of toast for Cassie and a lonely bowl of cereal were all that I carried to a table as far in the back as I could get.
    I watched the other girls. Most of them had tweaked their uniform in some way, by un-tucking their blouse so the shirttails hung out or by flipping up the collar. A few of them had slouchy socks that hung over their shoes, not the knee-highs that I wore, which looked juvenile, like I should be playing on the monkey bars at recess.
    Three girls walked in and others shuffled aside to make room for them in line. They’d all rolled up the waistband of their skirts so the hem grazed mid-thigh. I felt like a country church mouse watching them. Their laughter was high-pitched and cackling, hard to miss first thing in the morning.
    Scanning the line, I waited for Cassie. Her toast was growing cold. A sudden stab of longing for the breakfast table at home made my cereal turn into tasteless mush.
    The girls with the short skirts scanned the dining hall for a table. One of them, tall with long, dark hair and a gash of red lipstick, spotted mine, empty except for me. She nudged the other two and nodded in my direction. I hurriedly tossed the half-finished bowl of cereal back onto the tray and wrapped up Cassie’s toast in a napkin. I didn’t want company.
    But I was too slow. They were at my table, standing over me. All three had long hair. Besides the tall girl, the other two were in varying stages of blondness. One had a big nose, big eyes, and pouty lips. Unusual-looking but striking.
    The other was the shortest of the three. Her hair, betraying its true origins, was fluffy; curls at her temples had rebelled against the straightening iron. Well-tanned and cute in a stereotypical cheerleader sort of way.
    The first girl, with the scarlet lips, appraised me. “Are you leaving?”
    I nodded, sliding my tray to the edge of the table. The other two backed up slightly to make room for me, but she didn’t. I had to swing my legs wide to avoid her as I got off the bench.
    â€œYou’re new.” It was a statement, with an undertone of disapproval.
    I met her eyes. Green, wide-set over high cheekbones and a square jaw. She was pretty, but there was no softness to her.
    Again, I nodded. I could feel her eyes on me as I picked up my tray and moved off the bench. I looked up quickly, once, as I was leaving. The girl looked through me, as if I wasn’t there.
    Cassie