lawn.
“Ha!” A laugh erupted behind them.
Luce looked back and felt her face light up when she saw Arriane’s pale, skinny frame jogging to catch up with them. “Which quack said you were normal, Penn?” Arriane nudged Luce and pointed down. “Watch out for the quicksand!”
Luce sloshed to a halt just before she’d have landed in a scarily muddy patch on the lawn. “Somebody please tell me where we’re going!”
“Wednesday night,” Penn said flatly. “Social Night.”
“Like … a dance or something?” Luce asked, visions of Daniel and Cam already moving across the dance floor of her mind.
Arriane hooted. “A dance with death by boredom. The term ‘social’ is typical Sword & Cross doublespeak. See, they’re required to schedule social events for us, but they are also terrified of scheduling social events for us. Sticky predicky.”
“So instead,” Penn added, “they have these really awful events like movie nights followed by lectures about the movie, or—God, do you remember last semester?”
“There was that whole symposium on taxidermy?”
“So, so creepy.” Penn shook her head.
“Tonight, my dear,” Arriane drawled, “we get off easy. All we have to do is snore through one of the three movies on rotation in the Sword & Cross video library. Which one do you think it’ll be tonight, Pennyloafer? Starman? Joe Versus the Volcano? Or Weekend at Bernie’s ?”
“It’s Starman. ” Penn groaned.
Arriane shot Luce a baffled look. “She knows everything .”
“Hold on,” Luce said, tiptoeing around the quicksand and lowering her voice to a whisper as they approachedthe front office of the school. “If you’ve all seen these movies so many times, why the rush to get here?”
Penn pulled open the heavy metal doors to the “auditorium,” which, Luce realized, was a euphemism for a regular old room with low, drop-paneled ceilings and chairs arranged to face a blank white wall.
“Don’t want to get stuck in the hot seat next to Mr. Cole,” Arriane explained, pointing at the teacher. His nose was buried deep inside a thick book, and he was surrounded by the few remaining empty chairs in the room.
As the three girls stepped through the metal detector at the door, Penn said, “Whoever sits there has to help pass out his weekly ‘mental health’ surveys.”
“Which wouldn’t be so bad—” Arriane chimed in.
“—if you didn’t have to stay late to analyze the findings,” Penn finished.
“Thereby missing,” Arriane said with a grin, steering Luce toward the second row as she whispered, “the after-party .”
Finally they’d gotten down to the heart of the matter. Luce chuckled.
“I heard about that,” she said, feeling slightly with it for a change. “It’s in Cam’s room, right?”
Arriane looked at Luce for a second and ran her tongue across her teeth. Then she looked past, almost through, Luce. “Hey, Todd,” she called, waving with just the tips of her fingers. She pushed Luce into one seat,claimed the safe spot next to her (still two seats down from Mr. Cole), and patted the hot seat. “Come sit with us, T-man!”
Todd, who’d been shifting his weight in the doorway, looked immensely relieved to be given the directive, any directive. He started toward them, swallowing. No sooner had he fumbled into the seat than Mr. Cole looked up from his book, cleaned his glasses on his handkerchief, and said, “Todd, I’m glad you’re here. I’m wondering if you can help me with a small favor after the film. You see, the Venn diagram is a very useful tool for …”
“Mean!” Penn popped her face up between Arriane and Luce.
Arriane shrugged and produced a giant bag of popcorn from her carpetbag. “I can only look after so many new students,” she said, tossing a buttery kernel at Luce. “Lucky you.”
As the lights in the room dimmed, Luce looked around until her eyes landed on Cam. She thought about her abbreviated dish session on the phone with
“Ha!” A laugh erupted behind them.
Luce looked back and felt her face light up when she saw Arriane’s pale, skinny frame jogging to catch up with them. “Which quack said you were normal, Penn?” Arriane nudged Luce and pointed down. “Watch out for the quicksand!”
Luce sloshed to a halt just before she’d have landed in a scarily muddy patch on the lawn. “Somebody please tell me where we’re going!”
“Wednesday night,” Penn said flatly. “Social Night.”
“Like … a dance or something?” Luce asked, visions of Daniel and Cam already moving across the dance floor of her mind.
Arriane hooted. “A dance with death by boredom. The term ‘social’ is typical Sword & Cross doublespeak. See, they’re required to schedule social events for us, but they are also terrified of scheduling social events for us. Sticky predicky.”
“So instead,” Penn added, “they have these really awful events like movie nights followed by lectures about the movie, or—God, do you remember last semester?”
“There was that whole symposium on taxidermy?”
“So, so creepy.” Penn shook her head.
“Tonight, my dear,” Arriane drawled, “we get off easy. All we have to do is snore through one of the three movies on rotation in the Sword & Cross video library. Which one do you think it’ll be tonight, Pennyloafer? Starman? Joe Versus the Volcano? Or Weekend at Bernie’s ?”
“It’s Starman. ” Penn groaned.
Arriane shot Luce a baffled look. “She knows everything .”
“Hold on,” Luce said, tiptoeing around the quicksand and lowering her voice to a whisper as they approachedthe front office of the school. “If you’ve all seen these movies so many times, why the rush to get here?”
Penn pulled open the heavy metal doors to the “auditorium,” which, Luce realized, was a euphemism for a regular old room with low, drop-paneled ceilings and chairs arranged to face a blank white wall.
“Don’t want to get stuck in the hot seat next to Mr. Cole,” Arriane explained, pointing at the teacher. His nose was buried deep inside a thick book, and he was surrounded by the few remaining empty chairs in the room.
As the three girls stepped through the metal detector at the door, Penn said, “Whoever sits there has to help pass out his weekly ‘mental health’ surveys.”
“Which wouldn’t be so bad—” Arriane chimed in.
“—if you didn’t have to stay late to analyze the findings,” Penn finished.
“Thereby missing,” Arriane said with a grin, steering Luce toward the second row as she whispered, “the after-party .”
Finally they’d gotten down to the heart of the matter. Luce chuckled.
“I heard about that,” she said, feeling slightly with it for a change. “It’s in Cam’s room, right?”
Arriane looked at Luce for a second and ran her tongue across her teeth. Then she looked past, almost through, Luce. “Hey, Todd,” she called, waving with just the tips of her fingers. She pushed Luce into one seat,claimed the safe spot next to her (still two seats down from Mr. Cole), and patted the hot seat. “Come sit with us, T-man!”
Todd, who’d been shifting his weight in the doorway, looked immensely relieved to be given the directive, any directive. He started toward them, swallowing. No sooner had he fumbled into the seat than Mr. Cole looked up from his book, cleaned his glasses on his handkerchief, and said, “Todd, I’m glad you’re here. I’m wondering if you can help me with a small favor after the film. You see, the Venn diagram is a very useful tool for …”
“Mean!” Penn popped her face up between Arriane and Luce.
Arriane shrugged and produced a giant bag of popcorn from her carpetbag. “I can only look after so many new students,” she said, tossing a buttery kernel at Luce. “Lucky you.”
As the lights in the room dimmed, Luce looked around until her eyes landed on Cam. She thought about her abbreviated dish session on the phone with
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