Blest Read Free Page A

Trill is a flake and she’ll give you extra time to email an assignment if you say you emailed it to her already. Ms. Patterson, she’s young so she has something to prove. You’ve got to be really good at first, and then she’ll like you so much you can do no wrong later. Mr. Webb, he—”
    Claire sat down. “Gunner, tell us more about your clever strategy to learn as little as possible.”
    Gunner turned his radiant grin on her. “Claire, Shane’s dad is the mayor of Pearlton. How cool is that?”
    Shane was a big guy, with broad shoulders, a buzzed head, a ski jump nose, and a mouth that always seemed like it was ready to curl into a sneer. “Mayor Morrisey, you’ve probably seen him on TV or something,” he said.
    “He’s a really big deal,” Maria added, nodding rapidly. Her stick-thin arms wrapped around one of Shane’s biceps, and her thick hair was pulled back with an ivory clip. She blew a few strands away from her beady brown eyes and smiled, her eyes pinched.
    “Awesome,” Claire said flatly. Her eyes skimmed the crowd, weaving between faces.
    “Are you looking for someone?” Maria asked.
    Claire startled. “No, no. Um . . . no. I was just thinking about how cool it would be to meet Mayor Morrisey.”
    “Yeah, he’d love to meet you guys,” Shane said. “Maybe you can meet him on your sixteenth birthdays. That’s soon, right?”
    Claire and Gunner looked at each other, and Gunner shook his head. Claire shrugged. “Yeah, it’s the day after tomorrow, actually. Uh . . . how’d you know?”
    “You’re sophomores. It had to be soon.” Shane grinned and rubbed Maria’s back. “I had the best sixteenth birthday ever last year. It was insane.” He winked at Gunner. “You guys are cool. I promise you’re going to have a really special birthday.”
    Gunner opened his mouth to ask something else, but a girl with unkempt blond hair dropped down next to them and immediately started swearing about a teacher. Claire vaguely listened as Shane introduced her as Julia, and Maria exclaimed over her new bracelet. Claire’s eyes were wandering around the cafeteria again.
    Her eyes locked on a table to their left, where another group of popular-looking kids laughed and joked with one another. Why weren’t these two groups together? All of her experience with High School Hierarchy indicated that they should be at the same table.
    A tall blonde girl from the other table saw her staring and locked Claire in a vicious gaze, her blue eyes as cold as ice. Claire stared back, unblinking. Two can play at this game , she thought.
    “Whoa,” Shane reached over to grab Claire’s wrist. “That’s Sydney Lumen and her group. Don’t look at them, you’ll just encourage their passive aggressive crap.”
    Gunner casually tossed a glance at the other table. Claire could tell that Sydney was still glaring at them. “She’s kind of hot,” he offered.
    “Great insight,” Julia said.
    Shane snorted. “Yeah, well, she’s the worst of them. They’re . . .” He fumbled for words. “They’re teacher’s pets.” He paused, as if coming to a realization. “No, it’s more than that. They’re not just teacher’s pets, they’re like some kind of undercover group that spies on everyone else and reports back.”
    “What do you mean?” Claire asked, curious.
    “Sydney’s mom is . . . is . . .”
    Claire and Gunner leaned closer.
    “The principal .”
    “That’s her big dark secret?” Claire laughed.
    Shane gave her a nasty look. “I don’t think you understand.”
    Gunner rolled his eyes. “Who cares? People aren’t their parents. I’m sure she’s fine.”
    “No way, man. You don’t get it. She’s got it in for us, and now that she sees you guys hanging out with us, she’ll have it in for you, too.”
    “The transitive property, huh?” Claire teased, but her heart wasn’t in it. She’d gotten such a thrill out of all this last year, in Boston and Pittsburgh and then Atlanta—finding