Rival Revenge Read Free Page B

Paige.
    No. Stay w ur friends. I’m gonna eat and run. But thanx. I texted back.
    OK. But come over if u want.
    Will do. <3
    I speared a cherry tomato with my fork and started on my salad. I tried to focus on the tray in front of me, but my eyes kept glancing from Jacob and Callie to Eric and then to Paige. Paige seemed fine with her friends and like she’d accepted the fact that I wanted to eat alone. But I couldn’t focus enough to eat. Being around all of them at once was harder than I thought.
    â€œSilver.”
    Heather stared at me, one hand on her hip. She looked perfect—as always—in skinny black jeans, ankle boots, and a striking red V-neck T-shirt.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œGet up and come sit with us. You’re embarrassing yourself. I can’t stop watching how ridiculous you look. Usually I’d just sit and laugh, but this is beyond pathetic.”
    I almost dropped my fork. “Sit with … you?”
    Heather rolled her eyes. “Get your stuff now before I change my mind and decide to let you sit there and look like a total dork.”
    Even though she was insulting me, I didn’t care. Sitting with the Trio was better than sitting with Paige—as awful as that sounded.
    I grabbed my tray and hurried across the caf after Heather. Heads turned at every table as I shuffled by with Heather. Sasha Silver, the new outcast, walked with the most popular girl in eighth grade.
    At their table, I sat beside Heather and across from Julia and Alison. Both girls raised their perfectly waxed eyebrows and stared at me. Julia couldn’t have looked more disgusted to see me. She put down her spoon from her beef-and-veggie soup.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Julia asked. She ran a hand over her chin-length blond bob, flicking strands angrily from her face. “Why is she sitting with us?”
    â€œBecause she looked ridiculous and it was annoying,”Heather said. “I don’t want Jas thinking she has even the smallest advantage over any of us. Silver’s sitting over there looking like a kicked puppy.”
    I didn’t even bother reacting to Heather’s dig. At least I had someone to sit with. Even if it was the Trio. And even if everyone was looking at us.
    â€œSo we’re pretending to like Sasha to … what?” Julia pressed.
    Heather’s blue eyes locked on Julia. I watched Julia shrink back a fraction. “Do I have to explain everything? We’re making Jas insecure by acting like we’re all together. She’ll hate it.”
    Julia and Alison nodded.
    But I knew that wasn’t all this was about. Heather was being nice to me because she didn’t want me to be alone. She’d never admit that to Julia, Alison, or me, though. Heather was the only person sitting at this table who had a feeling that I’d been lying about Friday, and for whatever reason, even though she really didn’t like me, she seemed to respect what I’d done.
    Alison smiled at me and took a bite of her Greek yogurt. But Julia just glared. We were all silent as we went back to our food. Julia obviously wasn’t going to say anything in front of me that she wanted to keep among her friends.
    â€œHow’s riding?” Alison asked, looking at Heather and me. She took a sip of her Diet Coke.
    Heather gave her the That’s the lamest question ever face. But I thought it was smart—it was a neutral topic and we could all talk about horses and riding, even though Julia and Alison weren’t allowed to ride right now.
    They’d been banned from riding until next January after they had been caught cheating on a history test. Alison had sworn to me that they were innocent, but I wasn’t sure if they were or not.
    â€œIt’s going pretty well for me,” I said, deciding to jump in and answer the question. “I know I’ve got to do more dressage work with Charm so that we’re ready for showing