The Candidates Read Free Page A

found there. We had to kick him out. He spent some time in jail as well.”
    The room was silent for a moment as everyone contemplated this story. My head was spinning. A part of me already desperately wanted to go to Delcroix, if only to be near Cam, while the other part wanted to run screaming from the room.
    “What are you good at?” I asked Cam. When I focused on him, I couldn’t think about anything else.
    “I’m good at communicating,” he said. “I’ve never gotten the best grades, but I’m always class president. People seem to like me.” He leaned back against our mangy couch and managed not to sound conceited at all.
    “You’re the president of your class?” I had no trouble believing that. He looked like he should be president of something.
    “I was last year. We’ll have new elections this fall. You could run, you know. The freshman elections are wide open because everyone’s still getting to know each other.”
    I couldn’t help it: I snorted again. “Me? Run for student government? I don’t think so.”
    “You can be anything you want at Delcroix.” As Cam leaned forward, his knee bumped against mine. I jumped about four feet into the air.
    Very cool, Dancia, I thought. Do you want Cam to think you’re a complete idiot?
    Grandma cleared her throat. “I’m going to get some lemonade,” she said. “Would you care for a glass, Mr. Judan? Cameron?”
    They both nodded and stood up when she did.
    “That sounds lovely, Mrs. Lewis,” Mr. Judan reached down to open his briefcase and pulled out some papers. “We can work on the enrollment forms while Dancia and Cameron talk.”
    “Wait!” I jumped up, shaking myself from my Cam-induced stupor. “I need to think about it a little.”
    Grandma gave me her best What, are you insane? look. “Dancia, what is there to think about?”
    The panicked words tumbled out of me. “I’m not sure if I want … I mean, I was really looking forward to going to Danville High and … my friends are all there and … what about the soccer team?”
    Grandma crossed her arms over her chest. I think she knew everything I said was a lie—except for the part about not being sure what I wanted. That was definitely true. But it was all happening too fast. Danville High might not hold any promise of friends, interesting classes, or good times, but at least I knew what it would be like. I knew how to control it, how to blend in.
    I knew none of those things about Delcroix.
    Mr. Judan’s mouth tightened and his eyes went cold. But then he smiled at me like that’s what everyone says when they’re offered a place in Delcroix’s freshman class with a full scholarship. “I have a good idea: why don’t you and Cameron have lunch tomorrow? You can think things over tonight and ask Cameron any questions that might come up.”
    Grandma practically seared me with her stare, so I turned to Cam and reluctantly said, “All right. How about noon at Bev’s?”
    Cam nodded. “Sounds perfect.”
    Mr. Judan gave an apologetic shrug. “After that we really will need you to make a decision. I hate to rush you, but we’ll need to do some placement tests and evaluate you so we can design the best possible curriculum. Freshman orientation starts in a week, and we’ll need to get some of this paperwork processed before then.”
    I swallowed hard.
    At that moment, all I could think of were those cartoons where Goofy gets stuck in front of a snowball rolling down a hill, and the snowball hits him, and he’s smushed into the side of it, and you can see him spread-eagled on the snowball as it keeps rolling down the hill.
    Because that’s exactly what I felt like.

C H A P T E R 3
    ABOUT a half hour later, Mr. Judan flashed his ultrawhite teeth at Grandma and me one last time before he ushered Cam into a black Mercedes-Benz. They roared away the second the doors closed.
    As soon as they disappeared from view, Grandma rounded on me and shook a gnarled, arthritic finger in my