Wicked Lies by Mae Doyle
Chapter 3
“So what do you think of Taylor Prep so far?” Harper sprawled across my bed while Maggie sat in my chair, leaned back, her feet propped up on my desk. They’d both been here for weeks over the summer and have already complete two years. Since they knew everything and were already settled in, they’d been helping me set up my room while filling me in on all of the people and details I needed to know about.
After lunch, during which I studiously managed to avoid looking at Jackie, Brett, and Kaleb by sitting with my back to them, my two new friends took me around campus to see the sites. If I had thought that inside the main buildings and dorms was impressive, then I was wrong. I’d never seen grounds like the ones they had at Taylor Prep.
Not only were the new tennis courts that Kaleb’s family purportedly paid for incredible, but there was a huge soccer field, an Olympic size swimming pool, and plenty of walking trails through the woods along the grounds.
We didn’t tour any of the classrooms of course, but the girls showed me the gym and the student lounge, where a group of students were crowded around some people playing chess. I’d asked if chess was a big deal here at Taylor and was met with dubious stares. “Of course it is,” hissed Harper, “so don’t make fun of it if you want to survive.”
My legs were exhausted at the end of the tour and I was pretty sure that I was going to sleep like a rock, but bed was hours away, so I scooted Harper out of the way and sat next to her. “I think,” I said, trying to pick my words honestly and carefully, “that it’s really overwhelming. I mean, you guys know that I was homeschooled, right?”
Harper nodded, but Maggie barked out a laugh. “Really? You’ve got to be in complete shock here then, right? I mean,” she said, catching the look that Harper threw her, “from school at home to here? Why did you decide to switch halfway through high school?”
I took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling to prepare myself to answer the question. I’d had a wonderful afternoon with these two girls, and I was happy to call them my friends, but it was still hard for me to talk about everything that had just happened.
“My dad worked and my mom stayed home to teach me,” I began, spreading my hands out on the fluffy white comforter that the school provided. “But he was killed in an accident a few months ago, and she had to go back to work. The money that he left me was for my education, and he’d always mentioned me coming here, but we simply couldn’t afford it. After we got the insurance payout, however, we could.” Plucking the comforter in my fingers, I tried to keep from looking at my friends.
“You just lost your dad?” Harper sounded small and sad. “I am so sorry, Rose.” She reached out and laced her fingers through mine.
Maggie jumped out of my chair and sat on my other side, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. “I lost my dad a few years ago,” she said, “and it sucks, but it will get easier, okay? And we’re here now.”
Leaning against her, I felt some of the stress of the day melt away. This was why my dad wanted me to go to school here. He knew that I would make the friends that I needed to help me through bad times in my life. “Yeah,” I said, clearing my throat, but not pulling away from my friends, “and that’s how I got so hurt. My ribs…and my legs in the accident...” My voice trailed off as I felt tears threaten to choke me.
“Oh, Rose.” Harper squeezed my hand. “That’s terrible, but you’re here now, where your dad wanted you to be, okay? We’ll take care of you.”
“That we will.” Maggie stood up and pulled me to my feet. “And if you’ll come with us, we’ll show you one of the ways we will take care of you right now.” She winked at Harper, who stood and pulled until I struggled to a stand.
“Where are we going?” I trusted them, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to leave my room when I had just started crying.
“Trust us.” Maggie pulled me to the door. “And I hope you’re hungry.”
* * *
“Ihad no idea that ice cream could be that good.” My stomach was stretched past the point of comfort and I was thrilled that I had on comfy pants and not skinny jeans like Harper and Maggie. “How in the world is it so good? Is it crack?”
Harper giggled and nudged me with her shoulder. “There aren’t any illegal substances allowed at Taylor Prep,” she said in a stuffy voice, obviously mimicking the headmaster. The three of us fell to giggling before she continued. “They use local milk, I guess. And organic honey to sweeten it. It’s really good, right?”
“So good.” I scraped out the last bit of melted ice cream from the bottom of my bowl and then put it on the table. “When do we get more of that and how do we keep it from making us gain all of the weight?”
“It’s only once a week,” Maggie moaned, putting her bowl next to mine. “All of the other food here is super healthy brain food. Tons of salmon and quinoa, roasted veggies, that sort of stuff. I love it, but Harper thinks it’s gross.”
My other friend wrinkled her nose. “It’s fine, I guess, if you like eating boring meals, but I would kill for some salt and vinegar chips in the cafeteria. There’s not a chance that they’ll ever allow that, though, no matter how much I beg.”
I laughed. “You’ve only been here a few weeks, right? How in the world are you craving snacks so badly right now?”
“Oh, just give it time.” Harper stood up and reached for me to help me out of my seat. “You’ll be looking to see who you can shag to get some chips before you know it.”
I blushed, my face burning at what she said. Even though I hoped that the two of them wouldn’t notice, they took one look at my face and grinned at each other. “Rose,” Maggie teased, drawing out my name, “are you a virgin?”
I dipped my head, letting my dark curls fall down in front of my face so I wouldn’t have to look at the two of them. “Well, yeah.” Biting my lower lip, I wait for their response.
“That’s cool.” Harper bumped my hip, almost knocking me over. “Oh, sorry!” She grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back up to standing. “I keep forgetting that you’re a little top heavy. Don’t worry though, about being a virgin. Lots of people here are, but most of them want to lose it as soon as possible, so I’m sure that can change right away, if you want.”
“That’s fine,” I told her. “I’m not really looking to…lose it right away.” It’s not that I hadn’t had the opportunity to before, it’s just that no matter how much I was convinced that the guy I was dating was the one, he wasn’t. As much as I liked my new friends, though, I didn’t feel like trying to explain that to them, so I just shrugged as we start walking back to our dorm.
We rode the elevator up, Harper and Maggie chatting about classes the next day. When we got to my room, I saw that my schedule has been taped up on my door. Harper ripped it off before I could reach for it and unfolded it so that the three of us could look at it together.
“Looks like you’ll have history and English with both of us, but they put you in smarty-pants math.” She chewed her lower lip. “But we all have homeroom together, so we can walk there in the morning after breakfast, okay?”
Smarty-pants math?I grabbed the schedule from her and turned it so that I could see it. “I don’t think that I’m prepared for algebra. How do I get it switched to pre-algebra?” Math was definitely not my strongest subject, and I’d prefer not to look like a fool right when classes start.
“I don’t know that you can. You must have done really well on the pre-test for class placement this summer, huh?” Maggie twirled her hair absentmindedly while her eyes flicked over my schedule.
The test had been the week after my dad’s funeral, so I had no idea how well I did or didn’t do on it. In fact, I barely remembered filling out the bubble sheet with my name on it, so that’s not a good sign. “I don’t think I did great, but maybe it was just a bunch of lucky guesses,” I told them, taking my schedule back. No matter why I got into some of the classes I did, I just had to look at this as a chance for a new beginning.
It’s not how I wanted a fresh start or change in my life. I missed being at home with my mom, and I missed my dad like crazy. I had to keep reminding myself that this is what he wanted.
He always wanted me to have a better life. If that meant that I needed to smile and learn the best I could at Taylor Prep, then so be it. I hoped that pretty soon I’d be walking better again, and then I planned on getting back on the tennis court. Until then I planned on spending time with my new friends and singing.
And avoiding Brett.
That was pretty much a given, right? Avoid the first guy I ever loved, the guy who jeered me until I launched myself from a tree, the guy who now looks like he’s made of steel and ice rather than flesh and blood? Seemed like a given to me.
The only unfortunate thing about that was if I avoided Brett, I’d also avoid Jackie. I glanced at my friends as I fumbled my key in my lock. It would be okay, I told myself. I’m here to learn, not ogle hot guys, and if that means that I hold onto my v-card until after graduation, then so be it.
Taylor Prep was the best way for me to make my dad proud, make a name for myself, and get the scholarships that I needed to pay for college. Mom worked, but her job at the club wasn’t going to be enough to pay for college and keep a roof over her head.
No, if I was going to do this, I had to do it right. Nose to the desk, no silly business, learn all that I could. That was what my dad would have wanted, and that was what I planned on doing.
