The Inheritance Book 1

Ch 18 Hummingbirds: Sione Lavaki [Thursday Morning, Week Two]

Elizabeth came in and sat down in her usual spot, right in the middle of the couch. She folded her arms and kept her eyes on her feet.

"Are you okay?" Jarrett asked her in a hesitant, squeaky voice. "What happened?"

She tightened her arms across her chest. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"Oh, okay." Jarrett looked like a deer in the headlights. "But, I thought, like, you know, when we saw you at breakfast, it seemed like. I don't know. We thought something was wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

Total disaster. Sione had no choice but to take charge of the conversation.

"Something is obviously wrong," he said firmly. "You know you can talk to us. Did someone say or do something to you at breakfast to upset you?"

Elizabeth finally turned to him. Her eyes were blazing but still gorgeous. "I'm surprised you even noticed, because you seemed very absorbed by other things at breakfast."

Sione's back flattened against the chair. His conversation with Hannah? Was she jealous because of that? And if she was jealous, did that mean she liked him and not Jarrett?

He shook it off. No. Just wishful thinking. Elizabeth would never be jealous of Hannah. That girl was almost like one of the guys. Athletic, competitive, sports-minded.

She probably just didn't like that he ignored her when she was upset.

Jarrett asked her if she had gotten another note from the stalker. She immediately buried her face in her hands.

"That's it, isn't it?!" Jarrett said, way louder than necessary.

Still covering her face, she nodded.

Jarrett hit his chest with his fist, to show Sione how proud of himself he was for cracking through the ice.

Finally, the story spilled out. That morning when Elizabeth was in the shower, someone had gone into her room and slashed some of her clothes, dumped out her makeup bag, and emptied an entire bottle of perfume. Elizabeth thought they may have also stolen some of her jewelry.

"No note this time," she said. "But the message was clear."

They urged her to tell Haversham or Auntie Allora, but she shook her head.

"I will not let the bitch know she's getting to me." Elizabeth laid her gorgeous hands on her knees. "I just needed to vent. I already feel better now, just telling you guys."

"Any idea yet who it is yet?" Sione asked.

"Or who it's not?" Jarrett added.

Sione watched Jarrett start to put his arm around her, but he hesitated at the last second and just patted her on the back instead. He then clasped his hands together and stuck them awkwardly between his legs. Poor Jarrett! What a disaster. He was never going to get anywhere with Elizabeth. Sione tried not to be happy about that.

As she often did, Elizabeth twisted a strand of her silky hair between her fingers. "It could be any of them," she said with a light shade of anger. "They all hate me. That's why it hurts me so much when I see you guys talking to them."

Ah ha! That explained it.

Sione almost said that Hannah didn't seem like the stalker type. But he paused and realized that he didn't really know Hannah at all. Some of the worst people were outwardly nice.

But in any case, if he wanted to stay in Elizabeth's good graces, he would definitely have to crank down his friendliness toward the other girls.

Jarrett was thinking along the same lines. "Don't worry. We're one hundred and ten percent on your side. Right, Maui?"