The Red

Chapter 19

Shauna wants me to wear the most exquisite things the store has to offer. I have different ideas. I look for plain, regular shirts; she looks for frilly blouses and even dresses. Finally she caves and tells me to wear whatever I want. So I get the normal kinds of things I always wear (a few with longer sleeves to cover my stitches), and new shoes exactly like the ones I already have. It's not like I'm dressing trashy; she really should be fine with it.

"Why don't you want to wear something cute?" she asks.

"Because! I don't like to draw attention to myself!"

She scowls but pays for the things anyway.

At home, Caylen and I play a board game until Shauna announces it's time to go to bed. Tomorrow will bring a new day of school, hopefully more successful than the first.

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Caylen tells me plans for today's prank while we walk.

"I'll put the frog in her desk, and when she opens it, the whole class'll go nuts!"

"Where did you even get that frog?" I ask.

"The lake. At least it's just a small one."

"I wish I could see this go down," I say.

"Perks of being Caylen's age! You get to see everything! But if you tell even one person about the things I do, we can't be friends."

"I've got no one to talk to anyway. I think you're good."

"You won't feel tempted to tell that Aethelmaer kid?"

"Even if I told him anything, who's he got to tell?"

"I dunno, Natalie. He's a really good student. You never know - he might tell a teacher or something."

"He's a good student?" Honestly, this surprises me.

"Yeah. His grades are top notch. Only he's not a teacher's pet. Those are the kids that participate in class discussion and ask stupid questions. He's the kid who's never late to class, always turns in work, and never flunks a test, but he keeps his mouth shut. I wouldn't be surprised if the teachers found him a little creepy, too."

"He doesn't seem like that kind of person. I would've thought he ditched class four times a week."

"Me too. I can't believe you sat with him."

"There was nowhere else! And-"

Oops. I can't say he saved me from the creek; that would only make him seem more creepy. Just showing up out of nowhere and pulling me out, then not even walking me to the hospital. I can't give anyone anything to gossip about. Surely he can't like being considered creepy, right?

"Here we are!" Caylen says as we approach the school. Then he points to Kian, who's sitting alone at one of the picnic tables. "And there he is!"

"Caylen! It's not nice to point!"

"He probably gets it a lot, anyway."

I scowl in disappointment. I'm okay with him sticking a frog in some girl's desk, but I'm all defensive about Kian. What's my problem?

"Well," Caylen says, "I've got a frog in my backpack that has somewhere to be. See you after school!"

He walks away, leaving me standing alone. I don't like standing awkward and lonesome, so I just walk over to Kian's picnic table and sit across from him, just like yesterday.

He looks at me expectantly, as if I've come to shoot him down and he just wants it over with.

"Hey," I say.