The Boarding School Experiment
Chapter One
I loved to climb. I loved revenge. Combining the two had landed me where I was now. The plan had started simply. Piper and I had ditched last period. We'd snuck down the senior ha lway until we'd reached Thane Tra lwyn's locker. Once there, Piper had given me a boost up. I'd shoved a tile aside and pu led through.
Now, I was lying here, balanced on the tiles above my worst enemy's locker.
I stretched through the hole, reaching for the weapon. Piper stared up at me with worried hazel eyes. I couldn't say how many times I'd seen her concerned look since elementary school -maybe 432. She appeared especia ly pale today, her freckles even more pronounced. I mustered a grin I didn't feel and tried to act as if this were simply another fun, exciting adventure. One I'd strategized instead of this half-assed plan. "It's going to be awesome."
Piper scanned the empty ha lway, right then left. "Hurry." She rose on her tiptoes, holding out the perfume bottle.
I grabbed the glass and shifted back, trying to lean on the connecting joints instead of the flaky inside squares. The new position gave me better balance, but put most of my weight on my waist. Blackness edged my vision, and my head spun. I needed to do this fast. I inhaled like a diver ready to kick to the bottom of the pool and menta ly justified my scheme. If I hadn't climbed into the ceiling, I wouldn't have been able to reach the vent leading into Thane's locker, and I had to punish him; he'd ruined my shirt this morning by dumping cranberry juice on it.
Piper bounced in a nervous motion. "Hurry."
I wiggled low enough to cup my palm underneath the narrow metal opening and poured. Refreshing oriental notes based with jasmine plumed out, erasing the sme l of dust. I hoped the perfume soaked everything inside and expanded to epic proportions.
Piper stared down the ha lway, tapping her shoes against the polished concrete floor. "I'm worried about the standardized tests."
We'd taken new tests a l week. This morning, we'd stared at an inkblot and jotted down what we saw. In fact, that amorphous blob had given me the idea for this sma l revenge. The black ink splotch resembled a vial of poison, but I thought writing that might get me detention.
"Yeah, those were weird." I shook the vial, determined not to leave a drop behind. "I asked Ms. Herrington about them, but she didn't know anything. I answered
palm tree for the inkblot."
"I picked bassinet." Piper giggled. "I was sitting between Rhys, who wrote liquid explosive, and Thane, who answered crown." I raised my head to find out if Piper was kidding.
"Rea ly," she said with a laugh.
I didn't think any of those were correct, but Piper usua ly picked the right answers. For these tests, you wanted a high score. Exce ling would be like winning the lottery. We l, at least that's how they'd bi led it. The U.S. routinely sucked at math and science. So Congress got creative. The top scorers from a l over the nation would go to a special boarding school and help establish a national curriculum.
"We' l be fine." While good at a number of subjects, we weren't Select Few material. "We're not going to get stuck in a government boarding school 24/7." The
fragrance had already begun expanding into the ha lway, making my nose twitch.
"A-choo." Piper sneezed, and said, with words somewhat blocked by a tissue, "I don't want to be sent away."
