Abandon - Meg Cabot [43]
Then he went up to the front of the room to take attendance. When he got to the place where Hannah’s name would have been, he skipped right over it, like it had never been there at all. And no one said a word. Not even me. Not then, anyway.
And I, who had my head with horror bound,
Said: “Master, what is this which now I hear?
What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?”
DANTE ALIGHIERI, Inferno, Canto III
The girl sitting next to me in the IHHS auditorium was checking the comments on her Facebook page. I saw her flinch, then finally switch off her phone and lean back, muttering something in Spanish. My written Spanish is officially below average, but I know all the swearwords.
“At my old school,” I volunteered, even though I knew she hadn’t been talking to me, “they wrote that I have a big stick up my butt.”
The girl looked at me sharply, as if finally seeing me for the first time. She’d rimmed her expressive dark eyes very expertly with black liner and mascara, and stuck a small silver star at the corner of each lid. I remembered that IHHS had cosmetology classes. Maybe she was enrolled in them.
“What?” she said, looking confused.
“Online.” I pointed at her phone. “At my old school. They also called me a skank.” I didn’t mention the other, worse things they’d called me, after what happened with Mr. Mueller.
She frowned. I couldn’t tell if this was a bad or good sign.
“Oh, yeah?” she said. “Well, they call me a skank, too. Because of these.” She pointed to her breasts. It was hard to deny they were pretty enormous. The black cotton shirt she wore had ruffles all down the front. This might not have been helping the situation.
“Some people are just stupid,” I said, my gaze going involuntarily to the two girls with the straight-ironed hair, who were still standing over by the steps to the stage. They were staring in my direction…only now they didn’t look contemptuous. They looked stunned.
One, noticing that I’d glanced her way, lifted a white-nail-tipped hand, smiled, and waved. At me.
For a second I couldn’t figure out why. Then I saw the guy in the white polo shirt walking away from them, and all became clear.
“There’s no shortage in stupid around here,” the girl next to me was saying sarcastically. “Hey, aren’t you in my econ class?”
“Yes. I’m Pierce.” I carefully avoided saying my last name. I had a feeling that’s what the two girls over by the stage had just found out. That’s probably what accounted for their sudden attitude adjustment where I was concerned.
It’s a small island, Mom had warned me. And not everyone is going to be as sophisticated as they were back in Westport. People in Isla Huesos might decide they like you for who Dad is. Or not, considering. It all depends. Just be careful.
“Kayla Rivera,” the girl next to me said, indicating herself. “You’re Alex Cabrero’s cousin.”
It was a statement of fact. So either Alex had been talking about me, or Kayla remembered my name from somewhere else. Had Tim or Jade been urging all the other New Pathways kids to be nice to me? That was the most charitable spin I could put on it. How pathetic, if it were true.
Well, at least she didn’t seem to know who my father was. I really hoped when I got my phone back, I wouldn’t find all sorts of stuff about me online. I didn’t have a Facebook or Twitter page or blog or anything like that. I had enough people following me in real life. Although I guess not anymore.
“Yeah,” I said. “Listen. Can I ask you something?”
“Oh, they’re real,” Kayla said, indicating her breasts. “My mom’s insurance covers breast reduction surgery, and I’m getting it, as soon as I turn eighteen. Not for cosmetic reasons, either. I don’t care what kind of names they call me. It’s just that I’m sick of my knees hitting my nipples whenever I try to pedal a bike. Plus, my back hurts. I’d get it done now, but the doctor says I could still be growing. Can you believe that? These things could still be growing.“
“Wow,” I said. And I thought I had problems. “But not about that, actually. What does it mean when people call