Torment - Lauren Kate [43]
On her way, Luce grabbed her cell phone from its charger. Last night, after Cam had dropped her off, she’d felt so terrified and alone, she’d broken Mr. Cole’s number one rule and texted Callie. If Mr. Cole knew how badly she needed to hear from a friend … he’d probably still be furious with her. Too late now.
She opened her text message folder and recalled how her fingers had been shaking when she wrote the lie-filled text:
Finally scored a cell phone! Reception’s spotty, but I’ll call when I can. Everything’s great here, but I miss you! Write soon!
No response from Callie.
Was she sick? Busy? Out of town?
Ignoring Luce for ignoring her?
Luce glanced in the mirror. She looked and felt like crap. But she’d agreed to help Dawn and Jasmine, so she tugged on the jersey dress and twisted her blond hair back with a few bobby pins.
By the time Luce came out of the bathroom, Shelby was helping herself to the breakfast the girls had brought with them in the paper bag. It did look really good—cherry Danishes and apple fritters and muffins and cinnamon rolls and three different kinds of juice. Jasmine handed her an oversized bran muffin and a tub of cream cheese.
“Brain food.”
“What’s all this?” Miles stuck his head in through the slightly ajar door. Luce couldn’t see his eyes under his tugged-down baseball cap, but his brown hair was flipping up on the sides and his giant dimples showed when he smiled. Dawn went into an instant fit of giggles, for no other reason than that Miles was cute and Dawn was Dawn.
But Miles didn’t seem to notice. He was almost more relaxed and casual around a group of very girly girls than Luce was herself. Maybe he had a whole bunch of sisters or something. He wasn’t like some of the other kids at Shoreline, whose coolness seemed to be a front. Miles was genuine, the real thing.
“Don’t you have any friends your own gender?” Shelby asked, pretending to be more annoyed than she really was. Now that she knew her roommate a little better, Luce was starting to find Shelby’s abrasive humor almost charming.
“ ’Course.” Miles stepped into the room totally unfazed. “It’s just, my guy friends don’t usually show up with breakfast.” He slid a huge cinnamon roll out of the bag and took a giant bite. “You look pretty, Luce,” he said with his mouth full.
Luce blushed and Dawn stopped giggling and Shelby coughed into her sleeve: “Awkward!”
At the first sound of the loudspeaker in the hallway, Luce jumped. The other kids looked at her like she was nuts, but Luce was still used to Sword & Cross’s punishing PA pronouncements. Instead, Francesca’s amber voice poured into the room:
“Good morning, Shoreline. If you’re joining us on today’s yachting trip, the bus to the marina leaves in ten minutes. Let’s convene at the south entrance for a head count. And don’t forget to dress warmly!”
Miles grabbed another pastry for the road. Shelby pulled on a pair of polka-dot galoshes. Jasmine tightened the band of her pink earmuffs and shrugged at Luce. “So much for planning! We’ll have to wing the welcome address.”
“Sit by us on the bus,” Dawn instructed. “We’ll totally map it out on the way to Noyo Point.”
Noyo Point. Luce had to force herself to swallow a mouthful of bran muffin. The Outcast girl’s dead expression even when she was alive; the awful ride home with Cam—the memory brought goose bumps to Luce’s skin. It didn’t help that Cam had rubbed it in about saving her life. Right after he told her not to leave campus again.
Such a weird thing to say. Almost like he and Daniel were in cahoots.
Stalling, Luce sat on the edge of her bed. “So we’re all going?”
She’d never broken a promise to Daniel before. Even though she’d never really promised not to go on the yacht. The restriction felt so harsh and out of line, her instinct was to blow it off. But if she agreed to play by Daniel’s rules, maybe she wouldn’t have to face someone else’s getting killed. Though that was probably just her paranoia rearing up again. That note had deliberately lured her off campus. A school yacht trip was