Moby Clique Read Online Free PDF Page B

thought. Does Lindsay like him? It wouldn’t be hard to imagine. He is gorgeous. I push the thought out of my head. Surely she doesn’t, though. He’s my ex. Even Lindsay wouldn’t sink that low.
    I turn away from her and look at the faculty sitting at the front of the chapel. Headmaster B (that’s Charlotte Brontë, for those of you keeping score) is going through her morning announcements. She’s saying something about a new rule being established for Bard runaways, and the fact that anyone entering the forest without permission will be pursued by Guardians and tracking dogs. That doesn’t sound good. But, since I have no plans to head into the forest (the last time I did that, I ended up right back on the Bard campus anyway), I start to tune out. I glance behind Headmaster B and my eyes follow the familiar line of faculty members: Coach H (Hemingway), Ms. W (Woolf), and even Mr. B (Blake). It hits me suddenly that they all look a little world-weary, and I guess I would be, too, if I was stuck in purgatory for who knows how long, teaching a new crop of misfits every year.
    Ms. W told me that all of them have certain tasks to do before they’re allowed to leave this plane, but I’m not even sure they know exactly what would help them leave. A number of teachers have gone crazy and tried to leave. Emily Brontë, for example, was willing to destroy the entire school and even the world, just to end her time in purgatory.
    My eyes slide to the end of the faculty line and settle on Ms. P. She looks particularly miserable. She seems to be studying a small framed photo in her hand. When she catches me looking at her, she slips the small frame in her pocket and frowns at me. Quickly, I look away. The last thing I need to do is get on Ms. P’s bad side. Again.

    After announcements at morning assembly, we file out of the campus chapel. While in the crowd, Hana gives me a nudge.
    “Uh-oh, don’t look now,” Hana says next to me. “You aren’t going to believe this.”
    I follow her gaze and I see my sister has cornered Heathcliff. Apparently moving in on my ex-boyfriend wasn’t enough excitement for one day. She’s got to try to muck up things with my would-be guy. She’s prattling on to him about something probably really embarrassing, like my flossing habits, and I can see him shifting his weight and looking a little uncomfortable. Heathcliff is acting like he’s gotten his foot caught in a bear trap and doesn’t know how to get free.
    When I get close enough to them to eavesdrop, I hear the tail end of something seriously mortifying.
    “…And you know she’ th like, totally in love with you. I mean, th he writes about you all the time, about how my th teriou th you are, and how th he can’t figure you out at all, and—”
    “Lindsay!” I shout. I can’t believe what my sister is saying. She was born without an edit button. Instantly, I feel my face turn bright red.
    “Oh, hey, Miranda. We were just—”
    “Lindsay, can I speak to you a minute? Alone?”
    Lindsay shrugs as if it’s no big deal, then peels herself away from Heathcliff and follows me. I whirl on her only when we’re far enough from Heathcliff so he can’t hear.
    “What do you think you’re doing ?”
    “Helping along your love life,” Lindsay says. “No need to thank me.”
    “ Thank you? You have to be joking. You’re ruining my life!”
    “God, Miranda, chill. I’m just telling the boy about your true feeling th . I mean, he ha th a right to know.”
    We both glance over at Heathcliff, who still looks a bit dazed, like he’s not sure what hit him.
    “You don’t know anything about boys,” I say. “You can’t just tell them you’re in love with them.”
    “Why not?”
    “You just can’t .” I send a worried look to Heathcliff. Lindsay probably just scared him off permanently. Not that there could be anything between us, since the faculty have put him off limits. Still, I’d rather believe that he wants to be with