The Mayfair Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

second.
    “Jen,” Mrs. Scott said pointing to an empty spot further down the row, “you may move back to your old desk.”
    The girl happily gathered her books and tote and then walked past me to the empty seat.
    I sat down and situated my things; the chair scraped annoyingly across the tile floor. Mrs. Scott placed a book in front of me. “We’re studying section seven, so if you’ll open it to page thirty-three we can get started.”
    I was thankful that it took no time for the teacher to take the spotlight off me. She went right into ‘endoplasmic reticulum’. She seemed normal, a bit too cheerful, but still normal. I thought I’d have to see how she acted tomorrow before I made any unofficial psychiatric conclusions.
    After second period Spanish with Julia, I was on my own until I met up with Harry again in fourth-period Geometry. I got all the same looks from all the same sorts of people throughout the day, but for the most part, the school was either friendly or paid no attention to me at all. Just the way I liked it.
    At lunch, I hung out with Julia, Harry and their closest friends, Tori and Sebastian, who quite honestlyhad a little more than my attention upon first glance. Only problem was he and Tori were a couple. That, I thought, was probably a good thing. Relationships just weren’t my thing; casual, serious or anything in-between. Mom once told me I ‘wasn’t normal’ and that I ‘should be fighting with Alex over boys by now’. Guess it just took me longer to catch up. Really, I think it had a lot to do with my mom’s relationship rap sheet. Growing up around that hardly made anything about it seem desirable.
    During lunch, all five of us sat outside on a stone picnic table underneath a shade tree. I was glad to have found my group of friends so quickly, rather than wandering around the school for days until someone had pity on me and decided to take me in. And I did like them all very much. Harry was naturally likable and probably didn’t have an enemy in the entire school. Tori and Sebastian were too into each other, she sitting between his legs with his arms wrapped around her from behind, to say much at all. Now Julia, she and I had more in common I knew during our office introduction. We dressed a lot alike; the baggy but chic look and I noticed she wasn’t too fond of make-up, either. Except for mascara, which I admit, is absolutely vital in any girls’ arsenal, no matter how small.
    “So why did you move to Maine, anyway?” Julia said and then put a can of Mountain Dew to her lips, gulping down the last of it.
    “My mom sent me to live with my uncle,” I lied, “because she took a job traveling.” It was all I could come up with on such short notice.
    “Hey look,” Julia said then, gawking toward the street as a muddy Jeep with big tires pulled onto campus. “I wonder what her excuse is for today.”
    I was relieved the focus shifted so quickly. Any conversation about Alex made me uncomfortable and I got the feeling that telling them I had a sister was just a few questions away.
    The Jeep pulled up to the front of the school and a girl got out on the passenger’s side. The first thing I noticed was her short spiky white-blond hair. She tossed a black bag over her shoulder and carried a stack of books in the fold of her other arm.
    There were three guys in the Jeep, too, all looking in our general direction. The girl glanced over at us once before heading inside.
    “She’s only been at this school a week longer than you,” Julia began, “and she’s been late every day so far.”
    Tori stopped fingering Sebastian’s bootlace long enough to say, “She’s weird. I have her in fifth period—hardly says a word. Freak .”
    “Well, maybe she just sleeps late,” I said. “My mom is like that; can’t get her out of bed before noon if you kick her.”
    “She looks older than a junior,” Julia added.
    Tori used Sebastian’s hand as a notepad, drawing random curlicues with