Castaway Colt by Terri Farley

Author:Terri Farley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2008-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

During lunch, Darby stood by in uncomfortable silence as Megan and her friends surrounded Ann and praised the stand Darby had taken against her cousin.

“She was so cool walking over to the track.” Megan imitated Darby with long, ambling steps. “She just moseyed over there, putting her ponytail back up, taking her time…”

Trying not to cry, Darby added mentally.

She’d been afraid to run a half-mile while crying. What if she started wheezing and passed out or something?

Now Darby just listened and spooned yogurt into her mouth. If she were a different person, she’d be pleased with all this admiration.

As it was, she felt worried.

By the time Darby had run two sweaty laps and made her way to the sandpits where the girls were playing volleyball, all but Duckie’s closest friends were giggling about Darby’s stubbornness.

Someone had even created a hand gesture—bringing the tips of all four fingers down to touch the pad of the thumb. If you opened and closed it quickly, your hand looked like a quacking duck.

It was clearly meant to be a silent mockery of Duxelles’s new nickname.

“So Duckie’s plan to humiliate you kinda backfired,” Ann said, giving Darby a congratulatory pat on the back.

“Kinda, but I’m pretty sure she won’t take it as a learning experience.”

“Probably not,” Ann agreed, and there was troubled comprehension in her eyes.

Neither of them uttered the word payback, but Darby was pretty sure they were both thinking it; Duckie wouldn’t let this offense go.

“She didn’t even think of backing down from Duckie or Roffmore,” said Tabby, one of the soccer girls who’d been Ann’s teammate, too.

“How could Coach Roffmore not see what she did?” Ann asked.

“He saw,” Megan assured her. “He just didn’t care.”

Darby wished she didn’t have to face the coach and Duckie in algebra.

“The only way you’d get Roffmore to care…” Megan’s voice trailed off for a second. Tilting her head to one side, Megan licked a dab of milk shake off her lip. “…is if you proved you were a better swimmer than Duckie.”

“How good are you?” Ann asked Darby.

Megan answered for her, “She’s good.”

Megan had never seen her swim, but she said it in a way that reminded Darby that Megan knew she’d swum in the ocean with Hoku.

“Not that good,” Darby said, but her voice was drowned out by the bell ringing, ending lunchtime.

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