Feel the Fern (The Bloomin' Psychic Book 5) by Annabel Chase

Author:Annabel Chase [Chase, Annabel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Palm Press LLC
Published: 2022-08-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

If Lauren Macintosh was the sun, then Juliette Barnsworth was an eclipse. The teenager was donned in black from head to toe, including her lipstick. A skull tattoo with a rose adorned her right arm. Her face had a scary intensity that made me squirm. If I’d been in a class with her, I would’ve made certain to sit at the opposite end of the room.

I cleared my throat. “Excuse me, are you Juliette?” My voice seemed to reverberate in the quiet air. I couldn’t decide whether it was better or worse that the library was currently devoid of other people.

Juliette slid those heavily lined eyelids toward me. “Can I help you?”

“My name is Mia Thorne. I’d like to ask you a couple questions about Lauren.”

She contemplated me for a moment. “Why? You’re not a cop.”

“What makes you say that?”

“No badge. You didn’t identify yourself as a cop or a detective, and you dress like you raided a Talbots outlet during a post-season sale.”

Ouch.

“You’re right about the cop part, but I am working with them on Lauren’s case.”

She crossed her arms and leveled me with a look. “In what capacity?”

“Feel free to call the chief and confirm.” I countered hers with my hardest stare. “Any more questions, counselor, or can I start asking mine now?”

Juliette uncrossed her arms. “Fine. Go ahead.”

“You two were rivals.”

She flinched. “Who told you that?”

“Does it matter? I wouldn’t think it’s a secret.”

She shrugged. “It sort of was. We pretended to get along. We didn’t want people to know.”

“Why not?”

“Because it made us look better to everyone if we played nice.”

“Who cares? It isn’t like your grades are based on how nice you are to each other. This isn’t kindergarten.”

“No, but there are certain perks that come with good behavior, like getting invited to dinner at the Head of School’s house. She only writes recommendations for like five students a year. Neither one of us wanted to be excluded from opportunities.”

Juliette didn’t strike me as a suck-up. “Your parents sacrificed a lot to get you here, didn’t they?”

She raised her chin. “And I won’t let them down.”

“Did you feel like Lauren had an unfair advantage over you?”

Juliette squinted at me. “She was smart and a hard worker. She didn’t coast or expect anything to be given to her, which I respected. We finally reached an agreement. Co-existence.”

“How very Cold War of you.”

“It’s an accurate analogy. We each had our finger on the button and could fire the nukes at any given moment. We chose not to.”

“Did you have an actual conversation about this, or did you only speak in code?”

She glowered at me. “Are you mocking me?”

“A little. Carry on.”

“Things were fine when she wanted to apply to schools in California, but recently she started talking about applying to Penn and Princeton.”

“And that was a problem?”

“Ivy League schools generally only take one Liberty School student per incoming class. I told her she can have Stanford but leave Princeton and Penn to me.”

I blinked rapidly. “You divided up the schools between the two of you?”

She nodded.

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