The Scarlet Letterman by Cara Lockwood

Author:Cara Lockwood [Lockwood, Cara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Body, Social Issues, Young adult fiction, Action & Adventure, Fantasy fiction, Juvenile Fiction, English literature, High school students, Mysteries & Detective Stories, General, Mind & Spirit, Maine, Supernatural, Dating (Social customs), Boarding schools, Illinois, Ghosts, Fiction, School & Education
ISBN: 9781416524908
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2007-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

One of the unwritten perks of having a boyfriend is that you never really have to worry about eating alone again. It’s what relationships are about, really. You have a permanent, standing date for movies and meals.

I’m not sure how Ryan will react when I tell him his new charity project, Parker, has framed me. When I tell him about the plagiarism, he seems to take her side.

“I can’t believe she’d do that on purpose,” Ryan says, shaking his head. Ryan is not someone who likes to believe there are bad people in the world. He’s sort of an eternal optimist. It’s probably the result of having so many things come so easy to him. He just doesn’t realize the lengths other people will go to have what he has naturally.

“She definitely did it,” I say.

“Maybe it was just an honest mistake,” Ryan says.

“Are you defending her?”

“Well, no, I mean, not exactly. It’s just, I didn’t think she’d do something like that.”

I roll my eyes. Ryan has no idea what Parker is capable of. I’m sure she only shows him her Mother Teresa personality.

As we stand in line for our food, a few girls walk past us and giggle. I think for a second that they might be laughing at me, but then I quickly dismiss the idea. I should be used to Ryan’s effect on girls by now. He turns even forty-year-old soccer moms into giggly little girls. He’s got that kind of charisma.

“I know you find this hard to believe, but she’s not as nice to other people as she is to you. You know the rumor about her and her mother.”

“Look, I don’t know all the details, but I do know that you can’t believe everything you hear.”

I find myself annoyed that Ryan keeps defending Parker. What gives?

“Yeah, like what they say about your car wreck,” I say, and then immediately regret it. We haven’t actually talked about Ryan’s car crash, the one that sent him here a year ago. He was driving his girlfriend home and wound up wrapping his car around a telephone pole, killing her. Rumor was that Ryan may have been drinking, although it’s also rumored he passed a blood-alcohol test. Ryan never brings it up at all, which I think is a little strange. At some point, you might want to confide in your girlfriend about it, or at least admit it happened. But he doesn’t even acknowledge it.

Like right this second, when he abruptly changes the subject.

“They call this steak?” he says, pointing to the mushy, brown lump of meat covered in brown gravy that’s shoved unceremoniously onto our dinner trays. He’s dodged the issue, again. “Say, I have a surprise for you.”

“You do? I hope it isn’t that you know where this steak came from,” I say, eyeing the food in line with some trepidation.

“It’s in my blazer pocket. Go on. It’s a gift.”

I reach into his left pocket and pull out a small, pink drawstring bag.

“What’s this?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know what day it is,” Ryan says.

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