The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet by Kate Rorick & Rachel Kiley

Author:Kate Rorick & Rachel Kiley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Touchstone

Chapter Twenty-four

GOOD-BYE TO ALL THAT

“Excuse me, Natalie?” It was Friday. I hung back while everyone else packed up, taking my time, fidgeting with my pencil case. Back to fidgeting again. Back to caring.

Not a bad thing, of course. But when your teacher writes “Come see me after class!” (exclamation point included) just when you’ve started caring about your grades again, it does inspire some mild freaking out.

“Lydia?” Natalie blinked at me as she lifted her massive backpack onto her tiny shoulders.

“You wanted to talk to me?” I asked, holding up the paper. When she’d handed back the papers at the beginning of class, everyone was doing the usual showing of their grades to everyone else. Except for me. Not only because my paper didn’t have a grade, but because I didn’t have anyone to show it to anymore. On Monday, Cody had pointedly walked in late, and pointedly sat not next to me but in the empty chair next to Harriet.

Or at least, he tried to sit next to Harriet.

“Sorry, I’m saving this seat for someone,” she’d said, placing her bag there before he could sit.

This left Cody with the option of sitting next to me (and you bet your ass I placed my own bag on the chair immediately) or wedging into the other empty chair in the back next to the broom closet.

As Cody made his way to the broom closet, Harriet flicked her eyes up at me with the tiniest of smiles. She didn’t know anything of what happened over the weekend, I’m pretty sure. She just knew he was a jackass.

Cody had been much easier to avoid in psych, as he was three rows in front. I watched him play solitaire on his computer while the rest of us copied down a flurry of notes, reviewing what was going to be on the final. Not a single text buzzed my phone.

Good riddance to that. I know that the past couple weeks of slacking off had been my own doing, but I have to give Cody some credit—it’s a lot easier to give up when there’s someone giving up beside you.

But as soon as I smiled back at Harriet, her face went stony again, and she was back to focusing on her manicure.

But that was Monday. Wednesday we turned in our final papers. Today was our last class. Mostly, Natalie had spent it talking about conclusive themes in gothic literature, and what she hoped we’d gotten out of the class. Most everyone else snuck glances at their phones, or doodled.

But me? I got to spend the whole hour worrying about the “See me after class!” on my paper.

“Oh, yes!” Natalie’s face lit up as I came forward. “Thanks for waiting.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, before rushing into the speech I’d been preparing all class. “Listen, I know that my work hasn’t been really focused lately or up to certain standards, but I worked really hard on this essay, I read the book and the study guide. If you need

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