AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, if you can’t work that out for yourself—”
“Charlotte! I can’t help inheriting this stupid gene instead of you.”
Charlotte’s eyes had sparkled with fury as she looked at me. “It’s not a stupid gene, it’s a gift. Something very special. And it’s simply wasted on someone like you. But you’re too childish to even understand that.”
Then she had turned and marched away, leaving me standing there.
“She’ll recover,” said Lesley as we took our things out of our lockers. “She just has to get used to not being someone special anymore.”
“But it’s so unfair,” I said. “After all, I haven’t taken anything away from her.”
“Well, basically you have.” Lesley handed me her hairbrush. “Here!”
“What do you want me to do with this?”
“Brush your hair, what else?”
I obediently ran the brush through my hair. Then I asked her, “Why am I doing this?”
“I only wanted you to look pretty when you see Gideon again. Luckily you don’t need any mascara. Your lashes are amazingly long and black naturally.”
I’d gone bright red at the mention of Gideon’s name. “Maybe I won’t meet him today at all. I’m just being sent back to 1956 to do my homework in a cellar.”
“Yes, but maybe you’ll run into him before or after that.”
“Lesley, I’m not his type.”
“He didn’t mean it that way,” said Lesley.
“Yes, he did!”
“So what? A person can change his mind. Anyway, he’s your type.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it again. There was no point in denying it. He was my type, as much as I’d have liked to pretend he wasn’t.
“Any girl would think he was amazing,” I said. “As far as looks go, anyway. But he needles me all the time, and he orders me about, and he’s just so … he’s just so incredibly…”
“Great?” Lesley smiled lovingly at me. “So are you, honest! You’re the greatest girl I know. Apart from me, maybe. And you can order people about yourself. Come on, I want to see this limousine that’s going to fetch you.”
James gave me a cool nod as we were passing his niche.
“Wait a sec,” I told Lesley. “I need to ask James something.”
When I stopped, the bored expression vanished from James’s face, and he smiled cheerfully at me. “I’ve been thinking about our last conversation,” he said.
“What, about kissing?”
“No, about the smallpox. It’s possible I did catch it after all. Your hair is beautifully glossy today.”
“Thank you. James, could you do me a favor?”
“Nothing to do with kissing, I hope.”
I had to smile. “Not a bad idea,” I said, “but, no, it’s about manners.”
“Manners?”
“Well, you’re always complaining that I don’t have any, and you’re right. So I wanted to ask you to show me how to behave properly. In your time. How to talk, how to curtsey, how to—oh, I don’t know what.”
