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“I don’t really know. I mean, we didn’t talk about it after. Besides, it was kind of a shitty thing to say, right?”
I don’t like to think of myself as a bully. Does anyone? Does anybody wake up and go, “Hmm, I hope people think I’m a real prick today”?
I don’t think so.
But that’s kind of what I did. I picked on Harrison for no good reason. I just wanted a release, and being bitchy to him felt really, really good. Only now some time has passed, and all I’m thinking about is the hurt look on his face.
“A little bit,” Karen agrees.
“I mean, maybe he really admires his father,” Emilia says thoughtfully. “Some people are really close with their parents.”
Emilia lost her dad a long time ago, so I don’t say anything. I still don’t really know where the lines are in our relationship, and I don’t want to do anything that might accidentally upset her. She really is a sweet girl, and I don’t think she deserves to be hurt or injured because I decide to say or do something callous.
“Harrison and his dad have never been close, but...”
“But what?” Karen asks.
“Tell us,” Emilia urges, and I can see them both looking at me intently.
They’re not idiots.
You can’t be stupid and attend Crescent Academy.
That’s not how it works.
But I’ve also never confided in either one of them, and I’m not sure that I’m ready to now. Neither one of them knows very much about me or my home life. They definitely don’t know that I was raised by Harrison’s family.
Would now be a good time to tell them?
Would they even understand?
I can’t tell them about the weigh-ins. I can’t tell them about the weird shit that Frank has planned for my life. There’s a part of me that desperately wants to be heard and understood, though.
Would they get it if I fed them just a little bit of the truth?
Could it really hurt?
“Can you keep a secret?” I finally ask, and the room falls silent. Karen and Emilia both grin evilly and rub their hands together. “Okay, you two, stop it,” I say. “I’m kind of expecting you to both start cackling now.”
“I’m sorry,” Karen says. “But we’ve been waiting so long to hear those words fall from your lips.”
“It’s true,” Emilia agrees. “You’re a pretty private person, Adalee.”
“Really? I had no idea,” I say drily.
“You know what we mean,” Emilia says. “Nobody really knows anything about you, and I mean, let’s be honest: we’ve gone to school together for four years. You should probably tell us something about yourself before graduation.”
“Yeah,” Karen agrees. “What if we graduate and later find out you’re secretly a foreign princess?”
“Yeah, or a debutante,” Emilia adds.
“Or a spy.”
“Or a magical witch.”
“Okay, okay,” I shake my head laughing. “Enough.”
They don’t need to speculate any further. I’ll give them something. I can’t promise to give them a lot, and I can’t promise it will be enough, but I can give them something, and that will serve two purposes.
