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So what else was new?
It wasn’t as if her bag hadn’t been searched in the past.
Quickly, her hair still dripping, she wound a white towel emblazoned with the Navy blue logo for Blue Rock Academy around her slim body.
The fact that someone was watching her convinced Lauren that she was almost out of time! She had to move fast and leave this nightmare of a school.
Before she got caught with the evidence she’d been amassing against the academy.
The door swung open just as she leaned over the sink to wring the excess water from her hair.
Missy Albright, the resident assistant for the floor, popped her too-blonde head inside. She was all smiles, apple cheeks and doe eyes. “Hey! Evening prayer meeting in ten minutes.”
“I know.” Lauren couldn’t mask her irritation.
“You should really get ready.” Missy had one of those tiny little voices Lauren found as nerve-grating as fingernails dragged down a chalkboard, and a perky, isn’t-life-just-soooo-great, attitude that was downright nauseating. Missy Goody Two-Shoes. Except that Missy would never have been enrolled in Blue Rock Academy unless she was in big trouble and her family couldn’t handle her. Missy, Lauren decided, was as fake as her size thirty-eight C tits.
“I’ll be there,” she assured the R.A.
Missy’s white teeth flashed in a well-practiced grin. “Dr. Burdette won’t be happy if you’re late.”
Lauren thought of the professor with sharp, unkind features and frizzy red hair starting to gray. In her early forties, Adele Burdette had the body of a woman ten years younger and the face of a much older woman. But then that’s the way she was, harsh one second, kind the next. An enigma. Yin and Yang all rolled into one tightly-wound personality.
“Dr. Burdette is the Dean of Women,” Missy reminded.
Big whoop. “So?”
Missy’s eyebrows arched at Lauren’s outward hostility. “I’m just warning you.”
“Yeah, I know.” Lauren said, trying hard to stay cool when inside she was falling apart, emotionally shredding. She was walking a tight wire, certain every second that she would slip and tumble to her death. If anyone found out what she was really doing here at Blue Rock Academy…
“Sooo, I’ll see you in the Rec Hall.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Because I can’t. It’s part of the rules. You know that, Missy. So just leave me the hell alone.
Missy slid another smile at Lauren, then turned on her heel and flounced off. The door swung closed and Lauren let out her breath. She caught sight of her reflection in the foggy mirror: Big eyes, pale lips twisted suspiciously, tanned skin from hours outside in the wilderness of southern Oregon. She was athletic and strong. She was also scared out of her mind. What was wrong with her? She should never have left Sacramento! To think she’d come to this place because she’d wanted to; felt compelled. What an idiot she’d been; convinced she was smarter than everyone else. Well, she’d proved that theory wrong: dead wrong.
You got yourself into this mess; you’d better damned well get yourself out. Her reproof was silent; she didn’t dare utter the words aloud.
Somebody would hear.
They always did.
All in all, she thought, with one last wring of her hair before twisting it into a knot and pinning it to her head, she’d been lucky. It was amazing she hadn’t been found out before because she’d taken some pretty big risks. She’d have to be careful. She couldn’t afford to draw any attention to herself. Not tonight. Not after seeing him today and nearly reading his damned mind.
God, that was scary. It was as if he’d known what she was up to; as if he’d all of the sudden divined that she’d lied to him and used him and intended to not only betray him, but expose him for the monster he was. She’d read it in the quick glance he’d tossed her way this afternoon at
the chemistry lab, a second frozen in time, an unspoken accusation that had hung between them.
Her skin crawled at the thought of what he might do to her. There wasn’t the slightest doubt that his punishment would be as exacting as it was excruciating.
You have to get out of here ASAP!
Tossing on her robe, she dashed down the hallway where a few girls were already heading toward the stairs. With a quick nod to Crysta Ricci, the tall girl whose long neck showed the tail end of a lizard or dragon tattoo, Lauren dashed into her room. Once inside, she threw off the robe and pulled on her jeans, T-shirt, socks and boots. More voices and footsteps emanating from the hallway indicated everyone on the floor was heading out to the damned meeting. Lauren couldn’t afford to be late, couldn’t draw any more attention to herself than she already had.
For a split second she thought about snatching the tiny jump-drive from its hiding space and tucking it into the lining of her bra, just to be sure it wouldn’t be discovered. She didn’t have time, not when she was certain a hidden camera mounted in the sprinkler head over the door was taping everything she was doing, even while she was dressing or sleeping. What a bunch of pervs!
She was so over this place! Sometimes she felt as if someone had been in her room during the night, that an unseen visitor had stood over her bed.
