The Charade

by Judy Corry

  I was just about to glance around and make sure the other girls were wearing their socks the same way when Carter's deep voice sounded again and he asked, "You're Ava, right?"

  "Yes." I cleared my throat, and with a shaky hand, I pointed at the gold letter A that I'd pinned to the end of my necktie. "The A is for Ava."

  He nodded. "I figured as much. I noticed you and your sister's pins yesterday at dinner."

  "You noticed our pins?"

  Wow, way to state the obvious, Ava.

  A slight smirk lifted his lips. "I'm quite observant."

  And because I seemed to be on a quest to make Carter Hastings think I was truly an idiot, I said, "You were so enamored with your book during dinner yesterday that I wouldn't blame you if you forgot we were even at your table."

  A hint of a smile graced his soft pink lips. "Looks like I wasn't the only observant person at the table yesterday."

  And when he winked at me, my heart had the gall to skip a beat.

  But I told it to stop because my heart was just being stupid, fluttering over someone like Carter. Just because he may be the world's most beautiful human being didn't mean I needed to care about him. I was pretty sure he already cared about himself enough from his all-too arrogant vibe.

  Deciding to get down to business, I glanced around me to make sure no one was listening. "I assume you know why our teacher had me sit by you?"

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. "Because you and math aren't exactly on the best of terms at the moment?" he said in a low voice so others wouldn't overhear.

  "I guess that's one way to put it," I said, even though admitting my flaw to this guy who had an air of perfection about him wasn't exactly doing my pride any favors.

  Just then, a girl I'd never seen in person before but knew more about than I'd care to admit walked into the room. The girl who Scarlett had warned me would be coming to this school.

  "Ah, Miss Cardoso," Mrs. Simmons said when the supermodel strolled in. "So glad you could join us."

  Sofia Cardoso, who somehow made the same exact uniform I was wearing look like it belonged on the runway, tipped her head to our instructor and said, "Sorry I'm late. I had my schedule mixed up."

  "Just take your seat next to Miss McCall." Mrs. Simmons nodded to a girl with curly blonde hair on the front row. "We were just about to get started, so you haven't missed anything important yet."

  Sofia moved to take the seat the teacher had indicated, but before sitting, her gaze dropped down to Carter for a long moment.

  Carter sat up a little straighter. But as I watched the two, I noticed that he seemed to refuse to look in the Brazilian beauty's direction. Instead, his blue-eyed gaze was intent on the whiteboard ahead, as if the notes our teacher had written up there were suddenly the most interesting things in the world.

  As if she understood that Carter was refusing to give her the time of day, Sofia shrugged as she sat next to the girl our teacher had called Miss McCall.

  As Mrs. Simmons welcomed the rest of the class back for the new year, my mind drifted off to wonder what exactly had happened between Carter and Sofia. Because whatever it was, he clearly wasn't ready to be friends with his ex-girlfriend yet.

  6

  Carter

  Okay. So far, so good.

  Just two minutes left and I’ll have successfully made it through my first class with Sofia.

  She'd walked into our math class after the bell, which wasn’t typical for her. Back when we were dating last year, she, like me, had always liked to be on time for things.

  But something had seemed off when she came in this morning. She still looked as put-together and beautiful as she always did—her uniform freshly pressed, her dark hair slicked back into the high ponytail that showed off her elegant neck.

  I couldn't put my finger on what was different exactly, but there just was a different energy about her when she walked in.

  Less confidence, maybe?

  Though I wouldn't know why. She was more famous than my dad was—and my dad was the seventh richest person in the United States.

  And she was dating a viscount the last time I checked.

  Was it wrong of me to hope that she'd walked into our class with her tail between her legs because she regretted the way she'd dumped me?

  That maybe seeing me again face to face for the first time since our breakup was as uncomfortable for her as it was for me?

  Either way, I needed to figure out how to avoid speaking to Sofia today. Because from the way she kept glancing in my direction from her seat adjacent to mine, I knew it was coming.

  Though I'd rehearsed our initial post-breakup meeting several times in my head while preparing for this school year, I still wasn't ready to have a conversation with her. Even three months later, everything was still too fresh. My heart was still raw from the wire brush she'd scraped across it.

  I glanced at the clock above Mrs. Simmons's red hair.

  One more minute.

  One minute to think of how to avoid the inevitable.

  I looked out of the corner of my eye at Sofia. Her thin shoulders rose and fell, like she was taking deep breaths. Her right leg bounced under the table. Her long, delicate fingers flexed and contracted on her lap against the pleats of her skirt.

  "Since we just did a quick overview of our class today," Mrs. Simmons voice cut through my thoughts. "Your homework for today's class is to find twenty minutes or so where you can get together with your tablemate and fill out the questionnaire that I have up on our class website."

  A few groans sounded around me.

  Mrs. Simmons gave her head a quick shake, clucking her tongue. "I suppose I could assign a page of math problems for you to review instead, if the interview isn't to your liking." She ran her gaze over my fellow classmates and me. Then, with a half-smile, she said, "Okay, so the getting-to-know-you interviews, it is. I know a lot of you have been together at this school for several years and feel you know each other pretty well, but I have a feeling that these questions will bring out some things that may surprise you."

  The bell rang then, and several students darted out of the classroom like they couldn't get to lunch fast enough.

  "Well, I guess today's homework should be simple enough," Ava said from beside me.

  "Sounds like it," I agreed, setting my iPad on top of the Statistics textbook Mrs. Simmons had handed out today.

  "So should we—" Ava started to say before her attention caught on something beside me that made her eyes go wide.

  My heart instantly took off to the races when I realized what, or rather, who had most likely startled her.

  And sure enough, when I craned my neck to the side, I found Sofia standing at the end of our table with her designer backpack slung over her shoulder, her signature perfume filling the air around her.

  "Hi Carter," Sofia said in her raspy, alto voice, her cheeks pinker than usual.

  "Hello." I swallowed and sat up straighter. "Uh, long time no see."

  Long time no see?

  Wow, I'd had three months to figure out what I'd say to her when we came face to face and I'd said that?

  "Yes, it's been too long." She twisted her gold charm bracelet on her wrist, a nervous tick of hers.

  Well, good. I was glad she was nervous.

  She continued, "I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch together. Maybe catch up on what's happened since we last saw each other." She cast Ava a quick glance before meeting my gaze again with her dark brown eyes.

  "Oh, um—" I gulped, my face suddenly hot as I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.

  Don't do it, Carter.

  Don't do what she wants.

  When Ava shifted in her seat beside me, an idea came to mind. "Actually, I already have plans for lunch with Ava today." I gestured at Ava, hoping she'd go along with my lie.

  Ava turned to me with a small frown, clearly surprised by these plans I was making for us without her consent.

  I widened my eyes at her, hoping t
o communicate that I really needed her to go along with this plan.

  After a few heart-pounding seconds, she pursed her lips together and said, "Yeah, Carter was so sweet to invite me to lunch today since I'm new here. I think it was his way of apologizing for basically ignoring me yesterday when Scarlett introduced us."

  So apparently, Ava hadn't appreciated how aloof I'd been yesterday.

  For which I couldn't really blame her. I wasn't exactly known for my welcoming nature. That was what Mack and Nash were for.

  But despite all that, she'd just come to my rescue, so the girl deserved some props.

  I looked back at Sofia. "So as you can see, today isn't going to work." Hopefully, she'd not only buy the excuse but would also take the hint that I wasn't interested in making whatever amends she was trying to make.

  "Oh. I—" Sofia bit her plump bottom lip. "I didn't realize…" She drifted off, and I almost felt bad for how obviously I was avoiding her.

  She glanced at Ava and slipped what looked like a forced smile onto her face. "It's nice to meet you, Ava." She held her hand out to the girl seated beside me. "I'm Sofia, one of Carter's, um…" She pinched her lips together and her gaze rested on me as if to ask what previous relationship she could claim we had. But I was interested in hearing the answer myself, so I just waited. After a beat, she said, "I'm one of Carter's old friends."

  Friends.

  The word hit me like a punch to the gut.

  Two years of shared memories and a connection I’d never experienced with someone before was now reduced to “just friends.”

  Huh.

  I pressed my eyes shut as pain hit my chest.

  For some reason, I'd rather have her tell this near stranger that we'd been lovers instead, then at least it would make all the pain I'd felt these past few months seem valid.

  But who knew, maybe she'd always seen our relationship differently than I had. She’d been the one to break up with me out of the blue just when I'd been considering inviting her to spend the summer in the Hamptons with my family.

  "It's great to meet you, Sofia." Ava shook Sofia's hand, oblivious to the knife twisting in my chest. "But I'd be lying if I pretended not to know who you are."

  Sofia nodded, looking down at her black Jimmy Choos. "I'm still not used to that, I guess."

  "I imagine you're not," Ava said. "But if it makes it less weird, my mom’s also in the fashion world, so we've made it our business to know who's who in the modeling world."

  "Who's your mom? Would I know her?" Sofia asked, perking up a little.

  "Her name’s Miriam Cohen. She's a designer. She just had her first fashion show this past year so it's all new for us."

  Sofia's eyes lit up, like she recognized the name. "I totally went to her show this summer with Sim—" She caught herself before finishing the name of my replacement. She gave me an apologetic glance and said, "I was there with a friend."

  So maybe "friends" was the term Sofia favored when talking about the guys whose hearts she’d enjoyed stringing along.

  Maybe I should warn poor Simon he might be headed toward a similar fate as me.

  "It was an amazing show," Sofia continued. "I loved the purple off-the-shoulder dress. I think it was called The Vienna?"

  "That's my favorite of hers, too." Ava smiled. "I actually helped my mom come up with the concept for that one."

  "So you're a prodigy?" Sofia asked, showing how personable she could be. It was something that had drawn me to her in the first place. Being uncomfortable meeting new people myself, it was always nice to be around someone who could become instant friends with anyone.

  But she stabbed you in the back with a smile on her face, I reminded myself before I could start remembering too many of Sofia's better qualities.

  "Oh, I don't know about that." Ava's fair cheeks flushed at Sofia's compliment. "My mom’s the real deal, but I like being part of the process."

  "That's cool." Sofia gave Ava a genuine smile. "Someday I hope to get into design as well."

  There was a long pause where it seemed like the two girls had run out of things to say. After a beat, Sofia cleared her throat and said, "I guess I'll let you two get to your lunch." She adjusted the strap of her bag and looked at me. "It was good to see you again, Carter. We'll have to catch up some other time."

  "Sure." I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. "Some other time."

  Unless I can come up with another excuse to get me out of it next time.

  Sofia turned on her heel, the back of her skirt swishing with the movement and drawing my eyes to her long, toned legs.

  I used to love that her skirts hit higher on her legs than the other girls at school since she was five-foot ten and her legs were so long.

  But now they just taunted me.

  I tore my gaze away from her legs and focused back on Ava.

  "Ex-girlfriend?" Ava asked, a knowing look on her face.

  "Yeah."

  And if I was the type of person who shared his personal details with people he barely knew, I might even admit that Sofia had been the one to dump me, in order to explain my agitated behavior.

  But since that wasn't me, I simply left it at that. There was no need to let Ava know just how weak I could be.

  7

  Ava

  "I guess I better get to lunch," I said to Carter as I gathered my notebook and textbook into my arms, figuring it would be weird to stay any longer now that it was just us and our teacher left in the classroom.

  "Wait." He reached over and touched my arm. "Where are you going?"

  "Huh?" I stared at his hand for a moment, surprised at the warmth that glowed down my arm from his simple touch.

  "Uh, I…" He cleared his throat and removed his hand after noticing my blush. "We told Sofia we were having lunch together to work on our interviews. So, I'd kind of like to follow through with that."

  "I thought that was just an excuse," I said, surprised that he'd actually been planning on it. "I didn't think you actually meant we'd have lunch together.”

  "Well, we do have that interview to start." He cocked his head to the side, the gesture making him seem more boyish and less severe somehow. "And since I assume you probably eat meals here and there, I was thinking we could go to this restaurant just off campus whose food I'm craving."

  "We're allowed to eat off campus?" I asked.

  He nodded. "As long as we aren't tardy for next period, the headmistress doesn't mind."

  I bit my lip, trying to decide what to do.

  It was the first day of school. Elyse had seemed to hit it off with Scarlett and her crew yesterday, and then again this morning at breakfast. Would she be okay without me for lunch?

  "We wouldn't want Sofia to think you lied to her, right?" Carter asked.

  Pretty sure he was the one who had started the lie.

  But when I looked at his aqua-blue eyes, I suddenly didn't want to give him a reason to scowl at me again like he did yesterday.

  Especially if he was going to be my tutor this year.

  "Okay." I let out a low breath. "But since I'm the one doing you a favor, by making Sofia think you're cool enough to hang out with someone like me, you have to buy my lunch while we're at it."

  His family lived on an estate. Surely he could afford to buy me lunch.

  I raised my eyebrows, waiting to see if he'd go along with my conditions.

  He studied me with narrowed eyes, as if trying to piece my personality together with the few short interactions we'd had so far.

  Then, seeming to understand that I was the one helping him and not the other way around, he sighed and said, "Fine."

  "What are you doing?" I asked Carter when he pulled out a dark blue bullet journal and started writing in it instead of leaving the classroom.

  He peeked up from his writing. "I'm just updating my planner." He drew a line through something on the page after writing Lunch with Ava off campus in blocky handwriting.

  I frowned. "Don't people usu
ally put things in their planner so they can remember them?"

  Mack had hinted about Carter's love for keeping to a set schedule, but did he actually document every single thing he did throughout the day?

  "That's one use." He shut the silky, faux leather cover, his long fingers wrapping the black elastic around the edge to hold it closed. "But I'd written lunch in the great hall in that spot, and since I'm going with you off campus instead, I needed to correct it. I like to make sure my planner is accurate."

  I nodded slowly, not used to someone being so meticulous about their schedule. I mean, Elyse was really into bullet journaling too, and the way she made her daily to-do lists was borderline obsessive. But even she didn't take her planning to this extreme.

  Carter slipped his bullet journal into his bag, along with his textbook and iPad.

  "Ready to head out?" He slung his backpack over a shoulder.

  "Sure." I hugged my books to my chest, and then we left the math classroom that I'd been inside for way too long.

  It was sunny when we walked out the front iron doors of the school, the weather still warm this early in September.

  I loved when summer came to the New England area since the afternoon rain showers were my favorite. But I also enjoyed that we had all four seasons and looked forward to autumn and the vibrant leaves that gave new color to the overall green appearance of the lush geography.

  "My truck is this way." Carter gestured to the right when we made it to the parking lot at the east side of the school.

  "This is the student parking lot?" I asked Carter as we walked past a Lamborghini, followed by an Audi, and then a Range Rover.

  He gave a sideways glance to the expensive vehicles I was eyeing. "The faculty parking lot is on the other side of the school."

  "So all of these vehicles belong to kids who go here?" I tried to clarify.

  He nodded, unfazed at the fact that the contents of this parking lot alone were worth a couple million dollars. "That's Nash's car." He pointed to a lime-green BMW Convertible. "This one is Cambrielle's." He patted the hood of a shiny red car with a Mercedes symbol on it. "And this is mine." He pulled a key fob from the pocket of his slacks and pressed a button to unlock a black Ford F-150 Raptor.