Praefatio: A Novel
Page 29
Until I joined one.
Though, let me clear up any misconceptions. I’m not crazy. A freak maybe, but not crazy. Which is why I’m here. Freaks R Us. A “boarding school for the intellectually gifted” tucked away in the back streets of Wolfebane, New Hampshire. Intellectually gifted? Yeah, right. We have a pristine lake surrounded by majestic mountains. We have lush green fields that turn into fabulous groomed ski trails in the winter. We have upscale restaurants and thriving businesses and fancy homes; city pizzazz with small town coziness. We even have our very own homegrown C.U.L.T.
The Clique of Unique Luminary Telepathies.
When the average person searched this place on the internet, the home page read Co-Ed for Unified Learning and Teaching, a New Age school for the hippest of the hip. It appeared to be a rambling English manor, sandstone and massive latticed windows and French doors, surrounded by a cottage garden gone wild.
All very civilized for a place of learning, but what I’d learn scared the crap out of me.
I’d heard the rumors. Students being indoctrinated, engaging in whacky ritualistic stuff, never coming out. Most kids who’d grown up in Wolfebane had been dared to scale the walls or try a trick-or-treat door knock at Halloween. I’d never been so foolish. Nan’s interest in “the other side” spooked me enough without dabbling in the forbidden at a school for kooks. A school I now had to attend. Freaking great.
“Going in some time this century?”
I glared at Colt, sitting smug in his beat up Chevy, eager to get rid of me. Being Nan’s sole neighbor, I’d been thrust on his family when she got carted off to the hospital. I hated staying with his uptight family as much as they hated having me.
“Nah, think I’ll hang with you a bit longer. It’s so much fun.”
He pointed at the door. “Get out.”
I didn’t budge. Colt didn’t scare me. C.U.L.T. did.
“I had no choice staying with your folks. What’s your excuse?”
His expression turned stubborn.
“How old are you anyway? Nineteen? Twenty tops?”
“Twenty-one,” he gritted out. “Too old to be babysitting dorks like you.”
“Dork? That’s mature for a guy tied so tight to mommy’s apron strings he’s still living at home.”
His hands clenched on the steering wheel and I jiggled the door handle. The door opened on the third try. I couldn’t get away from him quick enough.
“If you were this smart-assed with your Nan I’m not surprised she had a stroke.”
Low blow and that’s what it felt like, like he’d kicked me in the guts. The same nauseating feeling I’d had when I’d told her what I’d seen, and she’d uttered five mysterious words—she took the wrong one—and keeled over.
“And she’s in a long-term coma?” He drove the boot in harder. “Probably do anything to stay away from you.”
I grabbed my backpack, slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and slammed the door. I couldn’t get away from him fast enough. It wasn’t what he’d said as much as the possible truth behind it.
He leaned across the bench seat and leered out the window. “Enjoy the lock-up. Perfect place for psychos. You’ll fit right in.”
“Screw you.”
Colt gave me the finger, gunned the engine, and squealed away from the curb, leaving me standing in front of my prison.
Wolfebane High had sucked, but boarding school? Fine for my fictional faves Zoey Redbird and Rose Hathaway and Cammie Morgan. Me? I wasn’t the kick-ass heroine so much.
I stiffened as a group of girls exited the school gates. No uniforms, just a motley mix of preppy and prissy mixed with cheerleader chic. In my faded jeans, striped hoodie and worn pink ballet flats, I stood out like the nerdy bookworm I was.
One of them, a tall blonde with shiny hair to her waist, stopped and glanced my way. I half smiled. She scrutinized me from head to foot, before giving me the cheerleader welcome.
She turned her back.
Humiliation heated my cheeks as Cheerleader Chick said something to the group and they tittered, gawked at me, and snickered.
Not one of them smiled. Most did the same flick-over dismissive thing before turning away and heading up the street towards town. Leaving me as helpless and mortified and angry as I’d been at Wolfebane High.
There too I’d tried to pretend princesses didn’t get to me, that my grades were all that mattered, but with every condescending smirk, every haughty glare, I’d wanted to smash my fist into their conceited faces. Not that I was pro-violence. Unless provoked.
Who needed all that perfect hair, perfect makeup, perfect outfit crap anyway? Who needed friends?
But as I watched the tight-knit group stroll down the street in all their trendy glory, confident in their place in the world, a small part of me yearned to run after them, to be part of their shared secrets, their out-there prettiness, their inner circle.
“Cliques are the same the world over, huh?”
I stopped staring at the princess posse and mustered a tight smile for the girl who’d voiced my opinion. A girl who looked about twelve, wearing a bizarre outfit of saffron sequined halter top, camouflage pants, and patent leather Mary Janes.
“You go to school here?”
She nodded, her baby face losing years by the second. “Third year.”
I’d never been good at small talk so I scrambled for a semi-polite response. “You like it?”
“Yeah, it’s not bad.”
She pointed at my bags. “First day?”
“Uh-huh.”
She glanced at her watch. “Gotta run. Good luck.”
Great, even the youngest, worst-dressed kid in school didn’t want to hang around me. And how could she be in third year when she looked like she belonged in preschool? I must’ve been staring because she pointed to her face.
“Don’t let this fool you. I can conjure up a good spell like the rest of them.”
Just like that, my bubble of normality burst. It had been thin to begin with, but it had been there, an illusion that this place was like any other high school, complete with an in-crowd tailor made to ignore me.
But nothing about C.U.L.T. was normal, as I’d soon find out.
END OF SAMPLE
Table of Contents
Prologue
PART ONE - You Found Me
In the Beginning
To Tell the Truth
Hindsight is Always 20-20
Normal is Relative
The You Know What Hits the Proverbial Fan
It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses a Boyfriend
Praefatio - Book 3, Chapter 18
Goodbye, Mr. Fluffy Rabbit
PART TWO - Was It a Dream
When I Get Outta Here, I’m Gonna Write a Book!
This May Hurt a Little
I Feel Like a Hero
This is All Your Fault
Now He Tells Me
Eenie Meenie Miney Mo
Praefatio - Book 3, Chapter 5
Praefatio - Book 3, Chapter 6
In the Arms of the Angel
My So-Called Life
PART THREE - Hello and Goodbye
Meanwhile, Back at the Larsons’ …
A Lie of Omission
New Home Renovation
Someflippinghomecoming
Praefatio - Book 3, Chapter 29
Emotional Rollercoaster
What the Devil?
Maybe This Angel Thing Isn’t So Bad
So This is What it Looks Like
A Slight Hiccup
Best Laid Plans
Let’s Ride
PART FOUR - Closer to the Edge
So It Shall be Done
Last Impressions
Praefatio - Book 1, Chapter 72
Do They Know it’s Christmas?
Unhappy Ever After
For My Own Good
A Letter from Georgia McBride
Table of Contents
Prologue
&nb
sp; PART ONE - You Found Me
In the Beginning
To Tell the Truth
Hindsight is Always 20-20
Normal is Relative
The You Know What Hits the Proverbial Fan
It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses a Boyfriend
Praefatio - Book 3, Chapter 18
Goodbye, Mr. Fluffy Rabbit
PART TWO - Was It a Dream
When I Get Outta Here, I’m Gonna Write a Book!
This May Hurt a Little
I Feel Like a Hero
This is All Your Fault
Now He Tells Me
Eenie Meenie Miney Mo
Praefatio - Book 3, Chapter 5
Praefatio - Book 3, Chapter 6
In the Arms of the Angel
My So-Called Life
PART THREE - Hello and Goodbye
Meanwhile, Back at the Larsons’ …
A Lie of Omission
New Home Renovation
Someflippinghomecoming
Praefatio - Book 3, Chapter 29
Emotional Rollercoaster
What the Devil?
Maybe This Angel Thing Isn’t So Bad
So This is What it Looks Like
A Slight Hiccup
Best Laid Plans
Let’s Ride
PART FOUR - Closer to the Edge
So It Shall be Done
Last Impressions
Praefatio - Book 1, Chapter 72
Do They Know it’s Christmas?
Unhappy Ever After
For My Own Good
A Letter from Georgia McBride