Page 13 (1/2)

They turned down the biology wing A human skeleton stood outside one of the classrooms, which ht

Then Charlotte nudged Eh about me How are you?" She squinted at Emma’s chest "Where’s your necklace?"

Emma felt her bare neck "I don’t know"

Charlotte raised her eyebrows "That’s a surprise" She hiked her tennis bag higher on her shoulder "So how are things with you and Garrett?"

"Uh, he’s fine," Eht of the happy picture of Sutton and Garrett on Facebook It was all she had to go by

Charlotte shot her a lukewar pretty special for your birthday"

"Oh really?"

"Mm-hmm Lucky" Charlotte’s voice was strained Em with a strap on her tennis bag

Alocker roo locker doors and cheerleaders warressives and hand claps Eed into the shorts and tank top Sutton’s h a rabbit warren of hallways to join the rest of the tennis teairls lay on the floor with their butts in the air doing piriformis stretches Emma noticed Laurel in the second rohen Laurel saw theirl at the very front of the roolowered at Emma Nisha

"Sutton?" another voice called A twentyso up the side of the room smiled in Emma’s direction She had a strawberry-blond ponytail and wore a blue polo shirt with the words HOLLIER TENNIS COACH and the name MAGGIE stitched over one boob "Go on up! Co-captains in the front!"

Co-captain? E Most of her tennis experience was frolanced at Charlotte helplessly, but Charlotte just shrugged

"Chop-chop!" Coach Maggie said, aze to Nisha at the front once ray T-shirt that said HOLLIER VARSITY TENNIS CAPTAIN Eainst her

She sloove through the irls until she reached the front of the rooave Nisha a co-captainly, let’s-be-friends slare

Maggie blew her whistle, and the rest of the team sat up "As you know, it’s tradition that on the first day of practice every year, ear our Hollier uniforirls let out whoos and whistles "Nisha Banerjee and Sutton Mercer, our t co-captains, will do the honors of passing out your uniforestured to a stuffed blue plastic tub in front of Nisha Emma peered inside and saw carefully folded tennis dresses in neat, even piles She tried to pull one out, but Nisha slapped her away "I’ve got it"

Nisha turned to the teairl marched up to the front of the roo graduates their high school diploie stepped into the coaches’ office, Nisha pulled the final dress from the bin and handed it to Emma "And here’s yours, Sutton"

Emma unfolded the dress and held it in front of her The sleeves were about an inch long The shirt didn’t cover her stomach Either someone had really shrunk it in the dryer, or it had been specially designed for a Sirls snickered

Heat rose to Eer?"

Nisha tossed her ponytail over her shoulder "I already assigned the rest, Sutton That’s what you get for not helping me do uniforms yesterday afternoon!"

"ButI wasn’t here yesterday!" Emma protested Technically, she’d been on the smelly bus to Tucson

Nisha let out a sharp sniff "So I suppose that was someone else who looked exactly like you at my party then?" She pointed at the Mini-Me uniforet dressed, co-captain! You want to show your team spirit, don’t you?" With a roll of her hips, she sauntered out of the gyer players in her wake The giggling grew louder and louder, bouncing off the gyh walls

Emma balled up the uniform in her hands No one had ever been so blatantly mean to her before Nisha really had it out for Sutton

I was thinking the sa, too And it actually kind of made me nervous

Charlotte approached Eht line "We can’t let her do this to you," she hissed in E?"

Eet her," Charlotte finished "Soon"

Get her? An uncertain shudder rumbled deep within Emma’s core But before she could say a word, Charlotte pulled her toward the doorway, leading her into the punishing Arizona sunshine, and leaving us both to wonder what she meant

Chapter 12