Page 7 (1/2)

Luce had sudden vivid ashbacks to the h when they'd rst h exterior was a lot like Arriane's, and Luce re her rst day at Sword & Cross tough exterior was a lot like Arriane's, and Luce re her rst day at Sword & Cross

But though Arriane had seeerous, there had been soly o -kilter about her from the start Luce's new roo

Shelby popped o the bed and lu through her du el bag to nd her toothbrush, Luce followed her in and gestured sheepishly at the toothpaste

"I forgot to pack mine"

"No doubt the dazzle of your celebrity blinded you to the small necessities of life," Shelby replied, but she picked up the tube and extended it toward Luce

They brushed in silence for about ten seconds until Luce couldn't take it anymore She spat out a mouthful of froth "Shelby?"

With her head in the belly of the porcelain sink, Shelby spat and said, "What?"

Instead of asking any of the questions that had been running through her head a minute before, Luce surprised herself and asked, "What was I saying inwas the rst in at least a month of vivid, complicated, Daniel-ridden dreale thing froel wing Not one kiss of his lips

She stared at Shelby's gru face in theherabout Daniel If she hadn't beenwhat could it mean?

"Beats me," Shelby said nally "You were all " She left the bathrooe ip- ops "It's breakfast ti or what?"

Luce scurried out of the bathroom "What do I wear?" She was still in her pajaht about a dress code But then, she'd also failed to ed "What am I, the fashion police? Whatever takes the least ary"

Luce hustled into a pair of skinny jeans and a black wraparound sweater She would have liked to spend a few rabbed her backpack and followed Shelby out the door

The dorht Everywhere she looked were bright, oversized ith ocean views, or built-in bookshelves crammed full of thick, colorful hardcover books The oors, the walls, the recessed ceilings and steep, curving staircases were all made from the same maple wood used to build the furniture inside Luce's roo cabin feel, except that the school's layout was as intricate and bizarre as Sword & Cross's dorhtforward Every few steps, the hallway seemed to split o into s further into the dihts of stairs and what looked like one secret door later, Luce and Shelby stepped through a set of double-paned French s and into the daylight The sun was incredibly bright, but the air was cool enough that Luce was glad she'd worn a sweater It smelled like the ocean, but not really like home Less briny, more chalky than the East Coast shore

"Breakfast is served on the terrace" Shelby gestured at a broad green expanse of land This laas bordered on three sides by thick blue hydrangea bushes, and on the fourth by the steep, straight drop into the sea It was hard for Luce to believe how very beautiful the school's setting was She couldn't ih a class

As they approached the terrace, Luce saw another building, a long, rectangular structure ooden shingles and cheery yellow-tri over the entrance: "MESS HALL," it read in quotes, like it was trying to be ironic It was certainly the nicest mess Luce had ever seen

The terrace was lled ashed iron lawn furniture and about a hundred of thestudents Luce had ever seen Most of them had their shoes kicked o , their feet propped up on the tables as they dined on elaborate breakfast dishes Eggs Benedict, fruit- topped Belgian wa es, wedges of rich-looking, aky spinach- ecked quiche Kids were reading the paper, gabbing on cell phones, playing croquet on the lawn Luce knew from rich kids at Dover, but East Coast rich kids were pinched and snotty, not sun-kissed and carefree The whole scene looked more like the rst day of summer than a Tuesday in early Novee the self- satis ed looks on these kids' faces Aline Arriane here, what she would think of Shelby or this oceanside dining, how she probably wouldn't knohat to make fun of rst Luce wished she could turn to Arriane now It would be good to be able to laugh

Looking around, she accidentally caught the eyes of a couple of students A pretty girl with olive skin, a polka-dot dress, and a green scarf tied in her glossy black hair A sandy-haired guy with broad shoulders tackling an enormous stack of pancakes

Luce's instinct was to turn her head away as soon as she made eye contact--always the safest bet at Sword & Cross Butneither one of these kids glared at her The biggest surprise about Shoreline was not the crystal sunshine or the cushy breakfast terrace or the buckets-of- over everyone It was that the students here were s When Shelby and Luce reached an unoccupied table, Shelby picked up a sround Luce leaned sideways to see the word RESERVED written on it just as a kid their age in a full-on black-tie waiter suit approached them with a silver tray

"U inopportunely

"Co ee, black," Shelby said, then abruptly asked Luce, "What do you want?"

"Uh, sa waited on "Maybe a little et by" Shelby rolled her eyes at Luce as the waiter darted away to get their co ees She picked up the San Francisco Chronicle froe with a yawn

It was right around then that Luce had had enough

"Hey" She shoved Shelby's arm down so she could see her face behind the paper Shelby's heavy eyebrows rose in surprise "I used to be a scholarship kid," Luce told her "Not at my last school, but the school before that--"