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"What a crock of--" Shelby broke o , looking up at Francesca "I mean, Harvest Fest sounds like my kind of fun"

"What about Luce?" Miles asked

Steven's arms were crossed and his complicated hazel eyes peered down at Luce over the tortoiseshell rirounded"

Grounded? That was it?

"Class Meals Dorm," Francesca recited "Until you hear di erently from us, and unless you are under our strict supervision--these are the only places you will be per into Announcers Understand?"

Luce nodded

Steven added: "Do not test us again Even our patience comes to an end"

Class-Meals-Dor The lodge was dark, and the mess hall didn't open for brunch until eleven After Miles and Shelby shu ed o reluctantly toward Mr Krao back to her room She closed theshade, which Shelby always liked to leave open, then sank into her desk chair

It could have been worse Compared to the stories of cramped cinder-block cells for solitary con ne o easy No one was slapping a pair of wristband tracking devices on her In fact, Steven and Francesca had basically given her the same restrictions Daniel had The di erence was, her teachers really could watch over her night and day Daniel, on the other hand, wasn't supposed to be there at all

Annoyed, she powered up her co her access to the Internet to be suddenly restricted But she logged on just as usual and found three eht side of being grounded was that she'd be forced to nally stay in better contact with her friends and family

To: [email protected] / /

From: [email protected] / /

Sent: Friday, 11/20 at 8:22 a

Check out this picture! We dressed Andrew up as a turkey for the neighborhood autumn block party As you can tell from the bite marks on the feathers: He loved it What do

you think? Should we ?

To: [email protected] / /

From: [email protected] / /

Sent: Friday, 11/20 at 9:06 am

Subject: PS

Your dad read uilt trip intended, sweetie If you're allowed to co, we'd love it If you

can't, we'll reschedule for another time We love you

To: [email protected] / /

From: [email protected] / /

Sent: Saturday, 11/21 at 12:12 am

Subject: no subject

Just let us know either way? xoxo, Mom

Luce held her head in her hands She'd been wrong All the grounding in the world wouldn't make it easier for her to respond to her parents They'd dressed their poodle up as a turkey, for crying out loud! It broke her heart to think of letting the Callie's email

To: [email protected] / /

From: [email protected] / /

Sent: Friday, 11/20 at 4:14 pht reservation below speaks for itself Send et in on Thursday -lost

best friend! It's going to be soooo peachy! See you in SIX DAYS!

In less than a week, Luce's best friend would be showing up for Thanksgiving at her parents' house, her parents would be expecting her, and Luce would be right here, grounded in her doriven anything to go to theive her a break fro couple of weeks she'd spent shackled within these wooden walls