Fallen 2. Torment(38)

Luce looked down at her coffee and swallowed hard. No way could she get

emotional here, now, in front of these three.

Dawn was in the bathroom, rooting through the cupboards next to the sink. "As an

integral member of the planning committee, we think you should be a part of the

welcome address today," she said, looking up at Luce in disbelief. "How are you not even

dressed yet? The yacht leaves in, like, under an hour."

Luce scratched her forehead. "Remind me?"

"Ugh." Dawn groaned dramatically. "Amy Branshaw? My lab partner? The one

whose father owns the monster yacht? Is any of this ringing a bell?"

It was all coming back to her. Saturday. The yacht trip up the coast. Jasmine and

Dawn had pitched the distantly educational idea to Shoreline's events committee--aka

Francesca--and had somehow gotten it approved. Luce had agreed to help, but she hadn't

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done a thing. All she could think about now was Daniel's face when she'd told him about

it, instantly dismissing the idea of Luce's having fun without him.

Now Dawn was rifling through Luce's closet. She pulled out a long-sleeved

eggplant-colored jersey dress, tossed it at Luce, and shooed her into the bathroom. "Don't

forget leggings underneath. It's cold out on the water."

On her way, Luce grabbed her cell phone from its charger. Last night, after Cam

had dropped her off, she'd felt so terrified and alone, she'd broken Mr. Cole's number one

rule and texted Callie. If Mr. Cole knew how badly she needed to hear from a friend ...

he'd probably still be furious with her. Too late now.

She opened her text message folder and recalled how her fingers had been

shaking when she wrote the lie-filled text:

Finally scored a cell phone! Reception's spotty, but I'll call when I can.

Everything's great here, but I miss you! Write soon!

No response from Callie.

Was she sick? Busy? Out of town?

Ignoring Luce for ignoring her?

Luce glanced in the mirror. She looked and felt like crap. But she'd agreed to help

Dawn and Jasmine, so she tugged on the jersey dress and twisted her blond hair back

with a few bobby pins.

By the time Luce came out of the bathroom, Shelby was helping herself to the

breakfast the girls had brought with them in the paper bag. It did look really good--cherry

Danishes and apple fritters and muffins and cinnamon rolls and three different kinds of

juice. Jasmine handed her an oversized bran muffin and a tub of cream cheese.

"Brain food."

"What's all this?" Miles stuck his head in through the slightly ajar door. Luce

couldn't see his eyes under his tugged-down baseball cap, but his brown hair was flipping

up on the sides and his giant dimples showed when he smiled. Dawn went into an instant

fit of giggles, for no other reason than that Miles was cute and Dawn was Dawn.





But Miles didn't seem to notice. He was almost more relaxed and casual around a

group of very girly girls than Luce was herself. Maybe he had a whole bunch of sisters or

something. He wasn't like some of the other kids at Shoreline, whose coolness seemed to

be a front. Miles was genuine, the real thing.

"Don't you have any friends your own gender?" Shelby asked, pretending to be

more annoyed than she really was. Now that she knew her roommate a little better, Luce

was starting to find Shelby's abrasive humor almost charming.

" 'Course." Miles stepped into the room totally unfazed. "It's just, my guy friends

don't usually show up with breakfast." He slid a huge cinnamon roll out of the bag and

took a giant bite. "You look pretty, Luce," he said with his mouth full.

Luce blushed and Dawn stopped giggling and Shelby coughed into her sleeve:

"Awkward!"

At the first sound of the loudspeaker in the hallway, Luce jumped. The other kids

looked at her like she was nuts, but Luce was still used to Sword & Cross's punishing PA

pronouncements. Instead, Francesca's amber voice poured into the room:

"Good morning, Shoreline. If you're joining us on today's yachting trip, the bus to

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the marina leaves in ten minutes. Let's convene at the south entrance for a head count.

And don't forget to dress warmly!"

Miles grabbed another pastry for the road. Shelby pulled on a pair of polka-dot

galoshes. Jasmine tightened the band of her pink earmuffs and shrugged at Luce. "So

much for planning! We'll have to wing the welcome address."

"Sit by us on the bus," Dawn instructed. "We'll totally map it out on the way to

Noyo Point."

Noyo Point. Luce had to force herself to swallow a mouthful of bran muffin. The

Outcast girl's dead expression even when she was alive; the awful ride home with Cam-the memory brought goose bumps to Luce's skin. It didn't help that Cam had rubbed it in