Authors: Alexia Purdy
Breathe Me (23 page)
She shot me a look of pure loathing that surprised me. I wondered what her deal was. Did she hate me that much for knocking into her?
The other girl flipped her long locks over her shoulder as her eyes zoned into me. She flashed me a flirtatious grin. “Call me Kance.”
“And you can call me Becky.” The glee in my sister’s voice was evident. She had finally found the type of girl she wanted to be friends with.
This Kance girl was of no interest to me. I knew plenty of girls like her. I’d dated plenty of girls like her and they were mostly the same—obsessed with their appearance, being popular, and dating boys. They had no depth or substance to them and they made me yawn.
On the other hand, the coffee assailant was another story. It was impossible to ignore that look she was giving me, as though I’d done something to personally offend her. She was intriguing, and so was that name of hers.
“You’re Hades?” I asked, wondering who the heck would name their kid that. “Like the God of the Underworld?”
“How nice. You know basic Greek mythology,” she retorted, and then said one word that made no sense to me. “Hadassah.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You’re a hairdresser?”
Her bottom lip curled. “That’s my name. Ha-DAhs-sah. That’s where my nickname, Hadie, comes from.”
Wow. No wonder the poor girl was in such a bad mood. If my parents had named me Hadassah, I would’ve sued them.
Kance smirked at our exchange. “Hadassah is such a
precious
name.” It was pretty obvious that she meant otherwise. “I can’t imagine why Bennett didn’t stick around to play with you.”
Whoa. What was that all about? Who was this Bennett guy?
Ignoring Kance completely, Hadie crossed her arms and turned to Principal Lawson, her face a mask of fury. “Sir, are you sure there’s no one else who can do this?”
Principal Lawson frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Hadie. You volunteered for this, and it may not be enjoyable for you, but at least it counts towards extra credit.”
Great. So the weird-named girl was doing this for extra credit. And they were talking about me like I was some annoying chore that had to be taken care of.
I cleared my throat to remind them that I was still standing here. “I don’t need anyone to babysit me. Just give me my schedule and a map and I’ll be fine.”
Principal Lawson looked like he was seriously considering my request, but he ended up shaking his head. “I’m afraid that’s not the policy of our school. We want you to feel as welcome as possible.”
“I’d be more than happy to take care of Lincoln,” Kance jumped in.
“I’m sorry, Askance, but I’ve already assigned you to Becky. Hadie is Lincoln’s buddy for the rest of the week.”
Becky seemed thrilled by this. “Trust me, Link is a total bore. We’ll have way more fun together, Kance.”
Kance gave Becky a look as though she highly doubted this, but plastered a fake smile on her face. “Sure, we will.”
Hadie turned to me in surprise. “You named yourself after a boy who dresses in green and rescues princesses?”
I gave her a non-committal shrug which seemed to infuriate her even more, because she physically turned away from me as though she couldn’t stand to look at me.
Principal Lawson sighed and began heading out of his office, motioning for all of us to follow him. What I couldn’t understand was why the heck he’d assigned Hadie to look after me. The girl was anything but welcoming.
This was going to be the hardest week of my life.
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