Prophecy Girl (10 page)

Corrine sighed. “She was talking about the book.”

Meg still seemed confused, her brow furrowed, thinking. Then after a few seconds, her face relaxed, and she laughed. “Oh! That’s good! You’re
so
funny!”

Eva just smiled, resisting the urge to shake her head. Instead she took a set of tongs, and picked up a fresh-baked honey roll.

“You’re from Miami, right?” Meg asked.

Eva almost dropped the roll on the floor, but she managed to set it cockeyed next to her beef stew. Given Meg’s personality, she worried that the redhead would ask all about her life, and she didn’t want to tell anyone about her year long stay in the psychiatric hospital.

Eva set the tongs back. “Yeah.”

“Hot down there, huh?”

Eva nodded. “Yep. Hot.”

“I’m from Washington,” she said. “The state, not the capital” she added with a nod.

“Ah, got it,” Eva said, nodding back too.

“I’m from Ohio,” Corrine said. “And Bree’s from Maine.”

“Maine? I would’ve thought she was from California.”

“Why?” Meg asked.

Eva shrugged. “Well, Lucas is from there, and I don’t know, but they look so…alike.”

“Yeah, they do now that I think about it,” Corrine agreed.

“Yeah, I guess,” Meg said. “So…you’re with Lucas?” she asked, grinning.

Eva felt her face get hot and it wasn’t from the steaming beef stew.  “Um…maybe.” 

They hadn’t officially declared themselves as boyfriend/girlfriend, but Eva knew they were more than just friends.

Meg squealed. “Ooh, that’s great! You know, he used to date Bree, but that was last year. She’s into Devin now.”

“Devin?” Her heart did a back flip in her chest.

“Yeah, have you met him?”

“Briefly,” Eva answered in a dejected tone.

“Well, they had a little fling after her and Lucas split, but she wants more.”

“And he doesn’t?” she asked, confusingly hopeful.

Corrine shook her head. “No, they say he likes to play the field, and after he ended it with Bree, he did, but now he’s single.”

Meg gently jabbed Eva in her side. “Bet he was waiting on you, the new girl, but now his best friend has you!”

Best friend?! 

“Have you met Liam and Finn?” Corrine asked, oblivious to Eva’s roaming thoughts.

Eva nodded. “Yeah, they’re nice, especially Liam.”

“Yeah, he’s funny,” Corrine said. “I used to date Finn…last year.”

“Oh? What happened?” Eva asked, excited to get it on the juicy gossip.

Corrine shrugged. “Didn’t work out.”

Meg shook her head. “He’s such an idiot for breaking up with you.”

“What was his reason?” Eva asked.

“That’s the thing,” Meg answered in an annoyed tone. “He didn’t even give a reason!” She put her hands on her hips. “Can you believe that?”

“Sorry,” Eva said to Corrine. “I didn’t think he was like that. He seemed so nice.”

“The nice ones will fool you,” Meg said with a wizened nod. “Get some apple cobbler,” she continued, pointing to the sweet dish at the end of the line.

After Eva ate, she was introduced to the rest of the students in the cafeteria. Everyone seemed nice, and she truly felt that Green Clover Academy would be the best place for her. And the home-cooked food was much better than what she was served at her old school and the hospital. She could get addicted to Ms. Dempsey’s apple cobbler.

“Let’s go back to our room,” Meg suggested, skipping about with excitement, her red curly hair flying around her face.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Eva said.

She felt tired after her journey, and all the drama, but she knew bouncy Meg wouldn’t let her sleep. The clock on the cafeteria wall—a large green shamrock—read eight-thirty. If she was back at the hospital, there would be only thirty minutes until bed time, but she wasn’t sure about this place, even though the loud billboard notice specified lights out at ten. She assumed lots of midnight parties, and she wasn’t far off when she left the cafeteria with Meg and Corrine. When they walked past the east wing of the school, she heard music, but loud like a rock concert.

Eva pointed to the noise at the Leprechaun side. “What’s that?”

“Practice,” Corrine answered. “The Four Leaf Clovers.”

“The who?”             

Meg twirled around in front of Eva. “Devin, Lucas, Liam, and Finn,” she answered, counting on her fingers. “They play in a band—the Four Leaf Clovers. Get it? Four?” She wiggled four short fingers at her, smiling.
Eva was excited to be with Lucas, an actual musician, but even more excited that Devin was one too. 

“They’re really good. What does Lucas play?” She didn’t dare ask about Devin.

“The drums,” Corrine answered. “Finn and Liam are on the guitar. Devin plays guitar too while being the lead singer.”

Lead singer? How awesome! As if she didn’t need another reason to be excited about him.

“Can we hear them play?” 

She wondered if Devin would disappear on her again, but she had to look at him again—to know that she hadn’t lost her mind, to know they had never met before this day.

Meg shook her red curls. “No. They don’t like us staring at them during practice, but they’ll probably do a show soon.” She smiled. “We’ll have lots of fun then.”

“Finn used to let me sit in on the practice sessions, even though the other guys didn’t really like it,” Corrine said with a noticeably sad look, but then shrugged, and smiled. “All well, that was in the past.”

Meg bounced up to Corrine and squeezed her hand. “Forget about that Finn! He’s stupid for breaking up with you, and you don’t need a stupid boy.”

Corrine smiled. “Thanks.”

“Besides”—Meg looped an arm with Corrine and Eva—“all boys are stupid. Yes, they’re cute and sexy and gorgeous and have stubbly beards and deep voices and muscular arms and rock-hard abs…” The redhead trailed off, staring into space.

Eva laughed. “What was your point again?”
Meg shook her head. “Oh…um…well, yeah, but they’re all stupid. Especially when it comes to girls.”

“I hope Lucas doesn’t break your heart,” Corrine said to Eva with a sad look.

“Don’t jinx it,” Meg reprimanded, lightly slapping Corrine’s arm. The redhead turned to Eva. “I can tell he’s different. He
really, really
likes you. He didn’t act that way around Bree. They hardly ever talked, if you know what I mean.” She winked, clicking her tongue.

Eva just smiled and nodded, but a veil of worry fell over her. She knew Lucas, the guy she liked, maybe loved, had been not only with Bree, but with lots of other girls. She never had someone really, really like her before. So it was a big step for her to kiss Lucas, but she didn’t need to be pushed.

However, despite the attraction she felt to Lucas, and the realization that she had the “the guy” that all the girls swooned over, she still couldn’t stop thinking Devin—lead singer and guitar player, with his cologne and tobacco scent, and his vanishing act. Not even a smile and wave. He just disappeared like she was too unimportant for him to even care—which was odd since most of the student body—with the slight exception of Bree—seemed to really welcome her.

When the girls made it to their room on the fourth floor, Eva noticed that the seven on their door hung loosely, looking like a lopsided L. She tried to fix it. 

Meg waved her hand in the air. “It does that a lot. Just leave it.”

“Maybe Colin could fix it,” Eva suggested, as Meg opened the door.

Eva noticed Bree at her desk, holding a wooden box in her hands—the one with the padlock.

“Colin?!” Bree threw her blond hair out of her face with a whip of her head. “I don’t want that weirdo anywhere
near
this room.”

Eva turned to Meg and Corrine, who seemed to be more level-headed. “What’s wrong with him?”

Meg shut the door. “Nothing’s wrong with Colin. Bit of an attitude. But some people around here are like that.” She turned to Bree.

Bree just rolled her eyes. “He’s a creep.”

Corrine added, “Last year when Bree and Lucas were going out, Colin seemed to have a problem with it.”

“He was totally in love with me. Still is,” Bree said, smiling, as if it were perfectly normal to have every guy in love with her.

“But isn’t he in his mid-twenties?” Eva asked.

Meg shook her head. “No, he only graduated a few years ago. He just turned twenty, I think.”

“Hmm, seemed older,” Eva said. “Must be all the cigarette smoke.”

“Must be,” Corrine agreed. “Anyway, Colin would sometimes stalk Bree and whenever she was with Lucas, he would start little fights with him, but nothing too serious.” She turned to Bree. “Isn’t that right?”

Bree nodded. “Yeah, he thought that he had a chance when Lucas and I broke up,” she said, sitting on her bed with her locked wooden box. “He gave up when I started dating Devin.”

“Oh,” Eva said. 

It was all she could say, despite her desire to scream, as she walked casually over to her side of the room. She couldn’t believe that Lucas
and
Devin had been with her. What was it about her? The blond hair? The long legs? The pink nail polish? Eva looked down at her own nails—some long, some short, never been manicured. Lucas didn’t seem to mind, but of course, he hadn’t been kissing her hands. 

There was a vanity mirror on her dresser, and she went over to it, checking her face. The mauve lipstick Kate had given her had already worn off from Lucas’ lips and Ms. Dempsey’s apple cobbler. Her eyes looked tired and her hair was a little less shiny, but for the most part, she didn’t look
that
bad. But she wasn’t model gorgeous like Bree, and wondered why Lucas ever broke up with her. And why Devin jumped—she assumed—at the chance to be with her, to only let it fizzle out.

“This is
my
box,” Bree announced loudly.

The declaration interrupted Eva’s worried thoughts. She turned to Bree, who was staring at her with narrowed eyes. Bree’s bed was along the same wall as Eva’s, while Meg and Corrine’s were on the opposite wall. She wondered if anyone here was a snorer, but she could be one, and not even know it.

Meg grunted. “Shut up about that damn box!” She walked over to her bed across from Bree’s, picked up a stack of fashion magazines, and threw them angrily in a black crate on the floor, already filled to the brim with romance novels.

Bree huffed. “Well, I had to put a padlock on it because
someone
”—she looked back and forth between Meg and Corrine—“stole my nail polish.”

Corrine rolled her eyes, sitting on her bed, across from Eva. “Did you ever consider that one of the guys popped in here and took it? Just to make you mad?”

Bree furrowed her brow in consideration. “Who would do that? Devin? Maybe as a souvenir? Because he misses me, wishing he never broke up with me?” Bree’s mouth hung open, tantalized by the possibility.

Eva stood listening, desiring to know if he still had feelings for her—enough to steal one of her many bottles of pink nail polish. What was he doing with it? Sleeping with it? Weird.

Meg shrugged. “Doubt it, but those Leprechauns can be weird.” She turned to Eva. “You met Devin, right? How’d he seem?”

Now three pairs of eyes were on her. Uh…well…actually, he disappeared.”

All of them furrowed their brows. 

“He vanished?” Meg asked, raising her eyebrow. “Why?”

Eva shrugged. “I don’t know. I went to introduce myself, and he just…left.”

Bree narrowed her eyes, but then relaxed, and said, “Means nothing. That boy was always…different. I bet it was him. He still likes me.” She tilted her head, thinking.  “Yep, he does.” She grinned. “He stole my nail polish.” 

That big smile never left her face, as she placed the wooden box on her desk, and unlocked it with a small key, revealing dozens of nail polish, tucked carefully inside, and all the color of pink. 

“There. Now that I know it wasn’t one of you, I’ll leave it open.” She tossed the key in a desk drawer. “I was getting so tired of having to secure that thing. Besides,” she added, smiling, “I want to see if another one gets taken.”

“Are you going to confront Devin about it?” Eva asked.

She shrugged. “It’s just nail polish,” she said in complete reversal to her earlier freak-out. “Going to take a shower. If you have to pee, do it now,” she continued, walking to the bathroom.

“Maybe it
was
Colin,” Eva suggested.

Bree was just about to close the bathroom door, but halted, and turned around, narrowing her eyes at Eva. “
No
, it was Devin because he still likes me.” Then she slammed the door.

A few seconds later, the shower started up.

“Bet it was Colin,” Meg said, nodding.

“Yeah, me too,” Corrine agreed.

Eva hoped it was creepy Colin, because the thought that Devin still liked Bree made her feel…heartbroken.