Page 158 of Fractured Fate
“You mind?”
She passed the container to Blaire. “Knock yourself out.”
They used to share food all the time when they worked together at the diner. She didn’t have the appetite Blaire did. Her best friend was a foodie through and through.
“You’re the best.” Blaire scooped the fully loaded taco from the container and took a big bite.
Charlotte suspected Blaire’s intense love of food came from her youth. She once read that kids who rarely got fed grew into adults obsessed with food. Something about food insecurity.
It wasn’t like Blaire had starved as a child, but her mother struggled from time to time as a single parent before finding a good job, later marrying into the Wilcox family when Blaire was older.
Charlotte met them when Blaire was in high school, so she didn’t know firsthand of their struggles from when Blaire was little.
Blaire had told her they never went without, but it wasn’t uncommon they turned a pack of instant noodles into a full meal. Not uncommon for college students, but not the best for a developing child.
“So you’re the new human?”
Charlotte blinked against the sunlight, focusing on the trio of girls standing in front of them. “I guess that’s me?” She side-eyed Blaire and Riley.
“What’s your name?” the middle girl asked, her head angled, shoulder-length strands of honeycomb brassy hair falling to the side. She wore tailored jeans and a fitted, soft-looking blouse that, while pretty, looked too heavy for the humidity.
“Charlotte,” she said with hesitation.
The shortest girl on the left, who looked not much taller than Charlotte, smiled. “I’m Piper.”
Returning her smile, Charlotte said, “Nice to meet you. I like your shoes.”
The girl wore a pair of velvet platform Mary Janes in cherry red. They looked stunning with her pencil dress in solid black. Her jet-black hair was in a high ponytail tied off with a big red ribbon. She screamed rockabilly, and if Riley hadn’t returned her attention to whatever distracted her on her phone, she’d no doubt have said something about the girl’s fun style.
“Lindsay,” the tallest one on the right said. She looked uncomfortable, twisting the end of her loose blonde braid between her fingers. Did Charlotte make her uncomfortable, or was it her friend in the middle who seemed standoffish?
“Right. Names aside,” the middle one said with a dismissive wave. She didn’t give her name.
Whatever. These types were everywhere, and she could spot them a mile away. For some people, high school never ended.
“Why are you here, exactly?”
“Because I have a scholarship.” She didn’t know if it was safe to mention the whole Korrena thing or not.
The girl scoffed, not even attempting to disguise her disdain. “Scholarship? You didn’t even pay to be here? At least this human did, and she has a reason to be here.”
Riley’s head jerked up. “Charlotte has every right to be here, so why don’t you go on and leave her alone, Alex?”
“Besides, I didn’t pay to be here either,” Blaire said, giving Alex a shrewd look. “The Blackthorn Clan funded my way because my Korrena goes here.”
“Well,” Alex started, and Charlotte didn’t know if the red spreading over her cheeks was from embarrassment, anger, or overheating from the outfit she wore. “What’s her excuse?”
“Noneya,” Riley sniped.
“None-what?”
“Noneya. None of your business,” Piper said with a snicker.
Alex gave her a scathing look. “Thanks for clearing that up.”
“You’re welcome!”
The bright and bubbly voice counter to the sarcasm made Charlotte want to laugh. Piper knew what she was doing. It was clear she didn’t agree with Alex’s mean girl routine any more than Lindsay did. In fact, Lindsay looked like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole.
