Chapter 213

“I’m not sure, maybe she’s sick or something,” Claire said, sounding pretty casual about it.

But honestly, it was probably because Cindy got slapped by Octavia. With that handprint still on her face, Cindy was definitely not in any rush to show up at school.

“Since she’s been missing, some people are starting to wonder if she was involved in all that online drama about you,” Sophia said.

“Well, she is Molly’s desk mate, and they’re super close p>

“She’s always been sweet around everyone, so some people are still on her side p>

Normally, they’d get their break right after finals, but since they were seniors, they had to stick around for an extra week of classes. After all this drama, the whole class was just counting down to the holidays. No one was really paying attention to school anymore.

“Just let people say whatever they want, but you don’t need to get involved,” Claire told Sophia. She was worried Sophia might get into an argument or worse, a fight -trying to defend her. If that happened, Cicely would just freak out again.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep quiet about Cindy. We’re so close that if I start talking about her, people might think you’re the one with a problem,” Sophia said.

Claire looked out for Sophia, and Sophia did the same for her. Neither of them wanted the other to get dragged into trouble. That’s just how real best friends are.

“I really don’t have a problem with her,” Claire said honestly. If she and Cindy had just gone their separate ways after the whole identity mess, Claire wouldn’t have cared one bit. But Cindy kept turning everything into a competition, always comparing the two of them. Claire just didn’t get what she was hoping to prove.

After hanging up with Sophia, Claire headed back to her dorm. Two new roommates had already moved in. They were both from out of state.

At first, the new girls were a little curious about Claire, maybe even a bit suspicious, but after the official statement cleared things up, and after getting to know her the night before they realized Claire wasn’t the type to do anything shady for good grades. There was just something about her-she had real main character energy.

“Claire, we’re going to the cafeteria. Want to come with?” one of the girls asked.

They’d already made plans. One was chubby, the other super skinny. The chubby girl, Nanette, was actually really cute-if she ever lost weight, she’d be a total knockout. The slimmer one was Linsey.

Turns out, they were from the same province, and the only two girls from their region. They’d gotten to know each other through competitions.

Linsey laughed, “When we first met, we were both kind of on guard, but now we’re really close p>

Nanette nodded. “Back home, people are so old-fashioned. They said we’d never make it in the competitions. That girls in high school just can’t keep up with the boys p>

“But in the end, it was just the two of us who made it through. All those guys couldn’t believe it p>

Nanette’s family was pretty well-off and, since she had a bunch of brothers, they actually pampered her as the only daughter.

Linsey’s story was the opposite. She

only got to go to high school

because her older sister started working young and knew how tough it was not having an education Her parents didn’t want to pay for Linsey’s schooling, so her sister covered her expenses.

Linsey was a straight-A student, super smart, and especially talented at math. Her teachers even tutored her for free and convinced her to join the competition team. This year Linsey was determined to win a spot for guaranteed college

WI

admission-she wanted her sister to be proud.

“Hey, Wendy, do you want to come eat with us?” Claire turned to ask.

Wendy was really quiet and barely noticeable in the dorm. The other two girls hadn’t

meant to leave her out-they just honestly hadn’t thought of it.