Page 14 of The Charade

Cambrielle sat a little taller. "If you don't have anything going on before the party, you could come early and hang out. I've been stuck in the Hamptons with my brothers all summer, so it would be nice to have some girl time."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Mind?" Cambrielle asked. "Definitely not. In fact, if your sister and Scarlett want to come, we can just call it our pre-party."

"Hey, wait a minute," Nash said, setting his hands on the table. "Don't tell me you're going to try to steal Ava from me. I thought Carter and Mack would be my biggest competition, not my baby sister."

He thought Carter and Mack would be competing for me?

I was flattered by the sentiment, but Mack seemed to be dazzled by my sister at the moment, and Carter was currently reaching into a charcoal-colored backpack beside him, having ducked out of the conversation minutes ago.

I looked at Nash and Cambrielle, wondering what was going on. Was this just some kind of game they played with each other? See who could make the most friends the first week of school?

I'd been worried that everyone would already be settled into their friend groups and wouldn't want to make room for Elyse and me, but were the Hastings siblings actually fighting over me?

Well, two of the Hastings siblings, that is.Carter was currently opening what seemed to be a non-fiction book—written in Spanish from the looks of the title I couldn't translate—and his attention to it was intense, as if he was planning to escape into its pages while he finished his meal.

Who was this guy?

I could understand the compulsion to read an addictive romance novel in order to find out how the couple got together in the end, but a Spanish self-help book at dinner? I didn't understand the pull for something like that.

Unless it was, of course, scheduled into that planner of his that Mack mentioned earlier.

I pushed away my curiosity over what made Carter Hastings tick and focused back on Nash and Cambrielle who were now apparently deciding who got to drive Elyse, Scarlett, and me to their house on Saturday afternoon.

No bother over the fact that Elyse probably didn't even know about the party, let alone a pre-party, and therefore couldn't be counted on attending for sure yet.

I was about to suggest that since most vehicles had five seats, we could all just drive in the same vehicle when Carter's deep voice cut into the air. With a hint of annoyance, he said, "You two are going to scare Ava and her sister away before the end of the night, if you don't stop arguing."

From his tone, I expected him to be glaring at his siblings. But when I glanced across the table at him, he was still focused on his book, casually turning a page. As if breaking up his siblings’ fights while reading came as naturally to him as breathing.

"Oh, just read your book, Carter," Cambrielle said, waving her hand at her aloof brother. She turned to me and said, "How about this: Nash can drive you to our house and I can drive you back since we all know how Nash loses track of time during his parties."

"Good thinking." Nash held a finger in the air. Then looking at me, he asked, "How does that sound? I'll drive you to our place, and my responsible little sis will bring you back to the school afterward."

"I, uh—" I swallowed, not used to this kind of attention. "I guess that sounds good."

"Perfect," Cambrielle said, beaming that her plan had won out over her brother's.

A moment later, the headmistress, Mrs. Sutton—a spindly woman with dramatic features wearing a white ruffled blouse and a black pencil skirt—stood at the podium in the front of the room to welcome us to a brand-new school year at Eden Falls Academy. While everyone's attention was turned to Mrs. Sutton, I glanced at my sister to see how she was faring so far.

When she looked my way, she mouthed, "Doing good?"

I nodded and then mouthed, "You?" To which she gave me a thumbs-up sign.

So far, so good.

5

Ava

The first dayof classes began the next morning. I wore uniform number two since it was Tuesday—a cream-colored blazer, white button-down shirt, pink-and-burgundy plaid skirt, a necktie, and burgundy socks. It was my favorite of the uniforms we'd had to buy for the school year since the lighter colors went well with my skin tone.

But with the colors being more feminine, I wondered if the boys would be wearing the same color palette. My question was answered when I went to breakfast in the great hall and saw that while the boys’ ties were made from the same pink-and-burgundy plaid material, their blazer and slacks were navy blue—which actually went together nicely. My mom would be proud of whoever chose the school uniforms because they clearly had an eye for fashion.

I ate breakfast with Scarlett, Hunter, and Elyse. Mack and the Hastings crew were all day students, so Scarlett told us that they rarely ever had breakfast at the school.

My first class of the day was AP English. Unlike math, I actually did quite well with the subject. When the teacher, Mr. Brown, went over the syllabus for this year, thankfully it wasn't too overwhelming. We were to read a few classics on our own and as a class, do some reports and group projects, and when it came time to take the AP test at the end of the year, we'd hopefully have learned enough to pass the test and have some college credit before graduation.

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