Page 37 of The Black Table
GWENNA
I don’t remember fallingasleep. But when I wake up, Morgan is staring at me.
“There she is,” she says. “Good morning.”
I don’t respond, just slowly, very slowly, push myself up to sitting, careful to keep the arms of my sweatshirt taut at my wrists.
“Um,” I croak. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Morgan repeats emphatically. She blinks. “Do you…want to explain what happened last night?”
I rub the side of my forehead.
A fight. Two mean girls. Four boys, coming to my rescue…sort of? Including Morgan’s stepbrother, whichwhat the fuck?—
“I could ask you the same thing,” I say.
She purses her lips, crosses her arms, sits back in her bed. She’s got on purple silk shorty pajamas, a matching set. “I asked you first.”
Fair enough. I blow out a breath, scratch the back of my head. Hard to think before coffee. “Um…Elena hates me, I guess.” I shrug. “I really don’t know.”
“Why?”
“I mean…” I chew the inside of my cheek. “I think she likes that guy Lanz? On the team?”
Something flickers in Morgan’s honey-colored eyes. Intrigue. Agreement.
So I go on.
“But I guess she doesn’t want anyone to know. Or…something.” I lift my hands and drop them against my bedspread in defeat. “Isn’t this the kind of shit we’re supposed to leave in high school?” I wonder aloud.
“You would think,” Morgan says drily. She studies her nails. Nods. “That tracks.”
Tracks? With what?I think. But Morgan doesn’t elaborate.
“I don’t much care for Elena,” she says airily. “She’s been going all moony over him since the start of the semester. Like she doesn’t know all of the fencing squad is uninterested with a capital U.”
I shiver, thinking aboutthatpart of last night.
And now that it’s reentered my brain, I can’t not think about it.
“Yeah,” I say hoarsely. “About that.”
“Hm?” Morgan looks up.
“The…all of them?” I say. I don’t even know how to describe it. “Showing up like that?”
“Oh,” Morgan says, as if she’d somehow forgotten about it. “That.Yeah. It’s part of their whole code.Verychivalrous. They always have to come to the defense of a woman in need. Isn’t that cute?”
I blink. “Code?”
She nods. “That, and the no dating thing. And a few other rules. Personally, I think they take it all a bit seriously, but…” She scrunches up her mouth. “They have their reasons, I suppose.”
Elena’s face flashes into my memory.
And risk our winning streak? How could yousaythat?
“Must be working,” I say.
