Page 110 of Spencer and the Younger Girl
“Hadley,” Charlotte chastised.
“Charlie.” She threw it right back.
“Maybe you should talk to him.”
Hadley closed her locker. “We need to get to chem.” She turned to rush down the hall toward the science wing.
Charlotte matched her pace. “Fine, Hadley. You can just go on being grumpy today. But I think it’s rather dopey of you when you could stop being bashful and go be happy.”
Hadley’s steps froze, and she turned a grin on her friend. “So, we’re talking inSnow Whiteterms?”
Charlotte nodded, proud of herself.
“Well played, Charizard, well played.”
They walked into chemistry to find Jesse and Roman already there. It was the one class they all had together, and Hadley was thankful to have her friends around. They were only missing Cassie who took classes online.
Sliding in next to Roman, she shot him a scowl. “You and I need to talk.”
“Charlie told you, didn’t she?” He cursed.
“Unlike you, she doesn’t want to keep things from me. What has he been saying to you? Heck, what have you been saying to him?”
When he didn’t answer her, she huffed. “Okay, just tell me this… when is he leaving?”
Roman flicked his eyes to the door as if waiting for something. “Can we talk about this after class?”
Mr. Thompson walked in and shut the door. “Good morning.” His eyes found Hadley and narrowed. Not everyone was over the prank, it seemed. “Today, we’re taking notes.”
A few students groaned.
Hadley leaned closer to Roman. “Why do you keep looking at the door?” she whispered.
He only shrugged and opened his notebook.
She tried to focus on the notes Mr. Thompson put up about chemical reactions. In his completely old-fashioned ways, he wrote them directly on the chalkboard.
But she needed answers.
“Rome,” she hissed. “Please, I need you to tell me what’s going on.”
“I can’t.” He sent her an apologetic look.
“You can’t? Rome—”
“Ms. Gibson,” Mr. Thompson snapped. “I had hoped after your… goats, that you’d come back to school ready to learn. Was I wrong?”
“No.” She tapped her pencil on the desk, and his eyes zeroed in on it.
“You are a thorn in my class, and I won’t have you disrupting it any longer. You have no regard for anyone but yourself, interrupting—” His words cut off as the door opened.
No one entered at first.
Then she heard it. A bleating so familiar she wondered if she’d imagined it.
A black head poked around the doorframe.
“Stammer.” Hadley jumped up and ran to the goat who’d now inched his way farther into the room.
