Changing the Rules (Richter Book 1)(17)

“That’s it?” Claire asked. Her tone held a slight edge.

“For today, that’s it.” Mark pointed to Terrance. “You’ll start.”

Cooper and Claire took a few steps away from the pit while Mark worked at getting Terrance in the right position to run up and jump.

Cooper whispered Claire’s way. “How did it go today?”

She looked to the side. “Happy hour at my place.”

Terrance ran up and took his jump . . . and landed straight on his ass.





CHAPTER SEVEN


“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.” Claire sat on the edge of being annoyed as she spread out the notes she’d collected throughout the day.

In like fashion, Cooper looked over his lists of students and then worked to compile the athletes on the field. A half-eaten pizza and a couple of empty beer cans filled the space on the table that wasn’t occupied with notes.

Jax took up the other end of the dining room table. “We need to put this into a spreadsheet.”

Cooper and Claire both pointed at her at the same time.

“I pick you,” Claire said.

“We have track,” Cooper explained, waving his hand between the two of them.

Claire fisted her pointing finger and bumped knuckles with Cooper.

Jax rolled her eyes. “Fine.” Her tone was anything but fine.

“Did you make any connections today?” Claire asked Jax.

“Not really. There were a few friendly smiles, but no one went out of their way to be welcoming.”

“At least you didn’t get hit with spit wads,” Cooper pointed out.

Claire laughed.

“It’s not funny,” Cooper said with a glare.

“It’s kinda funny.”

“The headmistress would have had us in isolation if we did anything like that in school,” Jax said.

“Last I looked, our headmistress did time for child endangerment,” Claire clarified as she took a bite of her pepperoni with extra cheese.

“Which is crap, considering our parents knew what they were signing us up for.”

Their boarding school was strict, in the military sense, and yes, parents knew the environment their kids were being exposed to. But in Claire’s situation, it wasn’t a parent that placed her there.

Jax must have realized what she was saying and quickly averted her eyes. “Sorry. That was insensitive of me.”

Claire shook off her best friend’s concern, put her pizza down. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault I was left on an orphanage doorstep by parents who didn’t care. Much as I want to hate on those that eventually put me at Richter, I’m better for having been there.”

The three of them exchanged looks, and when Claire diverted her attention to her papers, they got the hint to drop the subject. She’d spent so much time feeling sorry for herself, the last thing Claire wanted was her friends to worry on her behalf.

Jax moved from the kitchen table only to return with a laptop.

Claire shifted her homeroom roster notes to Jax. “Mr. Green gave me a list of students in my homeroom. They’re the kids that spend time in detention, from what I was told.”

Jax glanced at the notebook and grinned. “Back to our old tricks.”

Claire nodded. “A mix of English, German, and Russian with enough doodling to make it look like I’m bored.” Jax and Claire had passed similar notes with the mix of languages while attending Richter.

“There’re no names with the notes.”

“I got stuck in the front of the class. I’ll rectify that tomorrow.”

Cooper took her homeroom roster and scanned through his classes. “Looks like we have a few of the same names.”

“Any of them spit-wad kid?” Claire asked.

“My back was turned, but if I had to guess . . .” Cooper starred a couple of names. “This kid spends time lifting weights, and this one eats too many burgers,” he described.

“Find the rebels and we’ll find the parties. It will be a lot easier to get a handle on these kids’ agendas on a Friday or Saturday night than in homeroom.”

Cooper ran a hand through his hair. “This assignment isn’t going to give us much time for R and R.”

“We’ll make Neil give us a couple weeks in the Bahamas when it’s all over,” Claire suggested with a wink.

“Doesn’t sound like Neil.”

“He’s softened up a little since you’ve been gone.”

“Bahamas soft?”

Claire batted her eyelashes a few times. “I can talk him into it.”

While Claire and Cooper talked about a vacation they had yet to earn, Jax typed away at her laptop. “What about the teaching staff? Anything to report there?” she asked them both.

“Nothing yet,” Claire said.

Cooper, however, hesitated before he answered.

“What are you thinking?”

He shook his head. “Probably nothing.”

“Let us determine that as a team.”

Cooper looked Claire in the eye. “Coach Bennett.”

Claire was surprised to hear that name. She hadn’t gotten a vibe off him at all. “What did he do?”

“He didn’t do anything. I was, uhm . . . watching you guys running laps, got distracted. Bennett made a comment about how the students didn’t look that good when he was in school.”