Ever After (East Raven Academy Book 1)(8)

“You look so sad,” Teagan says, frowning.

Huh.

“I don’t remember them,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “Plus, my uncle is pretty cool.”

Uncle Matty does seem nice. He and Jake are going to be giving me some self-defense training. I’m kind of excited to learn how to fight and defend myself. It seems like something every girl should know.

Everybody starts talking about their parents, and I learn that Teagan’s dad does something in the oil business, and he’s made a fortune from it. She said her mom is a professional shopper, which is exactly what my mom is. Estaine’s dad is the governor, but his mom is a surgeon, which is pretty much the coolest thing, ever. But seriously, talk about pressure. How do you live up to that kind of legacy? When I think about my dad and how proud I am of him, I wonder if someday my kids will be proud of me. I hope so.

East Raven Academy isn’t such a bad school. I just wish I were here under better circumstances.

Circumstances in which I didn’t have to lie.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, so I pull it out.





UNCLE MATTY: You doing okay? You haven’t gotten kicked out yet, right?





ME: Despite what you think, I’m actually a pretty good student.





UNCLE MATTY: Mmhmm... just don’t hack the school’s computer systems.





I hear Jason laugh, and I look over to see him reading my text over my shoulder. I look at the texts again to make sure nothing was said that could give away my identity. I’m glad that there wasn’t.

“Your uncle thinks you’re going to get kicked out?” Jason asks.

I shrug my shoulders. “Happened at my old school. It’s why I’m here.”

“And you got kicked out for hacking the school’s computers?” he asks.

“Yeah. I made it so all the students could go on social media websites from school computers and tablets—undetected,” I tell him. “The system is actually still on, there. I guess they can’t figure out how to get it off.” Or they just haven’t found out, yet. “I only got caught because some people have a big mouth.”

“Dude, you’re awesome,” Ian says. “What can you hack?”

“A lot of things,” I answer. “One time I hacked into my stepda... uh... uncle’s bank account to see how much money he had, just because I was curious. Most systems are easy to hack. I’ve never tried to hack into any government servers, but I’m sure I could. I just don’t want to go to jail. I try to keep my illegal activities to a minimum.”

“And that’s why you’re my bae,” Jason says.

I roll my eyes, but don’t fight it. I doubt it would do any good anyway. Jason seems like the kind of guy who likes to do things to purposely annoy people.

“How’s the soccer team looking this year?” Ian asks Teagan.

“Good so far, I guess. We’re going to have tryouts on Tuesday. Maybe we will get some good freshman,” she says.

“I’m trying out,” I tell her.

“Cool,” she says, now looking excited. “I’m on the soccer team. I think my mom is disappointed that I play soccer instead of being a cheerleader or a dancer. Her dream is for me to be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.”

“Why would she want that?” I ask.

My mom has never, ever pressured me to do anything I didn’t want to do. The only thing is, if I signed up for something, I’d have to stick with it the entire season. At first, when I signed up for soccer, I hated it. But she made me stay on the team. I ended up loving it, and have played soccer ever since. I’m not, like, a great soccer player or anything, but I really do enjoy it.

“I think it was more my mom’s dream. She doesn’t really care,” Teagan says. “I think she’s just disappointed. She had four boys and then me, and I’m not super girly.”

“I think you’re girly,” I say. “I mean, you dress really cute. Like, I kind of want to go shopping with you.”

She laughs. “I think my mom doesn’t realize that you can be girly and athletic, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.”

“So, do all your brothers play soccer?” I ask.

“No. Football. We’re from Texas,” she says. “Football is a way of life there. I remember we’d be going to my brothers’ games every Friday night at the high school, and the stands would be full.”

“Your brothers didn’t come here?”

“Nah.”

“Why did you come here, then?” Ian asks.

“I got in the wrong crowd,” Teagan answers. “My parents sent me here to get me away from my friends, and I’m glad they did. I love it here. I see now that my friends were toxic. One of my old friends is a teenage mom, and one is in jail for drugs. I guess I just needed to start over. I did it right, this time around.”

“That’s awesome,” Estaine says. “I never knew that.”

“It’s not something I’m proud of,” she says.

“You should be proud,” I say. “It shows how much you’ve grown.”

“You’re right,” Teagan says, now smiling.