A Girl Called Fearless (Excerpt)

Chapters 5 and 6

CHAPTER 5

 

Dad didn't let me out all weekend and Roik made me hand over my Princess phone like running away was contagious. So when I walked into class on Monday, it was like being let out of jail.

But then I felt the skin on my arms prick up. It took me a minute, but I realized the posters for MIT and UCLA were gone, and a recipe conversion chart was stuck up in their place.

Ms. Alexandra stood like a model, her hair swept up in a chignon, her lipstick perfect. She had one hand on her hip and the other on the back of Dayla's chair, but only her lips were smiling.

Ms. A had handpicked our class when we were twelve, back when the Headmaster still listened to her, because she was the only female teacher left. Ms. A told him we had the most "potential." Put us all together, and we were a color wheel of smart rich girls who'd racked up enough detentions to catch her eye.

But we were more than a mission. Ms. A called us the daughters she could never have.

There wasn't an upperclassman at Masterson Academy who hadn't heard that Dayla Singer had run off with her bodyguard, but Ms. A addressed our class in the ridiculously chipper voice she used for the security camera. "Dayla's father called. Her cold is improving, and she should be back soon."

We all clapped, and Ms. A smiled at Sparrow. Two seconds later, the security camera buzzed like it was in pain. Ms. A nodded a thank-you, and Sparrow slid the scrambler she'd engineered back in her pocket.

"I know you're worried about Dayla," Ms. A said quietly, "but my sources haven't heard a thing. Keep in mind that's good news." She frowned. "I'm sure you're wondering why the posters were taken down. Last night, the American Association of College Presidents announced they were suspending enrollments for women."

Sparrow was the first one to figure out what Ms. A just said. "You mean we can't go to college?"

"But they just let girls back in last year," Sophie Park cried. "What's going on?"

"The reason they cited was their inability to provide adequate security for women on campus. They stated that until they can ensure the safety of female students, they cannot house or provide instruction for them."

We all sat stunned as if someone had lined up our dreams and shot them. No NYU theater for Portia. No biology lab for Sophie. No MIT engineering for Sparrow.

No psych classes at Oxy for me. No escaping home for the freedom of a dorm. The nos hammered me and I pressed my fingers to my forehead to stop the pounding.

"But they're going to figure this out, right?" Zara asked. "I mean, they'll find a way to let us back in, right?"

"Yeah," Sophie said. "Like, couldn't we take classes online for now?"

"Get real," Sparrow snapped. "How's Portia going to learn acting if she can't go onstage? Or Sophie— how's cyber lab going to work for you?"