Lesson by Her [Book 1]

Chapter 13

"So, how was your weekend?" Cora asked as they walked up the front steps into school.

"Lame." Dusty sighed, maintaining the lie that she'd had to stay in babysitting all weekend.

"I can't believe that you had to bail on the party." Cora sounded less hurt than she had been initially when Dusty bailed on the get-together.

"How was it?" Dusty asked, as she opened her locker, not caring about the answer. She imagined the party would have contained the usual dramas.

Someone got drunk, someone hooked up, and someone else broke up. Those three events usually followed wherever copious amounts of contraband alcohol could be found.

"Well, Farah got crazy drunk," Cora leaned in close and whispered. "She was all over the place; apparently she even threw up all over her mother's fur rugs when she got home."

"Oh no." Dusty pitied the rugs more than she pitied Farah.

"Joey Montgomery broke up with Susan Parton," Cora continued.

"Really?" Dusty pretended to be shocked.

"Apparently he's been cheating on her for weeks with his new neighbor." Cora's interest in the party gossip seemed to be waning as she rummaged in her locker for schoolbooks.

"Anything else happen?" Dusty asked. "Ah." Cora triumphantly retrieved her math book, but her jubilation was brief as she looked at Dusty, and her face dropped.

"There's something you should know," Cora began, her face greyed by an expression of guilt. "What?" Dusty felt a stirring rise of panic in her stomach. Had someone seen her out with Valentine? Were people talking? Did they now know that she lived in a trailer?

"At the party, I kind of hooked up with Justin," Cora said the words quickly and then recoiled, awaiting Dusty's reaction. "Kind of hooked up?" Dusty reiterated the admission, bemused.

"Well, we did it," Cora rambled. "But I don't feel good about it. I mean I do, because I think I like him, but I know you sort of had a thing with him, so I feel bad. You're my friend, and I don't want a guy to come between us."

"It's okay." Dusty smiled. "Justin and I were never a thing."

"So you don't mind if I start seeing him?" Cora asked, her eyes bright with hope.

"Sure, go for it." Dusty continued smiling, but inside she shook. Not by the fact that Cora had been with Justin, Dusty had never had romantic feelings for him, but more that Cora had done it even though she believed that Dusty did have feelings for him.

At the party, in the moment, friendship hadn't mattered to Cora, and that disturbed Dusty, making her whole body cold. Just how much could she trust the people around her who were her so-called friends?

If Cora would have sex with a guy she suspected Dusty liked, how could Dusty ever trust her to know the truth about her past? The uncertainty of it all made Dusty feel sick.

"Jeez, math again," Cora said mournfully as they closed their lockers.

"Ugh, math," Dusty agreed, trying to hide a smile, her mood elevated by the prospect of seeing Valentine again.

****

Unintentionally Dusty caught Justin's eye as he entered the room, and he turned away from her, looking shamed. Settling down at her usual desk, she took out her textbook. For the first time in what felt like an age, she was excited for class to start, determined to pay attention and actually learn something.

Dusty hadn't realized just how much she missed learning. She found it much more fulfilling being a good student than a bad one. But she still needed to appear indifferent to Valentine's teachings in front of her peers.