Lindsey Lunarly's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Lindsey walked into the school castle with her cards zipped in her bag. She had a real method now. She felt ready. Then she saw the huddle by the lockers. Three girls glanced at her and went quiet. One laughed behind her hand. Lindsey slowed. She knew that look. It was the look she used when she was talking about someone. Stella cut through the crowd and reached her first. "You need to hear it from me," Stella said. "Word's out that you're gunning for first. Mika's telling people you cheated your way up. That you can't actually study." Lindsey's stomach dropped. "I didn't cheat. I built the cards myself." "I know that," Stella said. "They don't. And Mika talks louder than you." Mika Hayashi leaned against a stone column near the athletics banner. She was Lindsey's rival, and she never let a stage go empty. She wore her panda-crest jacket like armor. When she saw Lindsey, she smiled and raised her voice for the hallway. "There she is. The girl who found her notes overnight. Real cute." Heads turned. Lindsey felt her face go hot. Her first instinct was to snap back, to fight loud with loud. But loud was Mika's game, not hers. Lindsey stopped. She thought about her cards. Facts owed. Facts paid. She traded in proof. "You want to see how I study?" Lindsey said. She pulled the deck out and held it up. "Ask me anything from the exam material. Right now. In front of everyone." The hallway went still. Mika's smile flickered. She hadn't planned for this. Brennor pushed to the front, the one who gave Lindsey the card method. "I'll read the questions," he said. "I know the drill. No warning, no cheating." He took a card and read it flat. Lindsey answered. He read another. She answered again. Ten cards. She missed none. The laughing stopped. A few students nodded. One girl who'd been in the huddle said, "Okay, she actually knows it." The doubt drained out of the crowd and left Mika standing alone with her mouth open. Mika recovered fast. "Cute trick," she said, but nobody laughed with her this time. She shoved off the column and walked away. Stella watched her go. "You just made her look small in her own hallway," she said. "She won't forget that." Lindsey slid the cards back in her bag. Her hands were shaking, but she'd won. The whispers were dead. "It was worth it," she said. "Maybe," Stella said. "But now the whole school knows you're first before the exam even starts. Everyone's watching your score now. If you don't top the board, you don't just lose. You lose in front of all of them." Lindsey looked at the honors banner hanging down the stone wall. Her yellow star had to reach the top now. There was no quiet way out anymore.