Good vs. Evil High by April Marcom Page B

wondering, is that like their team
name or something?” I asked, wanting to avoid the question.
    “Yeah. They came up with that name for the
girls’ track team when they started it years ago because they’re
supposed to be so fast they leave tracers behind them.”
    “Huh.”
    Harmony set her sandwich down and stared at
Roman. “Kristine beat Rose.”
    Roman looked startled. He glanced at the
table where the two runners sat. “Rose Jennings? Her?”
    I shrugged.
    “She’s the fastest girl there is. And you’re
not sure if you’re going to join the Tracers? You could be team
captain, like me.”
    “I don’t want to be team captain. I want to
be a regular student.”
    “But there’re only a handful of captains in
this school. It’s a major status thing, and you don’t want
that?”
    “I don’t know. Not yet.”
    Sassy put her arm around me. “Leave her
alone. She’ll run when she’s ready to.”
    “I know, I just...” Roman shook his head and
picked up his fork before he started eating his mostly meat
salad.
    “Who cares about status anyway?” Nadine said.
“The competition’s just for fun.”
    I was definitely with her on that. Life was
meant to be lived, not wasted on worrying about what others think
or things like social status.
    We spent the rest of lunch eating and helping
Harmony come up with ideas for the medieval dance. I hoped Roman
wouldn’t ask me to go with him, because I really didn’t want to
hurt his feelings.
    After that, Harmony and I went to English
Composition. I nearly fell asleep during that one.
    Math was fifth hour, but since that was
canceled, Harmony and Roman showed me around the first floor. I
wanted to go outside, but they said it takes forever to get dressed
up warm enough for that and just as long to get undressed when you
come back in, so I had to settle for a tour of the inside. But I
made sure I got a good look at the winter wonderland through the
giant windows beside the mountainous castle’s front doors. We
explored the lounge, rec room, library, and auditorium, each one
leaving me breathless at how vast and well-equipped it was. A
person could spend their entire life on that floor and never get
bored. It was kind of disappointing when our cons buzzed, letting
us know it was time for sixth hour.
    We headed up to the fifth floor, where all
the classrooms were, and Harmony and I went to Advanced Zoology,
which I fell in love with.
    After that, Harmony and I went down to the
cafeteria for some snacks and then up to our room.
    “I’m gonna go shower,” Harmony said, reaching
in the wardrobe at the head of our beds and pulling out a pair of
jeans and a soft white sweater. “They’re at the end of the hall if
you want to come with me. They’re all separated.”
    “I’ll probably head down there in a few
minutes.” I needed a shower, but I wanted to see what the basic
clothes Sassy told me about were first. She and Nadine were nowhere
to be found at the moment.
    “All right, meet you back here.” Harmony left
the room, so I went to the wardrobe at the foot of our beds and
opened the two upper doors.
    Inside, I found two pairs of jeans, a yellow
skirt, a pair of white sweatpants, two beautiful blouses, and two
sweaters. I couldn’t believe it. They were exactly what I would
have chosen for myself. I smiled as I pulled open the two bottom
drawers. The first had several pairs of socks and underwear, plus
two more bodysuits, and the second had all the basic
necessities—toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc. I picked
out a pair of jeans and the blue sweater with long sheer material
wrapped around the waist, left to wave gently behind when I
walked.
    As I was closing the top doors, something
caught my eye on my bed. A sparkle. I walked over to the side and
leaned down. There on my pillow was the most beautiful notebook I’d
ever seen. The entire cover was made up of gold glitter, but felt
smooth like plastic. A set of sketching pencils had been