Page 28 of The Ruse

“So you were just messing with me to annoy Nash?” she asked, a hint of irritation in her tone.

“I think my common sense goes out the door when I’m in competition mode with Nash.”

“Competition mode?”

“Yeah…” I ran my hand through my hair. “He wants something, so I go for it, too, and vice versa.”

Which, now that I was explaining it out loud, sounded really stupid. Like two toddlers fighting over a toy they didn’t even necessarily want.

Her eyebrows knitted together. “Am I like a pawn in a war between you two?”

“No…” I tried to deny at first, but deciding that honesty was the best policy, I switched gears and said, “Well, I guess you were for a minute. But now that I’ve realized how stupid that is, I’m not going to do that anymore.”

“So you aren’t actually interested in dating me?” she asked, more direct than I ever would have guessed she’d be.

It took me a minute to respond, but I said, “We just met a couple days ago, so…um…no, I’m not.” When she looked like she wasn’t sure if she should be offended, I added, “I’m not really looking to date anyone.” And then, to make it even more believable, I said, “After everything that happened last year, I just don’t think I’m in the place for something like that.”

“Oh, of course.” Her face blanched, looking like she felt bad for having just brought up painful memories for me.

Since that was what I needed everyone to believe, I said, “It’s just a little soon, I think.”

I needed everyone to believe I was truly heartbroken over losing Bailee so they wouldn’t find out what had really gone on between us last spring. I’d slipped up a little by flirting with Elyse earlier, but hopefully, not too many people had noticed.

“Anyway.” I swallowed. “I just wanted to apologize. I know we’re going to be spending a lot of time together over the next couple of months—you, me, and Nash—and I don’t want there to be any hard feelings or drama.”

“Well, that’s good.” She sighed like she was relieved. “Because I don’t want there to be drama, either. The play is already going to be hard enough without you two incompetition modeas you called it.”

I nodded my agreement. Miss Crawley might have been confident in the cast’s abilities, but it was still going to be a lot of hard work. If I let my rivalry with Nash get too out of hand, it could ruin the whole production and I could say goodbye to any scholarship opportunities coming my way.

Elyse looked like she was ready to leave, but before I let her go, I needed to clear up one more thing.

“I know our whole conversation during the break is probably tainted now in your mind, but I did mean what I said about your talent. You really are going to make for an amazing Christine.”

“Oh,” she said, seemingly caught off guard in the same way she’d been when I’d complimented her earlier. “Th-thank you.”

Did she really not know how good she was?

“It’s the truth,” I said, looking more earnestly into her amber-colored eyes. “Miss Crawley is probably thrilled that you came to our school. I don’t know of anyone else who could have done that part.”

Not even Bailee, who had starred inLes Misérablesalongside me last year.

“Well, I appreciate you saying that,” Elyse said. After glancing down the hall, she added, “It’s nice to know that at least that part hadn’t been a lie.”

“I don’t usually make a habit of lying.”

Not unless lying was necessary to keep me out of jail.

“Cool, well…” She glanced behind her at the large double doors that led to the common room. “I’m gonna put my stuff in my room so I can get dinner.”

“Ah yes, I won’t keep you from that.”

I stepped around to open the door for her like the gentleman Bailee had trained me to be. Elyse seemed surprised that I actually knew how to do gentlemanly things.

I followed her into the common room, and as I headed up the boys’ staircase, I mentally prepared myself to eat in the great hall with a bunch of classmates who were scared of me.

I leftmy backpack in my room, changed out of my school uniform and into a much more comfortable T-shirt and jeans, and then went back down for dinner.

Dinners at the school were a little more relaxed than lunches. Many of the day students went home to eat with their families, the teachers were gone for the day, and only a few staff members were there to supervise us and make sure we were following the rules.

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