Page 18 of Nobody in Particular

Clara holds up a hand like she’s conducting an orchestra. In unison, the girls around me chorus, “I vow.”

Raising the emblem higher, Clara roars, “To never break any school rules where Ican get caught.”

Behind her the other prefects move in a rehearsed line. A redheaded girl steps forward to take the coat of arms from Clara. She holds up a hand of her own, and there’s another resounding, “I vow.”

“To study hard, but only when cheating isn’t easy,” the girl says with a solemn expression.

A new girl takes her place, this one with shoulder-length braids.

“I vow,” I murmur with the crowd as she takes the coat of arms. I’m catching on now.

“Not to pass first base until I have successfully snuck my partner past the residential assistant.”

I vow.

“That if I overhear a Bram Girl telling a falsehood to an outsider, I will, without prompting, corroborate her story.”

I vow.

It’s Rose’s turn now. She’s got a cocky grin as she takes the coat of arms, and there’s that striking posture again. She holds herself like someone who’s stood before larger crowds than I’ve ever seen since she learned to walk—like someone who believes, down to her core, in her right to be front and center.

I would kill to be like that.

“I vow,” I whisper, unable to take my eyes from Rose.

“To represent and uphold the values of the Bram Girls in everything I do,” Rose says. Now Eleanor comes up behind her. Instead of taking the coat of arms away, Eleanor grabs on to one half of it to share it with Rose.

“Hence,” Eleanor says, holding out a hand.

“If I meet a Benedictian,” the crowd around me almost growls.

“I will be sure to treat them with the respect they deserve,” Eleanor yells, pumping her fist.

“I willslaughter themin every sporting endeavor I so choose to undertake,” Rose adds, stamping her foot.

“I will outperform them, outmuscle them—”

“And outsmart them in every instance.” Rose again.

Now the two of them shout together, raising the coat of arms between them. “And I will show them their place.”

“AND MINE,” the crowd around me roars before bursting into whooping and cheering. Feeling lost, I join in by making vague noises.

On the platform the prefects break up, most heading toward the exit. Rose and Eleanor pull away from the group and find Molly and me in the crowd, while Florence and Harriet go on ahead.

The crowd swarms around us as we reach the grounds, and we’re bumped back and forth like bowling pins as everybody tries to race to the bleachers to get the best seats. I have to crane my neck to take in whole spectator stands. I guess they need to accommodate four schools, but even still. It’s easy to spot the Bramppath and Ashford students; every last one of them is wearing the damn school sweater, a sea of green and gold drowning the right side of the stands. On the opposite side of the field are the Benedict students, along with their sister school, all wearing maroon and purple stripes.

As we climb the bleachers, Molly rushes a few steps ahead so she can film us live. She gives me a perky wave, and I send one back self-consciously. “First match of the year,” I can hear her saying into the phone. “Bram Girls have it in the bag, I can feel it.”

“She says that every game,” Rose mutters to Eleanor.

“Yeah, but she’s usually right, to be fair,” Eleanor says, turning back to look down at Rose over her shoulder.

There’s no one on the step directly above me. Which means that when the student two steps ahead slips on the wet stairs and arcs backward, there’s no one between us to break his fall.

Several things happen at once. To a chorus of shrieks, he slams into me at full force, his arms flailing, as a friend of his grabs desperately at him. And even though his friend manages to latch on to him, it’s too late for me. I’m already falling, with only air to grab onto.

For a split second, it’s like time stops, and I imagine myself slamming into the students behind me—or, worse, the metal steps below them—when someone catches my arm and yanks me sideways. The force of the fall swings me around, and I brace to hit the steps hard asthe world spins out of control, but then it all stops. Whoever grabbed me has me under both arms, and they hold me steady until I get both feet on the ground again.

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