Read Online Alice in Wonderland High by Rachel Shane - Free Book Online Page A

caught.”
    â€œI’ll get better next time, I promise.” I directed my words at Whitney.
    â€œThere won’t be a next time.” For emphasis, Kingston tapped on his watch. “It’s broken, remember? No time but right now.”
    â€œLet me just observe or something.” Beggars couldn’t be choosers, but they could still be beggars. “Or send me on another mission! I don’t care what or where—”
    â€œIf you don’t care where, then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” Kingston kicked his leg, spraying water at me. “And my advice is to go whichever way we’re not.” He pointed in one direction with one arm and the other direction with the other arm, then switched them so his arms folded awkwardly. “What are you waiting for? You’re sure to get somewhere if you walk long enough.”
    â€œI want to go with you guys,” I said in a small voice.
    Whitney studied me for a moment. “The keeper of secrets will never leave the trail.”
    â€œNo, Whit.” Kingston shook his head.
    â€œWhat does that mean?” I asked Whitney, knowing she wouldn’t actually tell me.
    â€œIt means a few things.” She left it at that.
    Kingston’s head shaking grew more frantic. “It’s a terrible idea.”
    â€œWhat is?” I eyed Kingston. Whitney might not tell me, but I hadn’t yet tested him.
    â€œ It ,” he replied with an eye roll. “You do know what it means?”
    â€œI wouldn’t be asking if I did.”
    â€œWhat, did you cheat your way through English class?”
    Oh, he meant that it , as in the pronoun. Well, at least I cleared up that confusion. “I wish I could just prove my—”
    Kingston reached into his pocket and tossed a handful of pennies at me. They ricocheted off my wet clothes. “Here, wish on them. Find a penny, fuck a penny. Because wishes are useless. Just like you.”
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” Our principal sludged through the mud, clapping her hands in warning. Her eyes turned to the new moat surrounding the school. “Which one of you fell in?”
    â€œAlice did.” Whitney stood up. “The rain must have caused the creek to overflow. I rescued her.”
    I nodded to corroborate her story, grateful that at least we were in this together. Sort of.
    â€œThis is the second time you’re on the front lines of a recent incident.” Principal Dodgson studied me with squinted eyes. She seemed sober now. Too bad.
    Kingston snickered and backed away from our little powwow.
    Mr. Hargreaves came running out, his pants dripping water onto the ground. “The English wing is flooding!”
    â€œGet the students away from it. Send them home!” Principal Dodgson turned to me. “Alice, you go to the nurse and wait there for me.”
    â€œBut I . . . ” needed to go back to the creek. My eyes pleaded with Whitney, but unfortunately my gesture was as difficult to decipher as her riddles.
    Principal Dodgson grabbed my hand. “We don’t want you tripping again, now do we?” I stifled a cringe. Just what I needed after my embarrassing fall, to be seen engaging in a public display of affection with my principal.
    My foot slipped on a muddy area, and Principal Dodgson tightened her grip. When I stood on solid concrete, she let go and watched me take a few teetering steps. After a minute, she rushed off toward the English wing.
    I turned back toward the creek to call out to Whitney, but she and Kingston were already gone.
    In the nurse’s office, I shivered under a cotton blanket and tried to coax my body temperature back up. As each second passed on the clock I grew more and more antsy, practically ripping the paper covering the exam table into shreds with my shifting. Principal Dodgson came back about a half-hour later. Her wet pantsuit clung to her in a way that would never pass the school dress