found.
Nicole watched Amy gather herself as she knew she would, and Amy did her usual stellar job of masking her true reaction.
“I mean, it’s kinda fair enough, right? It was you who carried Elise all that way.”
“I couldn’t’ve done it without you, though! I remember saying that to him. It was total teamwork!”
“Well, teams of two don’t sell as well, I guess.”
“Listen, I know it’s disappointing, but the people who watch our show know the truth.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Amy turned back to her locker on the pretext of fetching something, but Nicole knew it was to hide her disappointment.
“Didn’t you walk in with Drake this morning?”
Amy shrugged and gave a little hum in reply.
“Did he have anything to say?”
“He thought the rescue was pretty cool.”
“Right — there it is!” Nicole was now inadvertently doing her best impression of Amy’s enthusiastic arm waving. “The people who matter know the truth, right?”
Amy nodded, and the twinkle came back to her eye.
“So, tell me — who’s awesome?” Nicole asked.
The friends playfully cast votes for themselves.
*
An hour later, Nicole was trying to let history class absorb her attention, but her mind kept wandering.
This was possibly one of the most embarrassing starts to the school year she could have anticipated. The Acorn had drawn attention to her. She had been thrust center stage when all she wanted was to be a regular student. The worst thing was, she was in the position Amy so badly craved.
Elise’s dramatic recovery still haunted Nicole, and she had begun to receive some quite worrying emails from Ben Owens about animal deaths surrounding the wildfire. Ben Owens, aka NewBenKenobi, was, in Amy’s words, a “massive Nix fan.” Nicole and Ben weren’t friends, and though she didn’t have anything against the guy, he never seemed entirely comfortable around her. Nicole was thinking he was just using the media attention as an excuse to reach out to her.
Nicole felt a nudge on her thigh and she looked up. The entire class was staring at her, awaiting a response.
“Miss Aaronson? Are you with us today, or still on vacation?”
“Here …” replied Nicole, trying to appear as unembarrassed as she could. A low wave of comments rippled across the class.
“So, please, would you tell us your opinion of why the Treaty of Versailles caused World War II?”
Nicole blinked. It wasn’t that she didn’t know the answer; she was just hyper-aware of all eyes on her again. She took a breath.
“The Versailles Treaty was a contributing factor to World War II, but more because of how representative it was of Germany’s feelings that they had been humiliated than the actual treaty itself.”
Silence for a moment, and Nicole could hear her heart pounding. That seemed to be enough, though, and with a last lingering glance letting Nicole know she’d gotten away with it this time, Mr. Stanford clicked to bring up a new screen.
After a few moments, Nicole let herself relax back in her chair. Being called out like that in front of the class had shocked her into attention, and now taking in the words of her tall, white-haired teacher was much easier.
Only a note, slid to her by a classmate named Reilly, who sat next to her, could distract her. Reilly indicated it was from Ben. Nicole made brief eye contact with the short, brown-haired boy across the room. He looked up as if to acknowledge receipt, and seemed to want her to open it.
A note from Ben now? What on earth could he want? But with Stanford turning back to scrutinize the class once more, there was little opportunity to open it, and so Nicole slid it under her books. She spent much of the rest of the lesson immersed in the details of the lead-up to the Second World War, relieved she could at last concentrate on something other than the wildfire.
When the lunch bell sounded, Nicole’s mind had completely moved away from all talk of wildfires and newspaper gossip. As
Nicole watched Amy gather herself as she knew she would, and Amy did her usual stellar job of masking her true reaction.
“I mean, it’s kinda fair enough, right? It was you who carried Elise all that way.”
“I couldn’t’ve done it without you, though! I remember saying that to him. It was total teamwork!”
“Well, teams of two don’t sell as well, I guess.”
“Listen, I know it’s disappointing, but the people who watch our show know the truth.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Amy turned back to her locker on the pretext of fetching something, but Nicole knew it was to hide her disappointment.
“Didn’t you walk in with Drake this morning?”
Amy shrugged and gave a little hum in reply.
“Did he have anything to say?”
“He thought the rescue was pretty cool.”
“Right — there it is!” Nicole was now inadvertently doing her best impression of Amy’s enthusiastic arm waving. “The people who matter know the truth, right?”
Amy nodded, and the twinkle came back to her eye.
“So, tell me — who’s awesome?” Nicole asked.
The friends playfully cast votes for themselves.
*
An hour later, Nicole was trying to let history class absorb her attention, but her mind kept wandering.
This was possibly one of the most embarrassing starts to the school year she could have anticipated. The Acorn had drawn attention to her. She had been thrust center stage when all she wanted was to be a regular student. The worst thing was, she was in the position Amy so badly craved.
Elise’s dramatic recovery still haunted Nicole, and she had begun to receive some quite worrying emails from Ben Owens about animal deaths surrounding the wildfire. Ben Owens, aka NewBenKenobi, was, in Amy’s words, a “massive Nix fan.” Nicole and Ben weren’t friends, and though she didn’t have anything against the guy, he never seemed entirely comfortable around her. Nicole was thinking he was just using the media attention as an excuse to reach out to her.
Nicole felt a nudge on her thigh and she looked up. The entire class was staring at her, awaiting a response.
“Miss Aaronson? Are you with us today, or still on vacation?”
“Here …” replied Nicole, trying to appear as unembarrassed as she could. A low wave of comments rippled across the class.
“So, please, would you tell us your opinion of why the Treaty of Versailles caused World War II?”
Nicole blinked. It wasn’t that she didn’t know the answer; she was just hyper-aware of all eyes on her again. She took a breath.
“The Versailles Treaty was a contributing factor to World War II, but more because of how representative it was of Germany’s feelings that they had been humiliated than the actual treaty itself.”
Silence for a moment, and Nicole could hear her heart pounding. That seemed to be enough, though, and with a last lingering glance letting Nicole know she’d gotten away with it this time, Mr. Stanford clicked to bring up a new screen.
After a few moments, Nicole let herself relax back in her chair. Being called out like that in front of the class had shocked her into attention, and now taking in the words of her tall, white-haired teacher was much easier.
Only a note, slid to her by a classmate named Reilly, who sat next to her, could distract her. Reilly indicated it was from Ben. Nicole made brief eye contact with the short, brown-haired boy across the room. He looked up as if to acknowledge receipt, and seemed to want her to open it.
A note from Ben now? What on earth could he want? But with Stanford turning back to scrutinize the class once more, there was little opportunity to open it, and so Nicole slid it under her books. She spent much of the rest of the lesson immersed in the details of the lead-up to the Second World War, relieved she could at last concentrate on something other than the wildfire.
When the lunch bell sounded, Nicole’s mind had completely moved away from all talk of wildfires and newspaper gossip. As
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