Read Online Valley of the Moon by Bronwyn Archer - Free Book Online
Authors: Bronwyn Archer
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calls.
By the morning of the first day back to school, I was furious. Not at him—at myself. For liking a boy I barely knew who was not that into me. As soon as I woke up I deleted his number from my phone and started bracing myself for Piper’s questions.
My dad was in the kitchen. He had bits of toilet paper stuck to his cheek and he barely looked up at me from his coffee. When his cell phone buzzed, he spilled some on his shirt. He looked at the phone, pursed his lips, and didn’t answer it.
“Dad?” He looked up at me. “Is everything okay?” The home phone hanging on the kitchen wall rang. I reached across the counter to answer it.
“No!” he yelled. I yanked my hand away from the receiver like it was on fire. “I mean, I’ll get it.”
He ambled slowly over to the phone as it rang and rang.
The ringing stopped before he got to it. He looked up at me. “They’ll call back.” He took his bottle of high blood pressure medicine out of his shirt pocket, twisted open the cap, and knocked two tablets into his hand. He clapped his palm to his mouth and washed the pills down with a swig of black coffee.
***
I parked my Golf and walked up the steps up to the main entrance. The usual sound of hundreds of loafers shuffling across the Saltillo tiles in the entry hall was curiously absent. Where was everyone?
Then I remembered—Monday assembly.
I ducked into the auditorium just as Miss Grimm was closing the doors. She scowled at me.
Mr. Wimbish stood at the podium intoning to the assembled girls. I spotted Piper in the last row in the senior section. She waved me over.
When I sat down, Piper hissed, “Did you see her?”
“Who?”
A teacher shushed us. Piper rolled her eyes.
Wimbish droned on. “So in this New Year, let us all to resolve to be better citizens—to each other and to the world.” He cleared his throat. “And now, girls, I have a sad announcement. Our upper school English teacher Louis Quarry will be leaving Briar. In fact, today is his last day. He has been offered an opportunity to teach at a private boy’s school in Connecticut.”
A stunned buzz rose up. Every head in the room swiveled in Mr. Quarry’s direction. He stood leaning against the auditorium wall opposite us. His face was like stone and he gazed into the distance. She had done it. She had gotten him fired. I guess she didn’t like being dumped, Mr. Quarry.
I glanced over at the stage and jumped. Ramona Crawford stood half-hidden in the wings, but her mirthless black eyes found mine. Goose bumps broke out on my arms. I let out a sharp intake of breath and dropped my gaze, tucking my skirt tight around my legs. She rarely made an appearance at Briar. Was she here to gloat on her boyfriend’s last day? I wondered what excuse they had given him. I imagined Mr. Wimbish, long fingers pressed together, delivering the bad news. Louis, it has come to my attention that you have refused Mrs. Crawford’s sexual advances. I’m afraid we have no choice but to let you go.
Ramona wasn’t beautiful, but she was striking. She wore her jet-black hair in straight, glossy sheets to the tops of her shoulders. Her body was lean and boyish like Cressida’s, with small breasts and sculpted shoulders and arms, thanks to daily Pilates classes and weekly low-impact cardio classes and monthly cleanses and sips from the black cauldron where she stewed human limbs and gnawed the flesh off bones with her fangs.
Okay, not that last one, but she looked like she could have.
My father and Ramona met at a charity car race in Sonoma when I was eleven. Six weeks later they were married in a small ceremony at her palatial estate. I remember being so happy on their wedding day. I was getting not one but two new sisters—including one less than a year older than me. I couldn’t wait to start seventh grade with Cressida, my new sister and best friend for life.
It was going to be the fresh start my dad promised me.
Another broken
By the morning of the first day back to school, I was furious. Not at him—at myself. For liking a boy I barely knew who was not that into me. As soon as I woke up I deleted his number from my phone and started bracing myself for Piper’s questions.
My dad was in the kitchen. He had bits of toilet paper stuck to his cheek and he barely looked up at me from his coffee. When his cell phone buzzed, he spilled some on his shirt. He looked at the phone, pursed his lips, and didn’t answer it.
“Dad?” He looked up at me. “Is everything okay?” The home phone hanging on the kitchen wall rang. I reached across the counter to answer it.
“No!” he yelled. I yanked my hand away from the receiver like it was on fire. “I mean, I’ll get it.”
He ambled slowly over to the phone as it rang and rang.
The ringing stopped before he got to it. He looked up at me. “They’ll call back.” He took his bottle of high blood pressure medicine out of his shirt pocket, twisted open the cap, and knocked two tablets into his hand. He clapped his palm to his mouth and washed the pills down with a swig of black coffee.
***
I parked my Golf and walked up the steps up to the main entrance. The usual sound of hundreds of loafers shuffling across the Saltillo tiles in the entry hall was curiously absent. Where was everyone?
Then I remembered—Monday assembly.
I ducked into the auditorium just as Miss Grimm was closing the doors. She scowled at me.
Mr. Wimbish stood at the podium intoning to the assembled girls. I spotted Piper in the last row in the senior section. She waved me over.
When I sat down, Piper hissed, “Did you see her?”
“Who?”
A teacher shushed us. Piper rolled her eyes.
Wimbish droned on. “So in this New Year, let us all to resolve to be better citizens—to each other and to the world.” He cleared his throat. “And now, girls, I have a sad announcement. Our upper school English teacher Louis Quarry will be leaving Briar. In fact, today is his last day. He has been offered an opportunity to teach at a private boy’s school in Connecticut.”
A stunned buzz rose up. Every head in the room swiveled in Mr. Quarry’s direction. He stood leaning against the auditorium wall opposite us. His face was like stone and he gazed into the distance. She had done it. She had gotten him fired. I guess she didn’t like being dumped, Mr. Quarry.
I glanced over at the stage and jumped. Ramona Crawford stood half-hidden in the wings, but her mirthless black eyes found mine. Goose bumps broke out on my arms. I let out a sharp intake of breath and dropped my gaze, tucking my skirt tight around my legs. She rarely made an appearance at Briar. Was she here to gloat on her boyfriend’s last day? I wondered what excuse they had given him. I imagined Mr. Wimbish, long fingers pressed together, delivering the bad news. Louis, it has come to my attention that you have refused Mrs. Crawford’s sexual advances. I’m afraid we have no choice but to let you go.
Ramona wasn’t beautiful, but she was striking. She wore her jet-black hair in straight, glossy sheets to the tops of her shoulders. Her body was lean and boyish like Cressida’s, with small breasts and sculpted shoulders and arms, thanks to daily Pilates classes and weekly low-impact cardio classes and monthly cleanses and sips from the black cauldron where she stewed human limbs and gnawed the flesh off bones with her fangs.
Okay, not that last one, but she looked like she could have.
My father and Ramona met at a charity car race in Sonoma when I was eleven. Six weeks later they were married in a small ceremony at her palatial estate. I remember being so happy on their wedding day. I was getting not one but two new sisters—including one less than a year older than me. I couldn’t wait to start seventh grade with Cressida, my new sister and best friend for life.
It was going to be the fresh start my dad promised me.
Another broken
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