Free The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe

spectacularly handsome Dr. Zin. But I don’t know who the third man is. He’s Indian, and he looks truly angry—the kind of anger where you expect he might stomp on the spot while steam pours out of his ears.
    Behind the trio, a sign warns visitors to report to Cania Christy or risk prosecution.
    The men stand just a dozen yards away from me. At any moment, Villicus could look up and see me here, wandering the outskirts of the village like a prize moron, standing in the passing beam of the lighthouse. Sure, I live on the village side of the line, so I’d have an excuse if it came to that. But something tells me Villicus isn’t one for excuses.
    I duck behind a tree. Shielded by its thick, furry trunk, which gives softly under my fingertips, I peek down.
    “But Lord Featherly promised!” the Indian man, who has a strong Scottish accent, shouts. Unmistakably new to the world of the wealthy, he wears dark-wash jeans, a Gucci-print shirt—collar flipped up—and an enormous pink-gold watch that flashes as he throws out his arms, exasperated. “He said you’d take care of me, Dr. Zin. Or are you just this old freak’s lackey?”
    “Lord Featherly has been loose with his information about this school,” Dr. Zin retorts coolly, his voice low and smooth like a cocoa-dusted truffle, like a deeper version of Ben’s. “And, allow me to remind you, he was in a different position than you are when he came to us, Manish.”
    “A different position ?My company went public last year. Public! How rich do I need to be to send my daughter here?”
    “We are not talking about money ,” Villicus interrupts. “You misunderstand the mandate of my institution.”
    “I just want what you’re giving these kids,” Manish says, lowering his voice. I inch closer to hear more. “My wife and I want it for our little girl. A future. As I said, I’ll pay anything—”
    “Our school starts in the ninth grade,” Dr. Zin explains. “Even if you had been invited and were not acting with such impropriety, your daughter would not qualify on age alone.”
    “But her grades were exceptional. She could make a go of it as a freshman.” He looks wildly between the two powerful men. “Lord Featherly said something about special tuition. I can give you anything you want. What will it take?”
    “Frankly, there’s nothing you could offer,” Dr. Zin says.
    “Please,” Manish begs, dropping to his knees. He throws himself at Villicus’s feet and wraps his arms around his old brown shoes. “ Please. If you are the man I’ve been told you are, you can do this.”
    My eavesdropping is cut short when I hear leaves crunching behind me. My heart stops with a dull thump. My fingers claw into the tree bark. I close my eyes, and I freeze in place.
    I’m sure I’ll turn around and see Teddy. If not him, then some wild animal’s about to maul me. I don’t know which worries me more.
    “Man,” a girl says—and I promise, I nearly pee my pants. I suck my lips in to keep from screaming. “It’s hard to hear them when they whisper, isn’t it?”
    Whipping around, I find a black-haired girl smiling at me as she lightly punts the kickstand on her bike. She tiptoes to my side, still grinning—she has braces—holds my arm, and peeks over my shoulder to spy on Villicus, Zin, and Manish.
    “Oh, they look mad ,” she giggles. “Who’s the rich idiot in the guido shirt? He looks almost as stupid as Villie.”
    I’m too stunned to move. Questions about who this girl is set in quickly. She’s on this side of the line and she’s friendly—so she’s probably not from Cania. Not to mention that I’m sure I didn’t see her at orientation today.
    “Stop staring at me. You’re missing the whole show,” she whispers, her gaze fixed on the entertainment below. “That guy’s laying it on thick. He’s actually begging!”
    “You’re from the village.”
    Her black eyes flick in my direction. “Yep. I guess you’d better run away from me