Free Best Enemies (Canterwood Crest) by Jessica Burkhart Page B

a giant chocolate cake covered in whipped vanilla frosting.
Congratulations, Eric and Jasmine!
had been written across the center in hunter green icing—a Canterwood school color. Troy put the cake inthe center of the table and Ben picked up a knife.
    “Wait!” Nicole said. “We have to toast first.”
    “But… ,” Ben said, staring longingly at the cake.
    Nicole shot him a look and he put down the knife. Everyone picked up their drinks. “I think that since Sasha is already a member of the advanced team,” Nicole said, winking at me, “she should toast Eric.”
    I shifted my coffee to the other hand. I was so proud of Eric that I could probably go on forever. “I never doubted that Eric would make the advanced team,” I said. “I knew he would because he’d been working hard long before Mr. Conner invited him to try out.”
    Eric’s smile encouraged me to keep going. “It’s going to be amazing to have him as a teammate.”
    “But I hope we’re not teammates for long,” Eric interrupted.
    I stared at him. “What?”
    Eric reached over to touch my arm, smiling. “Because you’re sure to ditch me for the YENT.”
    I laughed. “Ohhh. Well, yeah, then. I hope we’re not teammates for long.” I raised my cup. “To Eric and the advanced team.”
    “To Eric!” everyone else echoed. We touched our glasses together and I took a sip of my iced coffee.
    Ben cut the cake and gave the first piece to Eric. Eric handed his plate to me.
    “Enjoy, coach,” he said. “I wouldn’t have made it without you.”
    We all dug into the cake. Ben was practically licking crumbs off his plate when Jasmine stomped up to our table. She glared at us and shook her head.
    “You guys are so rude,” she snapped. “It’s
barely
three.”
    “So… ?” I asked.
    “Mr. Conner said to meet at three,” Jasmine said. She folded her arms. “Nice of you to get here early to celebrate without me.”
    “We didn’t,” Andy said. “Mr. Conner said to get here at
two
.”
    Ben and Eric nodded.
    “But don’t worry,” Nicole said. “We saved you some.”
    A look flashed over Jasmine’s face. For a second, I thought it was sadness, but I wasn’t sure. “Whatever. If you’re done, just go already,” Jas said. “I’d rather celebrate by myself anyway.”
    We stood and picked up our plates, leaving the cake for Jasmine. Outside the Sweet Shoppe, I turned to look back in the window. Jas sat by herself at the table,picking at a piece of cake with her fork. Her hair fell in front of her face and she made a halfhearted attempt to push it back.
    When she thought no one was watching, I could tell she was lonely. I laced my fingers through Eric’s, grateful all over again to have him and my friends.

16
FUN IN THE SUN
    ON MONDAY, SPRING FEVER HIT CAMPUS. The temperature climbed into the low seventies and with a taste of summer in the air, no one could concentrate.
    I squirmed though classes, eager to get outside. We only had a half day of classes because of some “staff development” workshop the teachers had to go to.
    Morning lessons had been cancelled because the horses were getting vet checks, so my first advanced team lesson with Eric and Jasmine was this afternoon. I’d been thinking about it all morning.
    “Sasha,” Callie hissed, poking me in the ribs with a pen.
    “What?” I looked up. Mr. Davidson was staring at me.
    “C’mon, guys,” Mr. Davidson said. “I know it’sgorgeous outside, but we’ve got to focus.
    Let’s get back to the homework.”
    I forced myself to pay attention for the rest of class. Mr. Davidson dismissed us twenty minutes later and Callie and I gathered our papers and hurried down the hallway.
    “Made it!” I cheered when we got outside. “Let’s do something outside,” Callie said. “Our lesson isn’t for a few hours. Want to take our books and go find a spot to hang out?”
    “Yeah,” I said. “I’ll run back to Winchester and ask Paige if she wants to come and grab some