Free Wrath - 4 by Robin Wasserman Page B

touch to dream about tonight. But the moment of decision had obviously passed—and he’d decided no. Why torture herself with something that wasn’t going to happen?
    “Actual y, I drove tonight,” Miranda said, opening the car door. “So I guess you’re on your own. If you think you can make it.” Kane grinned. “I’m fine, Doctor. Stop worrying.” He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips in a mock-gal ant gesture. Miranda hoped he wouldn’t notice her trembling.
    “Many thanks for your services tonight.”
    “It was nothing,” Miranda said, and she jumped out of the car before he could read the lie on her face.
    Beth stared hateful y at the blinking cursor on her computer screen, the only thing marring the white wasteland of her empty document. Maybe if she stared long enough, she thought, the words would write themselves, and she could just give up and go to bed.
    She’d already wasted an hour meditating on “Why Education Is Important,” finding it to easy to get distracted by topics such as “Why the Principal Thinks This Is a Good Topic,”
    “What the Odds Are This Speech Wil Put the Governor to Sleep,” and “How I Can Keep Harper from Ruining My Life—Again.” Beth stil couldn’t quite believe that Harper was going to enter, despite her threats. She could barely be bothered to do her homework most days, so how likely was it that she’d put in a nonrequired show of academic effort and produce a whole speech? But Beth had to assume that she’d go through with it, if only because Harper’s desire to destroy her had so far proved unbounded. It didn’t seem fair; without Harper in the race, Beth’s win would have been a sure thing.
    I deserve this, she told herself. She worked harder than anyone at Haven High. The rest of them were complacent, contented with their narrow, smal -town lives-it was only Beth who wanted more.
    She opened her Web browser and clicked back to the Web site she’d come across of award-winning essays on every topic. According to the description at the top of the page, it was supposed to serve as an inspiration for students in her position, but Beth knew what it was really for. She’d always known sites like this one were out there, she just never thought she’d be visiting one herself.

    But her mind was so clogged with bitterness that she couldn’t string two sentences together, much less compose a speech. And here they were, dozens of them—al better than anything she could have come up with, even on her best day. She could just highlight the text, cut and paste, change a few words here and there …
    It would be wrong, not to mention risky and total y beneath her—she was supposed to be someone who, unlike Harper, actual y had principles.
    It would be wrong, she repeated to herself.
    But it would also work.
    “What do you want?”
    At the sound of Mirandas voice, Harper was momentarily stunned into silence. “I … uh … didn’t expect you to actual y pick up.” Waiting for Miranda to screen her cal , then leaving a plaintive voice mail that would inevitably go unreturned had become a nightly routine for Harper. This was an unexpected break in the pattern, and now that she had an opening, she had no idea what she actual y wanted to say.
    “I guess it’s a night of surprises,” Miranda replied, almost dreamily.
    “What?”
    “I’m just … tonight was … let’s just say you caught me in a good mood. Your lucky day. So what do you want?” Harper wasn’t sure whether she wanted to apologize yet again, or to accuse Miranda of having spread the gossip flyer and force an admission that now the two of them were even. So instead, she stal ed for time. “Just to talk,” she said slowly. “Just to see what’s up with you.”
    “Same old, same old.” Miranda’s voice wasn’t overly friendly, but it lacked that icy sheen she usual y adopted when forced to talk to Harper. Maybe there was hope after al .
    Carpe diem, right?
    “Look, Miranda,