Free Holding Court by K.C. Held

getting on her bad side.”
    “Bree Blair doesn’t have a bad side.”
    “Yeah, that’s my point. I have no chance with Grayson. He and Bree are clearly totally into each other, they have all these inside jokes and are constantly together. I mean, have you seen the way he looks at her?”
    “I saw the way he looked at her in seventh grade. But when’s the last time you saw a PDA from those two? It’s like they’re an old married couple or something.”
    “Just because they’re not swapping spit on the quad like Whitney Petty and her flavor of the month doesn’t mean they’re not in love. Some people prefer to keep that stuff private.”
    “So, if Grayson Chandler was your boyfriend, you wouldn’t feel the need to make out with him every chance you got?”
    I’m momentarily distracted by the image of Grayson and me making out in the middle of the quad. I blink it away. “Stop. Just stop it, Cami. It’s not going to happen. Not for someone like me, with someone like Grayson. If he happens to be staring at me it’s probably because he’s waiting for me to have a PTS moment and do something embarrassing.”
    Cami shakes her head. “It’s not like that. You sell yourself way too short, Jules.”
    “You’re my best friend. You’re obligated to say that.”
    “Here it is!” Gran comes back into the kitchen and hands me a small pink cylinder. It looks like a fat tube of lipstick with a loop of black cord attached to it.
    “What’s this?”
    “Backup.”
    I pull the lid off the cylinder and instead of lipstick there’s a small LED light and two tiny metal prongs. I press one of the two buttons at the base of the cylinder and the LED light comes on. “A flashlight? You’re giving me a fancy faux lipstick flashlight to protect myself? Gee, thanks, Gran.”
    “Press the other button,” Gran says.
    I press the button. There’s a loud crackling noise, and Cami tips over backward in her chair.
    “Whoa!” she says, then stands up and rights her chair.
    “She didn’t even touch you with it,” Gran protests.
    “I know, but it caught me off guard. I have a very strong startle reflex. Don’t ever try to sneak up on me. Just ask Jules.”
    “Yeah, her auto ninja skills kick in when she gets scared. And it doesn’t take much.”
    “Don’t make me roundhouse you again, Blurt.”
    “Can we focus?” I say and press the button again. “A stun gun? You’re giving me a stun gun to take to work? Is that even legal?”
    “It is if I give you a note that says you’re allowed to carry it,” Gran says.
    “Unless they had stun guns in the Tudor era, I’m pretty sure the ban on twenty-first century technology applies to lipstick-sized stun gun/flashlight combos.”
    “That’s what that little pocket in your nun habit is for,” Gran says.
    “How do you know about that pocket? And that’s definitely not what it’s for.”
    “No, but at the risk of sounding blasphemous, I’m guessing a stun gun would be a lot more useful than a Bible if you find yourself confronted with a murderer.”
    “I’m not going to find myself confronted with a murderer. I told you, I’m not going back.”
    “Well, if you change your mind, consider that little gizmo your knight in shining armor. But it’s for close-quarter contact only. If you have the option, scream bloody murder and run like hell.”
    “Or I could just bring Cami to work with me. All I have to do is hit the stun gun button and she’ll go into ninja mode.”
    “You are so asking for another bloody nose,” Cami says.

Chapter Ten
    The Butterfly Effect
    T hat night I dream about the dead girl. Except in my dream she’s alive. I’m standing in the secret passageway staring down at her when she sits up and smiles at me. “No one cares about polyester,” she says, then the stone floor disappears beneath me and I’m falling. I wake with a jolt and the remains of a scream dying in my throat.
    Gran comes in and sits down on my bed. She gently pushes my