Free A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson Page B

see you tomorrow.”
    â€œY OU SHOWED HER CAMELOT ?” said Sebastian. It had taken only a few seconds for Corrie to confess.
    She tried not to cry. “I couldn’t help it! She always asks to see it. I finally had to give in.”
    â€œ Why does she ask? How would she know it’s anything special?”
    â€œI guess … because I told her,” whispered Corrie.
    They were sitting in Sebastian’s room. He got up and walked to the window, then turned around. Corrie couldn’t bear the hurt look on his face.
    â€œYou have betrayed me, Sir Gareth,” he said slowly. “You know the Round Table is our secret. This is a very grave matter.”
    Corrie knew she should answer, “Yes, sire,” and wait to hear him pronounce her punishment. But she couldn’t help arguing. “Oh, Sebastian, why shouldn’t Meredith see Camelot? She’s my friend! And she really wants to join the Round Table. She’d be great—she knows all about knights and she’s brave and chivalrous, and she’s—”
    â€œNo!” snapped Sebastian. “She can’t join us, and that’s that! I’m surprised at you, Corrie—surprised and disappointed. I think you should stop being friends with Meredith.” He was Sebastian now, not Sir Lancelot—that made his words hurt even more. But Corrie continued to lock her gaze with his.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said steadily. “I won’t take Meredith into Camelot again, but I’m not going to stop seeing her. She’s my best friend!”
    â€œBut you have us !” Sebastian’s voice broke. “You don’t need friends! You have the Round Table! You’ve never needed anyone else before. First Roz, then you.… What’s wrong, Corrie? Isn’t this family enough for you? Why are you both being so disloyal?”
    Then Corrie melted. “There’s nothing wrong, Sebastian,” she said gently. “I love the Round Table. I love being Sir Gareth. I won’t desert you, I promise. But I need a friend. Meredith is the first one I’ve had for years, and I’m not going to give her up.”
    â€œAll right.” Sebastian tried to smile. “I’m glad you have a friend. As long as you continue to be a loyal knight. And as long as you promise to never let Meredith see Camelot again.”
    Corrie promised. She left his room with her insides churning. She had meant every word—she didn’t want to end her friendship with Meredith. But what would Sebastian think if he knew Meredith was Sir Perceval? Was that being as disloyal as showing her Camelot? How had her life become so complicated?
    H ALLOWE ’ EN WAS a welcome distraction. Corrie helped Juliet and Orly create Zorro costumes. Harry was a spaceman. Corrie and Meredith decided to be bookworms. They cut out and painted the sides of a big cardboard box to look like the backs and fronts of books, connected the pieces with string, and hung them over their shoulders. Over their heads they pulled some old stockings of Mrs. Cooper’s.
    Harry carved the pumpkin to look like Sputnik, and Sebastian bought them firecrackers. Roz declared that she was too old to go trick-or-treating. Instead her club was having a mixed party.
    Roz and Joyce had already succeeded in their goal of becoming popular. They had started a club called the Mysterious Eleven. They were eleven girls who met every Saturday night at a different house.
    â€œWe’re supposed to be cutting up old Christmas cards and pasting them in scrapbooks for the children’s hospital,” Roz told Corrie. “We don’t do that for long—we talk and eat and practise jiving. I don’t know what I’ll do when it’s my turn to have the club here.”
    â€œMaybe we could ask Fa to take us all to a movie so you could have the house to yourselves,” suggested Corrie.
    â€œBut just look at this