Chapter 127
HANNAH
Just a few minutes after the girls left, I saw Mia appear around the corner. She was running. She stopped, looked around, spotted, and made a beeline for me. Her face was flushed with excitement.
"I've been looking everywhere for you," she said, drawing a chair close to me and dropping into it.
She was breathing quickly.
"It sure looks like it," I remarked. "What's up? Did I miss a test or something?"
She waved her hand impatiently. "Who cares about a stupid test? I just hit the jackpot! Guess what it is."
"Um-" I thought for a second and then shook my head. "I can't. I'm bad at guessing. Tell me."
Mia looked around and lowered her voice. "Good news! You don't have to bury your head in books in here anymore. I've got something that will help you win the quiz. Guaranteed!"
"I don't think I understand," I said.
Before I could finish speaking, she was waving her phone in my face. "It's all in here. Hang on. Let me show you."
She unlocked her phone, swiped the screen twice, and handed it over to me. It took me a few seconds to realize what I was looking at. When I did, I caught my breath.
"Wait a minute. Are these-"
"The questions for the quiz. Yes."
I dropped the phone on the table like it was red hot.
"How did you get them?" I asked.
"A professor sent me to the principal's office to get something. The principal wasn't there, but the questions were right there on his desk. I decided to help a friend. I took pictures of all of the questions-"
"Mia. You shouldn't have done that. Doing anything to sabotage the contest has to be a serious offense. You could have been caught!" I told her.
"But I wasn't. I was fast and smart about it. Look, I think it's fate that took me there at that exact time, don't you think? Anyway, you don't need to thank me. Consider it my gift to you for letting me be your friend. Here."
She pushed the phone over to me.
"I can't," I said, pushing it back.
Mia's wide smile froze in place. "What do you mean you can't?"
"I mean, I can't look at the questions. That will be unfair to the others competing.'
"But Hannah-"
"No, Mia. There's no way I'm doing it. I would rather study than cheat. If someone else wins, then it's fine."
"It's not cheating," Mia argued. "It's luck. This stuff just fell right into your lap. You have to use it. You really deserve to win."
"Maybe. Maybe not. Thanks, Mia, but I want to do this myself."
Mia looked like she wanted to argue some more, but then she shrugged.
"Okay," she said. "If that's the way you feel about it, then I will respect your decision. I'm sorry if I came off as... pushy."
I smiled at her. "It's okay. I knew you were just looking out for me."
Mia checked her watch and said she was late for a class. She hurried away, and I was left alone once again.
********
"And did you ask her where she got them from?"
Willa had that look of suspicion on her face again, the one she always had any time we talked about Mia.
"Yes," I said. "She got them from the principal's office. A professor sent her to get something and-"
"And she took the opportunity to snoop around," Willa finished with a disgusted expression on her face. "Everyone knows not to go through someone else's stuff, for goodness sake!"
"You go through your brothers' stuff all the time," I said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
It didn't get rid of the frown on Willa's face, though.
"This just proves it," she said.
"Proves what?"
"That there is something very fishy about that Mia girl. A regular person wouldn't have the nerve to do what she did without being scared. Seems like she's done this kind of thing before if you ask me."
"Oh, come on, Willa. Lighten up. Don't overthink things. Mia might just be trying hard to please me."
"Great," Willa said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "She wants to please you, and this is what she can come up with?"
"Okay. I admit what she did was wrong, but she just wanted to help me as best she could. She must be very lonely, you know? It can't be easy for her to make a fresh start here. That's why she's so desperate to make friends."
"I don't like it, Hannah. And I still don't trust her. Yes, I said I would give her a chance, and I will," Willa said. "But I still think you should be very careful around her."
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