Broken Wings 2 - Midnight Flight, Andrews, C. [classic books for 10 year olds .TXT] 📗

dirt gleam. At noon we were told to stop, clean up in the shower, and return to the house. We had just about completed the east wall of the barn. Everyone had spots of paint on her face, hands, and arms, as well as in her hair. Teal was the most depressed about it.

“I used to go to a beauty parlor once a week,” she said, running her fingers through her stubs.

“Lucky you,” Gia said.

“At least I had a reason to go.”

“Keep your mouths shut,” M'Lady Two called. “Just walk to the showers.”

We were given soap, brushes, and towels and made to scrub until every spot of paint was off our bodies. Then we dressed and started for the house.

At the house we were treated to wonderful ice-​coldlemonade. No one was ashamed to show how much she enjoyed it and coveted every drop. After the cold shower and this refreshment, I did feel better.

“Is it going to get easier?” I asked Mindy.

She tilted her head. “What?” She batted her eyelashes. “What was your question?”

“Are things going to get better now?” It seemed like a fair question to ask. We had all been through fire, punished, beaten down to where we were all obedient.

“Better?” She smiled. 'Things are only going to get worse," she predicted with a smile that was so cold, I thought her teeth had turned to stone.

We were marched into Dr. Foreman's office and told to sit. Gia and Mindy kept looking at each other as if they knew exactly what was coming and it wasn't good. Teal had her head back, her eyes closed, and Robin sat staring forward, her eyes like sockets without bulbs.

Dr. Foreman entered smiling warmly and sat in her chair with a notebook in her hand. For a long beat of silence, she just sat there looking at all of us like a proud parent might contemplate her children. Was I right in thinking that we had reached a point where she was pleased?

“Okay, girls,” she began, “we can finally get down to why you've all been sent here. We can finally go after your recuperation and get you all set on the right road. Everyone here has done something to lead me to believe she can change, she can improve, but you all have a ways to go yet, and now that you have spent quality time together and gotten to know each other better.. .”

I was expecting her to compliment us about it, but she surprised me when she continued, "You all know who among you has the least chance of achievingimmediate success. Unfortunately, whoever that is will only hold the rest of you back.“ She panned us slowly, her eyes pausing on each of our faces, then moving on to the next and the next, spending a little more time on mine. ”You've all got to think of what's best for everyone and not for yourself. That's the only way to help yourself.

“Now, the most important thing to achieve is honesty. I'm sure you'll all agree. Honesty requires trust, and you girls are the best to decide who among you can and cannot be trusted. Am I right?”

There was a deep thump in my chest. In the back of my mind I wondered if she would tell everyone how I had betrayed Teal, use me as an example.

“I want you all here to hear each other because I do not like it when one girl goes behind someone else's back. That's deceit. We've all got to face the blunt truth about ourselves. I know how hard this is to do. For most of you, if not all of you, deception, dishonesty, conniving, have been the order of the day. How refreshing it will finally be for you to throw all that off and be truthful.” She smiled as if she were offering us a party.

She rose, scooped up five pencils from the top of her desk, and handed each of us one. Then she gave each of us a piece of paper.

“Let's begin, however, with a secret vote. That's the best way to break the ice.”

I glanced at Mindy. She looked absolutely terrified.

Gia looked angry. “We've done this before, Dr. Foreman. Can't we be excused?”

Dr. Foreman's face hardened even though she kept the smile on her lips. “Yes, Gia, you have done something similar before, but not satisfactorily. Not yet. And besides”—Dr. Foreman's eyes gleamed as she noddedat Robin, Teal, and me—“you have new companions now. Things can't be the same. Every situation is different and you've got to be able to adjust to new situations all the time, adjust to different personalities. That's what it's going to be like out there, right?”

Gia looked like she was going to say something more, but then stopped and looked down.

“Right?” Dr. Foreman insisted.

Gia looked up. “Yes.”

“Good. All right. Now let's begin. I want you each to write the name of the girl you think will take the longest to improve and leave the school.”

I was stunned. Vote on who among us was the worst?

“What if we don't know enough yet about everyone else?” I asked.

“Oh, I think you do by now.”

“We weren't permitted to speak to each other much and . . .”

“You've seen and spoken to each other enough to make the decision I expect,” Dr. Foreman said sharply. Then she smiled. “If you can't choose, then write your own name down, and of course write your own name if you believe you are the weakest one.”

Was this really some kind of a serious vote? What would happen to the girl who won this vote? Would she be treated more harshly? Isolated from the rest of us? I looked at everyone else. No one was going to write her own name. Why should I write mine?

“But. . .”

“Quickly. We have a lot to do and you're all going to be sent back to the barracks afterward to complete your schoolwork. There are due dates for all your assignments, remember, tomorrow being