Ruby Reinvented by Ronni Arno Page A

her?”
    â€œI’ll just talk to her tomorrow.” Cassandra tries to look at my iPad screen again and smirks. “Have fun with your homework.” She turns on her heels and shuts the door behind her.
    I exhale and unmute my parents. “Sorry.” I give them a totally fake smile.
    â€œWhat was that about?” Mom asks.
    â€œOh, just some girl wanting to know about homework. She’s kind of annoying, so . . .”
    â€œWe were wondering what was going on over there. It didn’t seem like you could hear us,” Dad says.
    â€œI couldn’t,” I say. “That girl—she’s really loud.”
    â€œAs long as everything’s okay,” Mom says, looking worried.
    â€œOh yeah, it’s great. There is one thing, though.” I bite the inside of my cheek.
    â€œSure, Bea,” Dad says.
    â€œIt’s not always easy to get on FaceTime,” I say. “I’d hate to disturb my roommate, and sometimes the Internet’s slow here at night. . . .”
    I know my parents are thousands of miles away, but I swear it feels like they can smell my lies.
    â€œAny chance we can text at night—instead of FaceTime?”
    Now Mom and Dad are having a psychic conversation. It always amazes me that they can do this through the computer just as well as they can do it in person.
    â€œI think it’s hard enough that we’re not going to see you in person every month, Bea,” Dad finally says. “We’d hate to give up seeing you through FaceTime.”
    â€œAnd that was part of our deal,” Mom reminds me. “You could go to boarding school as long as you keep up with your grades—-and we talk every night.”
    â€œI know,” I say. “And it’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that—my roommate texts her parents every night. And so do most kids here.”
    The psychic conversation resumes. I just sit back and wait for it to end. It’s twelve minutes after eight so I hope it ends quickly.
    â€œLet’s stick with FaceTime for now, hon,” Mom says.
    â€œYeah, Bea, we’d miss your face too much if we didn’t.” Dad smiles. It’s hard to be mad at Dad when he smiles. I can see why all those crazy women always throw flowers onto the field whenever he’s up at bat.
    I hear Summer’s voice in the hallway again, and I’m grateful that she stops to chat with everyone hanging out in the hall. I have about one minute to sign off, but Itry not to make it too obvious that I want this call to end.
    â€œOkay.” I nod. “FaceTime it is. I’d better wrap it up here. It’s lights out at nine and I’m nowhere near ready for bed. I love you guys.”
    â€œWe love you too,” Mom says. Dad makes kissy noises. I can still hear Summer in the hallway.
    I turn the iPad off and put my head in my hands. That thing with Cassandra was too close. I’m pretty sure she didn’t see anything, but what if she did? Or what if she does next time? Everyone’s heard by now that my parents are supposedly dead.
    All of a sudden I’m exhausted. I’ve got to find a way to convince my parents to let me text instead of FaceTime. Thank goodness they didn’t say anything about Parents’ Weekend. Maybe they didn’t get the e-mail because I just registered. Maybe I’m not even on the e-mail distribution list yet.
    When Summer comes back, I tell her that Cassandra stopped by.
    â€œWhat did she want?”
    â€œShe asked if there was Spanish homework. And then she asked if you spoke to Connor about her.”
    Summer rolls her eyes but doesn’t say anything. I wonder if she did ask Connor about Cassandra, but if I ask her, she’ll wonder why I’m wondering.
    â€œSo yeah, she said she’d talk to you tomorrow.”
    â€œCan’t wait,” Summer mumbles.
    I purse my lips together to stop myself from asking