Tianna the Terrible (Anika Scott Series) by Karen Rispin Page A

easy on yourself."
    "Look what time it is!" Muthoni said all of a sudden.
    We'd all missed the first supper bell.
    "Run, girls, or you'll miss your supper," Mrs. Jackson said, making shooing motions with her hands. She's really not bad, just kind of bossy. I bolted out of there, still shaking from getting so mad.
    We tore up the hill behind the dorm, through the black wattle trees, and across the gravel to the dining room. I tried to get away from the others. I was fighting not to cry.
    "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" I hissed through my teeth as I ran. It seems like I should have learned that getting mad always makes things worse.
    "Wow, you don't take long to make people mad at you," Lisa said as she skidded into the food line after me.
    "Sabrina Oats always hated me anyway," I said, my voice low and sullen. "And Esther Miller always does anything Sabrina does." I looked down and twisted away from Lisa. I felt bad enough about dumping the stuff out. How come Lisa had to make it worse by talking to me about it? Why couldn't people just leave me alone?
    "Hey, don't worry," she said. "I'm glad you're here."
    I gave her a quick look and said, "Thanks." Then I realized she might be having her own problems, so I asked, "Is VCA as bad as you thought?"
    She didn't answer because we had to go through the line. One of the servers slapped a huge glob of shepherd's pie on her plate.
    "Not really," she said, then glanced at her plate. Well, except for the food," she added, and we both laughed. "I still miss my friends from home, though." She wasn't laughing anymore.
    The dining room seemed huge and noisy, like it ways does the first day back at school. Lisa and I sat down, and Muthoni and Amy sat with us. I sighed with relief. At least they weren't mad at me.
     

 
    Chapter Eight
     
    After supper, I ran ahead and stopped where I could see down into the Rift Valley. Wind blew through my hair, lifting it right to the roots. I shook my head and laughed. VCA is high up—seven thousand feet above sea level—on the side of the longest valley in the world. Craggy volcanoes, Longonot and Suswa, rose out of the wide valley floor four thousand feet below where I stood. Everything was dusty gold from the evening sun. Nowhere in the world was more beautiful then here. I spread my arms and started leaping from rock to rock, daring myself to go faster and faster. I was a wild horse, I was a unicorn, I was free as the wind.
    "Anika, wait up," Lisa called from the top of the hill. I stood still, completely still like a wild animal, and stared down into the valley. How can anyone not believe in God when he makes things like this? I wondered.
    Lisa came running up, with Muthoni and Amy after her.
    "You're weird, Anika," Lisa said, laughing.
    I wanted to take off again. Being with people made me feel cramped and stuffy. But these were my friends, so I just stayed where I was.
    "We'd better go back before Sabrina Oats messes up your stuff," Amy said. "Besides, you said we could have chow."
    I nodded and took off running again. We all tore into the dorm panting and laughing. While we were unpacking my junk, I told them about Tianna. Afterward we all sat on the top bunk, eating chocolate chip cookies.
    "You mean your cousin might be coming here?" Lisa demanded, reaching for a cookie.
    "Yeah, Mom and Daddy might bring her after she's been in Kenya for a bit," I said. The idea of Tianna at VCA didn't seem real at all.
    Muthoni had been biting her fingernails and looking worried. Now she said, "But she's not even a Christian. Why does she want to come here?"
    "Tianna thinks her parents hate her," I answered. "She said boarding school sounded neat because you don't have to hassle with parents."
    "So what if she's not a Christian?" Amy said, bouncing up and down a little. "Maybe she'll get to be one."
    "I was waiting and waiting for you to come," Lisa interrupted, "and now you'll just hang around with your mixed-up cousin the whole time." She frowned and put down