Bitter Demons by Sarra Cannon Read Free Book Online Page B

of responsibility? She’s ten minutes late.”
    “Yes, Brooke. Thank you.” Mrs. King dismissed her and winked at me.
    “Sorry I’m late,” I said.
    “You’re fine. The other team isn’t here yet anyway.”
    “What exactly am I supposed to do when they get here?”
    Mrs. King put her arm around my shoulders and led me out into the gym. “Just greet the squad,” she said. “Smile and be friendly. I’m excited for you to meet the futures from Cypress. Meredith is the oldest. She’s also team captain. Her younger sister is Caroline. I think she’s about your age.”
    “That’s all? Just be nice?”
    Mrs. King laughed. “Yep, that’s it. Simple.”
    The tension in my shoulder relaxed a bit. The pain was still bothering me, especially when I was stressed. “I think I can handle that.”
    We walked outside just as the buses from Cypress pulled up. Football players climbed off the first bus and started making their way to the guest locker rooms. I saw Drake come out of the locker room with Coach King. I crossed behind Mrs. King to walk on the other side, hoping to avoid Drake seeing me. It was bad enough I had to put up with him at the lunch table everyday.
    The second bus was full of cheerleaders. Their coach, a tall woman with short brown hair, stepped down from the bus and nodded to Mrs. King. There wasn’t even a hint of a smile on her face even though Mrs. King was smiling from ear to ear.
    “Welcome back to Peachville,” Mrs. King said, extending her hand in welcome.
    “Thank you,” the Cypress coach said. She shook Mrs. King’s hand, then turned her cold stare my way. “This must be Harper.”
    Geez. Did everyone in the world know about me? I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and did my best to make my smile look genuine.
    “Hey,” I said. “We’re so glad to have y’all here this weekend.”
    The woman pressed her lips into a hard line and looked me up and down. “I guess I was expecting more,” she said.
    I pulled at my uniform, making sure it was straight. What exactly was she expecting me to look like? I didn’t like the idea of having to be nice to a woman who was so obviously rude. I hoped the futures were nicer.
    “Why don’t I show you to your locker rooms,” Mrs. King said. “The game isn’t scheduled to start for another hour, so you’ve got plenty of time to freshen up if you’d like.”
    The coach sighed and nodded. “If I remember correctly, your guest facilities are less than ideal,” she said. “But I suppose the girls would appreciate the chance to go to the bathroom and get a sip of water.”
    Mrs. King cleared her throat. I saw her smile falter for a moment, but she recovered quickly. “Excellent.” Her voice was strained.
    A beautiful girl with the most striking light blue eyes appeared on the stairs. “Are we going to sit here all day? Or can we…” her voice trailed off as she caught site of me. She replaced her scowl with a beauty-pageant smile. “Well, Harper Madison. Aren’t you just the cutest thing.”
    She stepped down off the bus and gave me the type of hug I call a “porcelain doll” hug. It was the kind of delicate hug that made you feel that if you squeezed the person even a little bit, you might break them. I hated those kind of hugs. They just seemed so fake. She ended her hug with an air kiss on my cheek. I threw up in my mouth a little bit.
    “Thanks,” I said. I wasn’t sure how else to respond. “You must be Meredith.”
    “Of course,” she said. She flipped her long brown hair back off her shoulder. “It’s so nice to finally meet you. You’re all anyone’s been able to talk about the past week. Peachville’s prodigal daughter, so to speak.”
    “Prodigal daughter?”
    “You know, the story from the Bible where the son runs off and squanders his fortune, then comes back and everyone throws him a big party?”
    I raised my eyebrows. Seriously? What part of that sounded like me?
    “I’m sure the rest of the