Red.
It was all I could see for a moment, so blinded was I by the tackiness of Geneva's clothes. Scarlet Prada heels; black leggings, that were just barely gray against the pasty whiteness of her skin; a skin-tight crimson miniskirt that showcased all of her just-shy-of-cellulite butt fat; and a red tank top underneath a black sweater to hide her still-quite-visible white bra straps.
A posse of similarly dressed girls followed after her. I think her candy apple red dye job and Day-Glo red manicure alerted the cafeteria to her presence because a bunch of other kids who'd been chatting with their friends got up and ran over to her.
"That's Geneva Carson?"
They had to be kidding me.
"Yep," Jack said from behind me in the lunch line, and I jumped, whirled on him. He wasn't looking at me, though. His obsidian eyes were locked on the five-foot-nine, hundred-eighty-pound Geneva. "There she is, the Red Queen herself."
"The Red Queen?" I echoed, frowning.
"Lily is the White Queen, and Geneva the Red."
"Like in Through the Looking Glass?" I asked. He barked a laugh and grabbed an apple from the lunch laid out for us all. He held it out to me, but I shook my head and drawled, voice drowning in sarcasm, "Oh, no, thank you, Satan."
"They're not really queens or anything," Jack went on as I grabbed a slice of pizza. Someone had already shoved in front of me, but when their face connected with the metal bar denoting where the line began, no one else tried it.
It wasn't my fault. He tripped over my coincidentally placed foot trying to shove past me. The bozo only lost one tooth and there was hardly any blood.
"Then why-"
"It's like a nickname," he said. "It puts the factions in their places. At Pillar, you've got two choices - red or white, Geneva or Lily."
"Ha," I said. "Well, I pick 'or.' How's that for individuality?"
Jack opened his mouth to reply, that cocky grin stretching his lips, but right then a girl with fire engine red lipstick and pink eye shadow ran up to us, panting for breath. From her oxygen-deprived state, I assumed she was a message runner or something for either Lily or Geneva. Since she had on red makeup, it was probably Geneva.
"Go away," Jack snapped.
"Geneva wants to talk to the new girl," the girl managed to gasp out. She looked like a marathon had snuck up behind her and yelled "Boo!" But she'd called me "new girl." Bleh, I hated that.
"I have a date with some molten mozzarella," I informed her. "Sorry."
I strode past the girl, whose eyes flew open like I'd slapped her or sprouted octuplied compound eyes, and I slouched onto the bench of an unoccupied lunch table. The happy pizza found its blissful way into my ecstatic mouth, but my nirvana was interrupted by Jack Knightly plunking himself down opposite me.
"What," my food splatted at him, the words barely intelligible.
"Heads up," he warned, flicking his eyes over my shoulder. I had just enough time to swallow and turn around before Geneva Carson plopped herself down next to me, smiled, and cracked open her can of Diet Coke.
My eye started to twitch.
"Can I help you?" I demanded.
"Can't I eat lunch with the new girl?"
"Not if you don't want to eat tabletop," I told the Red Queen, dragging my eyebrows down into a tight, auburn V of irritation. Who did this red-haired bimbo think she was? Who did she think I was? "The 'new girl' is taking no visitors at the moment. Please see the receptionist on your way out and we'll schedule an appointment."
"For when?" She smiled dazzlingly at me. Her perfectly bleached teeth glittered like sunlight on snow. For those of you who don't live in places like Hell-Frozen-Over, Montana, snow glare can make you go blind.
"Um, how about two days from never?"
Her friendly smile disappeared on the word "never." I could open my eyes without tearing up now. Yay - I had a clear view of Geneva's candy red hair and poison green eyes, her brightly lipsticked mouth and the rage twisting what might have been an otherwise beautiful face into a hideous mask.
"How about now?" She hissed.
Something made me glance at Jack. I didn't know why. But I did, and what I saw in his face made me pause and take a step back, reassess my position with Geneva at that point. I couldn't believe the emotion on his face.
Fear.
