The Inheritance Book 1

Ch 27 Front of the Line: Mirabelle Davenport [Monday, Week Three]

Now that she'd snapped Kellyn out of her little tantrum, Mirabelle could focus on getting the two of them up in front and away from everyone else. She took Kellyn's shoulders and steered her forward, driving her first around Elizabeth, then Averi and Hannah.

The final obstacle was Miss Sarah. Just because she was their coach didn't mean she was entitled to be the line leader. Her curly yellow ponytail swayed and bounced obnoxiously with every step. If Mirabelle had scissors, she would be so tempted to chop it off.

On this part of the mountain, the ground sloped downward, but it wasn't too steep or rugged. Pushed by gravity, Mirabelle couldn't help but run a little bit. She passed up Miss Sarah, pulling Kellyn along with her.

"Be careful girls!" Miss Sarah shouted after them. "Slow down! You might fall!"

Mirabelle squeezed her lips together. Bitch! How dare she treat Mirabelle like she was stupid. She had more common sense in just one finger than Miss Sarah had in her whole body.

Kellyn had to know that, but she slowed down anyway.

"So, you would rather stick with these bitches than go up ahead by ourselves?"

"It's not that," Kellyn whispered. "I just remembered that a lot of the score for this competition will be based on attitude. If we don't stick with the group, we might lose points."

Fuck. Kellyn might be right. She hated to admit it, though. "Okay, fine. Whatever."

But Mirabelle made sure that she kept her place at the front of the group so that everyone would know that she didn't need Miss Sarah to hold her hand, unlike the rest of them.

After a good twenty minutes of tramping along through the long, wispy grass and weaving back and forth between the trees, Miss Sarah yelled, "Ladies, hang on."

Mirabelle rolled her eyes at Kellyn. Now what? They turned around.

Miss Sarah's eyebrows were pinched together and she was looking back and forth from her compass to the trees around them.

While Mirabelle waited for the bitch to say whatever it was she was going to say, she put her hands in her pockets. She cheered up a little when she felt the small round shape of a Lifesaver. One last orange mint! She thought she had eaten all the ones she brought on the hike. She tore off the thin plastic wrapper, dropped it onto the ground, and stuck the candy into her mouth.

"I don't recognize that grove of young aspens over there." Miss Sarah pointed to a bunch of skinny white-trunk trees with round leaves. "Looks like we've veered off course somehow and are heading around the back of the mountain. We definitely do not want to do that. Let's angle left."

Everyone's eyes turned toward Mirabelle. Like it was her fucking fault! She wanted to slap them all. Miss Sarah was the one that started them off in this direction in the first place. Mirabelle had only gone straight down.

The group cut left. This time Mirabelle hung back so that she and Kellyn were the last ones. She'd be damned before taking the lead again and people trying to blame her for things.

They came to a dead end. Blocking their path in front and below them was a sheer sheet of rock, lined by tall bushes with sharp leaves.

"Let's see if we can go above and around," Miss Sarah said.

Climbing back up, they had to scootch between two of those bushes. One of the long, thin leaves sliced Mirabelle's arm like a razor blade.

"Ouch, dammit!" It was just a thin, shallow cut, but it was a couple inches long and dripping blood. It hurt like hell.